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2001-06-05 - 11:32 p.m. What I love about Jack Kerouac is how he writes so matter-of-factly. He writes about parties going on where great drama ensued - his best friend's girlfriend hit on him in front of his girlfriend and his best friend etc and he sums it up in two sentences without making it seem awful. Its just the way it was. He doesn't enter into lengthy psychological judgements or motivations or feelings - but he shows genuine compassion for the people he's writing about and really you get the idea of what's going on without being forced to be involved in the kind of psycho-drama that is really only interesting to the people who went through it, and its only a huge deal at the time its happening. I want to learn this skill of ultimate summation and brevity - I like to read Kerouac before I write my own work because it keeps things in perspective and prevents me from getting bogged down in minute details of my own psycho-dram. After all, I'lm only going to be writing a 300 page book about the last 2 years of my life - I can't possibly devote chapters upon chapters to one evening. Later if I feel like dredging up every awful detail I can always write these things into one-act plays. (tee hee)One thing Jack had going for him when he wrote On The Road was maturity - Not in the sense of old age annd loss of youth, because he definitely had a youthful and vivacious outlook on life - but in the sense of mature perpective. There's a point you reach in life where this kind of spycho-drama is no longer the paramount of your existence and you have a broader understanding of the world and you can see that these things are revealing tidbits in your lfie that happen all the time but they're no longer bruising to your philosophy of life. I think I'm ready to write this book. I think because the rama I went through was on such a large scale and I went through it so early in life and my friends and I were committed to self-cultivation, that I've gained a perspective on life few people share at my age. I think I'm waiser than my years in my philosophy of life. I know I have a long way to go and I don't think I'm mature by any stretch, I don't even think you can ever reach a point where you are totally mature/adult/finished frowing at all - but I do think I'm advanced for my age. On the couple of occasions that I've aluded to the fact I think I'm older than other people my age different members of my family have had a hearty laugh at this. The facts that I don't have a husband, kids, a house , a religion, a job, a retirement savings, or a game-[lan for my life more than a couple of months ahead at any given time makes them think I'm still a child and they've actually told me that thay think I'm much younger and less mature than others younger than me. this makes me laugh. I think they're missing the whole point of my personal philosophy an they think I'm not living in reality. And they're right. I'm not. I'm not living in their reality. They think I'm being short-sighted about my financial and familial future - I think they're being short-sighted about the possibilities in life and the cultivation of their soul/spirit. But the world is full of many different kinds of people and I don't need them to change. We can all love each other and live on this planet together. previous /next |
