Monstaville Book II. Chapter 10

10

“Jungle people fight to live. Civilised people live to fight.”

- Tarzan.

Les Enfants du Paradis (directed by Marcel Carné, 1945).

Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault): I had a rough childhood. I learned to defend myself.

Garance (Arletty): Were you unhappy?

Baptiste: When I was, I slept. I dreamed, but people don't like that. So they beat me...so as to wake me up a bit. Luckily, my sleep was heavier than their blows, and I escaped them in my sleep. Yes, I dreamed, I hoped, I waited...Maybe for you.

Garance: Already!

Baptiste: Why not? I surely saw you in my dreams. Don't smile. By throwing me that flower you may have awakened me for good.

Garance: You're a funny boy.

Baptiste: You're so beautiful.

Garance: No, I just love living.

Baptiste: No one more so. This night...that twinkle in your eyes...

Garance: Just a little twinkle, like others have. Down there, look at the twinkling of Menilmontant. People sleep and wake. Each has a twinkle that shines and fades. It's nothing much. I can't even recognise the room I lived in with my mother...She loved me. She was lovely and gay. She taught me how to laugh, to sing. Then she died and everything changed.

Baptiste: You were left alone. I'm trembling because I'm happy. Happy because you're here...near me. I love you Garance, do you love me?

Garance: You talk like a child...People love that way in books, in dreams. Not in real life.

Baptiste: Dreams, life...it's the same. Or life's not worth living. But it's not life I love. It's you.

Garance: You're the nicest boy I ever met. I won't forget tonight, either. I like you.

Baptiste: I love you...Garance...

Garance: Love is so simple.

(They kiss but are interrupted by a storm).

In the room that Baptiste finds for Garance to rent in his building:

Garance: I prefer moonlight, don't you?

Baptiste: The moon? Of course, the moon...My homeland, the moon! 'He's not one of us. He's not like us. One night during a full moon, he fell from above...He dreams of the impossible.' Why impossible, if I can dream it? Oh Garance, don't you realise...I want you to love me the way I love you.

[They go to kiss but Baptiste can't bear it. He runs off]

Les Enfants du Paradis was my favourite film for several years (during my romantic 20s). It contains a scene in which Baptiste, the apparently effeminate, hopelessly romantic mime artist unexpectedly throws a ruffian out of a bar room window. I viewed him as a champion for sensitive, shy artists like myself. There’s always hope!

“Celebrate aloneness, celebrate your pure space, and great song will arise in your heart. And it will be a song of awareness, it will be a song of meditation. It will be a song of an alone bird calling in the distance - not calling to somebody in particular, but just calling because the heart is full and wants to call, because the cloud is full and wants to rain, because the flower is full and the petals open and the fragrance is released...unaddressed.” - Osho.

Apparently, learning to be alone and valuing aloneness is the last lesson on the Earth plane unless you learnt it in a previous life (which I most certainly must have!).

“‘Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc’ - ‘We gladly feast upon those who would subdue us.’ Not just pretty words” - Morticia Addams (the Addams Family credo, from The Addams Family, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, 1991).

“This is a person who’s been pushed right to the limits of his ability to cope with what is going on and, in a sense, is quite mad sometimes; in a sense, is completely insane. Almost in a sense that you might think of an insane person having voices. You know, more irrational voices that try and guide him, more irrational voices that come from a more emotional, deep-seated place. I think that the Crow is that rational voice. The Crow is his guide. The Crow helps Eric do what he has to do in a very practical sense. It leads him to the places that he has to be. It helps him find the people that he has to find. It’s a story about justice for victims. His mission is to find the men who killed him and his fiancée and kill them...He’s torn up. He’s torn up really badly emotionally, physically and psychically. I think that the appeal of Eric’s mission is that it is a very pure one. He has come back to seek justice. I’ve done other films that have had violence in them but I must say I’ve never done anything where I felt that the violence was as justified as it is in this. There’s very little need to worry about compassion. This is justice, you know, and I truly feel that it is. And I truly feel that if I were in the same situation I would do the same thing. He’s got something he has to do and he’s forced to put aside his own pain long enough to go do what he has to do. This film deals with the concept of a balance being struck between good and evil.” - Brandon Lee (1965-1993) on his character, Eric, who came back from the dead in the film The Crow (directed by Alex Proyas, 1994).

Eric (Brandon Lee): Tell the rest of them death is coming for them - tonight. (The Crow).

"I have love in me you would never believe,

I have rage the likes of which you can scarcely imagine.

If I cannot satisfy one, I must indulge the other."

- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby): Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

                - The Incredible Hulk (the mild-mannered nuclear scientist’s catch phrase in the late seventies TV series).

‘Deep down within us all lies some greater strength and force unimaginable.’

Caine: You are a man. You must be angry. To hide such a feeling is to increase its force a thousand times.

                - Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 3, ‘Blood Brother,’ 1973).

“Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power, that is not easy.” - Aristotle.

When I was taking the online Jung typology test (www.humanmetrics.com), Question 31 made me think: ‘You value justice higher than mercy’ (yes or no). I answered yes because I was thinking of serious cases of injustice but I am compassionate and merciful in all other circumstances and therefore I am not sure if the one per cent ‘J’ should be there. It seems minimal anyway, especially compared to the 78 per cent ‘I,’ which makes me a very expressive introvert. I am an InFJ (including a moderately expressed intuitive personality and moderately expressed feeling personality), like Carl Jung himself (who also shares my Aquarian Ascendant and Saturn in the First House although my Saturn is in Pisces and I also have Venus rising in Capricorn). I have always felt some admiration for and affinity with Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Germany's universal genius, who turns out to be an INFJ too. Apparently, these results define me as an idealist, counsellor, writer, teacher (although teaching is represented specifically by the more extrovert ENFJ type), political activist - someone who will work so hard for a cause that they make it a success purely by caring so much “champions of the oppressed and downtrodden”) and concentrating on the work required o be effective. I think the ‘J’ is what emphasises idealism so I am perhaps a less idealistic ‘doer’ and dreamer than most INFJs in some way, more of an ‘inspirational’ visionary, I would say. This type is empathic and giving, with extreme sensitivity to others, “twice blessed with clarity of vision, both internal and external” (Joe Butt). I read that we have Introverted iNtuition, Extraverted Feeling, Introverted Thinking and Extraverted Sensing. I took a similar test elsewhere and the result was slightly different. According to that test, I could be an Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiver (INFP) personality commonly referred to as ‘The Idealistic Philosopher.’

Online friends refer to my ‘beautiful mind’ and know me as ‘a person of quiet intensity with artistic passion’ - qualities that are less evident (and less valuable) out in the third-dimensional world.

Retrospective inserts.

12 July 2008. After taking my mind off stress relating to financial issues by writing up the articles in the first appendix for this book [trilogy] I finally got round to meditating. [1] Very soon saw someone dressed in a Spider-man outfit stepping out of what might be described as the back of a stage. They were quickly followed by another Spider-Man, then another and another, then hundreds of people whom I felt were spirits who had been victims of bullying and assault in their previous lives on Earth. Perhaps they wish they had been bitten by a spider that evoked special powers within them, tapping inner reserves of strength, confidence and fearlessness that could have availed them of victory over their tormentors and enemies. More likely, they are pleased to observe that exchanging information like this, increasing awareness, is providing an antidote to the tyranny and terrorism that barbarians often enjoy even in our civilised society with its emphasis on the rule of Law. The flower should caress the rock - and inspire all life to greater heights - not be crushed by it. Anyway, I took this sign as a seal of approval for this book [trilogy] after talking on the phone to someone close to me who is very active in mediumship circles but who does not believe any of my writing projects have much value!

Eric: “I have something to give you. I don’t want it any more. Thirty hours of pain...all at once...all for you.” (The Crow).

Sophie Lancaster R.I.P. [See the Early Appendix III that relates to this section].

“Since Sophie's death on August 24th 2007, following the horrific attack on her and her partner Rob in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire, we have had lots of kind offers of support and donations. Sophie and Rob dressed in their unique way, expressing their individuality as creative artistic people. After consulting family and friends, we felt that a charity should be set up in Sophie’s name. The charity, known as The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, will focus on creating respect for and understanding of subcultures in our communities. It will also work in conjunction with politicians and police forces to ensure individuals who a part of subcultures are protected by the law.” – Sylvia Lancaster, 13 March 2010 (note by Sophie’s mum introducing the website www.sophielancasterfoundation.com).

1. My reply to my sweet friend Lizzy’s MySpace bulletin in April 2008 RE: the murder of Sophie Lancaster (she went into a coma and never regained consciousness): the lack of parental discipline in this country now has made it even more unsafe and not exactly encouraging people to be different, unique, themselves. It is not conducive to civilisation in other words. Social unity really results from full individuality. And I guess we owe it to Penny to promote this principle by example and be more aware, alert and know how to deal with such evil animals.

2. Lizzy’s reply: “Indeed! I take it you've seen photos! She was so beautiful and actually, not even THAT gothic! I've seen much more extreme versions of the ‘gothic’ style (although I hate to name people...gothic, alternative, whatever you wanna call it!) but I totally agree with you!! If it weren’t for the curious and the different, society and even the human race itself wouldn't have evolved anywhere!!!

This poor woman, brutalised for being unique and beautiful.

xxxxxxxx”

3. My reply: Yeah I know. To those kinds of people, however, moderately and radically different are the same: they know only ignorance, ugliness and brutality, and even the parents thought it was all funny! They seek to destroy what they are not because they refuse to suffer and grow in order to be transformed from lowly, callous worms to beautiful, sensitive butterflies themselves.

Penny seems to have been a very special girl...and just shouldn't have been anywhere where she was so vulnerable. Her boyfriend says they should have run at the start. But, we just don't expect such savagery. I'm sure it has taught us a lesson however: to beware and be on top of society, as shitty as it often is!

She is a kind of modern saint. Perhaps she partly gave her life to wake people up. We all have our spiritual purpose here. :)

[Retrospective note: I have since learned something that the news media concealed from the public. Apparently, there live, at one end of Bacup, some Irish immigrants, families who names are associated with trouble in the area. It appears that it was children of these violent people who were responsible for Sophie’s death after he boyfriend had been severely beaten although I cannot confirm this with absolute certainty].

I have known and heard about too many harmless, sensitive, intelligent people in this country being severely beaten up over the years. In the north, in the south, in the west and in the east. People who were minding their own business and who were targeted by savages who made sure the odds were anything but even. This absence of risk being the only way they could ever feel powerful enough or summon the courage to attack anyone. This applies especially to groups of teenage boys. One fucked up country that only truth and spiritual (not religious) awareness can cure and that, in my view, can arise only by helping children to discover their true purpose early on in life rather than conditioning them for conformity to the System. Who and what are you, really? So-called ‘subcultures’ are often pockets of marginalised consciousness that has continued to evolve in spite of the dirt being thrown onto the people from the government, which is little more than a puppet for financial interests with an agenda of their own, resulting in the fact that society in general has come to a cultural standstill. Consequently, the persecution of people who differ from the low standards of the masses, unlike other races who often either bring conflict or else yet more blind conformity to the table, actually represent the heart and soul of British culture, the depth of its consciousness…and endangered species.

A friend told me a story about a guy he knows who was beaten up by a gang of 15 youths in January (2009). He was walking alone at midnight when one of the boys took his packet of cigarettes out of his back pocket. He turned round and told them if they wanted a cigarette they should have asked and he would have given them one, but that they shouldn’t have just grabbed them from his pocket. Exactly the reaction they were looking for I expect. He is a large guy; a sensitive, amiable computer graphics artist. Perhaps not all of the boys approved but those who set upon him put him in hospital and he didn’t wake up for two weeks. This shit needs to stop. The parents are to blame but they themselves are the products of an ignorant System. One day, spiritual awareness will be at the heart of education: Know thyself. [Retrospective note: I met a guy one day who was quite well-built and tattoo’d (including part of his neck) like a potential hard man not long after 6 young hoodies had jumped him in Thamesmead, near Woolwich. He said they had threatened him with a scaffold pole. When he grabbed it, they tried to take it from him but failed. He had black marks on his hands from the tussle. I don’t know who ended up with the pole, but, in the end he called them out. ‘Come on then!’ he roared, and they all ran away!]

“For all fear is really fear of oneself, which translates into the fear of the unconscious. The unconscious, or the unknown parts of one self, has become unknown due to the many drops in vibration within one's ancestry. Each drop in frequency caused a portion of one's field to detach, or separate off. The unconscious is nothing other than multiple pieces of detached parts of oneself that have become unknown, and then in being unknown, have become feared. The ascension process brings about the reunion of each of the thousands of parts of self that have detached over the course of 30,000 years of human history, and 3 major declines in vibration. As each piece is embraced, the fear held stagnant within one's own field is dissolved into the frequencies of forgiveness, compassion, unity and love. As enough of the unconscious is embraced, fear dissolves and freedom follows. It is out of freedom that one chooses to leave behind relationships that no longer serve, or a location that does not support one's further ascension, or a job that one is complete with. Each step of freedom brings greater joy, expansion, and liberation within the ascending human's life experience.” - Earth Mother (through Lilliya Nita Mahalani, ‘Mila,’ ‘I Intend To Ascend,’ 10 July 2000, www.calltoascend.org/articles/earth‑mother/LGintend.html. Current website www.lightwaveevolution.org).
 
“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” - Hal Borland (www.quotelady.com/subjects/strength.html).

“I'll be scared later. Right now I'm too mad.” - Bugs Bunny (Warner Brothers).

"A good time for laughing is when you can." - Jessamyn West, writer.

Foot note

1. The original, early appendices have been removed but they can be found on my website.