Tuesday, November 25, 2008

1962

Where were you in Sixty-two? Or I lived through the sixties and survived or some cool stuff I learnt while learning about Astrology reading Cosmos and Psyche by the legendary Richard Tarnas

You know what happened during the year I was born? One year; John Glens space flight, the launch of the Telstar (not Telstra!!) Satellite: I don’t know what that’s about but it must be important as it’s in the book?
In September James Meredith, African /American bro attempted to enter the segregated, black skin this way, white skin this way, University of Mississippi. Where else? and this started a riot!!
No place for Nigger boys in this side of the university is what they would have said!! They sent in the army, as you do, and this got national attention. Of cause now days it would be absolutely international attention. Civil rights for African Americans were on the agenda, it was hot, hot, hot! The year was 1962 Barack Obama was one. Who could have dreamed that he would become president? A lot has changed since then .One person can just get the ball rolling and then it snowballs and who knows where it will end or when it will end?
Some other amazing stuff happened in 62, Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles begun!!! 62 had good taste.
The ecology movement began when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring. Anyone read it? I haven’t. It’s a classic. I was on the train last week and there’s a pretty young women standing next to me. She was a babe and she’s reading a book, how cool! And its Silent Spring of all books, now that is way cool! An updated version, I spied the cover…being a lover of the book and all books that I am. How cool is that. That it’s returned and a young woman is reading it, whilst standing on a train. That gives me hope. I really wanted to say something like “Rachel was a prophet you know, no I mean a prophetess.” Or something like that. But I got tangled up in my head and said nothing.
And feminism began afresh in a new way with Betty Friednams Feminine Mystique and the reissue of Doris Lessing’s classic Golden Notebook. Haven’t read the first and never heard of the second.
From where I stand we have come a long way with gender relationships but there’s still a hell of a long way to go or ways to go. I like being diverse and different with different groups of people. Gender is so serious we need to laugh about it and laugh about ourselves and our gendered flaws and biases. If I was t o write a book about gender I would fill it with as many twists and turns and contradictions and ambiguities. It would expand your imagination with possibilities. And I‘d use all sorts of theories and get them to dialogue, religion, arts literature…. one day I will write that book.
The Esalen Institute opened. It’s a legendary personal growth centre. I’ve heard so me wild stories about Esalen, have to visit one day… soon.
Maslow wrote Towards a Psychology of Being. I’ve read stuff from that, lots of quotes a long time ago. I tended to go back to the source for my psychology, the classics some Freud but mostly Jung and later Hillman. But that said I’ve never studied psychology formally. Well only two subjects and that taste was enough. No Taste is the wrong word. It was intellectually, creatively and aesthetically tasteless. Utterly tasteless. What is the link between white bread, white trash, tasteless aspects of White Western culture and scientific psychology? Less a link and more a bridge!
As for Maslow I bet psychologists don’t read a book which is a classic in there field. I’m not anti –psychologist but anti-psychology training. The narrow scientific mentality, the extreme focus on statistics and the objective view of people. The unconscious faith in objectivity. Maybe it’s up to psychologists to start their own riot. I know there are plenty who are pissed off with there training, so many over the years have complained and it’s a joke to anyone who has any knowledge. 4 or more years can be wasted. Good hearted people wasted.
I for one used t o carry an unconscious belief that a psychologist was a sort of healer and the odd one is but there training tends to squeeze any latent creative healing ability out of them.
Obviously this is a big unresolved issue for me I will just leave for now and return to in the future.

I’ve got two boys and like every parent it’s fascinating to watch them grow In front of you. And I love to keep an open mind about what life will bring them. Anything is possible. From the best t o the worse and anything and everything in between: life. And next year I will have another son an African Aussie or Aussie African.2009. What will life hold for him? How different will it be for him to grow up in Australia compared to growing up in Africa? When I think of the future into which he will grow I would love Australia to become more African, more Aboriginal, more Black, more community orientated, slowed down, less driven, more enchanted. I’d like to get on public transport, a bus or a train and walk into a welcoming wall of sound, music being shared (can someone please ban isolating I- narcissistic –ego-pods please!), talk, laughter and deep conversation alongside deep meditative silence (Buddhists! alas we will always have with us so we had better accept them and allow them to share their meditative vibe while the rest of us socialise).
What happened in Australia in 1962? Cosmos and Psyche is a red-hot book but Australia barely rates a mention. Well folks a lot has changed in the world and I for one feel that its time for us to wake up and be noticed.
To be continued…

No comments:

Post a Comment