Someone stole the ruby slippers.
"It just goes to show ya...it's always something! If it's not one thing, it's another!"
Roseanne Roseannadanna
I've been thinking about the quote James Howard Kunstler attributes to Carl Jung, "people cannot stand too much reality".
I shouldn't take quotes secondhand. I can't find an attribution of that quote to Carl Jung. Not that he couldn't have said it, just that it's not good literary practice to take a second hand quote. I actually think that quote may belong to T.S. Eliot.
Aside from whoever made that statement, the idea that "people can't stand too much reality" is not surprising and not necessarily a bad thing.
Everyone needs a break from "reality" now and then, where they can step back from the quaqmire, regroup and then step back in.
Consider Mother Theresa, who lived a life in a very difficult "reality". I imagine with her deep faith she was able to step back from that reality by prayer or otherwise conversing with her God quite often. Her ability to transcend enabled her to stand the reality of where she was and effectively help many people in desparate need.
Even for those of us not so saintly, a break from reality can be refreshing and invigorating. You gotta figure out a way to take a break that doesn't break you, but even in my present teetotaling incarnation, sometimes I can't help but think Jimmy Buffett had a point in his song Hurricane Season...
Squalls out on the Gulfstream,
Big storms coming soon.
I passed out in my hammock,
God, I slept way past noon.
Stood up and tried to focus,
I hoped I wouldn't have to look far.
I knew I could use a Bloody Mary,
So I stumbled next door to the bar.
And now I must confess,
I could use some rest.
I can't run at this pace very long.
Yes, it's quite insane,
I think it hurts my brain.
But it cleans me out and then I can go on.
I think there is an innate human desire to alter one's state of consciousness, not necessarily by intoxicants, but one that could be expressed by creating or experiencing paintings, poetry, stories, cartoons, music, movies, plays, books. Not sure if we would have many of those beautiful things if we always had to live in the "real" world.
When it comes to the "hell in a handbasket" discussions - not too much reality for me please. I'll take mine with a side of humor, joy, absurdity or beauty thank you very much.
