Flutter me by....

A week ago, I asked Flutter for some questions.. and she delivered. I now deliver my answers. :)

1) In 10 words, tell me, why Thailand?

Acceptance, beauty, community, warmth, compatibility, shared values, feeling of home.


2) It's dinner time, you have unlimited funds, unlimited time and a huge house. What do you make and who do you invite to eat with you? Why?

I think in this case I would invite all of my regular commenters. The reason being is that all of you are such an interesting collection of viewpoints, lifestyles, cultures and ages. There would be endless things to discuss and I would make sure we had a large round table where we would toss ideas around like a beach ball, one to another. Those who couldn't be physically present would be invited by teleconference.

The meal would be decided by all of you. The only thing I would ask is that it is a sober event. I would take a poll on my blog to determine the menu and provide everyone with transportation from their various locations.

And believe it or not, this is not a political answer. I seriously would like to do this.


3) You have 5 plants and 5 plants only to build the perfect garden, what are they and why?

Roses, wisteria, azaleas, crepe myrtle and lavender.


4) If there was one pivotal event that you could change in your life, what would it be and would you change it?

Well, gosh. That's a hard one. What would I change? Perhaps I would change my genetics. So I guess that means I would change the circumstances of my birth. I come from a long line of people with various types of mood disorders from dysthymia to bipolar. I would love to be free of that.

On the other hand, while my moodiness can be a problem, I can also create passionate writing. It is during those times when I am able to write something that will reach inside someone's chest, grab their heart and squeeze. I don't mean this in a sentimental way either because I'm not particularly sentimental. My objective is never to make people feel good for a moment before they move on. My objective is to wake people up. I want to communicate to others that there is a different way to live, a different way for us to exist in the world. I want to shed light on things that most people never truly understand if they haven't lived it. If I was of a consistent mood all the time, I wouldn't be able to do that.


5) Describe the perfect day.

Oddly, I don't believe there's any such thing as a perfect day. Fantasizing though, I guess I'd have to say that waking up to discover there has been a worldwide revolution, one that eliminates exploitation of human beings by other human beings and a worldwide commitment to relieving the causes of suffering would be a perfect day for all of us.


Thanks for the questions, Flutter. :)

Some of you might have noticed that this is being written at 3.00 a.m. There is a reason for that. It seems that my first cold of the season has come early. That means that I sleep intermittently throughout the day and night for three or four hours at a time... and am awake at weird times like this. Yesterday, I slept nearly all afternoon and evening, got up, left a few comments, drank some water and went back to bed until now. It will likely be this way through the weekend.

Please feel free to leave questions for me or for each other in the comments section. To the best of my knowledge, this sort of thing hasn't been tried before and it would be curious to see how it works. Just come back periodically to see if anyone has left a question for you.. and answer it (if you are so inclined, of course. Um. err.)

It's just an experiment. Just as before, it might work well.. or it might flop.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. :)
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More questions....

I thought I'd give a crack at the remainder of the questions sent to me by Slouching Mom. I'll try to keep my answers short enough to complete them all today.

2. You've made no secret of your feelings about the systemic inequalities and injustices you see taking place in the United States. Was there ever a time when you felt that the US was on the right track? If so, when was it?

This one is a bit difficult to answer because it depends on some historical knowledge that I may not have at my fingertips. I'd like to be able to quote chapter and verse but won't be able to do that. Additionally, theory and practice are not always the same thing.

So, while the theory of representative government, free speech and many other Constitutional rights are very good on the surface, the practice has not turned out to be what those who designed it may have intended.

It's also important to keep in mind that the representative government was intended originally for propertied men. Some human beings were not considered to be wholly human (African-Americans, as an example) and some human beings were not considered worthy of a vote. Women would be an example of that.

It's easy to present lofty ideas ~ but when they are not put into practice, it leaves a lot of room for hypocrisy and exploitation.

I have some fundamental issues with the idea of free commerce which I believe leads to
economic exploitation. Those who have will always have power over those who have not. It leads to deception as well with truth being secondary to profit. It develops into a classist, hierarchal social structure.

I believe competition in any venue leads to problems unless it's friendly competition such as sports. It doesn't belong in everyday life.

So.. to answer your question, I would have to say that had those lofty ideals been tempered with a deep morality, things may have turned out differently than they have.

As an aside, I should probably also note that there are no perfect governments in the world. I'm afraid that perfection will have to wait for the afterlife, if there is one.

3. You strike me as someone who feels nothing but contentment in being alone. So many people are overwhelmingly sad and uncomfortable when alone. Suppose that you have a close friend whose chief complaint is that she or he is lonely. What words might you offer that friend?

For the most part, yes, I am quite content being alone, at least in terms of romantic partnerships. I don't think I'd be entirely happy if I was without friends. At the same time, I tend to make friends who are very flexible. We're all loner types who don't necessarily assign any negative subtext to any of us disappearing for a period of time while we are off exploring something new or just plain hiding.

I'm not sure I would be a good resource for advice to someone who is lonely. I would definitely try to guide that person toward a discovery of his or her own values and standards. Once we know those things, likeminded others tend to appear. Trying to "fit in", just for the sake of "fitting in" is usually a more empty feeling than loneliness could ever be.

4. How did (or didn't) growing up in the sixties inform the person you are now?

It was a mixed bag really. I don't think I would have the liberal or progressive views I do now without having been exposed to that time period. Growing up where I did was a rarified atmosphere where diversity of thought or racial diversity was all but non-existent.

On the other hand, it was a bit too free-wheeling and individualistic for someone who basically likes a degree of social structure. (Explains partially my attraction to Thai culture which has a high degree of social structure.) I like rules and I like knowing what is expected of me. A lot of the things I believed intrinsically were torn apart during the sixties and that has been devastating to the culture as a whole and lasts to this day.

Example: I think the "sexual revolution" of that time has proven to be absolutely devastating for women. It gave permission for men to use women freely with no sense of commitment.

It was an interesting historical time because there was so much that was positive but the dark underside is still moldering under the surface.

5. What role does music play in your life? I have a Buddhist friend who does not listen to music unless he can be really intentional about it (e.g., he will not do work while listening to music, because he feels multitasking in that way denigrates both the activity of work and of listening to music). Do you agree with his philosophy?

I would say music does not play a major role in my life. While I like it, some of it, I don't consider myself to be a fan. There are a few musical artists I like but am not driven by it at all.

Even as a kid, I used to listen to talk radio. I liked the variety of ideas people would present during a discussion. I still listen to talk radio far more often than I listen to music.

As for the intentionality, yes, I do prefer to be very present with whatever I am doing. If I am posting here, that is what I am doing. If I am reading, I am reading. Completely present. If I am in the garden, I am one with the plants and flowers I am nurturing. When I am walking, I do occasionally listen to Joseph Campbell tapes, a book on tape or music ~ but I still like to be wholly present. I do not "multi-task" and do not particularly deal well with too many distractions.

~*~

Hope these answers have been interesting. I am not going to offer to interview others right now because I still owe some people questions.. and I'm going through a particularly fallow period right now. If you would like me to send you questions and don't mind a long delay then, please, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll come up with them. I just can't promise that I will get to it quickly. :)

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"Getting to know you" Meme Redux....

I was blogsurfing around early this morning and came across Melanie's blog, Not Just Nouns and Verbs. She offered to send interview questions to anyone who left her a message. This meme hasn't been around for a while and we all had a lot of fun with it previously so I signed up. I also thought it would be interesting since Melanie and I do not know each other. This morning was my first visit to her site.

She sent me the following:


1. How did you find my blog? What caused you to start blogging in the first place?

I found your blog while randomly searching through other people's blogrolls.

What caused me to start blogging was the chiding by a few friends who thought my unusual lifestyle and perspectives might make an interesting blog. I leave it to others to determine if that has been fulfilled. :)


2. Thailand, huh? Were you born there and raised there? When did you come to America?


I was not born in Thailand. I am from Los Angeles. How I found Thailand, how I decided to move there and why I am moving there is the primary topic of this blog.


3. No children eh? What is your reason for not wanting them?


Good question. I don't think I was born with the mommy gene. I am a compassionate person but I don't believe I am a nurturing person. They are quite different qualities. Also, given the vagaries of my life at the time when I might have chosen to have them, my life was not stable enough to take on that responsibility. Someone has to be fairly settled within themselves and have a strong community before it is appropriate to raise children, in my opinion.

The other factor is that at the time I saw no other options beyond here. I was not be willing to raise a child in an individualistic, capitalist culture. Some people are a bit more flexible than me in the respect that they can counteract it. I tend to be a bit of a purist and would have had trouble with that. That wouldn't have been fair to any child.


4. Do you have an opinion about the current war? What is your take on war in general?


Oh, I most definitely have an opinion. :) My general attitude toward war is that it is occasionally ~ and unfortunately ~ necessary. I am not a pacifist. On the other hand, wars that are intended to destabilize other regions of the world for the gain only of corporations and the wealthy do not fall under the umbrella of "just war". Most wars initiated by the forced implementation of US foreign policy do not fall into the latter category.


5. Do you work? If not, how do you occupy your time? Hobbies?

Do I work? That is typically a roundabout way of saying "How much are you worth?" I'm not saying that was your intention but it is typically a cloaked way of gleaning that information. It is a question I would prefer to not answer.

How do I occupy my time? Hm. Interesting. I don't think of my time as an empty bucket that must be filled. North American culture seems to be equally uncomfortable with unfilled time and silence. Life is a flow. Sometimes it is silent and unfilled. In Buddhist terms, it is the stream and I have entered the stream. That means my days flow and I flow with them. Often, I can't tell what will happen one day to the next. Sometimes I don't know from one minute to the next. I'm not much about "doing". I'm a lot about "being". My garden is quite large and beautiful with an emphasis on rose bushes. I care for that. I learn new things every day from random encounters with books, people, and occasionally even television shows. My life is very quiet, home-centered and peaceful, just as I would like it. I am a hearth tender.

Thanks so much for the questions, Melanie. These questions are a good catalyst for thought ~ and they increase our knowledge of each other. At the end of the day, that's what we're all here for, eh? :)

For those who would like to play along, this is how you do it:

Interview rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. Update your blog with a post containing your the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you ask them five questions.

If you request questions from me, please give me a few days so that I can personalize them. :)

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