The Guardian 08.05.08

Dahr Jamail Beyone the Green Zone. Haymarket Books

In the introduction to his book, he quotes the story of an indigenous Canadian hunter who was called to give evidence in an inquiry into a planned dam that would flood his homeland and destroy his traditional way of life. The hunter was asked to swear on the Bible that he would tell the truth, but he had never seen a Bible and wondered how this miraculous truth telling instrument worked. ‘He spoke with the translator at length,’ writes Jamail, ‘and finally the translator looked to the judge. ‘He does not know whether he can tell the truth. He says he can tell only what he knows.’

Guardian, Saturday 12 April 2008

Jean-Paul Sartre. Nausea

‘Every exiting thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness and dies by chance. I leaned back and closed my eyes. But the image, forewarned, immediately leaped up and filled my closed eyes with existences: existence is a fullness which man can never abandon.’

Samuel Beckett, extract from The Unnamable.

And the spectators? Where are they?

You didn't notice, in the anguish of waiting, never noticed you were waiting alone. That's the show: waiting alone, in the restless air, for it to begin, for something to begin, for there to be something else but you. For the power to rise, the courage to leave. You try and be reasonable: perhaps you are blind, probably deaf. The show is over, all is over? But where then is the hand, the helping hand? (Or merely charitable? Or the hired hand?) It's a long time coming, to take yours and draw you away.

That's the show (free, gratis and for nothing): waiting alone, blind, deaf. You don't know where, you don't know for what: for a hand to come and draw you away, somewhere else (where perhaps it's worse). (my emphasis)

Carl Jung

I have no judgement about myself and my life.

There is nothing I am quite sure about.

I have no definite convictions-

Not about anything, really.

I know only that I was born and exist,

and it seems that I have been carried along.

I exist on the foundation of something

I do not know. In spite of all uncertainties,

I feel a solidity underlying all existence,

and continuity in my mode of being.

Anonymous

A native American elder once described his own inner

struggles in this manner.

‘Inside of me there are two dogs. One of these dogs is

mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog

fights with the good dog all the time.’

When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and

replied.

‘The one that I feed the most.’