A Pool of Light

 

 

Imagine for a minute
you're nothing but
a pool of light.

 

Sandra Bullock's sparkling character, in All About Steve (2009), realizes gifted people are frozen in stone, or crystallized, at a very young age, and their outer behavior makes them seem strange to other people. They just can't be normal! The way out, she discovers, is to go slow. Then you find a little girl deep at the bottom of a stony well, and realize the part of you that dreams at night is waiting for you to let it find you. It's very smart. It's simply waiting for you to go slow.

 

When you wake up in the morning, slowly emerging from a black pool of light, you're quickly overtaken by the rush of society. You can feel it! You find yourself being poked, prodded, provoked, insulted, nibbled to death by ducks, and variously tossed and turned in a turbulent world. You quickly lose your attention, your awareness, and your consciousness. People provoke you because it's free. Why not make them pay? The way out is to learn a few new things, and go slow.

 

Verbal tools let you take a step back.

[Passion]

[Symbol]

[Denial]

[Transformation]

fear

earth

compliance

care

hurt

wind

phoniness

warmth

anger

fire

criticism

attention

hatred

ice

ignoring

realization

murder

light

confinement

understanding

tension

pearl

disease

pool of inner light

ambition

water

loneliness

rest, dreams, honey

addiction

cave

neglect

love, nourishment

regression

stick

violence

sex, playfulness

   
         
 

 
         
   
 

"What good are friends?"
—There's hope.
—This is a new one ... They're all jerks, rats and scum! ... They have all these cute things to say ... I love farting! It's privacy's friend ... Don't get sucked in!

   
 

"Are you kidding me? – Are you serious?"
—Very mysterious.
—It's hard.

   
 

"You need to find new friends."
Clean slate!
—As long as it's not you.

   
 

"What's new, Richard?"
—Nothing fancy.
—Especially for people who are living by the skin of their teeth.

   
 

"It's too bad you lost your job at IBM."
—Oh, actually?
—It's the people who stay in the monastery who get into trouble.

   
 

"Get to work!"
Far superior.
—Are we tearing a herring?

   
 

"Hey, asshole, do you know what time it is?"
—Hardly ever.
—I don't even look at it, sweetie ... Every year you get a little less, sweetie.

   
 

"Don't work too hard!"
—Sure, boss!
—That's all you can do is just keep hammering away – I'm a stagehand.

   
 

"So what else is new?"
—So WHAT?
—I know it hasn't cast its spell on you.

   
 

"Stay out of trouble now."
—By moonlight.
—It's hard enough having Nature poking at you.

   
 

"Oh, you are in trouble now — You are so busted!"
—Someone might.
—Everything you can think of.

   
 

"Rat!"
—Says who?
—Oink! Oink! Oink! I like this game ... What am I now?

   
 

«Words associated with self defense»
—Very little.
—A little every day adds up to a lot.

   
 

"The elephant in the room no one talks about."
—Totally unhelpful.
—If you work in an office in LA, you've seen dumbness to its depths.

   
 

"What number are you for?" [From a complete stranger coming out of a large apartment building]
—Totally unhelpful.
—I'm a high school dropout – I don't do questions.

   
 

"You don't read newspapers no more?"
—Do less.
—It's not going to hurt you – Millions of dead fish.

   
 

"That's not good." [Mechanical, insincere banter]
—I'm adjusting.
—I have a window over my ass ... and a light in the window.

   
 

"I'll put that in my notebook and never forget it." [Theatrically telling everyone what she's going to do with the sticker I gave her]
—How come?
Do your worst!

   
 

«Verbal defence for introvert»
—Thank you!
—Beyond that.

   
 

"You talk funny." [One five-year-old boy to another]
—Oh, actually?
—It's different every day.

   
 

"I hope that works out for you."
Beyond that.
—You lay low and hold on to your money.

   
 

"Be good! – See you Monday."
—Can't miss.
—I'm out of the woods.