Riding the Tiger’s Back… and fall

This comes from a Chinese idiom : “Riding on the back of a tiger and finding it hard to get off” : someone is stuck in a difficult position and has no way out.

Once you start riding the tiger you can’t voluntarily get off or you will be eaten ! Let’s find it fascinating for many reasons…

• It’s a tiger, dangerous and maybe powerful. So you can choose to STAY on the back of the tiger, and try to master it, or tame it (well, you can try…). You’ll fail, though, almost evidently.
•  You probably chose to ride the tiger : why ? Are you crazy ? In despair ?
•  There are colors on this picture : sarcasm probably, including auto-sarcasm (“haha, you’re stuck, you idiot”), fear, resignation, fatality !
• Illusion of power, with the secret inconscient knowledge that it’s a fake power or a dangerous one.
•  It’s maybe a story of destruction : choosing to climb the back of the tiger creates a situation which will force you to change something.
•  Jump and be eaten OR Kill the tiger yourself OR “use it” until someone understands…
•  When someone understands that you’re stuck, he can kill the tiger, or you, or both.
•  When the tiger’s dead, this person will cuddle you in love and will forgive you for having invented this stupid tiger. “Why did you do that, silly !?”
• Or not. So there.

This is linked to the concept of the Wrong Way Up – of course : it is often a wrong and dangerous solution to climb on the back of the tiger. But sometimes of course you have no choice (which, from the inside of you, is called nihilism).

If you have examples, write to me : jeanpascal@wanadoo.fr – love ? job ? military ?

Tool/Lever/Dial : Play with dynamite, smart little man, invent a tiger situation and climb on the back of it – you probably have to. Don’t lament you’re dead and eaten, as a consequence. Wrong way up is wrong. The idioms says : there’s no way back. Don’t expect forgiveness.

Fun of Classifying Personalities

#lilith #movie #blackandwhite

Think how funny it is to find yourself in a classification. En Astrologie, you have 12 boxes. Each sign has characteristics. If you’re a Pisces you are a dreamer, Gemini is fast, Cancer sensible, Taurus slow, etc. You can spend your whole life studying that, or just be funny casual about it, or lazy too : this is a good way to accept your own faults and flaws, no ?

There are many other tools in psychology, helping us to understand who we are, Enneagrams or MBTI, for example. Maybe you’re a leader, or a diplomat, an introvert, an observer, etc. It can be a good way to know yourself, some people around you, a group you’re managing, etc.

One day, you meet another classification, and you’re ready to have fun to put people in boxes ! I just realised that the “mental disorders classification” can be one.

And I would say : OMG ! In French : Oh la laaaa !

Do you have Dependent Personality Disorder Symptoms ?

“Dependent personality disorder is characterized by a long-standing need for the person to be taken care of and a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life.”

Do you have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Symptoms ?

Are you obsessed by order, rules ? Do you have superstitions about signs and numbers ? Do you fear to lose control ? Focus on moral ideas and rules ? Do you organize to the level of perfectionism ? Do you obsessively dissect your relationships with friends ?

See me coming ? You see ? Of couuuurse you’re not that a sicko-weirdo ! But, well, maybe a little, non ?

Dials : Have fun in classifications. Find your dials. Watch yourself and grow and evolve… or smile and be lazy with “I’m like that, that’s me !”.

Tool : All these classifications are useful because they invite you to have empathy. We all do what we can, after all. On fait tous ce qu’on peut…

Jungle Syndrome of Mahler, Proust, Marx

I call “Jungle Syndrome” the feeling you have in front of the big-size-map of some masterpieces (or so-called), or artworks. I chose three examples : Mahler, Proust, and Marx. You can add anything you want : French Revolution, American Civil War, Napoleon, Italian Renaissance, ou alors tout Picasso.

Something, in these, is “too much”. Trop complexe, too rich, too interesting, too big. You pick a leaf, then you have a tree, a forest, a universe. Gasp !

I tried many times to explore Mahler‘s music. The last time I’ve been very persistent, reading about him and his life, watching concerts, listening to different versions of the symphonies. And hooo : it’s too big for me, too complex. 9 long symphonies…

Proust is the same. Thousands of RICH pages. Each page contains style ideas, it’s gorgeous, interesting, full of ideas and subtilities. And it’s lonnnng.

It becomes, each time, a strange weave between boredom and fascination (oui, c’est possible !), as if you could really guess that there are treasures and marvels to discover if you insisted. Efforts necessary, this time ? Yes.

Each time, I let it go. I did !

I did not try Marx, and just a little Picasso. These can keep you busy for YEARS !

You can give up. You will. But you can keep exploring, as well. Just to see what happens. Persistence.

This month I was trying to explain Proust to a friend. So I chose a random page and I began to read. The style was gorgeous, and the idea expressed in this single page let us floored in awe. It sparkled in the conversation. It triggered a urging desire to go on with Proust.

A few months ago I listened to Mahler a lot. This was exhausting for my ears, even if they are trained to listen to classical music. But I insisted, because I was amazed by the beauty of some moments. I was like in front of a complex architecture, trying to find a door.

I found one, then another one, then a movement, then… I kept finding gold nuggets.

Tools : In somes cases, even if it seems complicated, “too much” something, you feel it’s worth it, insist, be persistent. There’s gold, tons of gold : you maybe have to keep digging and find your own doors, find your gold.

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