Sunday, March 21, 2010

Commonalities

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I. Navel Gazing

Lots of juicy comments lately: thank you!
Annika, for instance, wrote a most wonderful comment on the subject of trying to find comonality (on the post Contact).
Since it gives me an excuse to post a photo of the topless Captain Kirk, which I know Annika would approve, I'm cut-and-pasting part of her comment here:

"The [Orwell] episode with the prisoner and the puddle reminded me of something else: belly buttons.

"This anatomical detail makes me feel instantly connected to another being,
reminds me that we're basically the same kind.
I've noticed the feeling when a stranger, or a person I don't like,
stretches so that his shirt reveals his navel - I suddenly feel a kind of tenderness.

"I've noticed it when seeing a dolphin turning onto its back,
showing not only the hint of a belly button, but also a human-looking six-pack around it.
I've even noticed it when looking at a little tin figurine of a minotaur.
Funny."

[end of Annika's comment]

II. Tribes

This also applies to the question in the post below: What's your tribe?
How far out can we go before we lose the awareness, "This being is like me?"
How much might/could this awareness--or the cultivation of it--foster compassion toward other beings?

And, speaking of good commenters, Margaret sent me a picture relating to the Tribe of Readers. I added it to the post below, but it's so good--and iillustrates a similarity I had noticed too--I'm pulling it out and posting it here again:

12 comments:

  1. my purpose in life is becoming my real me..and found out that's very difficult.....
    springkiss
    ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬
    ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬
    ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫
    ♩ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♪♬

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  2. Hi, Yvette!

    Me too!
    I just saw a funny quote about that, from Oscar Wilde:

    "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

    Tra la! Tra la! HAPPY happy spring!

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  3. Okay, first off, I'm suffering from major envy not having seen a dolphin turn on its back...Well, maybe I will someday (attempt to get hold of self). I like the idea of Hillary Clinton as Spock. Well, you know...probably neither of them makes the best cookies. I love the Oscar Wilde quote, didn't know it.

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  4. Actually, despite the reversal of hierarchy,
    I think Hillary is Kirk (the blonde, hawkish, emotional one) and Barack is Spock (the dark, aloof, rational one).

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  5. I need to start a new blog of my own just for rhapsodizing on themes I've found in yours. But it's late, so I'll focus on the important things:

    1. Introductory image can consider itself approved of.

    2. Your post about people reading made me think of Kirk and Spock reading Mad Magazine, too! How great that somebody else had the same association - talk about commonality!

    3. Your suggestion of the navel as a starship symbol made me think about the spiral shape on the Engineering insignia.

    Now, to sleep - I've been moving stuff all day and can't remember the last time I felt this exhausted. Good night!

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  6. My god. Never thought of that before: Hillary is Kirk. Barack is Spock. I wonder if there is a Kirk/Spock dynamic between most who work together in positions of leadership.

    The Captain's face in that glamorous shot cracks me up. The slight ripple of the forehead, the carelessly slanted eyebrows, the parted mouth....oh, he knows he looks good, he knows. What a peach!

    Suddenly, I'm feeling consciously giddy about having a belly button.

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  7. Those are the finest photo juxtapositions I have seen all day!

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  8. ANNIKA: I sure miss you blogging, but you can leave comments here in the meantime!

    MARGARET: A peach he is. : )

    KARLA: You can imagine, I was amazed I could find a pic of Kirk in dolphin pose.

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  9. What's the camera or phaser or whatever strapped to the dolphin? Is this one of those trained military dolphins? What most struck me about this photo was the look of dolphin as Agent 007.

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  10. BInk: Well, I didn't like to say, but yes, the dolphin is in training for Starfleet...
    (Yes, you're right---it really is a military thing.)

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  11. iloveyoumauralynchMarch 22, 2010 at 9:26 PM

    I've no doubt Hillary and Barack are looking at some photo(s) of one of his girls on his blackberry. It is so totally the look of a proud and happy father, pleased as punch with his little girl who's probably cutting up in some way that just makes him like butta in her hands, a position he wouldn't trade for all the healthcare in america!

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  12. You know, MAURA, I wondered too if it might be pix of kids. Though would SHE look so delighted?
    I think they're looking at world leaders in their skivvies...

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