William James on laying it down

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

I don’t know why i am moved to share this which I discovered while looking through my notes for my novel, but here it is.

William James said somewhere:

The transition from tenseness, self-responsibility, and worry, to equanimity, receptivity, and peace, is the most wonderful of all those shiftings of inner equilibrium, those changes of the personal center of energy, which I have analyzed so often; and the chief wonder of it is that it so often comes about, not by doing, but by simply relaxing and throwing the burden down.

Guidelines

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

I was the “mystery guest” tonight at the last Guidelines of the year at The Monroe Institute, and it was one of the best if not THE best groups I have ever spoken to. Had a great time, sold some Rita’s World and Rita’s World Vol II and Sphere and Hologram books, got to do a little healing work as well.

As the guys upstairs always said, the better the questions, the better the answers, and we had some really great questions this time. What I said in reply seemed to resonate, as well.

Three of the participants were from Portugal, in the process of setting up a TMI branch there. They invited me to come to talk when they get set up, and at first I said no, I don’t travel much any more, and then I thought, you know what, maybe I will. My sister liked Portugal very much, and of course from Portugal it’s only a short hop to Madrid and El Prado. You never know.

If there is anything more satisfying that knowing something and being able to help others by what you know, I cant think what it might be. I wish I could talk to a Guidelines group every month. What fun!

18 months

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

Not that it’s any world-shaking landmark, but I see that today makes 18 months since I moved into this townhouse. In March, 2015, I was in the midst of receiving the material that became Rita’s World, Vol. II, and I wondered if the disruption of my routines would interfere with my connection. No fear! These 18 months have been as productive as any I have experienced.

On Sunday March 22nd, when I had been in the new house only one full day, I had an early-morning chat with Rita and she suggested that we use my situation as metaphor:

R: I was thinking about your move, with its attendant disorganization, as metaphor. If you want to move, you must be willing to pack up whatever you will bring with you, and carry it, in one way or another, and then blend those possessions into your new unfamiliar surroundings. The life you resume leading may be as near identical to the old one as you can manage, or may be as different as you can manage, or anywhere between the extremes, but one thing is sure; it will not be identical with the former life because your new environment will not be the same, and everything will interact with it in ways obvious or not. This, just as any relationship with people will change if either of the two change.

But isn’t it just precisely what you want, change? And of course, Frank, I’m not speaking only to you. You can’t want to change – or, no, let me put it another way, to avoid possible misunderstanding. Change involves change. You can’t change without changing. You know the line from John Nelson’s book.

Continue reading 18 months

What Colin Wilson’s work meant to me

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

I just finished reading Gary Lachman’s thoroughgoing and evocative study of Colin Wilson’s life, Beyond the Robot, and I thought, I need to say something about what Colin’s work meant to me, but what. So I sat down with my journal and asked.

Colin: Come, Frank you always knew why I was important to you. Use the message from TGU in Muddy Tracks for your blog and Facebook.

And I thought: Of course: I’d sort of forgotten about that, over the years. I have little doubt that what Colin did for me – basically, give me a believable reason to hope—he did for many, many others.

So here is an excerpt from chapter one. I omit quotation marks: all the rest of this entry is a quote.

Continue reading What Colin Wilson’s work meant to me

Colin and Rita

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

As I wait to receive my copies of Rita’s World, Vol. II, I continue reading Gary Lachman’s book about Colin Wilson. How I wish he were still here, able to read it! I know he would, because as someone said of Hemingway, Colin read everything. And if he had read it, he would have given me his candid opinion of it, which might or might not have shed light on the subject, but would very likely have shed light on Colin’s position, and on my own.

Colin, for 25 years before we met, was my literary and – shall we call it developmental? – idol. Then once we finally met in 1995, we recognized each other as kindred spirits. We became friends, and then – strange bounce! – he became one of my authors. (I remember thinking, “I never dreamed that I would ever become Colin Wilson’s editor!”)

In the years before Colin got email, he and I used to exchange letters by transatlantic fax. (Most of his earliest letters have faded to illegibility, to my distress.) We were affectionate friends from first sight, and that never changed. But our correspondence made it clear that intellectually, we touched only in certain places. In some ways we saw the world very differently. Beyond the Robot brings back the differences, and makes me wish all the more that he were still here to see the non-3D world described as Rita described it to me last year.

It would be churlish to begrudge the blessings that were withheld, in light of the blessings that were bestowed. Friendship is always a privilege. This one was a once-in-a-lifetime gift, well remembered.