Meditation for November 25th
Tugboat Willy Versus The Silent Movie
There are three ways a person thinks. The first, the more popular way to think, is just an open-mouth breathing selfish organism. The only thoughts going through your head is what to eat next. Your whole being is just making sure you remember to breathe. This is how most people think.
The other two ways of thinking are Tugboat Willy and the Silent Movie.
The Tugboat Willy is a repetitive cartoon mouse, whistling to a world that chooses to ignore the complete darkness that haunts every person’s soul. Emotions are what the music is. You tap your foot or sway your hips to a soundless song that is a wall between you and the abyss.
Seeing and believing the world to be a cartoon full of anthropomorphism and silly jazz and classical music makes it hard to feel empathy or compassion when it would be hilarious for an anvil to fall from the sky and land on a crying woman.
In this world of animation, everyone hears the same music and must bop and whistle to it. If you aren’t in this world, you can see those who are by the way they sway to a different beat. If you aren’t in this world, the Tugboat Willy will believe you are anyway.
You walk a fine line between creative brilliance and suicidal mania.
The Silent Movie type sees the world in exaggerated emotional responses. Everything is drama. Everything is the end of the world. Everything is close ups. The world won’t or can’t understand you, so you have to act it out for them. People might say they’ve been through what you have, but you will only notice the differences.
You can’t just be disappointed; you have to throw yourself to the ground and wail about the injustice of man. You will have to make a monologue. In the age of social media, you have to post a vague statement to get the interest of the world. The mystery draws them in, right?
The Silent Movie actor must squeeze meaning out of everything. Even if it is empty and meaningless, the actor will resort to dishonesty to find some purpose in being the center of attention.
When someone dies, the Silent Movie type will have to ensure that the attention is still on them. They will be the deceases best friend, the last one to talk to the person, tell stories of how good they were to the deceased, or any number of methods to make the death about them.
If you are the Silent Movie actor, then you must always have a close-up. Your eyes must always be dewy, and there needs to be a halo of light around your hair.
The rest of you will not understand this meditation and will suddenly be sitting there with no thoughts but the sound of your mouth breathing.
Prayer
Steamboat WIllie
Please help me never to stop bopping to your crazy jazz
Keep me dancing with the skeletons
And waltzing with the clown
Please don’t make me see color
Or a musicless and non-dancing world
Amen
Glora Swanson
We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!
I am big. It’s the pictures that got small
The stars are ageless, aren’t they?
I can say anything I want with my eyes
There aren’t any faces like that anymore. Maybe one – Garbo
You know, this floor used to be wood. But I had it changed. Valentino said there’s nothing like tile for a tango
They have? Tell Mr. DeMille I’ll be on the set at once
All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up
Amen
Craft
Next time you have a tough day, sit down with a piece of paper and just free-write. Whatever comes to mind, jot it down. As the words unfold on the page, you will know what kind of thinker you are. Was it just weird and goofy, because that might mean you’re a Steamboat Willie thinker. If you are writing about how dramatic and complicated your life is, then you might be the silent movie thinker. If you have a hard time writing something down, then you might be a mouth breather.
Goal
It’s okay to think about goofy shit and being theatrical to express ourselves.