The Problem with New Age Philosophy

The Problem with New Age Philosophy

First of all…it’s not that different from old time religion−sometimes just the words change, not the sentiments.

Secondly, it is completely ridiculous that “you create your own reality.”

Oh you can create your own reality. If you know stealing a car is wrong, you can create an arrest and trial and jail time for yourself.

It’s the old theory of “facing the consequences.”

But let’s take a look at how people can manifest their health and prosperity and any other benefit they want in live.

To create your reality, you have to pick the right parents, be born in the right era and correct geographical location. You have to have immunizations and good nutrition (so look out if you’re born in a poverty stricken country like India or an African nation and are one of the lower classes.)

Your education helps, so you have to create some books and some schools (so you’d have to create a bunch of abundance for your country in case they don’t have any funds or don’t even care about reading and writing, let alone arithmetic.

Then, let’s see, assuming you didn’t make a mistake and were born in a war torn country and happened to get blasted to smithereens before you reached your tenth birthday, you can consider a “career” and how you can make a living in whatever environment you live in.

Of course, if you’re lucky to be an African girl you might run into some luck and meet Oprah who will fund your school, or a trip to American for higher education, and hopefully a family to stay with while you learn English and get a higher degree. Of course, you’ll want to return to your poor country and help provide education for other kids who were in a different boat than the boat you were in. (This is slang, look it up.)

Now, if you happen to reach adulthood with all your faculties and limbs in a more prosperous country like America, you can get a job and start earning money so you can “create” a prosperous life for yourself and your spouse and any kids you might create along the way.

You can probably create an education for yourself, a higher education if you know how to borrow and/or those parents you picked were well-off and agreed to fund your college degree and support you while you studied. For those of you who aren’t as lucky, well, the school of hard knocks is still available.

You can then create the wealthy lifestyle you desire from your spiritual inspiration, aggressive affirmations and your deep seated belief that you deserve to be rich.

None of the slogans of the New Age “create-your-own-reality” philosophy means diddlysquat unless you put the damn things into action. You have to DO SOMETHING. Usually, the same things human beings have been doing since the beginning of time in one way or another.

Praying, affirming, believing don’t work unless you add an action step and are willing to go out there into the world, face hardships and frightening experiences, handle rough and tumble learning and advance in the manifest world the best way you know how (and learn a few new tricks at the same time) in order to make something happen.

We can all pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. Abraham Lincoln did it. So can we. That’s not new thought or new age. That’s pretty old stuff.

Sitting around a candle chanting affirmations and new age slogans isn’t going to make it happen.

The truth is, there is only one reality. That reality is God − by whatever name you want to call him or her. Spirit. Universal Mind. Divine Being. Source. Father. Jehovah. Jesus. Allah. Whatever. This is not meant to exclude the non-church people and the scientists and humanists. You have your own names for outside influences or inner strength and personal power.

If there is only one reality, we are allowed to select our own perception of that one reality. We can see the glass either half full or half empty. We can look on the bright side, believe that every dark cloud has its silver lining, and Go for It! Nothing new there, just new words for the same old motivational stuff peppered with a more secular faith or mystical spirituality.

For an example:

“Take responsibility for your feelings. No one can hurt you unless you let them.”

Yeah, you have that ability. If someone hurts your feelings, you can choose not to feel it. Then again, you don’t have to be brainwashed into thinking rude, mean people are not responsible for being unkind especially when they then try to blame you for your natural reaction of hurt feelings and anger.

You have the right to feel hurt and get angry, sometimes you can’t help it, it’s a natural response built into our mind and body (think how much choice you have when someone cuts you off in traffic and scares the pants off you. Do you really think you can tell your heart not to beat faster and your hands not to shake on the steering wheel after you realize you almost bit the dust?)

You have the right to ask for an apology and then the right to help yourself get over it whether the clouts apologize or not. You have the right to forgive them if you want to, and forget the whole thing if you want to. You also have the right to confront them and argue it out until they see your point. Then you have the right to give up if they don’t come around. You have the right to say, “The heck with ‘em. I’ll be happy without them,” and continue on your merry way.

Your feelings about things are not all your responsibility. “Tit for tat.” (An old slogan, whatever it means.) People do bad things. We don’t have to apologize for declaring that those bad things are just downright wrong.

If people allow themselves to do whatever they want regardless of the effect it has, they really do owe it to others to grant them the same freedom, too. So you probably have the right to be mean back to them. It probably won’t make you feel better, but by their standards it’s not wrong. Except, they have double standards. Abusers rarely believe anyone has the right to throw something back in their faces.

The really mean guys probably won’t see the reality of it because they are too damn mean to see it, so don’t hold your breath if they don’t take responsibility and apologize. If they refuse to apologize by saying, “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” remember that’s the same excuse a pedophile uses to get away with molesting little kids.

~~
AND, if they won’t stop hurting you and continue with the abuse, you have the obligation to yourself to get out of range and not let them do that anymore. You don’t have to teach them how to be nice, you just need to be true to yourself and your own survival and happiness.

If you don’t know how, ask somebody. While you are working on your emotions to forgive them GET HELP.

(To my writer friends, sorry for the clichés but they seem to fit the bill in this discussion here.)

Thanks, Sandy

Sobriety

Sobriety, however it comes to someone -- alcoholic or not -- is always by the grace of God.

But God can only do for us, what we are willing to accept and use. God can use more than one method to bring us to a point where we are willing to learn and willing to try whatever we can to escape the suffering of alcoholism.

Everyone has a different experience how they were given the miracle and gift of sobriety. This in no way lessens anyone else's experience of God and a plan for sobriety.

I would not like to see AA limited to only Christians or even believers. Many who are sick and suffering don't believe in anything until they come to a 12-Step program or some other God-given program and accept the help. Then they can, perhaps, recognize the Divine in their own way.

For instance, someone who says AA "didn't work" for them but finding Jesus or Buddha or Jehovah did work to create sobriety and a new life--to me that is the same thing in different words.

Turning ones will and life over to the care of a Higher Power, means surrendering to God (or Christ, or any other expression of the Divine) and stopping trying to work it out on the ego level.

It's like surrendering to the sun for light instead of insisting on using a candle & trying to do something all by yourself. (And if someone can do that, do it alone, that's great, too.)

Sobriety is a miracle and a gift. But we have to accept our gifts since God will never take away our free will. (By the way, free will and suffering may be the shortest distance to finding a lasting spiritual path.)

A lot of it is semantics (words) -- i.e., calling the same phenomenon and spiritual experience by different names. There is really no difference between "turning your life over to a Higher Power" and being "born again" or "saved" or "enlightened" etc. The point is everyone can surrender to the divine powers.

God would not turn anyone aside because they didn't call him by the correct name. God is pure love and joy and willingly helps "his children" to help each other and themselves through their experience and sharing.

My new photo album on-line!!!

See my albums of Egyptian Museum in San Jose, CA March 2007
and along the coast of the Pacific April 2007
www.sandyschairer.myphotoalbum.com

A beautiful Fall picture

Photo by my brother Ted Clarke in Michigan

Queen of Everything

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 (original post)

Queen of Everything

I would like to introduce you to one of my best friends, known as Queen of Everything. She received the nickname when she won the prestigious Parris Award from SouthWest Writers for the most active volunteer to the organization.

She is a poet and a retired teacher with a Ph.D. in literature. She is the author of Wishes in the Wind a book of her poetry published by Grandma Tree publishing.

She is an active member, still, in SouthWest Writers. She is also the unofficial leader of the lunch and birthday group made up of SWW writers that socialize a couple times per month or more, outside of SWW gatherings. She has been chair of the contests, the conferences, the Policies and Procedures, the Bylaws, and is still a member of the Board of Directors executive committee.

She also writes romantic suspense and is a long time member of Romance Writers of American and local chapter Land of Enchantment Romance Authors. She is currently looking for a publisher for her novels/an or an agent. If you would like to meet with her regarding publishing her books, please let me know!!!

She has helped encourage and education many aspiring writers, myself included, and she is very much beloved by her friends. Isn't she beautiful?

If you want more information on how to contact her or about her poetry/Wishes in the Wind, please write to me through this blog.

Thanks, Sandy S, Author/Writer

Posted by Sandy at 10:46 AM 0 comments

Not So Anonymous Anymore If I Can Help Someone

Monday, March 19, 2007

About The 12-Steps

Dear All,

I have a dear friend that I have known for over ten years. He was born about the time I was graduating from high school, so I have to admit I am old enough to be his mother.

I met him at A Course in Miracles discussion group. At the time he found showed up at the ACIM group, I was the only member of the group that actually came anymore. So I called everyone and assembled a fairly large group again so that this new friend might be part of it.

Later, when he had bouts of emotional distress, unemployment, depression, unreasonable anger, and suicidal thoughts, he assumed that the world (including me sometimes) were criticizing him and laughing at him and forces in the world were somehow preventing him from having a successful life. However, I stayed his friend and waited until he dealt with those things and so our friendship continued, mostly on e-mail in the last couple years.

What happened was that after I found help at a University Hospital Mental Health Clinic for one of my sons several years ago, got him a social security disability and mental health counseling and free medications (which he later decided to walk away from--my son's schizophrenic) my friend was watching closely -- not saying a word.

Much later, my friend thanked me for "showing" him that this type of help was possible and that he had taken advantage of it and gone for help. I was amazed and glad for him. After he moved out of state, he continued to do well for himself and continued with the federal programs and some state assistance for expenses and medical care.

I just emailed him a few weeks ago that he sure had made a lot of progress in the past few years, and he agreed.

Recently, though, he had some sort of flashback, I guess. Started out raging against an irritation in his environment (excessive noise at his apartment complex) and then went from extreme anger into unreasonable and severe depression. I was aware that he'd gone through this type of set-back before, and I was really concerned for his health and safety. I thought maybe his medications could be to blame or they were becoming ineffective, so I called him and urged him to call his doctor or the pharmacist and let them know how he was feeling, and that he (nor anyone!) should have to suffer from what he was going through!

[Incidentally, several years ago there was a scare that antidepressants could "cause "sudden suicidal thoughts. In fact, when I took anti-depressants for 10 months or so during the time I was having a some depression (probably related to change of life issues) I distinctly saw the warning on the pharmacy paperwork for that medication that said if you have sudden feelings of suicide LET SOMEONE KNOW, GET HELP, CALL YOUR DOCTOR. Even though the drug companies continue to deny it, a few people are still committing suicide while on anti-depressants. If it's only ONE person, that's too many, in my opinion.]

My friend didn't want to talk on the phone, so I just told him I cared about him and wanted him to take care of himself. This is what friends do and say when a friend is facing an emotional crisis. Care. Urge them to get help. Right? It's a normal and natural reaction. I didn't try to meddle or tell him what I thought was wrong, just asked him to call his doctor and have his medications checked. (I am no longer suffering the Alanon and Codependency symptoms of having to "fix" or "save" everyone! I have genuinely learned how to care about and to how help people, and have spent time as a home health aide and a hospice worker. I have a Ph.D. in holistic health for goshsakes!) I still believe in LIVE AND LET LIVE. Only, with another L: LOVE.)

Later that week, when I was thinking about my friend and wondering how he was doing, I realized that he seemed to have a lot of "symptoms" similar to the AA's and Alanon's that I have know, myself included. Even though my friend doesn't drink or take illegal drugs, he had a difficult childhood which is what Codependents are. So I sent him some information about Codependents Anonymous and the 12-Steps. I have always considered Alanon and AA to be "self-help" programs for very unique and independent people. It was sort of a "take-it or leave-it" message.

But the truth is, I think the 12-Steps are miraculous. I and countless others owe our continued survival and our sanity and our ability to live in the world now, to the 12-Steps programs. I still have relatives, a few of my sons included, that could use the 12-Steps but they haven't "hit bottom" yet, so the 12-step programs have been unable to help them yet. The 12-Steps sure are continuing to help me get through my sons' addictions and alcoholism and mental illnesses.

When I finally admitted I needed some help more than 33 years ago, I didn't turn to my parents to "fix" me or expect my spouse(s) and friends to put up with me acting crazy and depressed. (Well, maybe I could have spared my kids a lot of my early misery...)

No, by some coincidence, I found out about the 12-Steps and went to Alanon and a few years later to into the AA Program. I celebrated 31-years of sobriety of Feb. 14th. I'm not bragging. I'm grateful.

A coincidence is, you know, a minor miracle in which God wishes to remain anonymous.

The 12-Step program is a spiritual program, not religious, and not psychology but a program of recovery for the people that want it. Those who want to trade in their misery. (They also assure you, if you don't like the program, your misery will be refunded. Not funny.)

Most alcoholics/addicts would not be insulted if you call them alcoholics or addicts even sober or clean. In fact, you can call us just about any name in the book, and we will heartily agree. We were definitely those miserable types of things and more.

In the 12-Steps we learned to become teachable, became willing to change and be changed (important difference) and also became willing to turn our lives over to something greater than ourselves (in some cases the individual AA or NA or Alanon group, more often a Higher Divine Power some call God, or sometimes GOD just means Good Orderly Direction.) But through the 12-Steps and the Grace of God, we began a lifetime of recovery and discovered a life worth living again. Not just to be of service to others, but to learn to love everyone even ourselves!

So here is what I offer anyone who stumbles on this blog and relates to some of the listed characteristics and wants to find a way out of their misery. It works, if you work it.

Blessed be, Sandy

Alcoholic/Addict Personality Traits (that also include some Codependents)-- taken from the internet.

To gain insight, consider carefully this commonly accepted list of personality traits found in the Alcoholic/Addict person. These are characteristics that occur in normal people, but in the Alcoholic/Addict are exaggerated and uncontrolled. These things render Alcoholic/Addicts incapable of being at peace.

Low Frustration and Tolerance seems to be the most consistent trait. This is the inability to endure, for any length of time, any uncomfortable circumstances or feeling. The Alcoholic/Addict is impatient.

Anxiety that state which seems to exist in all people, exists in an exaggerated way in Alcoholic/Addict persons. They are subject to nameless dreads and fears. This anxiety drives Alcoholic/Addicts and Alcoholic/Addicts to "fight or flight". Sometimes this is called free-floating anxiety.

Grandiosity is worn as a protective amour to hide feelings of low self-esteem. In reality, although Alcoholic/Addicts nourish an inflated image of themselves, their deep conviction is one of self-worthlessness.

Perfectionism sets impossible goals with inevitable failures and resultant guilt. The Alcoholic/Addict is an idealist. This idealism may be one of the reasons for success after recovery. They can be exceptionally fine workers once the illness has been arrested and after the perfectionism has been reduced to reasonable proportions.

Justification Alcoholic/Addicts are masters at this. Justification is the science of arranging to do what we want to do, then making it appear reasonable.

Isolation and deep insecurity deprive the Alcoholic/Addict of the real generosity needed to make close and enduring friendships. They become loners.

Sensitivity exaggerates all the unpleasant interpersonal relationships experienced by the Alcoholic/Addict person. This inevitably produces extreme resentment.

Impulsiveness "I want what I want when I want it." This is probably related to a low frustration tolerance. In some ways the Alcoholic/Addict takes pride in this impulsiveness, as though it were a valuable asset.

The Alcoholic/Addict can't seem to enjoy a job or task and long before completion is already moving on to something else.

Defiance is a common response to society as a whole, whether the Alcoholic/Addict is under the influence of a mind-altering substance or not. This is associated with a feeling that one does not fit, exactly, into society.

The 12 Steps (click on the highlighted words for more information.)

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol/drugs/people, places and things - that our lives had become unmanageable
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

For My Movie Review BLOG

Please go to www.sandy-schairer.blogspot.com for my movie review blog.

Thanks, Sandy

IN SUPPORT OF SUPPORT

In Support of Support

The various groups to which we belong can be considered, in today’s vernacular, “support groups.” In our writers’ group—our local chapter of RWA Land of Enchantment Romance Authors—we receive education, information, and encouragement individually and as a group, as well as the opportunity to extend these benefits to others. In this way, group affiliation illustrates the axiom, “What goes around, comes around.”

In her book Truth or Dare, Starhawk (Miriam Simos, Harper San Francisco, 1987) says “What a group does, says, believes, and how it makes decisions determine the way people within a group will interact.” In LERA we have an opportunity to share our individual progress and/or successes at every meeting, we add these successes to our monthly newsletter Lyrics, and we list our published authors—complete with photos and cover illustrations—annually in Lyrics. This creates a sense of accomplishment for the chapter as a whole as we celebrate each others successes. As each member shines in the greater community, the group also benefits.

Though LERA’s writers are not all writing romance, the writers who continue to write, to publish and develop a personal style all learn about writing from chapter meetings and publications, and benefit from the mutual support of the organization, including individual members. A close bond of friendship, even a feeling of “family”, has been created over the years.

Because we espouse the romance genre in particular, we are perhaps familiar with the earlier misunderstandings and prejudices that accompanied the romance genre. As we all know, romance is now the most popular genre in the world accounting for over 60% of the literary market. Dealing with these past stigmas and challenges, however, has made us more understanding of the challenges of other genres. LERA members are active in all sub-genres of romance including short stories and erotica, as well as non-fiction books and articles, mystery, e-books, screenplays, children’s books, and poetry.

Part of a writing career includes the challenge of marketing, so being a member of a strong writing organization such as RWA and a local chapter is an advantage, if not a necessity. Not only do we learn the skills of promotion and marketing to aid in our own writing careers, we give each other the support to meet difficult challenges at every stage of the writing process. We routinely offer speakers presenting topics related to writing and romance monthly, we present annual or biannual conferences, set up critique groups, attend each others books signings, encourage all members to share at meetings, and even attend book fairs as a group whenever possible, doing community outreach and pooling of our marketing resources.

When an author submits a manuscript to a publisher, listing membership in writing organizations carries a good deal of favorable weight. The reason, of course, is that the publisher expects the truism “what goes around, comes around” to come into play. The groups are excellent resources for promotion and marketing. As we support our fellow authors by buying their books, it’s not “selfish” to expect, in turn, this kind of support from our fellow writers. Simply put, if we purchase their books, they will purchase ours.

When we’re supportive of each other during the developmental stages of our writing careers, what better reward than hearing positive feedback from other RWA and LERA members who have purchased, read and enjoyed our books? It would be delicious icing on the cake for them to write a positive review and recommend us to their friends and colleagues. This concept of “turn about is fair play” can be a positive attitude and will work if we all participate in it to the best of our ability.

Romance is usually published in paperback or softcover and now quite often as an electronic download or CD from a web based publisher. The cost is comparable to a glorified cup of coffee and a brownie at Starbucks, or a long-distance phone call to one of our out-of-state relatives. So the “price” of mutual support is not the issue; it’s a matter of support and encouragement to ourselves, our fellow authors, and our writing organization(s.)

We can’t afford to overlook the benefits of belonging to a writers’ group. As part of the value of the education and support we’ve received (and given) we consider it “insurance” to buy our fellow member’s books, confident that they will support us by buying our book(s) when our turn comes to be in the spotlight.

As we gain support through, by and for our writing group such as LERA, the group (as well as the individual member) stands a greater chance of sustainability. As our group supports its primary purpose of encouraging, educating and supporting authors, it will ensure its own continuation. Just as the group values and encourages the diversity of the individuals within it, they, in turn, support the group purpose. In this way the group continues to evolve, grow and improve as it moves into the future, insuring it’s own ability to empower its members, the group itself, and the universal art of the written word.

__________________________________________________________________

My article that appeared in Land of Enchantment Romance Authors local RWA chapter

Lyrics newsletter.

The best "reader" feed-back

I write for love not money. I love my friends. Here's a comment I treasure.
______________________________________

Sandy,
I had no idea you are such a good poet. I love your blog. I laughed and I
cried and I saw your inside. Thank you.
Joanie

More on The Phantom of the Opera

Part IV


An important part of the media, is realizing the power it has over people's minds. Psychologically and even physiologically.

It's a known fact that music with a certain tempo (60 beats per minute) can put a person's mind into a mild state of altered consciousness. It seems to reach the mind at an unconscious or subliminal level, opening up the subconscious (perhaps) for easier absorption of stimuli and information.

If you know this, you can use this type of music to open your creative talents and write more easily from a subconscious level, if you happen to be a composer or an artist for instance.

But I noticed that certain songs from The Phantom of the Opera were subtly programming the minds of some viewers. Whether it was the beat of the music or the over-all emotionality of the movie scene, or a clever arrangement of words, this may explain why so many people were effected by the movie and the music.

Consider the lines in The Phantom of the Opera theme that the Phantom and Christine sing together (number 5 on the official CD.)

The Phantom of the Opera is now inside your/my mind.

So, getting hooked on the movie and the music and even the actor might have been a result of subliminal hypnotism.

They are certainly in my mind!! How about you?

Use the hyperlink on the sidebar to see Gerard Butler's Fan Website.

And use the convenient Amazon icon on my site to find the Phantom of the Opera movies, books, CDs, DVD's etc.

For information about the movie, click on:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293508/

The Phantom of the Opera III

The actor Gerard Butler as he did NOT appear in the movie. He can squeeze my neck anytime!


Continued: Please read Part I and Part II first. Thanks.
~~
Of course, as in all good melodramas, the phantom runs off with the girl, but she's rescued by her true love.

Only there’s a twist in this particular ending. The phantom, after kidnapping her, gives Christine the choice of letting her “lover” live (there was only implied sexual attraction in this movie, no actual sex. As Jack Sparrow said in Dead Man’s Chest, “There will be no “knowing” here.) If she stays with the Phantom, he will not kill her true love Raoul. (If she leaves with Raoul, the Phantom will kill Raoul anyway and maybe her, too. DUH.) I will have to give the heroine credit for having a great deal of intelligence in reasoning this out. In so many movies the characters make the mistake of following their hearts when they know it will lead to their own destruction. People aren’t really that stupid. (Are they?)

Christine, loving Raoul, wants to save him. At the same time, she’s loved the Phantom for years since she was a young orphan. This love isn’t easily tossed away. Her compassion, too, comes into play. She chooses to stay with the Phantom, not only as “a sacrifice” to save Raoul, but she realizes that the Phantom didn’t really intend to be “evil.” He's behaved abominably because he's in dire need of love and approval.

She sings to him, “Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known? God give me courage to show you, you are not alone.” This indicates that Christine’s love is a spiritual love. I believe, against her own better judgment, she had to admit she really did love him even if it is only as one human being loves another with human compassion.

She approaches the fearsome Phantom with his disfigured face just as he becomes exhausted with his own rage and confused desperation. And she kisses him! And he lets her. And he kisses her back.

(The lucky girl has an on-screen kiss with Gerard Butler.)

This kiss is what I didn’t understand in the stage play. In the movie the purpose is obvious. She chooses to show this “evil” man with a “suffering inner child,” compassion and unconditional love.

This is the Phantom’s undoing. You can read it on his face. You can see the battle that’s going on inside of him. The veil is lifted from his dark, twisted understanding…he feels unconditional love coming from Christine—something he has never felt in his entire life not even from himself or from God (whom he’s rejected, not vice versa, I am sure.) And he suddenly realizes that he could have had Christine’s love if he had not been controlling, domineering and murderous. His attitude of jealousy and possessiveness has driven her away! He realizes, too late, he’s ruined his own chances with his own behavior.

Not only that, but his heart is opened at that moment and he feels "real" love—unselfish, true, caring, deep inner love that Christine has shown to him. He can no longer keep her captive at the mercy of his possessive love. He truly loves her unselfishly when he allows her to leave and frees her to go with the man that's best for her, Raoul.

Of course, the Phantom (who never was given name in the movie to make him less than human?) is still caught in habitual self-hatred. With a sudden awareness that he's to blame for all his own misery in life, that it's not his deformity that caused it entirely, and the fact that with his talents and intelligence, he could have overcome his appearance by merely making different choices in life, he smashes the mirrors in horror. (Too bad there weren't 12-step programs back in those days to help set oneself aright, huh? Thank God there is now.)

Can you imagine the towering regret he must have felt when he realized that Christine’s love had been within his reach, and, with his own selfish, hateful ways he prevented himself from having that? It’s heartbreaking. (Reminder to myself: take Kleenexes to the theater on Oct. 28.)

So you see, the millions of women that fell in-love with the Phantom, perhaps were and are the women who have fallen for the “bad boy” in their lives—you know “the suffering child-man" who is his own worst enemy. They're the neediest, most pathetic of men that could be heros if only they would realize it, damn it! We women who have fallen in love with the wrong man, perhaps married him (and reproduced male children with him, for godsake; forgive me, world) and suffered for it, do understand the love for this Phantom character.

We have, like the Phantom, regretted causing our own suffering in life with our own delusions, i.e., thinking that the love of “a good woman” can change a defective man into what he ought to be and what he could be. (Forgetting that what he is and what he chose to be are out of our control and out of his own control, too.)

Most of us realize these things in life too late to fix the past, hopefully not preventing us from going on and having a better future, if we live long enough to become wise. (I know I have and I’m married to a wonderful, regular, ordinary, nice guy, now.)

The ring in the movie symbolizes this revolutionary story resolution perfectly. Raoul gave the ring to Christine as a symbol of their commitment. She's reluctant to wear it on her finger for everyone to see, because she’s afraid to let anyone know, especially the Phantom. Basically no one wants that happiness for her—marriage and family, except Raoul--and she wants to protect her dream. The Phantom wants to own her--body and soul--and the opera house wants to own her career and so keep her single and singing.

The Phantom appears at the masquerade ball where everyone else is attempting to hide behind masks just as he has done his whole life. There he snatches the ring from her. Only he can’t take away the love she has for Raoul—the ring is only a symbol of it. A hollow victory for him.

Later, he gives Christine the very same ring, and insists she wear it as a token of his ownership and love. She puts it on when she acquiesces to his demand she stay with him in the underground lair.

When he releases her, she returns it to him. The Phantom gave it as a show of power over her and as a blow against Raoul’s love for her, but when she gave it back she returns his love. This can be taken two ways—she hands his love back to him (refusing it) or she gives it as a symbol of her continuing love for him.

At the same time, when she gives the ring back, she’s accepting the Phantom's "gift." This is the ultimate gift her can give besides desiring, admiring and loving her--that is: loving her enough to let her go and be happy with Raoul.

At the very end of the movie, the ring turns up on Christine’s grave years and years later. On the same day that the Viscount puts the Phantom's monkey-music-box on her grave (symbolic of his surrender to Christine's love for the Phantom,) the Phantom puts the ring on the grave with his rose. (Red roses symbolize never-ending love.) With this, he shows his surrender to Christine's love for Raoul. Therefore, it's "a gentlemen’s agreement," after the fact, that they both loved her and admitted that she did, indeed, love both of them. (Again Susan Kaye's novel Phantom develops this concept a good deal more.

I have probably put this crudely, but the screenplay was magnificent with symbolism. It has given me much to marvel at over the past year or more.

When a group of individuals band their creative talents and powers into a collaboration and work of art such as this, the work becomes an entity of its own. It has a sum total much, much greater than the individual parts and even the group effort or final product. I believe this story is a genuine modern myth that will become part of our culture for years and years to come.

I would like to see it shown in movie theaters on a regular basis someday, just as The Rocky Horror Picture Show has become a cult movie showing, appearing in theaters for audience participation on Halloween all over the country. The fans of Phantom would LOVE to come to the movies at midnight, dressed as their favorite character and have a chance to sing and celebrate this exceptional phenomenon known as The Phantom of the Opera.

Thank you, all, for reading me. Best Wishes.

The Phantom of the Opera II

The Phantom of the Opera Part II—Warning: Spoiler

Please read the previous post first. Thanks.

Why millions of women fell in love with the Phantom…based on the movie with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Many people disliked the phantom character. Let’s face it, he was a sly, deceitful murderer. He was disfigured and as mean as a hornet with his tail stuck in a screen door. He was also a talented musician and composer. He lived for his music. Until, he fell in-love with Christine. She was half his age, and he came to her as (what she thought of) as The Angel of Music that her father promised to send her from Heaven, when she was a child. (And even if you hated the Phantom, you must admit the performance given by Gerard Butler was superb. Thank you, Gerry!)

Later in the story, the Phantom refers to himself as The Angel in Hell. He was not an angel from Hell—he felt he was in Hell, having suffered all his life for the congenital deformity of his face, which nowadays we could easily correct with modern medical science. In those days, people perhaps believed that God was punishing the mother or the child for something they had “done.” Disfigurements were seen as a negative indication of a defective soul or even being “owned by the devil.” Even today, we believe those who don’t “fit-in” deserve to be teased and/or scorned for things that are obviously not of their own doing. This would echo even racial bias and prejudices that have plagued mankind for most of its existence, hatred of people because of their appearance, i.e., skin color.

The Phantom was an object of fear and hatred just because of his looks. In fiction, stress of physical appearance is indicative of a superficial value system—those who care more for appearances are, if nothing more, missing out on a deeper meaning of life, at least until they get their “Aha!’s.”

The Phantom felt unloved and unwanted, had the passionate soul of a musician, and the innate intelligence and creativity to make him a great composer. In the movie, we are shown a segment of his childhood that attempted to explain a few things, but could easily have been left out of the movie, especially since it does not appear in the original novel by Gaston Leroux. I urge those who see the movie, to ignore this scene if possible, it is not in the screenplay/musical either. A good read about the Phantom's life is Phantom by Susan Kaye.

As I said, Christine thought he was the angel of music, so she took voice lessons from the Phantom, trusting him, though never seeing him, and loving him because she thought her Father sent him (prior to the opening of the movie.) She shares the Phantom’s love of music, which bonds them together. They both have sensitive, artistic souls. (And raging hormones, at least in the movie.)

At the beginning of the movie Christine is a capable singer without an opportunity to show off her talents, actually being in the chorus line as a background dancer, or bit player. The Phantom, because of selfish reasons, plots to have her take center stage as a star. One of the lyricsis Christine singing, “I am the mask you wear,” and the Phantom singing in reply, “It’s ME they hear.” He wants his talents displayed in Christine.

At some point, the Phantom falls madly in-love with his “creation.” Here we have the Pygmalion theme…the artist Pygmalion falls in love with the statue he created in the ancient Greek myth. (This is also the theme of My Fair Lady the musical, too.)

However, as a recluse who hates people as much as they hate him, the phantom suffers from a selfish, possessive, jealous, domineering type of love. In fact, he hasn’t got a clue how to love someone, having never been loved himself. He attempts to control Christine. When the Viscount Raoul, the patron of the opera house, makes his appearance in the story as the good-looking, young, blond tenor, the phantom sings, “He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing,” he realizes that in making Christine’s singing so beautiful, he has basically given her to the Viscount to love. This is just one of the ironies that the Phantom realizes too late for his own salvation.

It is interesting to note that when the Phantom is wearing his mask, he is suave, handsome, elegant, powerful, talented and appears to be have poise and self-esteem. He seems to get a kick out of scaring people, which boosts his own arrogance. (He actually kills a couple of people in cold-blood, unemotionally, in the story, so watch out!) However, when his mask is removed, he reverts back to an almost childish stage of life, a pathetic victim displaying abject misery or overwhelming rage—both extremes of emotion. This would echo the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde symbolism, which has also been done in numerous plays and movies since Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote it. That book was undoubtedly based on a more ancient theme itself.

When the Phantom realizes he's lost Christine to Raoul, he declares “war” on both of them. But his helpless longing and distorted love for Christine will not be eradicated by intention. It basically becomes his downfall. Not because he continues with the "war" but recause his love cannot be escaped…well, let me explain further.

When he forces Christine and the rest of the opera house patrons/staff to put on his opera Don Juan Triumphant, he’s still under the illusion that he's in control of the situation—even though he knows deep inside that he's lost it and/or never really had control over anything. He has the power that he can “create” with fear--and we all know that people (especially in dramas) overcome fear as unfounded and illusory. We all know the tale of the softhearted monster being nothing more than a fake, for example in the Wizard of Oz.

In Don Juan, the Phantom hears Christine singing words of love that he places in her mouth as song lyrics only...so he knows they’re insincere. At this point, Christine has lost all respect for him, knows he's a serious deceiver, murderer, and controlling, over-bearing monster of a person. She's afraid to get close enough to him to allow the authorities to capture him, but does it anyway because she's a pawn in in the opera's and authorities' hands, as well as in the Phantom’s hands. All she wants to do, as many a maiden has desired for eons, is to get out of the spotlight and get married and live happily ever after. This is the theme of nearly every fairy tale ever written.

So, in the middle of this “play within a play” the Phantom’s real desire comes out at the end of his duet with Christine--he sings to her the love song that Raoul sang to her earlier in the story—only his words transmit his true desperation. Instead of singing the words Raoul sang to her about wanting to love her, protect and save her from her solitude…the Phantom sings of his own wild desire for her to love him, be with him, and save him from his solitude. Cleaver reversal by the lyricist!!!

On the verge of being powerfully attracted to him again (which we know is real since the Raoul has tears in his eyes while he watches them,) Christine snatches off the Phantom's mask and reveals his true appearance to the entire opera house. The Phantom was lost in his own fantasy--the delusion that there is a future possible for him and Christine together. He blames her for betraying him, hurt & cut to the quick.

Continued in Phantom of the Opera III. Next blog

Phantom of the Opera Part I

Phantom of the Opera—May Contain Some Spoiler Information

The Phantom of the Opera, original Broadway show, is coming again to Popejoy Hall, UNM, Albuquerque, NM, in October 2006. It played here two or three years ago. From what I understood, the set took two weeks to put up, was carried in seven semi-trailers, and took two weeks to tear down and repack for the next city. It was magnificent, the lake and candles looked real. If I recall correctly there was an actual horse used on stage to carry Christine to the depths of the opera house/phantom’s lair. Unfortunately, I sat in the very back of the theater and the actors appeared to be about an inch tall. I didn’t follow the story well, because when Christine kissed the Phantom, I couldn’t figure out why. He was supposed to be horrible and evil, right?
.
Also, so far back in the theater, I couldn’t see the faces and I had no idea how disfigured the phantom might have looked. Oh, another thing, were the characters such fools that they couldn’t see the slender, shorter phantom take the place of the tall, heavy opera singer in Don Juan Triumphant? But basically, the musical thrilled me—the music, the set, the chandelier that came to life at the beginning and fell to the stage during the disaster scene. Oh, what can I say? It made me laugh and it made me cry especially Christine’s song in the cemetery to her late father—it was all so bittersweet. I LOVED it.

I have tickets for Oct. 28th this year. I am not sitting in the balcony again! I have orchestra seats, even if the orchestra is on tape. I have already ordered a long opera cape with a hood, black with red lining, and am shopping for the perfect dress to wear with it. I am even considering wearing a phantom mask since it is so close to Halloween. And carrying a rose with a black bow and the little rhinestone ring that looks like Christine's ring (that's featured in the movie if not the play.) Heck, if the music is loud enough, and I'm sitting close enough, I'm going to sing along, since I know all the words to the songs by now, thanks to the CD from the movie.

I understood the plot much better after I saw the movie. My brother said he and his wife went to see it at the movie theater in Dec. 2004, and it was great. They loved it. Said the music was great, the actors excellent, and the settings mind-boggling. I was still thrilled with the play and didn’t go see it on the big screen myself, telling him it couldn’t possibly be as good as the stage play!

Ha! Was I wrong! I didn't go see it on the big screen, I rented the DVD. I am now considering buying a big screen television so I can see it lifesized. (Heck, I wish it was on Virtual Reality machine.)

Now, I understand, the whole Phantom of the Opera phenomenon is as amazing as it was unexpected and unexplainable! First of all, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Joel Schumacher wanted a young cast. They wanted to show this as a love story, a triangle with people young enough to show the passion and romance that they had written into and directed into the screenplay.

The movie was a bit ambiguous as far as marketing. A lot of people didn’t like it, some even told me they got up and walked out of the movie theaters!

People wanted it to be more like the stage play/musical, perhaps. Or they expected a horror movie and it wasn’t. Some wanted opera music and thought it had too much rock music tempo. Those that wanted more pop or rock music were turned off by the Broadway tunes and some of the songs, which bordered on the operatic. (Webber himself said he considered it more of a rock opera.) A lot of people didn’t like the Phantom himself. After all, he was a bad guywith serious anger management problems that crossed the line into murderous; and the character was portrayed perhaps as a sympathetic tortured soul, which turned a lot of people off. (Gerard Butler, the movie phantom, said he thought it was tragically sad even thought they kept urging him to play it "sexy.")

The most amazing phenomenon that couldn’t be predicted was the huge, vast masses of women that fell in love with the actor Gerard Butler. If you don't know by now, he’s a Scottish actor, former drunken rock singer, and actor in many B- and violent action movies, who did the whole Phantom (he sang not only his songs but his lines as well) in a broad upper crust British accent, which is not his usual way of speaking being from Paisley. And, if truth be told, he's really not all that good looking or outstanding as an actor. (For instance I saw him in other movies and didn’t even notice him.) However, once we fans got a taste of him in Phantom, we were swept away with his--what ever it is --"IT"--that can't possibly be explained by using the word "attractiveness." (What a mundane word for such a colossal experience.)

But I am one of the women who fell madly in-love with the 36-year old actor. Actually, he was only 34 when the movie was filmed, the co-star playing Christine being only 16 at that time. She was half his age, and therefore the illusion of the Phantom being much older than Christine was maintained. I thought Gerry was older and told one of my friends I finally had a favorite movie star that wasn't young enough to be my son. And she informed me that was sure wrong. (I have two sons older than Gerry Butler.)

There was something in Gerry Butler’s performance that captured heart and soul of viewers. He threw his own heart and soul (as well as his whole magnificient physique) into his singing and performance and it showed. He doesn’t appear entirely comfortable in some scenes, but he radiated a certain who-knows-what that just amazed and overwhelmed the viewers, some more than others!

Many women also fell in love with the Phantom character, seeing him portrayed as a suffering villian/hero who had serious psychological problems that could be forgiven, so to speak, because of his miserable life of being abused and mistreated as a freak simply because of a congenital disfigurement. As a result he was a talented and spectacular person who didn't know it, and had terrible self-esteem and an extremely big chip on his shoulder.

Actually, Andrew Lloyd Webber was a genius with this screenplay, putting layer and layer of meaning and symbolism into the musical and the character(s.) He went well beyond the orignal story by Gaston Leroux, which is good read if you happen to run across a good translation of it. It was written in French.

I rented the DVD of the movie first, then went and bought the CD with original songs from the movie that I play nearly non-stop on my car CD player. (I like to sing when I'm commuting on the long drive from the mountains to town. I guess the other drivers think I'm yelling at them.)

I then bought the movie and watched it a number of times. In fact, the first time I saw the movie, I back-tracked the DVD and played the scene where the Phantom sings Music of the Night to Christine in a very sexy, passionate, beautiful way. (Why are there no words that indicate something much more fabulous than “beautiful.” It was overwhelming.) I watched it over and over about 25 times. I thought at the time that it was the absolute best "love scene" ever put on film. At the end of all that, needless to say, I was a hopeless pile of melted putty in the Phantom’s hands.

In a later post I will explain the depth of the character of the Phantom and why he touched so many hearts, and how that occurred. Not to mention explaining why it made Gerard Butler, while still not well-known, a very much loved and exciting international actor.

End

An old poem

I found a poem I typed on an old portable typewriter. Good grief, you can't even get ribbons for them anymore. Thank God for computers. However, it must have been back in the early nineties when we first moved here and someone gave me an old typewriter because we didn't have electricity (or running water, or a house, in fact) when we first moved here. I didn't miss television as much as I thought I would. What I missed the most in our pioneering days when were first started building the house, was ICE CUBES.

Well, here i'tiz.

MODERN LIFE

We look for wisdom
Every night
On channel 7
We watch the news
But it's nothing new
We search for answers
With our remote controls
And we're all together
Alone
Forever
And still looking
We can't see the people for the crowds
Too bad
We spell life:
T.V.

Well, not really. But I was more of a cynic when I first started my writing career, less of a romantic like I am now.

By the way, I write spicy romances under my pen name. If you are interested, send me a comment and I'll clue you in. I have a short e-book coming out July 9.

Love, Sandy

More Fibonaccis

More Fibonaccis July 1, 2006 Sandy Schairer: Poet


One
More
Week-end
Over now.
Face the week and see
What will it bring besides boredom?
Being busy beyond human endurance, no doubt.


And
How
Many
Poems have
You written today?

Senior Power

Senior Power

Am I a magician?
Well…

I am very good at
disappearing things
I set them down and
Voila’
Gone

This results in me spending
Too much time
Hunting

I can look at things
And not see them too

Is the magic in me
Or them?

Home in Space

Home in Space

Beautiful blue and white ball
Earth
Rolling through the black crystal myst of space
Billions of dots of suns with
Invisible planets and moons.

Are you there?
Anyone?
Do you wonder about me?
As I wonder about you?
Up in your night sky
An invisible dot of dust.

Do you think, do you feel,
Do you laugh?
Feel you love and hurt?
Do you worship the same Gods?
Goddesses?

Are we really alone,
Or all one?
We shall never meet.
We shall never speak.
But we shall know
Because we answer
Yes.

My Favorite Actor

My Favorite Actor
Guess Who?


He’s thirty-six but looks much older
Thirty-six, but behaves much younger
Inspires in women -- of all ages
A mysterious sexual hunger

He’s Scots but Irish by descent
Smokes packs of fags a day
And when he was a drinker
Could really put it away

Once a law school student
Who wasn’t very sober
He sang in a rock band Speed
‘Til his schooling was abruptly over

His hair is dark and curly
Especially when it’s long
But when he cuts it all off
Doesn’t look all that wrong

He’s prematurely graying
But he’s still quite a hunk
And all the sources say
He doesn’t live much like a monk

His dancin’ drives the ladies wild
His voice works like a charm
And if he likes to shag a lot
Well, no one sees the harm

He’s an actor in exciting roles
He auditions for movies galore
But his millions of adorin’ fans
Want to see him star in more

He was Creedy in Reign of Fire
And Marek in Creighton’s Timeline
Of course he was the Phantom
And played Dracula one time

He’s rarely on television
His movies mostly foreign
His fans are anxious to see Beowulf
The long wait is getting boring

A magnificent master of dialects
This handsome muscle-wrapped man
Can do any accent he chooses
To the delight of his worldwide fans

Could use a good razor for a change
Or at least a closer shave
But nonetheless his style is fuzzy
Like he ascended from a cave

Fans hope for lots more movies
He can sing for us ‘til he’s hoarse
And bravely do his own stunts
Only until he’s famous of course

We fans yearn to hug and kiss him
We love his he-man might
And when we crawl into our beds
We dream of him all night


By Sandy Schairer, 6/28/06 ©

Dealing With It

Dealing With It
by Sandy Schairer


Truth
Quite a concept
Rushes at me
Without reserve.
Not ready yet,
For it, I raise my hands to cover my eyes.
.
Save me from life
By living.
From death
By living, too.
.
I move forward in time
As if it were a choice.
Moving toward
Old and tired or
Wise and strong?
That is my true choice, in truth.
.




June 20, 2006

Frogs and Goals

Frogs and Goals

Think
Of goal-setting
And
Just going with the flow

This way

If you were a frog
On the shore of the pond
And wanted to get to the other side

This would be your goal
Set this goal

DO IT

Now are you going to walk around the water on land?
Jump from rock to rock and hope there’s enough
And you won’t be stranded on an island in the stark middle of nowhere?

Or are you going to plunge in and swim
And hope the currents are right?
(A lot of frogs do that. We never from them again.)

No.
What you do is
You hop onto the Lilly pads
That just happen to be there
Go jump from one to the next
And jump again

Until you reach
Your goal

That’s life
That’s how it’d done.

Ribbet


                         Sandy Schairer
                         June 2006

Vanished

                              Vanished ?


     Joyous day
     
          Come again

               Youth we did not appreciate

                         Gone away


     Love

          Independent of form

               It takes what means it can

                    And blazes through it

                              Thank God




by Sandy Schairer
6/20/09

EA Poe Poet

E.A. Poe: Poet
by Sandy Schairer
6/14/06

I used to love the poet
Edgar Allen Poe
The way he had his sounds
All lined up in a row
His clanging and banging
Of bells galore
And a raven who sat
On the top of his door
And when the clock chimed
Would say “Nevermore”
~
I thought his hard life
Made his talents more sharp
But his teenaged dead bride
Made his view sort of dark
A lot of his problem was
Drugging and drink
It drained his life’s blood
And beauty, I think
~
And now what’s a poet?
A silly old woman
Who sits with a pen
And tries to stay human
Are poems ever read?
It’s all mystery adventure
Like Da Vinci Code
And works of joint venture
So I'll bid Poe farewell
Go soak in the bath
And scatter some poems
On my own writing path.

End

Comments and your original POEMS

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Keep it clean

Poetry: Insomnia Pays Off

Poem by Sandy Schairer 6/14/2006

Insomnia Pays Off

There once was a woman
Who just could not sleep
She drank cups of warm milk
And tried counting sheep
.
She tossed and she turned
Then put on the light
And went out of her room
And into the night
.
She descended the stairs
And wandered the house
Walking in darkness
A scared little mouse
.
Next day at the libr’ry
She checked out some books
With a stack of sixteen
She drew quite some looks
.
She read Mark Twain’s essays
And all about hist’ry
Romance and then SciFi
Of course tons of myst’ry
.
When her eyes grew so heavy
She gave a big yawn
And looked out the window
It was already dawn
.
She gave up on her reading
Books way overdue
So she turned them all in
Wondered next what to do
.
Getting some pens
And of course reams of paper
She began to write stories
Stayed up even later
.
When her M.S. was done
She switched off the light
And crawled into bed
Fell asleep, hoped she might
.
Her book soon was published
Sold copies galore
Up way past midnight
She wrote several more
.
Her lover soon left her
(Felt cold in the bed)
And found a young blond
To sleep with instead
.
But our best-selling author
Was rich past her dreams
Hardly did miss him
While riding moonbeams
.
Her book signings successful
With lines ‘round the block
But always were scheduled
Way past 9 o’clock
.
Only night-owls came to her
To get autographs
Her life was just wonderful
And full of great laughs!
.
The End
.
~Sandy Schairer 6-14-06
.

Mythological Voice

Exercise at Writer to Writer talk about Writing in Your Mythological Voice. 6/12/06, Albuquerque. (By the way, the traffic is horrendous that time of day!)
.
There once was a woman who collected notebooks. Some of these notebooks had dates and some had lines, some had elaborate covers in beautiful blue or delightful orange. Sometimes they had designs on them, or the name of the company that printed them. They were all different except for one fact—they all had empty spaces, places to add things. Places to write or draw or scribble.
.
So you see, this woman who collected notebooks had a deep hidden passion to be a writer, an artist, and a scribbler.
.
She had a notebook just for poems. She had a notebook for stories. She had one for journaling her journeys through spirit, and through the world, and for work. She also had notebooks for memories and pet stories, and complaints and movie reviews. She even had a notebook for ideas and one was actually for notes!
.
But even stranger, was the fact, that she never ever read her notebooks. Once they were full, they went on the shelf and became dust-catchers.
.
Her husband built her shelves for them and refrained from complaining or from dusting them. and then one day, he asked her what should he do with them in the event of her untimely demise.
.
This was shock to her. She assumed someone someday would want to read them. Even him. Even her. A friend suggested she tell him, “Give them to my biographer, of course!” while sipping wine with a rose behind her ear.
.
She thought about it for days, weeks, years. Then of course the idea came to her and she opened a new spiral notebook with college-ruled lines and a red cover and entitled it, “What to do with my stuff when I’m gone.”