Posted on 04/28/2006 11:06:04 PM PDT by zaxxon
The story is told of an artist who sculpted a beautiful angel and wanted the master artist, Michelangelo, to inspect it and offer his opinion. So Michelangelo was called in. The master artist carefully looked at the sculpture from every angle.
Finally, he said, "Well, it lacks only one thing." Then he turned around and walked out.
The artist didn't know what it lacked, and he was embarrassed to go and ask Michelangelo. So he sent a friend to Michelangelo's studio to try and find out what his statue lacked.
The great artist replied, "It lacks only life."
The same could be said of a lot of people today. They have the ultimate house, the latest luxury car, the wealthy husband or the trophy wife, and the seemingly perfect kids. They have the successful career. They have money in the bank. They have everything going the way that things ought to go to supposedly live life to its fullest. But there is something still lacking. They are still lacking life.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
My customers are largly Southern California coastal rich.
All my work is done in the intimacy of their homes, it is amazing how many of my customers seem empty and flat when they are alone.
I have rich customers that seem well adjusted and grateful for the life they live, and I also see some wealthy people that I thank God they are rich, because they have nothing else.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace;
In fine we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
-- Edwin Arlington Robinson
Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool - good luck.
-- Suicide note left behind by actor George Sanders, 25 April 1972
"They SEEM EMPTY AND FLAT TO YOU - understood. But do they seem so to themselves [somehow I seriously doubt it]?"
You've got it bas ackwards, they seem empty to themselves.
Many times I have taken those people into my life and tried to help them connect with life, in a different way.
Well, I'm afraid it's you who got it the wrong end up. Just like with beauty, fullness and emptiness of other people's lives are in the eye of beholder, for there are no universal standards and criteria for judgment. What might seem empty to you, could well be full for those experiencing it, and vice versa. A person who [visibly] is doing nothing else but sitting in a rocker chair and stroking a cat in his lap, could well be doing something else at the same time - dreaming, reminiscing, composing, designing, thinking, meditating - whatever. So the only thing you could say is that their lives seem empty to you. And the obvious rejoinder would be - and do they give a damn?
Why should there be any suicide at all among those who "have it all"? I've heard it said they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
I'm trying to explain to you I don't just have decades of observational experience with them, I always establish some level of long term relationship with them.
For some of them, I try, and sometimes succeed in bringing them to a larger slice of life.
I'm saying I have a real life knowledge of what I'm speaking about.
I do like your rocking chair reference.
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
. . . it is amazing how many of my customers seem empty and flat when they are alone.
Many times I have taken those people into my life and tried to help them connect with life, in a different way.
For some of them, I try, and sometimes succeed in bringing them to a larger slice of life.
I need to be careful what I write, because if I'm not careful, this could be interpreted as accusatory or disparaging. Not my intent.
From this little bit, it seems you're recognizing "hole in the soul" people and trying to fill the hole with your own sense of what life ought to be. Causes me to wonder what you use for mortar?
Several years ago, three of the richest men in our small town committed suicide within a year or two of each other. One of them left a suicide 'note' that was about 8 pages long. It was to his wife and kids. It was a calm, business-like, yet sad attempt to explain why he wanted to kill himself, and to remind his kids that there was much more to life than money, and to use their time in better ways that allowed them to stop and enjoy life. He seemed to feel trapped by all of his money and his (very successful) business. I saw no mention of faith or love of God. His letter had very little warmth in it. He sounded proud of his kids and mentioned that he was glad he could give them material goods and opportunities, but I wonder how much of himself he gave?
His seemed like a truly empty life. I felt sad for him.
"I need to be careful what I write, because if I'm not careful, this could be interpreted as accusatory or disparaging.'
Just by putting it in print instead of conversation it often comes out differently, for instance some people may not remember we are talking about the exceptions not the norm, and this is not a bash rich people thread.
I recognize "the hole in the soul", but I don't have (a) solution for it.
I try to reingage them in life at their level, with a little steering to their better side.
I lose more often than I win.
I don't have the mortar,at different times it is different things for different people.
You try to figure out when they were at their best (in their deep selves) and you try to reignite that in a useful way.
You asked a good question but after an hour of effort to answer it,I'm not succeeding, so I'll simply say I don't have mortar, it is mostly a desire to unlock a person that has gotten locked up.
I should hope so. You sound like a Class A busybody.
That is one of the difficult things about the INTERNET, when you read my posts you can say something like that, but busybody is not a word someone would use to describe me in person.
By the way what type of business is it that fits what I've described, but would tolerate a "busybody" ?
Personal astrologer? Feng shui practitioner? Life coach? Motivational speaker? Snake oil salesman? Priest? Pass. Something I'd chase off my property waving garden implements over my head, anyhow.
"What sick, ridiculous puppets we are, and what a gross little stage we dance on, what fun we have, dancing and ----ing, not a care in the world. Not knowing that we are nothing, we are not what was intended."
"Personal astrologer? Feng shui practitioner? Life coach? Motivational speaker? Snake oil salesman? Priest? Pass. Something I'd chase off my property waving garden implements over my head, anyhow."
Priest?
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