There's this whole web based subculture of people who have been labeled "targeted individuals." One time I attended a church service where members of the congregation were allowed to speak at the end. This one guy got up and talked about how he was tortured by the police with remote control microwaves as he lay in bed at home with his wife. He said that he found stuff on the internet that confirmed that this was real.
I saw this guy in 2002, and this internet based community has only grown since then, if the article I read in the New York Times is accurate. These people now have a name, "targeted individuals." I've been talking about some stuff lately, and I've been thinking today about these people, and my heart goes out to them.
What I've been experiencing seems a lot like what these people talk about. Look at a the blog posts since January 1st of this year to get up to speed. There's a couple of songs thrown in, but there's posts about how I've been wrestling with the same kinds of issues these targeted individuals wrestle with. I bet there's even a subset of people who blame their misfortunes on famous people instead of the FBI or CIA or whateves.
It's a very weird dynamic. I have hard enough time trying to find out where women in what people would recognize as one's everyday world are really coming from. I can get into heated arguments with friends and family who insist my interpretations and conclusions are way too dark about what this or that attractive, young or youngish woman is really up to. I'm satisfied that I at least take darker possibilities into account at times, and that somehow I manage not to do anything in the way of violent or transgressive criminal behavior as a result. I'm also satisfied in the knowledge that I often resolve these matters to my complete satisfaction when I do take these darker possibilities into account and I play to them.
But with an entity such as a famous person that I don't even know and that I am very unlikely to meet if I just stay on my life's chosen path, it's as if I'm dealing with a nebulous phantom that has no real form. This famous woman I refer to in those posts from earlier this month had a very real-seeming presence, but I couldn't just go to a coffee shop or restaurant to check things out with the real deal human.
On the other hand, I would consistently get the impression that people are trying to send me subliminal messages that had to do with this famous woman. So, on the one hand, there's this phantom that I can't talk to or whose demeanor I can't read or anything, and on the other hand it seems as if all or most of my world has something to do with her. What a drag! Throw in the notion that things such as a brand new CD that gets mysteriously lost, a heater that keeps conking out even though the repair guy has come out and found nothing wrong, or something I thought got stolen off of my doorstep when the postman dropped it off suddenly shows up in my bedroom (okay, extra saddle pins for my guitar that I ordered from Amazon), and it's as if all of these disparate things connect.
Joseph Campbell talks about the great force of Romantic Love in his discourses on mythology. He goes on and on about how profoundly meaningful love is and how two people become one and blah, blah, blah. I have no doubt that there is a lot to that for quite a few people during at least some if not most of their adult lives. But, I've found it most helpful to learn how to separate myself from those I found so desirable in my mind, and as a result, in my life. I don't have a lot in common with the 22 year old baristas and waitresses that I can get so very into. The best thing I've done in my spiritual development as an adult is learn where I leave off and such individuals begin.
Who wouldn't want to be the object of desire of a young, attractive, sexy GirlPop diva? Well, a 52 year old man who struggles as much as I do would sure like that kind of a break, let me tell you. I don't know how to explain it other than to say I know the drill by now; I've had lots of practice. I just hope that I don't go through any more of this stuff that puts me on the same footing as targeted individuals.
I saw this guy in 2002, and this internet based community has only grown since then, if the article I read in the New York Times is accurate. These people now have a name, "targeted individuals." I've been talking about some stuff lately, and I've been thinking today about these people, and my heart goes out to them.
What I've been experiencing seems a lot like what these people talk about. Look at a the blog posts since January 1st of this year to get up to speed. There's a couple of songs thrown in, but there's posts about how I've been wrestling with the same kinds of issues these targeted individuals wrestle with. I bet there's even a subset of people who blame their misfortunes on famous people instead of the FBI or CIA or whateves.
It's a very weird dynamic. I have hard enough time trying to find out where women in what people would recognize as one's everyday world are really coming from. I can get into heated arguments with friends and family who insist my interpretations and conclusions are way too dark about what this or that attractive, young or youngish woman is really up to. I'm satisfied that I at least take darker possibilities into account at times, and that somehow I manage not to do anything in the way of violent or transgressive criminal behavior as a result. I'm also satisfied in the knowledge that I often resolve these matters to my complete satisfaction when I do take these darker possibilities into account and I play to them.
But with an entity such as a famous person that I don't even know and that I am very unlikely to meet if I just stay on my life's chosen path, it's as if I'm dealing with a nebulous phantom that has no real form. This famous woman I refer to in those posts from earlier this month had a very real-seeming presence, but I couldn't just go to a coffee shop or restaurant to check things out with the real deal human.
On the other hand, I would consistently get the impression that people are trying to send me subliminal messages that had to do with this famous woman. So, on the one hand, there's this phantom that I can't talk to or whose demeanor I can't read or anything, and on the other hand it seems as if all or most of my world has something to do with her. What a drag! Throw in the notion that things such as a brand new CD that gets mysteriously lost, a heater that keeps conking out even though the repair guy has come out and found nothing wrong, or something I thought got stolen off of my doorstep when the postman dropped it off suddenly shows up in my bedroom (okay, extra saddle pins for my guitar that I ordered from Amazon), and it's as if all of these disparate things connect.
Joseph Campbell talks about the great force of Romantic Love in his discourses on mythology. He goes on and on about how profoundly meaningful love is and how two people become one and blah, blah, blah. I have no doubt that there is a lot to that for quite a few people during at least some if not most of their adult lives. But, I've found it most helpful to learn how to separate myself from those I found so desirable in my mind, and as a result, in my life. I don't have a lot in common with the 22 year old baristas and waitresses that I can get so very into. The best thing I've done in my spiritual development as an adult is learn where I leave off and such individuals begin.
Who wouldn't want to be the object of desire of a young, attractive, sexy GirlPop diva? Well, a 52 year old man who struggles as much as I do would sure like that kind of a break, let me tell you. I don't know how to explain it other than to say I know the drill by now; I've had lots of practice. I just hope that I don't go through any more of this stuff that puts me on the same footing as targeted individuals.
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