Joyous Terror

Joyous Terror by Joseph Nathaniel Baron/850 942 5255/
email=jbaronjd@yahoo.com

Someone deservedly famous once said that the sign of a better mind was
its ability to invite the cohabitation of two (or more) contradictory
ideas within; subjectively optimistic, then, about the quality of my
mind, I fully appreciated the import of that notion during a recent
phone call with my youngest son, a third year law student in New York,
and no slouch himself.
"Dad, what the Hell is going on&;#8230;&;#8230;..Wall Street is
imploding, the climate is going to the dogs, the open corruption and
toleration of it! Dad, my generation is so&;#8230;.stupid, at least
in its lack of understanding, or willingness to understand; some of my
'educated' friends are just so clueless about reality!" was the gist of
his angst; that's when that terrified joy grabbed me by the throat.
When it let go, happily, I went into a rather unstructured screed, no,
a jeremiad&;#8230;..encapsulating, in 60 minutes or more (that's a
'capsule'?; perhaps, but the size of the Apollo capsule), what my half
century or so had imparted to me in the wisdom column. Uncertain after
we had hung up, both rather sated and, frankly, furious, I reflected
upon whether my wisdom, such as it was, was both sufficient in quantity
and quality.

I slept on it; on awakening, a term which has much to do with that
'capsule' full of life's lessons and its understanding, I decided to
write down a summation of same in a letter, albeit electronic mail,
feeling that such a lost art in an ocean of loose-lipped, dim-witted
punditry and narrow, reductionist, so-called expertise-driven
electronic mass media would help me, and him, focus upon the essential
acceptability, even necessity, of the ironic paradox we call "Life" via
this most civilized form of language arts, the written word. Perhaps
this is why we read so few speeches of great thinkers and focus upon
those words they, themselves, may have written for the benefit of all
times. [By the way, I'm sure you've noticed how independent thinking as
well as critical thinking have largely given way, 'thanks' to that mass
media-------the best example of this is the almost daily drum-beating
'revelation'-giving Studies, conducted at great public expense,
trumpeting the bloody obvious, things any child would know!
"Researchers have now confirmed that exhaling should both follow and
precede inhalation"------sounds scientific, really impressive, until
you spend a nanosecond 'thinking' about it, remember doing that?; as
laughable as it is, this is emblematic of the extant state of affairs
and tells much about the people and events engendered/allowed by
them------where was I?].

Yes, the letter; well, here it is-----a whole generation possibly
hanging in the balance (gulp):
"Joyful terror----that thrilling paradox of any loving parent who
knowingly awaits a child's awakening to the much larger paradoxes that
comprise Life!
As it would take up 100's of pages (PS----you have inspired me to do a
screenplay satire----a book would go unread in general, and surely by
those very people who need it most!-----another of those abundant
paradoxical ironies) here's my advisory 'plan' for both immunizing
yourself and your generation (as you are bound to be one of its leaders
by both fateful design and, based on what you have told me, by
default):
1/ View or re-view several times these films which give great insight
into how we got into this mess: JFK; MONTY PYTHON'S 'THE MEANING OF
LIFE' (1983); 'HALF MOON STREET' (S. WEAVER &; MICHAEL CAIN, BASED
ON A PAUL THEROUX STORY)
2/ READ BUCKY FULLER'S 'CRITICAL PATH', THE BEST SUMMARY I HAVE FOUND
IN MUCH READING.

Finally, at least for this installment of our continuing dialogue,
follow these few rules which will preserve your sanity and that of
those around you (I wish someone had made me aware of them at age
25):

a. Live each day in such a way that you acquire at least one bit of
wisdom (vs. mere 'information', the demigod, or should I say hobgoblin,
of little minds-----TV is full of information, among&;#8230;.other
things);

b. Live each day as though you already were the person you wish to
become;

c. Be the hero of your own life--------do so by finding them, living
and/or dead: they are on every shelf of any book store/library----they
will guide you and, insodoing, you will know what to do intuitively
(vs. simply intellectually---------another of those incomplete 'models'
the world, since you entered school, has been telling you is another
demigod of life's ways; I adore what Bucky Fuller said on this: 'All
children are born geniuses.', the implication being that something(s)
external to them caused them to lose that spark, in the name of
suffocating uniformity).

Imagine a world, as John Lennon did, where a simple majority, or even a
large minority, did these few self-evident things as though it were
their duty, their job! (Son, I tell you now, after cancer, after
divorce, after many failures, some avoidable------it is your/their
job&;#8230;&;#8230;it is why we're here, a waystation in
eternity).
To be continued, at your request!
Much Love and admiration for your 'awakening',
Dad"

I can do no better, in postscript to that letter, by making it global
in its reach; imagine&;#8230;&;#8230;.what might become of us. I
bid you all the peace of understanding.

L
Memorandum

Summer 2002

To: Chicken Soup for the Guy's Soul
AttN: Jeffrey James

From: Joseph Nathaniel Baron, Esq., writing as 'J.B. Pravda' (birth/pen
name)/Blahx3 Prods., LLP, 355 N.E. 71 St., Miami, Fla. 33137 [no snail
mail, please]

Re: "Joyous Terror"

We both know the powerful potential of this genre to reach its
ever-expanding possibilities to change lives---were Shakespeare
actively writing today, it would literally supersede the stage in
his/her worldview ('Globeview'?) for sheer reach and affect.

I know that he/she is, somehow within each of the serious writers
extant who fervently wish to effect such change, where needed, via the
'mirror of human nature', as he/she did.

In that spirit, 'I pray your indulgence new&;#8230;..to conjure with
me these humble offerings unto your kind purview'.

Postscript: Lawyer, turned writer (after cancer surgery)my most recent
credits may be found at the following sites: 1/www.iceflow.com, issue
#25; 2/www.insolentrudder.org, 3/02 issue; 3/www.theharrow.com,
(upcoming issue, 'Tale of the Phrenologist'); 4/www.abctales.com, UK
repository site, at which some of my work has received award
notices----simply access the hundreds of pieces in all genre there via
screen name 'amordantbaron' (quotation marks superfluous). I also have
several screenplays in various stages of review and/or option for
purchase.