Mr. Bush, does he not have a wife or at least a live-in maid? If so, what does he use them for?
And does he only use God to cry on His shoulder?
The behaviour of this greatest president ever is a real mystery, if you ask me, but then I am only a moron.

Jan Thys

Mr. Bush I’m afraid is not aware of my existence; otherwise I’m sure he would have used my shoulder.
My shoulder is open to all, to the snobs, the pedophiles, the warmongers, the true believers and the crack addicts.

Arnon

We should arrange a meeting between your shoulder and the Dalai Lama.

Arnon

If Bush was aware of your existence and had to choose between your shoulder to cry on and a live-in maid, what would he choose?
I'm guessing he'd find a way to have both.

Pablo

I suggest Arnon would dress up as a maid again, like he did in Germany; nothing seems to be too much for the kindness of Arnons shoulder. Nice.

Oscar W

Please arrange the meeting asap.

Mendie

FYI I did work as chambermaid in Bavaria.
I was dressed in black pants and a white shirt. Besides cleaning the room I helped serve lunch and I assisted with building up and tearing down the breakfast buffet. The pieces about my work in the hotel have been published in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and the Belgian magazine Humo.
As of November 1 it will be possible for individuals to hire me as a chambermaid for six hours. I will charge the individuals 1000 euro. The profits will go to a non-profit organization. The individuals will receive a hand-signed paper: “Our bathroom has been cleaned by Arnon Grunberg.”

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama has just let me know (through meditative waves, of course) that he is currently out of the office. He says (and I quote): "Please try the vatican. If anyone needs a shoulder to cry on, they certainly can."

there are at least 12 billion shoulders to cry on
so every tear can have his own shoulder i think.

If God needs a shoulder to cry on he knows where to find me. If my shoulders aren't big enough he can always use my belly.

It might give me an opportunity to thank him for my belly. And hunger, pain, mr Bush, dying children, racism and courgettes. What the hell was he thinking when he created the courgette?

I had a dream last night – although I dreamed something completely different – about Arnon sending a signed copy of his Grunberg Bible to this tormented president. Mr. Bush, who is obliviously a sentimental guy, is deeply moved, repents and decides to build a church with his own bare hands on the planet Mars to fertilise the red planet with his billion tears. All this for the benefit of new generations in the upcoming promised Golden Millennium on a new world.
Uch…

Compassion

Be aware that the Dalai Lama is a very compassionate man in case you get your apointment with him. Compassion to him is the force by wich you can get real knowledge about the other.
So he might be sorry for you that you are a jew.

Dreams

Jan Thys,
I think this is good: people telling about their dreams.
Do you perhaps have thoughts on how to explain your dream?

@Mieke

Why are you so obsessed with race?
Don't you agree that in an ideal world (which this blogspace could potentially be) race should be a 'non-issue' instead of to continually making it one?
Perhaps you'd like us to ask what your race/religion is, so out with it. Dutch Reformed? Farc Indoctrinated? Hysterically Catholic? Spinozan Libertarian? Or simply Confused?

@Johannes
Do you really believe Martin Luther King actually dreamed about ‘equality regardless the colour of your skin’?
The president is deeply involved in chiliastic ideas of an upcoming Golden Era with the help of God, hence the millennium dream.
This very moment, a huge amount of money and effort are spend to prepare a voyage to Mars, plans are made to accustom this planet as a future colony for mankind.
(Please use your imagination to read my attempt for a parable. I have only a modest talent, as you know, you are my witness.)

Compassion

Mieke, do you agree that compassion is a way to get knowledge about the other? I understood your comment as a critical remark about the Dalai Lama, but maybe I'm wrong. Don't you think compassion is the worst possible way to get to know the other?

@Zanna
About a way to know the other. If compassion is the worst, what do you think then about torture?

@Noa

Really Noa I don"t consider myself to be obsessed with race or religion.I describe myself as an agnostic, but even that comes as an insult too truely religious people. My last comment was nothing more than an attempt to make a zenbuddhist joke. My interest for other religions originates in the fact that I studied oientalism , so anything that can add to that has my interest.

@Arnon

My psychoanalist, yes I have one, is proceding to his doctor's degree. It is about mysticism though not in a religious sense.He briefly explained to me that he is looking at mysticism as a possible answer to close the gap between object and subject and so to be able to cure people in a psychoanalitical way. In his work he is referring to philosophers like Husserl and others. It's also in literature that in his mind something can be added to the psychoanalitical field.
Now he is looking to form a group with philosophers and writers and others to commentate the above. In wich form that I don"t know, but certainly with the intention of publishing it;
Is this of some interest to you? If so I can give him Johannes email to contact you.

Jan Thys

Now that you say so torture could be slightly worse. It's that I never tried torture to get to know someone. But then again that's no good argument, cause I never tried compassion neither.
Now that I think about it I really don't know what could be a good way to get to know someone, do you? Let's already skip compassion and torture, ok?

@Zanna
Maybe it is a bit like riding a bike? You simply doing it, but if you start wondering how, you are prone to crash. I can give you no valid unique answer too.

Jan Thys,
Ok, I misread your comment - you dreamt something else.
For some strange reason I thought you actually dreamt about Bush, but now it is clear to me that is was a poetic commentary on politics.

@ Zanna

The buddhist defenition is slightly differend from ours. If you want to know something more about it you should try the dalai lama's book. In dutch it is called ' De kracht van het mededogen'

Jan Thys,
PS By the way, poetic commentaries on politics can also be explained.

Jan Thys

I agree totally. It's probably not something one should theorize too much about. I just started wondering about these things by reading 'The possibility of an island' de Houellebecq, such a good book it really gets under your skin.

Mieke

Thanks for the information. Now I see that compassion is translated as 'mededogen', I realize that I made a wrong translation ('medelijden', which is a bit different than 'mededogen' I guess).

Zanna and others

The best way to get to know somebody else is true curiosity.
If there is a true interest, a reason, to really know the other person this helps a lot.
If the interest is sex or love things are getting complicated because the main interest then is that the other resembles your fantasy and/or is able to fulfill your wishes.
Often it is not necessary to really know the other. It al depends on the kind of relationship you are having with the other.
To give an example: I trust Johannes completely. He is a reliable, intelligent and trustworthy personal assistant.
Do I know him? No, not really. Is this necessary? Quite the opposite.
To know somebody means in the first place finding out what is it about this person you have to know. In other words, what is it you want from this person.
(I was not that impressed with Houellebecq’s last novel. I didn’t finish it.)
The more interesting question by the way is: what do you know about yourself?
David Brooks wrote recently in the NY Times:
“I think it was Abraham Joshua Heschel — after he broke off with Reinhold Niebuhr and formed Jefferson Airplane — who observed that though the ancients counseled, “Know Thyself,” in 87 percent of actual cases, profound self-knowledge is not transforming. It’s just disappointing.”

I have to add: knowing other people is a disappointing business as well. Often. Not always. There are exceptions. At least that’s what we need to think don’t we?

Zanna

PS What's your first language?

shoulder

Thank you for the shoulder. I really appreciate it.

Arnon

I agree true curiosity is the best way to get to know somebody.

Do you really completely trust Johannes without knowing him very well? Is this trust based on intuition, or on the certainty that you would soon find out if he didn't behave trustworthy?

You may be right that the more interesting question is what do you know about yourself, but for me getting to know someone else and getting to know myself go together. The periods in which I had little social contact and lots of time to get to know myself, I didn't learn too much about myself. Or I should correct: I didn't learn too much new things about myself, just the confirmation that I was who I thought I was. Not very transforming (and rather boring) indeed.

I strongly believe there are exceptions (mostly out of necessity, but also a bit out of experience).

My first language is Dutch. Why do you ask?

From now on I will state that I have a true curiousity towards judaism. Or is that also suspicious?

Zanna

Yes of course you need others to get more information about yourself. Johannes was san example. I have no desire to go into a discussion with you about why I trust certain people and why I distrust others.
My question about your first language was provoked by your remark about the translation of a certain word. If you want to you might call this also information gathering.

Jefferson Airplane

@Arnon
Can you please tell me what ‘Jefferson Airplane’ stands for, that Abraham Joshua Heschel formed? If possible? Or anybody else?
In the sixties and seventies ‘The Jefferson Airplane’ was one of my favorite groups, but I never knew what the name meant. Different explanations were proposed but the link with A. H. Heschel is new to me. Even the column by Davis Brooks does not make me wiser, nor Google.

Jan

Regarding Jefferson Airplane, I have come across this information on Wikipedia:

The origin of the group's name is often disputed. "Jefferson airplane" is a slang term for a used paper match split open to hold a marijuana joint that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the hands -- an improvised roach clip (Margolis & Clorfene 1970). An urban legend claims this was the origin of the band's name, but according to band member Jorma Kaukonen, the name was invented by his friend Steve Talbot as a parody of blues names such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. [1] A 2007 press release quoted Kaukonen as saying:

"I had this friend [Talbot] in Berkeley who came up with funny names for people," explains Kaukonen. "His name for me was Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane (for blues pioneer Blind Lemon Jefferson). When the guys were looking for band names and nobody could come up with something, I remember saying, 'You want a silly band name? I got a silly band name for you!'"

@Pablo der Pueblo
Thank you very much indeed.
So in “I think it was Abraham Joshua Heschel — after he broke off with Reinhold Niebuhr and formed Jefferson Airplane” this Jefferon Airplane” remains a mystery.

Arnon

No problem, I just asked out of curiosity.

Jefferson's Airplane

@Jan Thys
I'm sorry, i misread your question. It must be a different 'J.A.' Abraham Joshua Heschel started. I can't help you on that one.

@Pablo del Pueblo
No sorry, I am obliged.