So then Two Face?

This is a response that one of my best friends in the world sent to me.
We have been discussing the idea of compassion and having compassion for self.
So those conversations combined with my latest blog produced this response:
I liked it so I thought I’d share.

hey,

reading your blog entry. I need to admit I love the joker. He is the
un-doer of schemes, the troubler of schemers. And destruction is just
another form of creativity. The goddess Kali is the goddess of
creation AND destruction. I think I’ve been realizing that I can’t
believe in a universe of connections without concurrently and
contradictorily believing in a universe of chaos. So can we believe in
creation without also believing in destruction?

I can relate to the joker. He’s the part of me that will disagree with
the masses, because someone has to. He’s the part of me that
shit-disturbs when the shit needs disturbing. He’s the whole side of
me that believes the universe likes to kick us in the butt and
sometimes I’m part of that force. And he’s the one that reminds us
that there really isn’t much use to making plans, because our plans
will undo us. He lives for the moment. Total imp. Total chaos and
primal force.

He is, of course, your other half. :)

xo

R.

So that being read, what do you all think? Is is possible to believe in creation without also believing in destruction?
Do we have to taste bad to know good?

← Older Comments
  • Darwin

    Sadly, many dogs who chase cars get
    severely injured or die because of the car stopping suddenly…

    Simply because the dog has been pouring on the speed and has no time to react.

    This is how the analogy makes sense.

    And ingenious is also defined as “clever” which is defined as mentally quick and resourceful.

    So if the plan fails…then the “mentally quick and resourceful” part…not so much.

  • Brittny

    I don’t think that good and bad are separate and equal. They are not yin and yang in my opinion. There is good and the corruption of good. So yes I think good can stand alone. I think we can taste good and taste joy even without bad and sadness. HOWEVER the reality of our world is that there is good and bad, light and darkness. We can’t be truly free to live in light unless we face the realities of the darkness and the corruption of good.

    I disagree with your friend but I giggle delightedly at what he has to say. I think the beauty of art is that we can explore the darkness in ourselves and our world without hurting anyone. I delight in the Joker and his chaos to a certain extent but I don’t confuse chaos and free though with sadism, despair and selfishness. The Joker could paint his vision of chaos in oils rather than dead bodies.

    And that’s another thing. Chaos is not always bad. Regimented order and rules are not always good. I think we have to be careful in defining “good” and “bad” and not constrict our definitions to what makes us comfortable. There is as much chaos in science as there is certainty. There is a humility in chaos. In the realization that you’re not in control of much that goes on in this crazy universe. That’s beautiful. There is so much in the Joker… (his insight, his intellect, his humor) in each of us that is beautiful and “good.” It’s our choices and the use of all of our gifts that puts it under the catagory of good OR evil.

    I hope some of that makes sense. LOL! Thanks for another wonderfully thought provoking topic. :D

  • taylor nikole

    “Yeah, you were a little quit for a while Rachel, but that’s why I like reading the comments you do post. You may not always have much to say, but the little you do have to say is worth reading!”

    hahah unlike friday getting a huge novel to read from moi every blog :)
    he must get tired of that

    but he is totally right!
    you hear so much from some people its just nice to get someone elses opinion every now and then

    <3 taylor nikole

  • taylor nikole

    “I think the beauty of art is that we can explore the darkness in ourselves and our world without hurting anyone.”

    hmmm relating art to the joker :)
    i must admit he is very crafty and can make one hell of a puzzle…

    not only just exploring the darkness, but i guess in this case we can relate it to darkness…
    but also the lightness that comes from the darkness.

    unlike my twisted sense of ‘liking’ and entertainment….
    Sometimes dark things tend to warm my heart…
    i don’t know what it is, but the discomforting feeling is different and something most people don’t like to experience in darkness…
    on the other hand i find it fascinating…
    along with lightness ofcourse :)

    anyways i hope im making sense
    ishhh
    afterall i’m dead tired….

    on the brighter side, i learned how to drive stick shift today :)
    its amazing how much you can really accomplish when you are determined and put your mind to it!

  • StephenK

    “This is also a concept much cherished by anarchists, the idea that destruction is a vital part of creation.”

    Paul,
    Yes. I recognized a kind of recycled 60′s social anarchism. Cite some 5000 year old Hindu/Buddhist myths or beliefs. Claim enlightenment. Destroy. Then claim it was a social good.
    SteveK

  • Ham

    Joker wasn’t necessarily about destruction in the physical sense. He was more concerned with destruction in the moral sense. That “when the chips are down”, people will choose to evil, instead of good. From a theological perspective, he is Satan. He wants to repeatedly put people in tough situations, causing them to face extremely difficult moral dilemmas, so that they lose faith in themselves, in their own conscience, and in humanity as a whole. He’s a hyperbole though. He’s not a sneaking whisperer.

  • http://photoblog.stamant.org/blog Ron St.Amant

    We seem to live in a universe that demands the duality. Light and darkness, matter and anti-matter, God and the Devil, sin and salvation- the list is endless.

    Even Freud divised a duality within, the Id and the Super-Ego.

    Creation and Destruction posits a competition, or at least a competing paradigm.

    Genesis after all was the destruction of nothingness and the creation of something.

    We can embrace these concepts, this bi-polarity of existence, and it may well serve us.

    But with Chaos theory there comes a different paradigm. One in which rather than competition, there is mutual reliance, or even one might say a moment when they unify.

    For if we take chaos as itself some sort of ordered system, then nothing is either chaotic nor truly ordered.

    The same is true for the idea of creation and destruction. If we see destruction as not a point of differentiation from creation, but part of one unifying system whereby destruction is merely reordered creation, then they are neither opposite sides, nor the same side of the same coin, but the coin itself.

    So destruction and creation are the same, only mankind has chosen to separate and define them differently.

  • Brittany

    Hey Allison, I think we have to make mistakes or do bad to realize how to do and try to do the “good thing”. Our mistakes give us the taste of bad but then we use that taste to recreate doing the good thing to replace and uplift our error. ” Is is possible to believe in creation without also believing in destruction?” I think creation is a great thing. But everything with a begining has to end, doesn’t it? Or maybe after it ends it becomes something bigger then it was or effects on something else. Ok my mind is rumbling. Have a good day! XXXOOO britt

  • http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87286606 Gnome

    Oh my..
    Speaking on the Batman….

    What do Christian Bale and Kermit the Frog have in common? More than you might realize…

    http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/27350111.html

    Sorry… I had to share it!!

  • Sarah

    Oh my, i LOVE that haha. too tired to get in deep, but wow

← Older Comments