Fairytales

Why do we love fairytales? Disney writers and chick-flick creators make a mint writing stories that suggest life comes fully equiped with romantic soundtracks, friendly animals, and someday, a prince or princess to sing alongside of us as we skip through an enchanted forest.
Has there ever been a day when bluebirds landed on shoulders and fawns approached maidens as they gazed to their mirror's perfect reflection?
I don't like to make assumptions. If your life's gone this way, I'd love to sit at your feet, serve you tea and scrumpets and learn your secret. But until I hear from you, I feel pretty safe making the assumption that it hasn't.
So, again, my question: Why do we love fairytales?
Though I realize fairytales are unrealistic and boarderline nonsensical, just the other day I went to Blockbuster and picked up "Just Like Heaven" for my sis-in-law and me, and "Beauty and the Beast" for my niece. I absolutely LOVE them! I know I'm not the only one, because I got the last video! Why do we entertain dreamy nonsense? Stupid!

Or, maybe not?

What if our love of fairytales sheds some light on human desire? What if our love for a good story about a hero coming to rescue his bride actually whispers to us of the kind of story we're made to be a part of? What if we love the thought of an enchanted forest because that's the kind of Kingdom we're meant to live in? Are fairytales our reminders of Home? Fingerprints of our Creator and His Heaven?
The story of Adam and Eve began with happy days. Adam and Eve were made in God's image; Adam walked with the Creator of the Universe and named the animals; Eve was gloriously beautiful and Adam fell head-over-heals in love with her. As I quickly ponder Eden, the possibility of shoulder-sitting bluebirds and friendly fawns becomes a little easier for me to imagine.
Our earliest ancestors took a bite of the apple pretty quick, so we don't get to read much of their, and our, original story.

Chubby Snow White
Originally uploaded by I_M_BonBon.

Fairytales may be remnants of those first days, still running through the human blood stream: echoes of Eden, built into our hearts to remind us of our deepest nature, even when the reality of life and who we are today kinda sucks.
I'll go ahead and believe that's it.
If it's not, I have no idea where fairytales came from and why we're still dreaming them up. We're at war, terrorism is a current world issue, a tsunami took the lives of tens of thousands last year and our nation's coast has just been washed away by a mad hurricane.
If fairytales are not reminders of a Greater Story that resides in all of us and is yet to be revealed, I wish they'd stop making them. They're ridiculous and deceptive. The world we live in today has made it perfectly clear that Jiminy Cricket was feedin' us a load of bologne when he suggested that we wish apon a star and our dreams would come true. Can you believe he said that?
We continue to dream. We have a stubborn, built-in hope. It hangs on past common sense, even when our hopes are disappointed and make us sick to our stomach. Thus, even when life is yuck and all hope seems to be lost, we continue to spend Friday nights engaged in beautiful fairytales. I think it's because we deeply know and desire to be part of a Greater Story.

Starbucks Cup

Starbucks cup
Originally uploaded by pixy-dust angel.

I took this picture because of the beautiful irony of it. You can't read the fish's quotes so well - the little fish says, "There is not justice in the world;" the middle fish says, "There is some justice in the world;" the big fish says, "This world is JUST." I love the message - it makes a great political statement! I just think it's ironic that I found it on a Starbucks cup. :)

What do you think?

Hippest Drive-thru in Town!

Edit your comment
Originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

What do you think of this picture? Ever bought burgers by the bagfull? Tell Patrick about it! Click on "edit comment" below the photo and you'll get to add your comment (scroll aaaallll the way down the page), read the kind and brutal things others have said, and read a conversation between the panda and the rooster! Check it out!

Fortune Cookie of Nirvana

I went to Panda Express tonight and got a fortune cookie that said,
"Those who expect nothing are never disappointed."
I thought it was interesting that this was my fortune, since I've been focusing so much on the topic of desire! I'd just written a letter to Patrick that was about just this! Cool? Crazy?

So, my fortune-cookie message, I assume, was born from Buddha's "Four Noble Truths," concerning suffering and how to deal with it.
His "Noble Truths," in a simple little summary, go like this:
1) Life is suffering - if we live, we suffer.
2) The cause of all suffering is desire.
3) The less we desire, the less we suffer.
4) Cease desiring, and you will stop suffering.

...
I think this formula is brilliant. I think it would really work. Buddha made it seem so simple, even beautiful.
...
But, here's my thought.
I think it's not so simple as it seems. Because there is something more ultimately foundational to human nature than our desire not to suffer: our nature to desire.

From the time we're born, we each cry out from our cribs for mom's touch. Would you say we were desiring?
What about our desire for food and drink? It's a good thing we were born with it, or human life would have ended a long time ago.
We've all cried out for love at one time or another.
These cries were all driven by our desires.

I absolutely agree with Buddha that when we don't receive what we desire in each of these and other situations, it is a cause for suffering.
But, would suffering end for a baby, for instance, if, because he didn't get what he was crying for, he threw out desiring altogether? It'd more likely result in his death.
...
I went through a season when I tried to put an end to my desires, but to my disappointment, I realized that even my pursuit to end my suffering was driven by my desire not to suffer. Dang.
There must be a better answer to the problem of human suffering and how to deal with it that better hosts our human nature than Buddha's solution to quit desiring.
...
But, thank you just the same, my little fortune cookie, for sharing your thought. I enjoyed every bit of you. I expected you to taste good, and, you did! No disappointment here.

A Subjective Opinion on Broccoli and Oxygen

...I'm not prone to sharing opinions on subjective matters. You say potaito, I say potato, and I'll enjoy the fact that you say it differently than I do. Eventually, I'll probably like the way you say it better.
But I do have an opinion today. An opinion that bears no eternal significance, but I feel strongly about it none-the-less.
We have a community fridge at work where I keep my coffee creamer and others keep their cold lunches. Someone must be on a great diet! It's always packed with ziplocs full of vegetables.
...Broccoli.
Broccoli...I don't know what it is about broccoli, but it takes less than a week for its scent to invade and conquer any freshness and cleanliness your refrigerator once had. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Today, I had to hold my breath while I removed the ziploc of broccoli from in front of my poor, suffocating coffee creamer to use it. I imagine my creamer was relieved to have gotten a chance to get a breath of fresh air. I felt bad I had to put her back in the odorous cavern of a refrigeration device.
I hate to spell it out for you, as I think I've already made my opinion clear. But, just in case:
I don't think there should be ziploc-stored broccoli aloud in a community fridge, unless you can provide oxygen masks for all fellow fridge-sharing members and coffee creamers that live in the back of the fridge.
Simple? I thought so.

A Desire Unveiled

I saw a woman without a coat on today, standing at a major intersection, holding a cardboard sign that said, "Hard times. Homeless. Need help."
She was also holding a leash that was being tugged at by a new, tiny, tan-and-white puppy. When my eyes followed the leash down to find her pup, they also found the woman's coat, nested around her puppy's feet.


...When I saw that she had a puppy, my mind's first reaction was not lovely. It was, "That poor, shivering puppy. Why does she have a puppy?"
The thought sunk to the bottom of my heart like a bolder dropping through the sea, making large waves, its weight rippling out to reach everything I'd ever learned about love and desire. By the time it touched the bottom, I was pained that the thought had crossed my mind.

...I'm going to go ahead and say this and welcome your corrections for further thought. But, from what my heart has known and seen and experienced, I've come to believe that, if we sorted human desire down to what, at the very heart of it, we really want? Our ultimate desire would be to love and to be loved.

This woman desired love. She desired it deeply...passionately.
She desired love and companionship beyond her thought of what he may cost her: "How am I going to keep him warm and fed?" She'd figure it out.
She desired the companionship of her pup, possibly more than she desired being able to buy herself a warm meal.
And what was most beautiful? She desired love more than she desired her own physical warmth and comfort. She was willing to give up her most valuable possession to make a bed for her loved pup.

Does this picture say something to you?

Keys to Your Heart?

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change. You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage. In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?