Tuesday 21 August 2007

Feuding over coloured utensils

I woke to find Bessy balancing the entire contents of the kitchen on her nose. The ceiling of the kitchen, the floor of the bathroom above, the ceiling of the bathroom, and the roof of the house had all opened up on time, thank goodness. Margaret was on top, with an umbrella, observing the horizon. I don't understand why she does it in the rain.

Felix tells me he visited the horizon not long ago, so that he could watch at close quarters the end of a dynastic feud that had been raging for centuries. The feud had something to do with the choice of red used for the stripes on the lighthouse. I suggested it was about time they finished their disagreement given that it was just about paint but Felix looked at me severely and said that what might appear trivial sitting here, had a very different complexity when you're standing on the distant flats. I looked at my cup of tea and wondered how much more complicated life could get, but didn't say anything more to Felix.

George used to paint stripes on glaciers in all sorts of colours. He then skied the glacier on his bare feet as a way of adding a random pattern to their soles. Cookie commented that it was good for a foot's spiritual well-being to be dosed up with frozen colours. George and I considered what she had said, but could find no relevance, so we got on with the day.

Which brings me to a thought I had as I was doing root canal therapy on Mr Brownsteig's lower molar: could a feud be painted a peaceful colour, balanced on a dog's nose, and marvelled at until it resolves itself?

4 comments:

Weeping Sore said...

“Ya crazy hippy deadhead… Get outta here with your peacenick slogans… You won’t solve the red-striped-lighthouse crisis with watered down sissy secondary colors. Red is primary, and we don’t want none of your rainbow pastels.” Is what some of my brothers would say.

Is your kingdom the next evolutionary step? Is it more advanced to fight over red stripes, or over creation and redemption myths?

Whether we fight about our dogs’ noses or about our images of our gods, in the kingdom where I live, people can’t seem to quit fighting each other.

And what did Felix see there at the end of that dynastic feud?

Anonymous said...

Stan, I totally agree with Cookie. I once painted my feet in green paint and their souls were very spiritual for a long time after that. I felt like I was floating in the air, it was all so spiritual... Gertrude

Stan Johns said...

Dear Weeping Sore,

I think what your brothers say is very similar to what Felix found with the feuding dynasty. It seems that no feud ever ends, but shifts to some new dimension or location. The colour of red, it is true, is there in everything primal...

I live in what was once believed to be a united kingdom but, alas, there is an ongoing feud over the legitimacy of that.

Felix tells me that myths of all sorts are bound to lead to feuds, as are stripes on lighthouses. I rather distrust the idea that either is more advanced than the other...

All the best,

Stan

Stan Johns said...

Dear Gertrude,

Thank you for stopping by again. There's a soul in everything, Cookie tells me, even the dental chair. I've refused to encourage the spirituality of said object for fear of the consequences.

All the best,

Stan