Research for The Jimjilbang 30: The crux of my novels romance is based on a couple of ideas postulated by Haruki Murakami in 1Q84; lots of common symbols, mythology, and folklore; and a new-age, spiritual idea called Indigo Children. The main character of the novel encounters people throughout his life characterized by two ultimate strengths (or pitfalls) -- (1) The ability to *resonate* with someone. Connect with someone really well and really fast. (2) The transformation of vulnerability to either self-acceptance or more spiritual noise, suffering. The reason why the main character I wrote is called The man in the middle is because his struggles have to be tempered by a Buddhist principle called taking the middle way, finding the right balance between the two. Indigo children are a generation of kids born in the 80s or so who have heightened sensitivity to things and are often mislabeled as mentally ill -- when in fact they possess an incredible faculty to connect with themselves, integrate their thoughts fully, and connect with a greater sense of purpose and resolve quite uncommon to a kid. Old souls in young bodies? Kids who can talk to Michaelangelo or spirits or the dead? https://youtube/watch?v=fxvriVUk_5A The reason why I started writing a fictional novel was I knew how crazy I would sound once I started making these connections. But its not important whether or not I *believe* in concept -- what I need to remember, what I think everybody needs to remember -- is just how powerful a story can be. Like Jesus parables or Buddhas dharma, the unit of the story is what makes it real -- and I think wherever these new-age ideas are coming from, the intent behind the story is integral. Through religion, dogma, faith, science, whatever, stories are marked by the need to be believed. When you believe in something, when you give it power, it becomes so. These esoteric but caring people want to empower kids who have problems that havent been responsive to traditional western medicine... why not? I think I recall, quite viscerally, a similar need in my life. And what if you could, take the idea of death and dying and life and rebirth -- literally? You can see that is a common theme for all the great novels of our time. Morrisons Beloved, etc. My favorite scenes in 1Q84 were when his dad kept coming back to ask for his NHK subscriber fee. How do we make sense of death? How does we carry it even when it has passed -- even when it does not affect us? What kind of indelible impressions does that leave on our culture and consciousness when somebody we love passes away? Why are men willing to fight for the symbols theyve used to explain away death? Why are men willing to fight for belief, even when they dont know its true? JCV 9/17/2014
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 12:26:46 +0000
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