A great commentary about Michael and Bashir - you'll learn something i promise

Started by vanessa, April 01, 2012, 10:27:53 AM

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vanessaTopic starter

This is a comment by a 'Filipek7' on a Washington Post article wrote by Deepak Chopra days after Mike's passing.

Here's the link. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/deepak_chopra/2009/06/the_spirituality_of_michael_jackson.html

I don't know who this guy is or whether it's his piece or quoted somewhere else, but this SUCH a magnificent thought and i can't not share it with Mike's fans.

I learned a lot about myself only by reading this.
I copy the comment here for your easy reading. Ps: if it might help if you read Chopra's article first for understanding the context. Sorry if someone had put this up before, i'm just so excited.

Reflections on Light and Darkness

"There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in" (Leonard Cohen)

There are no doubt millions of fans of Michael Jackson's music who remain baffled by what little they have known of his behavior, character and appearance. There are millions more who are totally indifferent to the music and, if anything, repulsed by what they perceive as an offensive eccentric at best or dangerous deviant at worst. In the days immediately following his tragic death, almost all commentators chose to emphasize this ostensible polarity of Michael's legacy: "a genius in his art, but a disturbed human being." It seems like there was always a "but."

If mainstream gurus are good at anything, it is turning truth on its head and, in the process, eviscerating all that is pure. It is not in Michael Jackson's musical artistry that his foremost greatness consists, but it is in fact in his wonderful humanity. His music is only just one expression – just one manifestation – of that humanity. These misguided eulogies, therefore, have it all backwards. Michael's legacy is not limited to an artistry that is somehow soiled by a troubled and troubling life. Michael's greatest legacy is his loving character and the lessons it teaches us, through his ultimately tragic life, about the true face of an often brutal and ugly world.

In Michael Jackson, we see an innocence and purity rarely seen in an adult. Jackson's "childlikeness" is perplexing to many people, but it is precisely this trait that sets him apart from an adult world that has learned so effectively to be cold and calculated, smart and shrewd, proper and professional. Adults seeking to better themselves ought to become more childlike. If Michael was guilty, his sin (borrowing Dylan's prophetic words) was that he knew and felt too much within. Unfortunately, it is typical for those who feel deeply to seem to others utterly odd and insane. Hence the proverbial Pierrot, buffoon or idiot, whose superficial lunacy conceals a deep understanding of the human heart. Michael's intense capacity to feel allowed him to be a loving, caring and responsive human being. He was far more capable of love than are most adults. Because of this acute sensitivity, what we also see in Michael is an utterly vulnerable, susceptible man.

Michael's bizarre appearance and eccentric behavior were, paradoxically, far more sensible than the "normal" behavior of most "normal" people within the confounding context world that is itself upside down. All of Michael's strange gestures and attitudes make perfect sense given one profound premise – that the world is pure, innocent and harmless. Of course those of us who have "grown up" have learned that the world is not "pure, innocent and harmless." Hence the tragedy of Michael Jackson. His actions, whether holding his baby over the balcony or jumping on top of a car to wave to adoring fans or spending millions of dollars on a single shopping spree, seem irresponsible and disturbing when seen and interpreted through the categories of a deranged world. In fact, his actions were selfless and harmless.

The truth is, Michael had the eyes and heart of a child who saw in one dimension – that of pure love. When he saw that someone desired something from him, he gave selflessly, paying no heed to logical consequences or reasonable caution. The dictates of propriety and convention were, as they ought always to be, totally subordinated to the dictates of love. It made perfect sense to him to give joy to others, even if this exposed him and his own actions to spiteful or selfish manipulation by others.

Michael was not willing to assume, as most adults are conditioned to do, that someone he approached could have a tarnished nature. He gave others the benefit of doubt, approaching them as if approaching angels and children. When he met demons, thus, he was utterly exposed and likely devastated. This, no doubt, brought him much suffering, i.e., not so much the suffering that was inflicted upon him by the malice of others but only just the sudden realization (played over and over again anew) that the person he had hoped was an angel could in fact be so malevolent. Michael never allowed himself, it seems, to draw the seemingly rational and sensible conclusion that most adults have drawn from repeated experience: the world is generally just this way. In other words, Michael's purity was such that if he met nine people, all of whom turned out to be vile, he would still greet the tenth as an angel. This defies reasonable human "logic," but it remains steadfast in an adherence to the greater logic of divine love.

Michael surrounded himself with children not because he was perverted, but because he saw in them the hope for a world which had grown to be far too mature. What he loved in children was the proof and justification of the "purity of heart" of which we hear in the Beatitudes. He tried desperately – in only seemingly irrational ways – to protect this adolescent purity from a world whose hideous cruelty he felt in his very own flesh. If the fact that he saw nothing wrong in expressing love toward children in emotionally intimate ways attests only to his purity, our inclination to assume that he was a pedophile and our willingness to assume that love is a pathological deviation can only attest to our essential impurity. In a world that has fallen to pieces, it only makes sense that (to quote Dylan once again) what's bad is good, what's good is bad. Thus, love is a pathological disturbance, whereas cold, rational remoteness defines the new "humanity."

Michael created and surrounded himself with a world fit for a child because he felt that this is the ideal the entire world should aspire to - an ideal that the world so woefully fails to live up to. It was also, incidentally, a way for him to compensate for the pain that was so ever-present to him – the pain of his past and present, the pain of his visceral, personal experience. Michael was sensitive – perhaps hyper-sensitive – and in so being, he felt the pang of every brutal truth far more directly and deeply than most others would. The harm that was inflicted upon him and others was so real to Michael that it induced in him an absolute and immediate moral response. This response - this Neverland world that eradicated the pain of reality through one sweeping contradiction - however unrealistic and idealistic it might seem to a practically minded adult, was totally reasonable for Michael. Michael was the perfect mixture of a child's innocence and an old-man's sagacity. He saw both much less and much more. Quincy Jones was therefore profoundly astute and when he famously described Michael as both the oldest and youngest man he knew.

Michael's innocence is strangely evident in his infamous shopping spree that evoked such a furor when shown in Martin Bashir's exposé. My own socially and environmentally conscious logic is tempted to condemn and rebuke such wanton excess. And yet, I can only smile when I see Michael in the store. Why? Perhaps because what I really see is an innocent child grasping for an ideal utopia – pleasantly oblivious to the ugliness of a consumptive and destructive society concealed behind a façade of harmless, pretty, enjoyable products. Michael sees only what is immediately there – the potential for a beautiful world wherein children and adults alike have what they need – the joy and inspiration, the peace and beauty. There is really no concern here for stuff. What allows me to smile rather than to cringe is that Michael's thoughts and actions flow so naturally and effortlessly along these ideal and pure categories, which seem so improbable to my rational mind. He does not see the horror and the ugliness. These do not factor into his thinking. His urge to buy is not inspired by an egoistic urge to amass stuff for his own gratification. Nor does it arise from being manipulated by an insidious system that wants you to buy for its own impure interest.

The Bashir Interview: Casting Pearls before Swine

When I first (only recently) watched the notorious Martin Bashir special, which was shamelessly aired again and again on MSNBC after Michael's passing, I could not help but cry. At times I felt as though I was witnessing the public humiliation, flogging and crucifixion of an utterly helpless and harmless child. My first thought was, "why did Michael agree to do this? He should have refused!" Upon some reflection, however, I realized that Michael was willing to expose himself (repeatedly) to Bashir's sadistic onslaught precisely because of who he was. Michael thought that Bashir's intentions were pure. He wanted to believe that Bashir would not manipulate what had been said and that the journalist's quest was simply to share the truth with the world. Why not believe this to be the case? Why assume that the interviewer's instincts could be self-interested and impure? Would that not be admitting that the world is ugly – that the world is not and will never be Neverland?

The contrast between Bashir and Michael really could not be greater. Bashir went out of his way to appear reasonable and measured. Michael, on the other hand, had little regard for how he appeared. His main concern was the truth of how he felt and what he believed. To many people he appeared "crazy." The truth, of course, was just the opposite. Bashir was consistently cynical, sardonic, judgmental, and seemed to exhibit a pathological indifference when, again and again, he picked at Michael's raw, open wounds. He showed no regard for the human heart and its anguish. If he had any concern for Michael's torment, perhaps he was too proud to show it. Bashir concealed his cruelty behind a façade of intelligent, reasonable and intellectual professionalism, as if he were just a skilled journalist in the disinterested pursuit of truth. But it is when things sound perfectly civilized and appear so prim and proper that we should be most wary and suspicious. If we pay close attention, we see that Michael possesses the genuine and good heart and is quite reasonable in all he stands for, whereas Bashir is the true sociopath.

Bashir conducts his hurtful interviews all the meanwhile adhering to the highest professional protocol and journalistic etiquette. At one point in the broadcast, Bashir reflects: "Confronting Michael wasn't going to be easy, but now it had to happen," as if this shift to difficult personal subject matter were the result of some inescapable logic, perhaps some imagined standard of journalistic professionalism, which dictates that the truth must be uncovered, whatever the human toll. It is not relevant or important to Bashir how personal the truth may be, whether it has any important humane or useful significance to the audience, or what the consequences of the pursuit of that truth might be. The single thing that matters is the successful exposure of facts, which will secure for Bashir pride among his peers. Are we to admire this journalist's professional ardor, persistence, and his supreme objectivity in the pursuit of his goal? Is it of no importance that a human being must be sacrificed on the altar of this professional ideal?

In yet another disingenuous attempt to establish his superior ethical and professional credentials, Bashir explains to his audience that his line of questioning is inspired by a "worry" for Michael's children. Meanwhile, Michael sits and writhes in obvious pain and discomfort. Seeing this, Bashir, ever the objective scientist in hot pursuit, does not desist but rather intensifies his inquest. Michael, the victim, is increasingly desperate and begins to crack. His humanity is bared for all to see. Michael's legs tremble with anxiety. Under duress, Michael opens up and his emotions spill over. Defenseless because of his innocence, and so pure that he cannot even fathom the foul logic of reason, Michael describes the act of sharing one bed with a child as an expression of care and love. How fair-minded propriety dictates that care and love are in fact deviant behavior is rightly incomprehensible to him. Desperation ringing in his voice, he explains that he cannot abide a crazy world wherein guns and computers have, for children, replaced human contact and compassion. "Why does it mean so much to you?" asks Bashir. The question seems to embody concern, but there is a just barely palpable accusatory tone: Wouldn't a normal, rational person care less...? Perhaps you care so much because you are demented or perverted...?

The proper question, of course, is how anyone could ever be indifferent to the plight of children in an alienating world? How could anyone care less? Bashir's rationality has itself become a pathological deviation. Bashir stands in judgment over a phenomenon he cannot understand, because he has grown up beyond where he could ever comprehend the simplicity of a pure heart. His logic is far too sophisticated and proud. When we have grown up to the point where we are actually capable of dispassionately analyzing a tragedy without breaking down and crying about it, we have then truly lost our humanity. Erecting ideals like Neverland in an effort to cope with dismal reality is not a moral failure. Properly seen, it is just a symptom of or testament to the pathological state of the world. The moral failure is the dismal reality in itself.

Bashir is the sort of person who could stab a person and, with cool and calm demeanor, go on to ask why the victim is in pain. He is "disturbed" by Jackson's ostensibly eccentric behavior and "concerned" for the children, all the meanwhile inflicting psychological torture on the father of these children. Perhaps Bashir even understands that Michael's sensitivity will make him susceptible to manipulation. He throws Michael off balance and then points to his angst as evidence of character flaws. Bashir is especially interested in the personal and largely irrelevant matter of plastic surgeries, and here his interrogation borders on sadism. Knowing the topic will open painful wounds, he pries into Michael's demons. Bashir's interrogation can only bring to mind an SS officer with his cool and scientific method. Perhaps what Bashir was really looking for in his ideal subject was a cold hard rock rather than a human being. What he found instead was an angel.

POSTED BY: FILIPEK7 | JUNE 30, 2009 4:07 PM
REPORT OFFENSIVE COMMENT

This is the closest i get of getting insane over someone i never met..I miss you so much Michael it HURTS..

Australian MJ BeLIEver

regarding the last paragraph of ur post, abt the surgeries and opening painful wounds.... i remember wathing this part of the interview thinking he is trying to trigger MJ and bring him to a dark place...

upon reflection and now that we know more abt conspiracy, etc.... there really were elements of (or attempts) as phycologically trying to break mike, in that last part of the interview....

it often makes me winder, was that all bashirs initiative... who else was behind it...

People laugh when I explain. And though they may laugh, that doesn't change the fact that it's still the truth.


Michael is Alive
The end of evil is nigh
Trust in God
The righteous will prevail

vanessaTopic starter

or we can be like Mike, first assume purity and good intent of other people but add it with some shrewdness practicality in dealing with other people.

I won't necessarily believe in conspiracy, just that people, even who were good at first, can make bad decisions and becoming a 'bad person'.

But i appreciate your response, thankyou.

This is the closest i get of getting insane over someone i never met..I miss you so much Michael it HURTS..

Australian MJ BeLIEver

maybe i didnt write what i mean to convey properly.....

when i say conspiracy, i am talking abt such things as this of michaels own admission...

(ignore word illuminati in title. i am just referring to interview)

yes bashir made bad choices, but it is true that there are ppl out there trying to bring MJ down.

i guess i wonder, if bashir was put up to that, or this was his own initiative...

People laugh when I explain. And though they may laugh, that doesn't change the fact that it's still the truth.


Michael is Alive
The end of evil is nigh
Trust in God
The righteous will prevail

Grace

Thank you, Vanessa, for sharing with us.

I believe that Michael has a very deep understanding of the first world combined with an outstanding talent of sensitivity, empathy and just knowing about additional realities. Watching the expressive regard presented to minority details that other persons would not even bother to think about is giving away the one who notices pleats changing colour in a light beam where others only see some cushions draped on a sofa. This is the one who feels uncomfortable when things are not the way he likes them to be or where others have control. This is the one who sees and lives at least a second reality if not a third one where other people have difficulties acknowledging their first real life.

I do appreciate the article and the subsequent comment even more. There is so much insight in it.

I remember when Michael was asked by Oprah Winfrey why he would grab his crotch.
Michael could not really answer that question, smiled and said the dance move "happens subliminally" when he "feels" the music. There's this body language analysis of the interview explaining Michael's reaction to the question as embarrassment and shame. This reaction can only happen when you know that the surrounding would expect a different action, was setting up taboos or would just not understand. It is an acknowledgement of "I am different and I know it and I know that you would expect me acting differently but I won't do that".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDQgU6ptic&feature=relmfu

Singers often touch themselves at all kind of areas of the body just to feel and live the vibrations of their keys and live their singing being one. In fact, singing out really loud is leading to shivers and goose bumps and is building a ladder to the good spirits - I don't know if anybody can follow me on this one but it is true.

Same applies to extreme dancing or martial arts which make you forget about your first life and give you a second life beyond first reality. Working with your body breaking your limits is docking into universal energy levels, just plugging you in, getting connected and pumping yourself up with enormous amounts of energy.
Of course Michael could not start a conversation like that with Oprah. People who don't sing or dance or perform with their body or who are not sensitive to these other worlds will not understand what happens when you unite into one with what you're doing. It is not sexuality that happens at that place that everybody identifies as being important when you work your body that much. The saturation is a complete one - body and soul, spirits and mind, everything balanced. The public mainly misunderstood because they only looked at first sight and not at second.

It is when one feels that one knows and then sees and then feels even more.

Feeling and knowing was a talent that was unfortunately not given to M. Bashir in that amount that he could have gotten over himself and could put the bar above his ego.
I am very glad of the comment's analysis which however left out the second camera that Michael had gotten established, the video sequences published by Michael in an attempt to correct Bashir's tinted footage and Michael refraining so far from producing a payday for MB.
These left-outs make Michael a personality and Bashir a complete - however professional - looser.

Michael knows about his magic (Chopra's "God pop communion effect") and that's why he uses this exactly in the dosages he thinks appropriate.
I have complete faith in Michael. He knows exactly what he's doing because he's feeling it first.

Create your day. Create the most astounding year of your life. Be the change you want to see in the world! L.O.V.E.
***********************************************************************************************
"I am tired, I am really tired of manipulation." Michael Jackson, Harlem, New York, NY, July 6, 2002
***********************************************************************************************
******* Let's tear the walls in the brains of this world down.*******

Time to BE.

MJonmind

Wonderful article!

Quote

Bashir's interrogation can only bring to mind an SS officer with his cool and scientific method. Perhaps what Bashir was really looking for in his ideal subject was a cold hard rock rather than a human being. What he found instead was an angel.

Also more like an amateur trying to criticize an exquisite piece of art/sculpture. The depths of Michael are beyond mere shallow description or analysis. Martin started off his interview with a pre-conceived judgment, and ended with the same--neither he nor the casual public learning a thing. Those who love Michael saw his true love for humanity at its most profound level.

Grace, I liked your response as well. He was not just copying other's dance moves, he was creating new innovative style that would be imitated the world over.  I also really believe MJ was way more in control of that interview than what most think. It's been mentioned before about this hoax, some 20 years in the making, being like a chess game. We might not understand certain moves, thinking it will be a death-nell, but in long range strategy, it is out-thinking the opponent.  Yes, Michael is totally knowing what he's doing, and I also trust him completely.


hesouttamylife

I believe Sneddon was the ghost in the background of Living with Michael Jackson.  Him and his obsession with finally getting his goose.  Sneddon got off way too easy, IMO.  Living like king with his pension monies.  He should have been arrested, booked, locked up and the key melted down to raw material.  He is a rat, a snake, and the devil incarnate.

Great article.  Thanks for sharing it.

"Don't stop this child, He's the father of man
Don't cross his way, He's part of the plan
I am that child, but so are you
You've just forgotten, Just lost the clue."

MJ "Magical Child"
Still Rocking my World...
   and leaving me Speechless!

"True goodbyes are the ones never said

lettingitsimmer

Thank you for the comments and quotes  here, really positive. It is a wonderful thing to see that info about  Michael's beautiful nature is being respected and spread, and that people see , feel, and realize that his humanity is  pure L.O.V.E. .. a human being who lives towards a life of joy and kindness.. a sweetheart.. and then compare his life and works,  to shabby , shallow, insensitive  "journalists"  who "interview"( verbally attack)  him...  well, need I add more?  xx  :compute:


skyways

GOD BLESS U for sharing this article wth our loving attention!
I was felt like reading into Michael dearest human essence that was addresed  with such tact and  depth so - even give strong call that, perhaps, its Maestro himself approach through anonymous blog name.

Im speachless now and just wish, from the core of my heart and soul, that all  sadness and unpurity of moondane  world  not infected prechious mindset of our hero and tiny beads of BELIEVING  is still left in his heart.

God Bless you, dear Michael and each and every-one of his wonderful Family of LOVE!
Love is the Only true legacy from him.

@


vanessaTopic starter

This place is great, people are so positive and inspiring.

To me that persistent assertion to one self, world is a good place and people are genuinely nice, represents courage. I truly admire people who are like that and i aspire to be exactly that.

it's really funny about this commentary, found it out of the blue while i was researching about Michael. Couldn't find it anywhere, some other websites re-blogged it (with credit) but no one really took claim. I love the commentary, it boils and summarizes on simple principle of kindness that goes all the way, even beyond Michael Jackson.

Thank you all, hopefully more and more people could see the post and realize what a great human being Michael is.

This is the closest i get of getting insane over someone i never met..I miss you so much Michael it HURTS..

marumjj

The description of Michael's innocence in a world full of evil (being each day add Bashir) was never made ​​tanbien. But do not underestimate Michael, he is a very intelligent man, we are actually waiting for the greatest show on earth.
:bearhug:


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