"Beautiful, Bawdy, Villains!"

Since young, the word villain has held a certain amount of humor as to the way it’s pronounced as opposed to spelled. I enjoy pronouncing it as spelled. “You vil-LAIN, you!”

vil-lain, n. 1 a wicked person. 2 a playful name for a mischievous person. 3 character in a play, novel, etc., whose evil motives or actions form an important element in plot. [< Old French villein < Medieval Latin villanus farm hand < Latin villa country house]

Examining etymology we see origins are likely that farm hands from country houses stole into town to pilfer things. Perhaps one was caught, and in fleeing, was recognized, and it was called out after them--“Villein!”--so the townsfolk knew who the thief was--someone from the villas. The Old French pronunciation is as the word is spelled, vil-LAIN. I figured that had to be, it seems more correct to human speech to yell/sound out AIN over IN.

In the play Hamlet there is a monologue where, because he’s failing to take action against the corrupt state of affairs, he berates himself as a “…bloody, bawdy, villain!” I like to use the phrase when addressing someone or something that has gone wrong. Like if Dick Cheney or the like are on a talk show I might yell the phrase at the TV--“Bloody, bawdy, villain!”

But I also like to use it playfully, like I did signing off to two women I was involved in a facebook ménage à trios with--“beautiful, bawdy, villains!” I wanted it to turn into a real life ménage à trios because both women are dynamic and beautiful. But just the other night I may have hurt one of them, if not both. In not thinking things through, being too impulsive, no filter rawness, I disrupted a budding relationship. I cried about it, I really do care about them, and the thought of hurting them, hurts. If I would’ve waited an hour or so on the development of what I really wanted to say, I would’ve eventually reached the correct words, instead of what I sent.

I had been messaging with them both, then created a thread with the three of us, and went back to message the one. I sent it on the chance she might have wanted it for her narrative. She is near that age where if she wanted kids, now was a good time. My imagination even went to that place. What I should’ve done is asked them at the same time if I could give the one a baby, or both, and then maybe we all make a go of it as a tribe of some sort, whatever that might look like. Then they could’ve taken the idea however they wanted, as a great laugh at least, and we could’ve continued to row gently down the stream. Instead I faltered by telling the one I loved them both, but was a little more in love with her. She read it, showed it to the other, and they both bowed out. Alas, haste is the Devil’s best friend, and not only was the wording imprecise, it was not well-considered and so the wrong message overall was sent. And quite rightly the one showed it to the other. I hope they forgive me. Maybe one day. But let this be a lesson: if you’re in a ménage à trios, on-line or in the real world, favoritism is likely death. The tragedy in this case, besides hurting people, is that I don’t think there really was any favoritism. I think I loved them both just the same, and I sent the wrong message out of fear it might’ve been what the one wanted. I’ll talk about it more because there is a lot to be said for the situation and for women and men in general. For now let’s shift gears, here is what I wrote a few days ago:

I feel so lucky--the first few weeks of 2012! Very busy. The political science is bumping along, though there is comfort in hearing people talk about the need for a convention. There’s text I could write about how the ten year struggle for it destroyed my life, but I wouldn’t bother, it’s 2012 now and every day is a gift of the heavens. Sounds over the top to say every day is a gift of the heavens, doesn’t it? But not only is it true--literally, the heavens contain the Sun--but it’s a feeling too. The “gift of the heavens” feeling, where you’re happy just to know so much of what’s going on here on Earth. In an essay by Sir Francis Bacon, “Of Truth” he quotes an unnamed poet: “It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth, and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests in the vale below. That this sight be with compassion and not pride--certainly it is heaven on Earth to have a mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.”

The higher ground of truth is achieved through your choice to seek out, read, and contemplate the world--and maybe that’s really what we’re talking about, whether or not you read books--that a feeling of bliss can be achieved just by knowing things. If you read books, of course you are going to know more. They don’t have to be non-fiction books only--you can learn about life through fiction--some would argue you learn more through fiction--if the writer is any good (literary fiction that is, that which attempts to raise consciousness about life and living, and so teaches a better way to live). But surely, the more you read the more you know, and the more you know the higher ground of truth you stand, and thus more often to have the “every day is a gift of the heavens” type day. Knowing things is important, the trick is understanding what they mean when considered in relation to one another. That’s the job of the poet and playwright and novelist.

The other night I went down to LA, to the Kaballah Center. A friend joined the group a year or two ago, went to Israel with them last summer, and talks about it when we catch up over the phone. I’d heard of it for years, it’s centered on Jewish mysticism. They have a few speakers who know their stuff, and they all groove on good ideas. It’s kind of like its own church, everyone generally smiling, feeling good. I was there for the talk they were having about 2012. Here are notes I jotted down:

Wisdom as tool

Breaking free from slavery

War of thoughts/ideas

Law of solidarity--every person an agent in the unfolding

Awake core mass for change

Afterwards I spoke with the woman rabbi who gave it. She was a dynamic speaker, high and low notes throughout the hour--very shiny hair I remember thinking at one point. She talked about things I had considered at one time or another and I agreed with her take--pretty much what any fair-minded, rational person would. In the main, the message was about how what we think and how we act as humans affects the unfolding of reality. This is one of my favorite ideas of all time, so I wanted to share with the rabbi a story I heard about, and confirmed with a little research at the library. It’s a story about the Hopi which underlines the idea.

The Hopi elders had a prophecy passed along for thousands of years: that when the “gourd of ashes” was dropped on mother Earth, the elders living at that time were to go to the “house of glass” on the eastern shore, and warn the leaders of the world that if they did not become peaceable and blend with the land, they would cause a catastrophe. Then, in the 1940s, the elders took the atom bomb dropped on Japan to be the “gourd of ashes” and they headed to the United Nations building to warn the world’s leaders. Their prophecy instructed them to attempt to deliver the message three times. In research I found a short op-ed from the 1953 Wall Street Journal which basically made fun of these Hopi elders trying to address the General Assembly.

The important message of the prophecy is that if humanity didn’t do something, it would cause something: human thoughts/actions affect how things unfold in reality. I wrote down a link for the Article V Convention stuff and gave it to the rabbi, letting her know her message of the Law of Solidarity, and how each individual is an agent in the unfolding, and the goal is to wake a core of the mass for change.

I've decided not to do another Shakespeare book, and am going for another novel. Rider, Horse & Dog is the storehouse for the raw material. I'm also working on a new play, as I was sent an invite from a New York theatre for their latest competition. We'll see. Anyway, there is more to say about the two women, and even the actress. For now I must go prepare for a conference call with the politically engaged.