How to have an unhealthy relationship

[Nienna]

Thanks, Atreides, for the story. You seem to be doing well in improving your writing skills.

I truly enjoyed your story. It was a complete success in teaching through humor.

Until we can learn about our vampiric programs and get them under control, and learn about pathology of ourselves and others, there can be no real love, only feeding and suffering.

 

[agni]

Atreides, I would like to thank you again.
(I could not help but to re-read, re-read & re-read it again)

This piece of art is so refreshing, and the attitude seems so healthy.
It actually put a lot of personal things I've been struggling with at a new perspective. Enough is enough.

You are right, one can get so stuck in self pity & suffering, that one can become so blind and so oblivious. (me << example).

Thank you for multi-layered piece of work art !

 

[Human]

Thanks Atreides!
It's funny and sad at the same time, and highly educational, and so are other posts in the thread as well.
With carpal tunnel and this thread you are putting the bar pretty high. ;D

Another vote for #2!

 

[Gertrudes]

It's because knowing doesn't mean anything. I know we say knowledge protects, but I think that knowledge in that sense is more of a visceral knowing as opposed to "Hey, I read in this magazine the top ten things not to do in a relationship" so I am so totally set!

So we read all these books and our conscious minds are like, oh yeah, that's right I understand. Our subconscious mind is like: Woh sucker, it don't work that way. And just does what it knows will work from experience. If all you experience is victimization, then all you know about success in life is how to victimize.

Very true. I think this is where being comes in. Paraphrasing Gurdjieff here, knowledge needs being, and being needs knowledge for one to truly evolve. Speaking for myself, I think that understand this at its core, is a lifetime quest :)

Looking forward for a sequel!

 

[Starlight]

Hi Aterides,

Thank you for a really engaging story!

I thoroughly enjoyed it and asked my 15 year old son to read it too.

He said, it's funny.. but sad....

I'd say too!

 

[StrangeCaptain]

I got a pretty good laugh out of it. Partly because there have been years of my life where I was in that cycle of being the "friend" in situations like that...

On a more serious note, I guess it made me think how mixed up the average humans thoughts, emotions, and sexual and physical needs are.

 

[JGeropoulas]

Someone once said that the source of all comedy is pain. That may not always be true, but perhaps it is here, but really, can't we take something in the spirit that's its given. Yeah, it's about pain, but it's funny, and I laughed writing it, and humor can sometimes be a cure or at least a stopgap.

So, why not focus on the entertainment and fun, and not drag it down into a discussion of pain.

If you didn't laugh, or find it funny say so, that's cool, but I didn't post it to get sympathy I posted it to be funny, satirical, and educational all at once. I wanted someone else to chuckle and say, yeah man, funny and kinda true in a twisted way, or hey man that brightened my day.

Are you telling me no part of that made you laugh, or smirk? Non of the rash generalizations, or twisted similes and metaphors? Not a damn thing was funny?

I must be losing my touch.

Not to mention, like oodles of views and hardly any comments, lighten up people, it's not all that bad. We all don't have to wear our hearts on our sleeves.

I couldn't agree more and I like your style--tongue in cheek, sarcasm, dry wit, parody--all treacherously prone to being misunderstood, but also very effective at getting a point across. Go for it!

It's because knowing doesn't mean anything. I know we say knowledge protects, but I think that knowledge in that sense is more of a visceral knowing as opposed to "Hey, I read in this magazine the top ten things not to do in a relationship" so I am so totally set!

Your distinction between those two types of knowledge reminds me of something Jacob Needleman said in Lost Christianity (page 65): our "natural attraction toward truth" becomes derailed by our mistaken pursuit of a "lower reflection of it--such as the desire for explanations".

I have to say I found this hilarious, but I do love satire. Sure, it was close to the bone, but I kept reading because it was funny. And I think that's the key.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to disseminate knowledge about the devastating and depressing state of our world -- and ourselves -- is through humour. It seems to circumvent the "oh I don't want to know about that" response in a lot of people.

I agree. It's the time-tested technique of the Court Jester, Aesop's Fables, the Parables of Jesus, or that great Old Testament (2 Samuel 12:1-10) story where the "prophet" Nathan royally rebukes King David by first "coming in the back door". [edit: I just noticed that I was responding to a quote by "Nathan" :)]

Until we can learn about our vampiric programs and get them under control, and learn about pathology of ourselves and others, there can be no real love, only feeding and suffering.

So true. After many go 'rounds being either the food or the feeder, I concluded that "romance" is a program and until I ceased yearning for a relationship, I probably couldn't have a healthy one. Yet one more irony to life: only those who not seeking a relationship are probably fit to have one.

 

[Steve M.]

Hi Atreides,

At first: I hated it. The situations Timmy found himself in pissed me off. Peggy Sue and Mary Beth were the worst kind of people on earth, scum dogs of the Universe even. Timmy was such a good guy and to get treated that way by those girls.. pure evil. It almost made me cry.

Then after a spell: I started to wonder, what makes a Peggy Sue or Mary Beth behave in such a way? Most likely experience, mirroring what they've learned. In Unholy Hungers (and/or in an interview), Barbara Hort says "We come into the world seeking Love and when we don't find Love we settle for power." So then I was a bit more upset. Not so much at what you wrote, and it is humorous. But more upset with the fact that I didn't find it (love), and settled for the other (manipulation, control, power..) like so many others. I liked the "golly gee's" and stuff, it reminds me of Leave it to Beaver. I also thought it was funny where Timmy, wanting to tell the narrator what is wrong.. in one breath he is saying go away and in the next he's telling him how he saw the situation.

I think you did a great job. I also thought it was brilliant how the Narrator didn't try and interfere with Timmy's lesson(s) about relationships. I'm left sort of dissociative, in that, part of me wants to ponder on it more (think) and the other just wants to get back to this or that and not consider my own experiences, feelings deeper. Thank you for sharing it!

Atreides wrote:

We all don't have to wear our hearts on our sleeves.

The above reminded me of a couple lyrics by R.J.Dio (RIP): (Song: Straight through the heart) ..But, wearing your emotions on your sleeve and they all know what you feel..

(Song: Between two hearts) ..We always seem to Love the most, the ones who never give..

Salutes!

 

[sitta]

Timmy: Really? I am not so sure about that. I thought relationships were about love and understanding, not infanticidal cannibalism.

Narrator: Ahh, the follies of youth. No Timmy, human relationships might seem like they should be about love and understanding, but there's how a thing should be, and how it really is, and if you want to survive in this world, you better plan on having relationship after relationship based on distrust, mutual feeding, and a healthy dose of heartless lying.

Timmy: Golly Mister, that sounds just awful.

Narrator: Yes Timmy, it truly is, but look on the bright side, after 70 or so years of heart wrenching failure, you'll welcome death with open arms.

Timmy: That sounds real fun, where do I start.

For me this quote is really funny in cynical kind of way, especially hilarious is the bolded part.

Thanks Atreides!
It's funny and sad at the same time, and highly educational, and so are other posts in the thread as well.
With carpal tunnel and this thread you are putting the bar pretty high. ;D

So true.

Another vote for #2!

In which Timmy teaches his daughter about relationships ;D

EDIT: spelling

 

[Breton]

Hey, just read this late, and I gotta say satire is an excellent way to communicate important concepts!
As well as just process one's own troubling thoughts too, in a constructive, and creative manner.
There sure are negative ways to process too, so this is a far better way to do it, IMHO.

 

[Iron]

I liked that... a sequel would be nice!
Its hard to not identify yourself with Timmy's attempts.