Michael Jackson Dies

[Jermaine_J]

Michael Jackson had passed after soon after he was rushed to the hospital last June 25, 2009. The news of Michael Jackson passing away is troubling, as he was set to begin a comeback and was only 50 years of age. The Jackson family commented soon after he was admitted that he was in bad shape. The King of Pop began his career at a very young age as a member of the Jackson 5, and later had great success as a solo artist, including Thriller – the best selling album of all time - and many thought he'd never need to think of payday lenders again – RIP Michael Jackson. The earth will feel the void of your passing and you'll forever be missed.

 

[spyraal]

The mainstream media has never been a source of empathic sensitivity, but it sometimes gives us glimpses of factors which reveal the objective reality of the situation for those with eyes that see.

If you perceive these revelations as insulting, that is certainly your prerogative and I can empathize with those feelings, but they could well be pertinent realities which surround this event, which could give us insights into the true nature of our illusion. Until someone presents evidence which convincingly refutes this information, I will continue to consider them as possible, nay, likely factors in the death of this icon... and the post mortem division of his wealth.

I am at a loss to determine what it is in these articles that you consider "gossip".

My comments on the articles on your post were never intended as a blame of any kind of course... Quite the opposite, i think they are very useful as they reflect wonderfully the spirit of the news coverage concerning MJ death and complete the picture by giving contrast IMO to the self-contradicting needs of most people, their need to create idols to admire followed by the need to feed upon them, their misdeeds, scandals and private life. Personally, having few emotional attachments to MJ, i would not consider these articles as insulting to his memory, especially if they are based in facts. But, for people who do feel different about him (as it is their right to do so), the same people who might react to a joke of the same flavour as SAO's, i just feel that reading these news all over could hurt more than listening to any joke. That was my original point in other words. Thank you!

:)

 

[ana]

I love hearing and dancing some Michael's music, I've never seen no one dancing as he did/does. As I see it,(with the little data I have) Michael as happens to many of those who get in the World of spectacle lost before or after the purity of the initial creativity, in a world of predators in which he also loose himself.

As I see it, there is really nothing sad or happy in the fact that he is no longer physically.
Maybe what really matters is what he has learnt, and what others had learn observing his choices and actions in this world.

What I see is the need of become masters of ourselves, in order to make conscious choices, enabling creativity be expressed and not imprisoned by our own ignorance or of those around us, so not to feed the predator with the precious treasure that we have..

 

[RedFox]

As for not being able to DO anything, that's true, and it's not due to lack of opportunities. I hope that will change soon, and I have no real answer as to why it hasn't changed yet except that I just did not do what I know I could've been doing, and I feel really guilty about that. I'm sorry to all who could've potentially benefited from my non-existent contribution and all I can say is I hope that I can change that in the near future.

fwiw this has reminded me of something I posted about that has been part of figuring out why I could not DO anything.
Running away from problems

I've read more on this 'secret pleasure' aspect of programs, but can't quite find the quote I was looking for, however I did find a better one from one of obyvatel's recent posts about Passive Anger

Passive Anger/Aggression
Passive aggressive traits lead to an indirect and circuitous way of expressing anger. Simon (quoting Millon) describes the passive aggressive (PA) as a primarily "negativistic" and ambivalent" person who is a chronic procrastinator and unable to decide firmly on a primarily "dependent or independent style of coping". This could be a non-pathological self-defense mechanism arising in the face of hostile authority (eg narcissistic family) to begin with but can become pathological in later life.
Behavioral Traits
Procrastination, chronic lateness, chronic forgetfulness, nagging, teasing, sarcasm, insincere apologies (accompanied with "All I said was ......" or "I only meant ....") are some behavioral traits. Passive anger can lead a person to seek advice and guidance and then to reject sensible suggestions experiencing a secret pleasure from that rejection. They are extremely frustrating people to live with who constantly annoy and provoke people around them thus experiencing the anger they cannot express themselves through projection.

And this secret pleasure I think is a form of Wrong Thinking and dislike for it needs to be learnt.
Self-Observation, Inner Talking & Work Instrument

Now we speak once more of observing talking. All rules are about talking, practically speaking, and how to deal with wrong talking. It is necessary to observe inner talking and from where it is coming. Wrong inner talking is the breeding-ground not only of many future unpleasant states but also of wrong outer talking. You know that there is in the Work what is called the practise of inner silence. The practise and meaning of inner silence is like this: first, it must be about something quite distinct and definite; and second, it is like not touching it. That is, you cannot practise inner silence in any vague general way, save perhaps as an experiment for a time. But you can practise it rigidly in regard to some distinct and definite thing, something you know and see quite clearly. Someone once asked: "Is practising inner silence the same as not letting something come into your mind?" The answer is no. It is not the same. What you are practising inner silence about is already in the mind and you must be aware of it, but you must not touch it with your inner speech, your inner tongue. Your outer literal tongue likes to touch sore places, as when a tooth hurts. So does your inner tongue. But if it does, the sore thing in your mind flows into your inner speech and unwraps itself as inner talking in every direction. You have noticed of course that inner talking always goes on in negative states and that it coins many unpleasant phrases, which suddenly find expression in outer talking, perhaps long after. In the Work we are told that it is necessary to be careful about wrong outer talking at first, and, later on, about wrong inner talking. Actually, wrong outer talking is mostly due to wrong inner talking. Wrong inner talking, particularly venomous and evil inner talking, and so on, makes a mess within, like excrement. They are all different forms of lying and this is why they have such strength and persistence. Lies are always more powerful than truth because they can hurt. If you observe wrong inner talking you will notice it is only half-truths, or truths connected in the wrong order, or with something added or left out. In other words, it is simply lying to oneself. If you say: "Is this quite true?" it may stop it, but it will find another set of lies. Eventually you must dislike it. If you enjoy it, you will never lessen its power. It is not enough to dislike liking it: you must dislike it.

As to feeling guilty (self pity)! Good lord SAO don't you remember the Negative Introject?

Feeling the same as you is one reason I chose my signature (bold added)....

Do not spend your life in a sleep.
Do not lose your way in the labyrinth.
And die as it befits a man.
One must not look at others. At those that do nothing.
Laziness is contagious. One can get infected with it, without knowing, and the therapy is difficult.

One must not look at others. At those who do nothing. Because afterwards there is only a pity. And one becomes angry at yourself.

Your life is in your hands. You've written some good stuff about responsibility in other threads. How, it may not necessarily be someones fault that they are 'this' or 'that', but change is always their responsibility. Hoping you will change is like giving over you free will to a belief system; it sounds very detached.

We do what we want to do. Face it, there's a part of your personality that doesn't want to help. It's up to you whether you examine that part of you to see if you want to keep it or change it.

This may be more of a long shot but again it reminded me of a program I have, and used quite heavily in the past. I used helping others with there problems (and I was good at it none the less) as an excuse to not look at my own. More importantly however was the underlying problem that I thought if I 'saved' others they'd have to come 'save' me right? They owed me that much didn't they?
Talk about STS! Part of me does still sometimes want something in return for 'helping' others....fortunately it is diminishing as I do not feed it (and I think most of the people here have spotted it and also don't feed it...for which I am grateful).

So perhaps instead of wrong thinking and self pity and hoping someone else will save you, perhaps you could use that energy to at least go look at the 'why' behind not DOing and then Applying it to yourself so you can DO something?
Or has everything you've posted been an excuse not to DO?

 

[Snow]

Many times I reference what my ole turn of the century "hillbilly" grandmother used to tell me when I was a child. And I mean wayyyy back, deep, real deep in them Appalachian mountains... To be politically correct, I guess they should now be called Appalachian Americans... I also am from that background and DO laugh at hillbilly jokes, cause many are rooted in truth.!.!.! :D She told me that famous people die in groups of three. I dunno if that is a fact, but over the years I've seen it happen, time and time again. I think many superstitions may have some root in truth, but famous people dieing in sets of threes have made me wonder about that "legend"...

Ed McMahon - Died, 23 June 2009 (aged 86)
Farrah Fawcett - Died, 25 Jun 2009 (aged 62)
Michael Jackson - Died, 25 Jun 2009 (aged 50)
fwiw

This is wierd when bernie mac and Issac Hayes died they died so close. Like after they was in that movie it was a little strange how they died so close togther. It was almost as if it was planned or something who knows it probably was. Maybe they are starting to kill celebrity's off because of the economy crisis. And they can longer pay them thier rightful money so why not kill them. Be honest with you I dont believe he died from cardiac arrest but from something else who knows.

As I understand it, people reincarnate in groups, or are part / fragment of a larger soul entity. Maybe it was their time or their decision to step out of this life...

 

[Kel]

SAO has been a great support and resource on this forum in my opinion.

I personally did not know M Jackson, and certainly didn't care for his type of music, although I know he is extremely gifted, as a singer, composer and a dancer. (I've seen video of him where he seemed to almost become something "other" than human while he was on stage or performing.) So, I guess I too, didn't feel much of anything when I heard that he died.

I found myself somewhat removed from actually feeling sad for his death. I heard about it when I went to my mother-in-laws house. She had the TV on, blaring, of course, and seemed to be in almost a panic attack: "have you heard, MIchael Jackson DIED, he was injected with DEMORAL, they tried to resussicate him for over an HOUR, its horrible, LOOK there's the ambulance taking him away...." and as I stood in her living room, with the TV blaring, she never turned it down or off. Oh, yes, I felt very removed and amazed; I mean, its like, didn't we all see this coming? why the shock?

I do feel empathy for the children. What a mess. But then, although I didn't follow his life much, I felt sorry for his kids when he was alive. What kind of life did they have?

OK, now I"m going to have to end this post because as I got to the bottom of it it's freaking out.

But I just wanted to add that, at the risk of not fitting in with all you, I too had a little privat chuckle over SAO's post as well as other jokes I have heard since.

I guess I will continue this in another post.

 

[Kel]

I guess what I'm wondering is, what does this symbolize? They are calling him "the King" of whatever and I've heard that people are committing suicide because of his death. This is INSANE. He seemed to become insaner and insaner (is that a word?) as time went on. Even his appearance, which he, himself went under the knife for many times, became, to me, horrific. The Joker anyone? It's just plain creepy. Then he had this sense of entitlement. I've read that he would just simply not pay his bills. Not to Doctors or landscapist, until they sued him for it. That's really creepy.

This is our world. To me, this is a symbol of the insanity of it. How America, and then the world makes these idols of people who PERFORM. They don't actually DO anything!

I have a suspition that he was at one time whole. When and where did he take turn to become something "Other"? I suppose if there is some refection to be made, it is there. And it is There that the empathy, for me comes in. The lose of true greatness because of vampires and demons. If only he had had KNOWLEDGE.

 

[Kel]

(Again, after so many typed lines, my post began to freak out. It starts flashing, and then I can't see what I have written, although I can continue to write...)

My point is, I guess, and of course, this could change as I reflect on it for some time, IS that there is humor here.

What have we, as Americans and the entire plugged in planet, created? This is crazy and it does make me kinda laugh!

M Jackson became a freak, in many ways, in front of the world, and "we" (not me) call him "the King".

This is a cultural issue, IMO, not an issue with SAO, or any of the other people who make jokes about this.

The jokes, IMO, are because this whole thing is CRAZY!

I have a feeling this craziness will intensify over the next couple weeks, and maybe as a defense mechanism, or simply because it IS funny, I will find myself chuckling.

 

[Renaissance]

Since there appear to be several misconceptions reoccurring in this thread, I think it would be helpful to read/ reread what Laura wrote here a couple of days ago.

The bottom line is this: we are all in this mess together and we sink together, or we get our boat to harbor, but somebody's got to be the one who coordinates or we'll just go endlessly in circles, nobody will be bailing, paddling, or evaluating currents and signs to determine direction. I haven't been doing too bad at it, but I can't do it without data and help and there is no way I could gather all the data by myself, so the network is crucial in that respect also!

As I said, we evolved to trust one another - but that was a world where others were trustworthy. We live in a different world now. The cheaters in our world have evolved ways to induce us to trust them, but we can tell by our stress that we are going in the wrong direction, we are in mortal peril. But still, to get anything done at all, we MUST TRUST. And to figure out who to trust, we need to rely, again, on the network of observations from many observers. Again, we are not talking about getting a lot of EMOTIONAL viewpoints, but rather perceptions and assessments of the shared, Primary Reality - what is REAL "out there" and what really seems to work, to explain things, and has internal consistency over time.

Those who are able to accomplish this task of rebuilding social connections based on the new evolutionary standard of accounting for pathology in the equations, will evolve. Those who do not evolve will perish.

That's what I see from where I sit right now. United we stand, divided we fall. All for One and One for All.

The mirrors offered to SAO can not only be of benefit to him, but also to any other member. While investigating the cultural issue of mass reaction to MJ's death can be valid, it should not be used to distract from the Work of building new and real social connections within the forum. What goes on with gossip columns and the general public is much different than the environment trying to be made through the interactions of forum members here. In my view, defending a callous joke because there are bigger issues going on in the world amounts to paramoralism. A lack of empathy needs no comparison to make it something other than what it is. Seeing the effects of pathology on our own being is a group effort - doing so within this group is not about fitting in or being on a bandwagon. It's about finding the truth within and without. I think it's interesting that these types of statements are increasingly being made by those who have previously demonstrated understanding. To be honest this makes me feel uneasy, likely because I do my fair share of stalling. I think this general dynamic demonstrates that if knowledge does not eventually become a part of being, then it can be taken away. And so there seems a window of opportunity, open only for some undefined period of time. But it seems it is with this window that real growth begins. I think Gurdjieff describes it as the 'second volitional shock':

The effort which creates this 'shock' must consist in work on the emotions, in the transmutation and transmutation of emotions. This transmutation of the emotions will then help the transformation of si 12 in the human organism. No serious growth, that is, no growth of higher bodies within the organism, is possible without this transmutation. The idea of this transmutation was known to many ancient teachings as well as to some comparatively recent ones, such as the alchemy of Middle Ages. But the alchemists spoke of this transmutation in the allegorical forms of the transformation of base metals into precious ones. In reality, however, they meant the transformation of mi 12. If this transformation is attained, a man can be said to have achieved what he was striving for, and it can also be said that, until this transformation is attained, all results attained by man can be lost because they are not fixed in him in any way; moreover, they are attained only in the spheres of thought and emotion. Real, objective results can be obtained only after the transmutation of mi 12 has begun.

Whatever influence works to close that window of opportunity seems to be getting stronger. The universe seems to be kicking it in high gear as of late, as the C's have indicated:

It is not just "waves" beamed by such things as HAARP or microwaves, it is also a quickening of the cosmos. Those who are not integrated will disintegrate at an even faster rate than ever.

Location amplifies the kinds of waves mentioned earlier leading to rapid disintegration.

Expect a lot more unstable behavior all over.

The main thing people need right now is to be cleansed of emotional blockages and programs not to mention karmic burdens.

Seems cleansing time!

 

[Adaryn]

Hi Salleles

Is this for real? What kind of objectivity could be obtained by accusing someone who did not jump on the bandwagon, because of unknown reasons? And much worse, because of a rather innocent joke?

You seemed the miss the point entirely, the reactions you quoted were not in reference to the "innocent joke" but to Sao's reaction to the mirror given by Laura:

Well, I only notice that SAO has been given a couple of opportunities to actually do some things (like work on SOTT) that might contribute to actually helping others even if it is only bearing witness to their suffering, and has never been able to actually DO anything. Perhaps his reaction to MJ's death is like whistling past the graveyard in respect of his own feelings of helplessness in the face of a world gone mad?

His reaction didn't ring as sincere.

 

[ana]

His reaction didn't ring as sincere.

I think the main issue is:

I'm sorry to all who could've potentially benefited from my non-existent contribution and all I can say is I hope that I can change that in the near future

We only have the present (here and now), we can only act in this present. Any projection to the future is a ego projection, ego is build in the constant mental reference in the past and the future.
Ego fears present, wich reveals its unsubstantiated and is always dancing in the past and future waters
Essence can only be here and now because, now, is where and when the opportunity exists for all of us.

 

[RedFox]

I also found SAO's posts uncharacteristic and a little unsettling. I also concluded something may have happened in his personal life to knock him for six and he's lost objectivity.
However:

Whatever influence works to close that window of opportunity seems to be getting stronger. The universe seems to be kicking it in high gear as of late, as the C's have indicated:

It is not just "waves" beamed by such things as HAARP or microwaves, it is also a quickening of the cosmos. Those who are not integrated will disintegrate at an even faster rate than ever.

Location amplifies the kinds of waves mentioned earlier leading to rapid disintegration.

Expect a lot more unstable behavior all over.

The main thing people need right now is to be cleansed of emotional blockages and programs not to mention karmic burdens.

Seems cleansing time!

I think this may be one of the key issues.....between what the C's have said and my own (possibly subjective) observations, things do indeed seem to have kicked into a higher gear.
The best analogy I could come up with was (ironically) a approaching tidal wave.....I felt myself sinking and everything rushing past (fortunately I've learnt to recognise this from past experience, when I become internally chaotic and loose all objectivity), so instead have chosen to go with this flow, let it carry me and use the momentum, and aim myself as best I can at my goals.
I hope I am not deluding myself, but things do seem to be some what 'easier' when I (ego I?) doesn't fight the flow. I actually get more Work done and am starting to actually do (little do) things.
It is still quite unnerving this feeling of being propelled forward.....perhaps just surfing the wave? :) Anyway....



As to MJ's death.....I caught it as it was being reported. I realised it probably was going to be a significant event to quite a lot of people, but to me it was a non event. 'How sad' was all I said. I didn't realise he had kids (3?!) so to me that is the saddest part, but in the grand scheme of thing they have (despite being surrounded by predators) probably a better chance than children in palestine, iraq, daffor, somalia, north korea, packistan etc at the moment.

For me however the whole bread and circus (that will no doubt go on for at least a month) reminds me very well of this
The Evolution of Humanity

Imagine that you are standing in a large room full of people. You are not part of the assembled crowd but are merely observing the activities and the people.

A large and grandiose party is in full swing. People continue to arrive all the time, swelling the already voluminous mass of humanity. A band plays in the corner, some of the people are talking and drinking while others dance to the music. As you wander around you notice that the people gathered in the room seem to have organised themselves into groups. As you listen in on the conversations that are taking place you learn that these groups seem to be organised by social status, racial type or simply those with a similar world view. Very clear however is the fact that there are those that are well dressed and seem to be well fed and there are those that appear to be rather more disheveled and materially poor.

All of the groups tend to keep to themselves, there appears to be no cross-communication between them and in fact many seem to be in direct opposition to each other. Additionally, and quite apart from the main groups, there is a small group of exceptionally well dressed people who seem to be directing the overall proceedings. We shall call them "the directors". They keep the bar well-stocked, they orchestrate the style and tempo of the music, and make regular announcements and speeches which have the effect of setting the general tone of the various conversations that are taking place.

In general everyone seems to be happy and enjoying themselves. After several hours of observing the scene and the crowd, your attention is caught by a light in the corner of the room. As you focus on it you realise that it is a flame - the curtains of the room are on fire.

Naturally you are concerned by this, and you are glad to see that the directors seem to have noticed it also, they are gathered around the curtains inspecting the flames and talking excitedly together. You expect that very soon they will attempt to inform the throng that continues to involve themselves with the party and who seem oblivious to the fact that anything is wrong.

Not long thereafter, one of the directors steps up to the elevated podium, but instead of making an announcement about the imminent danger, he orders that free drinks be provided for all, and instructs the band to up the tempo and volume of the music. The party-goers respond by immersing themselves further in the revelry.

You focus again on the flames and see that some of the directors have erected a flimsy screen around the burning curtains that serves to obscure the fire from the party-goers. You are perplexed, why would they do this?

The fire continues to spread behind the screen engulfing more and more of the room. As it does so, the directors continue to erect more screens around the flames. It is obvious to you that very soon the entire room will be surrounded by flames, and the people themselves eventually engulfed and consumed, yet to your amazement, almost no one seems to notice the obvious fact that something is amiss. The temperature in the room has already increased to the point that people are sweating and removing items of clothing, yet it appears that this gives them no cause for concern. The paint on the ceiling of the room is starting to bubble and crack, small fragments of burning paint are falling on the heads of the crowd, yet no one seems to consider this strange. Indeed, it seems that the increasing heat and spread of the flames and fumes serves only to increase the intensity of the partying and intoxication of the people. While the signs are unmistakable that the room is on fire, this fact seems inaccessible to the party-goers because the flames are hidden from them. They are unable to interpret the signs.

At this point, you take it upon yourself to raise the alarm. You shout at the people, warning them that they are in mortal danger, but incredibly your efforts have little or no effect on them. Slowly you begin to realise that due to the hypnotic rhythm of the music and the effects of the beverages and fumes, most of the people are virtually unable to either see you or hear you. Now and again a few people seem momentarily to hear your shouts, or to catch a glimpse of you as you attempt to direct their attention to the danger to their lives, yet very quickly they are distracted again by the music and dancing and interesting conversation, even as the flames encircle them.

As all of this is happening, and in response to your attempts to alert the people to their predicament, you notice that the small group of directors have again ordered the band to play louder still, the bar is now an 'open bar' with the people themselves serving the drink, filling and downing large glasses of potent cocktails. The announcements and speeches by the directors to the main groups are more and more frequent.

The room now is fully aflame, the screens that obscured the truth have themselves been reduced to ash. By this stage many of the people are lying unconscious on the floor in a stupor. Among those still lucid, previously friendly debates have now turned ugly and fights break out between the groups and within the groups themselves. Still none recognise that they are about to be consumed.

You continue to attempt to attract the attention of the people, right up to the point that you are endangering your own life, but to no avail. Finally you are forced to flee from the searing heat as you see the flames approaching the last exit door from the room. You stand outside frantic and exasperated, barely able to see inside the room through the flames.

It is only then that you hear the music and conversation grind to a sudden halt, and the screams begin. As you take one final look back into the room through a small gap in the raging inferno, you are just able to see the small group of impeccably dressed directors quietly slipping out a concealed exit - they seem to be congratulating each other, a bizarre look of glib self-satisfaction on their faces.

"Humanity neither progresses nor evolves by Nature. One can evolve; humanity cannot, for evolution proceeds only consciously.

Yet humanity must evolve or perish.

The process of social evolution is the process of individual evolution, the formation of a conscious nucleus within humanity. Even 200 conscious individuals would change the whole of life on earth.

The individuals forming this inner circle of humanity, though they evolved by different ways, always agree and understand one another. Misunderstandings belong to the outer circle of sleeping people whose confusion of tongues and inevitable discord attest to their ignorance.

In order to help others one must first learn to help oneself. People's consuming interest in changing others is a sign of laziness in working on their own evolution.

Wars cannot be stopped by ordinary means; they are the result of cosmic forces acting upon organic life on earth. The energy made available by mass destruction of life is necesary for the cosmos in the abscence of consciousness in humanity."

 

[salleles]

Thanks Corto Maltese, Los and Carcosa for your clarifications - and the mirror. I reacted quite emotional -definitely one of my running programs to work on- , probably because (just as Kel mentioned) SAO has proven worthwile for me on the forum. But of course I don't know what happened 'behind the screens', so to say.

 

[Kel]

In Los’s post he mentions the “second volitional shock” as being a window of opportunity.

Quote from: ISOTM
1. The effort which creates this 'shock' must consist in work on the emotions, in the transmutation and transmutation of emotions. This transmutation of the emotions will then help the transformation of si 12 in the human organism. No serious growth, that is, no growth of higher bodies within the organism, is possible without this transmutation. The idea of this transmutation was known to many ancient teachings as well as to some comparatively recent ones, such as the alchemy of Middle Ages. But the alchemists spoke of this transmutation in the allegorical forms of the transformation of base metals into precious ones. In reality, however, they meant the transformation of mi 12. If this transformation is attained, a man can be said to have achieved what he was striving for, and it can also be said that, until this transformation is attained, all results attained by man can be lost because they are not fixed in him in any way; moreover, they are attained only in the spheres of thought and emotion. Real, objective results can be obtained only after the transmutation of mi 12 has begun.

I’m getting the idea that generally most attention toward SAOs joke is because it indicated that he lacked empathy. Well, according to the second volitional shock idea, G is talking about emotions. He doesn’t specify which emotions are the most desired for the work or which emotions are “better” or “worse”.



Here is a categorised, tree structured list of emotions as described in Parrot (this is from wikipedia)

(2001).2. [2]
Primary emotion Secondary emotion Tertiary emotions
Love Affection Adoration, affection, love, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, sentimentality
Lust Arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation
Longing Longing
Joy Cheerfulness Amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, gaiety, glee, jolliness, joviality, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, jubilation, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria
Zest Enthusiasm, zeal, zest, excitement, thrill, exhilaration
Contentment Contentment, pleasure
Pride Pride, triumph
Optimism Eagerness, hope, optimism
Enthrallment Enthrallment, rapture
Relief Relief
Surprise Surprise Amazement, surprise, astonishment
Anger Irritation Aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness
Exasperation Exasperation, frustration
Rage Anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, scorn, spite, vengefulness, dislike, resentment
Disgust Disgust, revulsion, contempt, loathing
Envy Envy, jealousy
Torment Torment
Sadness Suffering Agony, suffering, hurt, anguish
Sadness Depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, glumness, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy
Disappointment Dismay, disappointment, displeasure
Shame Guilt, shame, regret, remorse
Neglect Alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult
Sympathy Pity, sympathy
Fear Horror Alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification
Nervousness Anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread

It does seem to me that the general consensus on this thread is that we SHOULD feel empathy for the death of MJ. The way I'm seeing it, if we want to use this public pop star's death in the work, there are other emotions that may plug in here. Or not.

Maybe even if there is a lack of empathy and therefore some guilt assoc. with that, the guilt could even be an opportunity for some work.

 

[Alejo]

if i may say anything, i believe that mirroring SAO is extremely helpful for him,and i don't mean to interrupt that process.

However if i may, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on michael jackson, i've been having this idea for a while now about michael Jackson's career, you see, my mom is a huge fan of his music, so as i was being brought up michael jackson was what i usually heard, but after i started developing my own thoughts i started pondering carefully about this, and a couple of month's before his death i had come to a reasoning.

So michael was this character with huge musical composition potential, if i may bring up the possibility of him being acknowledged as such by psychopathic types, then i can suggest that his career was being directed towards entertainment mainly, taking advantage of his naivete, this is not to take any responsibility away from him but to simply bring my case to the context in which i was able to access the conclusions that i am to present.

He was being exploited from a very early age due to his talents, it's not like it hasn't happen before or after him but his career is interesting for a couple of aspects, and we can learn a lot and reflect on the ideas of this forum by contemplating his case.

First, the idea that the law is created with an huge lack of psychological state of mind of the individuals inhibiting the world was brought up to my attention from navigating these pages, the law is based on an imaginary person, having some imaginary behavior and whoever falls outside of it, instead of psychologically diagnosing him/her, the legal system just punishes, so it is widely understood here that the way things were dealt with when all the cases of child abuse came up was simply not adequate considering his life and mental state, psychologically speaking he was never allowed to live his childhood the way most human beings do.

In the myth of sanity Martha Stout gives a great and detailed description of how traumatic events in life are not only extremely easy to happen on a fragile child's mind, but the consequences are simply unpredictable, and the behavior that most adults would find immoral or disconcerting can be traced (most of the times) to traumatic events, so my point here is:

The scandal was based on what the media said about the case and we know how the media can manipulate reality , thus the reaction of most was simply not objective, and the legal case against him was a joke in that respect, trying to try a child for doing something he or she doesn't understand to be wrong is wasting your time in today's legal system, it would be like sending Bush to jail for stuff he doesn't understand and believing that doing it will solve the problem for ever, while staying ignorant of the implications and causes.

Second, I noticed that his career at the point almost exactly of the first child abuse case, was starting to take a different direction, maybe intentional maybe not.

So in 1993 he releases the album Dangerous, which was mostly more of the same old Michael Jackson aimed at entertainment, but this curious song shows up; Heal the world, which seemed to have a more "adult" and social intention in it's lyrics.

2 years after this the first child abuse case breaks and the world starts judging rather than understanding, again this is not take responsibility away from him or to deny possibilities, it seemed from a point of view as a way to say "stick to the script or get hurt", in this context a message was sent to him publicly, as it were.

But none the less in 1995 he releases his album History, in which songs such as Earth Song, or All i wanna say is that they don't really care about us were present, specially the latter had an almost revolutionary angry tone to it, it even was tagged as anti Semitic once, the shooting of one of the versions of the video for this song which involved poor children in Brazil was given all the obstacles in the name of tourism, namely that showing poor kids in Brazil would affect tourism in this country, so figure that one out.

As a conclusion, Michael Jackson was an artist with potential, a great one in my opinion, exploited as any in this world , here i am not trying to wake sympathy, people are free to choose what they like or what they don't , moreover, I have this feeling that he was used, abused, he was a tool and whenever he became more than entertainment for the masses he was destroyed publicly through the media, and the public being the only thing in his life that was a constant, his life was destroyed.

Here i am not trying to take personal responsibility away from him, or justify his actions, real or not, but rather express my thoughts on this situation, as pointed out before in this thread his children will most likely become the nourishment of the same money hungry predators that once exploited the artistic talent of their father.