The sun is the center of it all. The energy that gives everything life, the birthplace of spirituality, and is shared and loved by every living thing on this earth.
It’s been over a week since I’ve seen the sun, felt it touch my face, or warm Splendid’s decks.
The wind is gently blowing from the North West. The horizontal sheets of rain, violent wind, angry waves, and black clouds are finally to the North.
When I first started my career in Hollywood I was taken under the wing of a great man, Max Youngstein. Max had produced over 1000 studio pictures, he was the retired executive VP of United Artists, and a close friend. He was old and passed away just 5 years after he entered my life. He was one of the last “heavy weights” of the old Hollywood.
Max was my teacher and mentor if you will. He stumbled into my life after watching my student film “Quiet Winter” and immediately started going out of his way opening doors for me. Why would such an important man do this for me? I’m nobody. I asked him why one day, He replied, “Alex, there are two kinds of people in Hollywood. People on their way up, and people on their way down. If you want to be successful, make it your business to surround yourself with people on the way up”. He had a noble and gentile way about him.
Every time I met him he would ask me the same question, “Do you get it”? ‘Get what I asked’, he just shook his head in despair. This went on for years. It drove me crazy.
Max was growing old and I had become busy with my career. I hadn’t seen him for a long while and invited him to meet me for lunch at a restaurant in Studio City one day. He was a big man with a firm handshake and white hair all over his face and less on his head. When he arrived at my table he asked “do you get it yet? With a smile and force of habit I almost answered ‘Get what Max’…, but it dawned on me, actually I did get it. I understood my environment. I read the trades (Hollywood reporter & variety) every day, I understood the players, and what made Hollywood “tick”. I understood how to survive and what I must do to prosper and further my career. Ultimately I decided this wasn’t my path but that is story for another day.
Life on the sea is the same, I get it!
My question to you today is, do you get it?
With the absence of television, radio, video games, phones, fax’s, cars, alcohol, amusement parks, restaurants, bills, work, law, tax, police, fines, court, war, terrorists, rape, murder, national security, over draft charges, racism, health care, sickness, cancer, death, guns, news, interest rates, inflation, us…, them, and all that other LOUD $H!T penetrating every second of every day you could see more clearly.
Why do we allow all these distractions to keep us from seeing the truth?
How much money do we need to need to have a little peace?
Food for thought. Perspective is everything, don’t let yours be clouded by unimportant noise. Just turn it off.
For the past week I haven’t even been listening to music, just the rain and wind. When I need to occupy my mind I fix something that needs fixing, clean, cook, read, or write. I’ve been reorganizing splendid and throwing bags and bags of useless things away.
It’s good to see the sun, white clouds, and blue sky once again.
At what point in our history did we become so detached from nature?
My phone ran out of minutes 4, or 5 days ago. It doesn’t ring often, but by just not working has been a comfort. 5 days of heavy rain has washed some more useless things from my soul and shed even more light into dark spaces. For the first time on Splendid I’ve become as close to nature as I had once been Namaste, it feels great!
Without discomfort, how can we know comfort? Living in a “climate controlled” environment is not natural and detaches us from our lives, and life itself. We were meant to be cold, wet, hot, and sick, and well. We were meant to have fevers and not take drugs for them. We were meant to have time, peace, Love,freedom, darkness, and sunshine. In fact it is our right as living beings of this earth!
Without time to think we will never learn the language of the world, find peace, truth, or see our path.
MAKE TIME!
I’m in Panama city tonight (Monday) getting Alternators fixed and getting a few other things. It’s sunny and nice :)
Sail far and live slowly.
– Alex