Baraka, the Blog

Although the title defies my stated intent of the previous post, the two are inextricably linked. Roughly two weeks ago, I talked to my roommate's son Luke for the first time. I've known him for about a year, but we seem to stridently avoid any direct personal contact. He's living with us until the end of July, so it was inevitable that we should converse - and in doing so, he asked me to watch Baraka. I deferred viewing indefinitely due to external circumstances. Allow me to pause this particular thread in order to pick up another - I hope to tie the two together shortly.

Alan and Jana were on the great end of a good barter that resulted in their possession of a houseboat on Lake Shasta for a week plus change. They invited me out, and accordingly I went. What they failed to mentioned was that I would have one of the best weeks of my past year or so. The entourage included a couple of excessively intelligent people all of whom also possessed an uncanny knack for self-deprecation, deep belly-laughs and a dollop of meta-thought. I swear it was more or less heavenly. Not only was the temperature several degrees cooler on the water than in the valley, we were able to jump into the water for immediate relief. Nobody was concerned about his/her appearance, and there existed easy camaraderie from the get-go. Furthermore, a few incredible conversations came about that jarred me back into rational thought which has been sorely lacking in my vie quotidienne, as they say. We discussed science and philosophy among other topics and in every case I was treated with enough respect to be decently challenged. I loathe feeling the patronizing agreement of brilliant people who are intent only upon mollification. Bah, that's got nothing to do with here, because it was conspicuously absent there. In short, I felt a deep stirring in my soul that I've missed. In one of these conversations the movie Baraka was mentioned again & this time by a party that I had reason to respect and appreciate.

Like all good times, the houseboating came to an end, but to be honest - I'm still not quite ready to let go. Hence my viewing of Baraka. When the participants go their separate ways and ties are severed, I feel a dissatisfaction that no amount of effort can truly recapture the precise scenario and chemistry of what came before. It is, in large part, due to my reluctance to compartmentalize brief meetings to the realm of past history that I perceive the need continue my mental conversations by actually experiencing subjects of our discussions. Turns out, Baraka was an excellent choice. I think I'll take some time tomorrow to jot down my reaction to the film. In the meantime, life moves forward and once again, I am convinced that the only indelible impression to by left on earth is that which we leave on each other.

PS - I keep spell-checking my blogs & the function continually highlights words that I've spelled correctly. What's that about?