Within Us Without Us
The World Within us and the Word Without us are one,
as difficult to be understood and accepted as it may be.
No one of us is war-free.
Admitting this truth is a great success.
From John and Paul to John Paul II:
the great yes.
We call them commonplaces, but more than commonplaces they are cemeteries of the truth, trivialities which distract from Right and Good and draw our attention to the person who maintains them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, reads an English proverb. Let's make a small step forward. Let's consider John Lennon: which banality immediately catches the eye?
One might say: John Lennon made too much money: how could he sincerely sing "Imagine no possessions"? Too easy for him, who had so much, too much... Was he an historical forgery then, a contradiction in terms? Was he not sincere?
How could John be able to reach the hearts of so many young people, before and after his death? What made him so precious as to attract to himself millions of other human beings, kindling a vibrating flame of love, a feeling of comfort, an intuition of brotherhood, a spark of awareness of the future in their hearts, arousing in them a yes?
Contradictions... oppositions: John Paul and John Lennon. And what has a rockstar, a layman, to do with a Pope? Someone – I’m sure- is going to cry profanation and blasphemy, but this is not the case. To climb to the highest levels of conscience, to plunge in the twists and turns of our hearts , in the abysses of our minds requires a lot of Energy. A great quantity and of good quality. You can call it Vocation (someone/something is calling you. You feel to have a mission, something you have to do: you move)
The artist feels himself called from the unknown; perceives a sort of restlessness that force him/her to handle the matter, forge it, fold it, extracts a form out of it, a sound, a word... and the religious man feels himself “called”, experiences the same restlessness, at times fears, steps backwards and is maybe about to repent, but then he/she moves on - stair by stair- forging his/her will.
Their creation helps eliminating more than adding. To that rock of stone of their personality they remove the superfluous of overchanging opinions, desires and self-pities, the entire outfit of our times.
They both called, both creators. There is no contradiction between how much we are, think and have and how much we dream of being and possessing, as different as it may seem. There is continuity, consequentiality, an approach, in between the two poles, which may be reached in just one second or in a lifetime.
The idler only is outraged who doesn't get closer to the flame, because it fears to burn himself. The one, who doesn't accumulate his firewood, doesn't put together his yeses, but prefers to follow the paths of rejection, fear, death... just a little bit.
John and Paul. The Beatles. There was a scandal when Lennon said, during an interview, that the Beatles were more famous than Christ at that time; it aroused indignation; yet it was only an observation.
In the days of the death of John Paul II has happened something similar. Those were the prodromes of those great concerts which would have gathered million of young people around an artist, an hero, a Man.
Interview with Uri Geller
Fiorella Dorotea Gentile: "Uri, how would you synthetically introduce yourself? Should you describe your up-till-now journey with few words only, which ones would you choose?"
Uri Geller: "I am an explorer of the mysteries of the mind and the universe."
FDG: "You met John and spent some time with him. In your opinion, who was John Lennon? Was he happy or sad at that time?"
UG: "John Lennon was a genius of music and spirituality, and content with life."
FDG: "Which is your opinion on Peace? Is it the same than John had?
UG: "Yes, world peace, universal peace and inner peace. I wrote a piece on John, it’s on my web site, you may use it on your site until further instructions, love Uri"
FDG: "Thanks, Uri, I'm goin' to post it. The best luck for your life, for our lives
Excerpt from www.uri-geller.com
"...Uri's new life in New York, on the corner of East 57th Street and First Avenue, was every inch the celebrity whirl. At a party given by Elton John, he met John Lennon, and the two immediately clicked. They arranged to meet again in the coffee shop of the Sherry Netherland Hotel on Fifth Avenue, and made this a regular date. They talked about paranormal, spiritual matters, Sai Baba, a popular Indian guru Lennon was interested in (and who performs a number of Geller-like effects for pilgrims who come to see him from around the world) and UFOs. A few weeks before Lennon was killed, and the last time Uri and he met, he told Uri an amazing story.
He explained how he had been lying in bed in the Dakota Building where he lived, when he saw an exceptionally bright light seeping under the bedroom door. He told Uri he thought someone had aimed up at his apartment an outdoor floodlight of the kind used at film premieres. He got out of bed, he told Uri, opened the door and saw the source of the light was actually in the next room. Lennon then felt something touching the back of his knees and his elbows and urging him into the light. 'I asked him obviously whether he was drunk or on drugs,' Uri relates, 'but he insisted he was perfectly awake and aware and had not taken any drugs. In the middle of the light, he said, he saw a hand stretched out. He described it as, "a typical alien hand," like the ones you see on science fiction books, and it held something. He knew intuitively that the hand wanted to put something into his, and he held his hand out. Then everything turned off, the light went off, the room was clear. And he found himself standing there with this egg-shaped, brass-type lump of metal in his hand. And then John put his hand in his pocket and said, "Uri, I want you to have this.". It was as if he felt he was going to be killed and wanted someone to have this thing who would know where it came from and would believe him and look after it.'
Uri keeps the smooth metal object today in the hands of a 16th Century Tibetan brass statue in his house. The little piece of metal is certainly quite unusual, rather heavier than its size suggests, but for those anxious to know what it is, Uri is unhelpful. 'I purposely don't want to have it analysed because I don't want to be disappointed. I don't want someone to come up with a story that it's made in Korea. I'd rather leave it mystical,' he says..."
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Editor: Fiorella Dorotea Gentile
