Anthony Bourdain's suicide opened the door to a universe of thoughts and feelings. Lots of in-depth, soul-searching conversations around here. So confounding. Didn't realize that the man meant so much to me, didn't realize his unexpected death, by his own hand, would be such a major jolt.
A public image, a private life. No one knows what resides in another's heart and head. The last few days have been a reminder to cultivate a life of art and love. I am driven back to the "consolations of art."
"Consolation, consolement, and solace are terms referring to psychological comfort given to someone who has suffered severe, upsetting loss, such as the death of a loved one. It is typically provided by expressing shared regret for that loss and highlighting the hopefor positive events in the future. Consolation is an important topic arising in history, the arts, philosophy, and psychology.
In the field of medicine, consolation has been broadly described as follows: Before and after fundamental medicine offers diagnoses, drugs, and surgery to those who suffer, it should offer consolation. Consolation is a gift. Consolation comforts when loss occurs or is inevitable. This comfort may be one person's render loss more bearable by inviting some shift in belief about the point of living a life that includes suffering. Thus consolation implies a period of transition: a preparation for a time when the present suffering will have turned. Consolation promises that turning.[1] In some contexts, particularly in religious terminology, consolation is described as the opposite or counterpart to the experience of "desolation", or complete loss."
Also, music, lately I have been channeling the work of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis in the Bad Seeds. I have spent hours and hours riding the deep, powerful, cathartic, emotional, darkly inspiring records "Push Away the Sky," and "Skeleton Tree." They work so well together in the CD carousel on random. Of course, they are fantastic records on their own, but together they are a conjuring, a testimony, a religious ceremony, so inspiring, so enveloping and hypnotic.
Also, the last two evenings we watched Jim Jarmusch movies. Jarmusch is one of our greatest filmmakers. Uncommon. Unique. Funny. Profound. Poetic. No one makes movies like Jarmusch. We watched "Only Lovers Left Alive," - a great film about Vampires & Art. Two souls spanning centuries. Living a life on the margins, surrounding themselves with the "consolations of art." And we also watched "Paterson" - the story of a Bus Driver and Poet in Paterson N.J. A devotee of the poet William Carlos Williams. So beautiful, so inspiring. Life-affirming.
Yes. Life-Affirming. That's what we have been looking for, life-affirming art. Also good food, lots of rest. Sleep in if you want. Have an extra cappuccino. Be forgiving and generous with yourself. Feed the soul, the head, the body.
