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- May 25, 2011
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Good evening Fam,
I hope your day has been enlightened and your steps on The Path have been plentiful. I am on day three as a whole, almost fully self-realised being and life feels good.
Several people have criticised and questioned my use of the term Fam in recent days. I am sorry to know my use of the term irritates some and would not want it to divert people from Their Path and Way. Alas, I can’t stop using it, as the term has a deep spiritual meaning for me. Embracing the term was an important part of my wholeness journey and I thought it might be helpful to some of you if I were to give a brief explanation as to why it is so important to me..
Firstly and most obviously, I DO consider you all my Kennel family. Before I found this place, my life was one that was consumed by vice and shallow and selfish acts of self gratification. You wouldn't have wanted to know me 10 years ago, Fam. I was lost. The sense of community I found here helped me come to understand that there was more satisfaction to be found in a life of community and altruism, than there is in a life of hedonism and debauchery - that the best way to serve the self was to serve the whole.
Of course, this sense of understanding came over me gradually. There was no one big lightning bulb moment. I had to learn to open the blinds gradually. It took well over a decade before I finally felt empowered to step outside and feel the sun on my face. Once I finally did venture outside, I found myself often stricken by panic and rushing for the shadowy safety and comfort of the cozy nook I had built on foundations of sarcasm and passive aggressive behaviour. It was only a few short days ago that the understanding dawned on me that there is nothing to fear from the sun, so long as I protect myself by smearing some SPF on my face. The SPF protection of love. It was at this moment that I realised you really were all Fam to me... and it was ok to embrace that.
So why the term Fam rather than the more protracted form of the word? Well, it all relates to the shortly lived but philosophically groundbreaking TV sitcom FAM and the impact it had on my personal journey to enlightenment.
Im not sure if most of you would have seen the show, so I will give a brief rundown:
The show tells the story of a beautiful young woman called Clem. A woman who has found happiness with a young man named Nick and is set to acknowledge this newfound state of bliss through nuptial arrangements. Clem is so happy in her new life. Nick and his family are a perfectly harmonious unit - the ideal family and she is so happy to be accepted into it. She feels so much happier being part of her new family than she did to be a part of the family she was raised in - a dysfunctional bunch led my a neglectful and hedonistic patriarch called Gary Cole. Gary Cole is a cop, you see. Tasked with maintaining order in society, but unable or unwilling to maintain order in his personal and family lives. Pretty deep, right?
Anyway, Clem’s life is turned upside down when her teenage half sister Shannon comes to her looking for a place to stay - seeking refuge from the neglectful guardianship of Gary Cole. At first, the arrangement is a disaster. Shannon’s rebellious teenage ways cause havoc in the household. But in time Shannon forges a deep bond with Clem snd her new adoptive family.
Even more incredibly, Shannon’s newfound bond with Clem slowly brings Gary Cole back into the fold. We learn, little by little, that beneath his hard boiled, hard living exterior, Gary Cole is a man full of regret. A man who loves his daughters very much. By the end of the show’s first and only season, Clem is asking Gary Cole to give her away at her wedding. Both her new, idyllic family and her old dysfunctional family have merged… have found wholeness. One big FAM.
Like any deeply philosophical show with an important point to make, FAM was poorly received and cancelled after one season. But I would urge you all to check it out, if you can find a streaming service that carries it.
I was Gary Cole, Fam. I still am Gary Cole. We are all Gary Cole. It’s just that many of us are at different points of his character ark.
Have a blessed weekend, my Fam. Remember we are all part of the usniverse. We are all bonded by the miracle of our existence.
Namaste!
I hope your day has been enlightened and your steps on The Path have been plentiful. I am on day three as a whole, almost fully self-realised being and life feels good.
Several people have criticised and questioned my use of the term Fam in recent days. I am sorry to know my use of the term irritates some and would not want it to divert people from Their Path and Way. Alas, I can’t stop using it, as the term has a deep spiritual meaning for me. Embracing the term was an important part of my wholeness journey and I thought it might be helpful to some of you if I were to give a brief explanation as to why it is so important to me..
Firstly and most obviously, I DO consider you all my Kennel family. Before I found this place, my life was one that was consumed by vice and shallow and selfish acts of self gratification. You wouldn't have wanted to know me 10 years ago, Fam. I was lost. The sense of community I found here helped me come to understand that there was more satisfaction to be found in a life of community and altruism, than there is in a life of hedonism and debauchery - that the best way to serve the self was to serve the whole.
Of course, this sense of understanding came over me gradually. There was no one big lightning bulb moment. I had to learn to open the blinds gradually. It took well over a decade before I finally felt empowered to step outside and feel the sun on my face. Once I finally did venture outside, I found myself often stricken by panic and rushing for the shadowy safety and comfort of the cozy nook I had built on foundations of sarcasm and passive aggressive behaviour. It was only a few short days ago that the understanding dawned on me that there is nothing to fear from the sun, so long as I protect myself by smearing some SPF on my face. The SPF protection of love. It was at this moment that I realised you really were all Fam to me... and it was ok to embrace that.
So why the term Fam rather than the more protracted form of the word? Well, it all relates to the shortly lived but philosophically groundbreaking TV sitcom FAM and the impact it had on my personal journey to enlightenment.
Im not sure if most of you would have seen the show, so I will give a brief rundown:
The show tells the story of a beautiful young woman called Clem. A woman who has found happiness with a young man named Nick and is set to acknowledge this newfound state of bliss through nuptial arrangements. Clem is so happy in her new life. Nick and his family are a perfectly harmonious unit - the ideal family and she is so happy to be accepted into it. She feels so much happier being part of her new family than she did to be a part of the family she was raised in - a dysfunctional bunch led my a neglectful and hedonistic patriarch called Gary Cole. Gary Cole is a cop, you see. Tasked with maintaining order in society, but unable or unwilling to maintain order in his personal and family lives. Pretty deep, right?
Anyway, Clem’s life is turned upside down when her teenage half sister Shannon comes to her looking for a place to stay - seeking refuge from the neglectful guardianship of Gary Cole. At first, the arrangement is a disaster. Shannon’s rebellious teenage ways cause havoc in the household. But in time Shannon forges a deep bond with Clem snd her new adoptive family.
Even more incredibly, Shannon’s newfound bond with Clem slowly brings Gary Cole back into the fold. We learn, little by little, that beneath his hard boiled, hard living exterior, Gary Cole is a man full of regret. A man who loves his daughters very much. By the end of the show’s first and only season, Clem is asking Gary Cole to give her away at her wedding. Both her new, idyllic family and her old dysfunctional family have merged… have found wholeness. One big FAM.
Like any deeply philosophical show with an important point to make, FAM was poorly received and cancelled after one season. But I would urge you all to check it out, if you can find a streaming service that carries it.
I was Gary Cole, Fam. I still am Gary Cole. We are all Gary Cole. It’s just that many of us are at different points of his character ark.
Have a blessed weekend, my Fam. Remember we are all part of the usniverse. We are all bonded by the miracle of our existence.
Namaste!
