A day of nothing, enjoying it, subtly entertaining inner peace. After mass and communal prayers, along with solitary adoration, I pleasantly cruised the enriching attractions of East Cleveland. I have been intrigued by the neighborhoods, Father Bernier tweaking my interest, I cruised through the Cultural Gardens, down Euclid Avenue, Lakeview Park, planning a bicycle tour in the near future. Taking a turn, suddenly on Ansel Road, I came across the old seminary building, at least I believe so. Also enjoying a Jazz band within Shaker’s Square, discussing film making with a friend treating me to coffee and ice cream. East Cleveland is appeasing, satisfying my personality, while allowing me to remain distant. I recall a small town axiom. If you want to be alone move to New York City. If you want your life flooded with people, gossip, and constant interference move to a small town. It can be truly easier, and more profound, to find solitude within a city—a meaningful mixture of community and isolation–finding peace within the eye of the storm. The past twenty-four hours, I watched a strange enchanting movie ‘The Mysteries of Lisbon’ a made for Portuguese television miniseries, a four and a quarter hour melodrama, bordering on soap opera, with the ultimate message of self-discovery. I am left with a visually stunning experience, a costume drama from the sixteenth century: royalty, intrigue, drama, mysteries, identities being revealed in the telling of stories, more than one life being lived, reminiscing, multiple personalities, witnesses, servants observing through windows, behind half open doors, whispering and secrets, cameras passing through walls, everything left to wonder, while reality is defined by the speaker, events not the telling, interpretation and free will, lives intertwined, the Church always near, grand dramas unfold, amidst excess clings self-absorption, within luxury drapes extreme misery, behind sleeping curtains dreaming lovers give difficult births, romance unrequited, romance denied, royalty ruling, conflicting upon sides, duels to the death, convent walls waiting, cloistered lives sought through shame, self-inflicted poverty, mausoleums, graveyards, childhood, an authentic priest once a gypsy, a knife-eater transformed into a wealthy noble man of influence, an awkward fast-stepping servant always at his side, women a plenty–fanning females, elegantly dressed at their best amidst parties, gossiping, ruining one another, dancing, being social butterflies. Life is an illusion, a fanciful awakening for those becoming aware.
Awakening
