#gestaltprayer

I saw another Wes Anderson movie with my two best friends the other day which brings out the worst in me.

Considering the title of this tumblr post, I think it is only just to limit the reasons why to two sentences, and here they are, unoriginal and unpopular. I believe Wes Anderson’s live action movies, aside from Bottle Rocket, Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom, to be almost entirely unrelatable, unlike life in most ways, and often twee to the point that it can’t be tolerated. I also think that my main reason for feeling this way is that Wes Anderson’s style is so fussed over for perfection that it squeezes the lifelike almost entirely out of his work. 

Style over substances enrages the writer in me, but more importantly, it enrages the critic in me.

And if there is one thing I hate, it is a critic.

A pastor I hardly care for once tweeted this when he was under scrutiny and criticism, and while I think it was a pithy, indirect response to reality, I have to say that the thought has always stayed with me.

No one ever made a monument to a critic.

— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark)

January 31, 2012

To be honest, I think art needs criticism. Not only does a good critic develop passion in music-listener or a moviegoer, his words can give direction and clarity and a shape to our thoughts on particular artists or their works. This is a valuable and worthwhile work. 

People, however, do not need criticism. 

Criticism is hitting someone over the head that is already reeling from being hit over the head. 

You are not the only one that feels a pressure to perform.

You are not the only one that feels a need to defend every thing you do.

You are not the only one that gets into arguments with others inside of your head. (http://www.theonion.com/articles/fantasized-argument-getting-pretty-intense,33990/)

The reason we feel this way is because we are always under the law. We always are trying to live up to, or down to, some standard. We have this vague sense that we will never be good enough, we will never be who we are supposed to be. 

And in being a critic to someone, you are only reminding someone that they will never be who they ought to be. They, like you, don’t have a shot at outperforming that vague sense of underperforming. 

I hate critics and so naturally I am one. 

I am constantly criticizing myself and others, but there is a longing in me to just be and let others be, as well. I long to live like someone who has accepted Jesus’ invitation for rest and let all the other wearied and heavy-laden do the same. Just be and rest a while.

This is the most comforting invitation of the bible, in my opinion. This is where I am most apt to take Jesus at his word. I may doubt the gospel at every step, but this is the Jesus I know I need - the one who takes the weight off me and puts it on himself.

When I was seeing a counselor a few years back, he introduced me to the Gestalt prayer after seeing the myriad ways that I felt judged and judged others. Here is the text, created by Fritz Perls.

I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful. If not, it can’t be helped.

Why don’t we just give each other a break? I do my thing, you do yours.

Now, back to movies.

For a long time now, I’ve felt burdened by certain rules. I should only like certain types of movies, certain actors, certain directors, certain styles. And it’s so easy for me to just dismiss a movie because it doesn’t meet an entire world of criteria that I’d like to think a movie I made might meet. And recently, I have have been practicing the art of suspending my disbelief. When taking part in culture, wether it is art, music, movies, TV, what have you, I really try to enter in and take part. Though something may not be entirely relatable or believable (the films of Wes Anderson), that does not discount it. There is a part of me that thinks, or at least hopes, that nothing, no matter how stylized (the films of Wes Anderson, the masks I wear, my projected identity), there is substance that does not deserve to be dismissed.

That’s why I respect the rapper Aesop Rock so much. Since following him on Twitter (@AesopRockWins), I’ve noticed a trend.

I like all movies

— Aesop Rock (@AesopRockWins)

August 27, 2013

@BabiesWithGuns no favorite I like all movies equally. But some are better.

— Aesop Rock (@AesopRockWins)

March 11, 2013

i saw hunger games. it was good. disclaimer: i like every movie i’ve ever seen.

— Aesop Rock (@AesopRockWins)

April 20, 2012

This is who Aesop Rock has been for years and I love him for it. There has been a steady influx of tweets appreciating each and every movie since I’ve followed him. He just loves movies. There is nothing above him. There is nothing below him. He takes art for what it is and appreciates it.