Back to life, back to....
[QUOTE=Kumbu]The flip side is when you return to the ho-hum routine of every day life - back to reality.[/QUOTE]
I hope that this is not considered to be too off topic here in the BKK thread but this sort of discussion, reality vs ?, always catches my eye and makes me want to chime in with my experience. Also, as readers of my writing will recognize (Berlin & Germany FKK threads as well as recently my blog-[url]www.angusmagee.com[/url] ) I am a lover of illusion and so the nature of illusion/reality holds a special place for me.
In a way I can say I have spent my whole life exploring this polarity. Though truthfully, most of the time, I was just fucking around with things. But I can almost say that the illusion/reality polarity is the very nature of existence being on this planet as a human.
As I understand it, to say that you go "back to reality" is a bit of a misnomer. First, there is no going back to anything. Time marches inexorably forward and no one (yet that I know of) has ever figured a way to go back. Second, BKK is reality. And so is Sex Prison USA. They both hold a certain energy that stimulates an energy in you while you are there. The "vibration" of BKK stimulates the vibration in you. So you end up coming into sync with the party/sex vibe that is so very prevalent in BKK. Travel to the USA (I'll say NYC just as an example) and you start to sync with that particular vibe. Of course in a given location there are variations in this vibe, but places do carry an over all atmosphere or energy. In NYC can anyone deny that it is all about commerce and making money. Hang out in NYC long enough and you can not help but experience one side of the making money (gaining or losing it) polarity.
[QUOTE=Kumbu] I had energy like I would never have back home, but it's because that energy was feeding a part of me that really needed attention.[/QUOTE]
It may seem splitting hairs to some, but you do have the same energy back home. It is simply not stimulated. Hair splitting maybe, but important to remember. If you give it to BKK then it belongs to BKK. If you remember it is in you, it is yours. At some point one has to question (or at least I did) the health of hanging around in places where the energy you like, is not being stimulated. The usual argument (I hear this argument and, believe me, have often made use of it myself) is that life is not meant to be one constant pleasure palace. We need the grounding in reality to stay..err...real.
Sometimes though I stop and wonder-is this true? Do we really [b]need[/b] this other side of illusion, harsh reality? I personally would love a life of easy pleasure, grounded in the reality of being able to share that pleasure with friends and lovers(paid & otherwise) in the appropriate way. And for me the chains of harsh reality have often seemed forged or the hardest steel imaginable. But I am reminded of a story (true or not, I do not know) of the elephants who, as babies, are chained to a stake in the ground. Then as they grow the chain is switched with a big rope. Then a smaller rope. As the elephant grows in size and strength, the rope is reduced until, when fully grown he is held by a mere string. But in his mind, he is still stuck fast with a chain & stake in the ground.
As I see it, we come into this world as children, full versed in reality. Then older folks, usually parents who have had the same thing done to them, start to unconsciously forge the chains that bind us. They do this by telling us no-that is not real, this is real. As children what choice do we have but to believe them? So eventually we stop talking to our "imaginary" friends and stop making believe that life is actually fun,for us, not against us. Then we move into adulthood, finally able to fly, but unwilling to even test if those chains are in fact real or just the thinnest of threads tethering us to the planet, to our misery.
So in the end, Ol' Angus has to recommend that you have all the fun you can in BKK. Or as the legendary Kumbu says:
[Quote=Kumbu]... make every second count.[/QUOTE]
But for heaven sake, do not go back to life, back to reality. Go home if you have to but please take a bit 'o BKK with you. And no, I do not mean a Thai wife.
Wherever you go, there you are...
[QUOTE=Angus Magee]As I understand it, to say that you go "back to reality" is a bit of a misnomer. First, there is no going back to anything. Time marches inexorably forward and no one (yet that I know of) has ever figured a way to go back. Second, BKK is reality. And so is Sex Prison USA...[/QUOTE]For the past half a decade or so, I've spent a lot of time in Thailand and little time in the USA (maybe 6-8 weeks a year max). I use my time in the US to make money, visit with family and friends, relax without the subtle pressures of Thai women, and reestablish (at least in my mind) who I was before coming to TH. Sometimes, while taking care of business I retrace my former daily steps and I wonder how I ever did it.
[i]Sex prison USA?[/i] If I wanted I am sure I could find pleasant enough company, but it does not come that easy anymore for an older guy. At this point, I decided to just not bother as I know I will return to TH soon enough.
Visiting the US is just another aspect of reality, often with experiences that far surpass what's here in TH. For example, motorcycle touring in the Rocky Mountains, sojourns to the high desert, long walks on clean beaches, etc.
[QUOTE=Angus Magee]Sometimes though I stop and wonder-is this true? Do we really [b]need[/b] this other side of illusion, harsh reality? I personally would love a life of easy pleasure, grounded in the reality of being able to share that pleasure with friends and lovers(paid & otherwise) in the appropriate way. And for me the chains of harsh reality have often seemed forged or the hardest steel imaginable. But I am reminded of a story (true or not, I do not know) of the elephants who, as babies, are chained to a stake in the ground. Then as they grow the chain is switched with a big rope. Then a smaller rope. As the elephant grows in size and strength, the rope is reduced until, when fully grown he is held by a mere string. But in his mind, he is still stuck fast with a chain & stake in the ground...[/QUOTE]Some elephants murder their keepers later in life. They squash them by pinning them down and finishing the kill with a headstand. That is harsh reality.
There are aspects of living in Bangkok that can create a different type of sex prison. Sleeping with a host of young beauties becomes the norm. It is hard to stay with the same woman for very long. Getting burned every so often is also quite common. Trust is often missing from even a good relationship. It is hard to not become cynical and suspicious while at the same time appearing footloose and free. So, you just move on.
Kumbu has entertained us well with his tales. But each of us who has lived here or visited has our own similar stories that we will possibly never tell.