I read a lot of blogs. I love the creative merging of words, photos, videos, nuances of distinctive personalities, ideas swirling around in the digital universe.
Some blogs make me happy just about every time I read them, even when their subjects are serious, provocative, or fun and silly, and those are the ones I gravitate to on a regular basis. One of those blogs is Jane Fonda’s.
Jane, I use her first name because I think from reading her blog she would want that, is an astute blogger, courageous in sharing her wisdom, her failings, the controversy that still occasionally dogs her life, her journey. She writes about her life with a sense of humor, touching on her professional work and work she does for the common good with eloquence and enthusiasm.
I think Jane is probably a seeker. I see her exploring new ideas with palpable passion, lifting up women and those around her up on a regular basis, regardless of whether they are long-time friends or someone she just met on the street, and while she lives a lifestyle that most will only dream of, she comes across as gracious, inclusive and egalitarian, sharing photos of her life as well as fun times with many celebrities in a way that shows us, her readers, just how human she and her colleagues are. She explores spirituality that in a way that’s rare in the blogging world – she’s non-judgmental, respectful, open, listening – bringing her own learning to bear while at the same time sharing the wisdom of others with unfailing fairness. There’s a twinkle in her voice about herself, an humbleness that given her accomplishments, is refreshing.
I once talked with a writer who’d met and hung out with a lot of celebrities. Because the nature of being a celebrity in our society is challenging, he said some become insulated, wrapped in a removed world where they are the center of their universe, and in some ways this can make them less interesting, less engaging, i.e. there’s little reciprocity in carrying on a conversation that’s only about them.
To be fair I don’t think this is a condition germane to celebrities, but one all of us in one way or another face. We exist in two worlds – our interior and exterior worlds. There’s a tendency, exacerbated by the notion that celebrity status is something desirable along with the ease of sharing our thoughts via the online world and social media, to believe every thought we have in our interior dialogue is significant, luminous, worth sharing. It’s easy then for our world to quickly become all about us, how many followers we have on a blog or on Twitter, how many friends we have on Facebook, how long visitors to our website or blog stay and explore. And then, if we’re not careful, we can become a cult of our own personality, gravitating to the reality of our choosing, constructing a world that reinforces our own beliefs.
It may be safer for fragile human egos and certainly understandable to live in our cocoons this way, but I believe there’s a terrible danger in doing so. When we make our world all about us, our minds start to close and we lose creativity, lose insight into what might make our own lives more joyful or meaningful, lose diversity of thought, become less adaptable and flexible. Once we do that, it’s easy to wake up calcified, judging, uncompassionate, in a dark, disconnected place.
Unless you’re an exceptionally enlightened person – I’m not – I think it’s very hard to stay open to the Universe, to find a balance rooted in thoughtful confidence, compassion and love. And that’s why I enjoy reading Jane, because with all that’s happened to her in her life, she’s models a continual striving for awareness and enlightenment, for balance and openness in a modest, joyful way, and that inspires me to do the same. Thank you Jane.
