Maybe it’s because my wife has been in Mexico for the past several weeks, and there’s nobody else around but me. Or it could be I’m having a little too much fun with the camera and recording software on my new computer. Whatever the reason, I seem to be getting way too into myself these days. I’ve listened to my new song (The City) at least a hundred times since posting it on this blog last week. Come to think of it, my family always jokes about how I spent half of my childhood in front of the mirror. By my recollection, the first half was spent making silly faces, the second picking at zits.
In any event, I got to thinking about all this today after reading a couple of blog entries. The first was the latest entry on Ken Wilber’s website, passing along the news that Jennifer Aniston loves Ken’s book Grace and Grit, that she and Brad Pitt used to read it to each other when they were together, and that Jen wants to play the role of Ken’s deceased wife Treya if the book gets made into a movie.
The other was a piece written by integral blogger “Colmar,” who ripped Wilber a new one over Ken’s recounting of his big night hobnobbing around with Hollywood elites at the premier of “V for Vendetta” a few weeks ago.
Now, this wasn’t Colmar’s point, but I couldn’t help wonder why there’s so much name-dropping going on these days at Integral Institute. On the one hand, it could all be a marketing ploy to sell more subscriptions to their websites. But I smell a little too much self-love, and an ego inflating ever nearer to the breaking point.
But what do I know. If everyone constantly told me that I was the bomb, I’d probably blow up too. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that right now. It’s just me and me for another three weeks.
This post reminded me of a post from the Dilber Blog: My Self Absorbed Arrogance
The money quote:
“Things get tricky with success. Suddenly there are huge chunks of your life that you can’t mention without appearing to brag, even though they are nothing more than a description of what you did today. And omitting them seems somehow dishonest.”
I think this is what’s happening with Wilber, and he and his people are just posting things they think the rest of us will be interested in. I’m sure there are plenty of non-celeb. events in Wilber’s life, but they’re probably not worth telling the world about.
Sean,
That’s a great quote and you make a valid point. I try to keep this in mind when reactively criticizing the famous, rich and powerful, but it’s easy to get lost in the fog of projections that can so easily dust up given the Cult of Personality culture we live in. Wilber may be in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” predicament, although I still believe it’s possible to be both successful and humble. Hell, if Oprah Winfrey can pull it off…
–Bob