I have never liked reading fiction. To quote Carl Sagan "There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any." Sign me up for the documentary... the stranger than fiction... the true crime. I would rather understand why people believe in ghosts... than play the ouji board all night. This week I have been reading "The Demon-Haunted World" and it's giving me ideas for a new series of paintings. Insomnia is something I wrestle with on a regular basis- this week has been no different. I read a chapter in the Sagan book on one such sleepless evening recently. This particular chapter talked a lot about demons and witches. It was once believed by the majority of people, that demons would fly down into the beds of women at night and suffocate and or rape them. There were nuns that would talk of such spirits that violating them while they lay there helpless ... strangely, many of these incubus would bear a striking resemblance to the priest or the bishop. In the book Sagan draws parallels between these stories and personal accounts of current day alien abduction victims. The mass executions of witches in the 15th century could easily translate into the story of any number of mass genocides in the last 600 years. In my opinion, people... not just individuals, but entire societies... like to believe that they are special. That their plight is unique. That they are martyrs. But, the truth is, if you spend any time at all reading the history of civilization... you will realize that humans are animals. Animals with the ability to reason... but sadly, that doesn't seem to help us a whole lot. We still make the same mistakes over and over again. We beat our heads against walls of all kinds. We are afraid. Afraid of death. Afraid of loneliness. Afraid of weakness. It is this fear that controls everything we do. Even War, one of the ultimate display of power, is born out of fear. The demons we should fear are those within ourselves. I know when I can't sleep... the reason I have to get out of bed... that's if I stayed there... wide eyed for hours... I would be severely depressed. I would go through a long list of my fears and failures. Then my mind would wander to my family... their mortality... the past... the ominous future... the world at large.... my own health or lack there of... financial woes etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. So, my cure for insomnia, is to get out of bed... and paint. It is easy to invent fictional demons. To focus on them... to make them into monsters in the closet... so frightening we can't move. We are all ready to conduct a witch hunt on ourselves. What are we all so damn afraid of?
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana
Famous Insomniacs:
- Charles Dickens always faced his bed north and had to sleep in the center of his matress.
- Proust used Barbital, a barbiturate to fall asleep.
- Napoleon couldn’t sleep more than three hours every night but it seemed that this was enough for him.
- Marilyn Monroe took up to 20 Phenobarbital daily to help her rest.
- Alexandre Dumas one of the most prolific writers of all time also suffered from insomnia.
- The Earl of Rosebery, the Prime Minister of England for one year, between 1894 and 1895 was forced to resign due to chronic insomnia.
- Margaret Thatcher stated that “Sleep is for wimps” - oh, I agree Margaret
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