Neil Gaiman answered me!
OK, y'all HAVE to forgive me for doing a total geek-out here! Neil Gaiman, author of my all-time favorite graphic novel series, "The Sandman", replied to an email I wrote! I can't believe it; that's just unreal! I've been reading his work for almost ten years now and it blows my mind that this prolific writer would take the time to answer a fan girl's email! I was talking to my oldest daughter on the phone while reading my email, and I let out this apparently very loud shriek that deeply disturbed Clarissa.
Clarissa: Mom, what's wrong with you?
Me: Neil Gaiman emailed me!
Clarissa: Ok. (pause) Who's Neil Gaiman?
I forgive my daughter because she knows not what she does. Anyway, it started with a bulletin that he sent out on myspace (I'm one of his myspace friends) about a video that was done in the UK about author Alan Moore. I'm not familiar with Alan Moore's work, but he's going on my list of authors to read. In fact, he's going to be near the top now. The subject of the video was spirituality, and Moore's "god" is a serpent called "glycon". I'm not even getting into that, but I responded to the fact that Moore said that glycon had a head that looked like Paris Hilton. My comment was that I found it depressing that Paris Hilton is a topic of conversation in the UK, too.
So, Mr. Gaiman wrote me back, thanked me for emailing him, and asked me what I thought of the concepts of spirituality that Moore was discussing, and I decided to be perfectly frank. I told him I'm a Baha'i, and while I agree that religion and spirituality are not necessarily the same thing, I disagree with a few of Alan Moore's ideas about religion. Then I very briefly explained progressive revelation, and the difference between the changing social teachings as mankind evolves to become more aware of what life here on this planet is all about, and how Baha'is believe that while the divine social teachings of God change, the basic spiritual message has always been love God, mankind, your neighbor and yourself. That's my take on it, though. And that was that. But still--Neil Gaiman emailed me! Even though Clarissa doesn't think much of it, that is SO COOL!
And, on the subject of spirituality, I found this on another forum that I now visit regularly:
Taken from Pg 157 of "Eat, Pray, Love"
.....(love addict says to her guru) "The reason its so hard for me to get over this guy is because I seriously believed David was my soul mate"
(guru) "He probably was. Your problem is you don't understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you will ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thankgod for it. Your problem is you cant let this one go. Its over, Groceries. David's purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of that marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and ADDICTIONS, BREAK YOUR HEART open so new light could get in, make you so deperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That was his job, and he did a great job. Now it's over.
Problem is you cant accept that this relationship had a real short shelf life."
"But I love him"
"So love him"
"But I miss him"
"So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him and then drop it. ............
........if you clear out all the space in your mind that you're using to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacume there-an empty spot. A doorway. And guess what the Universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in. GOD will rush in- and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go."
God truly works in mysterious ways. I found my answer.
Angela
Clarissa: Mom, what's wrong with you?
Me: Neil Gaiman emailed me!
Clarissa: Ok. (pause) Who's Neil Gaiman?
I forgive my daughter because she knows not what she does. Anyway, it started with a bulletin that he sent out on myspace (I'm one of his myspace friends) about a video that was done in the UK about author Alan Moore. I'm not familiar with Alan Moore's work, but he's going on my list of authors to read. In fact, he's going to be near the top now. The subject of the video was spirituality, and Moore's "god" is a serpent called "glycon". I'm not even getting into that, but I responded to the fact that Moore said that glycon had a head that looked like Paris Hilton. My comment was that I found it depressing that Paris Hilton is a topic of conversation in the UK, too.
So, Mr. Gaiman wrote me back, thanked me for emailing him, and asked me what I thought of the concepts of spirituality that Moore was discussing, and I decided to be perfectly frank. I told him I'm a Baha'i, and while I agree that religion and spirituality are not necessarily the same thing, I disagree with a few of Alan Moore's ideas about religion. Then I very briefly explained progressive revelation, and the difference between the changing social teachings as mankind evolves to become more aware of what life here on this planet is all about, and how Baha'is believe that while the divine social teachings of God change, the basic spiritual message has always been love God, mankind, your neighbor and yourself. That's my take on it, though. And that was that. But still--Neil Gaiman emailed me! Even though Clarissa doesn't think much of it, that is SO COOL!
And, on the subject of spirituality, I found this on another forum that I now visit regularly:
Taken from Pg 157 of "Eat, Pray, Love"
.....(love addict says to her guru) "The reason its so hard for me to get over this guy is because I seriously believed David was my soul mate"
(guru) "He probably was. Your problem is you don't understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you will ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thankgod for it. Your problem is you cant let this one go. Its over, Groceries. David's purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of that marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and ADDICTIONS, BREAK YOUR HEART open so new light could get in, make you so deperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That was his job, and he did a great job. Now it's over.
Problem is you cant accept that this relationship had a real short shelf life."
"But I love him"
"So love him"
"But I miss him"
"So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him and then drop it. ............
........if you clear out all the space in your mind that you're using to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacume there-an empty spot. A doorway. And guess what the Universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in. GOD will rush in- and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go."
God truly works in mysterious ways. I found my answer.
Angela
Comments
congrats on hearing back from gaiman!!!!
i remember when i heard back from william goldman 22 years ago and it made my life!!!
love, dakota lane
(a friend of the bahais!)
You heard from William Goldman??? Wow! What did he say? Did he talk about writing "The Princess Bride" (I absolutely LOVE that movie!), or the screenplay to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (Another favorite!) OMG, I'm going fan girl crazy this week; this is too much! C'mon Dakota, you just have to share the wealth here!