Friday Night at 8: Temptation

Mick Jagger, it is said, didn’t like this version of the tune so didn’t release it for a long time.  But it suits my purposes for this essay, and I kinda like it.

Pleased to meet you … hope you guessed my name …

Found an interesting etymological factoid about the word “temptation”:

[Origin: 1175-1225; ME temptacion < L tempt?ti?n- (s. of tempt?ti?) a testing.

Emphasis mine!

Been reading a lot of folks’ reactions to the Spitzer scandal (of course my view is that the real story is, sadly, being missed in the bright shiny distractions of sex and our lamestream media (h/t lasthorseman).

And of course we have Jeffrey Lieber’s essay which went into quite a bit of detail as to what it would take to make him do something so universally derided as stupid and hypocritical and idiotic and such … though at the end it seems Mr. Lieber would not have given in to temptation no matter how … well … tempting!

Now me?  I tend to have followed the philosophy of Oscar Wilde:

I can resist anything except temptation.

Well maybe those weren’t Wilde’s exact words, but you catch my drift, I’m sure.

I think it’s awfully easy to look at someone else’s really huge mistakes and proclaim after the fact, “Well, I would NEVER do something so damned stupid!”  And no doubt we wouldn’t do that exact stupid thing.

But temptation is a tricky force, I think, and I’m kind of superstitious about it, to the point where I try not to say “I’ll never ____.”  Because I’ve found that the moment I say I’ll “never” do something, damned if I don’t end up doing it!  And that kind of annoys me.

And of course we have the great historic religious temptations … Jesus being tempted by the Devil, that he will have absolute power on earth if he only swears allegiance to that man of wealth and taste, heh.  Even Buddha had to face Mara and was offered pretty much the same thing, before he achieved his final liberation over the ego.

Well, sex is a very common temptation, and the passions can overcome one without any preparation.  We can discuss that rationally and in our own minds swear that we would never be fool enough to fall for that obvious trap.  Me, I don’t think it’s that easy.  I’m sure many folks have managed to successfully resist the temptations of overpowering chemistry and sexual appeal.  And I’m sure just as many have not.

But there’s more to temptation than sex and power and money.

I read a book once, The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom … it was her memoir of growing up in Holland (Haarlem) during World War II.  Her Christian family hid Jews from the Nazis — they were eventually caught and Corrie, her sister Bessie, and her father, were all imprisoned in concentration camps.  Her father died almost immediately, he was very old, but Corrie and Bessie went through a long time in the camps.

Corrie’s sister Bessie was pretty much a saint, according to Corrie.  She prayed constantly and they ended up organizing secret prayer groups in the camps, which fed their souls.

Corrie, on the other hand, wasn’t much of a saint, according to her memoir.  She’d get angry and go through all kinds of confusions, even as her religious faith was very strong.

One of the anecdotes in the book that I found interesting was when Corrie was nasty to a fellow prisoner and justified it by looking at how awful the Nazi prison guards were, and in comparison her bad behavior seemed insignificant.  But later, she found herself completely unable to pray.  She contemplated this and realized that seeing folks do really awful things sometimes tempted us to downplay our own faults, and thus we could become less and less loving as human beings.  She ended up apologizing to the prisoner she was mean to, and found herself unburdened by the act and able to pray again.

Tempation is a funny thing, a strange test.  Giving in to temptation can also be seen in not acting as well.  When we walk past a homeless person and don’t bother to even notice, much less help, them, and we justify it by saying we are in such a hurry … when we hear of injustice and we don’t stand up against it because we feel oh we have no power to change anything, when we take money to do a job we know isn’t good for either society or the planet (Blackwater?  Halliburton?).  There are temptations everywhere, and the less spectacular ones are sometimes more insidious than we would think.

Well I’m no saint.  I’ve given in to temptation many times.  I’ve always marveled at the twists and turns my life has taken due to temptation … whether I gave in to it or stood firm and resisted it (I’ve done that maybe one or two times, heh).

An old lover once said to me that we never give something up until we find something better, something we want more.  In my spiritual journeys, I’ve seen the value in that advice.  As much as temptation can lure us in, can make us go against what we believe is right and good and true, we also have, in our hearts, a real desire for love and healing and compassion and helping others, even to the point of putting their needs before our own.  I believe if we try to make it more of a habit to tap into that desire, we will find it easier to resist the kinds of temptations that hurt ourselves and others, that we will more often pass that test of our own humanity.

But I’ll say one thing — I never underestimate the wiles of temptation.  Oh rats! I just said “never”!  Aaaaaaah!

Happy Friday to all you fellow wage-slaves out there and to all Dharmaniacs on the tubez tonight.  Yay!  It’s the weekend!

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  1. … here in the Big Apple.

    Got my window open for the moment … nize.

    • Viet71 on March 15, 2008 at 01:42

    Mick Jagger.

    Let’s think of Hillary, Obama and McCain in terms of sexiness.

    McCain wins, hands down, given his wife.

    People want anonymous sex, IMO.

    Hillary = no sex.

    Obama = sex with his wife (dull).

    McCain = well, whatever.

  2. my thoughts go immediately to Eve:

    The serpent tells the woman that she will not die if she eats the fruit of the tree: “When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    Damn straight I’m going to take a bit out of that fruit!!!

    This is a piece of sculpture in Windsor Ontario Canada by a woman named Edwina Sandys. Here’s a bit from the description I found:

    Eve’s Apple captures that moment in the biblical story just after Eve has taken her important bite from the fruit of knowledge. It is a complex turning point, an intersection in which a certain kind of knowledge is achieved while another kind of innocence is lost.

  3. Except when I have.

    Women are temptresses whether they are trying to be or not, so I’m blaming them for it.

    • Viet71 on March 15, 2008 at 01:57

    except at age 18 or 19.

    I watch songbirds at my feeder.  Males chasing females now that it’s spring.

    Females make the male birds chase them.

    Among humans, males tend to decline in their early thirties, just when females are taking off.

  4. is to give in to it until you have conquered it?

    That supposes two things…that your giving into it doesn’t hurt anyone else (sorry Elliot!)

    And that you have recognized the temptation some kind of weakness that you need to overcome.

    Of course the Spitzer thing is just Puritan Moralism in action. Both in the fact that he was so unfulfilled he had to go to a professional (not a slam on his wife, the fulfillment doesn’t come from others, it comes as holes in our selves that we are responsible to learn how to fill) And in the fact that others are judging him by the artificial standards of how America THINKS someone is supposed to behave, as opposed to how Humans actually behave.

    Which is a HUGE gap when it comes to sex.

  5. to walk out of my apartment last night and never return. leave all of it… down to the last bit of everything.

    i was tempted by the idea of being footloose and fancy free.

    it was so overwhelming that it still reverberates in me, even after the movers were here and took mostly everything. it was easy to give up things as it became clear not everything would fit. i don’t feel any regret that my wine glasses were left behind. or my garden bench. and all my pots. and an old mahogany cabinet.

    i can live without them.

    i’m think of two lift vans of stuff arriving in Leiden::: i should have listened to temptation and walked away before the movers got here.

  6. that’s my motto – as for everything – as long as no one gets hurt – after that its all up for grabs.

  7. As usual I have  about two minutes.  

    My words of wisdom to live by regarding temptation:

    I was told a million times

    of all the troubles in my way

    How I had to keep on trying

    Little better every day

    But if I crossed a million rivers

    And I rode a million miles

    Then Id still be where I started

    Bread and butter for a smile

    Well I sold a million mirrors

    In a shop in alley way

    But I never saw my face

    In any window any day

    Well they say your folks are telling you

    To be a super star

    But I tell you just be satisfied

    To stay right where you are

    Keep yourself alive keep yourself alive

    Itll take you all your time and a money

    Honey you’ll survive

    Well I’ve loved a million women

    In a belladonic haze

    And I ate a million dinners

    Brought to me on silver trays

    Give me everything I need

    To feed my body and my soul

    And I’ll grow a little bigger

    Maybe that can be my goal

    I was told a million times

    Of all the people in my way

    How I had to keep on trying

    And get better evry day

    But if I crossed a million rivers

    And I rode a million miles

    Then I’d still be where I started

    Still be where I started

    Keep yourself alive keep yourself alive

    Itll take you all your time and money honey

    Youll survive

    Keep yourself alive

    Keep yourself alive

    Itll take you all your time and money

    To keep me satisfied

    Do you think youre better ev’ry day

    No I just think Im two steps nearer to my grave

    Keep yourself alive

    Keep yourself alive mm

    You take your time and take your money

    Keep yourself alive

    Keep yourself alive

    Listening to Pat Metheny, 80/81. I played Hell just getting one of my friends to accept a free ticket to this concert tomorrow in Philly–Pat Metheny trio playing at 8:00. Finally I found someone-“Who’s Pat Metheny?” Oh well–maybe it’ll be an opportunity for him to expand his horizons.

    And by the way–make this. It’s easy and does not cost a lot. It is a spectacular high-end appetizer.  I made it this week.   From Sunday’s NY times mag:

    Coconut Milk Ceviche

    Serves 6

    1 pound flounder filet, skinned,

    boned and sliced1/8″ thin

    1/3 cup fresh lime juice

    1/2 teaspoon minced jalapeño

    Salt

    11/2 cups coconut milk

    1 tablespoon minced red onion

    1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves, rinsed and chopped, plus

    more to garnish

    Freshly ground black pepper

    1/2 avocado, pitted, skinned and

    sliced1/8″ thin.

    1. In a stainless steel bowl, toss

    flounder with lime juice, jalapeño and a generous pinch of salt. Cover

    bowl and let macerate in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.

    2. Add coconut milk, red onion and cilantro, and season with salt

    and a bit of fresh pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding

    more lime juice, coconut milk or salt

    as needed. It shouldn’t be too

    acidic, but it should have a bite.

    3. To serve, divide avocado among

    six bowls, and season with

    a pinch of salt. Spoon in the ceviche, drizzling it with the sauce.

    Garnish with cilantro leaves.

    GOOD STUFF!

    Re: This:

    Well I’m no saint.  I’ve given in to temptation many times.  I’ve always marveled at the twists and turns my life has taken due to temptation … whether I gave in to it or stood firm and resisted it (I’ve done that maybe one or two times, heh

    Yeah. One day I’ll have the time to post about this one.  The bottom line is by any stretch of the imagination I should not be alive now.

    Enjoyed!

    • kj on March 15, 2008 at 04:41

    did anyone else see them in the video with Mick, who was obviously going through a Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison phase?  (not that the video wasn’t interesting because it truly was)

    okay, i resisted temptation to not post because i’m just too tired to make sense… so posted nonsense… and say ‘hey’ and yeah, hey.  

  8. this was delish tonight NPK.  Love the Stones YouTube!  Great comments too.    

  9. …but find some value in the christian conception of sin as that which sepeprates us from god.  There is a bunch of associated prattle about what god is and wants; but as a basic definition of sin, it has the advantage of simplicty and hard logical grasp of what seperates us from the transendent and divine in ourselves, in the world.

    So we might be tempted toward sin, toward seperation from the divine.  But could not we also be tempted toward the demonic, in the rollo may sense, the sort of archetypically fuelled story that informs intentionality and will?  Not all muttering demons in trees are created equal.  

    Late ambien but NPK probably won’t mind if it’s entertianing.

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