Well, this is sort of related. It's an article I wrote a while back, and it goes with what you're saying I think.
The Philosophy of Michael Jackson
Recently, I had the opportunity to read a short transcript of a conversation between Michael Jackson and a one time associate of his, Shmuley Boteach. The friendship deteriorated when Boteach was found out to have taken donation money for himself, originally meant for a philanthropic organization then co-founded between the two, “Heal The Kids”. Michael refused to take Boteach’s phone calls or have contact with him afterwards. That in turn led to Boteach’s shift in attitude towards Jackson, at first describing Michael as a beautiful person to then describing him as an ego-driven superstar with a “Messiah Complex”. Boteach uses the following conversation as proof of this theory, but he misses the point of Michael’s words utterly. Or perhaps he merely refuses to acknowledge their true meaning, feeling slighted, thus twisting the content to fit his own agenda.
Shmuley: What if they were like the Nazis, just evil people.
MJ: I can't imagine that I couldn't reach their hearts in some kind of way.
S: So you believe that if you were face to face with Hitler you could...
MJ: Absolutely. Absolutely! He had to have had a lot of yes people around him who were afraid of him.
S: You believe that if you had an hour with Hitler you could somehow touch something inside of him?
MJ: Absolutely. I know I could.
S: With Hitler? Come on. So you don't believe there is anyone who is completely evil and there is no way to touch them. So you don't believe in punishing the wicked because then...
MJ: No I believe you have to help them, give them therapy. You have to teach them, that somewhere something in their life went wrong. They don't see what they do. They don't understand that it is wrong a lot of times.
S: But Michael, there are clearly people who are irredeemable. Like Hitler. He was evil incarnate. There was no humanity there for you to address. You’d be speaking to the abyss, to a darkness like you never before witnessed. What about someone who has killed a lot of people? Don’t you believe that there should be no therapy for them? They are murderers and they need to face extreme punishment.
MJ: I feel horrible about it. I wish somebody could have reached their hearts.
S: What if they have done it already? They’ve already killed their victims.
MJ: If they have done it already, it is wrong.
Michael believes no one is born as evil, that no one is innately so, and within them, no matter how heinous or socially taboo their actions may be or may have been, there lies goodness. His view is an idealistic one, but all the same, one of truth. What Michael feels is, given the chance, given the benefit of another’s open heart, of understanding and an offering of help, everyone, no matter who, is capable of love.
It is not a matter of Michael seeing himself as some kind of savior or god-like figure, it is based on his belief that, if each of us individually would choose to lend our hand, the world we live in, the lives we lead, would be far for the better. He feels able to make a positive change, he feels us all to be capable of this, if only we would look beyond what we are taught to think and to feel.
Michael Jackson is special. He is special because he isn’t afraid to look into the greatest suffering and harshest of situations, or the angriest and most hate filled persons, and find there the good, the beauty. His willingness to expose himself to that, in order to bring some brightness, to improve and make alright, to help, shows an absolute purity and goodness of heart, an unselfish nature and the most grand capacity for acceptance and understanding. In this way, Michael is quintessentially humane, the kind of openness he displays is a testament to the meaning of the word.
What makes Michael’s perception so outstanding, what makes it notable, is his ability to see beyond a things appearance, passed its surface level, straight to the core, to the heart. In doing so, he sees a things essence, what it is underneath the layers of social conditioning, and he thus understands it and takes it in its most pure form, as it is in truth, not as it was made to be by circumstance. Without judgment, without prejudice, lending his trust and the willingness to listen.
We are all capable of it, but most are too afraid and unsure to ever try. We don’t ourselves want to hurt in order to heal, so we turn away, we generalize and label, blaming no one but nature and god, claiming it to be unpreventable, as always having been just as it seems, as is. We refuse to acknowledge that there lies there a depth beyond the exterior, further then what we are taught to see.
Unlike most, Michael has not allowed his outlook to be skewed or dictated by what our social structure has told him, and it is because of this that he allows himself to trust so freely, to accept and to give the benefit of the doubt, because he knows things are not always as they appear, not always what state they were forced in to. What Michael wants is to find what a thing or a person was born as, to touch it, and bring that essence forth. He isn’t scared to put himself in such a compromising position, to lend his heart to those that others would be so quick to cut it off from. As a result, Michael has suffered himself so much, been hurt and abused, betrayed and made to bleed, but it is his persistence in standing by his belief that in all things and people, there is good, even in the face of such utter adversary, that is so incredible, as it confirms so brilliantly just how strong Michael’s convictions in this philosophy are, he lives it, he breaths it, he is it, never having become embittered or filled with hate, never having conceded to defeat, despite tireless efforts from so many to beat those values and views from him. He hasn’t let go or conformed to save himself from the cruelty of others, and that only enforces just how greatly Michael trusts the thought of love in this world. If more of us could understand as he does, could open our minds and our hearts as he does, what a more wonderful life we would lead.
Michael understands this better then anyone I have ever seen.
It is in allowing the beauty in our selves to shine brightly which makes possible the beauty in others to take hold and shine brightly too.
thank you. i am very much in agreement with you. Michael is awesome in this aspect. i wish it were not lost on so many, but it always gladdens my heart when those who see it speak on it and speak on how it is revealed to them. there is much people could learn from Michael. i certainly feel that i am one of his students and love the lessons he teaches through his life and work. :wub: very nice thread. :flowers:
