If you aren't already familiar with Charles Bukowski, look him up. Wait, let me re-phrase that. If you aren't already familiar with Charles Bukowski and you aren't easily offended by a raw and often crude style of writing, look him up. He's awesome. His poems are just honest, straight shooting glimpses into his minds inner workings. They're sometimes bleak, sometimes disturbing, sometimes raunchy, but they're 100% authentic, undiluted Charles. And that's what makes them so cool.
I am drawn to people who are so comfortable in their own skin that they can be so real that they risk being unlikable, and that's okay with them. Not everyone will jive with Charles Bukowski. The man was no stranger to criticism and rejection, and he was fine with that. But I find that the honesty of his words and his willingness to write poetry about some pretty grim or "ugly" subject matter makes him more relatable to me somehow. Not that I relate to his subject matter, but rather, I relate to his desire to be known and seen for what he really is, and not for some polished up projection of what he thinks you want to see.
Don't like him? Fine. As long as you don't like the real him, and not some phoney who was trying too hard to be liked. You know?
He had the guts to say what he really thought and lacked the tact or the will to filter it or water it down and make it more palatable. He said things like "I don't hate people, I just feel better when they aren't around" and "the problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt and the stupid ones are full of confidence." He was, to put it mildly, and acquired taste. And that suited him just fine.
So, what can we learn from this foul mouthed, raw, unfiltered and often downright unpleasant author who knew more rejection than success in his life time?
Be authentic and apologetically you.
Shed any façades you're holding up.
Stop watering down your true self in order to be better liked by others.
Live in alignment with your values, even if it means that some people won't like you, or at least, won't understand you.
This is a lesson I needed to learn. Be authentic. Be unflinchingly true to the person I really am and not who I felt it would be easier to be.
When I learned this, I was able to really embrace my spiritual side, the part of me that believed fully in my intuition, my "knowing" and that I was capable of communicating with the Universe. Taking ownership of my affinity to the mystical, magical and unknown meant that I got to really live into Tarot and reading for others. I stopped calling it a hobby, and I stopped treating it like a parlor trick, and I started calling it what I really feel it is. I use Tarot to access the vast sea of knowledge that is my intuition and the Universe and the source, and with that I can help manifest amazing things for myself and for others. Just by helping us get plugged in and connected to that great unknown. And that is just so cool, I can't believe I ever tried to downplay it.
So, thank you Mr. Bukowski, for telling it like it is and not being afraid to be looked at funny!
With my growing collection of Tarot cards, poetry and witchy books and tattoos, I salute you!
Katie
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