Once, during a discussion about jealousy (one of many hundreds I have had since being given the assignment to explore it and figure it out) Klaudia said to me that she felt a good kind of jealousy, a sweet tingle in her tummy, when she thought about her Master. I was new to this idea, so naturally I kept my distance: "what do you mean there is a good side to jealousy?" I asked myself, loudly. I thought the whole point of this exercise was to exorcise. That jealousy is a demonic invasion plague infestation infection thing. Akin to the zombiepocalypse. It goes right for the brains and then leaves you for dead, or that is how I thought about it. "It is like a predator," I came to understand. "It is like a bully," was also a familiar refrain. "It compromises safety and sanity, and therefore consent and submission," is my own conclusion. "It makes my tummy tingle," says Klaudia, and that just turned everything upside down.
I tried very hard to think of a way to make jealousy come from a place of love. Jealousy gets a bad rap, naturally, and it's difficult to reverse that trend. But I realized, as I examined an older picture of my mentor that was still in its raw state, and as I imagined all the things that I would do to digitally manipulate and enhance and "make different" and "make new" this picture of my Genny, that I had said to myself, "My Genny." And I thought, after that, "My Genny, who looks like only I can make her look, when I take her picture." And then I realized, "Only I see this Genny, my Genny." When I take the picture and when I show it on display, sure, other people can observe "My Genny" but... only I saw her. Only I captured her, treated her, polished her, and made her shine like only My Genny can. And when I look through that lens to shoot My Genny, I do so out of love. It's a jealousy that comes from Love. My mentor inspires this. And Klaudia's tummy-tingles confirm this: it is possible to feel a GOOD kind of jealousy. The kind that says, "Nobody else can do this for you like I can, you wonderful person whom I love and will never harm." (And incidentally, I'm not showing the My Genny picture here, because she's mine. Sorry.)


No comments:
Post a Comment