4 ms·

Fancy Believing in the Goblin King (2017)

163 points by ttronicm 7y ago

sandyarmstrong 7y ago
Amazing! But not Neil Gaiman. Follow the tumblr chain long enough and you find the original source: http://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.com/2017/10/fancy-believing-in-goblin-king-my.html http://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.com/2017/10/fancy-believing-in-g... This is an absolutely lovely story. Thank you for sharing it. I choose to believe it's true.
- riffraff 7y ago
  Indeed, I would say the link should be updated to point to the original. OTOH, this feels gainmanesque enough.
  - wrinkl3 7y ago
    Yeah, I read the whole thing in Gaiman's voice and it fit perfectly. The only thing that tipped me off was that Gaiman would've probably been less surprised about someone he knew having met David Bowie.
- dang 7y ago
  Changed from https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-told-me-a-story-he-hadnt-told-anyone https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-t.... Thanks!
rahuldottech 7y ago
@mods title is incorrect. It's a post by someone else that was re-blogged by Neil.
- dang 7y ago
  Yes. We've changed it now, and changed the URL from https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-told-me-a-story-he-hadnt-told-anyone https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-t... to the original source.
Qw3r7 7y ago
David Bowie really is neat guy. Him and Trent Reznor used to best pals too. He helped Trent come clean from his smack addiction. I would also hands down believe this man's story knowing the issues David went through balancing all of his personas.
jerf 7y ago
The ultimate "hack" is to hack your own brain. It's how the metaphorical man riding the elephant [1] gets the most mileage out of his efforts, figuring out how to manipulate the elephant any way necessary. The intelligent, rational part of the brain sneers derisively at the invisible mask. It's obviously not there. It obviously can't do anything. It is, in its own way, entirely correct. Yet the elephant does not think that way, and to it, the mask is there and effective, and in its own way, it too is entirely correct. This is how you break bad habits, make good habits, deal with procrastination, and any number of other life goals the rider may find desirable. You don't just sit there futilely trying to kick the elephant harder directly in the direction you want to go; you figure out how to lead it to want what you want it to want. The rider has an immense amount of control, once the rider embraces how little control the rider has. (At least for a while, one of the YCombinator entrance questions was to describe a time you hacked a system or something. I think if I were ever to apply, I'd pull my answer from this. One of my biggest personal ones is just telling myself "Look, literally millions of other people have done this (in some cases billions), surely I can manage too?" Is, for example, the first day of college scary in some ways? Sure. But how hard can it really be? An awful lot of people make it through the first day.) [1]: http://sourcesofinsight.com/the-elephant-and-the-rider/ http://sourcesofinsight.com/the-elephant-and-the-rider/
- pier25 7y ago
  Interesting metaphor. Any links you can share on taming the elephant?
  - jws 7y ago
    Years ago, in possibly Thailand, I went for an elephant ride through the jungle with my early teenaged daughter. She was very much into “how things work”. The guide sat up on the elephant’s neck and drove by touching her behind the ears with his feet. We sat further back in a pair of seats. At one point the guide got down and ran backwards in front to video my daughter sitting on the elephant’s neck and driving. Being who she was she decided actually drive and put her foot against one of the elephants ears just like the guide. Without missing a step the elephant reached around with her trunk, looped around my daughter’s leg and placed it gently back on her shoulder. (The elephant’s shoulder.) Ok, this isn’t a lot of practical help on taming an elephant, except that maybe “befriending” or “establishing a working relationship with” would be better words than taming.
pjc50 7y ago
Interestingly I've heard this mask meme before - but from a different fantasy author, Terry Pratchett, in Maskerade. I wonder if there's a common origin. Either way it's a lovely story and empowering for some who hear it.
- mcfunk 7y ago
  Definitely shades of Bowie's 'the mask' routine from his mime days https://vimeo.com/249177125 https://vimeo.com/249177125
pier25 7y ago
This reminded me of the psychomagic thing by Alejandro Jodoworsky. It's a therapeutic technique to heal psychological traumas via symbolic acts much like the invisible mask. The premise is that through these symbols one can communicate with the unconscious. Much like hypnosis or placebos it seems to work on some people.
cypherpunks01 7y ago
Since this post is not a story from Neil Gaiman, I figured I'd post one that is—It's a short anecdote about his experience with Imposter Syndrome that I like: https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/160603396711/hi-i-read-that-youve-dealt-with-with-impostor https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/160603396711/hi-i-read-t...
waltwalther 7y ago
This is beautiful. I love it, and thank you for sharing it.
RickJWagner 7y ago
Great story. And really great of David Bowie to do such a thing.

163 points by ttronicm 7y ago

Amazing! But not Neil Gaiman. Follow the tumblr chain long enough and you find the original source: http://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.com/2017/10/fancy-believing-in-goblin-king-my.html http://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.com/2017/10/fancy-believing-in-g... This is an absolutely lovely story. Thank you for sharing it. I choose to believe it's true.

riffraff 7y ago
Indeed, I would say the link should be updated to point to the original. OTOH, this feels gainmanesque enough.
- wrinkl3 7y ago
  Yeah, I read the whole thing in Gaiman's voice and it fit perfectly. The only thing that tipped me off was that Gaiman would've probably been less surprised about someone he knew having met David Bowie.
dang 7y ago
Changed from https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-told-me-a-story-he-hadnt-told-anyone https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-t.... Thanks!

rahuldottech 7y ago

@mods title is incorrect. It's a post by someone else that was re-blogged by Neil.

dang 7y ago
Yes. We've changed it now, and changed the URL from https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-told-me-a-story-he-hadnt-told-anyone https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-t... to the original source.

Qw3r7 7y ago

David Bowie really is neat guy. Him and Trent Reznor used to best pals too. He helped Trent come clean from his smack addiction. I would also hands down believe this man's story knowing the issues David went through balancing all of his personas.

jerf 7y ago

The ultimate "hack" is to hack your own brain. It's how the metaphorical man riding the elephant [1] gets the most mileage out of his efforts, figuring out how to manipulate the elephant any way necessary. The intelligent, rational part of the brain sneers derisively at the invisible mask. It's obviously not there. It obviously can't do anything. It is, in its own way, entirely correct. Yet the elephant does not think that way, and to it, the mask is there and effective, and in its own way, it too is entirely correct. This is how you break bad habits, make good habits, deal with procrastination, and any number of other life goals the rider may find desirable. You don't just sit there futilely trying to kick the elephant harder directly in the direction you want to go; you figure out how to lead it to want what you want it to want. The rider has an immense amount of control, once the rider embraces how little control the rider has. (At least for a while, one of the YCombinator entrance questions was to describe a time you hacked a system or something. I think if I were ever to apply, I'd pull my answer from this. One of my biggest personal ones is just telling myself "Look, literally millions of other people have done this (in some cases billions), surely I can manage too?" Is, for example, the first day of college scary in some ways? Sure. But how hard can it really be? An awful lot of people make it through the first day.) [1]: http://sourcesofinsight.com/the-elephant-and-the-rider/ http://sourcesofinsight.com/the-elephant-and-the-rider/

pier25 7y ago
Interesting metaphor. Any links you can share on taming the elephant?
- jws 7y ago
  Years ago, in possibly Thailand, I went for an elephant ride through the jungle with my early teenaged daughter. She was very much into “how things work”. The guide sat up on the elephant’s neck and drove by touching her behind the ears with his feet. We sat further back in a pair of seats. At one point the guide got down and ran backwards in front to video my daughter sitting on the elephant’s neck and driving. Being who she was she decided actually drive and put her foot against one of the elephants ears just like the guide. Without missing a step the elephant reached around with her trunk, looped around my daughter’s leg and placed it gently back on her shoulder. (The elephant’s shoulder.) Ok, this isn’t a lot of practical help on taming an elephant, except that maybe “befriending” or “establishing a working relationship with” would be better words than taming.

pjc50 7y ago

Interestingly I've heard this mask meme before - but from a different fantasy author, Terry Pratchett, in Maskerade. I wonder if there's a common origin. Either way it's a lovely story and empowering for some who hear it.

mcfunk 7y ago
Definitely shades of Bowie's 'the mask' routine from his mime days https://vimeo.com/249177125 https://vimeo.com/249177125

pier25 7y ago

This reminded me of the psychomagic thing by Alejandro Jodoworsky. It's a therapeutic technique to heal psychological traumas via symbolic acts much like the invisible mask. The premise is that through these symbols one can communicate with the unconscious. Much like hypnosis or placebos it seems to work on some people.

cypherpunks01 7y ago

Since this post is not a story from Neil Gaiman, I figured I'd post one that is—It's a short anecdote about his experience with Imposter Syndrome that I like: https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/160603396711/hi-i-read-that-youve-dealt-with-with-impostor https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/160603396711/hi-i-read-t...

waltwalther 7y ago

This is beautiful. I love it, and thank you for sharing it.

RickJWagner 7y ago

Great story. And really great of David Bowie to do such a thing.