home about photos slide shows videos magicsauce twitter other blogs books contact









If You Love To Write

Cool Social Media Tools

Analyst Blogs

Around The World

On Spirit & Philosophy

On Culture & Food

On Marketing & PR

On Economics and More

On Fashion

All Things Green

Dance Links

Books: Life

Books: Novels

Website Links

FAVORITE QUOTES

  • Only Those Who See the Invisible, Can Do The Impossible
  • The Age of your Heart is the Age of what you Love - Marcel Prévost
  • Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand.
  • When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one opening before us. -Helen Keller
  • The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. -Leo Tolstoy
  • Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. -Paul Tournier
  • They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. -Carl W. Buechner
  • Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The foolish reject what they see, the wise reject what they think
  • Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein
  • When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you - Lao-tzu
  • The world surrenders to a quiet mind
  • It is a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it - Somerset Maugham
  • "At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you." Goethe


« Shots from Mexico | Main | CES 2008 in Motion »

January 06, 2008

Empty Las Vegas

Las Vegas is all about propagating desire and promising its satisfaction, but there is an unbridgeable gap between the two, because the house can't afford to deliver on that promise too often and because when the customer does "win" there is no connection with anything that has to do with heart, or spirit, or achievement.  Walk through a casino and look at the grim, unsmiling winners, glazed and consumed. 

Even in New York, which is a place of madness, one can find the space to be still and real.  I once had an afternoon nap on a bench outside of a skyscraper at Sixth and 50th.  The flow of traffic became running water, the taxi horns were raucous birds, people's footsteps as fallen leaves.  The city orientated with my interior compass and so we found each other.

This does not happen in Las Vegas.  Perhaps this is the price when a city's only purpose is entertainment, unbalanced by other energies.  Yet it is different from the land of Disney, also devoted to entertainment and also unreal.  As Disney perpetuates a world of childhood dreams, Vegas delivers its translation for adults, with pleasure instead of magic, money in place of enchantment, immediate satiation versus the promise of tomorrow and forever. 

Seen this way, it's such a fall into cynical disillusionment, and the re-marketing of Vegas as a family destination seems poisonous.

Even from a distance, when one is on the rim of the valley, the mesmeric beauty of the light below does not warm, or even illuminate.  It only pulls one into the pulsing energy, insistent that you draw from it but actually consuming you in the bargain, because the house always wins.

Once, pulled off a frontage road near the airport, facing not the strip but an evening's purple light, stretched on the hood of the little red car warming me against the approaching desert night, did I have a real moment.  Then I left.

January 6, 2008 in America The Free, Travel | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451c79e69e200e54fd0c76f8834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Empty Las Vegas:

Comments

Post a comment


PARTNERS

KUDOS

Recent Posts

  • Wisdom from Michael Pollan
  • Reflecting on Tony Hsieh's Death
  • The Coronavirus: A Spiritual Perspective!
  • Zen 2.0 Brings Connectedness & Compassion to Kamakura Japan
  • IONS Annual Conference Brings Together Scientists & Spiritual Seekers Under One Roof
  • On Discipline & the Art of Courage
  • Simplifying Your Life Connects you to Your Life Purpose
  • Gratitude & Remembering America's Core Values Will Set Us Free
  • In Honor of International Women's Day
  • Proposed Cut of Planned Parenthood Funding by New Administration

Forbes Top 50





Favorite Blog Posts

Conferences & Events

    2012 Archives

    January 2012

    February 2012

    March 2012

    April 2012

    May 2012

    June 2012

    July 2012

    August 2012

    September 2012
    October 2012
    November 2012

    December 2012


    All Archives
Featured on BlogHer.com

Categories

  • America The Free
  • Arts & Creative Stuff
  • Belize
  • Books
  • Client Announcements
  • Client Media Kudos
  • Conference Highlights
  • Current Affairs
  • Entertainment/Media
  • Europe
  • Events
  • Fiji
  • Holidays
  • Humor
  • In the News
  • Israel
  • Magic Sauce Media
  • Music
  • New England
  • New York
  • On Africa
  • On Australia
  • On Being Green
  • On Blogging
  • On Branding
  • On China
  • On Costa Rica
  • On Dance
  • On East Africa
  • On Education
  • On Fashion
  • On Fiji
  • On Food & Wine
  • On France
  • On Geo-Location
  • On Germany
  • On Guatemala
  • On Health
  • On India
  • On Innovation
  • On Italy
  • On Japan
  • On Journalism
  • On Mobile & Wireless
  • On Money
  • On Nature
  • On People & Life
  • On Poems, Literature & Stuff
  • On Politics
  • On Robotics
  • On RSS
  • On Science
  • On Search
  • On Social CRM
  • On South Africa
  • On Spain
  • On Spirituality
  • On Technology
  • On the Future
  • On Video
  • On VoIP
  • On Women
  • Photography
  • PR & Marketing
  • Reflections
  • Religion
  • San Francisco
  • Science
  • Social Gigs & Parties
  • Social Media
  • South America
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • TravelingGeeks
  • United Kingdom
  • Videos
  • WBTW
  • Web 2.0
  • Web/Tech
  • Weblogs

Subscribe


  • Add to Pageflakes

  • Add to Google

  • Add to Netvibes

  • Subscribe with Bloglines

  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online

  • Add to My! Yahoo

  • FeedBurner



Add me to your TypePad People list

Enter your Email


Powered by FeedBlitz

Copyright 1999-2022 Renee Blodgett