Saturday, May 01, 2004
Freakin' esoterics.... [.j.evonne.]
Spent the day typing from Sir Williams Jones ed. of Asiatic Researches, 1788:
"Most of the great Indian rivers are feminine; and the three goddesses of the waters, whom the Hindus chiefly venerate, are GANGA', who sprang, like armed PALLAS, from the head of the Indian JOVE; YAMUNA, daughter of the sun, and SERESWATI': all three meet at Prayága, thence called Treveni, or the three plaited locks; but SERESWATI, according to popular belief, sinks under ground, and rises at another Triveni near Hugli, where she rejoins her beloved GANGA. The Brahmaputra is, indeed, a male river; and, as name signifies the Son of BRAHMA', I thence took occasion to feign that he was married to GANGA, though I have not yet seen any mention of him, as a God, in the Sanscrit books."
ps - This blog is far too synchronous. At the monastery this week we watched Holy Smoke and researched the various differences between cultic and occultic. Read everything from L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? to Gurdjieff and the Golden Dawn texts. Next up, Blavatsky.
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6:31 PM
JANET: BRITNEY, BRITNEY, BRITNEY [coolmel]
just another proof that real life imitates art...
Amazingly, this Janet breast-exposing spoof was done three years ago -- long before the now-infamous Super Sunday. Fed up with Britney hogging the spotlight, Janet enlists the help of science to stage the ultimate press event. Technological advances allow her to expose not just one -- but both breasts in front of a captive audience. Will she get away with it?
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2:04 PM
Thursday, April 29, 2004
RANDOM QUOTE ON CULTS [Paul]
Don't remember where I read this...."Cult" is the new anathema; cult is the new terror. But here again we face the same dilemma: All truthful and beneficial causes are initially "cultic," but not all cults are either truthful or beneficial. Examine any major historical phenomenon, and you will find it is cultic: headed by a Hero surrounded by devotees. This is not neces-sarily bad. How could the American Revolution have survived Valley Forge without the hero-figure of George Washington and his cultic followers? Where would modern psychiatry be without Freud and his slavishly cultic disciples? Or on the religious side: Christ and his cult of disciples, Buddha and his cult of monks, Krishna and his cult of devotees. Could we seriously wish that none of those cults ever existed?
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3:21 PM
DUH! YEP, INTEGRAL MOVEMENT IS A FREAKIN' CULT! [coolmel]
see definition #6.
cult ( P ) Pronunciation Key (klt)
n.
- a) A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
b) The followers of such a religion or sect.
- A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
- The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
- A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
- a) Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
b) The object of such devotion.
- An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
(yo! cult members! put your hands in the air and sing with me... karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go...)
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11:25 AM
"HOLY SMOKE," IT'S A CULT! [Paul]
Is the Integral Movement a cult? Maybe, sorta, I don't know... the potential is always there anytime you have a dominant male figure who deals with "otherworldly" concepts. A few people have certainly treated it as one, or as one dude I know said last summer, "I don't have to think now that I have Wilber." Creepy. Anyways, those interested in the "cult" concept should definitely check out the 1999 film Holy Smoke. Kate Winslett has a powerful altered state experience with a guru cult in India, and her suburban Australian family hires Harvey Keitel to "deprogram" her. I won't say much more, other than it skillfully avoids the twin poles of cynical atheism and mindless New Age foofaa. Every one of you bliss bunnies out there should shiver when, upon Winslett's mother informing her that her father is dying and she needs to come home right away, Winslett first cries, then replies "Maybe next time, in another life." Talk about pre-trans fallacy! She also gets naked.
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12:59 AM
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
MAN OF THE PASSION [coolmel]
Franciscan friars and sisters have an international online petition for Brother Mel Gibson to create a sequel for The Passion. this time, instead of blood and gore it will have the mystical tone of the "Divine Fire" as experienced by Saint Francis of Assisi.
Saint Francis was a man of the passion! His contemplation of the cross and the humility of Christ consumed him, often reducing him to tears. His life teaches us that each of us must walk the way of the cross, a path that leads to liberty - the land of the living. Daily he decided to push forward upon the path of penance, that is, continual conversion. He laid his life upon this altar and was each day slowly but steadily sanctified. Through the workings of human effort and Divine Grace, he was transformed from a spoiled son, to a chivalrous soldier, then to a great saint!
i'm actually interested in seeing this movie materialize. as the Franciscan friars pointed out, Saint Francis is not a sissy. but the question is, will the Dominicans and Benedictines sign this petition? and the plot thickens.
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11:34 PM
BUDDHA BIKINI (PART 2) [Paul]
The reaction by the "Buddhist community" to the Victoria's Secret Buddha Bikini is fascinating, if not telling. What Coolmel forgot to point out is that these were VIETNAMESE Buddhists. That is, Theravedans. That is, Ascenders. That is, those who abhor the body and exult the ultimate escape from samsara into nirvana. So OF COURSE these tight-asses are protesting. And chances are, they're all hovering around Blue fundamentalism as well. Zen, on the other hand, would just laugh and laugh, for really, no spiritual path is any better than a "dead cat's head" (as one master once quipped). And EVERYTHING is emptiness, including shaven cooters.
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12:49 PM
THE INNER VIDEO GAME [Paul]
Galen Davis is doing ya'll a favor with "The Reflective Gamer", his new ongoing column in Knot Magazine intent on dealing with the psychological and cultural aspects (read: the interiors) of video gaming, which recently surpassed the movie industry in annual revenues. To wit: The Reflective Gamer is not going to be an esoteric ludic commentary only for game fanatics. And it's not a review column. I'll be examining video games and game culture with a curious eye and commenting on how games are changing many facets of American life: the way we think, human interaction, spending habits, how we consume and construct traditional media, narrative, and even familial relationships, to name a few.
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12:24 PM
AL FRANKEN RADIO [Matthew]
Maverick blogger Andrew Sullivan takes a listen to Air America, the new left-liberal talk radio, which stars, amongs others Al Franken. The Kosmic Quote:And on radio, ideas do still matter. You don't just need insults (although they help), or gimmicks (though they're fun), or personalities (indispensable). You need arguments. And when you listened last week and heard one Air America radio host after another infer from the grisly murders in Fallujah that the U.S. should obviously get out of Iraq as soon as possible, you wondered whether these people were truly serious. Here's one line from Randi Rhodes that stuck in my head: "The most secure place in Iraq is the airport. So use it. Get out." That's an argument? Sure, there are equivalent no-brains on the right. But not as many. And not as universally. Until the left manages to marshall an intellectual brigade that is not trapped in post-modern jargon or Michael Moore-style incoherence, it won't be able to match the right on the airwaves. Getting on the air is not enough. Getting an intellectual grip would help.
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5:40 AM
Monday, April 26, 2004
THE MUSE INTERSECTS... [wrench]
hey all! a sound-off on a 6-month series from NPR about artists and their inspirations, called Intersections - enjoy!
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9:10 PM
BUDDHA BIKINI (aka ASIAN FLORAL TANKINI) [coolmel]
Victoria's Secret's neat marketing ploy backfired on them when the Buddhist community cried foul on the Buddha Bikini.
Buddha and Buddhism signify the ultimate respect in religion and play a vital role in our everyday lives. To have Buddha, or anything associated with religion for that matter, printed on and worn to cover up private parts is the ultimate insult.
drats! i was actually looking forward in seeing more of those tantric bikinis here in Boulder. yeah, even if there are no beaches here.
(i guess i just have to settle for this.)
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1:14 PM
Sunday, April 25, 2004
RANDOM SURREALISM EXCURSION [Meera]
Peter Gric. More here.
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4:09 PM
