Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bee Colony Collapse Threatens Civilization
From the first exhausted field caused by not rotating crops to the current bee crisis, the human experiment with agriculture has been a continuing ecological disaster. Rich biodiversity has been replaced by monoculture, but not only with plants, but with bees. This renders the species liable to collapse from a single agent, it's happening again to bananas and most frightening, to bees. Without bees, the whole agricultural system collapses. Thanks Green Revolution!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
You've been warned!
This Alex Jones program with Naomi Wolf, a prominent progressive feminist, would be funny if the subject of her interview, her book The End of America, wasn't so scary. This book now makes it ok for progressives to become alarmed over the accelerating pace our liberty is being withdrawn. She lays out 10 steps that governments take to destroy a democracy. She claims these steps were developed by Mussolini, usually cited as the origin of fascism.
Mussolini, though, may have been following a blueprint laid out by Louis Napoleon who was elected president of France in the turbulent 1840s. On 11 December 1851, he staged a coup d'etat, rewriting the constitution to make the presidency the only real power (a show parliament was retained). This book, by Maurice Joly, a satirical dialog between Montesquieu and Machiavelli, where Machiavelli explains how Louis Napoleon followed Machiavelli's advice in his method of taking over control of France. The conceit is that Machiavelli knows what has happened in France and Montesquieu does not. One can discern Wolf's ten points in Joly's description of how Louis Napoleon took down the Republic, creating the second French Empire.
Wolf's ten steps:
Mussolini, though, may have been following a blueprint laid out by Louis Napoleon who was elected president of France in the turbulent 1840s. On 11 December 1851, he staged a coup d'etat, rewriting the constitution to make the presidency the only real power (a show parliament was retained). This book, by Maurice Joly, a satirical dialog between Montesquieu and Machiavelli, where Machiavelli explains how Louis Napoleon followed Machiavelli's advice in his method of taking over control of France. The conceit is that Machiavelli knows what has happened in France and Montesquieu does not. One can discern Wolf's ten points in Joly's description of how Louis Napoleon took down the Republic, creating the second French Empire.
Wolf's ten steps:
- Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
- Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
- Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
- Set up an internal surveillance system.
- Harass citizen groups.
- Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
- Target key individuals
- Control the press.
- Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
- Suspend the rule of law.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The end of memory
Once at BYU in an Old Testament class, in 1974, the professor wrote "4004 BC -- The Garden of Eden" and not a single student, certainly not I, a well known skeptic, snickered, let alone challenged this. I understand how clipped thinking works. There is this thing out there, it can't be named or even described really, we feel it groping with our hands, and when we feel it's near, we become very careful what we think. Our thoughts could betray us. With most students it probably never rose to that level of consciousness. They followed the brethren and that was that. I was struck at that moment of how insidious lies can be--even the brightest light of day will not dim a certain kind of lie--in fact, it steals that light, wraps itself up in it, and delivers a stirring impression of your idea of a saint. We were children sitting in a university level Sunday School class.
When you look into it, the amount of lying or framing it another way (that is, lying about it), mythmaking that has gone on in history is mindboggling. We don't realize that we are polliwogs swimming in a sea of narratives. Inception, Contraction, Release, Relaxation--we are soothed by this rhythm, this is how things make sense, and we will find a narrative, build one up from nothing, from the barest of shadows of facts, to slake our thirst, we do this reflexively, as a community, with common consent. We must have answers and garbage in, garbage out.
How far back does this lie go? When did self-deception and groupthink become the common lot of humans? When did mankind "fall" from his primoridal behavior patterns so far, that lying became the only way to cope? Tracing this story, the story not of the origin of consciousness (I hypthesize that consciousness is innate in self-repicating negative entropic systems), but of the disease of consciousness, the disease we inherit in early childhood when we start to understand the contours of the thing that cannot be named, the thing we must skirt around. An analysis of the thing would reveal that it is extremely complex, but we have no idea about that, we do not think about it, we do not even acknowledge the thing's existence. It's there but we don't talk about it. How long has it been there?
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Origin of the Culture War
Thursday, February 14, 2008
2012--tick tick tick
Everyone by now has heard that the end of the world or some other catastrophe is scheduled for 2012, supposedly predicted by the Mayans whose calendar ends at the winter solstice. This sounds like one of those fun facts that don't really mean anything, and all the kooks running around blabbing about 2012 will start talking about aliens, or crystals, or Atlantis in the next breath. For those of us of a bit more rational frame of mind, the question is whether this date corresponds to anything in reality. It does.
The Winter Solstice (~21 December) 2012 is when the North Pole will be oriented farthest away from the Galactic Center (GC) in its 26,000 year wobble. The Galactic Center is important in Ancient mythology. It is not marked by a star, but is instead the intersection of two imagined lines in the constellation Sagittarius. It is easily spotted however. Scorpios's stinger and Sagittarius' arrow point toward it. Even Santa's Sleigh points toward it.
The two imaginary lines are the equator of the solar system (ecliptic) and the equator of the galaxy. These meet near the GC, in the densest (whitest and widest) part of the Milky Way. The GC itself is as turbulent as the heart of the sun, and its nature is of current interest to astrophysicists and astrologers. As the earth slowly wobbles on its axis, the orientation of the earth and the galaxy goes through four positions (when the earth's equatorial line (the meridian) crosses the intersection of the ecliptic and Milky Way.
These four positions are the key to understanding the deepest layers of mythology as I described in an earlier post. This wobble (technically called precession of the equinoxes), along with other orbital factors, drives long climate change, certainly a hot topic today.
Personally, I find it interesting that the four phases correspond with major shifts in climate: the glacial maximum, the melting of the ice caps, the younger dryas episode, and the desertification of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These events happened about 6000 years apart. Now we are observing rapid climate change as we approach the 2012 event. Astronomy and climate, we have only recently come to fully appreciate, are deeply intertwined.
The Winter Solstice (~21 December) 2012 is when the North Pole will be oriented farthest away from the Galactic Center (GC) in its 26,000 year wobble. The Galactic Center is important in Ancient mythology. It is not marked by a star, but is instead the intersection of two imagined lines in the constellation Sagittarius. It is easily spotted however. Scorpios's stinger and Sagittarius' arrow point toward it. Even Santa's Sleigh points toward it.
The two imaginary lines are the equator of the solar system (ecliptic) and the equator of the galaxy. These meet near the GC, in the densest (whitest and widest) part of the Milky Way. The GC itself is as turbulent as the heart of the sun, and its nature is of current interest to astrophysicists and astrologers. As the earth slowly wobbles on its axis, the orientation of the earth and the galaxy goes through four positions (when the earth's equatorial line (the meridian) crosses the intersection of the ecliptic and Milky Way.
These four positions are the key to understanding the deepest layers of mythology as I described in an earlier post. This wobble (technically called precession of the equinoxes), along with other orbital factors, drives long climate change, certainly a hot topic today.
Personally, I find it interesting that the four phases correspond with major shifts in climate: the glacial maximum, the melting of the ice caps, the younger dryas episode, and the desertification of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These events happened about 6000 years apart. Now we are observing rapid climate change as we approach the 2012 event. Astronomy and climate, we have only recently come to fully appreciate, are deeply intertwined.
Howling Again
The earliest known recording of Allen Ginsberg reading Howl from February 1956 was found at Reed College and is available for listening, together with other poems from that night.
Oh No, the Millenials are Coming
Fascinating study by Rutgers sociology professor, Ted Goertzel, of various theories of how generations change. I was first introduced to these ideas in the book Generations (1992) by William Strauss and Neil Howe. (I was a little disturbed to find that they had moved on from this book to do market research on the so-called Millenial generation [1984--?] for the Army.) At the time, I noticed that their scheme of four generations matched the four basic temperament types Prophets = Idealists (NF), Nomads = Rationals (NT), Heroes = Artisans (SP), Artist = Guardians (SJ).
All of these ideas ultimately go back to the Ancient concept of the four elements. Having a preponderance of one of the elements in your natal chart was supposed to give you those qualities. There is something about four, two squared, the first nonprime number, the number of sides to a square, the four directions of the compass, that makes the human brain want to divide things evenly--divide by two and by two again and you have an adequate number of concepts. We love to makes fours.
My playful attempt to tie all of this together:
Fire=SP Artisans=Heroes
Earth=SJ Guardians=Artist
Air=NT Rationals=Nomads
Water=NF Idealists=Prophets
All of these ideas ultimately go back to the Ancient concept of the four elements. Having a preponderance of one of the elements in your natal chart was supposed to give you those qualities. There is something about four, two squared, the first nonprime number, the number of sides to a square, the four directions of the compass, that makes the human brain want to divide things evenly--divide by two and by two again and you have an adequate number of concepts. We love to makes fours.
My playful attempt to tie all of this together:
Fire=SP Artisans=Heroes
Earth=SJ Guardians=Artist
Air=NT Rationals=Nomads
Water=NF Idealists=Prophets
The Ancients based geography on astronomy
This series of somewhat technical articles reveals how the ancients, applying microcosmic theory (as above, so below) based their geography on astronomy. They believed that at death one could join the ancestors by taking a ride on the Nile at Abydos, where the Nile briefly makes a westward turn. They believed in the correspondance of the milky way and the Nile to the point that as the sky changed, they believed the course of the Nile changed. Things were lined up perfectly when the Nile, they believed, flowed west to east. This was 9000 years before Plato (the time of Atlantis). The author connects legend of the Fall, Atlantis, and the Garden of Eden to astronomical events, particularly the precessional shift at the beginning of the Age of Leo.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Interview with Carter Mead
Collective Electrodynamics by Carter Mead lays out an approach to physics based on waves rather than the weird wave/particles of Quantum theory. Einstein thought the quantum crowd were nuts. Einstein may win the day.
Location of the Biblical Eden
Genesis begins with farming. The consequence of Adam's sin was that he became a farmer. Cain was rejected because he was a farmer and his descendants go on to develop civilization. The followers of God continue as shepherds. Eden is at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates. Considering these facts, it is clear that Eden is in the core area identified on this map.
Notice the location of Gobekli Tepe, the world's oldest known temple, which was buried by human hands. Now there's a mystery.
Notice the location of Gobekli Tepe, the world's oldest known temple, which was buried by human hands. Now there's a mystery.
Santa's "North Pole" is the Galactic Center.
This page on the origins of Santa illustrates many correspondances between Christian symbols and astronomical phenomena. Fascinating. Santa's sleigh is driving straight to the Galactic Center. Much good material here for anyone interested in the astronomical origins of ancient symbols.
Thoughts
Mankind created the space for objective thought in the middle ages, but objectivity only created another mythology. Mankind can't escape its house of mirrors.
The fundamental error of modern thought is to regard the world as dead and unconscious.
The fundamental error of modern thought is to regard the world as dead and unconscious.
The Garden of Eden
Reading Genesis we get the picture of what happened. This is our cultural memory of the climactically tumultuous period from 16000BC to 1000BC. Cultures the world over have similar accounts. Over and over, humans would survive a massive wipeout, piece their culture back together, reach stasis with the environment, and then suffer another massive wipeout. Legends and myths of these times are everywhere. Sudden climate change, loss of garden, beginning of farming and metallurgy. Mankind no longer lived in harmony with the environment; he now began to seriously alter the ecology, often damaging it irreparably.
The natural state of humans is coherent, harmonious, conservationist. Originally, we were part of a specific ecological system, with which we evolved. This system was located on the shores of the Indian Ocean, particularly in the river systems of Ethiopia. Our niche was the littoral, especially rich delta systems. The earth has long tides with sea levels rising and lowering by several hundred feet. It was in this rhythm, occasioned by increasing flooding, that we learned to walk upright and lost our hair. Odd factoids are traces of our aquaman phase, such as the ease of underwater birthing, the natural ability of babies to swim, and the buoyancy of female breasts, all the better to feed that swimming baby. Our Pan cousins stayed on land, we took to the seas.
We were smart and we learned how to extract the most food out of this environment with the least energy. We declared eternal war on our predators, an event we can celebrate when there are no more wild big cats. They were our first enemies and we incorporated them into ourselves. We became predators of ourselves.
As the human knowledge database increased the methods humans used to extract the most food had to be taught. Tools were made. Increasingly sophisticated observation of tides, weather patterns, and seasons as they relate to food supply could no longer be known by a single person, for the more efficient exploitation of the food supply required an a huge toolbag of knowledge. The knowledge had to be distributed. At first, using natural patterns, it was encoded in song and dance. Language built on earlier sign languages and simple vocalizations. These wrapped the individual into the community, defined his role, gave him the knowledge to perform it. By doing so, the community would live in harmony with the ecosystem, performing the useful function of moving seeds around, creating gardens, and burning underbrush to allow free movement of game, creating parks. Humanity, living in harmony with the earth, created the Garden of Eden, but to the first conscious humans it appeared miraculous.
The natural state of humans is coherent, harmonious, conservationist. Originally, we were part of a specific ecological system, with which we evolved. This system was located on the shores of the Indian Ocean, particularly in the river systems of Ethiopia. Our niche was the littoral, especially rich delta systems. The earth has long tides with sea levels rising and lowering by several hundred feet. It was in this rhythm, occasioned by increasing flooding, that we learned to walk upright and lost our hair. Odd factoids are traces of our aquaman phase, such as the ease of underwater birthing, the natural ability of babies to swim, and the buoyancy of female breasts, all the better to feed that swimming baby. Our Pan cousins stayed on land, we took to the seas.
We were smart and we learned how to extract the most food out of this environment with the least energy. We declared eternal war on our predators, an event we can celebrate when there are no more wild big cats. They were our first enemies and we incorporated them into ourselves. We became predators of ourselves.
As the human knowledge database increased the methods humans used to extract the most food had to be taught. Tools were made. Increasingly sophisticated observation of tides, weather patterns, and seasons as they relate to food supply could no longer be known by a single person, for the more efficient exploitation of the food supply required an a huge toolbag of knowledge. The knowledge had to be distributed. At first, using natural patterns, it was encoded in song and dance. Language built on earlier sign languages and simple vocalizations. These wrapped the individual into the community, defined his role, gave him the knowledge to perform it. By doing so, the community would live in harmony with the ecosystem, performing the useful function of moving seeds around, creating gardens, and burning underbrush to allow free movement of game, creating parks. Humanity, living in harmony with the earth, created the Garden of Eden, but to the first conscious humans it appeared miraculous.
Lavendar Elevator
Lavender Elevator
Tom Shaw
The vendor by the lavender elevator
Feeds us deviants better than the one
By the lavatory,
Muttered Grifter, prying the bins,
Bent rebar his lever.
Holy Lent, Yes! He riffed.
Feeding already,
Not batting an eye
At her bloody, beaten feet,
Of a lover's life past repenting,
Rape? Murder? Grifter
No longer loved, no longer learned,
Now when definite, he fed.
Liver, butter, lavender elevator.
Tom Shaw
The vendor by the lavender elevator
Feeds us deviants better than the one
By the lavatory,
Muttered Grifter, prying the bins,
Bent rebar his lever.
Holy Lent, Yes! He riffed.
Feeding already,
Not batting an eye
At her bloody, beaten feet,
Of a lover's life past repenting,
Rape? Murder? Grifter
No longer loved, no longer learned,
Now when definite, he fed.
Liver, butter, lavender elevator.
The Way of the Magi
The Way of the Magi, the methodology used to bring a person (and through him human society) into conscious harmony with the earth, leads to conscious awareness of the deep cycles and feedback systems of the environment. These are sensed at a very deep level of the self and require an epiphany, a “consciousness raising,” often as the result of long preparation and initiation. It is called the Way or Tao and those who practice it are the Magi or wizards, or Buddahs, or Saints. They are the enlightened. They are the holy. They are the wise.
The Way of the Magi has been practiced throughout the world since at least the Neolithic Revolution (the Fall). It has always had local popularized forms, allowing easy transmission of the message to succeeding generations. Before the Fall, children who excelled in symbol manipulation (anciently accomplished through the integrated curriculum of spontaneous composition and singing of complex songs accompanied by dance or drumming, in other words, children talented in music, dance, and poetry) were initiated at puberty into the Magi. The methods of the Magi brought order to the human realm.
During fifteen thousand years of succeeding ecological catastrophes (15000 BC to 1000 BC), telescoped now into a single myth—Noah’s flood--the methods and secrets of the Magi were lost and found again many times. The Magi were secreted among those who move from place to place; more aspects of nomadic Paleolithic life were preserved among pastoralists, traders, and healers. Zoroaster, the first prophet, was a Magi. He sought to stop conflict among pastoralists and promoted agriculture.
Civilization began as when humans were no longer be bound by the ancient laws, but instead, for each to follow his own good. This was caused by the surfeit of wealth brought on by agriculture, which had been promoted by Zoroaster as a method to stop cattle raiding; an analogous situation happened in the American West. Greed led to the exploitation of the ancient mysteries to control human behavior by usurpers, first on horseback, then by chariot. Class and caste systems were created. These ancient methods of societal control by symbol manipulation are known to us as the world religions. They have each aligned themselves with the power center of their civilization, which, by definition, is built on subjugation and slavery. Each religion, though, began as a revolt against a previous religion. It is only in this revolutionary moment that we can distinguish the Magi in history. Otherwise, they are silently wait until the end of the age, spreading the ancient ideas of compassion, peace, love, and forgiveness.
It is the study of this incipient moment, repeated again and again throughout recorded history, that we can once again here the echoes of our ancestor’s timeless harmony with the earth. We can still hear them singing at the heart of all the world’s religions.
This is not the dominant story of religion, however. Religion serves civilization and thus it serves slavery and exploitation (until the present, necessary aspects of civilization). The Magi have little interest in fighting elites, but, when the time is right, they (together with countless impostors) emerge and lead mankind into a new age.
The Way of the Magi has been practiced throughout the world since at least the Neolithic Revolution (the Fall). It has always had local popularized forms, allowing easy transmission of the message to succeeding generations. Before the Fall, children who excelled in symbol manipulation (anciently accomplished through the integrated curriculum of spontaneous composition and singing of complex songs accompanied by dance or drumming, in other words, children talented in music, dance, and poetry) were initiated at puberty into the Magi. The methods of the Magi brought order to the human realm.
During fifteen thousand years of succeeding ecological catastrophes (15000 BC to 1000 BC), telescoped now into a single myth—Noah’s flood--the methods and secrets of the Magi were lost and found again many times. The Magi were secreted among those who move from place to place; more aspects of nomadic Paleolithic life were preserved among pastoralists, traders, and healers. Zoroaster, the first prophet, was a Magi. He sought to stop conflict among pastoralists and promoted agriculture.
Civilization began as when humans were no longer be bound by the ancient laws, but instead, for each to follow his own good. This was caused by the surfeit of wealth brought on by agriculture, which had been promoted by Zoroaster as a method to stop cattle raiding; an analogous situation happened in the American West. Greed led to the exploitation of the ancient mysteries to control human behavior by usurpers, first on horseback, then by chariot. Class and caste systems were created. These ancient methods of societal control by symbol manipulation are known to us as the world religions. They have each aligned themselves with the power center of their civilization, which, by definition, is built on subjugation and slavery. Each religion, though, began as a revolt against a previous religion. It is only in this revolutionary moment that we can distinguish the Magi in history. Otherwise, they are silently wait until the end of the age, spreading the ancient ideas of compassion, peace, love, and forgiveness.
It is the study of this incipient moment, repeated again and again throughout recorded history, that we can once again here the echoes of our ancestor’s timeless harmony with the earth. We can still hear them singing at the heart of all the world’s religions.
This is not the dominant story of religion, however. Religion serves civilization and thus it serves slavery and exploitation (until the present, necessary aspects of civilization). The Magi have little interest in fighting elites, but, when the time is right, they (together with countless impostors) emerge and lead mankind into a new age.
The Secret (again)
Whoever you are reading this at this moment, you were not brought here to read these words accidentally. You looked for them. The person you are now drew the events of the past toward this moment. You created a story with you as its chief character, its hero, whose task was to discover the secret and that story brought you to this place.
Causation runs in both directions through time. A future event may cause a prior event, just as you now created the story that brought you to this moment.
Human beings are the product of concentric circles of powerful stories. These stories were here before us and will live on after us. The stories about gods are the ultimate gods.
You only thought you created this story that brought you to this point. Actually, this is a milestone laid down by a future event. Look for that event.
The future event is the time when you will know the secret.
The time when you will know the secret is the time when you know that up until now you have been a mere character in countless storylines, including the one you got for yourself in childhood. Even the dearest things to you are parts of storylines that somehow resonated deeply in you.
The way out is in the things that resonate. These marks the Way. You will have to shed many dear parts, this is the Sacrifice. Your future self is structuring your life to ensure you know what you need to know to reach his/her point: a point when you can manipulate past events. You can be confident because you have already won!
Storylines can be understood as processes. The description of a process is the human way of explaining reality through storytelling.
Storylines and processes make sense, b logically follows a, but this is confused because some storylines, processes are running backwards and stories can conflict, often harshly.
The physical world is real but is run according to various storylines (processes) which are governed by laws. Causation in the physical world runs forward and backwards.
The processes and their laws form a self contained world.
The secret is that process and law are one and the one is nothing, it lacks semantic meaning.
The moral consequence is that everything is permitted (the law is overcome): you have the power to manipulate processes and be whatever character in whatever storyline you can produce from your environment, but you will be only hurting yourself if you hurt others, because you are the watcher.
The watcher dwells in the nothing.
To perpetuate the secret you must recreate the conditions that lead to knowing the secret in others.
If you still don't know the secret, study more.
Causation runs in both directions through time. A future event may cause a prior event, just as you now created the story that brought you to this moment.
Human beings are the product of concentric circles of powerful stories. These stories were here before us and will live on after us. The stories about gods are the ultimate gods.
You only thought you created this story that brought you to this point. Actually, this is a milestone laid down by a future event. Look for that event.
The future event is the time when you will know the secret.
The time when you will know the secret is the time when you know that up until now you have been a mere character in countless storylines, including the one you got for yourself in childhood. Even the dearest things to you are parts of storylines that somehow resonated deeply in you.
The way out is in the things that resonate. These marks the Way. You will have to shed many dear parts, this is the Sacrifice. Your future self is structuring your life to ensure you know what you need to know to reach his/her point: a point when you can manipulate past events. You can be confident because you have already won!
Storylines can be understood as processes. The description of a process is the human way of explaining reality through storytelling.
Storylines and processes make sense, b logically follows a, but this is confused because some storylines, processes are running backwards and stories can conflict, often harshly.
The physical world is real but is run according to various storylines (processes) which are governed by laws. Causation in the physical world runs forward and backwards.
The processes and their laws form a self contained world.
The secret is that process and law are one and the one is nothing, it lacks semantic meaning.
The moral consequence is that everything is permitted (the law is overcome): you have the power to manipulate processes and be whatever character in whatever storyline you can produce from your environment, but you will be only hurting yourself if you hurt others, because you are the watcher.
The watcher dwells in the nothing.
To perpetuate the secret you must recreate the conditions that lead to knowing the secret in others.
If you still don't know the secret, study more.
99 Theses--Michael McClure
Why has it taken me so long to catch up with Michael McClure? When this poem was written I was a senior in high school planning my escape from home by enrolling in BYU. Knowing my parents would not finance me to go to college away from home except by going to BYU, I was trapped. Still, by June I had left home for a long, long journey.
From September Blackberries (1974)
99 THESES
1. MAN IS A CARNIVORE EXPERIENCING HIMSELF.
2. MAN IS A MAMMAL.
3. THE UNIVERSE IS THE MESSIAH.
4. THE CREATURE IS ONE BEING.
5. ONE BEING IS POLYTHEISM.
6. THE 27 SENSES ARE EXTRUSIONS OF MESSIAH.
7. THE SENSES ARE GODS AND GODDESSES.
8. THE MAMMAL & THE STAR ARE EQUAL.
9. THE STARS ARE A GAS.
10. THE GALAXIES ARE A LIQUID.
11. ALL LIFE IS A MEAT SCULPTURE FREED OF TIME, SPACE & DIMENSION.
12. THIS SOCIETY IS A CAGE FOR THE MAMMAL.
13. ALL CREATURES OF WING, FIN, FUR, TENTACLE, PROTOPLASM -- ARE EQUAL.
14. THE PANDA IS A PEACOCK.
15. MAN IS A PANDA.
16. THE SALMON IS A MAN.
17. THE WOLF SINGS.
18. CARBON, HYDROGEN, NITROGEN, OXYGEN, SULFUR.
19. THE STAR IS A SUN.
20. CHILDREN ARE FREE.
21. THE BODY IS A CHILD.
22. THEISM REJECTS THE MESSIAH.
23. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BODY IS PURE SPIRIT.
24. EACH SELF IS MANY SELVES.
25. THE INVISIBLE EXTENSIONS OUTWARD ARE AS COMPLEX AS THE VISIBLE EXTENSIONS INWARD.
26. THE SENSORIUM, MEMORIES, AND GENES -- ARE CONSTELLATIONS.
27. ALL CONSTELLATIONS ARE ONE CONSTELLATION.
28. LIFE SURGES.
29. EXTINCTION IS AN APPEARANCE.
30. THE SNOW LEOPARD IS A WORM ELF.
31. EARTH IS A SNOW LEOPARD.
32. LIFE IS TOPOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY.
33. WEALTH IS ENERGY.
34. ELECTRONICS DEVOLVE FROM THIS STAR.
35. THERE IS NOT INTELLIGENCE BUT INTELLIGENCES.
36. CRUELTY, TORTURE, SELFISHNESS, VANITY ARE BORING.
37. EACH MAMMAL DESERVES.
38. THE SLOTH AND THE EAGLE ARE EQUAL -- MEN ARE EQUAL IN THE SAME WAY.
39. THERE ARE, AND ARE NOT, MOLECULES AND ATOMS.
40. ONLY THE SELVES CAN DOMESTICATE THE SELF-DOMESTICATED.
41. MAN AND THE DOG ARE SELF-DOMESTICATED.
42. MEN FEED WILD MUSTANGS TO DOGS, AND WHALES TO CATS.
43. THE SEA URCHIN IS A GREAT PHILOSOPHER.
44. PLATO EQUALS CHARLIE CHAPLIN -- JESUS IS ANACREON.
45. MONEY IS FUNNY.
46. THE DOLLAR IS A COLLAR.
47. CLOVER IS A CREATURE.
48. THERE IS ENOUGH WATER FOR ALL WHO SHOULD BE.
49. EVERYTHING IS NATURAL.
50. REASON IS BEAUTY.
51. MEAT IS THOUGHT.
52. THE GREEKS WERE THE LAST TO DEIFY THE SENSES.
53. MONOTONY IS MADNESS.
54. THE FRONTIER IS OUTSIDE.
55. THE FRONTIER IS INSIDE.
56. LIFE BEGINS WITH COILING-MOLECULES & NEBULAE.
57. RELIGION, MATERIALISM, POLITICS, PROGRESS, TECHNOLOGY-ARE EVANGELISMS.
58. EVANGELISMS ARE PROLIFERATIONS OF MONOTONY.
59. REVOLUTION IS SENTIMENT.
60. REVOLT IS BIOLOGICAL.
61. THE LIGHT ON YOUR FINGERTIPS IS STARLIGHT.
62. PROPORTION AS MEASUREMENT IS FALSITY.
63. THE BLACK MAN IS NOT THE PINK MAN OR THE YELLOW -- THEY ARE MAMMALS. 64. DREAD THE POLITICO AND PREACHER WHO CAN DELINEATE A MESSIAH.
65. NATIONS ARE FALSE DIVISIONS OF CONTINENTS.
66. CITIES ARE SWIRLS OF POPULATION.
67. IT IS NATURAL TO DROWN IN CITIES -- IT IS NATURAL TO SWIM IN WAVES.
68. THERE IS ONE LANGUAGE -- GESTURE, VOICE AND VIBRATION OF BODY.
69. YOUTH IS CLUBBED WHEN IT RISES OR OPENS.
70. THE BODY IS ELF LAND.
71. THE CHILD IS A BEAST OF BURDEN -- HE IS USED FOR WAR.
72. LIFE IS NOT REST BUT ACTION.
73. LIGHT AND DARKNESS ARE ARBITRARY DIVISIONS.
74. THE FIST IS REAL -- THE MACHINE GUN, BOMB, NAPALM, ARE FANTASIES OF COMMUNICATION.
75. PROPAGANDA IS NARCOSIS.
76. POPULATION IS AN ADDICTION.
77. LOVE CAN ONLY BE MADE, OR INVENTED, WITH MEAT.
78. PRISONS AND COURTROOMS ARE MONOTONY.
79. WAR IS ONE COLOR.
80. THE PUSSY WILLOW, THE REDWOOD, THE BUTTERFLY -- ARE BLOSSOMS.
81. MADNESS IS TEMPORARY AND NATURAL.
82. WHERE THE BODY IS -- THERE ARE ALL THINGS.
83. SOUL IS BORING -- SPIRIT FLIES.
84. THE CRICKET IS A WARRIOR AND A GOD OF MUSIC.
85. THE FALCON IS A CLOSE AND TEMPORARY ACQUAINTANCE.
86. ANY SEXUAL GROUP IS APPARENTLY NATURAL.
87. CLEANLINESS IS UNDEFINABLE AND AS NATURAL AS FILTH.
88. DRUGS ARE BRIEF ALCHEMY.
89. MORALE IS VIGOR.
90. THE YOUNG CREATURE IS AGILE.
91. THE OLDER CREATURE IS STRONG.
92. WISDOM, MEMORY, IMAGINATION, ARE SENSORY -- CONSTELLATIONS OF INTELLECTIVE MEAT.
93. MODERATION DERIVES FROM MULTIPLICITY OF EXPERIENCE.
94. NOW SUCKS.
95. PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE AND DIMENSIONS ARE A FIELD FOR BALANCE.
96. LUCK IS A CREATION OF THE MEAT.
97. LUCK AND MEAT ARE DIVINE.
98. THE EYE AND TONGUE ARE A FIELD OF CREATURES.
99. MEAT' IS A MOVING CAVE IN THE SOLID AIR.
-Paris 1970
From September Blackberries (1974)
99 THESES
1. MAN IS A CARNIVORE EXPERIENCING HIMSELF.
2. MAN IS A MAMMAL.
3. THE UNIVERSE IS THE MESSIAH.
4. THE CREATURE IS ONE BEING.
5. ONE BEING IS POLYTHEISM.
6. THE 27 SENSES ARE EXTRUSIONS OF MESSIAH.
7. THE SENSES ARE GODS AND GODDESSES.
8. THE MAMMAL & THE STAR ARE EQUAL.
9. THE STARS ARE A GAS.
10. THE GALAXIES ARE A LIQUID.
11. ALL LIFE IS A MEAT SCULPTURE FREED OF TIME, SPACE & DIMENSION.
12. THIS SOCIETY IS A CAGE FOR THE MAMMAL.
13. ALL CREATURES OF WING, FIN, FUR, TENTACLE, PROTOPLASM -- ARE EQUAL.
14. THE PANDA IS A PEACOCK.
15. MAN IS A PANDA.
16. THE SALMON IS A MAN.
17. THE WOLF SINGS.
18. CARBON, HYDROGEN, NITROGEN, OXYGEN, SULFUR.
19. THE STAR IS A SUN.
20. CHILDREN ARE FREE.
21. THE BODY IS A CHILD.
22. THEISM REJECTS THE MESSIAH.
23. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BODY IS PURE SPIRIT.
24. EACH SELF IS MANY SELVES.
25. THE INVISIBLE EXTENSIONS OUTWARD ARE AS COMPLEX AS THE VISIBLE EXTENSIONS INWARD.
26. THE SENSORIUM, MEMORIES, AND GENES -- ARE CONSTELLATIONS.
27. ALL CONSTELLATIONS ARE ONE CONSTELLATION.
28. LIFE SURGES.
29. EXTINCTION IS AN APPEARANCE.
30. THE SNOW LEOPARD IS A WORM ELF.
31. EARTH IS A SNOW LEOPARD.
32. LIFE IS TOPOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY.
33. WEALTH IS ENERGY.
34. ELECTRONICS DEVOLVE FROM THIS STAR.
35. THERE IS NOT INTELLIGENCE BUT INTELLIGENCES.
36. CRUELTY, TORTURE, SELFISHNESS, VANITY ARE BORING.
37. EACH MAMMAL DESERVES.
38. THE SLOTH AND THE EAGLE ARE EQUAL -- MEN ARE EQUAL IN THE SAME WAY.
39. THERE ARE, AND ARE NOT, MOLECULES AND ATOMS.
40. ONLY THE SELVES CAN DOMESTICATE THE SELF-DOMESTICATED.
41. MAN AND THE DOG ARE SELF-DOMESTICATED.
42. MEN FEED WILD MUSTANGS TO DOGS, AND WHALES TO CATS.
43. THE SEA URCHIN IS A GREAT PHILOSOPHER.
44. PLATO EQUALS CHARLIE CHAPLIN -- JESUS IS ANACREON.
45. MONEY IS FUNNY.
46. THE DOLLAR IS A COLLAR.
47. CLOVER IS A CREATURE.
48. THERE IS ENOUGH WATER FOR ALL WHO SHOULD BE.
49. EVERYTHING IS NATURAL.
50. REASON IS BEAUTY.
51. MEAT IS THOUGHT.
52. THE GREEKS WERE THE LAST TO DEIFY THE SENSES.
53. MONOTONY IS MADNESS.
54. THE FRONTIER IS OUTSIDE.
55. THE FRONTIER IS INSIDE.
56. LIFE BEGINS WITH COILING-MOLECULES & NEBULAE.
57. RELIGION, MATERIALISM, POLITICS, PROGRESS, TECHNOLOGY-ARE EVANGELISMS.
58. EVANGELISMS ARE PROLIFERATIONS OF MONOTONY.
59. REVOLUTION IS SENTIMENT.
60. REVOLT IS BIOLOGICAL.
61. THE LIGHT ON YOUR FINGERTIPS IS STARLIGHT.
62. PROPORTION AS MEASUREMENT IS FALSITY.
63. THE BLACK MAN IS NOT THE PINK MAN OR THE YELLOW -- THEY ARE MAMMALS. 64. DREAD THE POLITICO AND PREACHER WHO CAN DELINEATE A MESSIAH.
65. NATIONS ARE FALSE DIVISIONS OF CONTINENTS.
66. CITIES ARE SWIRLS OF POPULATION.
67. IT IS NATURAL TO DROWN IN CITIES -- IT IS NATURAL TO SWIM IN WAVES.
68. THERE IS ONE LANGUAGE -- GESTURE, VOICE AND VIBRATION OF BODY.
69. YOUTH IS CLUBBED WHEN IT RISES OR OPENS.
70. THE BODY IS ELF LAND.
71. THE CHILD IS A BEAST OF BURDEN -- HE IS USED FOR WAR.
72. LIFE IS NOT REST BUT ACTION.
73. LIGHT AND DARKNESS ARE ARBITRARY DIVISIONS.
74. THE FIST IS REAL -- THE MACHINE GUN, BOMB, NAPALM, ARE FANTASIES OF COMMUNICATION.
75. PROPAGANDA IS NARCOSIS.
76. POPULATION IS AN ADDICTION.
77. LOVE CAN ONLY BE MADE, OR INVENTED, WITH MEAT.
78. PRISONS AND COURTROOMS ARE MONOTONY.
79. WAR IS ONE COLOR.
80. THE PUSSY WILLOW, THE REDWOOD, THE BUTTERFLY -- ARE BLOSSOMS.
81. MADNESS IS TEMPORARY AND NATURAL.
82. WHERE THE BODY IS -- THERE ARE ALL THINGS.
83. SOUL IS BORING -- SPIRIT FLIES.
84. THE CRICKET IS A WARRIOR AND A GOD OF MUSIC.
85. THE FALCON IS A CLOSE AND TEMPORARY ACQUAINTANCE.
86. ANY SEXUAL GROUP IS APPARENTLY NATURAL.
87. CLEANLINESS IS UNDEFINABLE AND AS NATURAL AS FILTH.
88. DRUGS ARE BRIEF ALCHEMY.
89. MORALE IS VIGOR.
90. THE YOUNG CREATURE IS AGILE.
91. THE OLDER CREATURE IS STRONG.
92. WISDOM, MEMORY, IMAGINATION, ARE SENSORY -- CONSTELLATIONS OF INTELLECTIVE MEAT.
93. MODERATION DERIVES FROM MULTIPLICITY OF EXPERIENCE.
94. NOW SUCKS.
95. PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE AND DIMENSIONS ARE A FIELD FOR BALANCE.
96. LUCK IS A CREATION OF THE MEAT.
97. LUCK AND MEAT ARE DIVINE.
98. THE EYE AND TONGUE ARE A FIELD OF CREATURES.
99. MEAT' IS A MOVING CAVE IN THE SOLID AIR.
-Paris 1970
Schuon and Orthodoxy
This article, written by an Orthodox, will help explain some things, especially the distinction between this point of view and the hated ecumenism. I'm sure you will find it interesting. I was led to Orthodoxy by the writings of Schuon. Schuon himself was a Sufi. In my view. sufiism is crypto-Christianity par excellence
As Schuon himself would point out, for the believer, understanding the transcendent unity of the various symbols under which the uncreated Logos has entered human culture only enhances our appreciation of the Divine Economy. Cutsinger takes a shortcut, though, when he appears to make Schuon hold that Mohammed is a god-man. Schuon's position, from what I recall, was that there is only one theanthropos. Indeed, only in one religion does this concept make sense. He sees the equivalence to the Incarnation, at least for Jews and Muslims, to be the Torah and the Koran. The Word becomes human words and by those words the Word enters the heart. Among key concepts of Schuon is the idea that any true religion must have at its center the Incarnation.
As Schuon himself would point out, for the believer, understanding the transcendent unity of the various symbols under which the uncreated Logos has entered human culture only enhances our appreciation of the Divine Economy. Cutsinger takes a shortcut, though, when he appears to make Schuon hold that Mohammed is a god-man. Schuon's position, from what I recall, was that there is only one theanthropos. Indeed, only in one religion does this concept make sense. He sees the equivalence to the Incarnation, at least for Jews and Muslims, to be the Torah and the Koran. The Word becomes human words and by those words the Word enters the heart. Among key concepts of Schuon is the idea that any true religion must have at its center the Incarnation.
Who were the Magi
Approximately 20,000 years ago the ice sheets began to melt, changing the climate, opening up new land, and raising the sea level substantially. Human beings, still hunter gatherers with few tools, tended to stay along seashores or in savannahs where they could follow game. These areas were limited during the ice age. A large concentration of people were in Sundaland, now sunk beneath the South China Sea, which was a large forested alluvial plain. The languages and cultures of the Oikoumene, all have their origin in Sundaland. There was a single language spoken there and a single religion. Sea rises were not steady because these large inland lakes were holding the water and would occasionally dump huge amounts into the seas. One such event, the draining of the Great Lakes (then a single massive lake) through the St. Laurence channel, caused a localized ice age in Europe (the Younger Dryas) because it stopped the gulf stream. This happened about 12000 years ago and resulted in the sudden sinking of Sundaland and other coastal communities and islands.
From this Eden, came the Edens of the Bible, the Sumerian Eden near Dilmun now under the Persian Gulf , and Lake Van, the Eden of the Jews. Before either of these Edens, however, there was the Black Sea Eden, which developed a thriving civilization while it was a freshwater glacier lake, but around 12000 years ago the rivers began flowing north to the Baltic Sea and it began to dry while the oceans were rising.
One of the interesting things about current genetic studies in ancient populations is that people have not moved much since they dispersed across the planet following the melting of the glaciers. Most "invasions" it turns out have been cultural. A new ruling class moves in, changes the language and the religion, but the people remain the same. This is why the discovery of the incredible purity of the Jews, how they haven't intermixed with surrounding cultures, is particularly remarkable. Jews believe they are descendants of Abraham, as do many other ancient tribes along the Levantine mountains down the east coast of the Red Sea. I was taught that Abraham was from Ur that is near the Persian Gulf, but many cities were called Ur back then.
Tradition of the local people is that Abraham was from Edessa, now called Sanliurfa. The people in Sanliurfa are Kurds. The closest genetic relatives to the Jews are the Kurds. In fact, Kurds and Ashkenazi Jews are very similar while Kurdish Jews and Sephardic Jews are similar. The Kurds are the descendants of the ancient people who lived in Ararat (see the Ur there too) around Lake Van, as are the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis. The Khaldi and the Kardi were neighboring people from the Asia Minor Black Sea coast. They were the first ironworkers in the mountains. Chaldea is identified biblically with the Perisan Gulf. The Chaldeans and the Kurds were the people who lived in the Taurus and Zagros mountain ranges to the North of Mesopotamia. To ancient authors Chaldea refers to the lands north of the Taurus whereas in the Bible it often refers to Babylon under the Chaldean dynasty (Nebuchadnezzer's Babylon). The term "Ur of the Chaldees" refers to the more ancient usage.
Anatolia converted to Christianity en masse. Edessa, Armenia, Georgia all became Christian nations before anyone else. As if they were waiting for this event, which they were, as evidenced by the Magi. I believe Abraham was a missionary, moving to take back an ancient homeland of these people who first domesticated wheat, the dog, sheep and goats. This was the beginning of civilization (see Jericho 10000 years ago). Other people domesticated the cow and the pig.
The Kurds are interesting because it turns out they have a secret religion, passed down orally. This has some parallels with the Druze, as well, who pass their religion on through a select group. The Kurds have a policy of dissimulating about sacred matters. They believe that all religions derive from their own, so they have no problem adopting the religion of the ruling class and observing it as required. After they were forced to become Moslems, they developed their own form of Islam, Sufiism, which is really a kind of crypto-Christianity. Read Rumi, the Sufi poet, to see what I mean.
I believe the origin of the Torah is in the revelation to Isaiah. He saw what had happened to Israel (the Assyrians practiced brutal cultural genocide) and with the Babylonians at the gate, a decision was made to reveal the secret religion in a book and to have that book define the culture in such a way so that the people would never be lost as a people and thus the book would never be lost. The extreme emphasis on ritual and sexual purity accomplished this task. The people and the book are with us still. (The Torah, meant for a Semitic people, retold Semitic myths that originally had many gods doing different things by having one god do everything. In the Sumerian version of the flood, one god orders the flood while another warns the Noah type character).
Judaism was never a doctrinal monolith in biblical times. It had various oral traditions. Among these traditions were those of the Mandaeans, who still honor John the Baptist above Jesus. Jesus, from the hill country of Nazareth, represented a vibrant tradition in Judaism. Christianity, in a sense, was already on the scene when he arrived (not represented by the pharisees, however), but it moved from anticipation to fulfillment with His birth. I believe the star was Spica in the constellation Virgo, which rose directly east at sundown on the vernal equinox in the years around 1 BC.
The Magi were not Jews, they were not of "this fold", but Jesus has more than one fold. In the end, there will be one fold and one shepherd. In the end, words and ritual are symbols that, energized by faith, are part of a process to enlighten and re-create human beings by bringing them a direct experience of a higher reality. I am being deliberately vague to avoid using religious words.
The specific symbols of Christianity and its accompanying doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Two Natures are words that point to a reality that can only be directly experienced. For the rest of us, it is the Way to gain that experience, to be enlightened and deified. The other sheep hear the Lord's voice through other symbols, but its still His voice and no other. I find the same teachings and process, with a different set of symbols not only in Sufism where one would expect to find them, but also in Kaballah (which is so Christian in its thinking that scholars believe it borrowed from Christianity--I prefer a theory of common origin) and alchemy (both derived from ancient Egyptian religion--Judaism was infused throughout with Egyptian thought). The same teachings are in all the cultures derived from Sundaland, the Abrahamic religions, the Dharmic religions, Tengri, and American Indian religion. In opposition to the religion of Ur was the religion of darkness, which saw the divine as laws that could be manipulated for selfish human ends. True religion seeks to live in harmony with the creation. The desire to control and dominate leads to magic, human sacrifice, and technology. These major climactic changes appear to be tied to a ~6000 year cycle, a subcycle of the 24000 year precession of the equinoxes. The last cycle began ~4500 BC. The next one will begin on December 21, 2012. Looks like we're right on schedule with global warming.
From this Eden, came the Edens of the Bible, the Sumerian Eden near Dilmun now under the Persian Gulf , and Lake Van, the Eden of the Jews. Before either of these Edens, however, there was the Black Sea Eden, which developed a thriving civilization while it was a freshwater glacier lake, but around 12000 years ago the rivers began flowing north to the Baltic Sea and it began to dry while the oceans were rising.
One of the interesting things about current genetic studies in ancient populations is that people have not moved much since they dispersed across the planet following the melting of the glaciers. Most "invasions" it turns out have been cultural. A new ruling class moves in, changes the language and the religion, but the people remain the same. This is why the discovery of the incredible purity of the Jews, how they haven't intermixed with surrounding cultures, is particularly remarkable. Jews believe they are descendants of Abraham, as do many other ancient tribes along the Levantine mountains down the east coast of the Red Sea. I was taught that Abraham was from Ur that is near the Persian Gulf, but many cities were called Ur back then.
Tradition of the local people is that Abraham was from Edessa, now called Sanliurfa. The people in Sanliurfa are Kurds. The closest genetic relatives to the Jews are the Kurds. In fact, Kurds and Ashkenazi Jews are very similar while Kurdish Jews and Sephardic Jews are similar. The Kurds are the descendants of the ancient people who lived in Ararat (see the Ur there too) around Lake Van, as are the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis. The Khaldi and the Kardi were neighboring people from the Asia Minor Black Sea coast. They were the first ironworkers in the mountains. Chaldea is identified biblically with the Perisan Gulf. The Chaldeans and the Kurds were the people who lived in the Taurus and Zagros mountain ranges to the North of Mesopotamia. To ancient authors Chaldea refers to the lands north of the Taurus whereas in the Bible it often refers to Babylon under the Chaldean dynasty (Nebuchadnezzer's Babylon). The term "Ur of the Chaldees" refers to the more ancient usage.
Anatolia converted to Christianity en masse. Edessa, Armenia, Georgia all became Christian nations before anyone else. As if they were waiting for this event, which they were, as evidenced by the Magi. I believe Abraham was a missionary, moving to take back an ancient homeland of these people who first domesticated wheat, the dog, sheep and goats. This was the beginning of civilization (see Jericho 10000 years ago). Other people domesticated the cow and the pig.
The Kurds are interesting because it turns out they have a secret religion, passed down orally. This has some parallels with the Druze, as well, who pass their religion on through a select group. The Kurds have a policy of dissimulating about sacred matters. They believe that all religions derive from their own, so they have no problem adopting the religion of the ruling class and observing it as required. After they were forced to become Moslems, they developed their own form of Islam, Sufiism, which is really a kind of crypto-Christianity. Read Rumi, the Sufi poet, to see what I mean.
I believe the origin of the Torah is in the revelation to Isaiah. He saw what had happened to Israel (the Assyrians practiced brutal cultural genocide) and with the Babylonians at the gate, a decision was made to reveal the secret religion in a book and to have that book define the culture in such a way so that the people would never be lost as a people and thus the book would never be lost. The extreme emphasis on ritual and sexual purity accomplished this task. The people and the book are with us still. (The Torah, meant for a Semitic people, retold Semitic myths that originally had many gods doing different things by having one god do everything. In the Sumerian version of the flood, one god orders the flood while another warns the Noah type character).
Judaism was never a doctrinal monolith in biblical times. It had various oral traditions. Among these traditions were those of the Mandaeans, who still honor John the Baptist above Jesus. Jesus, from the hill country of Nazareth, represented a vibrant tradition in Judaism. Christianity, in a sense, was already on the scene when he arrived (not represented by the pharisees, however), but it moved from anticipation to fulfillment with His birth. I believe the star was Spica in the constellation Virgo, which rose directly east at sundown on the vernal equinox in the years around 1 BC.
The Magi were not Jews, they were not of "this fold", but Jesus has more than one fold. In the end, there will be one fold and one shepherd. In the end, words and ritual are symbols that, energized by faith, are part of a process to enlighten and re-create human beings by bringing them a direct experience of a higher reality. I am being deliberately vague to avoid using religious words.
The specific symbols of Christianity and its accompanying doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Two Natures are words that point to a reality that can only be directly experienced. For the rest of us, it is the Way to gain that experience, to be enlightened and deified. The other sheep hear the Lord's voice through other symbols, but its still His voice and no other. I find the same teachings and process, with a different set of symbols not only in Sufism where one would expect to find them, but also in Kaballah (which is so Christian in its thinking that scholars believe it borrowed from Christianity--I prefer a theory of common origin) and alchemy (both derived from ancient Egyptian religion--Judaism was infused throughout with Egyptian thought). The same teachings are in all the cultures derived from Sundaland, the Abrahamic religions, the Dharmic religions, Tengri, and American Indian religion. In opposition to the religion of Ur was the religion of darkness, which saw the divine as laws that could be manipulated for selfish human ends. True religion seeks to live in harmony with the creation. The desire to control and dominate leads to magic, human sacrifice, and technology. These major climactic changes appear to be tied to a ~6000 year cycle, a subcycle of the 24000 year precession of the equinoxes. The last cycle began ~4500 BC. The next one will begin on December 21, 2012. Looks like we're right on schedule with global warming.
Some theses
Tom: Thesis: the term god was first applied to actual phenomena
8:53 PM Thesis: consciousness arrived first as an epiphany
8:54 PM Thesis: the epiphany was the movement from analogical to metaphorical thought
Thesis: the first humans to have consciousness were women
8:55 PM Thesis: the first group act of consciousness was to metaphorically associate the moon with menses
8:59 PM Thesis: all present culture derives from the common culture of sundaland
9:01 PM thesis: traces of the common culture can best be understood through number theory, geometry, music, and theology
you there?
me: yup
9:02 PM waiting for the entire string of pearls ;)
Tom: thesis: the original culture of homo sapiens sapiens was matriarchal
9:03 PM thesis: the oldest purely human institution is the week
9:04 PM thesis: the yin/yang symbol derives from rhythm of the month
me: this is quite a lot to prove :-D
9:05 PM hmm the "week" as a generic term?
because there have been different lengths for the week
Tom: thesis: the week derives from the first seven days of the lunar month when women were in seclusion because of mense
I mean the 7 day week
originally it began with the new moon when women would start menstruating
9:06 PM and end at the waxing half moon
when men would set off to hunt
9:07 PM we see this rhythm still in the holy week/bright week rhythm of christianity
9:08 PM thesis: many myths can be understood by considering the night sky of 12000 years ago
9:09 PM thesis: the night sky was divided into two sections--the lands of the living and the dead/ divided by the bull and the eagle
9:11 PM thesis: the intertwining snakes around the pole of the cadeucus sp? is from this same time--the snakes are the milky way bands, the pole is the north point
me: caduceus
9:12 PM Tom : transposition
9:15 PM thesis: the most ancient religious custom after animal sacrifice is circumcision
thesis: circumcision's original purpose was to make a man have the power in the blood of a woman
9:16 PM thesis: the deepest layer of blood symbolism is menstrual blood
9:17 PM thesis: the original raising to consciousness was accomplished by initiation
9:18 PM thesis: the ancients had an advanced human culture adapted to their easy to live in ice age environment
thesis: this culture lacked all the hallmarks of civlization
9:19 PM no classes, no slavery, no monumental building
I was surprised to discover that class structure and slavery are essential components in the archaeological definition of civilization
9:20 PM so why are we always looking for ancient civilizations?
most of the evidence for life during the ice age has been lost by the 130 m sea rise of the last 24000 years
me: hmm
Tom: humans are best adapted to a tropical seashore culture
9:23 PM they moved along the seashores and would only move inland when the carrying capacity of the littoral was exceeded
The littoral during the ice age was an incredible wonderland--the exposed continental shelf was rich in potassium
9:24 PM the original flood of mythological fame was probably a flood of the Mekong river
me: hmm
why there?
9:25 PM Tom: http://personalpages.tds.net/~theseeker/Sunda.htm
9:26 PM this author connects sundaland to atlantic, mu and lemuria!!!
but the maps are correct
9:27 PM http://www.mevietnam.org/NguonGoc/nvt-nguongocdantoc.html
this map is better
9:29 PM sundaland remains the most important spot in the world for biological diversity
can you imagine what it was like with that huge exposed plain of potassium rich soil?
me: :-9
delicious
9:30 PM Tom: If you look at an iceage map of climate zones, you can see that sundaland had the largest mass of human friendly environment of any place on earth
even the amazon wasn't as rich then
and no humans had got there anyway
9:31 PM they were eaten durian by the bucketful!
me: mmm
Tom: and the fish!
9:32 PM you could laze around and pick from fruit right by your camp
since you had spit out all the seeds nearby
hehe
9:33 PM the last nub of sundaland is the mekong delta
now it's all cultivated, but imagine it wild, wow!
9:34 PM of course, the carrying capacity of land, even there, was much smaller than after the introduction of farming
in Cambodia there's an ancient kind of rice that just floats on the lake
me: hehe
9:35 PM Tom: huntergatherers ate grains and legume but did not plant them
why bother?
they had plenty of time to gaze at the night sky and contemplate things
9:36 PM the original use of mathematics was navigation
these people were much handier with a dugout than we give them credit
they were better at everything than we give them credit
9:37 PM they simply had not invented writing--they had poetic songs to remember common knowledge
me: :)
Tom: their synthetic languages were more complex than ours
as anyone knows who has tried to learn ancient languages--and these were already quite corrupted
9:38 PM me : yes
Tom : chinese is the furthest extreme in the opposite direction
the first language was sign
me: most people forget how brilliant ancient humans were
Tom: the first ritual was dance
9:39 PM even today on the Eve of the Sabbath, the candles are lit only by women, who cover their eyes to remember emerging from the tent
9:40 PM cover their eyes while lighting so they see the first light of the sabbath
the sabbath is the day that women and men came back together
the ice age had a lot of very dangerous predators around
9:41 PM so the women had to consciously synchronize their periods and make them men stay outside to guard them
originally homo women were much smaller than men
9:42 PM in primates the relationship of size of women to men is dependent on their mating practices
9:43 PM me : hmm
Tom : originally it appears men did have sex with many women, but when human-directed culture began it was to control the balance of male/female relations
9:44 PM
females needed food and care--sex was self-consciously parsed out
me: so what doesthe size diff indicate?
btw I did my first juice spill on my computer but it lived
but some of my keys aren't quite perfect :)
Tom: geez
9:46 PM the more females males have access to the smaller the females
the general rule
9:49 PM from wikipedia: Species with the highest sexual dimorphism, such as the pheasant, tend to be those species in which the care and raising of offspring is done only by the mother, with no involvement of the father (low degree of paternal investment). This would also explain the low degree of sexual dimorphism in humans, who have a high degree of paternal investment compared to most other mammals. Older texts sometimes claim that humans have a high degree of sexual dimorphism, but closer study has shown that this is not the case (Brin, 2004).
me: parasitic males :-9
9:50 PM Tom : the neolithic revolution was born in Jericho--a land of incredible richness at the time
9:55 PM Tom: Canaan was a "land flowing with milk and honey"
9:57 PM my guess is that by the time of first dispersal out of sundaland humans had already developed a three step initiation system
corresponding to the polar axis, the ecliptic axis, and the galactic center
9:58 PM the original "heaven" was accessed by the Milky Way
one tests these ideas by looking at the americas
10:00 PM for instance, the Maya have only one constellation they call by the same name (in the zodiac at least) scorpio
scorpio is the constellation of the galactic center
Tom: when the males took over following the massive climatological and ecological disruptions at the end of the 4000 years of great weather, civilization and literalism developed
10:04 PM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_Climatic_Optimum
10:05 PM http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/seminars/980217DD.html
10:06 PM
Tom: my concern is climactic tipping points
10:08 PM that cause rapid (with decades) and dramatic climate shifts
our modeling seem to assume uniformitarianism, but now we know that's not how it works
10:10 PM the precession cycle appears to bring about sudden climactic shifts when the galactic center rises at one of the solstices and lesser shifts at the equinoxes
just 5 years to go!
10:11 PM the end of the ice age happened last time GC rose on a solstice
me: 2012 :-D
10:12 PM Tom: the end of the climactic optimum happened when the GC rose at the equinox
stated another way these events occur when perihelion is reached on a cardinal point
perihelion is opposite GC
10:13 PM GC pulls earth's orbit out of round
10:16 PM North Africa was a great place to live during the climactic optimum, as were the great lakes created by melting glaciers--after the forest moved in
10:17 PM there appears to be a single world culture that moved through these melting lakes and in the mediterranean--the soultrean culture of the famous cave paintings--these people even made it to america to create the clovis culture
10:18 PM this is shown by mitochondrial dna haplogroup
x
10:19 PM Tom: round temples equals moon god creator
rectangular temples equals sun god creator
10:20 PM moon god creator is original--the moon is the source of consciousness--of the soul
10:21 PM temple builders had very specialized mathematical knowledge based on harmonics, pi, and phi
10:22 PM the oldest temple builders were in Anatolia
10:23 PM physicians also relied on similar knowledge
in Greece, for instance, physicians came from "Asia" ie Anatolia
10:24 PM this is where wheat, barley, sheep, and goats were domesticated
the chinese domesticated the pig
there's a lot
Tom: of stuff I know about these things
10:26 PM Tom : gods became abstract personalities separate from natural phenomena with the neolithic revolution
10:27 PM
originally the highest gods were the unsetting stars, but then it was discovered they originally set, so the highest god became a theoretical point--the intersection of the galactic equator with the earth's equator
this point NEVER changes
the gravitational pull of the GC determines that
10:28 PM the GC is a black hole but it is now known every galaxy has a black hole and that these black holes actually gave birth to the stars
after the galaxy is formed they become stable
10:29 PM reminds me of Shiva
which is GC IMHO--Shakti is GC opposite in Taurus
10:30 PM shiva worship represents the most direct line back to sundaland ideas
as does tantra (the broad initiatory practice--not the more limited sexual practice
10:32 PM the temple builders of Anatolia are behind Sumerian, Egyptian, and Judaic thought
me: yes
10:33 PM Tom : these are the two main sources for religious ideas in eurasia
10:34 PM the egyptians show how literalism went crazy with the ridiculously elaborate burial procedures--at incredible human cost
but it's all quite beautiful at least
most hunter gatherer populations in the world today are regressed agriculturalists
10:35 PM descended from agriculturalists
me: that popped out for me
egyptians going crazy with literalism
just as stories being based on stars popped out for me
Tom: popped out?
me: popped out as a really good story :-D
10:38 PM Tom : the post climatic optimum has been punctuated by a series of sudden climactic shifts as well as more localized disasters such as floods, famine, and pestilence
Tom: it all makes interlocking sense but it's a radically different picture than what we were taught
10:41 PM me: yes
10:42 PM Tom: I've been working on a thesis about the difference between the "gods" tied to natural phenomena and GOD a purely abstract but highly complex idea that rejects the "gods"
me: yes?
10:43 PM Tom : to know GOD is the third step of initiation--GOD is what you come to know when you go through the third step
10:45 PM in other words, whatever term you use to describe the experience of the third step, GOD or nirvana, for instance, are all referents to the same experience
10:46 PM theological and philosophical ideas are only valid if they lead to this experience--otherwise its sophistry
I learned that in Theological School
me: :-D
10:47 PM Tom: this is the Way (the original name of Christianity), the Tao
when the initiatory aspect is removed, you get religion as we know it
10:48 PM christianity in the beginning, for instance, denied it was a threskeia
religion
10:49 PM religion were the stupid things the pagans did
10:50 PM christianity succeeded converting the entire silk road because it stopped the madness and every culture had predicted it
10:51 PM they all expected the arrival of a new figure to usher in the new age of pisces
8:53 PM Thesis: consciousness arrived first as an epiphany
8:54 PM Thesis: the epiphany was the movement from analogical to metaphorical thought
Thesis: the first humans to have consciousness were women
8:55 PM Thesis: the first group act of consciousness was to metaphorically associate the moon with menses
8:59 PM Thesis: all present culture derives from the common culture of sundaland
9:01 PM thesis: traces of the common culture can best be understood through number theory, geometry, music, and theology
you there?
me: yup
9:02 PM waiting for the entire string of pearls ;)
Tom: thesis: the original culture of homo sapiens sapiens was matriarchal
9:03 PM thesis: the oldest purely human institution is the week
9:04 PM thesis: the yin/yang symbol derives from rhythm of the month
me: this is quite a lot to prove :-D
9:05 PM hmm the "week" as a generic term?
because there have been different lengths for the week
Tom: thesis: the week derives from the first seven days of the lunar month when women were in seclusion because of mense
I mean the 7 day week
originally it began with the new moon when women would start menstruating
9:06 PM and end at the waxing half moon
when men would set off to hunt
9:07 PM we see this rhythm still in the holy week/bright week rhythm of christianity
9:08 PM thesis: many myths can be understood by considering the night sky of 12000 years ago
9:09 PM thesis: the night sky was divided into two sections--the lands of the living and the dead/ divided by the bull and the eagle
9:11 PM thesis: the intertwining snakes around the pole of the cadeucus sp? is from this same time--the snakes are the milky way bands, the pole is the north point
me: caduceus
9:12 PM Tom : transposition
9:15 PM thesis: the most ancient religious custom after animal sacrifice is circumcision
thesis: circumcision's original purpose was to make a man have the power in the blood of a woman
9:16 PM thesis: the deepest layer of blood symbolism is menstrual blood
9:17 PM thesis: the original raising to consciousness was accomplished by initiation
9:18 PM thesis: the ancients had an advanced human culture adapted to their easy to live in ice age environment
thesis: this culture lacked all the hallmarks of civlization
9:19 PM no classes, no slavery, no monumental building
I was surprised to discover that class structure and slavery are essential components in the archaeological definition of civilization
9:20 PM so why are we always looking for ancient civilizations?
most of the evidence for life during the ice age has been lost by the 130 m sea rise of the last 24000 years
me: hmm
Tom: humans are best adapted to a tropical seashore culture
9:23 PM they moved along the seashores and would only move inland when the carrying capacity of the littoral was exceeded
The littoral during the ice age was an incredible wonderland--the exposed continental shelf was rich in potassium
9:24 PM the original flood of mythological fame was probably a flood of the Mekong river
me: hmm
why there?
9:25 PM Tom: http://personalpages.tds.net/~theseeker/Sunda.htm
9:26 PM this author connects sundaland to atlantic, mu and lemuria!!!
but the maps are correct
9:27 PM http://www.mevietnam.org/NguonGoc/nvt-nguongocdantoc.html
this map is better
9:29 PM sundaland remains the most important spot in the world for biological diversity
can you imagine what it was like with that huge exposed plain of potassium rich soil?
me: :-9
delicious
9:30 PM Tom: If you look at an iceage map of climate zones, you can see that sundaland had the largest mass of human friendly environment of any place on earth
even the amazon wasn't as rich then
and no humans had got there anyway
9:31 PM they were eaten durian by the bucketful!
me: mmm
Tom: and the fish!
9:32 PM you could laze around and pick from fruit right by your camp
since you had spit out all the seeds nearby
hehe
9:33 PM the last nub of sundaland is the mekong delta
now it's all cultivated, but imagine it wild, wow!
9:34 PM of course, the carrying capacity of land, even there, was much smaller than after the introduction of farming
in Cambodia there's an ancient kind of rice that just floats on the lake
me: hehe
9:35 PM Tom: huntergatherers ate grains and legume but did not plant them
why bother?
they had plenty of time to gaze at the night sky and contemplate things
9:36 PM the original use of mathematics was navigation
these people were much handier with a dugout than we give them credit
they were better at everything than we give them credit
9:37 PM they simply had not invented writing--they had poetic songs to remember common knowledge
me: :)
Tom: their synthetic languages were more complex than ours
as anyone knows who has tried to learn ancient languages--and these were already quite corrupted
9:38 PM me : yes
Tom : chinese is the furthest extreme in the opposite direction
the first language was sign
me: most people forget how brilliant ancient humans were
Tom: the first ritual was dance
9:39 PM even today on the Eve of the Sabbath, the candles are lit only by women, who cover their eyes to remember emerging from the tent
9:40 PM cover their eyes while lighting so they see the first light of the sabbath
the sabbath is the day that women and men came back together
the ice age had a lot of very dangerous predators around
9:41 PM so the women had to consciously synchronize their periods and make them men stay outside to guard them
originally homo women were much smaller than men
9:42 PM in primates the relationship of size of women to men is dependent on their mating practices
9:43 PM me : hmm
Tom : originally it appears men did have sex with many women, but when human-directed culture began it was to control the balance of male/female relations
9:44 PM
females needed food and care--sex was self-consciously parsed out
me: so what doesthe size diff indicate?
btw I did my first juice spill on my computer but it lived
but some of my keys aren't quite perfect :)
Tom: geez
9:46 PM the more females males have access to the smaller the females
the general rule
9:49 PM from wikipedia: Species with the highest sexual dimorphism, such as the pheasant, tend to be those species in which the care and raising of offspring is done only by the mother, with no involvement of the father (low degree of paternal investment). This would also explain the low degree of sexual dimorphism in humans, who have a high degree of paternal investment compared to most other mammals. Older texts sometimes claim that humans have a high degree of sexual dimorphism, but closer study has shown that this is not the case (Brin, 2004).
me: parasitic males :-9
9:50 PM Tom : the neolithic revolution was born in Jericho--a land of incredible richness at the time
9:55 PM Tom: Canaan was a "land flowing with milk and honey"
9:57 PM my guess is that by the time of first dispersal out of sundaland humans had already developed a three step initiation system
corresponding to the polar axis, the ecliptic axis, and the galactic center
9:58 PM the original "heaven" was accessed by the Milky Way
one tests these ideas by looking at the americas
10:00 PM for instance, the Maya have only one constellation they call by the same name (in the zodiac at least) scorpio
scorpio is the constellation of the galactic center
Tom: when the males took over following the massive climatological and ecological disruptions at the end of the 4000 years of great weather, civilization and literalism developed
10:04 PM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_Climatic_Optimum
10:05 PM http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/seminars/980217DD.html
10:06 PM
Tom: my concern is climactic tipping points
10:08 PM that cause rapid (with decades) and dramatic climate shifts
our modeling seem to assume uniformitarianism, but now we know that's not how it works
10:10 PM the precession cycle appears to bring about sudden climactic shifts when the galactic center rises at one of the solstices and lesser shifts at the equinoxes
just 5 years to go!
10:11 PM the end of the ice age happened last time GC rose on a solstice
me: 2012 :-D
10:12 PM Tom: the end of the climactic optimum happened when the GC rose at the equinox
stated another way these events occur when perihelion is reached on a cardinal point
perihelion is opposite GC
10:13 PM GC pulls earth's orbit out of round
10:16 PM North Africa was a great place to live during the climactic optimum, as were the great lakes created by melting glaciers--after the forest moved in
10:17 PM there appears to be a single world culture that moved through these melting lakes and in the mediterranean--the soultrean culture of the famous cave paintings--these people even made it to america to create the clovis culture
10:18 PM this is shown by mitochondrial dna haplogroup
x
10:19 PM Tom: round temples equals moon god creator
rectangular temples equals sun god creator
10:20 PM moon god creator is original--the moon is the source of consciousness--of the soul
10:21 PM temple builders had very specialized mathematical knowledge based on harmonics, pi, and phi
10:22 PM the oldest temple builders were in Anatolia
10:23 PM physicians also relied on similar knowledge
in Greece, for instance, physicians came from "Asia" ie Anatolia
10:24 PM this is where wheat, barley, sheep, and goats were domesticated
the chinese domesticated the pig
there's a lot
Tom: of stuff I know about these things
10:26 PM Tom : gods became abstract personalities separate from natural phenomena with the neolithic revolution
10:27 PM
originally the highest gods were the unsetting stars, but then it was discovered they originally set, so the highest god became a theoretical point--the intersection of the galactic equator with the earth's equator
this point NEVER changes
the gravitational pull of the GC determines that
10:28 PM the GC is a black hole but it is now known every galaxy has a black hole and that these black holes actually gave birth to the stars
after the galaxy is formed they become stable
10:29 PM reminds me of Shiva
which is GC IMHO--Shakti is GC opposite in Taurus
10:30 PM shiva worship represents the most direct line back to sundaland ideas
as does tantra (the broad initiatory practice--not the more limited sexual practice
10:32 PM the temple builders of Anatolia are behind Sumerian, Egyptian, and Judaic thought
me: yes
10:33 PM Tom : these are the two main sources for religious ideas in eurasia
10:34 PM the egyptians show how literalism went crazy with the ridiculously elaborate burial procedures--at incredible human cost
but it's all quite beautiful at least
most hunter gatherer populations in the world today are regressed agriculturalists
10:35 PM descended from agriculturalists
me: that popped out for me
egyptians going crazy with literalism
just as stories being based on stars popped out for me
Tom: popped out?
me: popped out as a really good story :-D
10:38 PM Tom : the post climatic optimum has been punctuated by a series of sudden climactic shifts as well as more localized disasters such as floods, famine, and pestilence
Tom: it all makes interlocking sense but it's a radically different picture than what we were taught
10:41 PM me: yes
10:42 PM Tom: I've been working on a thesis about the difference between the "gods" tied to natural phenomena and GOD a purely abstract but highly complex idea that rejects the "gods"
me: yes?
10:43 PM Tom : to know GOD is the third step of initiation--GOD is what you come to know when you go through the third step
10:45 PM in other words, whatever term you use to describe the experience of the third step, GOD or nirvana, for instance, are all referents to the same experience
10:46 PM theological and philosophical ideas are only valid if they lead to this experience--otherwise its sophistry
I learned that in Theological School
me: :-D
10:47 PM Tom: this is the Way (the original name of Christianity), the Tao
when the initiatory aspect is removed, you get religion as we know it
10:48 PM christianity in the beginning, for instance, denied it was a threskeia
religion
10:49 PM religion were the stupid things the pagans did
10:50 PM christianity succeeded converting the entire silk road because it stopped the madness and every culture had predicted it
10:51 PM they all expected the arrival of a new figure to usher in the new age of pisces
Orthodoxy and Literalism Incompatible
Contemporary discussions in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, physics, archaeology, linguistics, climatology, ecology, and cognitive science have serious theological implications. They provide a Way between the shoals of literalism and liberalism that have fatally shipwrecked Western Christianity. Unfortunately, these implications are often lost on both scientists and churchmen.
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church has never condemned science. The Fathers of the Church were scholars of the science of their day. That science conceived of the world in ways that seem foreign to us, or, to be less kind, they seem naïve, even silly. The world isn’t a ball sitting in the center of a great sphere through which we can see stars when the blue sky doesn’t obscure them. The world is not composed of just four elements: fire, are, water, and earth. The land doesn’t float on the ocean. There are no griffins, phoenixes, or unicorns in the world’s zoos. One doesn’t have to read long in the Bible or the Church Fathers before encountering beliefs we now know to be mistaken. Despite this, Orthodox still consult these works, not for scientific matters, that would be missing the point, but for their spiritual edification. Errors are simply overlooked as the common plight of being human.
To the Roman Catholic churchmen of Galileo’s day, the astronomical ideas of the ancients were sacrosanct because that was how the world was described in the Bible. Literal interpretation of the scripture trumps observation with your own eyes, a viewpoint still extant. Galileo’s eyewitness claims threatened the entire basis of Christian doctrine, according to the theologians of the Roman Catholic Church. And they were right, according to their own lights. If one could disprove statements of fact in the Bible or the Church Fathers, the whole edifice of Christianity could topple.
Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, have no problem with Galileo or his successors. Since Galileo, modern science has continued with its pesky observations, unhindered except by its continued quest to rid itself of the biases of the scientists themselves. Above all, modern science desires to observe the world as it is, freed from the blinding shackles of preconceived ideas. Modern science simply seeks the truth, an enterprise Orthodox Christians readily applaud. We have no wish to contemplate our own intellectual edifices, but to come to know the Living God, who is Truth Incarnate. Both traditions seek the same clarity of vision, the vision to see things as they really are.
Orthodox Christians understand that Christianity is a path, a Way, leading to a goal: theosis, the mystical union with God. We are very particular about how we describe the Way, yet we know we are not describing the Way at all, but simply pointing out the Way for others. When we do directly describe the Way, we do so through symbols, the greatest of which is the Symbol of the Faith, the Nicene Creed. This Symbol succinctly describes the Way in the deeply coded linguistic synthesis of Hellenistic and Hebrew words, yet this venerable Symbol does not exhaust the Way or, these days, even describe it to someone unaware of the deep meaning behind each word. The Creed, like the Gospels themselves, is deceptively simple.
The Orthodox Church is a community that maintains the consciousness of the old world, the Biblical world, the time before Galileo, while placing no stress on believers to reject evolution or any other scientific teaching. This is because the Holy Tradition, the highest authority in the Orthodox Church, teaches that the Bible, the Symbol of the Faith, the writings of the Holy Fathers, the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, all of which are held in almost equal regard, are each pointers, indicators, and signposts, leading to the “strait and narrow Way” to God, who is only actually “known” in theosis.
Humans are spiritually ill, to use another common Orthodox metaphor, under the influence of “passions”, congenital weaknesses toward various kinds of egocentric self-preserving behaviors that impede the development of healthy community and thus healthy individuals. We do not consider salvation a “personal” matter. Salvation is enacted in the here and now and in community. Love requires other people, even enemies, to shine forth.
The purpose of the Church, the Eucharistic community, is to enhance the power of the “still, small voice” of the inner “light of Christ” to purify the self from within. This is accomplished, above all, through prayer, not understood ritualistically, but mystically. The elaborate liturgical practices of the Orthodox Church are there to create an environment where a person can find Christ in one’s own flesh.
Despite its intense mystical leanings, the Orthodox Church places great emphasis on the actual, physical creation. All sacraments are enacted through simple material objects: water, oil, bread, wine. Additionally, incense of every variety, sprouted wheat, laurel leaves, rosewater, vessels, vestments, icons and architecture are employed in the elaborate rituals of the Church. The spectacle of an Orthodox congregation vigorously crossing themselves while kissing icon after icon, relic after relic, observing obscure fasting rules and endless services causes confusion to Westerners, as they equate this kind of behavior with the most slavish medieval literalism. (Sadly, it is often confusing to Orthodox themselves, not only among converts from literalist Christian sects, but from centuries of theological erosion in areas of the Church under heavy Western ideological influence.)
The Orthodox place such emphasis on the material because they believe in an incarnate God, born of the “Birth Giver of God” (the unfortunate literal translation of Theotokos). The images of Theotokos and Theanthropos, Mother of God and God-man, Mary and Jesus, Madonna and Child, Platytera and Pantocrator, are ubiquitous in Orthodox Churches. These titles emphasize through paradox that the Mother who did not bleed and the Son who did together locate the nexus of the meeting of the Divine and the Human. Defining that nexus came at great cost, but despite the derision now given to ancient controversies such as whether Jesus Christ was “homoousios” or homooiousios” (the addition of single iota) with the Father, Orthodox Christians understand that these battles were over something vital; they preserved the boundaries of the Way, ensuring a safe path for future generations.
A study of Church History shows the Way becoming obscured and being restored repeatedly. The original monastic movement was one such restoration, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, another. Because the Orthodox Church carefully preserves and interprets the various Symbols of the Way through its liturgy, this sound form of words is always ready to receive the breath of the Holy Spirit and come back to life. One only need have “ears to hear.”
This is the Orthodox Ethos in summary. It is a radically different way of being Christian, at once more mystical and magical, more practical and human, than the reified intellectualism of the West. The Orthodox like to get their hands dirty. Contrast an Orthodox baptism, with the slippery, oily baby plunged into a basin full of water and then thrust into the arms of the waiting godparent to the dainty procedure of dropping a few drops of water on the forehead. The world is a messy place, but hidden within in it is the Way described of the Holy Tradition. It’s time to get our hands dirty by considering the new perspectives science can bring to the Tradition while keeping our vision clear as to our goal: the unity of the whole human race in a society of loving care devoted to the full flowering of each person.
Keeping with its practical emphasis, Orthodox theologians have had a lot to say about the ethical implications of modern technologies, but since science operates in a different sphere altogether, the need to respond to it is felt less intensely.
Western Christianity has left a burnt field; whole nations no longer believe in the nightmare “god” who covered Europe and then the whole Earth in blood. It’s hard to be devoted to a “god” complicit in the genocide of the indigenous people of one continent while enslaving those of another. And this “god’s” reign of terror, despite his weakened state, has not ended. One finds it hard to condemn atheism after watching Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. Liberal Christianity, the supposed answer to this dilemma, was dead on arrival, along with its self-defeating pronouncement that God is dead. It only survives as a kind of liberal social club for sentimentalists.
In this environment, it is all too tempting to find common cause with “other conservative” Christians on the “social issues” while finding their brand of Christianity incomplete and unsatisfying. Orthodox Christianity has a Roman polity while Western Christianity is feudal. It is that incipient feudalism in the structure of the West, the inherent deference to the privileges of power that Jesus condemned, which is foreign to the Orthodox. In our ethos, where we mentally still live as free citizens in the Roman Empire, with its supple balance of individual and societal needs, there is no place for the pharisaical rigidity of contemporary Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christianity.
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church has never condemned science. The Fathers of the Church were scholars of the science of their day. That science conceived of the world in ways that seem foreign to us, or, to be less kind, they seem naïve, even silly. The world isn’t a ball sitting in the center of a great sphere through which we can see stars when the blue sky doesn’t obscure them. The world is not composed of just four elements: fire, are, water, and earth. The land doesn’t float on the ocean. There are no griffins, phoenixes, or unicorns in the world’s zoos. One doesn’t have to read long in the Bible or the Church Fathers before encountering beliefs we now know to be mistaken. Despite this, Orthodox still consult these works, not for scientific matters, that would be missing the point, but for their spiritual edification. Errors are simply overlooked as the common plight of being human.
To the Roman Catholic churchmen of Galileo’s day, the astronomical ideas of the ancients were sacrosanct because that was how the world was described in the Bible. Literal interpretation of the scripture trumps observation with your own eyes, a viewpoint still extant. Galileo’s eyewitness claims threatened the entire basis of Christian doctrine, according to the theologians of the Roman Catholic Church. And they were right, according to their own lights. If one could disprove statements of fact in the Bible or the Church Fathers, the whole edifice of Christianity could topple.
Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, have no problem with Galileo or his successors. Since Galileo, modern science has continued with its pesky observations, unhindered except by its continued quest to rid itself of the biases of the scientists themselves. Above all, modern science desires to observe the world as it is, freed from the blinding shackles of preconceived ideas. Modern science simply seeks the truth, an enterprise Orthodox Christians readily applaud. We have no wish to contemplate our own intellectual edifices, but to come to know the Living God, who is Truth Incarnate. Both traditions seek the same clarity of vision, the vision to see things as they really are.
Orthodox Christians understand that Christianity is a path, a Way, leading to a goal: theosis, the mystical union with God. We are very particular about how we describe the Way, yet we know we are not describing the Way at all, but simply pointing out the Way for others. When we do directly describe the Way, we do so through symbols, the greatest of which is the Symbol of the Faith, the Nicene Creed. This Symbol succinctly describes the Way in the deeply coded linguistic synthesis of Hellenistic and Hebrew words, yet this venerable Symbol does not exhaust the Way or, these days, even describe it to someone unaware of the deep meaning behind each word. The Creed, like the Gospels themselves, is deceptively simple.
The Orthodox Church is a community that maintains the consciousness of the old world, the Biblical world, the time before Galileo, while placing no stress on believers to reject evolution or any other scientific teaching. This is because the Holy Tradition, the highest authority in the Orthodox Church, teaches that the Bible, the Symbol of the Faith, the writings of the Holy Fathers, the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, all of which are held in almost equal regard, are each pointers, indicators, and signposts, leading to the “strait and narrow Way” to God, who is only actually “known” in theosis.
Humans are spiritually ill, to use another common Orthodox metaphor, under the influence of “passions”, congenital weaknesses toward various kinds of egocentric self-preserving behaviors that impede the development of healthy community and thus healthy individuals. We do not consider salvation a “personal” matter. Salvation is enacted in the here and now and in community. Love requires other people, even enemies, to shine forth.
The purpose of the Church, the Eucharistic community, is to enhance the power of the “still, small voice” of the inner “light of Christ” to purify the self from within. This is accomplished, above all, through prayer, not understood ritualistically, but mystically. The elaborate liturgical practices of the Orthodox Church are there to create an environment where a person can find Christ in one’s own flesh.
Despite its intense mystical leanings, the Orthodox Church places great emphasis on the actual, physical creation. All sacraments are enacted through simple material objects: water, oil, bread, wine. Additionally, incense of every variety, sprouted wheat, laurel leaves, rosewater, vessels, vestments, icons and architecture are employed in the elaborate rituals of the Church. The spectacle of an Orthodox congregation vigorously crossing themselves while kissing icon after icon, relic after relic, observing obscure fasting rules and endless services causes confusion to Westerners, as they equate this kind of behavior with the most slavish medieval literalism. (Sadly, it is often confusing to Orthodox themselves, not only among converts from literalist Christian sects, but from centuries of theological erosion in areas of the Church under heavy Western ideological influence.)
The Orthodox place such emphasis on the material because they believe in an incarnate God, born of the “Birth Giver of God” (the unfortunate literal translation of Theotokos). The images of Theotokos and Theanthropos, Mother of God and God-man, Mary and Jesus, Madonna and Child, Platytera and Pantocrator, are ubiquitous in Orthodox Churches. These titles emphasize through paradox that the Mother who did not bleed and the Son who did together locate the nexus of the meeting of the Divine and the Human. Defining that nexus came at great cost, but despite the derision now given to ancient controversies such as whether Jesus Christ was “homoousios” or homooiousios” (the addition of single iota) with the Father, Orthodox Christians understand that these battles were over something vital; they preserved the boundaries of the Way, ensuring a safe path for future generations.
A study of Church History shows the Way becoming obscured and being restored repeatedly. The original monastic movement was one such restoration, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, another. Because the Orthodox Church carefully preserves and interprets the various Symbols of the Way through its liturgy, this sound form of words is always ready to receive the breath of the Holy Spirit and come back to life. One only need have “ears to hear.”
This is the Orthodox Ethos in summary. It is a radically different way of being Christian, at once more mystical and magical, more practical and human, than the reified intellectualism of the West. The Orthodox like to get their hands dirty. Contrast an Orthodox baptism, with the slippery, oily baby plunged into a basin full of water and then thrust into the arms of the waiting godparent to the dainty procedure of dropping a few drops of water on the forehead. The world is a messy place, but hidden within in it is the Way described of the Holy Tradition. It’s time to get our hands dirty by considering the new perspectives science can bring to the Tradition while keeping our vision clear as to our goal: the unity of the whole human race in a society of loving care devoted to the full flowering of each person.
Keeping with its practical emphasis, Orthodox theologians have had a lot to say about the ethical implications of modern technologies, but since science operates in a different sphere altogether, the need to respond to it is felt less intensely.
Western Christianity has left a burnt field; whole nations no longer believe in the nightmare “god” who covered Europe and then the whole Earth in blood. It’s hard to be devoted to a “god” complicit in the genocide of the indigenous people of one continent while enslaving those of another. And this “god’s” reign of terror, despite his weakened state, has not ended. One finds it hard to condemn atheism after watching Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. Liberal Christianity, the supposed answer to this dilemma, was dead on arrival, along with its self-defeating pronouncement that God is dead. It only survives as a kind of liberal social club for sentimentalists.
In this environment, it is all too tempting to find common cause with “other conservative” Christians on the “social issues” while finding their brand of Christianity incomplete and unsatisfying. Orthodox Christianity has a Roman polity while Western Christianity is feudal. It is that incipient feudalism in the structure of the West, the inherent deference to the privileges of power that Jesus condemned, which is foreign to the Orthodox. In our ethos, where we mentally still live as free citizens in the Roman Empire, with its supple balance of individual and societal needs, there is no place for the pharisaical rigidity of contemporary Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christianity.
The Rebel
The Rebel (Original: Bidrohi)
Kazi Nazrul
IslamTranslation: Kabir Chowdhury=========================
Say, Valiant,
Say: High is my head!
Looking at my head
Is cast down the great Himalayan peak!
Say, Valiant,
Say: Ripping apart the wide sky of the universe,
Leaving behind the moon, the sun, the planets
and the stars
Piercing the earth and the heavens,
Pushing through Almighty's sacred seat
Have I risen,
I, the perennial wonder of mother-earth!
The angry God shines on my forehead
Like some royal victory's gorgeous emblem.
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am irresponsible, cruel and arrogant,
I an the king of the great upheaval,
I am cyclone, I am destruction,
I am the great fear, the curse of the universe.
I have no mercy,
I grind all to pieces.
I am disorderly and lawless,
I trample under my feet all rules and discipline!
I am Durjati, I am the sudden tempest of ultimate summer,
I am the rebel, the rebel-son of mother-earth!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am the hurricane, I am the cyclone
I destroy all that I found in the path!
I am the dance-intoxicated rhythm,
I dance at my own pleasure,
I am the unfettered joy of life!
I am Hambeer, I am Chhayanata, I am Hindole,
I am ever restless,
I caper and dance as I move!
I do whatever appeals to me, whenever I like,
I embrace the enemy and wrestle with death,
I am mad. I am the tornado!
I am pestilence, the great fear,
I am the death of all reigns of terror,
I am full of a warm restlessness for ever!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am creation, I am destruction,
I am habitation, I am the grave-yard,
I am the end, the end of night!
I am the son of Indrani
With the moon in my head
And the sun on my temple
In one hand of mine is the tender flute
While in the other I hold the war bugle!
I am the Bedouin, I am the Chengis,
I salute none but me!
I am thunder,
I am Brahma's sound in the sky and on the earth,
I am the mighty roar of Israfil's bugle,
I am the great trident of Pinakpani,
I am the staff of the king of truth,
I am the Chakra and the great Shanka,
I am the mighty primordial shout!
I am Bishyamitra's pupil, Durbasha the furious,
I am the fury of the wild fire,
I burn to ashes this universe!
I am the gay laughter of the generous heart,
I am the enemy of creation, the mighty terror!
I am the eclipse of the twelve suns,
I herald the final destruction!
Sometimes I am quiet and serene,
I am in a frenzy at other times,
I am the new youth of dawn,
I crush under my feet the vain glory of the Almighty!
I am the fury of typhoon,
I am the tumultuous roar of the ocean,
I am ever effluent and bright,
I trippingly flow like the gaily warbling brook.
I am the maiden's dark glassy hair,
I am the spark of fire in her blazing eyes.
I am the tender love that lies
In the sixteen year old's heart,
I am the happy beyond measure!
I am the pining soul of the lovesick,
I am the bitter tears in the widow's heart,
i am the piteous sighs of the unlucky!
I am the pain and sorrow of all homeless sufferers,
i am the anguish of the insulted heart,
I am the burning pain and the madness of the jilted lover!
I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glace of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze.
I am the gay gripping young girl's love,
I am the jingling music of her bangles!
I am the eternal-child, the adolescent of all times,
I am the shy village maiden frightened by her own budding youth.
I am the soothing breeze of the south,
I am the pensive gale of the east.
I am the deep solemn song sung by the wondering bard,
I am the soft music played on his lyre!
I am the harsh unquenched mid-day thirst,
I am the fierce blazing sun,
I am the softly trilling desert spring,
I am the cool shadowy greenery!
Maddened with an intense joy I rush onward,
I am insane! I am insane!
Suddenly I have come to know myself,
All the false barriers have crumbled today!
I am the rising, I am the fall,
I am consciousness in the unconscious soul,
I am the flag of triumph at the gate of the world,
I am the glorious sign of man's victory,
Clapping my hands in exultation I rush like the hurricane,
Traversing the earth and the sky.
The mighty Borrak is the horse I ride.
It neighs impatiently, drunk with delight!
I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of the lightning with joy and profound,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world!
I am Orpheus's flute,
I bring sleep to the fevered world,
I make the heaving hells temple in fear and die.
I carry the message of revolt to the earth and the sky!
I am the mighty flood,
Sometimes I make the earth rich and fertile,
At another times I cause colossal damage.
I snatch from Bishnu's bosom the two girls!
I am injustice, I am the shooting star,
I am Saturn, I am the fire of the comet,
I am the poisonous asp!
I am Chandi the headless, I am ruinous Warlord,
Sitting in the burning pit of Hell
I smile as the innocent flower!
I am the cruel axe of Parsurama,
I shall kill warriors
And bring peace and harmony in the universe!
I am the plough on the shoulders of Balarama,
I shall uproot this miserable earth effortlessly and with ease,
And create a new universe of joy and peace.
Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel,
Shall rest in quiet only when I find
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles, rest in quiet,
I the great rebel.
I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone!
Courtesy: Mohammad Nurul Huda. Poetry of Kazi Nazrul Islam in English Translation [Dhaka: Nazrul Institute, 2000). pp. 12-16.
Kazi Nazrul
IslamTranslation: Kabir Chowdhury=========================
Say, Valiant,
Say: High is my head!
Looking at my head
Is cast down the great Himalayan peak!
Say, Valiant,
Say: Ripping apart the wide sky of the universe,
Leaving behind the moon, the sun, the planets
and the stars
Piercing the earth and the heavens,
Pushing through Almighty's sacred seat
Have I risen,
I, the perennial wonder of mother-earth!
The angry God shines on my forehead
Like some royal victory's gorgeous emblem.
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am irresponsible, cruel and arrogant,
I an the king of the great upheaval,
I am cyclone, I am destruction,
I am the great fear, the curse of the universe.
I have no mercy,
I grind all to pieces.
I am disorderly and lawless,
I trample under my feet all rules and discipline!
I am Durjati, I am the sudden tempest of ultimate summer,
I am the rebel, the rebel-son of mother-earth!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am the hurricane, I am the cyclone
I destroy all that I found in the path!
I am the dance-intoxicated rhythm,
I dance at my own pleasure,
I am the unfettered joy of life!
I am Hambeer, I am Chhayanata, I am Hindole,
I am ever restless,
I caper and dance as I move!
I do whatever appeals to me, whenever I like,
I embrace the enemy and wrestle with death,
I am mad. I am the tornado!
I am pestilence, the great fear,
I am the death of all reigns of terror,
I am full of a warm restlessness for ever!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am creation, I am destruction,
I am habitation, I am the grave-yard,
I am the end, the end of night!
I am the son of Indrani
With the moon in my head
And the sun on my temple
In one hand of mine is the tender flute
While in the other I hold the war bugle!
I am the Bedouin, I am the Chengis,
I salute none but me!
I am thunder,
I am Brahma's sound in the sky and on the earth,
I am the mighty roar of Israfil's bugle,
I am the great trident of Pinakpani,
I am the staff of the king of truth,
I am the Chakra and the great Shanka,
I am the mighty primordial shout!
I am Bishyamitra's pupil, Durbasha the furious,
I am the fury of the wild fire,
I burn to ashes this universe!
I am the gay laughter of the generous heart,
I am the enemy of creation, the mighty terror!
I am the eclipse of the twelve suns,
I herald the final destruction!
Sometimes I am quiet and serene,
I am in a frenzy at other times,
I am the new youth of dawn,
I crush under my feet the vain glory of the Almighty!
I am the fury of typhoon,
I am the tumultuous roar of the ocean,
I am ever effluent and bright,
I trippingly flow like the gaily warbling brook.
I am the maiden's dark glassy hair,
I am the spark of fire in her blazing eyes.
I am the tender love that lies
In the sixteen year old's heart,
I am the happy beyond measure!
I am the pining soul of the lovesick,
I am the bitter tears in the widow's heart,
i am the piteous sighs of the unlucky!
I am the pain and sorrow of all homeless sufferers,
i am the anguish of the insulted heart,
I am the burning pain and the madness of the jilted lover!
I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glace of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze.
I am the gay gripping young girl's love,
I am the jingling music of her bangles!
I am the eternal-child, the adolescent of all times,
I am the shy village maiden frightened by her own budding youth.
I am the soothing breeze of the south,
I am the pensive gale of the east.
I am the deep solemn song sung by the wondering bard,
I am the soft music played on his lyre!
I am the harsh unquenched mid-day thirst,
I am the fierce blazing sun,
I am the softly trilling desert spring,
I am the cool shadowy greenery!
Maddened with an intense joy I rush onward,
I am insane! I am insane!
Suddenly I have come to know myself,
All the false barriers have crumbled today!
I am the rising, I am the fall,
I am consciousness in the unconscious soul,
I am the flag of triumph at the gate of the world,
I am the glorious sign of man's victory,
Clapping my hands in exultation I rush like the hurricane,
Traversing the earth and the sky.
The mighty Borrak is the horse I ride.
It neighs impatiently, drunk with delight!
I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of the lightning with joy and profound,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world!
I am Orpheus's flute,
I bring sleep to the fevered world,
I make the heaving hells temple in fear and die.
I carry the message of revolt to the earth and the sky!
I am the mighty flood,
Sometimes I make the earth rich and fertile,
At another times I cause colossal damage.
I snatch from Bishnu's bosom the two girls!
I am injustice, I am the shooting star,
I am Saturn, I am the fire of the comet,
I am the poisonous asp!
I am Chandi the headless, I am ruinous Warlord,
Sitting in the burning pit of Hell
I smile as the innocent flower!
I am the cruel axe of Parsurama,
I shall kill warriors
And bring peace and harmony in the universe!
I am the plough on the shoulders of Balarama,
I shall uproot this miserable earth effortlessly and with ease,
And create a new universe of joy and peace.
Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel,
Shall rest in quiet only when I find
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles, rest in quiet,
I the great rebel.
I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone!
Courtesy: Mohammad Nurul Huda. Poetry of Kazi Nazrul Islam in English Translation [Dhaka: Nazrul Institute, 2000). pp. 12-16.
The Soul is a Porous Form
What has been called the spiritual is, in fact, the world AS WE EXPERIENCE IT--which is based on our visceral response to it. We do not so much see the world as see its form, its outward appearance, as it is exposed to a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum. We experience the world as a photo negative, as a mold.
Matter is about mass, but we experience mass indirectly, by observing only the effects of one body on another. We live in the world of forms, the world of shadows. Optical illusions and magic tricks have taught us not to trust our senses--they are imperfect imprints of reality. And memory, which serves as the only trace of the world just passed, is completely unreliable.
In this world of forms, things appear delineated. We find lines to color in and we give the different shapes names. These lines represent the forms of things, but on a literal material level, as we have only discovered by extending our senses through instrumentation, atomic particles and atoms move freely and constantly within and through the various forms.
The forms of things, their living patterns, provide the pathways for matter/energy to circulate through the system. These forms are containers of energy, giving it weight and color, but energy never ceases to circulate. These forms have zero substance themselves, yet they are the very stuff of reality. What is the spiritual? Forms with no substance. Virtual reality is the only reality we know.
The forms are not static. They are vortices of energy in the crackling embers of the Big Bang. The energy moves in endless spirals, cycles within cycles, as energy is exchanged according to the Laws of Thermodynamics. Shift your thinking to consider energy flow as the true picture of reality and consider how porous solid things are under this way of thinking.
I am a porous form. A constant tide of energy moves through me. My physical stuff is constantly replaced, yet I, this porous form, remain. This porous form is what past ages called the soul. The I that I know is the soul and all that I know of the world is a show of outward forms designed to make me a more efficient hunter, gatherer, or reproducer. This limited world of shadows is the spiritual world.
Matter is about mass, but we experience mass indirectly, by observing only the effects of one body on another. We live in the world of forms, the world of shadows. Optical illusions and magic tricks have taught us not to trust our senses--they are imperfect imprints of reality. And memory, which serves as the only trace of the world just passed, is completely unreliable.
In this world of forms, things appear delineated. We find lines to color in and we give the different shapes names. These lines represent the forms of things, but on a literal material level, as we have only discovered by extending our senses through instrumentation, atomic particles and atoms move freely and constantly within and through the various forms.
The forms of things, their living patterns, provide the pathways for matter/energy to circulate through the system. These forms are containers of energy, giving it weight and color, but energy never ceases to circulate. These forms have zero substance themselves, yet they are the very stuff of reality. What is the spiritual? Forms with no substance. Virtual reality is the only reality we know.
The forms are not static. They are vortices of energy in the crackling embers of the Big Bang. The energy moves in endless spirals, cycles within cycles, as energy is exchanged according to the Laws of Thermodynamics. Shift your thinking to consider energy flow as the true picture of reality and consider how porous solid things are under this way of thinking.
I am a porous form. A constant tide of energy moves through me. My physical stuff is constantly replaced, yet I, this porous form, remain. This porous form is what past ages called the soul. The I that I know is the soul and all that I know of the world is a show of outward forms designed to make me a more efficient hunter, gatherer, or reproducer. This limited world of shadows is the spiritual world.
Autobiographical Note
Music is about resolution. Tension is created, only to be ultimately resolved. It is always the same story, but it's the telling of the tale, the specific telling details and surprises, that makes it art. Art is about resolution, but it can suspend a point in the tale or tell only part of it, leaving the other mind to sort it out and resolve it.
When I was 17, I went through an explosive tour through the world of art, a world beyond ken for me, the Mormon boy from the suburbs of L.A. Our parents were aerospace workers, their parents immigrants to California, from somewhere else. My father was born in Kansas, my mother in Compton, the Model City. Art meant nothing to them. Craft, yes, but not art. They literally had no idea of it. So, reading Dostoyevsky, listening to Ravel, and repeatedly watching 2001, The Wild Bunch, and Clockwork Orange, I slowly realized that everything religion had promised me and failed to delivered, art offered and more. Art is about resolution, but did art resolve the questions religion posed? Glimpsing, almost mystically, the ultimate resolution at the source of all resolutions through immersion in so many great works, and listening to the voices of artists who claimed their works had come upon them almost like possession, I realized that great art was the result of revelation, and that all great art echoed the ultimate resolution at the heart of all things, and I named that ultimate resolution, God.
Art is about God. Art is the ongoing revelation of God on the human plane. We humans can only contact God humanly. No other option is available to us. There are no tools or instruments that do not ulimately require the use of our all too human senses and brains to understand it. We cannot experience the ultimate resolution, the point of the big bang, the unseen forces that still link all into one. This is not a human experience, but we can resolve the tensions in our own selves and come to a point of living in the shadow of the ultimate resolution, experiencing it as a human being. This is the point of religion, or should be. It should provide a ritualistic method, combined with a powerful narrative, to allow the person to resolve the unresolved issues of his life. The unresolved is poison and the decision to resolve the unresolved is the one decision a human being actually can make with his free will. It is this decision which sets a person on the path.
I came to the conclusion that contemporary art was excellent at portraying the unresolved issues of moden life, they offered little in the way of resolution. If anything, they pointed to some ill-defined and sentimental communist paradise where there would be no tension to resolve or they cynically advised to hunker down and accept the inevitable unresolvability of life. I made note of this approach, which pointed to the limits of spiritual knowledge and experience available to human beings, but I wanted to experience life in a community where everyone was trying to live resolved lives and actively trying to create a community to support this process. Having been raised in a newly minted religious institution, I didn't trust any modern religions, so I began reading about the classical world religions, as well as taking an interest in astrology, alchemy, tarot, and hermetics as different symbolic systems. I believed that each of these systems, if examined as a whole, would point to the ultimate resolution which would be manifested in an irenic ethical system.
I found that within any strand of religion, even Mormonism, one could find the way to the ultimate resolution laid out intellectually, but it was seldom practiced. Practicing it entailed undergoing various epiphanies brought on through testing and study. These were often elaborate and illogical rules governing every aspect of life, but pursued properly, with personal instruction, these methods ultimately induced an experience of the ultimate resolution
When I was 17, I went through an explosive tour through the world of art, a world beyond ken for me, the Mormon boy from the suburbs of L.A. Our parents were aerospace workers, their parents immigrants to California, from somewhere else. My father was born in Kansas, my mother in Compton, the Model City. Art meant nothing to them. Craft, yes, but not art. They literally had no idea of it. So, reading Dostoyevsky, listening to Ravel, and repeatedly watching 2001, The Wild Bunch, and Clockwork Orange, I slowly realized that everything religion had promised me and failed to delivered, art offered and more. Art is about resolution, but did art resolve the questions religion posed? Glimpsing, almost mystically, the ultimate resolution at the source of all resolutions through immersion in so many great works, and listening to the voices of artists who claimed their works had come upon them almost like possession, I realized that great art was the result of revelation, and that all great art echoed the ultimate resolution at the heart of all things, and I named that ultimate resolution, God.
Art is about God. Art is the ongoing revelation of God on the human plane. We humans can only contact God humanly. No other option is available to us. There are no tools or instruments that do not ulimately require the use of our all too human senses and brains to understand it. We cannot experience the ultimate resolution, the point of the big bang, the unseen forces that still link all into one. This is not a human experience, but we can resolve the tensions in our own selves and come to a point of living in the shadow of the ultimate resolution, experiencing it as a human being. This is the point of religion, or should be. It should provide a ritualistic method, combined with a powerful narrative, to allow the person to resolve the unresolved issues of his life. The unresolved is poison and the decision to resolve the unresolved is the one decision a human being actually can make with his free will. It is this decision which sets a person on the path.
I came to the conclusion that contemporary art was excellent at portraying the unresolved issues of moden life, they offered little in the way of resolution. If anything, they pointed to some ill-defined and sentimental communist paradise where there would be no tension to resolve or they cynically advised to hunker down and accept the inevitable unresolvability of life. I made note of this approach, which pointed to the limits of spiritual knowledge and experience available to human beings, but I wanted to experience life in a community where everyone was trying to live resolved lives and actively trying to create a community to support this process. Having been raised in a newly minted religious institution, I didn't trust any modern religions, so I began reading about the classical world religions, as well as taking an interest in astrology, alchemy, tarot, and hermetics as different symbolic systems. I believed that each of these systems, if examined as a whole, would point to the ultimate resolution which would be manifested in an irenic ethical system.
I found that within any strand of religion, even Mormonism, one could find the way to the ultimate resolution laid out intellectually, but it was seldom practiced. Practicing it entailed undergoing various epiphanies brought on through testing and study. These were often elaborate and illogical rules governing every aspect of life, but pursued properly, with personal instruction, these methods ultimately induced an experience of the ultimate resolution
Bull's Eye
Bull's eye
Tom Shaw
Cain
Weary from the fields
Girded by Orion's belt
Wielding his grassy scythe
Cleaving skullcap from torso
Horns tumbling
One into Paradise the
Other cast here in
Hell where dead
Serious dogs
Muzzle the bloody
Milky torrent
Flowing from that
Shaming scarlet
Eye the barren
Innocent I of the
Slain
Now
Knows the
Awful knowing
Flowing from no-ing
God
Tom Shaw
Cain
Weary from the fields
Girded by Orion's belt
Wielding his grassy scythe
Cleaving skullcap from torso
Horns tumbling
One into Paradise the
Other cast here in
Hell where dead
Serious dogs
Muzzle the bloody
Milky torrent
Flowing from that
Shaming scarlet
Eye the barren
Innocent I of the
Slain
Now
Knows the
Awful knowing
Flowing from no-ing
God
The Rage of Israel
The Rage of Israel
Tom Shaw
No one seems to wonder
What we’re really angry about,
We angry men.
They want us to “manage our anger”
Learn “assertiveness” not “aggressiveness”.
We’re cured when we can tie a Windsor knot
Without gagging.
Brutes, barely human, now terrify the earth.
War, death, and treachery is all they know.
They assert their rights
As gods of this world
As Pharaohs in Egypt
As rightful heirs of that man’s man,
That hairy ape, that brute,
Esau, Rachel’s other son.
They took away our spears
And gave us a sword
And told us to kill other men
Or our children would die.
Then they gave us another sword
In the form of a plough
And told us to rape the earth
Or our children would die.
That day the world of men ended.
The world of honour
Where I, and those I trusted,
Faced perils and adventures
To bring the boon of a dead beast
To the campfire
To feed those in our care.
Our bones sang with pride
To see our children, wives,
And parents alive and joyful
Because of our courage.
That night we made love
To our wives and kissed our children.
Instead, they twisted
The simple joy of the hunt.
Turned valor into the courage
To hunt men,
And honor another excuse
To kill women and children.
After 240 generations
Our pride has soured to rage,
The rage of the unfavored son,
The bookish Jacob,
Who lied to his father
(who loved Esau’s “manliness”)
And wrestled with God a whole night
To become Israel, the father of a nation
Favored by God, not men,
To secure the birthright
For all of us, men and women,
Abraham’s true heirs:
Those who tie Windsor knots
Or our children will die.
We wear ties to save them.
Knowing we can trust God
To deliver us from our enemies.
If not us, then our children,
And if not them, then theirs.
In the meantime, we wait quietly,
Balling our fists in mute rage.
Tom Shaw
No one seems to wonder
What we’re really angry about,
We angry men.
They want us to “manage our anger”
Learn “assertiveness” not “aggressiveness”.
We’re cured when we can tie a Windsor knot
Without gagging.
Brutes, barely human, now terrify the earth.
War, death, and treachery is all they know.
They assert their rights
As gods of this world
As Pharaohs in Egypt
As rightful heirs of that man’s man,
That hairy ape, that brute,
Esau, Rachel’s other son.
They took away our spears
And gave us a sword
And told us to kill other men
Or our children would die.
Then they gave us another sword
In the form of a plough
And told us to rape the earth
Or our children would die.
That day the world of men ended.
The world of honour
Where I, and those I trusted,
Faced perils and adventures
To bring the boon of a dead beast
To the campfire
To feed those in our care.
Our bones sang with pride
To see our children, wives,
And parents alive and joyful
Because of our courage.
That night we made love
To our wives and kissed our children.
Instead, they twisted
The simple joy of the hunt.
Turned valor into the courage
To hunt men,
And honor another excuse
To kill women and children.
After 240 generations
Our pride has soured to rage,
The rage of the unfavored son,
The bookish Jacob,
Who lied to his father
(who loved Esau’s “manliness”)
And wrestled with God a whole night
To become Israel, the father of a nation
Favored by God, not men,
To secure the birthright
For all of us, men and women,
Abraham’s true heirs:
Those who tie Windsor knots
Or our children will die.
We wear ties to save them.
Knowing we can trust God
To deliver us from our enemies.
If not us, then our children,
And if not them, then theirs.
In the meantime, we wait quietly,
Balling our fists in mute rage.
We are the Meek
We are the Meek
Tom Shaw
Some of us here in Babylon
Were born wild, changelings,
The children of Abel,
We don’t belong among you
You civilized folk,
You with the mark of Cain.
You can find us scattered
In groups, tribes, enclaves.
We’re sleeping under the underpass
You drive over every morning
At 7 AM sharp.
We’re strolling the boulevard
When you stop by for a blowjob.
We’re the transgendered woman
Who sells you your cigarettes.
We’re your hairdresser,
Your gardener, your pop star,
your dealer, your porn star:
Anything but work for you.
You have no idea
Of the passion heaving in our breast.
The pent up rage at what
You’ve done to us all
Sometimes someone goes crazy
At a school or a post office.
And you think it’s just a nutjob.
Sometimes we are able to get together
Enough (we fiercely cling to our tribes)
To protest, or riot, or revolt.
And you jail us or kill us.
But, in the end, you will lose.
The children of Abel
Will abide after your
Temples and monuments
Crumble to dust.
For we’re shepherds,
Wanderers, nomads.
We are in the Bosom of Abraham.
We are Christ’s body.
We are Earth’s children.
We are the little ones.
Look for us in a thousand years
In a forest glade,
Dancing around the May Pole.
Tom Shaw
Some of us here in Babylon
Were born wild, changelings,
The children of Abel,
We don’t belong among you
You civilized folk,
You with the mark of Cain.
You can find us scattered
In groups, tribes, enclaves.
We’re sleeping under the underpass
You drive over every morning
At 7 AM sharp.
We’re strolling the boulevard
When you stop by for a blowjob.
We’re the transgendered woman
Who sells you your cigarettes.
We’re your hairdresser,
Your gardener, your pop star,
your dealer, your porn star:
Anything but work for you.
You have no idea
Of the passion heaving in our breast.
The pent up rage at what
You’ve done to us all
Sometimes someone goes crazy
At a school or a post office.
And you think it’s just a nutjob.
Sometimes we are able to get together
Enough (we fiercely cling to our tribes)
To protest, or riot, or revolt.
And you jail us or kill us.
But, in the end, you will lose.
The children of Abel
Will abide after your
Temples and monuments
Crumble to dust.
For we’re shepherds,
Wanderers, nomads.
We are in the Bosom of Abraham.
We are Christ’s body.
We are Earth’s children.
We are the little ones.
Look for us in a thousand years
In a forest glade,
Dancing around the May Pole.
Our History is Written in the Stars
The sky in the northern hemisphere lends itself to identification of various zones, each with characteristics that can be the basis of myth.
First, observing the sky in the 4 cardinal directions shows that the sun, moon, and stars rise in the eastern part, set in the western part, revolve around a point in the north, and rise and set more quickly as you go south. The identification of the east with birth/beginning and west with death is probably universal. The observation that circumpolar stars between the north pole and the horizon never set lends itself to the idea that these stars do not partake in the life/death cycle and are somehow eternal. Stars are noted when they cross a horizon or when they reach their zenith (cross N/S line).
Circumpolar stars:With the precession, these stars change over a 24000 year period, but Draco is always circumpolar and is the location of the pole of the ecliptic (solar system pole). Draco connects the current Polaris system of Ursa Minor surrounded by Draco, Ursa Major, Cepheus and Cassiopeia, with the Vega system consisting of Draco, Lyre, Cygnus, Aquila, and Hercules.
There are then 8 major circumpolar constellations. Moving through these bands is the milky way, which can have 4 basic configurations:
The land of the Living surrounded by Cosmic Ocean, seen when Sagittarius/Scorpio is rising and the galactic pole is overhead (no prominent stars in this place as we are looking up through the galaxy). The horizon is surrounded by the milky way on all sides.
Tree of Life, seen when Pisces/Aquarius is rising and Deneb is at zenith. The triangle of Deneb, Altair, and Vega has Deneb in the milky way, Vega on the living side, and Altair on the dead side. When Altair reached the zenith a bridge extends across the sky, uniting the lovers. This image was especially powerful during the Age of Scorpio (16000-17000 BP) when Deneb was the pole star. On nights this is visible it's possible to see 3 of the configurations in one night (no cosmic mountain). This now happens in the early fall, but classically (1000-3000 years ago) it happened in late summer (seventh night of the seventh month?).
The Cosmic Mountain--This classic configuration of this happened during the age of Scorpio. The milky way passed through the north pole at that time, making it always visible. When Taurus would rise, the milky way would appear to be a great mountain in the north. Trapped in this mountain were the dragon and vega. The sky was dominated by the opposite stars of the cosmic ocean, which was considered under water and the realm of death. The cosmic ocean would not appear but instead a second mountain with Vega surmounting it, appearing to rule the land of the living. The obvious connection to Orpheus (represented by the Lyre, Vega) I'm sure will yield rich connections of Vega to the classic Hero tale.
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (tree of sacrifice) when Virgo/Leo is rising and Capella crosses zenith which returns to land of living (and maybe mountain). This tree is dominated by the beheading of a great bull (the original Bull is much bigger than the present constellation) by Orion. Sacrifice is the theme.
The order then is summer, spring, winter, fall, summer. The classic configuration was during the age of Leo (12500 BP) when the Tree of Life would appear in the spring sky.
The stars then, are divided into the zones of eternal, living, and dead (or under water). The eternal stars change over time (except for Draco), but the division of the land of the living and land of the dead cannot change. These zones (gods, living, and dead) underpin western mythological systems and can be arrived at independently. In the southern hemisphere, the lands of living and dead would be reversed.
Certain configurations of major stars useful for orientation may be built into our genome. We spent much of our evolutionary history in equatorial Africa, where all stars are visible. Of course, specific mythologies will be related to many incidental factors that make understanding of the skies important for survival.
My thesis is that myths and religion are a combination of a deep seated orientation instinct combined with a common inbuilt framework for storytelling (the basic plot(s)). The tales told about the stars were assented to by others as "true" because they corresponded to this deep orientation instinct.
Furthermore, my thesis is that stories with deep correspondence to both orientation truth and story telling truth (form is correct) are the basis of human culture (the purpose of language is to tell these stories) and individual human behavior. When the orientation instinct is combined with initiation (dramatically imprinting a star based story designed to transfer the knowledge and skills required for the task of the initiation) then you have a religious system. The initiation process, done under the right circumstances, will cause a sudden change of consciousness, including the experience of union with all (perhaps mediated physically by release of DMT).
The symbolic goal of any religious system is to reach the summer (Eden, Land of Living) and spring (tree of life, alchemical marriage) by starting with the present world (cosmic mountain/wasteland) and passing through an ordeal/initiation/sacrifice (tree of knowledge). Thus, the sacrificial tree dominated by the beheading of the Bull (or some other similar image) is the heart of religious symbolism.
Understanding this basic scheme you can figure out the source and commonalities of many myths (since they are all telling the same basic four stories): Idylls of Eden (road stories/ adventure tales), the losing and finding of the Other (comedies and romances), the wasteland and dragon-guarded treasure (horror, fairy tales, black humor), and the sacrifice of the hero (tragedies).
First, observing the sky in the 4 cardinal directions shows that the sun, moon, and stars rise in the eastern part, set in the western part, revolve around a point in the north, and rise and set more quickly as you go south. The identification of the east with birth/beginning and west with death is probably universal. The observation that circumpolar stars between the north pole and the horizon never set lends itself to the idea that these stars do not partake in the life/death cycle and are somehow eternal. Stars are noted when they cross a horizon or when they reach their zenith (cross N/S line).
Circumpolar stars:With the precession, these stars change over a 24000 year period, but Draco is always circumpolar and is the location of the pole of the ecliptic (solar system pole). Draco connects the current Polaris system of Ursa Minor surrounded by Draco, Ursa Major, Cepheus and Cassiopeia, with the Vega system consisting of Draco, Lyre, Cygnus, Aquila, and Hercules.
There are then 8 major circumpolar constellations. Moving through these bands is the milky way, which can have 4 basic configurations:
The land of the Living surrounded by Cosmic Ocean, seen when Sagittarius/Scorpio is rising and the galactic pole is overhead (no prominent stars in this place as we are looking up through the galaxy). The horizon is surrounded by the milky way on all sides.
Tree of Life, seen when Pisces/Aquarius is rising and Deneb is at zenith. The triangle of Deneb, Altair, and Vega has Deneb in the milky way, Vega on the living side, and Altair on the dead side. When Altair reached the zenith a bridge extends across the sky, uniting the lovers. This image was especially powerful during the Age of Scorpio (16000-17000 BP) when Deneb was the pole star. On nights this is visible it's possible to see 3 of the configurations in one night (no cosmic mountain). This now happens in the early fall, but classically (1000-3000 years ago) it happened in late summer (seventh night of the seventh month?).
The Cosmic Mountain--This classic configuration of this happened during the age of Scorpio. The milky way passed through the north pole at that time, making it always visible. When Taurus would rise, the milky way would appear to be a great mountain in the north. Trapped in this mountain were the dragon and vega. The sky was dominated by the opposite stars of the cosmic ocean, which was considered under water and the realm of death. The cosmic ocean would not appear but instead a second mountain with Vega surmounting it, appearing to rule the land of the living. The obvious connection to Orpheus (represented by the Lyre, Vega) I'm sure will yield rich connections of Vega to the classic Hero tale.
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (tree of sacrifice) when Virgo/Leo is rising and Capella crosses zenith which returns to land of living (and maybe mountain). This tree is dominated by the beheading of a great bull (the original Bull is much bigger than the present constellation) by Orion. Sacrifice is the theme.
The order then is summer, spring, winter, fall, summer. The classic configuration was during the age of Leo (12500 BP) when the Tree of Life would appear in the spring sky.
The stars then, are divided into the zones of eternal, living, and dead (or under water). The eternal stars change over time (except for Draco), but the division of the land of the living and land of the dead cannot change. These zones (gods, living, and dead) underpin western mythological systems and can be arrived at independently. In the southern hemisphere, the lands of living and dead would be reversed.
Certain configurations of major stars useful for orientation may be built into our genome. We spent much of our evolutionary history in equatorial Africa, where all stars are visible. Of course, specific mythologies will be related to many incidental factors that make understanding of the skies important for survival.
My thesis is that myths and religion are a combination of a deep seated orientation instinct combined with a common inbuilt framework for storytelling (the basic plot(s)). The tales told about the stars were assented to by others as "true" because they corresponded to this deep orientation instinct.
Furthermore, my thesis is that stories with deep correspondence to both orientation truth and story telling truth (form is correct) are the basis of human culture (the purpose of language is to tell these stories) and individual human behavior. When the orientation instinct is combined with initiation (dramatically imprinting a star based story designed to transfer the knowledge and skills required for the task of the initiation) then you have a religious system. The initiation process, done under the right circumstances, will cause a sudden change of consciousness, including the experience of union with all (perhaps mediated physically by release of DMT).
The symbolic goal of any religious system is to reach the summer (Eden, Land of Living) and spring (tree of life, alchemical marriage) by starting with the present world (cosmic mountain/wasteland) and passing through an ordeal/initiation/sacrifice (tree of knowledge). Thus, the sacrificial tree dominated by the beheading of the Bull (or some other similar image) is the heart of religious symbolism.
Understanding this basic scheme you can figure out the source and commonalities of many myths (since they are all telling the same basic four stories): Idylls of Eden (road stories/ adventure tales), the losing and finding of the Other (comedies and romances), the wasteland and dragon-guarded treasure (horror, fairy tales, black humor), and the sacrifice of the hero (tragedies).
Monday, February 11, 2008
Listen to this song every day!
I Like Giants
by Kimya Dawson
When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road, turn out the lights, get out and look up at the sky
And I do this to remind me that I'm really, really tiny
In the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me
But it's only really scary cause it makes me feel serene
In a way I never thought I'd be because I've never been
So grounded, and so humbled, and so one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
When I saw Geneviève I really liked it when she said
What she said about the giant and the lemmings on the cliff
She said 'I like giants
Especially girl giants
Cause all girls feel too big sometimes
Regardless of their size
I'm smaller than a poppyseed inside a great big bowl
And the ocean is a giant that can swallow me whole
So I swim for all salvation and I swim to save my soul
But my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado
So I flip to my back and I float and I sing
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
So I talked to Geneviève and almost cried when she said
That the giant on the cliff wished that she was dead
And the lemmings on the cliff wished that they were dead
So the giant told the lemmings why they ought to live instead
When she thought up all those reasons that they ought to live instead
It made her reconsider all the sad thoughts in her head
So thank you Geneviève, cause you take what is in your head
And you make things that are so beautiful and share them with your friends
We all become important when we realize our goal
Should be to figure out our role within the context of the whole
And yeah, rock and roll is fun, but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
And I don't wanna make her cry
Cause I like giants
by Kimya Dawson
When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road, turn out the lights, get out and look up at the sky
And I do this to remind me that I'm really, really tiny
In the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me
But it's only really scary cause it makes me feel serene
In a way I never thought I'd be because I've never been
So grounded, and so humbled, and so one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
When I saw Geneviève I really liked it when she said
What she said about the giant and the lemmings on the cliff
She said 'I like giants
Especially girl giants
Cause all girls feel too big sometimes
Regardless of their size
I'm smaller than a poppyseed inside a great big bowl
And the ocean is a giant that can swallow me whole
So I swim for all salvation and I swim to save my soul
But my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado
So I flip to my back and I float and I sing
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
So I talked to Geneviève and almost cried when she said
That the giant on the cliff wished that she was dead
And the lemmings on the cliff wished that they were dead
So the giant told the lemmings why they ought to live instead
When she thought up all those reasons that they ought to live instead
It made her reconsider all the sad thoughts in her head
So thank you Geneviève, cause you take what is in your head
And you make things that are so beautiful and share them with your friends
We all become important when we realize our goal
Should be to figure out our role within the context of the whole
And yeah, rock and roll is fun, but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
And I don't wanna make her cry
Cause I like giants
Balto, we'll never forget you
The big news of one era--this one just 80 years ago--almost forgotten now except for this statue in Central Park.
http://www.baltostruestory.com/index.htm
The yearly Iditarod race commemorates this event--the greatest event in the history of mushing--rushing diptheria vaccine to Nome to stave off an epidemic.
How our daily concerns, our intersections of fear and laughter, melt like snowflakes in the sun of time.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
No ideas but in things
http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Poetry/Williams/A_Sort_of_a_Song
A SORT OF A SONG
Let the snake wait under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait,
sleepless.
---through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Saxifrage is my flower that splits
the rocks.
William Carlos Williams
A SORT OF A SONG
Let the snake wait under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait,
sleepless.
---through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Saxifrage is my flower that splits
the rocks.
William Carlos Williams
Saturday, February 9, 2008
The Zeitgeist caught up with Ginsberg in 1968
New Yorker 17 August 1968
"...he turned up at a rally at Town Hall protesting the indictment of Dr. Benjamin Spock for encouraging resistance to the draft. He spent the rest of January digging up information on the sins of the American military-industrial complex, and in February, armed with statistics, he left for a tour of thirty or forty colleges. In March, he was in Washington, talking with Robert Kennedy about the war. When the Democrats meet in Chicago, he will be there with his bells on, for "a mass manifestation of gaiety" by a few hunderd thousand of his friends."
For an account of what happened there a week after the publication date read here: http://www.geocities.com/athens/delphi/1553/c68chron.html
In March he talked with Bobby Kennedy; in June Kennedy was dead. The "manifestation of gaiety" was a bloodbath. The revolution ended before it started. Nixon, an obviously evil person, became president. (Raised in the culture of evil, I worked for his election as a Teenage Republican.) The ideas of the "amalgamated hippie-pacifist-activist visionary-orgiastic-anarchist-Orientalist-psychedelic underground" sown in our meat minds by Ginsberg et al -- as silly as they seemed -- remain on the edge of the scythe. In altered forms, some more sophisticated, some less, they continue to struggle with the same foes, wearing the same suits, a half century later.
Will I live long enough ever to see something new?
God, I hope so.
"...he turned up at a rally at Town Hall protesting the indictment of Dr. Benjamin Spock for encouraging resistance to the draft. He spent the rest of January digging up information on the sins of the American military-industrial complex, and in February, armed with statistics, he left for a tour of thirty or forty colleges. In March, he was in Washington, talking with Robert Kennedy about the war. When the Democrats meet in Chicago, he will be there with his bells on, for "a mass manifestation of gaiety" by a few hunderd thousand of his friends."
For an account of what happened there a week after the publication date read here: http://www.geocities.com/athens/delphi/1553/c68chron.html
In March he talked with Bobby Kennedy; in June Kennedy was dead. The "manifestation of gaiety" was a bloodbath. The revolution ended before it started. Nixon, an obviously evil person, became president. (Raised in the culture of evil, I worked for his election as a Teenage Republican.) The ideas of the "amalgamated hippie-pacifist-activist visionary-orgiastic-anarchist-Orientalist-psychedelic underground" sown in our meat minds by Ginsberg et al -- as silly as they seemed -- remain on the edge of the scythe. In altered forms, some more sophisticated, some less, they continue to struggle with the same foes, wearing the same suits, a half century later.
Will I live long enough ever to see something new?
God, I hope so.
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