Getting Off Your Face For Jesus

Friend pornoculture posted this Huxley quote elsewhere, which has made me think a bit.

A similar conclusion will be reached by those whose philosophy is unduly "spiritual." God, they will insist, is a spirit and is to be worshiped in spirit. Therefore an experience which is chemically conditioned cannot be an experience of the divine. But, one way or another, all our experiences are chemically conditioned, and if we imagine that some of them are purely "spiritual," purely "intellectual," purely "aesthetic," it is merely because we have never troubled to investigate the internal chemical environment at the moment of their occurrence.

Furthermore, it is a matter of historical record that most contemplatives worked systematically to modify their body chemistry, with a view to creating the internal conditions favorable to spiritual insight. When they were not starving themselves into low blood sugar and a vitamin deficiency, or beating themselves into intoxication by histamine, adrenalin and decomposed protein, they were cultivating insomnia and praying for long periods in uncomfortable position in order to create the psycho-physical symptoms of stress. In the intervals they sang interminable psalms, thus increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the lungs and blood stream, or, if they were Orientals, they did breathing exercises to accomplish the same purpose.

Today we know how to lower the efficiency of the cerebral reducing valve by direct chemical action, and without the risk of inflicting serious damage on the psychophysical organism. ... Knowing as he does (or at least as he can know, if he so desires) what are the chemical conditions of transcendental experience, the aspiring mystic should turn for technical help to the specialists-in pharmacology, in biochemistry, in physiology and neurology. And on their part, of course, the specialists (if any of them aspire to be genuine men of science and complete human beings) should turn, out of their respective pigeonholes, to the artist, the sibyl, the visionary, the mystic-all those, in a word who have had experience of the Other World and who know ... what to do with the experience.

- Aldous Huxley 'Heaven and Hell'

I am not at present sure if we have a spirit as such or where it interacts, but I agree with my friend that we are much more physical than many believe. It's been one of my hobbyhorses for years that, if one accepts Y'shuan theology, Jesus was physically resurrected, now has some kind of body, and there will be a new earth in teh world to come.

I have only recently realised i am, by my practice, a supporter of drug-induced happy states. I must be, I drink alcohol, which is a drug. I also take caffeine, another drug, rather more than i used to. My alcohol use is sometimes with the intention of getting tipsy. (I stay away from getting really plastered, but it's a slippery slope definition.) Which is not to say i therefore support ALL drug states; I have never taken any other recreational drugs.

I haven't ever had what i consider a spiritual experience while drunk. And I am still of the opinion that drug experiences aren't spiritual, although will ponder Huxley's point that all our experiences are chemical-physical ones in the brain.

Two of the practicing neopagans i most respect are adamant that drug experiences are not spiritual experiences, and i've already quoted a buddhist monk saying the same thing.

I am wondering if drugs could be a gateway to the spirit, but we are not equipped to handle them in a discerning way, much like we are not equipped to handle encounters with other spirits well. (see http://www.christian-thinktank.com/sh6end.html and http://www.christian-thinktank.com/eyesopen.html for what i think are very insightful discussions of this topic)

listening toSaeed and Palash | Losing Control

The Earth is Magick. And Bloody Cold.

It's been a few years since I did a little reading around modern paganism (also called neo-paganism), notably Margot Adlers' sympathetic overview Drawing Down the Moon.

For those who are unfamiliar, the wikipedia article is a useful place to start, bearing in mind the dangers of relying on Wikkipedia too much. (There are Wikipedia articles on other topics I've read which have, if not error, a misleading use of language.)

I'm not a pagan but I went to a pagan camp/festival near Levin over the Easter weekend to hang out with some friends. I've been thinking about the experience, partly in response to other participants' responses. I will divide my response in two, namely my experience and my reflection on the long weekend.

My experience and feelings while there

Disclaimer: I'm well aware that a non-adherent of a religion usually makes mistakes in emphasis, nuance and understanding when writing about it. My apologies for any factual errors.

There were about 70 people or so there for the whole weekend, and i imagine with visitors the numbers would have been over 100. The whole thing reminded me of a slightly tacky christian church camp of the kind I used to go to. (Note, i do not identify as a christian any more, although even that simplifies things too much.) Most people camped; it was nice to be out under the stars drinking wine or cider and chatting. There was lots of free time to socialise, communal breakfast and evening meals, seminars and workshops and a sort of market where people were selling items like herbs, candles, jewelery and old-style “witchy” brooms (seriously). This was derided as Pagan 'bling' or 'tack' by one or two I was at the festival with. Pentacles abounded. (Star-like symbols, they can be six sided but the 5 sided pentagram type was more common. Not upside down tho' - only naughty people wear those.) I went to 3 seminars that were focused on the academic or theoretical end of things which I really enjoyed. It was clearly stated several times by one seminar leader: “Modern Paganism/Witchcraft was invented by Gerald Gardner in 1954”.

Each night there was a ritual, followed by drumming and dancing around a fire. The rituals were not well received by a minority. Some had issues with the ritual elements themselves (eg, “I didn't like it 'cos they used four watchtowers which is from Freemasonry and they had a priest and a priestess leading it”). To be fair, the organisers were trying to do their best to make the rituals inclusive of the diversity that is neopaganism (see below.) Some people simply found the rituals tacky, contrived, unconvincing, fake or couldn't respect those leading them. I was in this second group. Whatever its failings, one thing Episcopalian christianity has learned is how to do robed-up liturgical rituals well. The second night's ritual was very late, and long. Fortunately I missed that as the second two nights a small number including myself chose not to go to the rituals because of our dissatisfaction.

The second and third nights were used to celebrate Samhein (pronounced “Sow-win”) two weeks early, the organisers acknowledged. The third night, the ritual was led by someone else and appeared to be much more satisfying. I liked the sitting around the fire talking, drumming and dancing and joined in that afterwards, tho' it was much more restrained than i would have liked. For Samhein in remembrance of his Irish Celtic ancestors one guy painted his face and arms with woad. OK, it was acrylic paint and mud. Needs must. I thought it was cool. No-one was nude (“skyclad”) at the fest by the way.

At Magick Earth I was trying to understand paganism, participate where I felt comfortable and simply experience, not to criticise. Sometimes that was hard as some of it seemed rather silly to me. But then much human behaviour is silly, and certainly other religions do silly stuff. What matters, is whether it is true. ('True' is a loaded word, for some. More on that another time.)

Robes were the fashion du jour, although mainly at night. At first I thought the robes were a bit silly, but they're very practical when your religion involves standing outside in the Autumnal cold for hours. Some robes were in crushed velvet. I saw one woman in a native South American traditional costume. I should also add the couple of women who were into belly dancing and dressed er... pseudo Persian at night. (There was a seminar on belly dancing too.)

It's fascinating, i am at a unique point in history where i can watch a religion birthed and develop. Neo-paganism is a young spirituality, with the concomitant challenges baby religions face. Or rather, it's a family of religions as Paganism is not a single unified entity.

Paganism is fairly diverse, although the Wikipedia article above does mention common threads. There are wiccans, who are pagan, but not all pagans are wiccans, and druids who can be pagan, but also can be christian or buddhist or other. Most people seemed to believe in a goddess. The goddess is often paired with a god. The exact cosmology, and how the world got here I can't comment on. I got the impression some believe the goddess/god are like Jungian archetypes “made real” somehow. Some seem content to acknowledge their beliefs are “made up”, but it's obviously still valid to them. I'd like to hear more of their opinion on that.

Some happily derive their beliefs and practices from a mixture of sources. Others are “reconstructionists” following mainly one type of spirituality, eg Celtic reconstructionists who are trying to reconstruct what we know of ancient Celtic religion. A small number were Christopagans and/or Christian Wiccans, trying to syncretise Christianity and Pagan beliefs. I learned New Age beliefs are not necessarily pagan, but many practices of New Age followers are also used by some Pagans, eg the tarot, astrology and the belief in the beneficial powers of crystals. No pagans are practicing satanists as such; nor do most believe in satan as they don't believe in the christian worldview. These were generally what might be called 'humanitarian' pagans, although I'm interested in how a “dark” or “shadow” side might fit with this, and why it is not also practiced. There was the occasional belittling and discussion of christianity, with varying degrees of accuracy. Which might be expected if christianity is considered the dominant religious influence in New Zealand - a thesis which is arguable in my opinion.

And then there's the sociocultural blends which are not explicitly pagan – or are they? Many festivalgoers seemed to be into tie dye or medieval clothing – 1 or 2 there were part of medieval reenactment groups. A few were in jeans and heavy metalish clothing. Plenty of tattoos and piercings, so i fit right in ;-) A few dressed pretty plainly. I couldn't help thinking Paganism's dress sense is remarkably similar to Boganism. Or hippiedom. Oh, and many of the pagans there at least had a sense of humour about all this.

I did think, if Magick Earth is representative of modern paganism, the people who write scaremongering books have nothing to fear.

Another thing I came away with was a renewed conviction that religion, spirituality and belief is something that should be discussed in the public domain. There is something in Kiwi culture that says it should be private in the same way most people don't discuss their sex lives. I think open, respectful and frank discussion is vitally important both for society and to enrich/critique those who hold spiritual beliefs. Which, let's face it, is the vast majority of people, much to many atheists' disgust.

So much for this limited account of my experience. Overall I enjoyed myself, especially the chance to socialise and relax, and learn something new. Something I want to explore further is the concept of integrity and how it relates to pagan ethics. And perhaps a few other things.

I will save that for next time.

Spotting Spiritual Reality

Sadly, it's easier to spot fakes, charlatans and plain lame-o s than the real thing. Some people I know are hosting a spiritual type guy for a speaking/workshop thingy. I read the blurb about it, and it bothered me.

One big clue for me: He's charging significant $$$ per day. If any of that money goes to him, or to some 'charity' that is actually funding him, to support his lifestyle, that's a big warning bell.

There's an interesting connection between the few spiritual leaders I respect: Y'shua (Jesus), Gautama (called the Buddha), various lesser sages and leaders (Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Junior) etc:

They didn't charge money for helping people.

Consequently, some of them lived very frugal lives. Even Paul (an ex Jewish rabbi who wrote many of the letters in the Second Testament) insisted on working for his living wherever he went, even tho' he acknowledged he had a fair case to be hosted for free.

(Incidentally, Mohammed was always a businessman and later a warrior, and got rich off his first wife. No comment.)

So yeah. Having been around spiritual stuff for most of my life, I am thinking "X and Y, you are lovely people... how have you let yourselves become duped by this guy?"

As another friend pointed out, in practical terms it costs a bit to hire out the venue, but realistically, you can talk to people (which is essentially what he's doing) anywhere.

And that's my thought exactly. There are plenty of little halls and spaces that don't charge much at all. To be honest, why not host him in your living room? That's what the early christians did, they didn't have big, lush, pointless meeting places.

True spirituality doesn't require a beautiful, comfortable, catered conference centre to connect with g0d (or become enlightend, or whatever). Ironically, things like deserts, storms and poverty seem to do a better job. If one MUST have beauty, why not find a friendly farmer, hire a small marquee ($1000) and do it there?

An expensive workshop also means only true believers are likely to be there. This makes it safe for the speaker, because otherwise people like me might stand up and say "BULL****!" ;) But a spirituality that can't stand challenge maybe isn't worth the saffron robe it comes in.

I'm sure the guy is a nice guy. I just don't think he's really "got it". Just a gut feeling.


listenig to Mortal | MuJo (uncertainty mix)

Spong Sung Blue

At the beach, doing busy, stressful-type things like play poker, watch Sonboy kayak, lie on the beach and read while Sonboy boogie-boards, and drink wine. And of course, read.

I've been neglecting the books I brought in favour of John Spong's áutobiography 'Here I Stand'. If you haven't heard of him, he's America's most famous liberal bishop in the Episcopalian (Anglican) church.

It's interesting. I haven't read much of his other works, but now I guess I''ll have to, to put flesh on the ideas he proposes, and see if there's any backbone to them.

Spong is wonderfully open to ideas of social justice while seeming to be oblivious to the inherent classism of the Anglican style of doing things. He seems, to this quasi anarchist, to be overly comfortable with hierarchy and power. It's not surprising he's so political when his church is so full of rich folks trying to be good.

He writes quite openly of the rudeness of others, notably the 'fundamentalists' both within and without his church. Yet he makes rude comments about them. Perhaps that's the result of years of being insulted for his beliefs. Nevertheless, one wishes for more graciousness from one who supposedly preaches grace. He also has an unsettling certainty he is right that smacks of a liberal fundamentalism in its own right.

Still, Judeo-churchianity - as any human group - has always had flawed leaders from Moses through Paul, Augustine, Luther, Martin Luther King et al.

He has lots of worthwhile insights into leadership, and i liked his ideas of church leadership thinking through issues in public rather than trying to pretend they have all the answers from day one.

One thing I identified with:

In my typical left-brained way I retreated to my library. I must master my inner debates intellectually before I can master them emotionally.

This indicates to me that on Enneagram terms, he's a typical 5. A healthy 5 moves to the leadership of the 8, which also makes sense of Spong's life.

Again, one wonders what differentiates him from the Glen Benton's of this world when one reads his "twelve theses", in an appendix - Spong does insist they be read in the context of the book they come from, which I shall do in due time.

Nevertheless, the first two being (in my words):

1. There is no theistic God
2. Jesus, as expression of said God, never existed.

It's hard, in the light of those two, and the rest of his theses to see how, in any sense, he can be called "christian". He insists he loves the "church", which I can only guess means a kind of social club for people who want to do social justice and be nice to others. Why not ditch the ecclesiology and just join Rotary then?




If I don't get back to the 'puter beforehand, Merry New Year, all.

God Loses Out To Fame

From the Independent

[from research carried out through schools for National Kids' Day which was at the weekend.]



The children put God in tenth place of the best things in the world, the supreme being losing out to families, friends, pop music and watching films. He did, however, come first in the list of the most famous people, beating US President George W. Bush and Madonna into second and third place. Father Christmas is number five, with Jesus at number four.

Children may have relegated God for worldly pleasures but their parents haven't. Eight out of ten Britons believe that celebrating the birth of Christ is an integral part of Christmas, according to another poll.

And 90 per cent of those polled complained that Christmas has been too commercialised.

Nearly two thirds - 62 per cent - said that Christmas made them think about spiritual things, and 77 per cent said that Christmas made them think about what was important to them.

listening toBanco de Gaia | Coming Down the Mountain

Sex and Hell

(click to enlarge)

from the wonderful Sinfest http://www.sinfest.net Can't remember where i first saw Sinfest - possibly in LA at Hazey's?

Saint Paul's Tomb Found

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

The tomb of St Paul the Apostle has been found under one of Rome's largest churches and the stone coffin will shortly be raised to the surface to allow pilgrims to see it.

The remains of St Paul, one of the Christian Church's most important leaders and the supposed author of much of the New Testament, have been hidden under an altar at St Paul Outside-the-Walls for almost 200 years.

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains
of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

"I have no doubt that this is the tomb of St Paul, as revered by Christians in the fourth century," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who made the discovery.

Dr Filippi will present the results of his scientific tests on the remains of the saint on Monday at the Vatican. St Paul's sarcophagus was found after five years of extensive excavations at the church, which is second only in size to St Peter's in Rome. Dr Filippi began looking for the tomb at the request of Archbishop Francesco Gioia, within whose jurisdiction the church falls. ...

St Paul Outside-the-Walls has been rebuilt several times since it was erected by the Emperor Constantine, most recently in 1823 following a fire.

The archaeologists had to descend into a series of tunnels and chambers that dated to the fourth century. There they found a marble plaque inscribed with "Paul the Apostle, Martyr". St Paul's remains lay underneath a stone slab ...

The sarcophagus is thought to date from AD390, when the Emperor Theodosius "saved" the remains and moved them to the site, near the Appian Way. St Paul, was born in Tarsus, a city that used to stand in the Mersin province of Turkey, shortly after Jesus.

Originally named Saul, and Jewish, he converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus. He was arrested in Jerusalem for being Christian and subsequently exercised his right as a Roman citizen to a trial in Rome.

According to the Bible, St Paul was imprisoned in Rome.

The traditional legend states that he was beheaded in the city around AD64. The head is not thought to be with the rest of the remains.

Instead, it is supposed to be located inside a silver bust at the St John Lateran church on the Celian hill. St Peter's head is also thought to be there.

from the Daily Telegraph, December 8 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/08/wstpaul08.xml

Wow. It's eerie for me to realise there may be actual physical remains of people who knew Y'shua. I remember feeling somewhat awed when visiting the Basilica San Marco in Venice (where the remains of Mark are). I had no idea Peter and Paul had been beheaded either. I have heard the tradition that Peter asked to be crucified upside down, because he didn't consider himself worthy to die in the same way as his master. The first inverted cross, perhaps.


listening to Metallica | Nothing Else Matters (in my head, 'cos i pulled out my battered old guitar and tried to play it)

Why Satanists Should Burn Churches

Now I am decided. I must go to Deicide to exorcise my demons. All my blogs for the past few days have been about Stantanism. I must resist!

(Stantanism being the worship of a mythical being called 'Stan'. Not to be confused with Santanism, which is a materialistic religion corrupted from churchianity, involving hedonistic orgies of buying stuff in preparation for the return at the winter solstice of an evil and ancient demigod in a red suit.)

Anyway, on to the issue at hand: Satanists SHOULD burn churches. If they won't, christians should.

A few Satanists have already tried it on, mainly in Scandanavia. Although it's likely that most of these burnings were simply bored teenagers trying to keep warm. It's freakin' cold up there.

I think church burning is a good thing. Apart from buildings with architectural/historical beauty which i kinda like, most of these buildings either have little utility or are easily replaceable. Note that burning churches with people still inside them is extremely bad form.

Churchianity has nothing to fear. If their g0d is real, they will survive and flourish. A buildingless faith will purge and improve churchianity. After all, it started as a buildingless faith, hovering around the temple of the 'old' faith and largely meeting in peoples' houses or catacombs full of dead bones (very satanic), until after a few hundred years churchianity became so successful that it took over state temples formerly dedicated to Roman gods. And speaking of which, "mergers and acquisitions" is another approach Satanists could take.

You see, i think this church burning thing is a form of jealousy. Satanists are a group of small, and kinda disenchanted cults infighting with each other. Just like any other religion. They're jealous 'cos they don't get to have cool buildings dedicated to the propagation of their worldview. Apart from the so-called "Hollywood Satanists" who follow Anton La Vey (R.I.UP.). Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) is a Holywood Satanist. I think the H.S sect probably has enough money to have a building, or maybe a bookshop, or a cute little roadside shrine on Sunset Boulevard. But I digress. Again.

Taking over another religion's worship places is a well established g0d-thing to do, dating back thousands of years. Take, for example, the muslims. When violently conquering Byzantium (formerly Constantinople, now Istanbul in Turkey) they took over the Hagia Sofia basilica and turned it into a supermosque. Or the fanatical atheists running the USSR who turned many Russian Orthodox churches into museums or bingo halls. The hostile takeover has a proud and ancient precedent when it comes to competing religious business.

I mean, how cool would it be if in Scandanavia you could find a beautiful old church that's been painted entirely black and had all the crosses inverted? Hell, I'D go there to worship, and that's saying something.




===

[removed] In a massive cultural blunder - or was it? - a Japanese Santanist cult once produced plastic effigies of St Nick (aka 'old Nick') crucified - what more evidence do we need? After investigation, I discovered this is probably an urban myth, although strangely, Santa has been crucified on at least one occasion in the USA. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/crucified_santa


listening to Def Leppard | Animal !? Aargh! Felyne likes DL. Hmph. Changed the station to something playing Pink | It's Just You And Your Hand (All this in an attempt to get death metal out of my head. )

Happy Tuesday

Arrived at work today to find a small bottle of bubbly on my desk. This is to say I've been nominated for another well done award, which will be presented at our Christmas party if I win the overall award. Yay me, and yay for a nice workplace. A nice way to start the day.


listening to Rotor | Reel to Reel

The Spirituality of Dating

Reading the mystics can help us to understand the impermanence we sometimes experience from loving another, the insecurity, and the unfulfilled longing that accompany any relationship. But they also convince us that despite these difficulties, moments of love, however short or long they may last, are worth all the risks we take on their behalf. If we never open ourselves to the possibility of love, we will never experience the transformation possible when it walks in, and sometimes out, of our lives.

From http://www.beliefnet.com/story/160/story_16055.html channeled via GoodMateTim. Thanks!

Nice people

I have some lovely friends. They are a large part of what makes life as good as it is. A long time ago I decided i would only deal with nice people in business, and even more so in life. This from Theatregirl in Chicago, who i haven't seen for 5 years. I'm a bit uncertain whether to share it, but it really made my day

I really believe you were blessed with an amazing gift of creativity! You are the most creative person I have met - always coming up with ideas whether it be for music, your writing, your thoughts ----- you have so much energy and enthusiasm, which I'm sure is contagious to others around you. :-)

Thanks gurl (blush).



listening to Motorhead | Killed By Death (live)

Happiness

I've woken up happy and content every day for the last 3 weeks, so I thought I should record this momentous occasion. Happiness and contentment are so underrated, and yet if you ask people what they truly want out of life, every single one of them will say "I want to be happy".

I had a lovely dinner last night with a friend, work is going well, flat is going well, my music/writing is going well, my exercise life is going well, relations with my family and friends are well. I have no girlfriend, and don't need one. But most of these haven't actually changed significantly in the last 2 months. What's changed is I've changed. I am happy.

I'm 37 and I've already achieved my life goal. What more could I want?





listening to Boards of Canada | Music is Math

BAD New Zealand Herald!

Well, turns out that all is fine with Keisha (see previous post). If you get today's NZ Herald using the old technology (actual processed wood pulp printed newspaper) on page A9 it says

Keisha's New Zealand agent Gail Cowan said yesterday: "It's not that she wasn't invited. She's filming in Australia and can't do it. It never even got to 'are you invited' because they knew she wasn't available. There's nothing unusual about that If you are shooting in Australia it's difficult to be on the other side of the world at the same time.

"A month or two ago we got the list through of various publicity engagements and she just wasn't able to do any of them becuase the only area of availability she had was one or two days at a time, which doesn't even cover flights."

When asked how Keisha felt about not being able to attend the premiere, she said: "She's just busy shooting. That's just part of her career, part of her life. We get so sick of everybody having an opinion on her life and her career and what must be the case when it's just supposition."

So shame on the NZ Herald website for not doing better reporting, not checking their facts, and writing in such a way as to imply a slur. Maybe there's some anti-catholic people on their editorial staff? [Imply a slur - me? ;-)]

I noticed they've rewritten the online story - but it still doesn't include what the paper says: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00098A84-333C-155A-8DBC83027AF1015D

Thanks to Jen for discovering the newsprint version, which i never read - online all the way, baby.


listening to Minuit | Claire (hi guys, long time no talk)

Keisha not on guest list for Vatican premiere

Keisha Castle-Hughes

10.30am Wednesday November 15, 2006

She may have played the mother of Christ in an upcoming film, but it appears Keisha Castle-Hughes is not welcome in the Vatican City.

The 16-year-old actress, who announced her shock pregnancy last month, did not make the guest list for next month's The Nativity Story premiere, despite playing the lead role as the Virgin Mary.

Director Catherine Hardwicke, actors Shohreh Aghdashloo and Oscar Isaac, and 7000 other guests will attend the event, which will be the first-ever film premiere in the Vatican.

The Nativity Story will screen at the Vatican on November 26, before opening in New Zealand on November 30.

The Nativity Story tells the classic tale of the birth of Christ, regarded by many as a cornerstone of the Christian faith.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10410853

I'm spending a lot of time on the net today for work (honest) and i keep bumping into interesing things. I HOPE this is merely some kind of stupid mistake on the part of the vatican. Regardless of the rights or wrongs of having a child out of wedlock, pregnant women need support. Or would the vatican rather she had an abortion instead?

listening to Nothing! Hey, I just realised Winamp's stopped... will fix that.

Moby Moby Moby

Ever since buying an early mix CD and then hearing "Everything Is Wrong" I've liked Moby. (Although not so into his more recent output.)

Just read this on the NZWW this am

Moby: I want gay kids

Moby has declared that if he has children, he wants them to be gay. “They are less likely to get into a fight and less likely to date-rape people,” the musician explains, adding, “I’m straight but I’ve grown up around gay people and gay clubs. They are superior to straight people. If you have a gay child you’re more inclined to be a prouder parent.” The dance maestro, who was involved in a lengthy feud with rapper Eminem, also says he is bemused by the ribbing he receives from other celebrities. "I don't know why I am so loathed. There was a point when it seemed everyone hated me. I don't know why. It boggled my mind why I seemed to be the most hated person in the world. All I did was talk about politics. Maybe if I acted more like a d*ck and misogynist, I would be a press darling." [7 November 2006]

AND

friend David Hazey in CA posted this to the blj forum the other day - three FASCINATING mp3 interviews with Moby, well worth a listen. (Thanks David!)

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/10/moby-audio-interview-everything-is.html

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/10/moby-audio-interview-everything-is_12.html

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/10/moby-audio-interview-everything-is_26.html


listening to my workmates whinging

Buddha and Drugs

interesting...

The Fifth Precept: 'I undertake the rule of training to refrain from distillled and fermented intoxicants producing heedlessness'. (1)

... All the [first] four precepts depend for their purity, upon constant vigilance and if the mind is overcome by intoxicants, then what harm may not result?

(footnote 1) It is significant that all substances producing a distortion of normal human experience find a place under the Fifth Precept. In India, both ancient and modern, the use of drugs to stimulate 'religious' experiences including visual and auditory hallucinations, has been and is very well known and quite widely practised. The 'insights' claimed by some who in the present day take mescalin, etc, should be tested against the difference which these experiences make to the forces of greed, aversion and delusion in their hearts and conduct. Particulartly if it is claimed that these drugs offer a kind of shortcut to Enlightenment, whether called vipassana or satori, then it must be stressed that no real shortcut of this sort is possible and such experience cannot replace effort spread over years or even over lives.

from Buddhism Explained by Bhikkhu Khantipalo (Buddha Educational Foundation, Singapore, circa 1973)


listening to Kate Bush : The man with the child in his eyes

God FAQ

http://www.400monkeys.com/God/

listening to: Frontline Assembly : Dissident

Agnostic Pi

It's not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

from Life of Pi by Yann Martell.

listening to Queensryche : Silent Lucidity

Take The Blue Pill?

Heh heh. I love it.



here's a news story about this poster. IMO I think allowing priests to marry would do more for their recruitment, but hey, it's fun.

listening to: Coldcut : Journeys by DJ

More on Athens, Original Blaspheming

I like Athens a lot. I could live here. It's a college town, so the average intellect is probably slightly higher than in surrounding counties. All the women have tattoos. I mean, ALL of them. Most of them are ugly (the tattoos, not the women). There are good places to eat, and good wine. I even bought a T-shirt from the Globe (an irish pub), mainly because i wanted a black T-shirt so I could go see Deicide in Atlanta without feeling a social reject. I could have seen Autechre too on the same night, but I didn't end up going to anything. I did catch Annaray and two other bands at the 40 Watt Club in Athens though. Annaray were good, reminded me a lot of Fugazi.

I've been reading bits of Original Blessing by Matthew Fox. The intro is good. I can agree with lots of what he says, and he's certainly got lots of useful quotes, links to writers i haven't come across and thought-provokation. It's possible that what he characterises as fall/redemption theology can embrace more of his theme issues than he gives it credit for. I mustn't forget that he comes out of what could be regarded as a rather repressive tradition - like most of churchianity. I don't think the book is well written, I keep thinking "yes, but what is your POINT?". It keeps skating over the surface and appears like a wish list rather than a coherent and well defended theology; perhaps intentional as I don't think Fox likes that sort of approach. I do like anything that makes me think afresh, even though it's now 20 years old.

I bought Mindphaser by Front Line Assembly, and XTORT by KMFDM on CD. Those are hard to get in New Zealand, so I was chuffed.



listening to KMFDM | Power