tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post8607324267360207129..comments2024-03-28T12:10:26.197-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: The Cosmic SlacktuaryGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-90213657739326131952007-11-25T09:51:00.000-08:002007-11-25T09:51:00.000-08:00I have recently experienced the negative vibration...I have recently experienced the negative vibration of deviant art and witnessed first hand the impact such madness can iflict upon consciouness. Typical Hollywood garbage, yet it also had the license of a murderous video game. It made me sick, especially because there was a part of me that was drawn to and titillated by the anguish inducing vitriol. Mind parasites, pain-body, call it what you will. Either way, my lesson was learned, and from here on out I am going to consume more mindfully in with my senses. I will share something that I wrote with the hope that leaves you with a feeling of Love arising within Awareness.<BR/><BR/>Alive by Jason Turner<BR/><BR/>I can see the faces in Shakespearean tree-tops and angel-wing clouds. Comical and terrifying and beautiful.<BR/>A glimpse of tomorrows dreams and nightmares projecting from me with heaven sent vision.<BR/>Under its spell I gaze at the possibilities of a breathing reality, a Universe within silent Light. Traveling along imagination into hyperspace skies and rainbowed night-times. Witnessing beyond with mature awareness. Alive to the One celebrated in countless blessed forms. Then tears of overwhelming joy chirp with vitalizing laughter as they spill from my eyeslike kundalini waterfalls. Open and free and accepting to the humming life that is ever present, I inhale the bliss of this moment. This Form. And smile serenely at the divine face of Being.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-80502728435295994412007-11-24T16:08:00.000-08:002007-11-24T16:08:00.000-08:00Actually, Dilys nailed my motivation for coming he...Actually, Dilys <I>nailed</I> my motivation for coming here: "...thrill-seeking spiritual hedonism..."<BR/><BR/>Isn't that why we all come?<BR/><BR/>Bob wrote, "Thus, a spiritual sanctuary is a "place" where our soul and intelligence are able to find comfort and rest (which is the true meaning of the sabbath)."<BR/><BR/>I thought it was interesting to compare that language to Schuon's, a few sentences earlier in the post, describing a sanctuary as, "...constructed to facilitate resonances of the spirit..."<BR/><BR/>Speaking personally, the <I>resonances</I> you provide at OC are what give the <I>comfort and rest!</I> In other words, the comfort and rest are "active, not passive."<BR/><BR/>And, thanks for the referral(s) to FFW; glad the post was helpful/useful.walthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388218390016612051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1706567402367240162007-11-24T15:37:00.000-08:002007-11-24T15:37:00.000-08:00More on-thread as to art and beauty, talking of cr...More on-thread as to art and beauty, talking of criteria. One of the challenges in I encounter as a generalist in discussing these things is a convincing grasp of the agreed-upon issues in aesthetics in order to plausibly condemn really vile art, as <A HREF="http://www.george-orwell.org/Benefit_of_Clergy:_Some_Notes_on_Salvador_Dali/0.html" REL="nofollow">Orwell addresses in connection with Salvador Dali</A>.<BR/><BR/><EM>He is an exhibitionist and a careerist, but he is not a fraud. He has fifty times more talent than most of the people who would denounce his morals and jeer at his paintings. And these two sets of facts, taken together, raise a question which for lack of any basis of agreement seldom gets a real discussion.<BR/><BR/>The point is that you have here a direct, unmistakable assault on sanity and decency; and even - since some of Dali's pictures would tend to poison the imagination like a pornographic postcard - on life itself. What Dali has done and what he has imagined is debatable, but in his outlook, his character, the bedrock decency of a human being does not exist. He is as anti-social as a flea. Clearly, such people are undesirable, and a society in which they can flourish has something wrong with it.</EM><BR/><BR/>(from the traditionalist-Catholic artist Daniel Mitsui's blog, <A HREF="http://www.danielmitsui.com/hieronymus/index.blog/1759995/diseased-and-disgusting-george-orwell-on-salvador-dali/" REL="nofollow">The Cardinal and the Unicorn</A>)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-30801422498717448292007-11-24T15:10:00.000-08:002007-11-24T15:10:00.000-08:00I agree "cooties" is not an entirely fai...I agree "cooties" is not an entirely fair characterization of Jim's concerns. <BR/><BR/>It's a question of criteria. Is the criterion "rest," or "plausibility," or the surface credibilty of the exponent(s), or rumor, or some other sense of Truth? <BR/><BR/>Distinguishing among the motives of<BR/><EM>-- spiritual ambition, <BR/>-- thrill-seeking spiritual hedonism, <BR/>-- confirmation that one is already "right", <BR/>-- generalized eschatological anxiety,</EM> and <BR/><EM>-- the state of genuine inquiry with a tentative, humble willingness to watch and wait</EM><BR/>seems essential. My own faith is that that last condition, if energetic and sincere, will not lead us in the end astray, while waiting to know as we are known. Inasmuch as we have presumably decided that the universe is <A HREF="http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/" REL="nofollow">at root friendly</A>.<BR/><BR/>The accomplished contemplative Bernadette Roberts maintains that Christianity replicates itself by a metaphorical "tap on the shoulder," by which one "meets and knows." The function of the Church is primarily to safeguard the doctrine so that the seeker knows what is actually on offer, and provide the sacramental on-the-ground care for its adherents.<BR/><BR/>Much of what passed for my own Christian background consisted of little in-depth insight, only rote rehearsal, sentimental emotion, and propaganda-like efforts to immunize the flock against anything not "trademarked;" without on the other hand adequate scrutiny of what was handed out as food [mixed metaphor apology]. But to give it its due, Leslie G.'s care, while venturing seriously into a faith, to avoid too much mixing and matching of approaches, commends itself. It's probably partly a matter of temperament, and, like everything, it's all in the timing (as David Ives <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Timing" REL="nofollow">says</A> in his excellent view through the <EM>peepholes in this looneyverse</EM>.)<BR/><BR/>Anyone who believes in prayer might read Schoen, or anyone else, while asking for guidance and any necessary caution, S. being neither holy writ nor just another guy at the diner. As it happens, the more sincere questions I pose in the Christian context, the more interest -- if not 100% agreement -- I find with Schoen. And occasionally he offers certain <A HREF="http://goodandhappy.typepad.com/g_as_in_good_h_as_in_happ/files/schuon_virgin.jpg" REL="nofollow">meaningful insightful tag</A>s which can anchor Christian practices, full of pith that has been overlooked by the conventional potboiler-sermon careerist churchy establishment. Schoen won't "save" anyone. But, then, neither will a Bible verse, even contorting ourselves into a willed adrenaline response. They're both mere ripples while they remain on the level of a mere thought-epiphenomenon. It's the whole-person response, both affect and effect, the sets off the im/explosion.<BR/><BR/>Jim can, I believe, explore with an open mind, asking <EM>Is this true?</EM> and sorting propositions into "Oh, wow, probably true, let's let it marinate," "who knows?" and "not for me now." We do this with all our other reading.<BR/><BR/>And today's FrothFromWalt can't be beat as a sensible antidote to the pervasive posture of suspicion with which we moderns are likely by default to attack challenging, philosophically-high-octane material.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14714906064290219072007-11-24T14:32:00.000-08:002007-11-24T14:32:00.000-08:00--->Spiritual beauty is "limitlessness expressed b...--->Spiritual beauty is "limitlessness expressed by a limit," which is why perfect beauty cannot surpass itself. Elsewhere he writes that sacred art allows "spiritual influences to manifest themselves without encumbrance." At the same time, it allows man the possibility of "seeing what he should be" -- which implies the dangerous corollary of deviant art, which carries for humans the risk of being what we see.<BR/><BR/>Schuon writes of sacred art that it "is made to serve as a vehicle for spiritual presences," whereas wholly profane art "exists only for men and by that very fact betrays them." He points out that a true sanctuary for man is any place that "is constructed to facilitate resonances of the spirit, not oppose them." On the one hand, man has an inveterately searching, restless intelligence that seems never satisfied. And yet, there is also "something in our intelligence that wants to live in repose." Thus, a spiritual sanctuary is a "place" where our soul and intelligence are able to find comfort and rest (which is the true meaning of the sabbath). <---<BR/><BR/>In the Telegraph today: <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/20/wpope120.xml" REL="nofollow">Pope to purge the Vatican of modern music</A> a.k.a. as <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch" REL="nofollow"><I>kitsch</I></A>Mizz Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02325435271880036807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-85125491012611217922007-11-24T12:45:00.000-08:002007-11-24T12:45:00.000-08:00It may be a challenge -- you have to "elevate" you...It may be a challenge -- you have to "elevate" your game, since he's not going to come down to us. Try considering this <A HREF="http://frothfromwalt.blogspot.com/2007/11/vertical-assumptions.html" REL="nofollow">froth from Walt</A> to prepare yourself.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-17698803736841718292007-11-24T12:38:00.000-08:002007-11-24T12:38:00.000-08:00BobI agree and have ordered the book you recommend...Bob<BR/><BR/>I agree and have ordered the book you recommended today, I will give it a try, most of our reading assignments have been hard for me to get through so I don't take them lightly. JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-56125672036905983572007-11-24T12:32:00.000-08:002007-11-24T12:32:00.000-08:00Jim--Ultimately, as per my post today, it really d...Jim--<BR/><BR/>Ultimately, as per my post today, it really doesn't matter what Schuon nominally "was." In the final analysis, all that really matters is his affect upon you. He had many Christian followers, including, for example, Jame Cutsinger, who had no difficulty reconciling his Sufiism with their Christianity. You wouldn't reject the American constitiution just because a few of the people who signed it were deists -- or because it is nowhere mentioned in the pages of the Bible.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61728715873248271912007-11-24T12:17:00.000-08:002007-11-24T12:17:00.000-08:00Ximeze, I have no fear of coodies or actually much...Ximeze, I have no fear of coodies or actually much of anything of this world, my question is - how can someone be a follower of Mo and have insight to O. Nothing more or less just a question of authenticity. I'm not the brightest bulb on the string and much of what goes on here is above my pay grade, just don't want to waste my time on books on the soul when the writer don't got one. JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-37480755010767159652007-11-24T11:57:00.000-08:002007-11-24T11:57:00.000-08:00Oh goodie, Bob is back.With all the nonsense out t...Oh goodie, Bob is back.<BR/>With all the nonsense out there, trying to get in, really was not sure I'd last until Monday.<BR/><BR/>Jim said: "I have never been able to buy one of his books because......"<BR/><BR/>I bought copies of Mein Kamph & Das Kapital because I wanted to know what they said Infact, not hearsay filtered thru somebody else's eyes & mouth.<BR/><BR/>Did not turn into a Nazi or a Commie by reading them. Now I can better tag the true sources of the ideas & words that a load of Lefties believe are contained in the US Constitution & Bill of Rights.<BR/><BR/>"my problem as a Christian is with Frithjof Schuon..."<BR/><BR/>Sorry Jim, to me your comment reeks of fear: what, you'll take on writer's bias as a form of coodies by exposure? If you're concerned about bias, you might start with "Christian" bias against what can be viewed as source material for spiritual growth. Where did you get that? Is there a list of 'approved' reading? Hiding from the 'world' will not make you safer, just ignorant & unprepared.<BR/><BR/>Speaking of Getting Into People's Heads,<BR/>great review by Bruce Thornton of VDH which he titles: <BR/><BR/>How Freudian! Why mother Europe has forsaken America<BR/><BR/>A review of Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America by Andrei S. Markovits (Princeton University Press, 2007)<BR/><BR/>http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/<BR/>thornton112007.html<BR/><BR/>Here's a chance to read what Euro nutjobs use as justification for their chronic Anti-Semitism & Anti-Americanism. This review had me cracking up & as soon as I finish this comment, I'm off to the Library to pick up the copy on reserve for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-13191044465214372772007-11-24T11:38:00.000-08:002007-11-24T11:38:00.000-08:00"In my case, I could no more find rest in most of ..."In my case, I could no more find rest in most of what passes for Christianity than I could in the corner mosque."<BR/><BR/>I second that.<BR/><BR/>JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29773092098924250732007-11-24T11:19:00.000-08:002007-11-24T11:19:00.000-08:00You might start with a collection of his Writings ...You might start with a collection of his <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0941532585?ie=UTF8&tag=onecosmos-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0941532585" REL="nofollow">Writings on Christianity</A>, which will either deepen your understanding of your own faith, or they won't. Much, of course, depends upon where your particular soul and intelligence find rest. In my case, I could no more find rest in most of what passes for Christianity than I could in the corner mosque.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-47751354620332063692007-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:002007-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:00BobThanks I will get some to Schuon books and give...Bob<BR/><BR/>Thanks I will get some to Schuon books and give it a try.<BR/><BR/>JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-86833693121189013632007-11-24T10:55:00.000-08:002007-11-24T10:55:00.000-08:00Even if Mohammed had never existed, God's quirky c...Even if Mohammed had never existed, God's quirky criteria for selecting prophets would be noteworthy. In any event, if you actually want to know why Schuon felt Islam was salvific, you would have to read Schuon, for he has his reasons (bearing in mind that he was nobody's idea of a normative Muslim, being, as he was, the head of a Sufi order). <BR/><BR/>How about forgetting what you think you know, and just employing Walt's Razor:<BR/><BR/>1- Is it useful?<BR/>2- Is it important?<BR/>3- Does it help?Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-71897653443515295722007-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:002007-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:00Perhaps someone can help me with this. I read OC e...Perhaps someone can help me with this. I read OC everyday and really appreciate the insight, my problem as a Christian is with Frithjof Schuon, while his words are inspirational; I have never been able to buy one of his books because I keep coming back to the fact that he was a Mohammedan. I mean, how can anyone believe that Mohamed was selected by God to be his prophet when he was a bloodthirsty child molesting murdering sack of s**t that demanded the death of apostates? I’m very conflicted on this and would appreciate some thoughts, am I confusing the message with the messenger? Thanks JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com