[FairfieldLife] a poetry break for you
Let there be many windows in your soul that all the glory of the universe may beautify it. Not the narrow pane of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays that shine from countless sources. Tear away the blinds of superstition; let the light pour through fair windows broad as truth itself and high as heaven. Why should the spirit peer through some priest-curtained orifice, and grope along dim corridors of doubt, when all the splendor from unfathomed seas of space might bathe it with their golden seas of love? Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths, sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs, and throw your soul wide open to the light of reason and knowledge. Tune your ear to all the wordless music of the stars, and to the voice of nature, and your heart shall turn to truth and goodness, as the plant turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands reach down to help you from their peace crowned heights, and all the forces of the firmament shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid to thrust aside half truths and grasp the whole. ~ Ralph Waldo Trine ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
[FairfieldLife] GURU MOTHER by Opus III
I just made my first contribution to the world of wikipedia. I wrote a bit about the house music album GURU MOTHER by Opus III. I first discovered this album in 1995 while visiting Mt. Abu in Rajasthan, India, where I had gone to visit the famous Jain Delwara Temples. I always stopped by cassette shops, having acquired my first Walkman while in India, as listening to music was sometimes the only way to survive the horrible traveling conditions. Mt. Abu had beautiful weather, cooler than the rest of Rajasthan, and the Jain Temples were so beautiful that I spent almost a week there. This album was a very spiritual effort by Opus III, with very positive lyrics including one track that was a Sanskrit prayer (guru mother). It integrates strands of Eastern spirituality (the belief that all nature is divine) with ecology, but the lyrics are never political, more like uplifting mantras and prayers. The CD booklet also included the poem Let There Be Many Windows In Your Soul by Ralph Waldo Trine. Singer Kirsty Hawkshaw commented on the booklet: respect to all those who take big risks to preserve our beautiful countryside. to those who don't care about nature: without it we are nothing. all the sahaja yogis of the world and last but no least the holy spirit for guiding, inspiring and connecting us all the way. Kirsty has a very high, gentle voice which balances the dance-heavy electronic arrangements. I believe you can still find copies of this CD at CD Universe, or try other online retailers. ==-=-=-=-=- om=-=-= Nick ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
[FairfieldLife] Phil Ochs singing Here's To The State of Richard Nixon
Wow, I just found this video footage of Phil Ochs, David Dellinger, and Renny Davis at the John Sinclair concert/rally that also featured John Lennon. AMAZING rare footage of Here's to the State of Richard Nixon!! -==-=-=- om=-=-=- Nick _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jvBBIDzLg_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jvBBIDzLg)
[FairfieldLife] All Religions are One: William Blake
A HREF=http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=arojava=yes;All Religions are One (c. 1788): electronic edition/A All Religions are One Currently Available: All Religions are One, copy A, c. 1795 ( Multiple [2] Owners): electronic edition Dates are the probable dates of printing. Through aphoristic declarations and accompanying emblem-like designs, Blake argues for the essential unity of all religions as expressions of the Poetic Genius within all human beings. As the quoted phrase suggests, All Religions are One implies the unity of the artistic and religious imagination. Several of the numbered Principle[s], the term used as a heading to each text plate, assert a causal connection between inner spirit and outer body. Because of shared graphic styles, themes, and genre, All Religions are One is closely associated with There is No Natural Religion of the same year. Blake etched the work on ten small plates c. 1788. There is only one known copy (A), now in the Huntington Library. This copy, lacking the title page now in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, was printed (with some touches of rudimentary color printing) as a large-paper copy in 1795. Some years later, probably in 1818 or later, Blake returned to these impressions and drew between four and six framing lines in black ink around each plate. The pen and ink work in the designs may have been executed at this same late date. There is one further example of the title page, produced in a different printing and with hand coloring, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Copy A, c. 1795 Huntington Library and Art Gallery San Marino, California To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] The US Versus John Lennon-- my review
The US Versus John Lennon Yesterday I went to Milwaukee and saw the new film The US Versus John Lennon. I had a read a couple of negative reviews, so I was skeptical going in. I found that some of the criticisms were valid, while others were not. First of all, one critic said there isn't actually much about the US attempt to oust Lennon from the country. He has a point. The film took SO LONG in building up the background of Lennon's involvement in political issues, that most of the film was over by the time they got to the issue at hand. And there were literally years of time that weren't accounted for at all. On the subject of early 1973 until the case was decided in July 1976, the film is silent. Are we to assume that nothing legal was happening at this time? Another thing that is problematic is the apparent ass-kissing of Yoko that the filmmakers are engaged in. John and Yoko's relationship is presented as a storybook romance, without a word mentioned about Lennon's first marriage to Cynthia Lennon, nor his 18 month relationship with May Pang during his Walls and Bridges period which is during the immigration battle no less. No, we gracefully bounce over that whole affair to the birth of John and Yoko's son, Sean, whose birth provides a Hollywood ending because it coincided with Lennon's victory in the case. However, if you know anything about the real history of John and Yoko, this attempt to Paul-and-Linda their relationship seems contrived. For that, the filmmakers should be ashamed. On the other hand, I found the criticism that the film devolves into a music video to be unwarranted. First of all, who wouldn't want John's music peppered throughout the film? This is a film about a songwriter that was consistently political, and he expressed it in many of his songs. But songs are only excerpted in the film, not played in their entirety. Surprisingly, I don't think the film touched on the song Woman is the Nigger of the World, one of John's boldest political statements. As for the content of the film, here is where it shines. If you didn't already hate the Republican Party after seeing their shenanigans in the new documentary Who Killed the Electric Car (which shows them colluding with oil companies to destroy an already-on-the-road reliable car that doesn't use oil), wait until you see this film. If you think that Republicans suppressing voters in Florida (2000) and Ohio (2004) is a new thing, again, wait until you see this film! Republican Senator Strom Thurmond (South Carolina)-- a notorious racist/homophobe who actually gave birth to an out-of-wedlock child with his black housekeeper-- leads the effort to oust Lennon from the US based on a trivial pot bust in England (which Lennon said was planted evidence in any case) in order to squelch a planned tour featuring Lennon and progressive political leaders. Lennon says, point blank, that he's being harassed not cuz they care about the pot bust (which had happened to many musicians who had been allowed to come and go from America) but because he was a peacenik. Nixon had recently signed a bill that changed the legal voting age to 18, and he was scared that Lennon would rally the youth to vote against him. Indeed, Lennon had been instrumental in getting activist John Sinclair, in jail for a 10 year sentence for giving two joints to an undercover agent, released merely by his participation in a rally. Enthused by this success, Lennon and fellow progressives were planning a tour to increase awareness of progressive political issues while dogging Nixon on the campaign trail. President Nixon was a notoriously corrupt politician who had little or no conscience to speak of-- he was bombing innocent civilians by the hundreds of thousands in Viet Nam and Cambodia while simultaneously using every branch of the government to frighten a pop star into leaving the country. Lennon, admirably, did not leave, but not as admirably, didn't go through with his tour. He even resisted going to a protest at the Republican Party convention in Miami, Yoko claims, because they were afraid of being shot by the Nixon administration. This seems like a silly accusation. Not that he wouldn't have thought of it, but even a psycho like Nixon-- or at least one of his advisors-- would have thought about the possible backlash affect of such an action. Nevertheless, Nixon carries out the Watergate break-in in yet another attempt to subvert democracy and gets himself almost impeached in the process (he resigned because he knew that both the House and Senate were going to impeach him). This is basically the gist of the film's thesis. There are, of course, many other issues touched on in the film. The whole buildup to the US attempt to oust Lennon deals with everything from Lennon's the Beatles are more popular than Jesus controversy to the song Revolution to Kent State and just about
[FairfieldLife] The Ancient, Don't Kill the Whale, and Hippie Environmental Idealism
This whole discussion about the film Who Killed The Electric Car has got me thinking about the hippie ethos about the environment. Two YES songs came to mind--- The Ancient and Don't Kill The Whale. The Ancient deals with a kind of romanticism about ancient cultures that lived closed to the earth and its natural rhythms, and the sun in particular. There is supposed to be a primitiveness about the percussion in the song, but it's actually one of the most modern, progressive (ie complex) sounding pieces of music YES ever did (I'm referring to the first 10 minutes). I never cease to be amazed by the arrangement of that song. The last part of TALES is actually a very simple song, almost a classically-infused folk song due to Steve Howe's guitar intro and outro. In articles about Steve Howe's interest in vegetarianism, he often sites the lyrics Where does reason stop and killing just take over/ Does a lamb cry out before we shoot it dead as echoing his feelings at the time (though Jon wrote the lyrics, and he didn't remain strictly veggie). I think Don't Kill The Whale deals with a less intrusive form of environmental ethics. I say intrusive because vegetarianism is an enormous commitment. I've been vegetarian for 30 years, and I have to say it takes a good deal of study to fashion a diet that works for you and that you can apply everywhere you travel. It can also be fun-- searching out ethnic vegetarian food at restaurants, studying nutrition, and visiting health food stores and learning about the whole counterculture of holistic health ideas. I've been very glad to have access to this information throughout my life. Also, it's been helpful in dealing with normal aging issues of changing metabolism, weight gain, etc. In other words, I already knew all about nutrition and how corporate food monsters try to make you addicted to food that makes you sick and fat, so I just applied the knowledge and ate healthy whole food instead (oh boy, now I'm hearing Pete Sinfield's Whole Food Boogie in my mind, and anthem if there ever was one!) Don't Kill The Whale is a more distant form of environmental ethics. It's easy to avoid using whale products and signing a petition against the Japanese (among others) hunting whales to near extinction. You know, I have always had a theory that if YES had called that album (Tormato) Don't Kill The Whale instead, and had a cover a huge whale jumping out of the ocean, it would have been a much more popular album. But of course, you can't repeat history so that can never be put to the test. Come to think of it, Miracle of Life, which is essentially a Trevor Rabin song, also fits in quite well with the YES canon of environmentally-friendly songs. That is essentially about the destruction of ocean ecosystems through over-fishing. Secret lives of oceans been washed away like mud. You don't want my devotion; You'd rather be washed in blood. Can we turn away from this open anger? Counting all the prey Don't you feel the danger to the miracle of life. I think all these songs, and maybe even ABWH's Birthright (about the West's nuking of native peoples lands), fit in with the hippie spiritualists fascination with native cultures, human rights, environmental ethics, and vegetarianism. Let's just hope that those interests have not waned, and that the film Who Killed The Electric Car will remind us how intertwined politics is with these concerns. --==-=-= om-=== Nick To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] film: Who Killed The Electric Car? Like, duh...
The new documentary film WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR is quite excellent, but hardly surprising. If you need a good dose of intellectual tree hugging, then this is the film for you. Not surprisingly, the Bush administration (or the oil oligarchy as they known) in collusion with big oil companies and American car manufacturers, were the culprits. This is typical, given the anti-environmental history of the Republican Party. If you've followed environmental issues over the last several decades, and the film makes this point, the Republicans have always tried to destroy environmentally friendly policies. This was made crystal clear to me when conservative darling Ronald Reagan became president. He defeated Jimmy Carter, a president with a strong environmental policy. The first thing Reagan did when he took office was to remove the solar panels from the White House because they were undignified. This film does go a bit into this history, but anyone who has belonged to environmental organizations-- whose job is to monitor political decision making-- knew this all along. Still, it is impressive that documentaries are now being made that explain this before Bush even gets out of power. You too will mourn the passing of the electric car-- a technology that was ready and raring to go and already in the hands of consumers, but was literally crushed by Bush's oil oligarchy. -==-=-=- om=== Nick To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Bush's America: we are now officially a torture state!
The Republican-controlled House and Senate have just legalized torture. The bill that was passed, and that psycho Bush will undoubtedly sign (cuz he came up with the idea in the first place), is basically the legalization of torture, detentions without due process of law, secret detention, and just about anything else the Bushies have already been doing illegally all along anyway. The violent sleeze just never stops with the Bush clan. Sen. Arlen Spector (R-Pennsylvania) said it will turn America back 900 years, and then he voted for it! The so-called maverik Republicans, Lindsay Graham, John McCain, etc, all voted for legalizing torture. While most countries that practice torture won't even admit that they are doing it, the Bush administration has basically spearheaded the movement to legalize it, including miedeval barbarism such as water boarding right up to modern methods like sensory deprivation and stress positions. I can only echo the lyrics to Black Sabbath's song War Pigs, Wait 'till their judgement day comes. Democrats fought the bill, unsuccessfully, with amendments, and most voted against it. It is believed that the ones that voted for it did so out of fear that the Republicans would use it against them in upcoming close election races (the same way they did against Max Cleland (D-Georgia) to defeat him). I disagree with the strategy-- I say if the crazies want to legalize torture, fight them all the way, then use it against the Republicans! I agree with Sen. Tom Harkin who, at a local liberal political fest, said that in an election he always goes offensive, never defensive. ==-==--= om=-=-=- Nick To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Hippies: Make Love Not War. Bushies: Make War Crimes, Outlaw Love
Hippies: Make Love Not War. Bushies: Make War Crimes, Outlaw Love Today I decided to join the Republican culture of torture and watch them lead the charge in the House of Representatives against gay marriage. They held no hearings on the topic at all-- they simply had a couple hours of debate on the floor and then had a quick vote. Of course, they knew they couldn't get 2/3 of the House members needed to pass the amendment to change the constitution to single out a minority for discrimination. But they wanted to make sure that the American public (known for their proclivity toward racism, sexism, and homophobia) understood that Republicans are the party to vote for if you believe in superstitious religious bigotry. The hippies and counterculture had a different idea: let's create an open, liberal, tolerant culture and take care of peoples vital needs. They championed oppressed people all over the world by opposing many of the US foreign policies, took the example of the civil rights movement and applied it to virtually every minority in America, and had fun at the same time by creating a colorful and boundary-shattering artistic culture and revolution in consciousness through spirituality. The Bushies have a different idea: if we can just ignore international law and torture and bomb every country we don't like, democracy and justice will prevail in the world, er, oil-rich countries. Hopefully they'll have theocratic governments as hateful as ours-- witness that as the Republicans were cheerleading anti-gay hate legislation, the Iraqi theocrats are carrying out anti-gay pogroms (that's death squads to those of you born after the holocaust). Ah, the spread of democracy. Kill love, make war. Of course, nothing has made me more livid than studying the way the Bush administration has orchestrated torture all over the globe, and literally legalized it here in the land of liberty.. People think that when the senate overwhelming passed Senator McCain's amendment against cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war, and Bush signed it, that it was all over. Not so. McCain himself, pressured by the devil incarnate, VP Dick Cheney, wrote an amendment to the law (it's called a loophole) that says the CIA can torture. Then another Republican, Lindsay Graham, wrote a loophole for torture of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. And Bush, as usual, issued one of his infamous signing statements saying that he is above the law and will torture to his heart's content while claiming it is for the good of protecting the American people. Keep in mind that this is the man that, as Governor of Texas, set a record for death penalty executions. In combination with his public policies, which always disadvantage the poor and the sick (or the drowned in New Orleans), make him the worst president in memory. I don't know how you could come up with a better image of the anti-Christ than a President who legalized torture and wants to outlaw gay love and marrige. This has to be as close to an actual hell as America has ever come. Instead of playing around with music and art, the Bushies played around with the very definition of the word torture, insisting that it isn't torture unless it causes organ failure, in other words, death. This means they think they can torture people in almost every way possible, including the medieval water board torture, while claiming it isn't actually torture because it doesn't result in death. They also think they can use psychological torture (because it doesn't leave any marks) and promote it as torture lite. The truth is that psychological torture has more debilitating long-term effects than physical torture. And aside from all these stupid rationalizations, what the Republicans don't admit is that torture is the least reliable way to get intelligence out of prisoners. Why? Because people will say anything to stop the torture. I won't join the Republican cult of torture. I'll fight these bastards until my last breath. The Bush Administration should be impeached and sent to The Hague for trial and life imprisonment. Barring that, just un-elect them in numbers that they can never ignore. The question is whether the kindergarten cowboy culture of red state America is smart enough to do this. The blue states are ready, willing, and able. -=-=-==- om==-=-=- Nick Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL
[FairfieldLife] Inside Yes: poor Tales fans
I just watched the DVD Inside Yes 1968-1973 a critical review of the band's early career. For TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS fans, it's pretty sad. It ends with TALES, and the comments are pretty negative. The only unqualified positive statement comes from Chris Stilmant (a sound engineer) who said it was THE album of YES; I just love it. It was long songs, double album, the artwork was beautiful, the music was beautiful, and it was what I was expecting music to become...it was a masterpiece. The worst statements come from Jerry Ewing of Classic Rock Magazine, who describes TALES as a crap album, tuneless dirge and asks of the lyrics what on earth are they talking about? Other commentators talk of it meandering and being hard to pick out the melodic and rhythmic highlights. Well, of course this is all nonsense to me. I started studying TALES (and I do think it requires some extended attention) in 1975, and I liked it right away. The lyrics did not impress me until 1976 when I suddenly became interested in all things mystical and spiritual, and then the lyrics, the liner notes, the book that inspired it, and the artwork all became of intense interest. The music did not seem too extreme at all. Sides one and two were VERY mellow and melodic (for a rock band), with little of the boogie feel of rock and none of the crunch of typical guitar riffs. However, I was already a big fan of Renaissance, so mellow folkie stuff like The Remembering (it obviously had other influences like ambient electronics) was totally up my alley. Side three was the most experimental arrangement of YES' career, but since I was fan of other manic, weird instrumentals like ELP's arrangement of Toccata, King Crimson's Lark's Tongues In Aspic Part One or Todd Rundgren's A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, The Ancient did not seem too extreme to me at all. Heck, around this time I was even listening to the free jazz duets of singer Ursula Dudziak and pianist Adam Mankowitz, and that didn't seem too extreme either. Side four of TALES,Ritual, seems like the only logical climax (no pun intended on it's tantric implications) to the effort. I would say that progressive rock taught me to love a wide range of music. YES in particular gave me a taste for classical, jazz, country, electronic, and folk music. In many cases, it wasn't until years or decades later that I really delved into these genres, but I credit YES with giving me my first taste in many cases. As for today, I still enjoy a good, challenging piece of music. Right at the end of last year I heard Sufjan Stevens ILLINOIS album (2005), and I studied it for months. Just yesterday I played his new album THE AVALANCHE: Outtakes and extras from the Illinois Album, and all I can say is that if these are extras then we are dealing with a major songwriter here. His music has been labeled chamber folk which I think is a good description because though rooted in acoustic songwriting, he embellishes to his heart's desire. He also likes minimalism, prog (you can even here a tad of Genesis-like synths on a couple of tracks) and classical. I'm also listening to some great early 60s Blue Note jazz albums, especially Lee Morgan's CORNBREAD. Philosophically, I'm still interested in those 1960s questions about hate and death and war (as the Moody Blues phrased it in their lyrics). I'm currently watching a couple of amazing documentaries that just came out on DVD: WHY WE FIGHT about the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about, and LEFT OF THE DIAL, about America's first liberal talk radio network, Air America Radio. I'm also ooking forward to rewatching CONTROL ROOM about the bombing (probably deliberate on Bush's part) of al-Jazeera's offices. To me, TALES was just a part of this flow of thought: trying to save the world while living on another one. -===-=-=-=-= om-=-=--= Nick To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Magic mushrooms can induce mystical effects, study finds
Magic mushrooms can induce mystical effects, study finds By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor Published: 11 July 2006 A universal mystical experience with life-changing effects can be produced by the hallucinogen contained in magic mushrooms, scientists claim today. Forty years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to tune in, turn on, and drop out, researchers at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, have for the first time demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced safely in the laboratory. They say that there is no difference between drug-induced mystical experiences and the spontaneous religious ones that believers have reported for centuries. They are descriptively identical. And they argue that the potential of the hallucinogenic drugs, ignored for decades because of their links with illicit drug use in the 1960s, must be explored to develop new treatments for depression, drug addiction and the treatment of intolerable pain. complete article at: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1171389.ece Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Living With War-- Neil Young
http://neilyoung.com/ Go to this link and Neil Young's powerful new anti-war album LIVING WITH WAR will play in its entirety. Don't try to navigate to the rest of Neil's site or the album will stop playing and you'll have to start again from the beginning. It's a masterful effort by Neil and is destined to become a classic social protest album. --==-=- om=--=-= Nick Young is the first rocker to create an entire album protesting the war, and his is the most explicit and incendiary. I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer eighteen to twenty-two years old, to write these songs and stand up, Young told the Los Angeles Times. I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the Sixties generation. A HREF="" href="http://neilyoung.com/lww/neilyounginterviewrs.html">http://neilyoung.com/lww/neilyounginterviewrs.htmlRolling Stone Journalistic Process Revealed/A To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Maharishi university of management Maharishi mahesh yogi Ramana maharshi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[FairfieldLife] O'Beirne, Guru to the Gays, Why We Fight, etc
Choose your topic: 1. Krishna Das. 2. Swami Narayana temple. 3. Guru to the Gays. 4. Gerry O'Beirne. 5. David Rovics/ Alistaire Hulett . 6. Why We Fight. 7. Overthrow 1. Easter with Krishna Das. Tuesday, April 18. Went to see the king of the yogi chanters, Krishna Das. Although I'm big on Hindu kirtan (devotional chanting), I've never been into Krishna Das' low voice. Nevertheless, this was an excellent event: almost three hours of chanting, and wonderful uplifting stories about his and Ram Dass' guru Neem Karoli Baba. I found it much more inspiring than the Easter service I attended last week. Krishna Das related the following conversation between Neem Karoli Baba and his disciples: Disciple: What spiritual practice should I do? Neem Karoli Baba: Meditate like Christ. Disciple: How did Christ meditate? Neem Karoli Baba: (Pause. Tear rolls down his cheek): He lost himself in love. 2. Swaminarayan temple. Friday: April 21. I visited the Swaminarayan temple in Bartlett, Illinois for the first time. I arrived in the middle of the arati ceremony at 11:15 AM. As if the ornately carved temple wasn't enough (only the Jain temples in Ranakpur and Mt. Abu in India surpass it), the sound system was just rocking. I looked everywhere but couldn't see any speakers, so it felt like the chants were just booming out of heaven! Needless to say, I stocked up on goodies from the gift store-- the arati ceremony CD is virtually given away. Not a darshan to be missed! 3. Guru to the gays. Friday, April 21. After the temple, I headed for lunch (Indian buttet, yum) and then a metaphysical bookstore in Wheaton, Illiinois that has great meaning for me, Quest Books. It was here that I spent my formative spiritual years in the latter days of hippie spirituality (late 70s) exploring the themes of mysticism, ethics, and devotion, driving to and from the store cranking my progrock hippie musical epics. As soon as I walked in, I ran right into the book Awakening the Spirit Inspiring the Soul, and I was delighted to find a short essay by the guru to the gays, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. Affectionately known as the fag hag guru, she was a large contingent of gay swamis, disciples, and hangers-on that look to her for spiritual guidance of a broad, interfaith type. Her essay was called How the AIDS Pandemic Changed My Life, and it discussed the very event where I first met her in 1993 at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. (I was standing with her in an elevator, she pointed right at my pink triangle gay pride button and blurted out, Do you have AIDS? Not exactly what you expect to hear from women dressed in an Indian sari with an entourage of disciples. Over the next few days, I was smitten with her offbeat approach to the mystical life.) Here's a quote from the essay: My life changed in the face of AIDS. My life changed in the face of pain and hunger. I pray that we all become more generous-- not just with money, but also with our time and our hearts. My religion is the religion of kindness, generosity, and gratitude. One does not have to believe a certain way to feel his or her heart and to feel the hearts of others. Being with the dying has taught me compassion and kindness. I see so much courage that there is no choice but to do more. She has exemplifies this not just in her work with the sick and dying, but in her championing other issues such as gay marriage. Meeting her really helped revive my interest in yoga and interfaith spirituality, and she has remained an inspiration ever since. I think she is one of the most important teachers of the American religious counterculture of the late 1900s, and will be an inspiration for centuries to come and give birth to many religious movements of a progressive and compassionate nature. 4. Gerry O'Beirne. Friday: This concert was a bit of a disappointment, as Gerry's voice wasn't in good shape and he had trouble keeping in tune. I bought his CD and it was amazing-- a really beautiful collection of original folk songs and guitar instrumentals. The songs remind me of Dougie MacLean, while the instrumental guitar work is of a truly unique style. Also hear two of his tunes and arrangements on the new album by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Daybreak: fainne an lae. P.S. I just got a CDR of his WFMT radio performance in Chicago the night after I saw him, if anyone wants a dub. 5. David Rovics/ Alistair Hulett. Saturday, April 22. These two radical folk singers played a benefit for...surprise...a unionization effort, this time amongst downtown retail employees. My liberal tendencies were left to feel quite wishy washy after this show. I was surprised that I preferred the Scotsman Alistair Hulett. For while American David Rovic's themes were more current and relevant to the Iraq war, he chose songs where he was steamrollering, punk style, through every song in a way that gave the performance a certain blandness. It was a bit like an
[FairfieldLife] Bush parody set to I Am The Walrus
Great parody of Bush set to I Am The Walrus. -==-=- om=-=-=- Nick http://decider.cf.huffingtonpost.com/ A HREF="" href="http://decider.cf.huffingtonpost.com/">http://decider.cf.huffingtonpost.com/I'm The Decider/A To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' SPONSORED LINKS Maharishi university of management Maharishi mahesh yogi Ramana maharshi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "FairfieldLife" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[FairfieldLife] Looking for myspace friends at:
I'm looking for myspace friends at: A HREF=http://www.myspace.com/nickkokoshis;My Space Nick/A http://www.myspace.com/nickkokoshis ===--=- om=-=-=- Nick Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Timothy Leary on foursomes
Alchemists of the Middle Ages, and likely before, believed that the cosmos is composed of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. ...Each of the elements is an archetype, a metaphor, a convenient and appropriate name for a universally identified quality. The four elements are mirrored in the organization of the tarot's four suits: wands cups, swords, and disks. ...The wand of the magician represents the phallic male creative force-- fire. The cup stands for the female receptive force-- associated with water. The sword is the incisive intellect-- airy abstraction. Finally, the pentacle (disk) is the grounding in earth-- the passive force. ...Other foursomes can be found in various magical and religious traditions ranging from Hinduism to the Kabbalah to, of course, the most magical foursome in history-- the Beatles (fire: John Lennon; water: Paul McCartney; air: George Harrison; earth: Ringo Starr). (Design for Dying, Timothy Leary, page 46-47) ==--=-==- om--=-==- Nick Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil
Link to interesting new book: American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury A HREF=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143058444/sr=8-2/qid=1142987536/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-1719612-1191307?%5Fencoding=UTF8;Amazon.com: American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oi/A http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143058444/sr=8-2/qid=1142987536/ref=pd_bbs_2 /102-1719612-1191307?%5Fencoding=UTF8 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Chaos and Coltrane
The solid Newtonian universe involving such immutable concepts as mass, force, momentum, and inertia has long been repealed. That dull, dependable, predictable General Motors universe has been transformed into shimmering Quantum electronic possibilities. It seems that it all comes down to programs, information, and rhythms-- endlessly complexifying with unpredictable results. In other words, John Coltrane. In fact, the wonderful thing about chaos is its unpredictability. Complex random processes coalesce into approximately repeating cycles. Approximate, but not perfect, repetition. These strange attractors express chaotic behaviors whose rhythms drift. Ultimately, chaos tells us that we can't predict the future with any precision. Unpredictability is inherent in living systems, art, romance, and gourmet cutlery. (page 16, Design for Dying, Timothy Leary). ---=-=-= om==-=- Nick Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Donovan, Timothy Leary, Phil Ochs
I just finished reading Donovan's new autobiography, and now am starting Timothy Leary's Design for Dying, a book he wrote as he was readying himself for the great adventure of dying. Leary makes an interesting observation about the 60s quest: In the 1960s, we promiscuously started raising questions about cosmic consciousness and alternative realities and declaring God lost and found: in a pill, a grain of sand, love, an Eric Clapton guitar solo. It wasn't just our naivete that infuriated the 'grown ups.' The big philosophic questions had been long repressed and here we were getting all silly about them. To the conservatives, the questions had been filed away as answered by murky, watered-down, mainstream religious dogma. Understand, the currently powerful reactionary religious passions that we would stir up with our cultural shock tactics had yet to be unleashed. For the 1960s middle-class professional, it was more a case of having a satisfactory schoolbook answer available for that rare instance when the question of God and meaning would happen to come up. And to the Left, such questions were a distraction from issues of material suffering, power dynamic, and inequality. (Timothy Leary, Design for Dying, page 14-15) In Donovan's book, I found this fascinating story about his meeting with political folk singer Phil Ochs. The setting is 1969 at the height of Donovan's popularity after the release of his Greatest Hits album. He is in California at the end of a tour and one of the Smothers Brothers is throwing a party for him: Before I returned home, Tom Smothers threw a party for me at Robert Redford's house. The guest list was as long as the press party with more faces. Tom took great delight in playing the 'Barabajagal' single at full volume on the huge sound system, asking his guests who they thought the singer was. Everyone got it wrong. At the height of the excitement the crowds parted for a wild-looking chick with blazing eyes. She stuck her face close to mine. It was Janis Joplin. 'Just wanted to see what you looked like, Donovan!' And she was gone. Janis had gone back to the bedroom where all the musos were hiding from the 'Hollyweird' crowd. At the poolside there was a raffle and the protest singer Phil Ochs won it. Everyone cheered as he went up to the microphone, but he was not pleased. He gave us all a tongue-lashing about Vietnam and the senselessness of Hollywood, this party, me included. Raising the huge basket of fruit he had won, he tossed it into the pool and left in disgust. Of course, he was right, but the party went on regardless. I climbed the rock waterfall high above the party (feeling a little like I also had been thrown away) and plunged into the pool to join the fruit. (Donovan, The Autobiography of Donovan, page 291-292). Not really any comments, except that both portray that tension between the artistic person's spiritual heartfelt and the politically aware motivations. The Donovan book I can readily recommend because I just finished it-- it would even make a great movie or documentary. The Leary book I'm just starting, and it's very thought provoking (Leary on his own death, interesting? DUH!) =-=-=-=- om===-- Nick Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Holi and bhang
I just found this website that discusses the uses of bhang (a cannabis drink) in conjunction with a Hindu holiday on Thursday, March 16. I already knew that Shiva was the God of intoxicants, but had never heard of the ritual use of this drug in conjunction with this particular holiday. Here' s a couple of links about it. Very interesting reading. =-=--=-= om=-==- Nick A HREF=http://www.holifestival.org/tradition-of-bhang.html;Tradition of Bhang,Holi Bhang,History of Bhang/A A HREF=http://www.holifestival.org/bhang-recipes.html;Bhang Recipes,Recipe of Bhang,Holi Bhang Recipe,Recipe for Bhang/A Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Illinois UFO documentaries and timeline
Timeline for UFO sighting that inspired the Sufjan Stevens song Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois. (Yes fans might reference the song Arriving UFO.) The Discovery Channel will rebroadcast a special, UFO OVER ILLINOIS on March 2nd and March 3rd (info at bottom). There is a second documentary, THE EDGE OF REALITY: ILLINOIS UFO JANUARY 5, 2000 (from which most of the below info is culled) available for purchase online. I think The Edge of Reality documentary is more complete and interviews all the officers, but ironically, is shorter. They interview Officer David Martin, whose sighting at Shiloh, Illinois, is excellent testimony and is absent from UFO Over Illinois. The Discovery Channel documentary (UFO Over Illinois) tries to recreate the sightings using computer animation created by Sigma Animations. A lot of their documentary focuses on this task, in my opinion, to the detriment of documenting testimony. To get a complete picture of the sighting and alternate hypotheses regarding the sighting, viewing both videos is necessary. =--=-= om=-=--= Nick P.S. For discussion group examining all Sufjan's lyrics, follow this link: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Clouds_of_Hope/?yguid=1247490 To buy the EDGE OF REALITY video on VHS, go to: http://dbarkertv.com/default2.htm Witnesses: Melvern Noll. Highland, Illinois Businessman. approximately 4 AM, January 5, 2000. Saw UFO in Highland, Illinois. He saw the UFO, which at first he thought was a star, until it started coming toward him. He described it as being like a two story house floating over Highland with large windows and intense bright lights and red blinking lights. It passed over him slowly and when it nearly stopped, he got scared. He went to the Highland police station to report it and to tell them to alert the Lebanon police department. St. Clair County, Police Dispatch send out report of UFO sighting in Highland at 4:11: AM. They described it as Malvern Noll reported it, though they misidentified him as a truck driver (he is a business owner). Officer Ed Barton Lebanon, Illinois Police Department. 4:18 AM. He received the report and thought they were kidding. Then he sees the UFO's bright lights (so bright they blotted out the stars around it), but doesn't know what it is. He follows UFO, thinking it is an aircraft about to crash, which is near Summerfield, and at 4:21 he asks dispatch to ask Scott Air Force Base if they have planes flying in the area. He notices that the UFO is coming towards him, so he pulls over to watch it. He stands as it passed near him, turned around, and floated away. He called dispatch at 4:24 AM and said it was heading, rapidly, over to Scott and Shiloh towns. Officer David Martin, Shiloh, Illinois Police Department. 4:23: AM. H spots UFO in a field. He observes a huge, floating arrow-shaped triangular craft with three big bright lights shining down and lighting up the sky. The craft made no sound, yet accelerated rapidly. He saw the UFO, which had been hovering, suddenly accelerating down the road in the blink of an eye. Officer Craig Stevens, Millstadt, Illinois Police Department. He sees UFO and describes it as a huge arrow shaped object with concave back. It was very low to the ground and he got a good look at it. He saw a strobe-like white light across theback of the UFO, with a red blinking light on the bottom. It banked right and headed toward St. Louis. He got a Polaroid camera from his trunk and took a photo of it, but the coldness of the camera made it function poorly-- all you can see is a pattern of blurry lights. Computer analysis of the photo found it was impossible to determine the shape of the UFO. Stevens was familiar with military planes and it did not resemble any in terms of behavior and sound. Officer Matt Jany, Dupo, Illinois Police Department. 5:03 AM He pulled over to look in the sky, another officer came by and when he told him what he doing, they both laughed about it and the other officer took off. Then he spotted the UFO It was far off in the distance so he looked at it with binoculars. He saw the UFO turn back to the East. He communicated with Officer Stevens of Millstadt about the UFO. lllinois locations timeline list: Highland 4 AM Summerfield 4:18 AM Lebanon: 4:23 AM Shiloh 4:23 AM Millstadt 4:28 Dupo 5:03 AM For more info on UFO research, contact The National Institute for Discovery Science official website. http://www.nidsci.org/ Or the Center for UFO Studies: http://www.cufos.org/ Discovery Channel :: Episode :: UFO Over Illinois On Air (et/pt): MAR 02 2006 @ 08:00 PM. MAR 03 2006 @ 12:00 AM. UFO Over Illinois. UFO Over Illinois. ... type: tvlistings url: dsc.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=0cpi=23008gid=0cha... On Air (et/pt): MAR 02 2006 @ 08:00 PM ET MAR 03 2006 @ 12:00 AM ET Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
[FairfieldLife] Graciella Zogbi: Daivi Shakti
Graciella Zogbi: Daivi Shakti I thought this CD would be a dream come true-- I imagined perfectly recorded swaramandals and serene Indian singing. The singing isn't bad-- probably good by Vedic standards but not the kind that appeals to a many Westerners, even those accustomed to listening to Indian music. This is certainly a great CD to practice your chanting. However, whenever the rhythms section is used (2 of the 5 songs), it is not well recorded and they go out of rhythm. This is very annoying, and I'm kind of shocked they even used these takes without correcting this. As a result, I can only give this an average rating. When I first saw the beautiful artwork on the cover, I was hyped about promoting this in the new age bookstore where I work, but now I'm reluctant as I won't be able to give it an unequivocal recommendation. Instead, I would recommend Devi: Prayers By Women by Karnamrita, or Jai Ma Kirtan: Songs to the Divine Mother by the Sri Ram Foundation. A HREF=http://vedicdevataproductions.com/;Vedic Devata, devas, North Indian Classical Music, Indian Classical music, Devo/A Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[FairfieldLife] Sufjan Steven's ILLINOIS discussion group
If anyone is interested in nitpicking about the historical allusions on Sufjan Stevens' concept album, Illinois, I started this group and am about to commence doing that. (Also dedicated to his buddy, Philly singer-songwriter Denison Witmer). =--=--= om---=-=-= Nick A HREF=http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Clouds_of_Hope/?yguid=1247490; Clouds_of_Hope : Denison Witmer Sufjan Stevens/A Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM ~- To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
