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Ah…. Trungpa Trungpa. I don’t follow any gurus, nor am I satisfied with any religion in particular, but for many years, I’ve been walking the tightrope between Catholic mysticism and Buddhism. I’m somewhat attracted to Chogyam Trungpa because he’s intentionally bad and everyone in religious circles is always trying so hard to be seem good. He’s a bit of a charlatan but some of his ideas resonate with me, particularly for art making. He coined the term Crazy Wisdom which refers to unconventional, outrageous behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits. He was a womanizer who drank, took drugs, and often acted inappropriately to test everyone else around him. He also mocked his western followers’ superficiality by making fun of the sari-wearing hippies that attended his lectures, to which he showed up dressing like a conservative british man (a bit of a Gilbert and George move) instead of the expected traditional Tibetan costume. The play on identities appeals to me. But that being said, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate his contrarianism without Ram Dass by his side providing me with comfort and soft spoken guidance. Great good cop/bad cop combination.
Oct 25, 2022
Related Recs
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accidentally joined a group for people interested in gnosticism but i said heck let's see what this is about so i joined their first group seminar...
and uhhh sounds like a cult
i appreciate spirituality and have beliefs based on psychedelics, crystals and planetary shit that others may find bonkers.
i also appreciate using religion and any sort of spirituality as guidance for you to feel better and become a better version of yourself.
however the communities like the ones in the seminar are alarming. you should definitely not listen to somebody that claims to know the mysteries of the universe or have some incredible knowledge that they acquired through mysticism. you can learn, meditate and make your own meaning but claiming you're a new prophet of the one true religion, a divine messenger of god, or have any relation to a higher power that is directly communicating + giving directions to the masses through you is wild.
this is a pretty basic level ramble, but i see why the in-group quality of a "healing" community is so attractive here. everyone wants to be a part of something especially in this loneliness epidemic, and even more so if it sounds like it's going to improve you mentally or physically.
all that is to say just be careful y'all.
imma read some climate crisis, psilocybin and sociological substacks now
Oct 17, 2024
Adorno was 100% right about the occult
but, as a practice literary or countercultural, hell, even to see human connection, to produce something, it’s cool!
This lecture by Grant Morrison sums it up as a practice to experiment, fair warning, it is aggressively 2000s and fantastically weird, but the energy is palpable, wacky as some of the concepts see to be.
Apr 8, 2024
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I think I spent most of my life thinking I had a specific lack, i.e. that I was less "real" than the people around me. Only in the last few years did I realize that our general conditions produce what feels like a personal failing... we are awash in information but not meaning; the conditions of our lives feel disconnected from a shared history or struggle; the tools or vocabulary by which we can bring "ourselves" into being keeps getting thinner and more trivial. If you feel like you're waiting for yourself to arrive, waiting to be alive to yourself in a way that makes you aware that you are free, I recommend Kierkegaard. He's lowkey a funny troll, also.
Nov 5, 2023
Top Recs from @amalia-ulman
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And this will be where I sound batshit crazy, but here I go. There’s a silly documentary on Youtube that really affected me, it’s about Anna Breytenbach and her ability to communicate with animals. I know it sounds like bullshit but there’s something about her that makes me believe that she can. I’ve looked at other animal psychics and a lot of them feel like verbose scammers but I don’t have that feeling with Anna. Either way, it isn’t even about actually communicating (with words) but more about becoming quietly attuned to animals, which I do believe is possible and I try to do in my day to day. It’s my favorite little luxury, to be able to spend hours in silence chilling with my cats and understanding all their meows and subtle movements. To contemplate. This is connected to my religious practice of slowmaxxxxxxing, which is a very stupid new word for something I’ve done all my life and my mother would call “parsimonia”, which is to transform regular tasks into delicate, precious rituals, doing everything very slowly and paying attention to detail, to silence. There’s something very humbling about learning to do things the way animals want and not the way it feels good to me. I enjoy experiencing different planes of perception and this is a very good way to do it.
Oct 25, 2022
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My favorite waters are Evian (for casual occasions) and Kaiserwasser (for special occasions) but I recently discovered Sariza water and I was very pleasantly surprised, especially since I got it at the bodega downstairs. 776 Sariza is mineral spring water from the Greek springs of Sariza. According to the company: The water has healing properties, it was suggested that it cures kidney ailments and many other diseases. There is a sign next to the spring saying: “Hi stranger, remember, whenever you return to your homeland, you owe your life to me.” Can’t vouch for any of this but I sure like the taste. There’s nothing more precise I can say about mineral water as of now… but I will be going to water sommelier school next year and I’m looking forward to describing why I like some waters over others in a more convincing manner very soon.
Oct 25, 2022
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Lord knows I love watching men doing their little silly manly things. As a big fan of If… the 1968 film by Lindsay Anderson, you can imagine how I felt the first time I watched Feltham Sings, a Channel4 documentary/musical about a prison for male juveniles. This experiment in reality tv has the magic any format has in its early days and because of this, doesn’t feel as exploitative as your typical contemporary cookie cutter reality shows. Feltham Sings is as fresh and heartfelt as it sounds: Feltham’s young offenders narrate the tragic stories that led them to prison and then sing a song about it in the style of their choice, from rap to jungle. Even the guards participate in some of the “music videos”. That’s it. It’s sad and heartbreaking while subtly comical: the inevitable tenderness of these teens trying to sing, brings in a touch of amateurism that is reminiscent of another favorite of mine: Konkurs, a film by Milos Forman where a series of village girls compete in a singing contest filled with screeching voices, eccentric performances and really interesting 1960’s Czech hairstyles.
Oct 25, 2022