Peridyd's Progress

Out of the Forest

There is pleasure
And there is bliss
Forgo the first to possess the second.

If you are happy
At the expense of another man's happiness,
You are forever bound.

You do not what you should.
You do what you should not.
You are reckless, and desire grows.

But the master is wakeful.
He watches his body.
In all his actions he discriminates,
And he becomes pure.

He is without blame
Though once he may have murdered
His mother and father,
Two kings, a kingdom, and all its subjects.

Though the kings were holy
And their subjects among the virtuous,
Yet is he blameless.

The Dhammapada Trans. by Thomas Byrom

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Random music from my amaroK playlist, which, by the way, beats anything I've seen on either Windows or Mac. The KDE desktop environment is just too cool.

Peridyd

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Some of you know how influential Thomas Pynchon's work has been for me. In many respects, reading Gravity's Rainbow several times over the course of several years is responsible for who I am today, personally, professionally, and spirtually.

Laurie Anderson's work has also been very influential. There's spiritual depth to her deceptively minimalist work. A depth that can entertain, teach, make you laugh, and provide solace in a world gone mad.

Here then is my one song podcast (3.6 MB download), and the lyrics to a song by Anderson that combines the two influences...

Gravity's Angel
(For Thomas Pynchon)

You can dance. You can make me laugh. You've got x-ray eyes.
You know how to sing. You're a diplomat. You've got it all.
Everybody loves you.
You can charm the birds out of the sky. but I, I've got one thing.
You always know just what to say. And when to go.
But I've got one thing. You can see in the dark.
But I've got one thing: I loved you better.

Last night I woke up. Saw this angel. He flew in my window.
And he said: Girl, pretty proud of yourself, huh?
And I looked around and said: Who me?
And he said: The higher you fly, the faster you fall. He said:
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's angel.
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This ugly train.

Well he was an ugly guy. With an ugly face.
An also ran in the human race.
And even God got sad just looking at him. And at his funeral
all his friends stood around looking sad. But they were really
thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room.
And everybody used to hang around him. And I know why.
They said: There but for the grace of the angels go I.
Why these mountains? Why this sky?

Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's angel.

Well, we were just laying there.
And this ghost of your other lover walked in.
And stood there. Made of thin air. Full of desire.
Look. Look. Look. You forgot to take your shirt.
And there's your book. And there's your pen, sitting on the table.
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road? This empty room?
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road? This empty room?

(1984)

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Proviso: this is a crude, gestational idea--a thought piece. I do however believe it merits discussion.

Again, I suppose that I should have seen it coming. I do, after all, work with technology. On one level I'm sure that I did foresee this. I've certainly read enough Cyberpunk to imagine that we'll someday be constructing virtual worlds that will challenge our notion of the real while, in turn, feeding back into and changing our culture in unforeseen, potentially negative, ways.

What I didn't foresee, however, and something which frankly leaves me stunned, is the degree to which the photorealistic impulse tends toward representations of idealized beauty. This conclusion, of course, is based upon a relatively small sample size (the linked gallery). Nevertheless, it resonates with my experience living in this cultural moment. As the technology progresses and it becomes more difficult to discern just what is live and what is "Memorex," won't our expectations beauty--already extremely problematic--be driven to the boundaries of what is actually representative of human bodies, i.e., bodies that haven't been somehow mediated by technology?

Think, for example, of the psychic, psychological, and therefore spiritual impact of the waif look, or of heroin chic, or of the prepubescent, pubic hairless representations of women that have now become mainstreamed so that Salon.com advice columns are addressing the issue (or not).

I'm not articulating a neo-luddite argument here. On the contrary. What I am concerned about, however, is our seeming need to run from the real to technologically-enhanced. Because representations of our selves--however idealized--ultimately feedback into the culture and impact psychic space.

Does this make any sense?

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

An alert friend of mine forwarded this to me. What I find so interesting is that this is the only case I can think of when the Bush Administration has appropriately realized (and even beyond the Bushies, for as far back as I can think all the way to the Marshall Plan) that it's not in the United States' best interests to maintain a hegemonic position on anything. Instead, this appears to be a more realistic appraisal of the situation: the realization that what's good for the community (in this case, the world) is actually in the long-term, best-interests of the United States.

If it's true that we're going to resist further strong-arming of ICANN--and there are reasons to think that the administration is back-tracking and paying attention to an issue that it had likely ignored (can you say "Iraq civil war"?) now that conservative voices are suggesting that we behave as if we do own the Internet--then it behooves us to discover why we've abandoned the status quo and wrong-headed common sense and taken a more subtle, statemanlike approach.

If it's true, then it speaks volumes. Somewhere in the decision making process that preceded the ICANN meeting, there was an intelligent analysis that came to a simple, but all-too-often missing, conclusion: in the long run the U.S. loses when it tries to maintain absolute control over a international body. You can be sure that this decision was made by an entirely different group of people than those who've used the Bush/Wolfowitz doctrines to justify absolute unilateralism in all things international.

Yes, there are problems with ICANN having representation from only English-speaking nations. No doubt. It still smacks of techno-colonialism, but it is a step in the right direction away from said colonialism.

For the time being, however, all your DNS are belong to US (yeah, I lifted it).

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

This morning after meditating I was reminded that too much of a focus on words won't really get you very far. The rooster is a reliable mouthpiece, but he's not much good at getting you anywhere. You ultimately have to actually do something in order to get from one place to another. Talking about moving and movement doesn't really amount to much.

Nevertheless, when used wisely and in full awareness of its limits, language can be a powerful tool for remembering who were are and for defamiliarizing the mundane. I provide this as both a rationale for what follows and to honor the insight that I received this morning:

The Thousands
Better than a thousand hollow words Is one word that brings peace.

Better than a thousand hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace.

Better than a hundred hollow lines
Is one line of the law, bringing peace.

It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles.

Then the victory is yours.

It cannot be taken from you,
Not by angels or by demons,
Heaven or hell.

Better than a hundred years of worship,
Better than a thousand offerings,
Better than giving up a thousand worldly ways
In order to win merit,
Better even than tending in the forest
A sacred flame for a hundred years—
Is one moment's reverence
For the man who has conquered himself.

To revere such a man,
A master old in virtue and holiness
Is to have victory over life itself,
And beauty, strength and happiness.

Better than a hundred years of mischief
Is one day spent in contemplation

Better than a hundred years of ignorance
Is one day spent in reflection.

Better than a hundred years of idleness
Is one day spent in determination.

Better to live one day
Wondering
How all things arise and pass away.

Better to live one hour
Seeing
The one life beyond the way.

Better to live one moment
In the moment
Of the way beyond the way.

The Dhammapada Trans. by Thomas Byrom

There are few passages in English that are as melodic as those last three lines.

Posted by Dennis Bennett at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)