Christopher Hitchens says God Is Not Great

I recently read a very interesting book by Christopher Hitchens – God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything – and I must say, it’s good stuff. Here are a few videos I found on youtube that will give you some insight into his point of view…

j elijah – “Don’t Follow” (new song demo)

I wrote this song tonight, it’s called “Don’t Follow”, and this is the unedited demo. I like it (I don’t like them all, so that’s not weird to say). And of course it’s a free download.

( right-click to save the mp3 )

“Don’t Follow” by j elijah

have you let your heart go
have you let your soul go
on to where someone told
you to go

have you let your mind go
have you let it just follow
the words that you were told
they’re not your own, you see

would you just go on
being what you believe
you get stuck in a place
where you can’t leave

the thing around you is your enemy
what are you gonna do about this one?

(even though I see
I see nothing
I see the ground)

have you looked into your, yourself
have you looked into the world
that you were told was real
have you looked inside
to feel
what’s real
inside
I’m feeling everybody else
even the ones
even the infidels
(this is in all of us)
the heretics
(this is in everyone)
the lunatics
(the voice of god)
the fanatic

you are
the thing that you seek
you are the one
that you fear
that you fear
you are the one
that you hold so dear, yes
look at me
look at them
they are so dear
so dear

if you let your heart go
you will let your soul go

if you let your mind go
are you one to just follow
oh, follow
oh, just follow those

look into yourself
and tell me if this is real
yes, just tell me what you feel
tell me what you feel

(the blind death
the sleepiness
would buy what
we will all be dreaming)

Regina Spektor performs “Eet”

I really enjoyed Regina Spektor’s performance of “Eet” on last night’s episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson…

Adam, Eve and the Serpent

Today I finished reading Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity by Elaine Pagels. It’s a great book about how interpretations of the Genesis creation myth changed during the first 500 years of Christianity to support the social and political views of the interpreter. Dr. Pagels’ research gives fascinating insight into the power of evolving perceptions and how they affect the world.

an excerpt (some paraphrased)…

…After Jesus had called for people to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God, and Paul proclaimed both its imminence and its radical demands, some intensely ascetic Christians in subsequent generations tried to put their teachings into radical practice, while others attempted to accommodate Christian teaching to existing social and political structures.

When state persecution pressed Christians to revere the emperors and the gods, the boldest among them defied government officials in the name of liberty and maintained their loyalty to Jesus, crucified for treason against Rome, as their “divine King,” and others denounced the emperors and all their gods as the panoply of devils. These embattled Christians forged a vision of the new “Christian society,” which was to be marked by freedom from compulsion, voluntary contributions for the welfare of all members, mutual love, and common faith.

As the Christian movement grew, dispite persecution, and increasingly developed its own interal organization, it’s leaders expelled nonconformists from their ranks, including gnostic Christians. They insisted that only orthodox Christians preached the true gospel of Christ — the message of moral freedom, given in creation and restored in baptism.

Some of the most intense Christians refused any compromise with “the world” and sought to realize that liberty through the ascetic life by rejecting familial, social, and political obligations in order to recover the original glory of humankind, created in the “image and likeness of God.” After the persecutions ended, asceticism offered a new path for uncompromising “witness” — a new form of self-chosen martyrdom.

Christian views of freedom changed as Christianity became the religion of the emperors and was no longer a persecuted movement. … From the fifth century on, pessimistic views of sexuality, politics, and human nature [based on Augustine's interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve] would become the dominant influence on western Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, and color all western culture, Christian or not, ever since.

3 poems from last night

“clean”

when I am clean
nothing seems bad
as though all agents
of sad
went back to bed
I said
when I am clean
no one is mean
to me
I see the sky
and all that fly
as signs that I
am free
when I am clean
I sing
I’m filled with joy
and all the noise
of the world
becomes serene
I am redeemed

~

“heaven here”

I once was told
that when I die
I go way up
into the sky
but I know there’s nothing
beyond the sky
but space and worlds that I
know nothing of
except that they’re not
the Heaven up above
that I was told
to dream of
instead there’s
peace here
when we’re all
filled with love
there’s only the world
you’re in
here
so fill it up
with love

~

“we are we”

could I be hiding
could I be something that’s in there
could I be anywhere
but in here
could we go out
together in a friendly way
could you say
that what I say
is just another way
and nothing you
should take away
from the light of day
should I be hiding
should I be something
in there
I could be anywhere
but in here
there’s nothing to fear
we could go out
in a friendly way
today

Greed makes us extinct

“A culture that is based on greed is a culture that destroys life.”

I came across this is a great video today about greed and the world. Pennilesscripple has many other informative videos on youtube, so check them out.

ingestation

ingestation
gestation
come in
make sense of it
explain yourself
explain me
don’t just regurgitate
don’t be late
is there even a time
to relate
settle down
fall down
climb around
safe and sound
you’re here with others
just like you
will all our dreams
come true?

…who would eat
mass meat
do you?

Tori Amos live in Warsaw 2009

Tori Amos wrapped up the European leg of her recent “Sinful Attraction” tour in Warsaw, Poland. Since the final show tends to be really good, I put this collection together (from various recording sources) as an archive for our enjoyment.

Tori Amos live in Warsaw – October 10, 2009
(right-click on links to save)

Give
Hotel
Cornflake Girl
Icicle
Concertina
Flavor (unavailable)
Space Dog
Spark
Welcome to England
Girl
Bells for Her
Graveyard / Upside Down
Gold Dust
Hey Jupiter
Jamaica Inn
Talula
Precious Things
Strong Black Vine (clip)
Raspberry Swirl
Tear in Your Hand (clip)
Bliss
Big Wheel

Body, Mind, Soul and Time…

Deepak Chopra’s new book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, was released today! (Thank you, DC!) I’m looking forward to Deepak’s talk in Connecticut on Thursday. It will be my first time seeing him in person, so it should be fun. In the meantime, here are some very interesting insights about time…

seems like seams

in time you see the line
is sending all these lives
away from being anything
that they could be in any way
that is perceived
it is believed
there’s only death
and once you grieve
there’s nothing left
for you to see
but like a tree
that lost its leaves
there is a place
there in the breeze
for other seeds
and other dreams
that run along
another seam