News
Things are happening a bit here - which is surprising for the end of the year in Barcelona but I’m not complaining.
On the work front the project I mentioned earlier concerning a center which will teach various things (yoga, chi gong, voicework etc) and be an ‘open space’ for exhibitions and happenings is underway and it looks like we will be able to go ahead with this in Barcelona in the new year if we find the right space. In a year or so the aim is to move this to the Albujarras region outside Grenada and these plans seem miraculously on track. More as it develops.
Have been quite busy also as some transitions are happening in the design aspect of things. In the New Year I will cease to be a ‘gun for hire’ as some friends from Los Angeles and I are launching a new design agency and consultancy here in Barcelona. They are graphic geniuses (which I am not!) but hate coding and programming (which I love) so we have a perfect work division and will be offering Uber-cool multi-lingual web and print design. Lots to do to set it up but it’s all taking-off.
December 16 2005 in Design/Css | Read More | Comments [1]
Mirror of the Free
It is strange how things work - I have lately found myself being drawn into an exploration of the Caballa, Tarot and Alchemy and have started to see these connected issues in a whole new light. All of this research and reading has been offline and I haven’t even bothered to look anywhere on the net for that sort of thing for a long time. The strange aspect of this was that these issues somehow forced themselves on me a few weeks ago and as I prepared to write them up as yet another convoluted and impenetrable post, the owner owner of a new site discussing just these issues contacted me about a new publication he was preparing.
The publication is an interesting looking work called by Nicholas Swift to be published shortly and entitled The Tarot and the Kabbalah, the Ancient Mesopotamians and the Sufis. The accompanying website can be found at The Mirror of the Free.
December 12 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [1]
Test
Testing.....1..2..3....
We were called to the forest…
When we went down
A wind blew warm and eloquent.We were searching for the secrets of the universe
And we rounded up demons and forced them to tell us what it all meant
We tied them to trees and broke them down one by one
And on a scrap of paper, they wrote these words…
And as we read them, the sun broke through the trees…“Dread the passage of Jesus, for he will not return.”
November 29 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [2]
Even more literalism
Following on from the last post outlining the general gist of my wiseacrings about literalism and Islam, I thought I’d belabour the point with an actual example though (hopefully) not in as much depth as in the finished writings.
Part of the purpose of the project is to ‘map the territory’ of what Islam actually represents. Of course most people seem to think that that territory is already mapped but that is the problem and why the subject needs attention. Although (imo) it can easily be shown that elements both within the religion and in the West seem to have a commitment to misrepresenting Islam - they do not call it this, they call it ‘stating the facts’ but it revolves just the same - the research I am engaged in does not aim to address why this might be but rather to identify the misconceptions and correct them.
November 23 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [5]
Bit more on literalism…
As promised earlier, I thought I’d expand a bit more on the ‘literalism’ motif I mentioned I was writing about elsewhere.
The central idea of the book is that there are two modes of perception - or perhaps two ‘types’ of perceiver - the ‘literal’ and the ‘metaphoric’. Actually I am not too happy with these terms and will change them when other more suitable ones suggest themselves but for now they will do. Basically the ‘literal’ is seen as a rigid mode of fixed, inflexible thought. This is not to be equated with what is called ‘fundamentalism’ (in fact the book will argue that this is a nonsensical and artificially constructed term which is of little use) but rather is the position taken when someone is, for example, convinced they are always right regardless of any evidence to the contrary. Obviously this condition is prevelant in religion to a considerable extent for various reasons which are explored but it can and does also occur in politics, science and in everyday life but in the context of the work under discussion it is explored particularly in relation to Islamic thought as well as, to a lesser extent, other religions such as Christianity.
November 21 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [3]
Literalism Again
I’m writing a book. And it’s getting serious because I have till mid 2006 to finish it and now I’m going to have to do some work.
I thought it would mean I post less but I think I have found a way to post more. I will subtly and imperceptibly point this blog in the direction of my work and possibly garner some fresh insights or even (whisper) some heated debate.
The book is kind of political, something I have studiously avoided here, but in an academic kind of way so it’s allright. Basically it is an outlining of a certain social phenomena that is increasing in virulence, what I term a ‘literalist’ tendency, contrasting it with a ‘metaphoiric’ mindset.
The argument is that the ‘metaphorics’ are the mystics and magicians of history and they can only convey their experience through analogy, stories or parables. As they find a certain ‘truth’ in this manner it obviously attracts those who are not of their mindset - the ‘literalists’ and, naturally, these - being literalists - misinterpret those ‘truths’ and this is the genesis of structured and hierarchical religion and ‘schools’.
The book is an outline of these two mindsets throughout history and at the same time an examination of their interaction today. The argument is that there is no such thing today as a ‘religious fundamentalist’ or ‘extremist’, there are only literalists and moreover, that the perception of this non-existent ‘fundamentalism’ is i itself a misinterpretation by literalists.
Thus the ‘battle’ (such as it is) in this period of time, now that (as we are constantly told) ‘the rules have changed’, is not in fact between fundamentalists and moderates but between literalists (Christian, Islamic, atheist and whoever else) and those of a more metaphoric frame of mind (Christian, Islamic, atheist and whoever else). In fact it has always been this way.
I shall probably post the synopsis later this week or maybe some bits of some chapters and perhaps it might be worth a discussion or two.
November 15 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [5]
Progress….
A while back I mentioned some changes I was making and how I might waffle on about them at some future time. Well, lo...the time is now!
I’ve got together with some associates and am going to try to get together two new projects. The major one of these - a radical restructuring of a long-term project at Three Rivers - I will probably post on in depth on Monday but for now I will briefly outline an associated project with the working title ‘Seekers after Truth’ - although we were/are toying with the equally sardonic ‘Society for the Unravelling of Fixed Ideas’.
Basically this group is (or aims to be) an association of people who are serious researchers into esoteric tradition and who can bring divergent skills to bear on collecting information and original research - initially for archiving but eventually for publication - into the possibility of establishing evidence of the existence of, or possibly making contact with, an authentic esoteric tradition.
The title of the group is obviously a nod to the group of the same name detailed by G I Gurdjieff in his Meetings with Remarkable Men
We have set up a temporary Yahoo group (although we will probably develop a dedicated private website or forum at a later date) and anyone interested in this is invited to apply for the association.
Seekers After Truth Yahoo Group
November 12 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [9]
Headstone Project: Idries Shah
Thanks to my good friend T, I am able to post a photo of Idries Shah’s grave in London.
November 11 2005 in Headstone Project | Read More | Comments [2]
John Fowles: 1926 - 2005
One of my favourite authors and the writer of my #1 book The Magus died at the weekend after a long illness.
Although, for reasons I cannot personally fathom (possibly because he did not play the ‘fame’ game but perhaps more to do with the elitism of UK critics), Fowles was not rated amongst the foremost novelists of the twentieth century, at least in Britain, he nevertheless wrote several books that have transcended literature and had enormous transformative effects on people’s lives.
He will be sorely missed by me and many others I know - I have been waiting in vain for the ‘lost’ novels to be published and I suppose they never will now. The old guard is truly passing and we are really now in the eight day of the week. We shall not see his like again and the others of his type are also fewer by the day.
Some tributes and related stuff:
November 09 2005 in Literature | Read More | Comments [3]
Outage
Had an outage the last couple of days which is unfortunate but in a way, significant. As readers may be aware (thanks to all who mailed during this time) I have been going through a period of re-evaluation of well....everything really, and the site being down coincided nicely with the culmination and resolution of that.
Anyway, we’re both back. Be afraid.......:D
November 09 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [0]
I’m Back!
Following on from my last rambling effort which doubtless convinced everyone that I am clinically insane and shed my few remaining readers (purging is good - see post below!) I thought I might continue in the same vein for a while and divulge my current epiphany. First some background:
I have had several life-changing ‘Road to Damascus’ experiences - one was actually on that road - but I shall describe just one of them although they are all inter-linked. This occurred when I lived in London last century (I’ve been waiting so long to use that line). At that time I owned several businesses, amongst them a cafe and an antique rugs gallery, and had a nice apartment in Hampstead blah, blah.
November 03 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [3]
Okapi Fever
I haven’t posted for a while as I am continuing to be more than a little ill, feverish in fact. As a result this post will probably be more rambling and unfocussed than usual.
Fever and illness in general has some advantages I think, one seems a bit closer to the ‘other world’ or imaginal realm, whatever that might be. Certainly I have been having fairly regular lucid dreams and on a couple of occasions, these occurred even whilst semi-awake. I should state the background to this period of ‘unwellness’ such as it is. It has been going on for a few months and although ordinarily one should be concerned, this is not the case. I have come to be convinced that it is not an illness as such but a form of ‘incapacity’ the purpose of which is my body and mind forcing me to a position where I have to let go of everything. A ‘healing crisis’ or period of detoxification I think. I realized this whilst experiencing a lucid dream a few days ago.
November 01 2005 in Design/Css | Read More | Comments [0]
Christianity Before The Sands
Have decided to occasionally feature original and interesting articles on all aspects of philosophy and theology (well the good bits anyway) in the Articles section.
If anyone is interested in writing something for this or perhaps has something suitable then send it my way and I’ll have a look. In the meantime I’ll kick it off with a fascinating article by one of my oldest friends Max Gorman. I won’t describe it as it speaks for itself better than I could and is well worth a read.
Check out Christianity Before The Sands
October 26 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [0]
A Few Good Links….
As regular readers will perhaps know, I have an abiding interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question and as well as not accepting in any way that the plays could have been written by the ‘Stratford Actor’ (and loan shark) of the same name, also have an interest in the links between the works of Shakespeare, Cervantes and Dante and earlier Classical Eastern literature.
I have found an interesting link on the parallels between certain Sufi motifs and the play The Taming of the Shrew which is well worth a read as is the rest of the site - particularly the articles on Shakespeare and his circle. I do not as it happens agree with many of the author’s contentions - certainly I would not agree that Bacon wrote the plays but I am biased and wedded to the idea of a Sufi group under the Earl of Oxford - and some ideas seem a bit ‘way out’ to my mind but it is definitely an interesting read which takes in Shah, Rosicrucians and the Sarmoun. Check it out , it’s a must to anyone interested in the issue.
Speaking of Eastern literature, I have just come across Omphaloskepsis which is an excellent resource for online eastern texts. So far they have Attar’s Tadhkirat al-Auliya and some chapters from his Ilahi-Nama and some works of Sa’di and Rumi. This is definitely one to watch.
PS: I posted a while back about the Psalm 46 coincidence (?) and it’s relevance to the Shakespeare Authorship issue - for those interested in this I have just found an interesting illustration of the conundrum.
October 21 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [2]
A Saying and a Picture….
Quite a few blogs I’ve seen have one of these emoticon thingies which allegedly display your current mood or state of mind. Apart from the fact that this blog is not cool enough to have one, it would also be a bit of a hypocrisy - aiming as we do here for no state of mind at all - so I’m going to have to do it manually. Here’s three sayings describing what my current state of mind is:
When the camel of our efforts sinks into the mud, what matter if the destination is near or far?
And here’s a picture of what I wish it could be like and hope it soon will again:
October 19 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [4]
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