Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thought Forms: Leadbeater + Besant
Here are some good vibrations from the astral plane brought to you by the wacky fin de siècle Theosophists, those New Age pioneers of clairvoyance and body auras. Despite their questionable analysis, these "thought-forms" are quite beautiful, and nice to think about forming around my head, or coming out of other places... these are a couple of my favorites. (the following captions by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater's THOUGHT FORMS, downloaded via Project Gutenberg)
This is what my aura looks like when i'm mildly stimulated:
Vague Intellectual Pleasure.—Fig. 18 represents a vague cloud of the same order as those shown in Figs. 8 and 14, but in this case the colour is yellow instead of crimson or blue. Yellow in any of man's vehicles always indicates intellectual capacity, but its shades vary very much, and it may be complicated by the admixture of other hues. Generally speaking, it has a deeper and duller tint if the intellect is directed chiefly into lower channels, more especially if the objects are selfish. In the astral or mental body of the average man of business it would show itself as yellow ochre, while pure intellect devoted to the study of philosophy or mathematics appears frequently to be golden, and this rises gradually to a beautiful clear and luminous lemon or primrose yellow when a powerful intellect is being employed absolutely unselfishly for the benefit of humanity. Most yellow thought-forms are clearly outlined, and a vague cloud of this colour is comparatively rare. It indicates intellectual pleasure—appreciation of the result of ingenuity, or the delight felt in clever workmanship. Such pleasure as the ordinary man derives from the contemplation of a picture usually depends chiefly upon the emotions of admiration, affection, or pity which it arouses within him, or sometimes, if it pourtrays a scene with which he is familiar, its charm consists in its power to awaken the memory of past joys. An artist, however, may derive from a picture a pleasure of an entirely different character, based upon his recognition of the excellence of the work, and of the ingenuity which has been exercised in producing certain results. Such pure intellectual gratification shows itself in a yellow cloud; and the same effect may be produced by delight in musical ingenuity, or the subtleties of argument. A cloud of this nature betokens the entire absence of any personal emotion, for if that were present it would inevitably tinge the yellow with its own appropriate colour.
At a Street Accident.—Fig. 33 is instructive as showing the various forms which the same feelings may take in different individuals. These two evidences of emotion were seen simultaneously among the spectators of a street accident—a case in which someone was knocked down and slightly injured by a passing vehicle. The persons who generated these two thought-forms were both animated by affectionate interest in the victim and deep compassion for his suffering, and so their thought-forms exhibited exactly the same colours, although the outlines are absolutely unlike. The one over whom floats that vague sphere of cloud is thinking "Poor fellow, how sad!" while he who gives birth to that sharply-defined disc is already rushing forward to see in what way he can be of assistance. The one is a dreamer, though of acute sensibilities; the other is a man of action.
And my favorite--what the Music of Mendelssohn looks like. Just imagine this coming out of your heads:
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Illuminated Architecture: Christopher Alexander
I've just recently (and most happily) been acquainted with Christopher Alexander's four part work "The Nature of Order: The Art of Building and The Nature of the Universe." It's a work that reaches beyond the realm of architecture--Alexander describes with great beauty the phenomenology of the man-made world and it's relationship with our individual consciousness. He attempts to reconcile the sometimes ugliness of modernity to find a structure's living center, the illuminating inner light, what he names as the identifiable "I" in a thing--in a bit of carpet, a tile, a painting, a garden, a bridge. His profound humanism is refreshing and unapologetic, and makes for inspiring urban planning and architecture. Check out his Pattern Language website.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
In Living Color + Zoobilee Zoo: The Tender Years
This show makes me cry everytime...with happy magic tears.
This makes me cry as well, and shit my y-fronts a bit. The thing is, I was probably watching these two in one glorious day in 1991. I waked and baked with Mayor Ben Vereen and other grown up musical friends dressed as pigs, and set my head to rest not too long after Homey D. Clown. The world makes a little less sense nowadays, without these.
Bye! Bye! byee! Bi! Byenow! Byeee! bi! Biiiiiiiiiii! Byeeeeeeeeeeee! Biiibiiii! iiii!
This makes me cry as well, and shit my y-fronts a bit. The thing is, I was probably watching these two in one glorious day in 1991. I waked and baked with Mayor Ben Vereen and other grown up musical friends dressed as pigs, and set my head to rest not too long after Homey D. Clown. The world makes a little less sense nowadays, without these.
Bye! Bye! byee! Bi! Byenow! Byeee! bi! Biiiiiiiiiii! Byeeeeeeeeeeee! Biiibiiii! iiii!
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