Counter-culture Journals (文革)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Hail Lord Gilgamesh
A few years ago I studied the Druid religion. It is a lot like Hinduism. A person picks out a god form and worships that form. It also believes in reincarnation. I then studied Epicurus philosophy which said not to take the gods too seriously and not to count on an afterlife. I also found that fascination.
But then, best of all, I found the perfect god-form— Gilgamesh(𒄑𒂆𒈦 [ 𒂆 ])He was 75% god and a serious of epics where written about him. He was a real person, but how much truth there is to the epics no one knows. It’s not that different from the Bible. Jesus was a real man, but how much of the god stuff is real is the question. Was he divine? A lot of us just do think so.
According to the site Mega Essays:
Mesopotamia’s Religious Activities With Mesopotamian civilization dating back as far as 3500 B. C. E. the typical resident exhibited many qualities. However, their main qualities were based on religion. The book, The Epic of Gilgamesh describes how religion played a very important role in the Mesopotamian society. They thought that humans were put onto this earth in order to serve God. Religion was the relevance of their apparent Mesopotamian religion in The Epic of Gilgamesh when it described the great flood. Religion was an important part of their everyday life. The Mesopotamians were Polytheistic, which means they had many gods. Their gods were thought to have control over nature and the environment around them. People saw the gods as having human characteristics. The Epic of Gilgamesh relates to the polytheistic belief because there are many human like gods that are described in the story. Since the presence of their gods were so closely felt people would build temples for them. "Priest became full-time specialists, running the temples and performing the astronomical calculations of the dates for normal flooding, which were needed to manage the irrigation systems." (Stearns, 33) Citizens of Mesopotamia would also
So there you have it. He’s the perfect god form, even better than Jesus Christ who is only ½ god. Gilgamesh is 25% more god. It goes fine with Druidry, where you may chose your own god form to worship. Ad Epicureanism and you don’t have to take it all too seriously and you have the perfect religion.
But then, best of all, I found the perfect god-form— Gilgamesh(𒄑𒂆𒈦 [ 𒂆 ])He was 75% god and a serious of epics where written about him. He was a real person, but how much truth there is to the epics no one knows. It’s not that different from the Bible. Jesus was a real man, but how much of the god stuff is real is the question. Was he divine? A lot of us just do think so.
According to the site Mega Essays:
Mesopotamia’s Religious Activities With Mesopotamian civilization dating back as far as 3500 B. C. E. the typical resident exhibited many qualities. However, their main qualities were based on religion. The book, The Epic of Gilgamesh describes how religion played a very important role in the Mesopotamian society. They thought that humans were put onto this earth in order to serve God. Religion was the relevance of their apparent Mesopotamian religion in The Epic of Gilgamesh when it described the great flood. Religion was an important part of their everyday life. The Mesopotamians were Polytheistic, which means they had many gods. Their gods were thought to have control over nature and the environment around them. People saw the gods as having human characteristics. The Epic of Gilgamesh relates to the polytheistic belief because there are many human like gods that are described in the story. Since the presence of their gods were so closely felt people would build temples for them. "Priest became full-time specialists, running the temples and performing the astronomical calculations of the dates for normal flooding, which were needed to manage the irrigation systems." (Stearns, 33) Citizens of Mesopotamia would also
So there you have it. He’s the perfect god form, even better than Jesus Christ who is only ½ god. Gilgamesh is 25% more god. It goes fine with Druidry, where you may chose your own god form to worship. Ad Epicureanism and you don’t have to take it all too seriously and you have the perfect religion.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Yes! Counter-Culture can be revolutionary
In the past I’ve used a few items of interest from Mike Ely and his site the Kasama project. Kasama focuses mainly on political strategy and the various revolutionary movements in the world today. But I rarely use a political article from there on this blog. That is because Otto’s War Room is mainly for political commentary and actual news. This site is more for cultural affairs, music, videos, poems (mostly my own) artwork (some of it by me) and my own commentary on culture.
It just so happens that this article is perfect for this site. I have kept my artwork and non-political writing radical in the sense that it is not conventional, it is in-your-face often offensive (although my politics have done that from time to time). But I have largely kept features on cultural issues here and not elsewhere. It just so happens that Ely has covered a topic I’m keen on; the overlap between counter-culture currents and political rebellion. Here Ely talks about the New Left or new Communist Movements of the 1960s and 1970s and how the smart leftist joined in with the youth movement while others shunned or criticized it. -សតិវ អតុ
Youth Culture & Reefer: Subversive Lessons for Future Breaks
Posted by Mike E on August 4, 2010
“If we (as a new revolutionary movement) are not prepared to ‘get it’ when some new wave of alienation breaks, and if we are not prepared to see the positive factors within cultural explosions (and their intimate connection with political possibilities), and if we are not prepared to fuse our communist insights with such new radical social divergence emerging within growing pockets of new generations — then everything else we do now is a waste of time.”
It just so happens that this article is perfect for this site. I have kept my artwork and non-political writing radical in the sense that it is not conventional, it is in-your-face often offensive (although my politics have done that from time to time). But I have largely kept features on cultural issues here and not elsewhere. It just so happens that Ely has covered a topic I’m keen on; the overlap between counter-culture currents and political rebellion. Here Ely talks about the New Left or new Communist Movements of the 1960s and 1970s and how the smart leftist joined in with the youth movement while others shunned or criticized it. -សតិវ អតុ
Youth Culture & Reefer: Subversive Lessons for Future Breaks
Posted by Mike E on August 4, 2010
“If we (as a new revolutionary movement) are not prepared to ‘get it’ when some new wave of alienation breaks, and if we are not prepared to see the positive factors within cultural explosions (and their intimate connection with political possibilities), and if we are not prepared to fuse our communist insights with such new radical social divergence emerging within growing pockets of new generations — then everything else we do now is a waste of time.”
by Mike Ely
Dave Palmer kicked off this discussion by saying:
“I didn’t live in the 1960s, but it seems to me very tragic that Abbie Hoffman and people like him promoted the idea that drug use was somehow revolutionary. (To his credit, Hoffman discouraged the use of heroin and methamphetamine — but on the other hand, he also claimed that cocaine wasn’t addictive). Abbie Hoffman seemed to truly believe that the 1960s youth culture, including (and maybe even especially) the aspects revolving around drugs, presented a radical challenge to capitalist society. In fact, the 1960s youth culture was easily co-opted by capitalist society, and continues to be sold today. Meanwhile, I can’t help but think that the widespread use of marijuana and other drugs may have seriously reduced the revolutionary potential of US radicals in that time period.”
I think it is hard for post-60s generations to “capture” for themselves the social meaning and impact of various 60s cultural forms.
In themselves, long hair, worn clothes, smoking pot, public dancing, new forms of music (especially Black music and its descendants), traveling instead of careers, experiments with communal living, erosion of traditional sexual mores, saying fuck in public, the sense of getting back in touch with the natural …. they don’t all look sharply subversive , or that obviously connected with a revolutionary overthrow of an existing empire.
But that is (in part) because they had a huge impact on the subsequent culture, and so (now) don’t look that shocking. You can’t recapture the shock of the new two decades later. It always just looks old. But we live history going forward — and we have to anticipate that there will be new, shocking and highly attractive ruptures (that in their initial content often don’t seem literally revolutionary).
It is hard to re-capture today how threatening the Temptations could be. Or the idea of young white girls listening to Little Richard.
Dave Palmer kicked off this discussion by saying:
“I didn’t live in the 1960s, but it seems to me very tragic that Abbie Hoffman and people like him promoted the idea that drug use was somehow revolutionary. (To his credit, Hoffman discouraged the use of heroin and methamphetamine — but on the other hand, he also claimed that cocaine wasn’t addictive). Abbie Hoffman seemed to truly believe that the 1960s youth culture, including (and maybe even especially) the aspects revolving around drugs, presented a radical challenge to capitalist society. In fact, the 1960s youth culture was easily co-opted by capitalist society, and continues to be sold today. Meanwhile, I can’t help but think that the widespread use of marijuana and other drugs may have seriously reduced the revolutionary potential of US radicals in that time period.”
I think it is hard for post-60s generations to “capture” for themselves the social meaning and impact of various 60s cultural forms.
In themselves, long hair, worn clothes, smoking pot, public dancing, new forms of music (especially Black music and its descendants), traveling instead of careers, experiments with communal living, erosion of traditional sexual mores, saying fuck in public, the sense of getting back in touch with the natural …. they don’t all look sharply subversive , or that obviously connected with a revolutionary overthrow of an existing empire.
But that is (in part) because they had a huge impact on the subsequent culture, and so (now) don’t look that shocking. You can’t recapture the shock of the new two decades later. It always just looks old. But we live history going forward — and we have to anticipate that there will be new, shocking and highly attractive ruptures (that in their initial content often don’t seem literally revolutionary).
It is hard to re-capture today how threatening the Temptations could be. Or the idea of young white girls listening to Little Richard.
And while we are at it let’s not forget that my first novel is over a person who drifts through the counter-culture, from a life of hedodnism, to becoming a political activist. This books is about the very subject of this article.
The book; Memoirs Of A Drugged-up, Sex-crazed Yippie ---Tales from the 70's Counterculture: Drugs, Sex, Politics and Rock and Roll, can be purchased Direct from the publisher, for $ 12.25. It is a 300 page look at a counter-culture freak who learns about the working class and the left. Here are some review of the book from authonomy.com/;
This is honest and riveting. It drew me in right away. Backed, with pleasure.
Carol
I love books like this and this is set in a time period I am a little obsessed with! The music was at it's best, and so much was happening in our history. I think you've captured that perfectly! I like the way you write, it's fitting for the subject matter. I think a lot of people are going to identify with this whether they lived through these times or not. I've really enjoyed reading your book ...... it's exactly the kind of thing I read out in the 'real world'!
I love books like this and this is set in a time period I am a little obsessed with! The music was at it's best, and so much was happening in our history. I think you've captured that perfectly! I like the way you write, it's fitting for the subject matter. I think a lot of people are going to identify with this whether they lived through these times or not. I've really enjoyed reading your book ...... it's exactly the kind of thing I read out in the 'real world'!
Missy
Fantastic pitch, for starters. I love the raw honesty of your narrative. This truly was utterly fascinating. This is the sort of story that many people in similar situations or who've survived them, I should say, can really relate and connect to on a very personal level.Backed with honor.
Fantastic pitch, for starters. I love the raw honesty of your narrative. This truly was utterly fascinating. This is the sort of story that many people in similar situations or who've survived them, I should say, can really relate and connect to on a very personal level.Backed with honor.
C. L. Freire (DAVID THORNE: The Golithian Orbs)
Abbie HoffmanSaturday, August 07, 2010
Beat the heat—Skinny dip
This is the season to beat the heat and skinny dip. There are plenty of nude beaches in Europe and some in the US. Not everyone has access to such places. If you do—take advantage of it. It is the only way to swim.
Monday, August 02, 2010
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