Nihilism and enthusiasm can manifest in association with both connectivity and freshness.
There is the nihilism to be found in too many inheritances, the burden of history, a tangled nightmare from which one tries to awake; and there is the nihilism found in isolation, alienation, lack of reference points, the terror of infinity.
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Explosion II by Roy Lichtenstein
Just heard via V. Vale’s RE/Search mailing list of an exciting upcoming exhibition in London, Crash: Homage to J.G. Ballard. Running from February 11th to April 1st at the Gagosian Gallery near King’s Cross, this major exhibition celebrates the impact of Ballard’s singular imagination, and of course follows the author’s recent demise.
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Just a quickie to direct your attention, if it’s not found it already, to enfolding.org. Billed as covering “tantra, history, gender, occulture & other queer assemblies”, it’s a group blog initiated by Phil Hine which is still building gradually, but already there’s some great material over there. Informed by recent academic theory as well as long-term practice, there’s plenty of thoughtful, accessible critiques of well-worn occult mainstays, such as the astral plane and The Golden Bough, a great boundary-melting examination of Baphomet, and oodles of beneath-the-surface thoughts on Tantric history and practice.
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Does your bile rise when you see fevered egos like Pat Robertson claim the earthquake disaster in Haiti was the upshot of the country’s (ahem) “pact with the Devil” he says it made in freeing itself from French domination? Looking for somewhere to put all that bile, as well as wanting to send urgently-needed aid to those struggling to survive after this calamity?
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This piece by Josh Schrei over at the Huffington Post is one of the best takes on Avatar I’ve read. The basic premise is that the criticisms of the cheesy lines given to the one-dimensional “baddies” altogether miss the reality that their real-life counterparts actually do utter such unthinkable crap, as they destroy indigenous ecologies. It’s a very fair point, quite revealing of how we fail to take on board some of the stark realities that we’re insulated from, but which destroy lives in remote parts of the world. Well worth a read.
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Erik Davis just posted a glowing review of a new book on ayahuasca: Singing to the Plants by Steve Beyer. While Erik makes the book sound like a must-read, it’s just out and for now is only in pricey hardcover. However, I’ve just been browsing Beyer’s blog, and I’ve quickly become impressed enough to be here pushing you his way.
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The comfy crust of semi-hibernation got pleasantly broken last night at the positively bustling opening night of the Strange Attractor Salon. It’s an exhibition ably curated by SA guru Mark Pilkington, showcasing art from contributors and allies. Needless to say, the obscure, the psychedelic, the devilishly fascinating and the bizarrely seductive are thoroughly celebrated.
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This is the warmest I’ve felt about Britain at this time of year in quite a while—and the first time I’ve known what’s number one in the charts for even longer. Merry Christmas everyone!
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Haven’t been tagged with a blogging meme for a while, so I thought I’d honour Merrick nominating me for this one. The idea is to find five searches that your site appears at number one in Google for, and then tag five other blogs. Sexual content in the searches gets a bonus, which is actually more than just healthy puerility; the internet being what it is, ranking high for obscenities is a real acheivement.
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The talk on War & the Noble Savage at the October Gallery this Tuesday just gone went pretty well. Some of the questions certainly picked up on blindspots in my presentation of my research, and I’m hoping I’ll find time soon to blog about these interesting sub-topics.
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