(no subject)

An Eastern disciple who was proud of what he considered to be the spirituality of the East came to the Master and said, "Why is it that the West has material progress and the East has spirituality?"

"Because," said the Master laconically, "when provisions for this world were being handed out in the beginning, the West had the first choice."

-- Anthony de Mello, SJ

MORSEL: Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
--Chuang-tzu (B.C. 350)

(no subject)

"Eli, Eli, lmana sabachthani" are reported as words spoken by Jesus shortly before he died. This phrase apparently had great meaning to the early Christians, and was even used by some as a 'phrase of power' in Christian spellcasting (as demonstrated by several spell fragments presented in Meyer and Smith's Ancient Christian Magic).

The most common interpretation of this phrase is that it is a quote from Psalm 22. Noted scholar George Lamsa, an expert on the Aramaic language, has a different opinion.

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Personal update

Dee and I are expecting lady_babalon and Eric and Aaron to arrive sometime tomorrow. I'll be taking Thursday through Wednesday off from work, and internet access has not yet been restored at the house, so my reporting in might be spotty, but I will try to at least keep some record of Carnival to post afterwards.

Once they get here, we will have a Christian, a Pagan, a Buddhist (Tim), a Thelemite, and a Satanist (or is Eric also a Thelemite?) all co-existing under one roof, hopefully peacefully. Should be interesting.

No other news fit to print at the moment, that I can think of.

'Hick Hunts' and Crossdressing Boot Camp

Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia has complained that CBS is engaging in "bigotry for bucks" by planning a "reality-TV" version of the Beverly Hillbillies. The idea is to take people from the rural South and put them up in a Beverly Hills mansion for a while. I have to agree that the idea is particularly sordid even for 'reality TV.' It's one thing for people to line themselves up for ridicule or torture in the pursuit of money, but the underlying concept behind this show is that it is right and good to laugh at 'hicks.'

In other news (reported on transnews, A&E took two men and two women and had them live together for a month as members of the opposite sex. First they underwent a kind of "crossdressing boot camp" so that they would learn how to pass in public situations, and then they sent them out to encounter the public at large. See "Role Reversal".