Category: Journal

7.3.16

– 300 – What is the name of Leonidas’ wife?

Gorgo!

I love that character – she is the hero’s (only) mentor.

– Feral ~ unbroken ~ wilding

Feline

Leonine

– asymptote

– Dual citizenship

Respectful and compassionate communication

– “…

the shattering powerlessness of cogently witnessing your body fail to execute it’s most elementary faculties”

– tortilla

burrito

– Ivan Illich

8.3.16

– STOP the background music (when your brain is working)!

– Only one chore per day.

Period.

– Dole economics

– tokenism

– Byzantine bureaucracy

– Non-performing assets

– “There is need to look at how the systems we live in help create the monsters we try to fight against.”

– Zero-tolerance policy

– bullies

trolls

– Intellectual + ethical + social = spiritual!

Conflicts + anxieties + values = life!

– “The Indian Freedom struggle was not a singular, centralised movement drawing attention to major national figures and geographical locations. It produced fascinating local histories and gave birth to hundreds of women and men who, in their localised contexts, displayed incredible coverage and fierce dedication in their participation in the fight for independence.”

– If every job has its own requirements and criteria for eligibility, then why don’t politicians (those who wield the most power in a society!) too have high standards & strict criteria to qualify for the post?

What can we as a people do to prevent a scenario where the wise are ruled by the foolish?

Is there any systematic strategy in place to promote the personal growth and spiritual health of our leaders in parliament and legislative assemblies??

Is there any mechanism currently operating, which keeps all our representatives directly in touch with, and immediately accountable to, their respective constituencies?

– “Nayak writes about the whole phase that moulded his convictions, integrity and fearless honesty with tenderness and affection devoid of rhetoric and sentimentality.”

– intransigence

– Epics – the great classical texts!

Subaltern history

Local myths and legends

– Performative culture

– Scholastics

Vs.

Artists

Vs.

Activists

Vs.

Ignorantia

– Oral traditions

Vs.

Modern education

– “We all come under the transgender category. It is a spectrum. So, I’m in that spectrum and I’ve always had close links with the gender-ambiguous nature of things.”

9.3.16

– The great mystery of evil!

– Religion is a concept foreign to all the religions!

– Farting, family & culture

– Soul/nature > body/animal > self/ego

Spirit > matter > mind!

– Lovers’ quarrel

Break-up sex

– These electronic gadgets seem to have a will of their own!

All the tricks cannot solve every problem/glitch… You just have to (learn to) become (more) patient……!
Even (the so-called) inanimate creation must be respected.

– Avoid talking on the mobile, praying aloud or playing media when someone else is in the same room, with you.

– Learning to lie down without closing my eyes, and to sleep sitting…

– Will you stay & watch with me?

– How could the spirit ever overcome the flesh, if not for GOD?

– They did not know what to tell him, so they fell asleep…
Compare Jesus’ disciples with Job’s friends!
What about my companions?
Am I a good one to others?
Betray, misunderstand &/or desert.

– “Are you still…?
Enough of that!”

Discern:
Time to rest.
Time to watch.
Time to act.

– The crowd with clubs, the soldiers with swords and the high priests of religion – all go together!
Manipulation is nothing but subtle, disguised coercion.

– Thin veneer

– That bandicoot shows (me) that creation is NOT anthropocentric!
Everything is made for GOD’s sake, not mine/ours.
Man is the crowning glory (dependent on everything underneath – flagship/chief/steward), not the cornerstone (sustaining everything else – source/basis/center).
Christ is both before & after, therefore greater than, Adam!

– Jesus & me/you:
Kiss the Rabbi (along with those cozy others)
Vs.
Follow the Lord (and die with the insiders)
The outsider within the inner circle, & the insiders among the mob……

– Distinguish:
Crowd
&
Mob
Organized destruction
Intentional chaos
Subconscious deliberation

– Maybe only Judas understood Jesus’ (anti-)climactic plan, that’s why he betrayed him, & the others stayed ‘loyal’ only because they misunderstood Jesus.
So, was anyone really faithful in the end??

– Leaders – even behind the major social trends, there are a few individual wills! Or is this the illusion that postmodernism tries to dispel?
Even behind those individuals in power, there are other historical-political forces at work!

– The crowd was afraid of Jesus, & the disciples were afraid of the mob!
So you think you can arrest someone who raises dead people, with clubs & swords?
When you know you are the guilty party, then the only way to defend yourself is by attacking another innocent……
All the violence (political action) was only a sideshow, compared to the real conflict (spiritual drama).

– the incarnate GOD can show us what it means to be human.
Otherwise, all we have is a distorted & inadequate picture of Man.
The humanity of GOD
&
The divinity of man
(NOT the other way ’round!)
Christ saves us, only by recovering Adam for us.

10.3.16

– “The role of semiotic and social factors that influence intellectual innovation… and the crucial role of personal impulses…”
“This ground-breaking book will further an internal sociological analysis of ideas and styles of thought. It will show that the defining but largely neglected feature of what has become ‘French theory’ was a collective mind and style of thought, an explosive but fragile mixture of scientific and political radicalism that rather quickly watered down to academic orthodoxy.”

– Political erotics & body poetics

–  fin-de-siecle

– Civilization as violation

– “Creed”
Staying aggressive/hungry, without becoming violent/greedy.
Distinguish:
Legacy
&
Publicity
Character as achievement.

11.3.16

– Maybe I should develop a taste for such popular/cheap stuff too!

– “Neither in the theoretic nor in the practical sphere, do we  care for, or go for help to, those who have no head for risks, or sense for living on the perilous edge. . . .
We  draw new life from the heroic example.” – William James
“You don’t need to fight, or make yourself belong,
To be a revolution!” – Jars of Clay
Theoretic radical – can you be a practical coward?

– Heart + spine + head = human!
Which is my weak point?

– quotidian
The radical ordinary!

– augur/diviner

12.3.16

– “The beginning of (the knowledge of) truth is a sense of wonder.”

– Incarnational & missional ~ Eucharistic & sacramental

– Becoming (more fully and truly) oneself……

– One of the burning questions on my mind nowadays is, how often (or rarely) should I attend church worship?

– Trinity – I, you and he/she – the complete grammar!
The infinitely self-perpetuating dynamic…

– Distinguish:
Liberty/freedom
&
Sovereignty/autonomy

– The community as a collection of individuals (personal/volitional)
&
The individual as member of the community (cultural/historical)
Which is primary and which is secondary?
It’s a perichoretic relationship!

– No sacrifice/bloodshed/passion, no offering/worship/celebration!
Why??

– Why secret (priestly) prayers in the divine liturgy??

– Ecumenical:
Universal ~ authoritative!

– Kierkegaard
Vs.
Postmodernity

– Liturgy:
Public ~ corporate
Worship ~ service

– “Never forget, people like to be told what they already know.” – Henry Chadwick

– It’s mine, not yours –> It is mine, for us!

– Unliturgical behavior

– Nihilism
Vs.
Metaphysics
Is there a third way out??

– The priest/leader/teacher needs the people just as much they need him/her!

– Anti-essentialist

– Epiklesis

– The threefold Amen!

– “Anathema Maranatha”

– Distinguish:
Certainty
&
Assurance

– Affirmation ~ commitment

– ordained (adj.)

– From the What, to the Why and the How……

– A gathering movement

– Singing the Creed!
Chanting the Scriptures!

– Movies:
“Gospel According to Matthew” (Superhit!)
Great movies get better with repeated viewing!
Christianity is all about spiritual warfare – against personal moral apathy, against cultural conformity, & against political oppression.
Church, when will you ever get Jesus? Never!?

– YouTube:
Orthodox English Chant
Preaching Moment

– IMVDB
WOW! 🙂

14.3.16

– Flash mob!

– It is a curse to have parents you would never want to emulate (in terms of character)! 😦

15.3.16

– Added Google calendars for:
ICC cricket matches for India
Holidays in India
Christian holidays
Phases of the moon
Week numbers

– It was fascinating watching the post-match review, today!
It was a shock defeat for India.
That’s why I love New Zealand – always giving 100%…

– I can have a maximum of 1 mentoring & 1 group meeting only, per week.

25.2.16

– Entertainment – photography, TV series (downloaded), listening to music/songs with lyrics…

– To love is to live WITH others.

To live AS yourself.

To live FOR all.

– Field & function

– Metonymy & metaphor

– The masculine symbolic order

– The imaginary, the symbolic & the Real

– “Theology has the power to reconceive the world (with everything in it)!”

– Elide/absorb

– “Christ as the most female of men.”

– “The paradoxical religious practice of self-transcendence, rooted in bodily experience.”

26.2.16

– Can a celibate person not be a prude?

– The Second Adam is BEFORE the first!

– Is Satori the same as Nirvana?

– raison d’etre

– coup de grace
coup d’etat

– The love of wisdom –> wisdom of love!

– Author-ity

27.2.16

– “All the youth want is just to change the world,
And the older, the more we try to change the youth…
That’s the news, yeah! ”
– Every Day Life
Are the youth getting “old” nowadays? Why?
Self Vs. World
Warm-blooded & cold-blooded people

– hendiadys

29.2.16

– My approach to learning is not driven/controlled by prefixed goals, but I allow the pursuit of truth itself to produce diverse agenda & new motivations!
Open Vs. Closed

– TV series:
“Californication”
Nobody is able to be alone, & nobody knows what they are doing!

– Neither prudish nor prurient

– Movie:
“The Revenant” (okay/cool)
GOD/nature/evil/fate
Vs.
Man/will/virtue/hope
The end – he looks straight into the camera, & then there is only the sound of his breathing – life > meaning > purpose > happiness. What is he gonna live for now? But life is an end in itself. Survive! Even love (or sacrifice), & every other virtue, is a means to this end.
“Fight till your last breath. Keep breathing!”
“I’m right here with you.”
The natural life-cycle (brutality – life-giving death/killing)
Vs.
The violence of Capital (demonic – death-dealing existence/consumption)
Can there be vengeance without hatred? Retributive justice.
Cruelty (Native Indian savages)
Vs.
Annihilation (European imperialistic invaders)
– “Nihilism” – Bűlent Diken
Pelts & scalps – cannibalism is at the very heart of Christianity itself!

– idiolect 

– Spiritual formation & human nature:
Faith ~ knowledge ~ conscience 
Experience ~ feeling ~ dontext
Practice ~ body ~ will

– Moral understanding –> willing obedience –> joyful worship!

1.3.16

– Salvation:
Few/some/many/all??

– “Haute couture”

– personable

– Ethos & pathos

– What problem does Christianity have with humanism, & why?

2.3.16

– The pain of pleasure
&
The pleasure of pain

– Don’t just express yourself, MAKE your self!

– What would happen if all stockholders of financial institutions & MNCs, along with the employees, were to pressure the company board into responsible & ethical modes of functioning?
Stakeholders > stockholders

3.3.16

– “Emptying the idea of India”

– “The brave new world of retail violence”

– Vociferous Dalits & enlightened Muslims

– “…financial markets misreading the situation on the state of the real economy.”

– The folly of vice!

– “Soothing investor sentiment”

– The Readers’ Editor

– Inflection point 

– Tense, mood, person, number, gender, case

– Fundamentalist Liberals

– The sociology of death

– Emotional meanings
Collective passions

– Sovereign ideas

– Indian > Hindu

– The military Vs. The Parliament  
The media Vs. The university 
The executive Vs. The judiciary 
The powers Vs. The people 

– earth or Earth?

– Subconscious cynical/sinister intentionality 

– “Symbols are extremely powerful, because they connect to compressed reservoirs of collective emotions.”

– “Intense debate about the merits of alternative visions…”
Democratising theology!

– How important/necessary is the survival of the EU?

– Movies:
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (Cool/good)
Messiah as judge & savior.
Are we that lovable?!
What if the judgment is going to be a natural disaster (impersonal consequence of our choices)??

“Seven Minutes” (flop)
I agree with the 0/5 rating by Slant!
Doesn’t deserve my reflection.
Need to choose my movies more carefully – peer (multiple critics) review!

4.3.16

– Peak summer – April – July:
3-4 hours A/C per day
Between winter & peak summer (Spring/Lent) – March
1-2 hours A/C per day
Between peak summer & winter (Autumn/fall) – August – October
1-2 hours A/C per day
Winter – November – February
No A/C (use heater for bath)
Bath frequency?

– Alternate day rhythm:
Systematic – no nap
Spontaneous – no chores

– “You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards”

– We should not spend more than 15 – 30 min. (one or two 15 min. sessions) a day on social networking.
NOT scattered all over the day, but in 1 or 2 fixed/limited periods of chatting.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=180870CE1FA1D60B!1729&authkey=!AB4iXnS-3pCUomc&ithint=folder%2c

Camera Roll

18.2.16

– NEVER underestimate the power of words (& your own work), Joe!!!

19.2.16

– Challenges/demands for future development:
1. Healthy interaction & cooperation between different departments of the government.
2. Free communication and genuine collaboration between civil society/NGOs, private/corporate and public sectors.
3. The media and judiciary to hold all these 3 accountable, especially the state.
4. The executive to function free from political interference/manipulation.
5. All citizens to be conscientized regarding relevant social issues.

– Alan Watts helped me realize that whoever I am/whatever I am doing, it is both frivolous/trivial and glorious/wonderful…
So I need to continue (instead of giving up entirely on whatever it is, I am trying to accomplish……), but always in an attitude of playfulness and creativity!

– Tragedy + comedy = farce!

– Distinguish:
Rebellion 
&
Liberation 

– Idolatry
&
Iconoclasm 

– The idiot-sage 

– “Concerning his mystical experiences, there is speculation that his discussion of  fraudulent mystics acting as master teachers— the so-called “trickster guru” —is a self-reference. Moreover, he often maintained sharp criticisms of  academic life by arguing that upstanding reputations in American universities require production of  mediocre work.” – Alan Watts 

– Blatant pedantry 
Learning > academic study
Socrates Vs. The Sophists 
Jesus Vs. The Pharisees 

– If you try to be a hero, you will most probably end up becoming a villain!
If you blindly follow others, you will end up as a nobody.
If you work on fully being your(true)self, you will definitely become a great/good person!

– “Watts portrayed himself  as an amalgam of  contradictory and paradoxical aspects: a “coincidence of  opposites” and “a joker” with reference to a wild card taking on a variety of  qualities in various circumstances. He wrote, “I realize quite clearly that the ego-personality named Alan Watts is an illusion, a social institution (as are all egos), and a fabrication of  words and symbols without the slightest substantial reality”. Watts is not a man on whom it is possible to deliver an easy verdict— he escapes labels.”

– Immanuel Watts ~ Alan Joseph! 😉

– Metatheologian
Apophatic thinker
Intellectual yoga
Negative canon
Normative questions 

20.2.16

– Analytic theology 

– Metapsychology 

– Energetic and intelligent prayer

– Movies:
“Boyhood” (hit)
Let life happen!
“Seized by the moment”
Grow up, not old.
How would girlhood be different?
Cultural convention
Vs.
Individual meaning
– the choice is made very early in life!

21.2.16

– Proslogion
Prolegomena

– Religious skepticism

– When you lose everything, that’s when you realize, all that is nothing!

– “So you think you can tell heaven from hell……”

– Rock orchestra

– My problem is with Christianity itself, & not just the Church…
So I don’t/can’t blame the pastors (alone).

– Let’s ogle (at the world) together! 😉

– Who is more free – GOD or man?

22.2.16

– Retreat/seminar preparation – 6 months each. First 3 months, alternate day 1 hour. Second 3 months, daily 1 hour.

– URL
Vs.
IRL

– Sine die

– Financial literacy

– I’m a straddler!

– Problematizing everything!

– Natural history

– “The Joyous Cosmology”

– “Columbus, Peter J._ Rice, Donadrian L. – Alan Watts – Here and Now_ Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion”

– “A Taste of Death” – Mahesh Bhatt on U.G. Krishnamurti

23.2.16

– Sapiosexual

– Movies:
“The Big Short” (hit)
Hmmm…… Is this ‘comedy’ too gloomy??
“They are not confessing, they’re bragging!”
How did we get here?!
If there are no heroes (among us), is there any hope left (for us)?
When leadership fails, institutions fail. Then you need other leaders/institutions to step in & compensate, or the people must unite & rise to the occasion.

– “Homo adorans –> Homo sapiens –> Homo faber”

– “Food is the last natural sacrament.”
The family meal!

– “Man ceased to see his utter dependence on the world, as a sacrament of his communion with the God of life.”

– The world as such (What it always has been & ever will be)
Vs.
The world as it is (What it has become, for now)

– Free ~ unconditioned ~ disinterested

– Love > desire
More, NOT other!

– chasuble

– “The liturgy as (the recovery of our) supernatural (original) childhood.”

– Heaven ~ glory ~ holy

– e-mail, not email!

– GOD ~ life ~ world ~ person ~ sacred

– Power vacuum 

24.2.16

– parliamentary (adj.)

– “Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram”

– Status report

– “You can have fun and win.” – Brendon McCullum
Impatience ~ urgency!

– Brexit 

– Distinguish:
Debate
&
Disruption 

– Maoist capitalism!
“Mass line”

– Politics:
People for party (power)
Or
Party for people (service)?

– Decentralization 
Vs.
Redistribution 
Power is the ultimate resource, not wealth!

– Unrivalled leadership 
Vs.
Populist grandstanding 

– Welfare tourism 
Economic migration 

– Sponsorship & objectivity 

– Jats 
Vs.
Patels 

– Why the discrepancy between the online & print version of the same newspaper?

– Kidglove treatment 

– Ideologues & the masses
The unscrupulous & the mindless

– “Patriotism without nationalism”

– Sentimentality & violence!

– Public awareness & political will 

– Artificial anxiety 

– Soft skills
Vs.
Liberal Arts

– Independent researcher

– canteen
scalp (v.)

– harlequin