Again I think about those stories with various tribes and mystics who refused to have their photo taken out of fear that the camera will steal their soul. And there’s something to be said about the reluctance many people have when it comes to being filmed without their knowledge or accord, on the street, for… Read More An image is something which is potentially dangerous
“This is so African.” Fela Kuti manages to turn this ultimate cliché of phrase into one of the most refined acts of defiance. And it is perhaps not accidental that this particular show takes place in one of the most important capitals of Europe, namely Berlin. Watching Fela Kuti’s band jumping around, dancing, and acting… Read More “This is so African.” Fela Kuti’s delicious act of defiance
Point no. 1. The process What fascinated me in the first place about this concert is the way it records its own unfolding – its heightened processuality, so to speak. The (apparent or actual) errors, repetitions, calibrations, the tuning of the instruments, the adjustments, which are all fundamental aspects of what constitutes a process. Kuti’s… Read More The heightened processuality of Fela Kuti’s shows
1. “To foreigners, Eastern music seems monotonous, they only wonder at its crudity and musical poverty. But what sounds like one note to them is a whole melody for the local inhabitants—a melody contained in one note. This kind of melody is much more difficult than ours. If an Eastern musician makes a mistake in… Read More Music and rituals – two fragments by Gurdjieff
The literary circle I was part of many years ago, in high school, has recently turned 30. On this occasion I was invited to write something about those years. As part of the resulting text, I included what I called some rules or reminders for writing (and artistic creation in general), which I am now… Read More Personal rules and reminders for artistic creation
Between cinema and reality there is inevitably a difference (it is both an absence and an abstraction), the goal of which is twofold and somewhat paradoxical: first, it turns cinema into something which is its own universe, governed by its own rules and principles, a something-else-ness whose reason for being resides in itself; secondly, because… Read More Disparate notes on cinema
”Something that Vimalananda emphasized over and over again: there is no limit to knowledge. And here in this very country, India, there have been people who have been focusing on trying to understand reality from all its perspectives and they have been focusing for thousands of years and the amount of things that have been… Read More The experiencer, aghora tantra. Fragments by Robert Svoboda.
Possession. Jung I’d very much like to know what Jung had to say about possession cults and the deeper reasons behind such experiences. Especially since I’ve always wondered if the entities which supposedly possess the initiate could be regarded as aspects of one’s Self. As far as I know, though, Jung spoke about possession in… Read More Notes on possession trance. Jung. “The Miracle of Bali” (1969)
1. “Let those who suffer from the toils of samsara seek release: the perfect devotee does not suffer; for he can both visualize and experience life and the universe as the revelation of that Supreme Divine Force (sakti) with which he is in love, the all-comprehensive Divine Being in its cosmic aspect of playful, aimless… Read More Two quotes from H.Zimmer and the Tantras
