I never go to the theatre. I watch a lot of DVDs, many of plays, but I've got a nagging feeling I also gotta go see a few for myself sometimes.
Not only will it open up the blog but - added bonus - it may even make my life Complete:
Complete is a comic, time-splitting wrangle over the power and perversion of language. When Eve (Bishop) finds out that Micah (Kruse) is doing "The Training," she risks their careers, their relationship and their safety to prove just how destructive the notion of self-creation can be.
"Complete is inspired by both the language of est and the scientific study of syntax and semantics," explained Kuchlewska in an interview. "I did the est training at age nine. The use of language in that subculture was specific and differed in important ways from the English I had been speaking up until then. This was a potent combination for me as a child-using language to empower myself, but also being confused at times by what I and others were saying. It forever changed the way I think and how I speak."
Developed by Werner Erhard, est is a system of experiential philosophy that was popular in the 1970s and '80s and was accused by some of being a cult. Inspired by her childhood experience and aided by the deeper understanding of language she gained as a linguistics major, Kuchlewska constructs a fictional "Training," a world in which phrases like "I intend to create a parking space" and "You can create yourself being any way you want to be" are normal statements, even in the mouth of a child.
As a graduate of and former coach at the Ford Institute for Transformational Training, Jennifer Chambers brings an insider's understanding to the project.
"There is a very specific language that the self-help industry uses, and it can be viewed as either very helpful or very manipulative," she says. "I want to go back and explore that world now that I have some distance from it."
Can you hand me a better give/take-away line than that last one?
I'm hearing she's snapped - and now sees an "in" and "out", "before" and "after".
Well Hell, that's worth grabbing my coat all by itself,…
I saw this on Ann Althouse's blog, where she was announcing Sherman Hemsley's death, but immediately got fascinated by the Devil's NewAge lingo ("I think we're really connecting here in a positive way. And I'd like to cut through all of that victim/demon negative imaging, you know what I mean?") which is exactly how The Dark Lord would talk if he existed - using vaguely open-ended, thought-stopping language designed to put the "open-minded" at ease while he screws them. That's how NewAgers operate anyway:
Telling us to think only positive thoughts - not the consequences of dealing with evil.
At least Thomas Sowell - America's smartest black man - understands thought-stopping language and how it "works":
Barack Obama's great rhetorical gifts include the ability to make the absurd sound not only plausible, but inspiring and profound.
His latest verbal triumph was to say on July 13th, "if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own." As an example, "Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
Let's stop and think, even though the whole purpose of much political rhetoric is to keep us from thinking, and stir our emotions instead.
This reminds me that somebody said my "problem" is a need to be right. As though there's some virtue in joining those who are wrong.
Another herbal supplement (milk thistle) is found to be ineffective.
What are people thinking? I take that back - I know they aren't:
The country's "going to Hell in a hand basket" and I'm told - by a concerned citizen - it's mature to not care if you're incorrect. Anybody else see a connection there?
"It was a status thing. I knew probably four or five Scientologists who told me confidentially that they were Jesus."
"There was this fad for a while that people were all remembering that they were Nazis in World War II, and that's why things were so screwed up in their present lives. That's why they had to be so active in Scientology, to atone for what they had done in past lives."
I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I can't. The illogical is all around me and, for my own peace of mind, I've kinda learned to accept it - or, rather, been forced to accept it - as the human condition.
A psychic was jailed today for convincing vulnerable young women to strip naked to improve their chances of contacting the dead.
Karl Lang, 49, 'brainwashed' two women in their twenties who asked him to help contact their dead relatives.
A court heard heard Lang had an 'almost hypnotic ability' to make women overcome their inhibitions and told one of his women clients to 'perform like a porn star' to help increase her 'psychic powers'.
Lang was today jailed at Cardiff Crown Court for two years and banned from practising as a medium, clairvoyant, spiritualist or healer for 10 years.
One thing I like about recessions are how they act as a counter-force, making certain realities impossible to ignore - except in an election year, when imbeciles seem capable of ignoring reality all together. A savior is coming, don't you know - the less-than of the bad choice before us - Hooray!
I heard a woman reviewing a documentary (above) today, and she was saying it's an American allegory because "we're all like this," and I thought, no we're not. We don't all spend more than we make, or need to "believe" in Gods and spirits, or constantly think of sex, or any of the rest that passes for real life out there. It's just not so - only fools do those things but, I do understand, there's a LOT of them.
WHY IS WHOOPING COUGH raging in Utah? “The overwhelming majority of pertussis cases in 2010 and in 2012 are in the 21 states that allow a personal belief exemption from immunizations. Thirteen of the eighteen states with incidence rates greater than the national rate are personal belief states.”
"The superficial fluffily benign language of multiculturalism that comes so naturally to our rulers provides a lot of cover for the shriveling of free speech.... "
-- Mark Steyn, sporting the garments of Captain Obvious - please, someone, tell me something I don't already know or haven't already covered - as NewAge continues to make headway in Canada, shocking The National Review.
Listen, people: I dare you to watch this Christian video from the past (70's? Early 80s?) and tell me you don't hear the Maharishi's NewAge cultists using same "harmless", and seemingly-meaningless, language ("We're taking an 'integrated' approach") that's popular for railroading thought today. How did that happen? How did the lying ideas and phrases of a bunch of fruitcakes - who are out to control the planet and believe they can fly - become the language of the mainstream? In light of the results, as outlined by Mark Steyn above, I think it's the most important question worth asking, especially because anyone older than me isn't going to like the answer - or that answer being revealed. Here's a hint:
Man, those Boomers sure do love to meditate, and anything that smacks of being Eastern, don't they?
And BTW:
The language, seen in the art above, is paraphrasing Karl Marx. My point? Unless you're aware of what they're doing to you, these losers have got you coming-and-going, nodding at anything they say.
It's time for America's solipsism to end. Barack Obama is Oprah's boy from Chicago - and right now they've got the upper hand - so let's agree it's time to play politics with them The Chicago Way:
"What began as a simple yoga class, quickly consumed the life of 25-year-old Amy."
Well, yea, like "duh". Ladies, how difficult is it to understand that you don't need help breathing? That you (and everyone else on earth) have been doing it your entire life - without requiring assistance or special concentration of any kind - and that, if you're dumb enough to fall for such an obnoxious idea, then you're dumb enough to fall for anything? Really, isn't your own stupidity the "secret" most of you are hiding - even from yourselves? That, as you walk through a Whole Foods, there isn't one thing in there - not one - to justify spending more money than you would at your local Safeway? Can't you see that, because of how cults dress up their foolishness, your insanely childish desire to be "different", or a rebel, or a feminist, has turned you into the most easily exploitable being in the Western World - someone who's, willingly, "thick as a brick"?
Whatever. I'll stop (I've got nothing for you but a pointed finger and name-calling anyway: I refuse to talk nicely to those that attempt to destroy real men - because we're real men - and The Greatest Country On Earth those like me built) all because, apparently, unlike even the silliest of cultish ideas, your own mental weakness and existential vulnerability - and the obvious fact you're a danger to yourselves and those around you - is a concept that's much, much too difficult for you to grasp. Heh:
"Mary wants to be a superwoman,..."
Mary wants to be a superwoman But is that really in her head But I just want to live each day to love her for what she is
Mary wants to be another movie star But is that really in her mind And all the things she wants to be She needs to leave behind
But, very well, I believe I know you-very well Wish that you knew me too-very well And I think I can deal with everything going through your head
Very well, and I think I can face-very well Wish that you knew me too-very well And I think I can cope with everything going through your head
Mary wants to be a superwoman And try to boss the bull around But does she really think that she will get by with a dream
My woman want to be a superwoman And I just had to say good-bye Because I can't spend all my hours start to cry
But, very well, I believe I know you Very well wish that you knew me too Very well, And I think I can deal with everything going through your head
Very well, think that I know you too Very well, wish you knew me like I know you Very well, but I think I can deal with everything going through your head Your filthy head
Very well, dum dum da, dum dum da Very well, wish you knew me too Very well, And I wish I could think of everything going through your head
Very well, dum dum da, dum da, dum da dum dum da, dum da, very well And I think I can deal with everything going through your head
When the summer came you were not around Now the summer's gone and love cannot be found Where were you when I needed you-last winter, my love?
When the winter came you went further south Parting from love's nest, leaving me in doubt Where are you when I need you, like right now?
Our love is at an end But you say now you have changed But tomorrow will reflect love's past
When the winter came you were not around Through the bitter winds love could not be found Where were you when I needed you, last winter, my love?
Oh I need you baby, I need you baby
Our love is at an end But you say now you have changed, But tomorrow will reflect love's past oh
Spring will fill the air and you will come around, With your summer love that will let me down, Where were you when I needed you, last winter, my love?
La la la la la, la la la la la La la la la la, la la la la la Where are you when I need you, like right now? Right now, right now, right now
Where were you when I needed you last winter, my dear I need you baby, I need you baby, I need you baby Oh, Where were you when I needed you last winter, last winter
Yea, Need you Baby, need you, need you baby, Oh, you want me too need you baby Oh where were you when I needed you last, dear
Yea
***And, if this post doesn't make any sense to you,...
"It's true that words matter, and that we who practice real medicine have often let cult medicine practitioners get the linguistic high ground. We've let them get away with calling non-science-based practices 'alternative' and 'complementary', without really asking, 'alternative to what?' or 'does it really "complement, or just distract?' We've often ignored language, and when we don't, we are accused of being pedantic, of focusing on 'rhetoric' rather than 'real' issues. Language is powerful. There is no such thing as 'it's just a word'.
Language is even more important in the fight against pseudo-science in medicine. Since evidence consistently fails to show benefit of practices such as homeopathy and acupuncture, language is all their adherents have left. What can you do when your favorite cult practice just isn't showing promise? Call your legislator! Maybe he or she will pass a law making your hobby sound better."
-- PalMD, throwing the big bad 'c' word out there where it belongs, as part of The White Coat Underground.
"Every time I asked her a question about the terminology the Falun Gong uses -- what did followers really mean when they used words like 'reason,' 'cultivation' or 'correct information' -- she'd just ask me how I would define them. In other words, she answered questions with questions, and soon our conversation became circular and more than a bit frustrating. At one point, she defensively said that she didn't need me to believe her,..."
-- Gregory Rodriguez, while telling us a few of his experiences being recruited by cultists, in The Los Angeles Times.
It's description talks about delusions that are bad enough to cause social dysfunction - which we got by the boatload - and schizophrenia certainly delivers thought-stopping language up the ying-yang,...
I'm just sayin' - it's gotta be somethin', y'all - and yea, I know:
This reminds me so much of "We are the ones we've been waiting for": Werner Ehrhard's est-and-NewAge-inspired solipsistic thought-stopping language ("You don't 'get it' yet!") that requires people to interpret the meaning of a slogan because what's actually said is, well, meaningless. (Who knew Barack Obama meant to beat Hillary - by saying she has no foreign policy experience - only to hire her for Secretary of State?) It's enough to make your head spin.
Speaking of which, don't you people realize that when the first push of this kind happened, in the '60s and '70s, people sued the living crap out of est because the victims of this medieval Alice in Wonderland nonsense started going crazy?
And did Fort Worth, Texas even need a new slogan? You get "it" when you get here? Come on. Whoever was hired to come up with that one "is" an idiot who should "get" fired. That's the "it" that "we've been waiting for" - so we can know we've truly arrived.
