Monday, March 31, 2008

Mercy Street

Today I had a Catholic client so some of the imagery that came to me drew from my own Catholic upbringing.

I guess this where it is good to speak of a tormented past, but that would not be the case. However, rumor has it that there are some suffering Catholics. This is not to say that they suffer because they are Catholic, but somehow they themselves are emotionally not so sure. This gives rise to even more guilt and self-judgment that perpetuates physical maladies.

It doesn't matter what the symptom is. Each individual has strengths and weaknesses. Our weakness can become strengths and strengths weakness depending on the circumstances. For example, a man may be very strong and use his muscularity to earn a decent living. At the same time his body may be so muscularly attuned that emotional imbalances easily get stored in the muscular level causing tightness.

A similar type of yin-yang contextuality exists with personal religious beliefs. Therefore, the phenomenon of internal religious conflict is normal in any living breathing human being not just Catholics. The symbols, icons, and language that give form and meaning to Catholicism are closely associated with Mary. This means that the strength of Mary can also be the source of feelings of guilt and self-judgment, feelings that may be held in the body in the form of diabetes or high blood pressure or through behaviors of vengeful eating or smoking. It doesn't really matter.

Resolving the conflict first requires getting real with its existence. Catharsis flows from first accepting the conflicted emotions at the moment. This where Peter Gabriel's Mercy Street comes in. It's a cathartic vehicle, providing the palpable backdrop for the feelings of Catholic contradiction.

Here are the lyrics to the song, which might otherwise be obscured through music and images:

looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody's head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

let's take the boat out
wait until darkness
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
'swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he's the doctor
he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary's lips

dreaming of mercy street
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
'swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy's arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea



The song comes from the album So, thus named, it is reported, as an obnoxious retort to demand that the album title possess a bit more than character than the previously three: Peter Gabriel. Those gems are distinguished by album cover.




Here's the video, which I suggest tapping to.




The Mary image of mercy reminds me of the bodhisattva Guan Yin (Kuan Yin wade-giles), whose name literally means "care sound" and is usually translated as Godess of Mercy. You'll see that the wikki page has her associated with the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. A bodhisattva (pu sa in Mandarin) is like a saint. They help people in matters of health and fortune.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Introducing The Yang Zhu

The Yang Zhu is an ancient text attributed to the obscure Chinese philosopher Yang-zhu (alternatively Yang Chu). The difference in the spellings is historical. Old school spelling of Chinese used the Wade-Giles system and Han-yu pinyin is a system developed in the People's Republic era.

The Yang Zhu was one of the many texts lost during the tyrannous rein of the so-called first Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BCE – 210 BCE). The movie Hero is a beautiful depiction of his despotic majesty. Those with a yin for history and kung-fu will be delighted to know that it features Jet Li and the directorship of one of China's best, Zhang Yi-mou (Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou).


Probably the most important text lost during this period was the classic of music Yue Jing. Music is one of the most splendid of experiences. It's not particularly confined to humans, as one knows who has listened to the song of a cricket, songbird or a brook. I imagine the Yue Jing to be a very powerful book on par with the Yi Jing (I-ching, wade-giles). Maybe this treasure is hidden somewhere in the caves of Dun Huang, but for the past 2,000 years no one's saying.

Anyway, the loss of the Yue Jing is a much bigger deal than the loss of the Yang Zhu when you look at it in perspective because the Yue Jing is one of the ancient Six Classics (Yi Jing, Book of Changes; Shi Jing, Classic of Odes; Li Jing, Classic of Ceremony; Shu Jing, History Classic; and the Chun Qiu, The Spring and Autumn Annals). The classics took a real hit during Qin Shi-huang, having to be reconstructed from memory after his passing.

In case there's any wonder, the classics are a big deal not because Bill Bennett says so, but because Confucius said so. Confucius is a really big deal though I doubt that Bill Bennett ever got around to actually reading the classics that have had a shelf life beyond 500 years. It is such a shame for one so concerned about the perils of moral and cultural relativism.

At least it's fair to say that Bill and I would both agree that book burning by the state apparatus is barbaric by any standards, especially when water-boarding is much more effective. As it is, our opinions yea or nay will hardly change what's already happened... or at least that's the rumor, so we best cut Qin some slack.

It might be good to know, however, that Qin was a maniac who hailed from the rough and ready western part of China where they ride horses and eat a lot of meat. He may have been a maniac but he was no moron to unify a series of feudally entrenched states. It's also a pretty good idea to note that Hitler was a vegetarian, so it's unlikely that Qin's dietary preferences is a satisfactory basis upon which to judge him further. The book burning issue is basis enough for us to feel thoroughly vindicated in our judgments of Qin.

A bit more about Confucius, more precisely Confucians. They're not too fond of Yang-zhu. It's a self-expression thing that they do not seem to be inclined to understand.

Insouciant. That's the word that came to mind when queried on the nature of the updated edition of The Yang Zhu. Not a prancing insouciance, unless of course prancing is called for.

The Yang Zhu is natural reflections on being and the meanings we give to it. It's got a lot of advantages that it didn't have in the Warring States, like flushing toilets, Velcro, immunizations, shag carpet, and... YouTube, to name but a few.
Fertile Ground's My Space Page.



Beyond technological innovation, there have emerged and declined philosophical and expressive universes that may say more about the particular ways we give expression to the human experience than to reflect any bona fide change in its overall makeup.

One of the consistencies between the lost version of the Yang Zhu and its latest incarnation is a firm belief in self-truth, being truthful with oneself, one's being. This is an idea as anathema to God-n-Country Christians as it is to Confucians. I bet they didn't know they shared so much in common. And of course blanket recriminations against Christians is as foolish as invocations of Christ for purposes of imperialist wars.

The point is there are some very serious issues out there and we need to take a stand. In the coming weeks The Yang Zhu will be giving its official endorsement for president... That's a lie... The Yang Zhu is not politically affiliated, though it does have lots of fun exploring the political aspects of good causes.

This is yet another consistency between the old and new The Yang Zhu: there isn't much shying from controversy. This is because The Yang Zhu has an inexorable urge to be self-expressed, especially as it relates to penetrating awareness, which stands in contrast to passive, osmotic thought--aka that which we've been told.

The Yang Zhu holds that the truths of Confucius, the NIH, rational-materialists, wiccans, gaians, Rosicrucians, and NPR are not self-evident. Instead of holding a hypnotic admiration for the whatever imperial raiment, a perspective resembling Lear's fool becomes necessarily more befitting (to think, there wasn't even English let alone Shakespeare at the first publication, of The Yang Zhu that is).