caitri | Entries tagged with religion

So we got to go see the Dalai Lama speak this morning; that was cool. He's giving two talks today and the one we went to was "Eight Verses on Training the Mind;" he asked at the beginning how many people in the audience were Tibetan (about a fifth) and then how many were Buddhists (about a quarter) and sort of tailored the talk from there. He went back and forth between English and Tibetan (?), and most of the time when he was speaking English it was a sort of set talk, and when he went into Tibetan and the translator had to talk it was clearly more off the cuff--eg. in the beginning the Mayor of Boulder presented some presents, including a bicycle helmet (which he cheerfully wore for like twenty minutes) and then began his talk by mentioning how he doesn't ride bikes anymore but he did when he was younger, and the wonderful thing about helmets is that they mean you are going on a journey and you seek protection.

To be honest my favorite part was just watching him with people. For instance, at the beginning there was a troupe of Tibetan children in traditional garb to do a welcoming dance and song, and he made a point of smiling and waving and interacting with them. There was also a bit where I guess VIPs and such stepped forward to present and receive scarves (they didn't describe the ceremony so I'm not sure what it was, it was just clearly a ceremony and probably religious) and he always measured his interactions with people, eg. there were several Tibetans who were near tears and very emotional and he touched them very gently and spoke to them, and then with others, mostly westerners, he gave hearty back-slaps; a few times he touched people's hair with interest (the two, three times this happened it was with Asians, maybe Tibetans?) and kind of stroked the tops of their heads, and I...dunno what that was about, maybe it was a way of showing affection, comfort? Not sure. But he was very whimsical too; in addition to the helmet-wearing, at one point toward the middle he said "Okay, all the non-Buddhists can go to sleep now" and started talking more seriously about the teachings.

But I was also struck by the mix of religious, political, and popular there. Rep. Jared Polis was there and did a brief welcome, and then said he had to heed the call to action and was going back to DC to participate in the sit-in (and he got a long ovation for that). But we were also at the sports center, so the talk was in the basketball stadium, and the concessions stands were open and selling popcorn, nachos, pretzels, and sno-cones. Basically I was struck that one could listen to the living embodiment of one of the world's major faiths and eat nachos, THIS ENTERTAINS AND FASCINATES ME, and people did.

Finally: Another thing I thought was interesting was at the beginning the other speakers--esp Polis, but also the head of the Tibetan Association of Colorado (or something like that) brought up how the Dalai Lama can't ~say~ anything about China-Tibet relations, so they had to. Which is sort of an interesting thing of itself--being able to be politically silent but not silent.

And in case anyone is interested, the talk was drawn from his previous writing on the subject of the Eight Verses, and you can find the original verses with his commentary here.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Let's talk about Lilith, okay

Let’s talk about Lilith, okay.

Let’s talk about how she knew from the start that she was worthy, was great, was equal to anything this new universe could throw at her, and most especially equal to Adam. Let’s talk about the way she wouldn’t compromise herself or her sexuality, wouldn’t take part in sex acts she didn’t like no matter the pressure. Let’s talk about how rather than submit she ran as fast and far as her feet could carry her, and somewhere along the way she stole the name of God like Prometheus stealing fire, the greatest secret in the universe and the biggest cheat code for reality. Let’s talk about how, when God sent angels to drag her back to Adam, she laughed in their faces and used the Name to give them the finger, to banish them from her presence. They couldn’t lay a hand on her.

Let’s talk about how she chose the greatest angel of them all for her consort—not husband, but freaking consort, and no, I’m not talking about Lucifer with his gilded wings and whiny bitchface. Lilith wasn’t interested in a baby throwing a tantrum. No, she picked Sammael, not the most beautiful but the most powerful angel of them all, the angel of Death and justice, who never Fell because God needed him too much to call him on all the shit he pulled. Let’s talk about how the most dangerous, terrifying angel in all the heavenly host fell to his knees for the first woman, loved her and adored her because he saw what she was and could not look away.

Let’s talk about how their children were monstrous but Lilith loved them anyway. Let’s talk about how she refused to abandon them or destroy them, let’s talk about how she gave each and every one its own name, and when they needed a home she had Sammael carve Hell out of the earth for her, for them, so they would always have a safe place away from God and Adam.

Let’s talk about how she heard about Eve—her replacement, her rival—and instead of being jealous sent Sammael to warn her. Let’s talk about how Lilith used her consort to send Eve the apple, to give her knowledge and self-awareness because she wanted Eve to have the same freedom Lilith had found. You don’t have to be a slave, all you are is yours.

It didn’t work, but she tried.

Let’s talk about how Lilith has been used as a warning for thousands of years, the first and best Bad Girl. Be good be quiet obey or you’ll end up just like that. Let’s talk about this woman who refused to bow her head, who told the world to fuck off and snatched immortality from between the bars of her cage, made herself more than human with nothing more than will and fire. Let’s talk about a woman who took an angel for a consort without ever giving up her sovereignty over herself, who cherished her children when others called them evil. Who built her own kingdom when Earth and Heaven didn’t want her, and rules it as an Empress.

You say I’ll end up just like her? That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.

Current Mood: thoughtful

So the LDS church released a video this week about their temple garments, ie the "magic underwear" that popular culture has a weird fixation about. I've seen a fair few links to it in social media but haven't watched it because I have this peculiar secondhand embarrassment about it, because, you know, a church is literally showing its underwear to get people to STFU, but people are still obsessed about it.

See, I'm a nice neopagan girl, and my best friend is Mormon. So of course we periodically have discussions about faith and such, plus events and the like (eg, Todd got up at 4:30am once to greet the dawn with me at a Summer Solstice a few years ago; I went to his son's baptism two years ago). I grew up in the South, where the--the only word for it is "fear" I suppose--the fears of Mormons are laughable, but it was something that was invisible to me until I was friends with one and got to witness some of the ridiculousness first hand. Like, I've observed people say things about Todd out of his earshot, and I've had friends and family of mine anxiously inquire whether he was "one of the good ones" or to be careful lest I get "seduced" into the Church and various other lolworthy comments. And on the flipside, I've also heard a fair bit of speculation about sexual practices and suchlike that have basically ended with me going "Oh my God, don't you get that Todd and Jen are my FRIENDS and asking me what I think they do in private is REALLY FREAKING INAPPROPRIATE?!"

And just--on the one hand I understand sexual speculation because "exotic culture," on the other hand, it's kind of creepy and gross? And, I mean, being a nice pagan girl means that sometimes we do rituals skyclad (in the nude) and there's no cultural obsession about that, and so I feel annoyed that I get a free pass/privilege that my friends are denied.

Anyways, that's me being annoyed by tacky people, so.

Current Mood: contemplative

First of all I must say that I went out with the gang to Revolution and got hot chocolate only they made it with white chocolate instead of chocolate chocolate and it was AWESOME and I got it at like 6:30 and I'm still bouncy as all get out. Second of all I must say I'm going to natter on at length about Beowulf but I'm not going to spoiler it cos well it's about Beowulf and spoilering it is like spoilering Titanic. Thus let me explain why my inner English major is orgasmic right now and how I imagine lots of English professors are going to handle some bemused students.

1) Beowulf and Language.

Most of the movie they use pretty normal English for the general dialogue and then switch to Old English for the use of Grendel, Grendel's Mother when she's talking to Grendel, and the recitation of a poem or play about Beowulf's deeds (btw I wish I could watch this on DVD as I would be fascinated to learn if the recited poem is actual Beowulf text). There is also a scene of Geat merrymaking where they sing a bawdy song: it's definitely not in Old English but they do use some outdated terminology, e.g. "swive" which I don't think has been used since the late eighteenth century.

ETA: This interview with an English teacher confirms the performance scene as actual Beowulf text in Old English.

2) Historical Context.

I want to direct people to Beowulf in Hypertext where they cover lots of useful stuff better than I could about Geats, Danes, Christianity, etc. Also it has some nice scans of the original text. Suffice to say: fifth century Denmark was really friggin' cold, hard, and depressing. That lil mouse killed by a hawk? It's a really useful metaphor.

3) Sex and Reproductive Anxiety.

No I'm not going to talk just about Angelina Jolie, though I could. First of all you see the sexual mores of the time: Hrothgar has the use of his wife and other pretty girls. So does Beowulf. Adultery isn't much of an issue beyond the emotional. Worth noting is the fact that the Danish women can and do say "no" and when they do so it is respected.

Sexual imagery pervades the film. A woman jokes about Beowulf's three legs. When he has his nude fight sequence, the sword is strategically placed, and not just to keep that PG-13 rating if you know what I mean. The very bawdy song is very bawdy indeed.

The sexual imagery is deeply representative with Grendel's Mother. Her cave *coff* happens to have a slit of an entrance and be covered with pubic-like brambles. Wiglaf warns Beowulf that she is likely a "water demon" and should therefore "not be fought in her element." Guess where he fights her--and loses. She dissolves his sword *coff* into silvery drops that pool on the ground and display their embrace to the audience.

[I also have to comment on the fact that Grendel's Mother has high heel-like talons on the back of her feet. Begging the question: what is it with guys and the naked women clad only in heels??]

Water is the feminine realm here. We also see in a flashback Beowulf's fight with sea monsters and his embrace with a mermaid. Grendel's Mother (and I'm so tired of typing that, they really should have given her her own name) visits Beowulf in his sleep, succubus-like; taking the form of Queen Wealthow, she hovers over him, her hair floating about and generally looking wavery like the mermaid. When Hrothgar dies, his body is washed into the sea with Grendel's Mother's--to heck with it, she's GM from now on--trademark gleam under the water. When Beowulf's funeral barge is out in the waves, we see GM embracing him once more as he goes under the water.

I also want to mention GM's nipples: suggestively demonic or at least asexual. [I'm pretending the MPAA Ratings Board had no say.]

Alright, Fathers and Sons time. Grendel is Hrothgar's nightmare: Beyond being horrific in appearance and fond of eating human flesh, he is also stolidly a Mama's Boy. Ditto for Beowulf's Dragon. It's telling that these are the only sons each bear: what worse in those days to not only have an evil son, but have to kill him and become a kinslayer? (as invoked by Unferth who slew his brothers)--which back in the day usually meant you'd get kicked out of your own hearth and clan and have to find a new home if you could (Unferth's own background??) It's sort of a retro thing that guys are afraid of feminine biology--the birth process (Grendel looks rotting and unfinished--a bit of aa scaling rotting abortion), the large creepy cave; possibly even child-rearing (hey, GM does it all).

ETA: Cf. the same issue in the Arthur legendry. Insert "Arthur", "Morgause," and "Mordred" where necessary.

4) Christianity vs. Paganism

The aforementioned site covers what we know of the manuscript, so I'm just going to cover what we see in the film. We first hear of the Christ from Unferth as he has a companiable pee with another thane. Apparently, if you follow this guy, you'll get to live forever. (Beats Valhalla and Ragnarok and fighting until the end of the universe maybe, right?) Unferth brings it up again in a scene I'm hazy with now but is when Beowulf is introduced and he calls him a liar; Beowulf reveals Unferth's kinslaying past. Forgiveness must sound nice to a kinslayer, right? Maybe it's unsurprising then that it appears that Unferth becomes a priest; his chapel's cross-steeple burned away by the dragon, he himself is rescued and brought to the Hall on a litter that looks suspiciously cross-like.

When Beowulf is old, he claims the Christ-God has killed all the heroes; war is not heroic, it is just a sad, dirty thing. We later see him with the Queen, who carries an embroidery thingie with an image that looks Mary-like half-done; accompanying her is a silent, grim looking fellow in a red robe with a big gold cross on it. It should be noted that in the manuscript, which may or may not have been Christian in origin, peace is a virtue--anachronistic in what we know of fifth century Nordic culture. So feel free to read war=good=pagan and peace=good=Christian.

Contrast with paganism: people talk about prayers to Odin a fair bit. I have to digress here twice. The first is when I was in high school and my English teacher was explaining Beowulf in the context of how everything was cold and scary and everyone absolutely "flocked" to Christianity cos it offered that Heaven thing that sounds so nice. The second is the fact that in modern-day Scandinavia, the old ways are still very much in play and never left. People may go to Orthodox church but they also give propitiary prayers to Odin everytime they want to build a bridge or what have you.

GM is introduced as the last of the demons. Now it's also quite true that Christianity has been known to demonize the old gods when they can't co-opt them. E.G. Brigid can be a saint but Cernunnos becomes a devil figure. Thus we can read GM as a pagan goddess: the one who lies with her becomes the king of the land (Celtic myth), she represnets fertility and seduction as traditionally frowned upon in the church, and she is everlasting even when people keep insisting on her death (modern paganism itself).

ETA:
5) Mythmaking and Identity.

How many times do we hear "I am Beowulf!" or "You are Beowulf!" Beowulf the hero is a badass. Beowulf the man is a fuckwit and he knows it. It is telling that he tries to keep telling people and they can't or won't see it. Who wants a man when they can have superman? "Is Clark Kent really Superman or maybe just an asshole?" goes Bowling for Soup lyrics.

Much is made of songs of glory. This is contrasted with the slaughter of the Friesians.

Note also Beowulf's nudity: "I will fight him as a man." He partially strips himself before the Friesian, who cowers in bewilderment. (Compare with the Picts and Celts who *loved* to go to war in the nude; they all died with Christianization too.)

Okay it seems like I had even more but my sugar rush has worn off and I'm really sleepy now. More later.