Blog Archives
Sutee
Pieds nus - Barefoot - Mumbai, India, 2008 by N. Murat
Sutee (Skt. “good woman”)
Sutee has two meanings, both related to wife-burning.
In the ancient Hindu tradition, sutee occurs when a husband dies, is cremated and his wife jumps into the flames to be consumed along with him.
Although usually seen as horrendous by modern standards, the practice was formerly understood to have alleged spiritual underpinnings.
In fact, the wife jumping into the flames was once regarded by Hindus as an act of sacred devotion to the husband–a devotion that continued into the afterlife.
British colonialists outlawed sutee in 1829 while occupying India.
Sutte also refers to the contemporary and entirely illegal practice of wife-burning in apparently accidental kitchen fires.
As suggested in the Indian media, unscrupulous husbands possibly murder their wives by faking kitchen fires. That is, some Indian men apparently marry and murder women merely to obtain dowries.
This may sound incredible but one must remember the vastness of India, its massive population and pressing developmental issues (e.g. frequent power blackouts and widespread poverty) and the problems which these and other factors pose for the enforcement of social justice. » Yoga
Add more, fix errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by commenting
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality
The use of computer hardware and software to create an artificial (i.e. ‘virtual’) environment.
The user normally enters the environment by wearing a headset that blocks normal vision. The environment is manipulated with an electronic glove – or a similar device – connecting the user to the computer.
The term has been traced back to the brilliant French playwrite Antonin Artaud who believed that the internal world of so-called fantasy and the imagination was just as real as the outside world.
This view parallels to some degree C. G. Jung’s reflections on the art of alchemy, where relationships with matter and particularly with other people are viewed as something analogous to chemical interactions. And the hypothesized Jungian dynamics of transference, counter-transference and especially syntonic counter-transference point in a similar direction.
Artaud’s understanding of virtual reality also touches on the notion articulated by John Donne that no man is an island–that is, neither distance nor even death entirely separates one individual from another.
No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
Virtual reality is having a significant impact on business, medicine and the entertainment industry, where virtual users enjoy, relax or express violent and sexual impulses in socially acceptable ways.
But not everyone sees it this way. Some say that violent virtual reality games should be reexamined in the event that they may promote rather than prevent actual violence.
This is a relatively familiar debate stemming back to the days before home computers. Before the PC the effects of violent TV shows, especially on children, were studied by researchers and public health officials.
Scientific and consumer watchdog concerns about public safety, however, have not deterred virtual reality from taking off. There’s always money to be made through the commodification of sex and violence and definite laws must be passed to regulate the process.
The idea of virtual reality also figures prominently in science fiction TV (e.g. Star Trek‘s holodeck) and movies like Total Recall (1990) and The Matrix (1999) where users enter computer generated worlds indistinguishable from day to day life.
Given the fact of today’s microchip implant technologies, these fantastic scenarios seem probable for the not too distant future.
» Burrows (William S.), Gould (Glenn), McLuhan (Marshall Herbert)
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment
Achilles
Achilles The ancient Greek warrior and hero who, in Homer‘s Iliad, fought in the Trojan wars.
The son of Peleus and Thetis, at birth Achilles’ mother held him by the heel and dipped him in the fiery river Styx to obtain magical protection from his enemies.
Achilles’ heel remained dry, becoming his vulnerable spot.
Often savage, Achilles killed Hector and mangled his body. Achilles also offered human sacrifices.
The violent aspect of the Achilles legend brings to mind historical killers who find temporary satisfaction by expressing turbulent psychological forces.
Achilles could also be seen as a brilliant, if undisciplined, military commander.
Antonio Balestra’s (1666-1740) oil on canvass depicts Thetis dipping Achilles, head-first, into a cauldron of water, presumably drawn from the river Styx.
More recently Brad Pitt played a convincing Achilles in the film, Troy.
Achilles was eventually killed by Paris‘ poisoned arrow to the heel. » Balder, Olympus, Shadow, Wotan, Zeno
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment
Ahimsa
Ahimsa Mohandas Gandhi‘s life exemplified this Jain ideal of non-violence.
Himsa means “harming.” The prefix a implies the opposite, “not-harming.”
Ahimsa is based on respect for all life. It’s believed that violence to the living merely harms self and others, binding the doer to undesirable future incarnations on Earth.
The ideal is central to Buddhism and particularly Jainism. Because the early Hindu Vedas prescribe animal sacrifices and the Bhagavad Gita advocates killing without attachment, it would be difficult to say that Hinduism fits perfectly with ahimsa. But the idea is found within the Hindu Chandogya Upanisad and in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
As with Catholicism from St. Augustine of Hippo onward, Hinduism advocates peace while maintaining room for allegedly necessary violence, also known as the Just War.
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion
by posting a comment
Ares
Ares The Greek god of war. Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera.
He’s often depicted as brutal, violent and merciless, as war often is.
Ares and Aphrodite had three offspring, one of whom being Eros.
The Roman parallel to Ares is Mars.
Image Source:
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment
Arjuna
Arjuna Renowned hero in Indian culture and Krishna‘s charioteer in the Bhagavad Gita.
Arjuna arguably has the status of a demigod among of much the Hindu-Indian populace.
In the Gita he is prodded by Krishna to fight kith and kin.
Despite his initial reluctance, he overcomes the chronic procrastination which Shakespeare‘s Hamlet cannot–that is, a crippling fear, self-doubt and over-thinking that leads to inaction.
Krishna instructs Arjuna that the body dies but the soul is immortal. Arjuna’s kshatriya caste demands as sacred duty (dharma) that he fight.
According to a literal interpretation of the Gita, it is far better to do one’s dharma – even if this entails killing – than to ignore it.
Today the Gita is cherished for its psychological and spiritual value. Arjuna’s “killing” is usually understood as the death of negative attitudes which otherwise would bind the eternal soul (atman) to worldly pleasures and desires.
On the political level, however, the Gita may be interpreted as roughly paralleling the Christian notion of the just war and the Moslem idea of Jihad.
Image Source:
-
Cropped from original by Raji.srinivas, GNU Free Documentation License
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion
by posting a comment
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer American film (1992) regarded as a “B-movie” and a successful TV series (1997-2003) that gained a kind of cult following.
Both were created by Joss Whedon.
In the TV version of Buffy, the lesbian character Willow originally uses witchcraft for the good but becomes consumed by a quest for magical power and eventually allows evil to dominate her.
Although many religious fundamentalists might deplore such an apparently ‘evil’ program, the TV series closes with Willow regaining her humility (and humanity) by allowing love to enter into her life again.
The TV Buffy was hailed by some professors of Cultural Studies as the ‘new thing,’ some of whom went into great lengths analyzing its every detail. This enthusiasm was arguably more than just bored academics being titillated by nubiles, same-sex relationships and eerie violence. The TV show was, indeed, innovative and the characters archetypal.
» Archetypes, Fundamentalism, Projection, Vampire, Witch
Image Information:
-
Image is based on a Rider-Waite Tarot card licensed by the US Games Company. This image was made by Don Leon 16:13, 1 November 2006 and is said to be in the public domain. If this information is in error please contact us and we’ll remove the image immediately. Moreover, this image and the Tarot card it’s based on are only thematically and not directly (i.e. legally) related to the film or TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment
![Varhaug old church (Long exposure) [Explored #4]](http://static.flickr.com/7389/8753098499_c0604184a6_m.jpg "Varhaug old church (Long exposure) [Explored #4]")
