Elves, Ghosts (spirits of the departed), Sea Monsters, Extraterrestrials (fairies, devas, the hidden folk or huldufolk) in Iceland: Investigation into the Invisible World
Our "mythologies" are real, more real than our ordinary corporate state nonsense. But we have been taught the opposite. Only the state is real; everything else is a big fairytale.
There are unknown lands (terra incognita) on earth right next to known lands -- lands, that is, we are told about.
And in these lands, to this day, there are "giants" and others, ogres, hidden people (huldufolk), unseen beings, spirits, shapeshifters.
They need not be scary. They walk around us. It is nothing new. Poets, seers, literary folk have been writing about them for millennia. What a shock that they were talking about something real, which we had been convinced was just "childish" nonsense to outgrow.
Fairies (bhumi-devas) and ogres are real? (Beauty and the Beast by Anne Anderson)
My ears? What about them? We have remained hidden for good reason. Children see us.
Engraving showing a man jumping after a woman (elf) into a
precipice. It is an illustration to the Icelandic legend of Hildur, the
Queen of the Elves (George Pearson/Icelandic Legends: Collected by Jón Arnason: Translated by George E. J. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, Richard Bentley, London, 1864. This illustration faces p.88).
"When I am silent, I fall into that place where everything is music." - Rumi
Hey, mouth off and I'll smote ye!
XTC's Skylarking spawned the controversial track "Dear God," which was originally issued as the B-side of the album's first single
Interest in the song saw the U.S. album re-issued with "Dear God" included, and the new version of the LP sold a quarter million copies in the U.S., reviving the band's commercial fortunes and earning critical accolades.
Dear God, hope you got the letter, and I pray you can make it better down here. I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer, but all the people that you made in your image, see them starving on their feet 'cause they don't get enough to eat from God, I can't believe in you
Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but I feel that I should be heard loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears, and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting in the street 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God, I can't believe in you. Did you make disease and the diamond blue? Did you make mankind after we made you? And the devil, too?
I'm getting to it later. I'm busy right now.
Dear God, don't know if you noticed, but your name is on a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look, and all the people that you made in your image still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain't and so do you, dear God, I can't believe in, I don't believe in
I won't believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You're always letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you drown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it's the same the whole world 'round. The hurt I see helps to compound
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax, and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here upon my sleeve. If there's one thing I don't believe in it's you, dear God.
"Deus"? (Björk) Deus ("God") from The Sugarcubes before the singer became a famous soloist
"No one 'saves' us, no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path; buddhas only point the way." The path we walk is our actions, our karma, the results of which will take us places. What is the karma to the end of suffering? The Noble Eightfold Path.
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When Bjork was in The Sugarcubes she sang, "Deus does not exist." "Deus" is God's Latin name, of course, from which we derive diva, divine, divinity, borrowing the root from the Sanskrit deva, a "shining one" as the Buddha explained.
Buddhism does believe in God (Maha Brahma), in many Gods (brahmas) and gods (devas), and many Buddhists can believe or not, worship or not. (The route is the meditative absorptions).
Ultimately, however, the Great God or countless other gods, who themselves are not enlightened and liberated from suffering and rebirth, cannot lead us to enlightenment or even point the way. They have a much better time than humans, on the whole. But they may not even be able to tell us how we can get to be reborn where they are. They can say how they did it, to the extent they know the karma (actions) and root causes.
Be here now at every moment like Ziggy.
A buddha (fully enlightened teacher) knows the route to all rebirth-destinations. In the book The 31 Planes of Existence, a treatise on ancient Buddhist cosmology, it is laid out. Do you wish for rebirth in God's company? That's called "Brahma's Retinue" and is rather lowly.
Do you wish to be a God, a brahma or "supreme one"? That's in there. How about a "messenger angel"? That's very low but still above human, a state known as a gandharva or gandhabba, the lowest rank of deva, the heavenly musicians. Why not aspire to rebirth as a beautiful, long-lived, and influential human? That will be very short life compared to any of the deva lives. There are much worse places to land than the human state or manussya loka. Just look at the wild animal world or the ghosts and ghouls.
This human plane offers one advantage over all others -- the ease with which it is possible to attain enlightenment from here, midway between luxurious hedonism and woeful suffering. The devas in general have much better strands of pleasure, so much so that they're intoxicated with parties and good times, rarely allowing themselves to perceive any suffering or shortcoming to the endless round of rebirth...until they fall from their perches/stations. But then it's a little bit late to do anything about it. Now is the time.
The Buddha saw all of these destinations and declared that nirvana -- which is neither a location nor a temporary state but "the unconditioned element" -- is the best, highest above all, the only true refuge and safety. Until then, choose rebirth-destinations wisely. We're choosing all the time by our karma.
A little bird told me, and it wasn't twitter. We are all interconnected (No Strangers)
Q's Jian Ghomeshi speaks with Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq about her new album, "Animism," and how she went from being a self-taught throat singing vocalist, honing her skills in the shower, to collaborating with the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Björk.
Indeed, it was her lack of formal training that attracted Björk to her, says Tagaq, adding that the Icelandic artist didn't think she was "supposed to" sound a certain way. That's a perspective Tagaq shares.
Animism? (from Latin animus, -i "animator, soul, life") is the worldview that all entities (animals, plants, inanimate objects and phenomena) possess a spiritual essence. In the anthropology of religion it is used as a term for the underlying belief system or cosmology of some indigenous tribal peoples, especially prior to the infiltration of colonialism and organized "religion." Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, the term "animism" is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives -- so fundamental and taken-for-granted that most animistic indigenous people have no word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or even "religion"). More
"I like to live in a world that's not supposed to be. Or it's just there already as it is. It doesn't have to be anything, you know, because we put a lot of constraints on ourselves everyday in this crazy society," she says, adding that she gives "zero sh*ts about what people" think about her -- even as a trendy rave dancer -- but instead respects herself, her instincts, and her emotions. "And I every day do what I can to be a good person.... That's why breath is so important; it's the common denominator."More
(GSS) "Tantric Choir": Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist lamas of Gyuto chant in the Mongolian style of Bön "medicine men," shamans, and nomadic reindeer herders.
Standing by her #Sealfie: Manitoba's Tanya Tagaq addressesthe controversial anti-Ellencampaign. Despite the considerable backlashafter posting a photo of her daughter beside a dead seal, she supports native hunting and "being a part of what you [kill to] eat" (CBC.ca).
KARMA IS AB-TCH: When the "hunter" becomes the hunted, guilty of killing then mauled for it by another "hunter" in the samsaric wheel of survival. (LOL?Schadenfreude?) Don't kill.
"I am named of olde by Men, Artemis and Cerridwen..." (The Book of Shadows, Lady Sheba).
Even before the ancient Greeks recognized her as Artemis -- Goddess of the Moon, Archery, the Hunt, Katniss to Hollywood, and Diana to the Romans -- the devi (female deva) appeared to inspire others.
Homer in the Illiad (xxi 470 f.) calls her "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals." Here she is celebrated by Bjork and appearing today:
Most children, Asher Svidensky says, are a little intimidated by golden eagles.
Kazakh boys in western Mongolia, however, start learning to use the huge birds to hunt for foxes and hares at the age of 13, when the eagles sit heavily on their undeveloped arms.
AsholPan is a good girl and huntress.
Buddhism in Kazakhstanrefers to forms of Buddhism especially prevalent along the Silk Roadin Central Asia. Its history is closely related to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism during the first millennium CE. A number of Early Buddhist schools were historically prevalent throughout Central Asia. Three major phases of missionary activities are associated with these chronological sects: Dharmaguptaka, Sarvāstivāda, and Mūlasarvāstivāda. The Dharmaguptaka made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism beyond India and Afghanistan, to areas such as Iran (Ariyan-land), other parts of Central Asia [at one time dominated by the ancient Greeks], and China, and they had great success in doing so...More
Svidensky, a photographer and travel writer, shot five boys learning the skill as well as the girl, Ashol-Pan.
"To see her with the eagle was amazing," he recalls. "She was a lot more comfortable with it, a lot more powerful with it and a lot more at ease with it."
The Kazakhs (Central Asia) of the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia are the only people who hunt with golden eagles, and today there are around 400 practicing falconers. Ashol-Pan, the daughter of a particularly celebrated hunter, may well be the country's only apprentice huntress.More
A pony and a wandering, nomadic religion (shramanicBuddhism) for Ashol Pan (BBC)
Note the Uggs and harmony between human and animal realms (Asher Svidensky)
There are no such things as unicorns...except for this one and others like it. They have been bred back into existence by careful animal husbandry (dianapeterfreund.com).
Hunger Games III: "Divergent"
Take a teen angst trip all over again, this time with Shailene Woodley (as Tris Prior) instead ofJen Lawrence. Also starring Kate Winslet andTheo James as the mysterious Four.
Abby Martin talks with economist and editor Steinar Bjornsson of "News of Iceland" about Iceland's peaceful revolution about how the
people of the island-nation in the Atlantic changed the system through non-violent
dissent.
All about Iceland
(IcelandAir) Thora Karitas hosts an entertaining and informative documentary about Iceland -- the capital Reykjavik, its surrounding countryside, and its natural wonders. This island country between Greenland and Ireland
is different from all other countries. Visiting is an
experience that combines luxury and natural wonders, extreme forces and, of course, a lot of
modernity.
The planet that shouldn't exist (Daily Mail) Bizarre world orbiting its star from a staggering distance leaves astronomers baffled.
Air Force's new stealth spy drone is already flying(NBC News) A secret unmanned reconnaissance aircraft built by Northrop Grumman for
the U.S. military has already begun test flights and could be ready for
prime-time duty by 2015.
Ear-piercing sounds harvested for energy (Discovery News) Researchers have found a way to convert the incredible roar of the jet
engine, which revs at more than 130 decibels, into electrical energy.
The world's most famous Icelander, the angelic singer Bjork, goes ape sh-t in once peaceful Buddhist Thailand -- violently attacking a reporter at Bangkok Airport. Why? Iceland is deep, a green Scandinavian wonderland, but wild. (Unlike Greenland, which is full of ice). Bjork sings, "I am a fountain of blood in the shape of a girl." That, or she was on something. It's like her song in the movie "Sucker Punch" -- full of girls fighting to Bjork's "Army of Me." She wasn't kidding.
"Babydoll" fights everyone in her way to Bjork's "Army of Me"
(EuroNews) A gunman has [been killed] after a shootout with police in the Icelandic suburb of Reykjavík on Monday morning, reportedly becoming the first person in Iceland to be killed by a bullet shot by a police officer, who do not carry guns.... Police returned fire. According to eyewitnesses, some sort of
smoke bomb was thrown into the apartment... Armed
police entered the man's apartment at around 06:00 am and [shot] him. More
Icelandic bhumi-devi and pop idolBjork's call for Tibetan freedom at a Shanghai concert unnerves Chinese communist officials (Hannah Johnston/Getty Images/Epoch Times).
The smallest nation with a dog still in this fight is Iceland, who plays Croatia on Friday. Now, Iceland has a very small population, and thus a small pool of professional players to choose from. And yet, they have a chance, however slim, of making it to Brazil. That's more than IRELAND can boast.
Yay, we have Saint Patrick's blessing! We have Saint Patrick's blessing! (theworld.org)
The Irish national [soccer] team has already been eliminated, and most Irish fans are already looking well beyond Rio. But not Eoin Conlon.
Over a drink of yeast-contaminated carbs with a Brazilian
co-worker in Dublin recently, Conlon started wondering out loud about
throwing his support behind ICELAND.
“And we kind of laughed, saying:
‘Well, that’s as close as Ireland's going to get to Brazil. It's only a
letter difference. A “c” for an “r.” We might as well be brothers,’”
says Conlon. Conlon and his friend work for a digital agency, so they did what comes naturally. They built a website in support of Iceland's soccer team.
Then, they started a Twitter feed urging Irish soccer fans to back Iceland. The campaign is called County Iceland. Ireland already has 32 counties. So, Conlon says, why not make Iceland the 33rd?
“There are only about 320,000
people in Iceland. So if they were a county in Ireland -- I'm calling
them the 33rd county -- it would [be] only the fifth-largest county in
Ireland. It's incredible the success they've had. And I hope it
continues,” he says.
Conlon says the website is just a bit of fun. All a visitor has to do is click a "support" button. LISTEN
Does violence and degradation frighten us or is it the sex? (Caliban'sRevenge)
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - In the age of instant information, globe-spanning viral videos and the World Wide Web, can a thoroughly wired country become a porn-free zone? Authorities in Iceland want to find out.
The government of the tiny North Atlantic nation is drafting plans to ban pornography, in print and online, in an attempt to protect children from a tide of violent sexual imagery.
The proposal by Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson has caused an uproar. Opponents say the move will censor the Web, encourage authoritarian regimes and undermine Iceland's reputation as a Scandinavian bastion of free speech.
Advocates say it is a sensible measure that will shelter children from serious harm.
"When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence," said Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser to the interior minister.
"There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the Internet?"
Gunnarsdottir says the proposals currently being drawn up by a committee of experts will not introduce new restrictions, but simply uphold an existing if vaguely worded law.
Iceland could become the first Western democracy to censor the Internet,banning online
pornography, it says, in an attempt to "protect children" and reduce violence.
Methods may include the use of the same filters
used by China and making it illegal to use credit cards to
access hardcore porn. Former MI5[British secret]agent Annie Machon talks to RT.
Pornography is already banned in Iceland, and has been for decades -- but the term is not defined, so the law is not enforced. Magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse are on sale in book stores, and more hardcore material can be bought from a handful of sex shops. "Adult" channels form part of digital TV packages.
Iceland's left-of-center government insists it is not setting out to sweep away racy magazines or censor sex. The ban would define pornography as material with violent or degrading content.
Gunnarsdottir said the committee is still exploring the details of how a porn ban could be enforced.
One possibility would be to make it illegal to pay for porn with Icelandic credit cards. Another, more controversial, route would be a national Internet filter or a list of website addresses to be blocked.
That idea has Internet-freedom advocates alarmed. More
COMMENTARY? Editors, Wisdom Quarterly
BJork in Iceland ("Crystalline" video still)
Q: Ashley? A: No comment.Q: You guys? A: I like porn. I can't say "we" do, but "we" probably do. However, we are against violence. But any porn is probably personally harmful to watch, which includes Cosmo and the like, and it does not do an enlightened society good either. Isn't it better to put one's eyes out with red hot pokers than go down that road?
Social psychologists long tried to establish more than a correlation between porno and violence. Then finally they did, and no one hears much about those studies. College subjects were exposed to porno in one group and arousing video in another. Then they were asked to participate in a learning study administering electric shocks to male and female "subjects." (No actual subjects were shocked). Using hand held shockers, scientists were surprised to find no difference in the number of shocks administered to male and female subjects after being exposed to porn. But there was an unconscious quantifiable difference that showed up in the duration of shocks administered to females after being exposed to porn but not after being exposed to otherwise exciting video footage).
(TruthLoader) PANEL. Iceland is considering banning online porn, BUT is such a thing
even possible? Porn is clearly something many governments and
people would like to see controlled to protect viewers, but how? And if it can be done, should we be worried?
What everyone suspected, that porn leads to violence, was there to be found as more than a correlation. But the causation was hidden. We are not, as people, so obvious even to ourselves. So we would be wise to become aware of how things like consuming porn affects us. They do affect us. It is our karma, and such things will be our karmic consequences (vipaka and phala).
Nevertheless, should government or anyone else CENSOR things? They already do. We already do. The government should tread very carefully. It is very hard to judge others. Yet, we go on judging. It is impossible to accurately judge us; yet, we go on judging others. Do we realize we are being inaccurate?
Gov't watchdog blocks porn (chilloutpoint.com)
Scandinavia is very liberal, advanced, prosperous and interested in sustainability, taking the social good into consideration more than American-style (draconian) capitalists. We prefer their model. It is one thing to get on our backs; it is a whole other thing to have to say to government, Get off our backs.
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Our "mythologies" are real, more real than our ordinary corporate state nonsense. But we have been taught the opposite. Only the state is real; everything else is a big fairytale.
