Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

How to Pick Up Girls at Raves: EDC (video)

Lucy Hancock, Amelia Abraham (VICE); Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Qunitero, Wisdom Quarterly; EDC (lasvegas.electricdaisycarnival.com), Insomniac; Smooth POV; Ruben Sole

The Wisdom Quarterly approach to partying: Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat (pinterest.com)

Who will be electrifying the daisies this year? Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) returns!

Nothing good comes from raves, except love.

Do Buddhists date? Buddhists do everything they want. They don't go to raves, do they?

Festival passes, shuttle passes, and premier parking passes are all available for purchase. A layaway option is also provided at checkout.

Questions? Ticketing FAQ
Details on VIP experience

(Smooth POV) WARNING: Irony, sexual references, frank discussion of drugs and alcohol! What's a rave really like? Let some ravers explain as we find out, How to pick up girls at raves (EDC 2016).

Girls explain: How to pick up girls
VICE UK (vice.com) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Always smile because you never know who's checking you out and deciding yeah or nah.

Summertime Sadness girl

Now that you've spent all that money, how are you supposed to make it all worthwhile by meeting someone?

Cool girls hit on guys, but our society says, "It's a 'man's job' to approach women." And going trans or gay won't make it any easier, so here's The Guy's Guide to Girls written by Girls from Vice!

First, guys, here's what girls say: "We're not asking for Jane Austen [author of old-timey relationship novels]; we just want to be wooed, and we want you to be cool about it for once."

Spend too much time on the Internet and you'll end up thinking young men today fall into one of two camps -- hypersensitive puppy dogs trying to fund-raise their way to true love or guys who think "flirting" means getting sh-tfaced and screaming rape threats down a traffic cone at girls in the street.

Is "speed dating" the way to go?
(40 Year Old Virgin) WARNING: Language, sexual references! With a little help from my friends.

Dude, check this out. I've been reading the Bro Bible. Why are they listening to him?

Sex? I'm a Buddhist looking for love!

While this picture isn't 100 percent accurate, it does seem that too many guys have adopted either the love formula or the Bro Bible as their seduction template, and frankly either of those approaches is as erotic to girls as the idea of getting f-nger-b-nged in a Jacuzzi by the Elephant Man.

Nothing Higher to Live For: Buddhist View of Romantic Love

Jane Austen Society, Ireland

Of course, girls know boys aren't all dumbasses. But the truth is, boys these days have really dropped their flirt game. Finding a woman to love you tender isn't about throwing a burlap sack over her head and tossing her on the back of a truck. It's also not about slithering up with some awful PUA [pick up artist] lines and trying to bully f-ck her.

We're not asking for Jane Austen; we just want to be wooed, and we want you to be cool about it. [So first, relax.]

Dating in the post-Tinder age is a romantic, political, and legal minefield, so here's a guide to help you through the painful business of chatting up girls, that is, talking smoothly to the ladies who get hit on daily and sniff out a bad approach like bad BO.

Related: "Dating 101"

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DATING APPS

It's no different on the East Coast explains Karley at Slutever (vice.com video)

Don't pretend you haven't spent every last bathroom break this month hungrily trawling through girls' Tinder bikini pictures. Women know you're not "new" to the whole dating-app game.

The evidence doesn't suggest you find it particularly "weird." The only weird thing about it is the 15 minutes you just spent on a perfect stranger from Happn's LinkedIn page. (Hi! We can see when you do that, by the way!) We're all desperate and shallow and lonely, so let's not pretend otherwise....

TALKING TO US IN REAL LIFE

"Who the funk is Kiser Sosa?" would be a lame t-shirt to wear (Jake Lewis/vice.com)

Brown Latina beauties get all the men!

A lot of boys have become so used to copy-and-pasting "You still up?" to your 47 Tinder matches that you've forgotten how to talk to women in person.

Remember, there are some times where girls just don't want to be talked to -- if we look like we are already on a walk of shame, for example, or outside an abortion clinic.

Other than that, we're really fine with getting wooed anywhere. In fact, no matter how cynical the girl, it's really pleasant to think that someone still wants to b-ng us when we're applying Chapstick to our nose on a subway platform while contemplating cheesecake.

I thought you wanted to see a pic of my...

Approaching a girl in an unlikely situation takes balls. Girls really like balls. Not to look at. Don't show us your balls. Don't text us your balls. Do talk to us (about things other than your balls and the size of your balls). What we think of dick pics.

HOUSE PARTIES

If I liked sell outs. - If I liked girls. (Aung San)

In an ideal world, us single gals would walk around with a vial of "tears of solitude" around our necks, or wear our loneliness as a decorative brooch.

But unfortunately, you're going to have to go through the exhausting game of BS badminton that is finding out whether we're single.

House parties are particularly fraught for this reason: There's a good chance you could be trying it on with a girl while sitting next to her boyfriend, on his own bed. It might sound elementary, but the quickest way round that is to just ask her whom she came with. "Hey, who you here with?" and a smile ought to do it. More

How will I get to the show?

For easy travel to EDC, take an official EDC Shuttle. (Unofficial shuttles from third-party services might not be as ~~expensive~~ convenient). Shuttle passes, premier parking passes, and other money-drains can be added to cart during checkout process, or go here.

(Ruben Sole vlog) WARNING: Suggestive content! Rave booty everywhere! Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), Day 1, Las Vegas 2015, Las Vegas Motor Speedway on June 19th, 2015.

NOTE: Festival passes are shipped in commemorative boxes (one per order, may contain multiple wristbands), and $1 from every ticket is donated to support nonprofit charitable organizations.

Monday, January 9, 2017

How those "resolutions" coming along?

Kelly McGonigal (Yoga Int'l); edited by Seven Dhr., Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

I resolve to practice meditation every day for a minimum of seven minutes (Yoga Int'l).

Maitreyi (ShaktiFest.com)

Almost every New Year’s resolution starts with two words: “I will.” We summon our willpower and pledge to change not just what we do but who we are.

We set goals and imagine how happy we will be when we get what we want.

But if there’s one thing yoga teaches us, it’s that there’s a world of difference between “I will” and “Thy will.”

Chant om for clarity.

Most New Year’s resolutions spring from the misguided desires of the ego, senses, and conditioning.

They almost always fail because they start from the assumption that who we are is not good enough and reinforce the mistaken belief that our happiness depends on acquiring what we want.

I'm just doing poses for physical health.

The yoga tradition offers a refreshing alternative to the New Year’s resolution: the practice of sankalpa or "resolve."

A sankalpa practice starts from the radical premise that we already are who we need to be to fulfill our life’s dharma [obligation, social duty]. All we need to do is focus our mind, connect to our most heartfelt desires, and channel the... More

"Those who sit should also take a stand," Feb. 2-4, Washington, DC (sistergiant.com)

Trip to Tibet: "Living Buddha" on Dalai Lama

Jonathan Kaiman (LA Times, Jan. 9, 2017); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Zhada, a "living Buddha," had a peculiar answer when a reporter asked for his thoughts on the current Dalai Lama the 14th, a notorious adversary of China (Jonathan Kaiman/LA Times).

Strange journey through Tibetan China

Rare photo of the baby 14th Dalai Lama

ABA PREFECTURE, [Imperial] China - It was a road trip through one of China's most tightly controlled regions.

We drove uphill and deeper into the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, an area of south-western China's Sichuan province, adjacent to Tibet, where more than half the residents are Tibetan.

The Big Tulku: Dalai Lama

There were five of use foreign journalists, packed into two minibuses along with camera crews, interpreters, and scores of Chinese journalists, all seated should to should with the people in control: party officials from Sichuan and Shanghai. We passed scattered villages, high-altitude grasslands, and towering peaks.

Countless propaganda billboards, some many stories high, line the highway.

"Religious Belief Must Be Accordance With Socialism," said one. "Love the Country, Love the Party." Love Religion," said another. "Construct an Excellent Political Environment," said a third.

In 2016, the Chinese government embarked on a Tibet publicity blitz... More: Eat, pray, love the Communist Party: a road trip through Tibetan lands, guided by China

Police beat blacks, kids but it's no problem (AP)
Wife of a U.S. marshal accused of framing his ex-girlfriend in Craigslist "rape fantasy" plot Calling the case a "diabolical scheme," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas says charges will be dropped against a 30-year-old Ontario woman who had been facing the possibility of life in prison if convicted of charges related to the alleged frame-up.

Ancient Native American city builders (video)

FrozenHill (youtube); Amazon.com; Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

USA: pre-Columbian mounds, city, flat top pyramid Cohokia metropolis, Illinois

Giants, human-hybrids (Nephilim, Annunaki?) in the Ohio Valley among Native American tribes

The American psychic Edgar Cayce (edgarcayce.org) mentioned ancient America in 68 trance readings. These readings covered migrations to America, the mound builders (as in Cahokia), the Norse, and other events.

Mississippian-era Cahokia priest

In Mound Builders: Edgar Cayce’s Forgotten History of Ancient America (2001), his 68 readings on ancient America were extensively analyzed.

Among these readings, 30 specific statements were found that could be verified with scientific evidence. From the 30 statements by Cayce, 23 (77%) have enough support to be considered accurate. Another six (20%) are, as yet, not supportable by evidence but could be verified in the future.

Only one statement appears to be wrong. That means of all of Cayce’s seemingly impossible statements about ancient America, only 3% are definitely thought to be wrong. Of the remainder, 77% have support from science, and the 20% that remain might be verified in the future.

There are great mounds all over Midwest.

Several teams of geneticists at prominent U.S. universities have been conducting studies on the DNA of Native Americans. Although results from earlier studies showed the anticipated Siberian-Asian ancestral link for a majority of tribes.

But things took an unexpected turn in 1997 when it was found that a small percentage of modem Native Americans have an unusual type of DNA once believed to exist only in a few locations in Europe and the Middle East.

Subsequent research indicated that the European DNA was not the result of genetic mixing after Columbus, as the same DNA was found in the bone at an ancient American burial site, confirming that people carrying this unique DNA had invaded America in ancient times as well.

This unique gene was also found in a small tribe living in the northern Gobi Desert area. The DNA research initially seemed to promise solid proof of not only where some of the ancient Americans came from but also when they came.

"Mound Builders"

A number of academic archaeology textbooks rudely dismiss Edgar Cayce’s pronouncements about ancient history. Cayce was, to them, a “cult archaeologist” -- unworthy of further investigation.

The authors of those books, all scholars and archaeologists, claim that they have read Cayce’s readings and found them inaccurate, plagiarized, or filled with errors and bizarre claims.

In Mound Builders, the authors begin by carefully evaluating the archaeologists’ “scientific” and scholarly assessments of Cayce. What is revealed is every bit as astounding as the claims made by Cayce himself.

Nearly everything about Cayce put forth by "scholars" in their books is an outright fabrication or a monumental blunder. And when confronted by their obvious mistakes, the responses of two of the archaeologists shows how deeply divided their field is.

One fully admits there are mistakes about Cayce and vows to change his writings. Another arrogantly refuses to change anything despite writing in his book that he is dedicated to “truth.”

Despite the claims of archaeologists, the history of ancient America put forth in Cayce’s readings has never been tested. Edgar Cayce, America’s famous “Sleeping Prophet,” gave 68 “psychic readings” between 1925 to 1944 that provide information on America’s Mound Builders and ancient American history.

These readings have never been thoroughly analyzed and have been largely forgotten. For the first time, Cayce’s statements about ancient America are genuinely compared to current archaeological evidence.

The authors relate that they began with a skeptical point of view, but the weight of the evidence eventually shows Cayce’s accuracy. Incredibly, nearly everything Cayce related about the Mound Builders and the patterns of migrations to ancient America is true.

Since 1997, a series of astounding developments has shattered American archaeology’s most cherished beliefs. Excavations have uncovered solid evidence that ancient America was probably settled at least 50,000 years ago.

Genetic evidence

Polynesia help seed ancient America.

Genetic evidence shows that several waves of migrations came into America from Siberia, Polynesia, China, and Japan.

And a mysterious genetic type has been identified in ancient American skeletal remains as well as in a few modern Native Americans. This enigmatic type is also linked to Israel, parts of Spain, France, Italy, and the northern Gobi Desert.

It may well have originated in a location between America and Europe. This genetic type entered America in about 10,000 B.C.E. and could be the result of migrations from the mythical land of Atlantis. Another genetic type could be from the mythical land of Mu (lost continent).

Mound Builders also shows how evidence essentially confirms that a series of migrations to America from Semitic lands began in 3000 B.C.E. This evidence is compared to Mormon ideas.

In addition, Mound Builders shows how several mound sites were built in accordance with Plato’s descriptions of Atlantis and how numerous mound complexes were arranged to reflect the Belt of Orion.

Mound Builders is truly a compelling, comprehensive look at the archaeological and genetic evidence from ancient America and the first genuine analysis of Cayce’s readings on history. Contains 144 pictures/illustrations. More

Boy troubles: friends with my ex? (video)

Anna Akana (youtube.com); BuzzFeedYellow; Lana Del Rey (Kanal von Lyricer1 video); Pop Trigger (news/gossip on sex life); CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(BuzzFeedYellow, Jan. 7, 2017) WARNING: F word! "Dating as an Indian Woman" - When you're Indian-American, being 29 and single is a big deal. If you don't believe it, just ask my mom. More

What's the one question all [heteronormative] men fear [in relationships]?

(Lana Del Rey) WARNING: Hollywood sex and violence! Unofficial version of "Kinda Outta Luck"

Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) sexed many fans.

(Pop Trigger) Lana Del Rey, talking about her 2014 song “F*cked My Way Up to the Top,” admits to having slept with a lot of people in the industry to try to advance her career. However, she claims none of it helped. She also goes on to talk about how fame has caused her great depression, how her engagement fell apart because of these issues, and how she isn’t happy. The PT crew gives their views on the different subjects she mentioned. There are varying opinions when it comes to using sex to get ahead and some very insightful opinions given on the issue of depression.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Reasons to question "reality" (video)

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Strange Mysteries, Jan. 4, 2017; C. F. Knight, Concept and Meaning (Buddhist Publication Society)

Consciousness (vinnana) permeates the entire body, the heart even more than the brain.

(Strange Mysteries) Narration provided by JaM Advertising, New Mexico (tasteofjam.com)

Reality, what does that word even mean?

As well as forming a personality type out of a random assortment of chemicals, the human brain is also capable of creating its own subjective social realities by perceiving events and individuals in a way which pleases it most.

This video is a little lighter than the rest because my brain is tired and I'm trying to figure out how biased and racist all my relatives were over Christmas.

Elon Musk knows a thing or two about technology, at least I hope he does. Has anyone actually looked inside a Space-X rocket or Tesla car? There could be just a bunch of cats taped together in there for all we know.

Aspects of Reality in Theravada Buddhism

In regard to the question, “What is ultimate reality?” different schools of philosophy and systems of thought seem to fall into two main divisions.

Some of them say that the ultimate reality is one: They believe in a permanent unity behind all the variety and change of the world. They are the monists, theists, animists, eternalists, traditionalists, fideists, dogmatists, ontologists, realists, idealists, and energists.

All of these schools, though distinct among themselves and even opposed to each other on many points, nevertheless have this in common:

They accept an ultimate reality as an entity in the metaphysical sense, whether that entity be called substance, or soul, or God, or force, or categorical necessity, or whatever other name may yet be invented. They may be said to follow a subjective method, molding reality on concepts.

Hence theirs is mostly a method of conjecture. The other schools say, some of them not very explicitly but still implicitly in their doctrines, that the ultimate reality is plural. More

Michelangelo was drawing a brain on the right with folds, glands, and other features.

"The Delusive 'Concept'"
C. F. Knight

Few people realize to how great an extent our whole lives and thought-processes are dominated by concepts.

The concept is a general notion or idea arising through one or more of the senses, which is then reduced to terms of language after a mental classification.

We are confronted with a phenomenon, and through one or more of the senses it is noticed as an object. The mind receives the sense-impression, proceeds to investigate it, and comes to a decision in regard to it, which may lead to impulsive non-volitional action or to deliberate volitional action.

The Buddha, son of Central Asia (Gandhara)

And then the incident is registered as a memory and sinks down into the subconscious -- and so a concept is born. In the future, words will be used to describe the experience.

Suppose that in our travels we come upon a mass of water confined by its banks. The senses react to the object. Through visual-consciousness its presence is impressed on the mind. The mind investigates it visually, and if it is flowing, we say it is a river, or if so surrounded by its banks that it cannot flow, we say it is a pond.

Both “river” and “pond” are conceptual expressions to convey our sense impressions and experience, and to differentiate between flowing water and confined water. “River” and “pond” have become concepts of a mass of water under different conditions, and imply a permanently fixed identity of that particular phenomenon.

Even when during drought “the river” no longer flows, the concept “river” still holds good: It is not a “pond” or “waterhole.” But the concept is superficial and has no relation to reality. It is at best delusive, deceptive, unreal, and disappointing in the light and knowledge of reality. More

The Buddha on maintaining true love

Isaline B. Horner, Women in Early Buddhist Literature (a talk to the All-Ceylon Buddhist Women's Association) edited by Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

The ends of wars always make for good photo ops. If only they were in love. Here a woman is trying to find her "significant otter" and she seems to have alighted on a live one (AP).

Don't cry. We'll see each other again if...

💕 For the sake of true love, we might want to be reborn together again and again with our loved one. But samsara (the cyclical process of rebirth that divides us, changes us, and reunites us as strangers) is such that it is unlikely. However, for those wishing to remain together, the Buddha did give a way as told in the story of his two most eminent lay disciples.

If all goes well then a spouse may be called a "supreme comrade" (S i 37). A number of devoted couples are mentioned in Buddhism's Pali language canon, such as the householders Queen Mallika and King Pasenadi, Nakulamata and Nakulapita, and Dhammadinna and Visakha.

Has Kamadeva taken over modern Hinduism to elevate Krishna and Radha's love and devotion to a religious virtue. Kamadeva, like Cupid, is not a hero but a sly troublemaker and potential menace.

Maybe we should break up already?

The Nakulas (Nuh cool luhs) are Buddhist householders from Sumsumāragiri in the Bhagga-country. They went to see the Buddha when he visited the village and stayed at Bhesakalāvana.

Your mother misses you, son. Visit us more.

Strangely, the Nakulas fell at his feet and began calling him "son" and asking why he had been away for so long. (They had been the Buddha-to-be's parents for many previous lives and his close relatives for many more. The Buddha taught them and they reached the first stage of enlightenment, stream entry. The Buddha again visited their village when they were old. They entertained him, telling of their devotion to one another in this life and asking for a teaching about how they could stay together in the after-life and lives to come. The Buddha referred to this in the assembly, declaring them to be the most intimate companions (vissāsikā) among his disciples (A.I.26, A.II.61f, AA.i.216f, 246; ii.514; SA.ii.182). The Samayutta Nikaya (S.3.1, S.4.116; A.IV.268) contains records of conversations between Nakulapitā and the Buddha. Both husband and wife are mentioned in lists of eminent disciples (A.iii.465; A.iv.348).

Was the Buddha seeing other women?

The Buddha considered Nakulamata (Nakula-mother) and Nakulapita (Nakula-father) the most eminent among lay-disciples for their close relationship and companionship with one another (A i 26).

They were well matched in terms of their confidence (faith, conviction, saddha) in the Buddha's Teaching, their self-control, and the affectionate way in which they spoke to one another (A ii 62; AN 4.55).

Princess Bimba, "Yasodhara," was his wife

The Commentary (A i 400) asserts that for many past lives they had been parents or relatives of the Buddha-to-be, the Bodhisattva -- whom the Commentary calls "Him of the ten powers" to avoid confusion -- and so in this life they treated the Buddha like a son.

Nakulamata, as was the custom for new brides, was taken to Nakulapita's home and, as they tell the Buddha, ever since that time, when he was still a mere boy and she only a girl, neither is aware of having transgressed against the other even in thought, much less in person, and each expresses the longing to be together not only here and now but in a future state also.

Nothing Higher to Live For: A Buddhist View of Romantic Love

The Buddha reassures them on this point and gives as his reason that both of them are on the same level in regard to their belief, moral conduct, generosity, and wisdom (A ii 61f.; AN 4.55).

Thanks, but I don't have daddy issues, sir.

In these respects therefore a woman may be the equal of a man.

Another record relates how Nakulamata once comforted her husband when he was dangerously ill and worrying about what would happen to her and the children should he die.

"Do not fret," she said. "I am deft at spinning cotton and carding wool and so would be able, were you to pass, to support the children and run the household. Nor would I go to another man.

Even greater than when you were alive would be my desire to see the Buddha and his Monastic Order.

This is not about sex, well, not just about sex.

As long as the Bhagavan (Teacher) has female disciples, clad in white [as disciples of the Buddha used to dress on lunar observance days], I shall be one of them, fulfilling the precepts of ethical behavior, and gaining inward tranquility of mind. I shall live confident, without pernicious doubt or questioning, following the Teacher's instruction. So do not die, householder, while you are fretting, for so to die is anguish" (A iii 295ff.).

Since restlessness-and-worry are one of the Five Hindrances to gaining mind-control, and since to die with an anxious heart works against happiness in the life to come [because the relinking karma of it leads to an unfortunate result], it is important to develop serenity of mind and impassibility of body.

A wife might help or harm a person.

Husbands might be prevented from crooked dealing if their wives were upholders of the Buddhist way of life. For example, the Brahmin Dhanañjani was not being diligent. "Under the king's patronage he plundered Brahmin householders, and under their patronage he plundered the king.

His wife, who had had full confidence (faith) in the Buddha's Teachings and had come from a family having confidence (faith) had died, and he married another woman. But the new woman had no such confidence herself and came from a family lacking in faith" (M ii 185).

Here the first wife is clearly thought of as able to keep her husband on the straight and narrow, while the second one at all events seems to countenance his double dealings even if she does nothing herself to aid and abet him actively.

Equally with a man a woman might bring a family to prosperity. "All families that have attained great possessions have done so for one or other of the following reasons: they search for what is lost; repair what is dilapidated; eat and drink in moderation; and place in authority, issariya, a virtuous woman or man" (A ii 249; AN 4.255).

The Bodhisat loved Bimba many lives.

In pre-Buddhist days a woman had been looked down on if she did not marry. Growing old at home, she was called "one who sits with her father." But in early Buddhist times an unmarried girl might go unabused, contented, and adequately occupied in caring for her parents and younger brothers and sisters.

Hers would have been a domestic life. Or she might become the mistress (female master) of great possessions, of slave servants, villages, and rich fields, as did Subha, the goldsmith's daughter.

But once the Dharma had been taught to her by Maha Pajapati, the Buddha's foster-mother who went on to become the first Buddhist nun, she found that "all worldly pleasures irk me sore" and that "silver and gold lead neither to peace nor to enlightenment," so she entered the Order of Buddhist nuns. More

Love yourself. Against all odds and sexist social pressures, love yourself. Or who else will?

With Buddhist nuns and monks, female lay-followers and male lay-followers, it is impossible in speaking of women in early Buddhist literature to keep separate these four parts of the Buddhist community around the Buddha, because they were not separate in real life. The sexes were not segregated, and although nuns had their quarters apart from the monks, they had yet to carry out some of their official acts, such as ordaining others, together with an Order of Monks. They were not cloistered, not cut off from the world. On the contrary, there was much intermingling. Lay people gave alms food to Buddhist monks and nuns and often to monastics in other traditions (such as Jains and Brahmins) as well, for they abounded in what we now call India. Food was given either at the doors of homes or lay people invited monastics to provide their one major meal a day. In return, nuns and monks, both of whom could claim some great teachers, taught the Dharma to lay people, thus giving people the gift that excels all other gifts, Dharma-dana. This freedom of movement enjoyed by the nuns has a parallel with and is perhaps connected with the freedom of movement that was the happy lot of the lay women who knew not the cramping and enervating system of purdah, though their life might contain other disadvantages.

War is Holy, SEX is Obscene (video)

Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Alicia Keys, "Holy War" (genius.com); Job for a Cowboy, screamo death metal "Entombment of a Machine"

With all of these thoughts and questions floating about in her mind, Keys -- who credits meditation for helping her find "clarity and a deeper knowledge" of herself -- finally discovered a way to channel her frustrations into a positive message, albeit accidentally.

Writing for Lenny, Keys recalled arriving for a photo shoot fresh from the gym wearing a baseball cap and scarf.

The photographer, Paola Kudacki, wanted to shoot her as she arrived -- real and raw to reflect the real and raw music on her album. Although she hesitated at first, Keys finally gave in.

The result, she wrote, was powerful: "I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt," she wrote. "I felt powerful because my initial intentions realized themselves. More

"Holy War"

Love or f it (WQ)

If war is holy and sex is obscene

We've got it twisted in this lucid dream

Baptized in boundaries schooled in sin

Divided by difference sexuality and skin

Oh so we can hate each other fear each other

We can build these walls between each other

Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick

Keep yourself locked in yourself locked in

Oh maybe we should love somebody

Oh maybe we could care a little more

So maybe we should love somebody

Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if sex were holy and war obscene

And it wasn't twisted what a wonderful dream

Living for love unafraid of the end

Forgiveness is the only real revenge

Oh so we can heal each other and fill each other

We can break these walls between each other

Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick

Keep yourself open, yourself open

Yeah we can heal each other and fill each other

We can break these walls between each other

Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick

Keep yourself open, you're open

So maybe we should love somebody

Maybe we could care a little more

So maybe we should love somebody

Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if love were holy and hate obscene

We should give life to this beautiful dream

Cause peace and love ain't so far

If we nurse our wounds before they scar

Nurse our wounds before they scar

No sex allowed! Practice for WAR

(Job for a Cowboy) American death metal: "Entombment of a Machine" live at the Wacken Festival, imperial Europe, where a massive mosh pit becomes a practice battleground for dueling sides.

"Entombment..."
It breathes!
What stands before us is not a machine.
It breathes, it will bleed, and it will sleep.
Its body is covered in hundreds of wires.

The mouth attempts to speak
But only murmurs collapse from its jaws.
With only delayed movements
From its figure we all begin to strain.

My legs weaken at the site of this damaged program

For this program kept you breathing.
It kept you alive.

These circuits diffused once more.

We kneel and we plead for no mourning ahead of us

Entombment of a machine.

So sleep, sleep among us and hesitate no more.

I saw it die.

(ABC) Am I my brother's keeper? Stop playing/fighting and save your brother,
Brock and Bowdy. Sister saves brother from Frankenstein monster kidnapper