Friday, July 16, 2010

To Rave in California -- a Buddhist journey?


EDC promoter Insomniac is excited to present "Audiotistic!" On Saturday, July 24, 2010 California ravers and dance junkies will together venture on the road to the future uniting all styles of dance and music culture. (Song: "Timestretch" by Bassnectar, original mix).

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) The promoter of the troubled Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) rave last month, where a 15-year-old who later died apparently took ecstasy, is moving to an 18-and-older format for his next big event, the Audiotistic Festival July 24 at the National Orange Show Events Center San Bernardino. More>>

COMMENTARY: DAMN KIDS!
Should these crazy kids be allowed to dance their lives away? I say we call Johnny Law to round them all up and get them back to their parents. Does your mother know they're dressing like this?! They should be collecting bottlecaps and doing odd chores around the house. In my day, we didn't have all this TV and candy, we worked hard for an honest dollar! You wouldn't know it with these rascals. Then that darling girl overdosed on E at the Electric Daisy Carnival. In my day, carnivals had cotton candy, and you were lucky to get any! We didn't have designer drugs at the apothecary, and there wasn't any of this hugging and hollering. I say it's a shame and a pity. Shame on you, kids!



A BUDDHIST JOURNEY?
If it were possible to release the redundant thinking* of my egoic mind on a meditation mat, I would. I certainly try. If it were possible to do it by working too hard and being stressed, I'd already be there. I've tried lots of things. My Buddhist journey continues by going somewhere I can move my body, surround myself with people who "flow" rather than think, and just lose my "self" (ego in the illusion of separateness). Most people do this by taking drugs and drinking. Their motive seems to be to get stupid. I want beginner's mind as in Zen. I want peace and emotional freedom. Is ecstatic movement much different from bliss and happiness (piti and sukkha) experienced by better meditators than I? Maybe trance is trance? I've felt it in meditation. The beating of drums (drums-n-bass), the sensory overload of lights, the atmosphere and release is like a shamanic induction I might be able to bring back to my mat. It's a Buddhist journey for me; I wish every raver's motives were such. My granny will never understand.


*What is "thinking"?

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