"A smart, endlessly interesting exercise in connecting cultural dots to learn how we got here." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
From the New York Times best-selling author of Jesus and John Wayne, a revelatory history of white Christian womanhood in the United States.
In her “paradigm-influencing” (Christianity Today) bestseller Jesus and John Wayne, which has changed how countless Americans understand their [Christian] faith, historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez showed how evangelicals made Jesus into an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism. Now she uncovers the roots of today’s glittering, Instagram-ready culture of white Christian femininity.
Live Laugh Love explores a world intimately familiar to millions of American women: Christian bookstores and radio, Hallmark movies, multilevel marketing companies, and contemporary lifestyle brands.
This consumer culture may seem trivial, but Du Mez demonstrates that it has an unlikely and revealing history that stretches all the way back to the late nineteenth century and the emergence of New Thought, a movement that championed the power of the mind to shape reality.
Du Mez shows how this idea drew together disparate traditions, including Mormonism, holiness evangelicalism, and holiness theology’s charismatic offshoots. Usually seen as distinct, these creeds in fact overlapped, and in the process gave rise to prosperity theologies and to the gospel of positive thinking.
But positivity had a dark side. Du Mez introduces us to religious innovators who taught that positive thinking was the secret to spiritual and material success, and reveals how these notions gave rise to a new feminine ideal.
As women read prairie fiction; bought and sold Tupperware containers and Mary Kay makeup; shopped at Hobby Lobby, Target, and Altar’d State; and decorated homes with shiplap, they moved freely between the religious and the secular.
Marketed as empowering, these products were part of a consumer culture that elevated domesticity and vulnerability while exposing women to systems susceptible to manipulation.
Combining sweeping cultural history with intimate storytelling, Du Mez explains how theological exclusion led women to build their own brand of Christianity, rich in cultural influence if thin in formal doctrine.
Ultimately, Live Laugh Love explains how a powerful yet elusive vision of womanhood has shaped lives, families, and politics for more than a century now—and how it has brought us to our reactionary moment. More
Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean (Jan. 19, 1946–Aug. 25, 2026) has passed away. She was an American icon, musician, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman. Cancer killed her?
Once dubbed the "Queen of Country," she was one of the most-honored female country performers, receiving various accolades, including:
11 Grammy Awards,
3 Emmy Awards, and
1 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, along with nominations for
Dolly wrote her first song at the age of 6, began performing regularly on TV at the age of 10, and made her first recording at the age of 11.
She became a professional songwriter at the age of 16 and, after writing hits for other artists, released her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, in 1967, beginning a career spanning 60 years that produced 50 studio albums.
Will beloved Dolly Parton's coffin be lined with hay in Backwoods Barbie motif? (Facebook)
What's a whorehouse, Dolly? - It's a brothel, Silly! - And you work there? - It's a movie, Dummy!
Dolly composed more than 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper and an international hit for Whitney Houston that sold 40 million copies worldwide), "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," and "9 to 5."
As an actress, she starred in 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), earning Golden Globe nominations for both, as well as Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), and Joyful Noise (2012). More
I'm ready for yoga! I did the most important thing. I bought this outfit that really shows my...
(Miska Käppi) I studied yoga for 20 years, and 99% was fake
OK, they say never drink before yoga class, but I think a little booze is not bad. Oops!!!
Bhoja is not bogus; it is "something done for enjoyment," according to B.K.S. Iyengar, says Miska Käppi, as many bhojis calling themselves "yogis" practice nowadays.
Yoga is not a lot of twisting, breathing, or jumping around in a modern studio; it is to "unite," to bring about "union" of the self (atman, "soul") with Brahman (the Ultimate) and/or breath (prana, "holy spirit"), the conventional divine (Brahma, the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) usually nowadays in the form of Shiva, the Destroyer
What looks like a repeating gif is actually a remarkable stunt
Yoga postures for balance, strength, and flexibility
Messianic Bikram Choudhury as persecuted Christ figure
What is "the real thing"? One answer is The Eightfold Path: Ashtanga (Integral Yoga sometime Raja/Royal Yoga), a system of achieving "union" with the divine by the practice of eight limbs of the path: Yamas (external disciplines), Niyamas (internal disciplines), Asanas (physical postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharama (concentration), Dhyana (meditative absorptions, jhanas), and Samadhi (union, integration, coherence). The whole purpose of Yoga -- at least in ancient times between gurus and chelas (teachers and disciples) -- is MEDITATION. Asanas (lit. "seats") allow one to sit longer, more comfortably, and with stability. That is to say, practicing for the meditative absorptions is to reach of Samadhi. Who can say otherwise?
If only there were a way to erase racism: Eracism Foundation(eRACE Racism) Join eRACE to show the world that we run together against discrimination, prejudice, and racism. We run for real change and that starts one sister (and one mister) at a time, with everyone reaching across the race lines. Running is our vehicle, and connection is our superpower. Invite friends (open to men and women) to team up for this important virtual event. More: eraceracismbgr.com
Most American racism is not overt like young white males famously display behind the safety of computer monitors, trolling others from their middle class bedrooms. It's implicit, which means it is often hidden to us. We don't realize what we're doing. It's like when satiricalSacha Baron Cohen (as Borat and as Bruno) interviewed white frat boys in their Winnebago and on the beach in Florida for Spring Break.
DEFINITION: An implicit bias stereotype is the pre-reflective attribution of particular qualities by an individual to a member of some social out group [1]. "Those people are all like that." This color skin equals that set of behaviors.
It is an unconscious bias that stems from a natural human tendency to divide the social world into groups [2].
Implicit stereotypes are shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and gender [3], leading to racism and sexism or gender role stereotypes of how people are "supposed" to be.
Perceptions and behaviors can be influenced by the implicit stereotypes we hold, even if we are unaware we are holding such stereotypes [4].
Implicit bias is an aspect of implicit social cognition, the social phenomenon that our perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes can operate prior to conscious intention or endorsement [5]. We may have taken it on from our family of origin or circle of friends, associates, and media figures.
It's real. The existence of implicit bias is supported by scientific articles in psychological literature [6]. The term implicit stereotype was first defined by psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald in 1995 [7].
Implicit stereotypes (unconscious associations held by individuals) can influence behavior even when they contradict our consciously endorsed beliefs. This effect is particularly observable in real-world contexts such as judgments of fame and hiring processes [7, 8]. More
What does Buddhism have to say about "time"? One thing's sure, there is anionic time called the Eternal Now. There is only now, and there only ever has been now.
But that is hard to understand until one experiences it then it suddenly seems obvious. Ask Eckhart Tolle. He experienced it and wrote The Power of Now with just one message for the world, talk after talk.
Ram Dass on LSD saw love
Ram Dass (Harvard Jew turned Hindu Dr. Richard Alpert) wrote the classic Be Here Now, having also realized this truth about time. There are wonderful stories in ancient Indian texts about time that say that time is NOT simultaneous. It is relative. It differs from plane to plane in Buddhism's 31 Planes of Existence.
Ancient India understood that time in terms of kalpas (aeons) explained by akasha devas (space entities). It moves differently in heavenly worlds, lasting so much longer than our time -- but possibly happening at the same time. Time will feel very long, even eternal, in other worlds, on other planes. But though that much time may move that slowly there, it will not simultaneously move that way on earth.
Whoa, perhaps too much thinking doesn't pay and I should just be attentive to now and accept.
.
The ancient Vedas speak of time travel?
One Vedic Sanskrit tale speaks of a king and his daughter who were visited by ETs and invited to visit their world/planet. They boarded a vimana (UFO), flew there very quickly, enjoyed a day there, then asked to return home. They were told they could be returned home, but a great deal of time would have passed on earth while they were visiting. When they returned, everyone they ever knew would be long dead and forgotten.
But this is all I have to say about time. I learned it in college as an anecdote in the social sciences. I laughed at how backward some human societies can be until I suddenly realized they were right. We were wrong and we had always been wrong. You know how we say time is an arrow moving from left to right?
We can, and often do, picture time like a boat moving west on a river. The boat relentlessly move from the past (on the left) through the present (in the middle) into the future (on the right). That may all be true. What this society saw is the opposite of what we see, and that is:
Which way am I facing in the arrow of time?
Where are we standing on this boat moving through time?
WEST'S ANSWER: Of course, we're toward the front of the boat, in the driver's seat, looking forward into the future, the present all around us, and the past vanishing into the distance behind us.
THEIR ANSWER: Of course, we are in the back of the boat only ever looking backward into the past. We can never see the future (other than with premonitions, omens, or exhibitions of psychic power) because the boat hasn't gotten there yet (and of course never really does because everything always stays in the present, which is all there is).
What time is it? - Look carefully.
But, we might argue, what about the past? I'm always living in the past, except for the time I "spend" (metaphorically like a limited amount of money) living in the future.
I spend next to no time here, now, just being.
I ruminate and am sad about the past, or I worry and am nervous about the future. I more or less ignore the present -- except when meditating, practicing mindfulness (sati), or listening to the Dhamma, the Buddha's Teachings.
Time travel will confuse us more
The truth is, if we think about it, even when we are "living" in the past or future, we only ever actually do that NOW. We don't go back to the past, and we don't actually "go" to the future. Those are just designations, so that the only time we ever are when we look is in the present. We are not present for the present, but that's where we actually are. Virtually, we're wasting away in the imaginary past or imaginary future, being imagined right NOW. But where are we on that imaginary boat in the example?
That's right, they're right. We've been wrong and haven't been seeing it correctly. We are not in the front part looking forward, and we certainly aren't in the driver's seat (controlling all that's coming at us). We are being carried along, not knowing where we're going, and only finding out after the fact.
I'm bored being here now. Let's talk future.
It could well be that this "now" business is not just a designation. Like a book or album, all time may already be. The story might already be set but we just haven't read it or heard it yet. So we imagine we have perfect freewill and will find out as things transpire.
Time exists, but how it exists -- not as a natural and integral part of the universe, but an artificial and imposed screening device -- is the real question. In a book, there is no time. It is all there all at once. In reading it or flipping through the pages, we create a kind of time or sequencing, ordering, stacking. We can read slowly or jump around very quickly, but wherever we go (in the book), there we are. When? Now. Only ever now.
This is the first paradox of time: Our attitudes toward time have a profound impact on our lives and world, yet we seldom recognize it. The authors' goal is to help reclaim yesterday, enjoy today, and master tomorrow with new ways of seeing and working with our past, present, and future. Just as Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences permanently altered our understanding of intelligence and Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink gave us an appreciation for the adaptive unconscious, Prof. of Social Psychology Philip Zimbardo (infamous for his Stanford Prison Experiment) and Dr. John Boyd’s book changes the way we think about and experience time.
Astropyre (video); text by Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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