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bkdotblog · 2 years ago

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"Choir of Chaos," S3 E7

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 3 Episode 7 Recap

My Title: “Gay Wrongs"

My rating: 3 out of 5 dingers

Support for Lisa Barlow: Very strong

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Dear God,

There is nothing I love more on Your green Earth than when a RHOSLC episode opens with a conflict in media res!

In the very first frames of episode seven, as soon as Jen notices Angie Harrington twirling her little spaghetti legs in the parking lot of the choir auditions, she is approaching her with the velocity of a heat-seeking missile.

Angie Harrington is of course the wife of a "grown ass man" who created the fake Instagram account @shahexposed that — CRUCIALLY! — referenced Jen in name but slandered Lisa Barlow in its content.

Also, please don't freak out, but we have another Angie in our midst, who has just now decided to confront Angie H. on behalf of Lisa Barlow. She is wearing angular sunglasses and hot pink. In a fabulous coincidence, Jen is wearing the same thing, which lends the whole conversation a fun and legible visual language.

Two delegations from different alien races meeting for the first time:

The Pink team (Jen Shah, Good Angie) is arguing against rumormongering and Finsta-making, but it should be noted that Jen is only arguing on behalf of her family's name. Nothing about @shahexposed actually exposed any Shahs — that duty having already been performed by the department of Homeland Security — but anything that could even be tangentially misconstrued as an attack on one's family unit is the absolute best thing to say to a housewife if you want them to go ballistic as fast as possible.

The Gold team, which is mostly Bad Angie, is feebly attempting to counter that her husband's actions and intents do not reflect hers, but the Pink team is overwhelming in both feeling and volume. It's at this moment that Whitney Rose finds out that Bad Angie's husband was behind @shahexposed. Then something truly jaw-dropping happens: For the first time in human herstory, Whitney feels embarrassed.

A staff member alerts Heather Gay, who has been presiding over the choral auditions like a divine monarch, to the fracas. She comes outside, bafflingly sides with Bad Angie, and then returns inside. Jen follows her in an absolute rage. I get scared when mid-meltdown housewives move from one location to another because it feels like slowly watching a fire engulf a house. But I also feel a perverse, forbidden pleasure blooming somewhere deep within me... kind of like the one I feel when I watch a fire engulf a house.

With the perfect timing that has become her signature, Lisa Barlow arrives. (Actually, a staff member "reveals" her behind a curtain! I gasped) Heather regards her stoically. They still have beef!!

She sings "Away in a Manger." I think her voice is pretty good, and with a little training it could be pretty great! Of course I want to burst into applause when she finishes the verse and says, "Is that it?" Luckily a gay coded man is the first to start clapping. "Lisa Barlow, that was beautiful!" He and I say at the same time.

Lisa joins the other ladies. She and Good Angie embrace. Bad Angie looks uncomfortable. Then they include this confessional clip where the producer asked Bad Angie if she had happy memories from her friendship with Lisa (which apparently spanned decades!)* and she says this:

Sorry, but... bitch!!!

There is a brief and very cinematic moment where Bad Angie tries to flee the scene — "Whit? Whit? Can you go over the routine real quick?" — only to turn the corner to find Jen Shah.

Lisa Barlow, a literal oracle: "Everything just feels, like, weird all of a sudden."

She's right. Whitney and Bad Angie go do their little song and dance (32 counts of "When the Saints Go Marching In") and the judges are a little too impressed. Lisa goes to Jen Shah who is still fuming about the encounter and insisting everybody sit down and talk about it together. She lambasts Bad Angie and her "fat fucking Elf on the Shelf husband." What an absolutely gorgeous read. You can scroll up on this post if you want to see a photo of Angie's fat fucking Elf on the Shelf husband.

All of the ladies reconvene, but there aren't enough seats, so Bad Angie and Heather share one. Bad Angie apologizes to Jen, which makes Lisa go crazy, because nobody is apologizing to Lisa! She tries to remedy things with Heather but Heather could not be more dismissive. She basically says, Everything you're saying is right, but I don't like you and I don't want to talk to you ever again.

(It's time for a brief interlude called BK's Take, which you are free to skip. BK's Take is: I find Heather very funny, and she is clearly the Salt Lake housewife most closely aligned with the gay male agenda. In this instance, Heather exaggerated an anecdote to make Lisa seem aloof and tasteless, and Lisa defended herself appropriately. I think it's fine to privately dislike somebody on the basis of vibes, but Heather really needs to think about who she calls "fake" from here on out. It's not a good look... I'm afraid!)

Next we have Meredith and Seth together in the bath. OK!

Suddenly bottle of Dr. Teals Lavender Bath Soak appears.

All in all, a very tame display of marital affection for reality television.

Heather is touring a new space for her esthetics clinic, Beauty Lab and Laser, and it's pretty boring. In a confessional, she explains that she doesn't know why conflicts keep brewing between her and the other women. "I'm not trying to have an active conflict with any of these women," she straight up lies, "yet every time I try to do something positive or get us together, they lead with how I've done them wrong."

Oh my god, how sweet: Lisa and her husband go out to dinner, presumably with a full camera crew in tow, and when Lisa orders a Vida cocktail she wonders if the waiter knows she is Mrs. Vida. My guess is: Yep! She orders a lavender Vida cocktail with a surf and turf and jingles her new $6,900 bracelet. "I love when it's just us," she says to her husband. He says, "I know, it's strange," very soberly.

They go on to perform one of my least favorite Housewives theatrical tropes. A housewife will be sitting with her husband at an oyster bar or in the bath while recounting some personal tragedy or recent social encounter, and the husband will say things like, "How did that affect you?" "I didn't know you were so [hurt/strong/encumbered by your ancestral past]" Sorry but I'm BORED! I'd rather watch Heather walk around an empty room.

Now Jen and Coach Shah are going to talk on the couch, and instead of watching, I am going to pound my forehead into drywall! Quick BK's Take: There have been THREE husband-wife session scenes in this episode and I am OUT. This is not the Real Marriages of Salt Lake City! There is only occasion where the Real husbands' social dynamics becoming interesting to me, and its reliant on two simultaneous circumstances: 1) Their wife is embroiled in conflict and 2) All relevant parties are together at a social gathering. Everything else I do not give a fuck about. OK, that's all. Let's keep going!

Throughout the episode, I have been stunned by the acuity of Whitney Rose's observations. She and her young (step?)son meet Lisa and her young son at a park for a playdate. In a voiceover, Whitney lichrelly can't bleve she and Lisa are becoming frens. "Lisa definitely has a big sister energy, and that used to trigger me like she was looking down on me," Whitney says. I think this is a very rational characterization of their relationship. Also remember when Lisa said that she and Meredith should style Whitney and Whitney was like, "What's wrong with my style?" And Lisa said, "it's a little Utah," and Whitney made this face?

Whitney does.

Also her (step?)son is named Brooks.

Whitney and Lisa tell their sons to go play! and they scooter off in opposite directions. Whitney reveals that she is the sole provider for her family. Lisa is worried about her sister. Lisa reveals to Whitney that she wants a closer relationship with God, and Whitney cracks a little bit. Remember when she renounced God in ep 1?

Lisa also complains about Heather to Whitney. If you told me a season ago that—blah blah blah whatever. Alliances change! And they tend to form against you when you act in unkind! The moral of this tale is that seeds planted in malice will always bear sour fruit. And Miss Gay? Does not like the taste!

Later that evening (or later that week? Who knows -- it was at night) Whitney goes to visit Heather at her private residence. There is another great moment of accidental styling that occurs here:

(I don't understand the Bad Weather nickname. I know it's what Heather calls her friendship with Whitney and she probably explained it in a past ep but it went over my head. I would love if somebody could explain it to me. Please get in touch!)

Whitney's episode-long streak of coherent behavior ends almost immediately. It's unclear what her goal is with this encounter, but she starts by enumerating the ways in which she feels Heather hasn't been a friend to her. "I'm just here to be rill." For example: "When Justin was fired," Whitney says, looking away meekly, "like... you didn't call me."

Heather is visibly shocked. "I had no idea."

(BK's Take: I believe her!)

So then Whitney course-corrects and starts speaking of feeling a "disconnect" since their Arizona trip. Heather is like, duh, remember when I threw you across the room? I'm sorry but let's move on. And Whitney is like, well, I'm addressing things now. And I was so supportive of you at your choir auditions!

This sets Heather off. "I'm glad I had an event you could show up for and, like, be a hero, and I'm the asshole that has ignored you for two weeks,"

Whitney throws her head back in exasperation. Heather brings Lisa's name up. Soon the cross-talk becomes incomprehensible. As always, Whitney is attempting to play offense and defense at the same time, and is doing a clumsy job at both. She probes for Heather to acknowledge her lie about Lisa while also claiming that Heather has been intentionally distant. "The fact that you didn't know about Justin," she says, "that right there is the dinger."

That right there is the dinger.

Heather grows tired of this, and does what we all want to do: Leaves the situation. But not before throwing her mic off dramatically! Whitney sulks toward the front door, having accidentally allied herself with sworn enemy Lisa Barlow against good time girl Heather Gay. And that right there is the dinger. Thanks for reading! -BK

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Gay Imagery

Every week I like to post a screenshot or two of Heather Gay doing something funny. This week, she did nothing funny. I would instead encourage fans and Heather herself to take a good long look at this picture. Notice anything?

*This might not be true. I remember Lisa and Bad Angie having been friends for a long time, at least many years, when she was introduced in season 1 or whatever, but I am not interested in fact checking this information. Please feel free to let me know if I am wrong, even though I think I am right spiritually. I love you!

#rhoslc #real housewives #heather gay #lisa barlow #real housewives of Salt Lake City #that right there is the dinger

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hieromonkcharbel · 3 years ago

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St John Chrysostom on Virtue

"When we normally think of virtue we tend to think of ethical behavior, following the rules, obeying the commandments. Saint John Chrysostom reminds us that virtue is much more than just being a good person living according to the rules.

He writes,

Virtue is to scorn all human affairs, to keep the mind on future realities at each hour of the day, to seek no present good but to know that everything human is a shadow and a dream or even worse. Virtue is to adopt the attitude of a corpse in regard to the affairs of this life and like a corpse take no active interest in what threatens the soul's salvation, but only in regard to spiritual things to be alive and take active interest, as Paul also said, "I am alive, though it is no longer me but Christ alive in me." (Gal 2:20)

He says, "virtue is the scorn all human affairs". What could this mean? He is trying to emphasize that virtue is not about gaining any kind of recognition in this world. Any good act we do for esteem of ourselves or others is in vain. What is essential is our love of God, and to be united with Him in His kingdom. He further says that to be virtuous we have to be like a "corpse" in regards to all things of this life. Virtue is beyond the expression of all we can gain in this life. He is saying that virtue comes when we are in union with Christ and are acting out of His love for us and us for Him. Virtuous actions must be done out of His will and not our earthly human will. Of course we must make an effort to purify our heart so that we are able to do so. Like Christ did, we too must align our human will with His divine will. Then we can be said to act with virtue. We will then act as Paul says, as "though it is not longer me but Christ alive in me." This is the idea of virtue that Saint John Chrysostom is trying to express.

Once we have gained this high state of virtuous action, He goes on to ask us to protect this virtue just like a rich person protects his material wealth.

We should guard it with great care, not expose it to the gaze of all but conceal it in the inmost recesses of our heart, and thus repel all the attacks on the one anxious to despoil us of it; in this way we will keep it intact and be able to leave this life with some resource for the life hereafter. (Homily 5 on Genesis, p 65)

Once we are able to act with true virtue then we must conceal our motivations, the source of our actions, and never seek recognition of any kind for our actions. This is a stance of humility that is essential, and, once we boast of our relationship with God, we will lose it.

Prayer is a key to developing the proper relationship with God. Prayer is to be done in silence, as an inner work. Saint John tells us the following in His Homily on Gospel by Saint Matthew.

Let us not then make our prayer by the gesture of our body, nor by the loudness of our voice, but by the earnestness of our mind: neither with noise and clamor and for display, so as even to disturb those that are near us, but with all modesty, and with contrition in the mind, and with inward tears.....

He continues reminding us that we are seeking an inner voice that comes from God. Prayer is a mystery , he says. Prayer come out of silence.

From beneath, out of the heart, draw forth a voice,make thy prayer a mystery. Seest thou not that even in the houses of kings all tumult is put away, and great on all sides is the silence? Do thou also therefore, entering as into a palace,--not that on the earth,but what is far more awful than it, that which is in heaven,--show forth great seemliness. Yea, for thou art joined to the choirs of angels, and art in communion with archangels, and art singing with the seraphim. And all these tribes show forth much goodly order, singing with great awe that mystical strain, and their sacred hymns to God, the King of all. With these then mingle thyself, when thou art praying, and emulate their mystical order.

It is prayer that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. With our minds purified of the passions of the body we can enter into this silence and truly join with the "choirs of angels." In Prayer we are called to mingle with heavenly bodies and participate in their "mystical order."

He also writes,

For not unto men art thou praying, but to God, who is everywhere present, who hears even before the voice, who knows the secrets of the mind. If thou so pray, great is the reward thou shalt receive."

(Fr. Dn Charles Joiner, post from "Orthodox Way of Life" blog: an excellent resource on Eastern Christian Spirituality)

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justforbooks · 4 years ago

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Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath of the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most-recorded in modern history. She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Hildegard was born around the year 1098, although the exact date is uncertain. Her parents were Mechtild of Merxheim-Nahet and Hildebert of Bermersheim, a family of the free lower nobility in the service of the Count Meginhard of Sponheim. Sickly from birth, Hildegard is traditionally considered their youngest and tenth child, although there are records of only seven older siblings. In her Vita, Hildegard states that from a very young age she had experienced visions.

Hildegard's works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in liturgy, as well as the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; one of the largest bodies of letters (nearly 400) to survive from the Middle Ages, addressed to correspondents ranging from popes to emperors to abbots and abbesses, and including records of many of the sermons she preached in the 1160s and 1170s; two volumes of material on natural medicine and cures; an invented language called the Lingua ignota ("unknown language"); and various minor works, including a gospel commentary and two works of hagiography.

Several manuscripts of her works were produced during her lifetime, including the illustrated Rupertsberg manuscript of her first major work, Scivias (lost since 1945); the Dendermonde Codex, which contains one version of her musical works; and the Ghent manuscript, which was the first fair-copy made for editing of her final theological work, the Liber Divinorum Operum. At the end of her life, and probably under her initial guidance, all of her works were edited and gathered into the single Riesenkodex manuscript.

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Catholic Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard's music. In addition to the Ordo Virtutum, sixty-nine musical compositions, each with its own original poetic text, survive, and at least four other texts are known, though their musical notation has been lost. This is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers.

One of her better-known works, Ordo Virtutum (Play of the Virtues), is a morality play. It is uncertain when some of Hildegard's compositions were composed, though the Ordo Virtutum is thought to have been composed as early as 1151. It is an independent Latin morality play with music (82 songs); it does not supplement or pay homage to the Mass or the Office of a certain feast. It is, in fact, the earliest known surviving musical drama that is not attached to a liturgy.

The Ordo virtutum would have been performed within Hildegard's monastery by and for her select community of noblewomen and nuns. It was probably performed as a manifestation of the theology Hildegard delineated in the Scivias. The play serves as an allegory of the Christian story of sin, confession, repentance, and forgiveness. Notably, it is the female Virtues who restore the fallen to the community of the faithful, not the male Patriarchs or Prophets. This would have been a significant message to the nuns in Hildegard's convent. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, while Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima (the human souls) and the Virtues. The devil's part is entirely spoken or shouted, with no musical setting. All other characters sing in monophonic plainchant. This includes Patriarchs, Prophets, A Happy Soul, A Unhappy Soul and A Penitent Soul along with 16 female Virtues (including Mercy, Innocence, Chasity, Obedience, Hope, and Faith).

In addition to the Ordo Virtutum, Hildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum. The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard's own text and range from antiphons, hymns, and sequences, to responsories. Her music is monophonic, that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line. Its style has been said to be characterized by soaring melodies that can push the boundaries of traditional Gregorian chant, and to stand outside the normal practices of monophonic monastic chant. Researchers are also exploring ways in which it may be viewed in comparison with her contemporaries, such as Hermannus Contractus. Another feature of Hildegard's music that both reflects twelfth-century evolution of chant, and pushes that evolution further, is that it is highly melismatic, often with recurrent melodic units. Scholars such as Margot Fassler, Marianne Richert Pfau, and Beverly Lomer also note the intimate relationship between music and text in Hildegard's compositions, whose rhetorical features are often more distinct than is common in twelfth-century chant. As with all medieval chant notation, Hildegard's music lacks any indication of tempo or rhythm; the surviving manuscripts employ late German style notation, which uses very ornamental neumes. The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard of Bingen and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints.

In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars. They note her reference to herself as a member of the weaker sex and her rather constant belittling of women. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis. Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice. Hildegard used her voice to amplify the church's condemnation of institutional corruption, in particular simony.

Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly because of her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. Though her medical writings were long neglected, and then studied without reference to their context, she was the inspiration for Dr. Gottfried Hertzka's "Hildegard-Medicine", and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing center that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing. Her reputation as a medicinal writer and healer was also used by early feminists to argue for women's rights to attend medical schools. Hildegard's reincarnation has been debated since 1924 when Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner lectured that a nun of her description was the past life of Russian poet-philosopher Vladimir Soloviev, whose Sophianic visions are often compared to Hildegard's. Sophiologist Robert Powell writes that hermetic astrology proves the match, while mystical communities in Hildegard's lineage include that of artist Carl Schroeder as studied by Columbia sociologist Courtney Bender and supported by reincarnation researchers Walter Semkiw and Kevin Ryerson.

Recordings and performances of Hildegard's music have gained critical praise and popularity since 1979. See Discography listed below.

The following modern musical works are directly linked to Hildegard and her music or texts:

Sofia Gubaidulina: Aus den Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen, for contra alto solo, after a text of Hildegard of Bingen, 1994.

Peter Janssens: Hildegard von Bingen, a musical in 10 scenes, text: Jutta Richter, 1997.

Cecilia McDowall: Alma Redemptoris Mater.

Tilo Medek: Monatsbilder (nach Hildegard von Bingen), twelve songs for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, 1997.

David Lynch with Jocelyn Montgomery: Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music of Hildegard Von Bingen, 1998.

Alois Albrecht: Hildegard von Bingen, a liturgical play with texts and music by Hildegard of Bingen, 1998.

Christopher Theofanidis: Rainbow Body, for orchestra (2000)

Ludger Stühlmeyer: O splendidissima gemma, for alto solo and organ, text by Hildegard of Bingen, 2011.

Wolfgang Sauseng: De visione secunda for double choir and percussion, 2011.

Devendra Banhart: Für Hildegard von Bingen, single from the 2013 album Mala.

Gordon Hamilton: The Trillion Souls quotes Hildegard's O Ignee Spiritus

The artwork The Dinner Party features a place setting for Hildegard.

In space, the minor planet 898 Hildegard is named for her.

In film, Hildegard has been portrayed by Patricia Routledge in a BBC documentary called Hildegard of Bingen (1994), by Ángela Molina in Barbarossa (2009) and by Barbara Sukowa in the film Vision, directed by Margarethe von Trotta.

Hildegard was the subject of a 2012 fictionalized biographic novel Illuminations by Mary Sharatt.

The plant genus Hildegardia is named after her because of her contributions to herbal medicine.

Hildegard makes an appearance in The Baby-Sitters Club #101: Claudia Kishi, Middle School Drop-Out by Ann M. Martin, when Anna Stevenson dresses as Hildegard for Halloween.

A feature documentary film, The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard, was released by American director Michael M. Conti in 2014.

The off-Broadway musical In the Green, written by Grace McLean, followed Hildegard's story.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Hildegard of Bingen

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tawakkull · 3 years ago

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ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 84

Fana Fi’llah (Annihilation in God)

Fanâ fi’llah (annihilation in God) has connections with some of the other concepts that we have discussed. For example, sincere repentance requires annihilating one’s resistance to acknowledging sin, asceticism requires annihilating carnal pleasures, the highest point of loyalty and love is the annihilation of the expectation for a pleasing life in both this and the other world, and absence (ghayba) as a result of intoxication is apparent annihilation. Each of these is an attitude, a feeling and state of pleasure for a traveler on the way to God, while being at the same time, with respect to the Divine Being, Attributes and Names, manifestations of the lights of the Divine Oneness in the sphere of contingent things and beings. Initiates live in tides of existence and non-existence. This life is known as devastation. Their melting away before the Existence of the Truth is known as destruction, and their feeling that their deeds are mere shadows of the acts of the One Who does whatever He wills is known as effacement. Devastation, destruction, and effacement are dimensions of annihilation. They remind one of the fact that everything other than He is a shadow of the True Existence and Knowledge, having no essential value inherent to itself. These states also function as a bridge between the relativity of truth and human perception, feeling and understanding.

The absolute truth never changes; it is always what it essentially is. Neither the assumptions of union or incarnation on the part of the Divine Being nor human absolute annihilation in God bear anything of the truth. Things and events are created by God. Human beings are His created servants, and He possesses absolute Existence and Knowledge. Every existent thing is a ray of the manifestation of His Existence and Knowledge, and humanity feels, witnesses, and interprets these manifestations. But humans can make mistakes, which should be corrected. Humankind are like the conductors of choirs singing the praises of the Creator. They interpret what constantly pours into their horizon or is presented to their view, reviewing it, and adding new melodies taken from the depth of their emotions and sensations. These melodies are sometimes in accord with the truth being played, but sometimes it happens that the state, pleasures, perceptions, and feelings are in discord with existence in their mirrors of perception and consciousness, resulting in a confusion of views of the Divine Oneness and multiplicity in contingent existence. Utterances such as “I am the Truth” (attributed to Hallaj al-Mansur), or “I am a denier if I pray, and an unbeliever if I do not” (attributed to Shibli), and “The Lord is the servant, and the servant is the Lord, so I wish I knew who is responsible for God’s commandments” (attributed to Muhy al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi), and “Who is the criminal, and what is the chastisement?” (attributed to Yunus Emre[1]), are examples of this confusion.

God knows the true intention and purpose behind such utterances. However, as far as I understand, while preparing for prayer, Shibli was surrounded by multiplicity. When the lights of the Divine Oneness surrounded him during prayer, he, as an obedient one who is seeking God but has been lost in the One, sought and obeyed, he might have voiced his feelings of wonder and astonishment with the phrase mentioned above. The utterance of Ibn al-‘Arabi, which is apparently incompatible with Shari’a, must have been an expression of the pleasure of a similar state. Some common people, who are closed to such states of spiritual pleasure and who take such utterances as literal truth, without considering the state in which they are uttered, might suppose that people, after they have reached a certain level of spiritual awareness, are no longer answerable according to the Divine commandments. This view is nothing but a deviation from the true path. It is also wrong that certain people have accused of heresy and unbelief the great saints who made such utterances, which are the product of being lost in a state of spiritual bliss and which accordingly need to be interpreted.

If such words are the expressions of a mood of self-devastation and destruction that is beyond love and is identified with the pleasures of annihilation in God–and I believe that to be the case–the persons mentioned above who uttered such phrases should not be held to account for such words; these words must be interpreted. Those heroes of intense love should be perceived as representing and practicing the religion. It was reported that Hallaj al-Mansur used to perform a hundred rak’as of prayer every night, and that the others were also deeply devoted to the Almighty. Their words, which are apparently incompatible with the rules of the Shari’a, should be interpreted according to the basic principles of the Qur’an and the Sunna, and if they have uttered anything that cannot be reconciled with those principles, then a Muslim must, obviously, follow the guiding words of the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings. However, these great persons are excusable because of the states that they were in when uttering such words; others who willfully imitate them, without sharing the same mood and spiritual state, will be held accountable. The author of the Lujja says:

If you are not together with the good ones in all your deeds, What use will it be to you that you bear the same name as them. One of the two Messiahs restores the eyes of the blind While the other is one-eyed.[2]

Doing as the Prophets did in one’s manners and acts is the way of saints, while blind imitation and following those who lead the way to the precipice is bound to end in spiritual death.

Jalal al-Din al-Rumi expresses the same thought in these words:

Do not compare pure, virtuous characters to yourself; Though the words milk and lion are composed of the same letters (shir), They are not at all the same. If a perfected one holds dust in his hand, it turns to gold; While if another, defective one holds gold in his hand, it becomes ashes.

Self-annihilation in God has been dealt with in the following categories by the Sufi scholars:

Annihilation in God’s acts: Travelers to the Truth who have reached this horizon feel in every act that there is no true agent other than God. On the face of all their moments or conditions of poverty, weakness, helplessness, and need, they discern the traces of His Power and Wealth. They hear constantly the voice of the points of reliance and seeking help ingrained in the depth of their consciousness. Annihilation in God’s Attributes: Initiates who have reached this point feel that all lives, all knowledge and power, all speech, will, hearing and sight are rays of His Attributes of Glory and reflections of His Light. Seeing themselves without any innate power or strength, they are greatly astonished by the lights of the All-Holy One called by the All-Beautiful Names, and experience extreme wonder at feeling the All-Sacred One having All-Sacred Attributes, and always aspire to meet with Him beyond all concepts of modality. Annihilation in the Divine Being: A person of truth who has reached the point of attaining a new existence in which all the directions are united into one direction falls into such a state that he or she cannot help but utter, “There is no really existent one save God.” Those who have attained this state see all space and time as having existence in His Knowledge and proceeding from His Knowledge and perceive all existing things as manifestations of the lights of His Existence. Enraptured with the spiritual pleasures, they utter with every breath that everything is from Him, and regard annihilation in the light of His Existence as the price of being favored with existence. Thus, as declared in the verse (37:96), “God has created you and all that you do,” travelers to the Truth receive the first signal of annihilation with respect to the realm of acts. Saying, “Everything is from You, and You are the True Agent,” they advance toward self-possession. Then, as pronounced in the Divine declaration (8:17), “When you threw, it was not you who threw but God who threw,” they perceive their nothingness, melt away in the shadow of His Attributes and become mirrors reflecting the Attributes. Some even rise to the point where people and jinn begin to turn around them. If they are able to go further, they will go on as far as the realms beyond, as stated in, “There was God without there being anything that existed with Him. Now He is as He was before.”[3] They feel themselves to be in an indescribable and all but unattainable state of pleasure, wherein their existence is transient and where they have wholly annihilated themselves on the way to permanence. Such a feeling is akin to that where a drop admits what its origin, capacity and end really is with respect to the ocean. It also denotes that everything subsists by His being the Self-Subsistent and the All-Maintaining and that nothing can come into existence or maintain its existence without being dependent on Him. So, transience and decay are essential to human nature; this is a fact of which everybody should be aware. Permanence is necessary to the Self-Subsisting One. When the journey comes to the end where the servants perceive this essential part of their nature and existence, the All-Holy Sovereign and Owner rewards them with permanence. In the language of Sufism, this favor is called annihilation in God and subsistence by God’s Self-Subsistence.

The heroes that follow the way of the people of the Sunna wa’l-Jama’a and who are able to base all their views, words and manners on God’s absolute Oneness, have always viewed annihilation in the endless ocean of Divine Knowledge and Existence according to the above considerations. They have meticulously observed the rules that issue from the Sphere of Divine Lordship, and the manners required by self-possession and wakefulness, even in states of intoxication and absence. Any extreme words or manners contrary to self-possession are not seen in their words and acts, even if the influence of the state and the signs of joy are witnessed. One of them says:

The moving tunes that come from the wooden instrument and Which the singer plays come in fact from Him.

This means that such heroes of both annihilation and self-possession see that all things other than He are but drops from the endless ocean of the Divine Existence and, despite their self-possession, they cannot distinguish a drop from the ocean nor a particle from the sun nor the mirror from what is reflected therein because they are deeply immersed in God’s Existence. As was once said,

O beloved, you have become a river ending in this ocean; How difficult it is to distinguish between the ocean and the river!

They become lost in the ocean or in the heaven of the Divine Oneness or Unity into which they have abandoned themselves. Overpowered by the irresistible waves of the ocean and the depths of the heaven, they can neither see the shore nor find in themselves the power nor consciousness to come ashore.

Another one among those intoxicated ones, those who reached the horizon of annihilation in God and was favored with the gift of a new existence by the Lord, saw all existence like a mirror in which he was looking upon himself and in which he was intoxicated, said:

Sometimes He has condescended to appear arrayed like Layla, And sometimes He has honored us in the form of Majnun. When the Beloved One has stepped out of the privacy of the meeting room, The decoration and ornament of the interior has become most apparent.

The heroes of immersion who have reached this highest point express their sensation of Divine Oneness, joy and pleasure, they express the favor of God’s company, and the excitement of feeling Him by sometimes crying or screaming, sometimes by losing themselves and fainting, and sometimes by going into ecstasies and dancing. All of these happen during the spiritual journey on the hills of the heart. One of those who dove deeply into this ocean expressed himself in the flood of the ecstasies of his heart as follows:

I am such a falcon of love that I have no place in either world. I am such a phoenix of secrets that I no longer display any trace of my essence. I hunted the two worlds in a pleasant way With my eyebrows. Look and know that I have neither an arrow nor a bow. I have become a voice to speak And an ear to listen. But how strange it is, For I have no ears nor a tongue.

The leading Sufi scholars have also dealt with annihilation in the following four categories:

Annihilation in renunciation of people: an initiate is saved from fear of people and from having expectations of them. Annihilation with respect to the desires: this is the renunciation of selfishness and all worldly desires, aspirations, and bodily appetites. Annihilation of will-power: total submission to God’s Will. Annihilation of reason: this is reason’s submission to God in the face of the manifestations of the Attributes. This annihilation comes along with the astonishment and amazement which initiates feel even though they are unable to observe the criteria of thinking, judging, and acting that are valid in the sphere of causality. They usually cannot help but voice this astonishment and amazement. For example, Junayd al-Baghdadi says: “For a certain time, the inhabitants of the earth and heaven wept for my amazement, and sometimes it occurred that I wept for their amazement. Now I am in such a state that I am aware of neither myself nor of them.” The amazement of Gedai is also worth noting: I did not know myself as I see me now, I wonder whether He is me or I am Him? This is the point where lovers lose themselves; I have burnt away, so give me water!

The words of the author of al-Minhaj demonstrate a deeper aura of love and amazement:

I do not know whether I am myself or Him. I am in bewilderment, but I am sure I am not myself. I am a lover or the one loved or love itself. I am intoxicated from the cup of Oneness, and I am not myself. What am I? Am I a phoenix with no fame or mark? I am away from my home, and I am not myself. I am transient in soul but permanent by the Beloved. I am flying high, and I am not myself.

If we consider what annihilation is, these words are natural for a hero of annihilation. Annihilation means that they see, according to their level, none save God and set their hearts on Him alone. When they advance to the point where their inner and outer worlds, perception, and consciousness are illuminated with the knowledge of truth, then they begin to see clearly Who holds the reins of everything, and they always turn to Him in Whose Hand lie their existence and subsistence. Then, while they become more deeply immersed in truth by concentrating all of their thoughts on Him and endeavoring to reach Him, then they perceive that all existence is a manifestation of the light of His Existence. They reach the horizon of viewing all things and events differently with the consideration of Divine Oneness, and they are favored with being able to feel and interpret everything with the essential characteristics that the veil of corporeality hides. This can be regarded as the first step on the way of annihilation to the Truth.

Travelers on the way to the Truth take a further step and are able to perceive with the certainty of conviction that all the events in the universe, including human acts and endeavors, depend absolutely on God’s Names and Attributes, and that everything has come into existence and has blossomed in the heart of these Sources. They also perceive that whatever happens happens by His Power and Strength and see more clearly the limits of their will-power in all of their deeds. Abandoning all shadowy existence, they take shelter in the protection and ownership of the True Existent One, and gain a new existence by Him.

If the traveler can take a further step, then he or she can feel with some certainty, a certainty that comes from experience, that all things and/or beings with their being, attributes and characteristics are transferred from their existence in God’s Knowledge and clothed in external existence by His Power as a manifestation of His Existence. Becoming more profound in their feelings, the travelers are immersed in the vision of the truth that everything exists and subsists by Him. They perceive in their consciousness that the truth of (55:26), “All that (exists) is transient by nature (except He),” undulates throughout the universe like a flag, and everything created is bound to decay, and is maintained by the manifestation of God’s being the Self-Subsistent and All-Subsisting One. They also feel in their consciousness that if a being suffers a moment’s interruption of this manifestation, it will perish, and they reach a further horizon of perception of the Divine Oneness.

The first step belongs to the verifying scholars, the second to those traveling on the way to the Truth who have strong, inflexible will-power, and the third to those who have true knowledge of God and vision.

Those who are at the first step are annihilated to the extent of the depth of their consciousness of God and enter the way to “a revival after death.” Those who have left this step behind experience absence and immersion with respect to their inner world by means of a spiritual vision and discovery; they find seclusion in crowds and silence in noise and uproar. Others, who have reached the third step, renounce all human desires and aspirations, and wherever they look are immersed in the manifestations of the Divine Knowledge and Existence; they feel fully surrounded by His signs, as stated in (2:115), To whatever direction you turn, there is the “Face” of God. Whatever they see, they feel awe when enveloped by His rays, and whatever they observe they feel astonished at the burning manifestations of His Face and they mention Him with many allegories.

When travelers to the Truth have gone beyond all these steps and have become heroes of annihilation in God, the colors of subsistence with God begin to appear to them from all horizons. They also go beyond one dimension of “there is no deity.” This new dimension confronts them every moment during their journey and they reach a new dimension of “but God.” Due to their taking larger steps and due to the uninterrupted shower of Divine favors, the universal Lordship and complete Subsistence begin to manifest themselves on their horizon. A time comes and they feel that His Throne has embraced the whole universe, and rising by the stairs of repentance, penitence and contrition, which comprise the way of turning to Him completely, they are immersed in the lights of His Divinity. They drown in the extraordinary pleasures of feeling awe and fear of Him in their acts of worship. They take a great pleasure in listening to the Divine Speech–the Qur’an. Finding themselves sometimes in the clime of self-possession that is embedded in fear, and sometimes on the hills of alertness that are embedded in awe, and sometimes in the oceans of mercy, they experience fear and expectation, sadness and rejoicing, all together at the same time, and try not to fall away from His door. Unburdening themselves to Him in every thought, concept, utterance and breath, they become heroes of following the Divine commandment (15:99), Worship your Lord until certainty comes to you (by death), and without being content with their worshipping, they advance further and further. They know that when they stop, both the way and the journey will come to an end, and they can no longer have the ambition of reaching their destination. For the journey is toward the Infinite One. Unending endeavor in this world is reflected as endless favors from the realms beyond.

Guide us to the Straight Path, the path of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred (Your) punishment and condemnation, nor of those who have gone astray. And let God’s blessings be upon our master Muhammad, his family and all of his Companions. [1] Yunus Emre (1240-1320). One of the most famous Sufi folk poets who have made a great impact on the Muslim-Turkish culture. His philosophy, metaphysics and humanism have been examined in various symposiums and conferences on a regular basis both in Turkey and abroad. (Trans.) [2] The poet refers to Jesus the Messiah, and the Dajjal who, it is reported, will appear before the end of time as a fierce opponent of Islam. The fact that he has one eye is usually interpreted to mean that he is blind to religion and the Hereafter. (Trans.)

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audio-luddite · 4 years ago

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Basics 1.1 Brand Names.

I would like to point out that publications of all types generally do not describe reality. Car magazines discuss Ferraris as if everyone drove them to work or shopping. A very few people do, but they have a huge amount of money and arguably bad judgement as driving around the city in one is just out and out bragging and bad for a vehicle designed to go fast and that is all.

Audiophile magazines and pod casts and YouTube things that portray six figure turntables as even approaching a reasonable solution are full of it too. There is a lot of Ferrari level audio equipment out there.

I stopped reading that stuff a long time ago as it is not part of the real world. It often seems that audiophile stuff is ranked on the internet on price, rarity, and if it has USB connectivity. If you do a Google or Bing Search they will vomit up ads that questionable sources paid for.

I guess I am saying there is damn little useful information out there easy to access to guide you in this hobby. You will have a hard time finding out if there is just GOOD stuff out there. There is but it is behind big clouds of a dense smoke of exaggeration and simple lies.

There is gold, but you gotta dig. You have to know the difference between the gold and pyrite. Most companies making good stuff are relatively small. A few have been taken over by big companies and if left mostly alone can be depended upon. Others are really good at business, but the products are only popular as opposed to good. It helps to know some names.

Many have gone away. Some have come back or never left. There are fans and collectors that drive the prices up, but actually do not use the stuff. The most expensive car out there is too precious to drive and sits in a climate controlled shed. I saw a website for a collector of classic SAE equipment who just cannot use all that stuff. Very impressive, but it should be used, not photographed.

Some have a reputation better than they deserve. Some deserve a better reputation. Here is a trip down my memory lane. I was there.

In the early 70s there was a company called Acoustic Research. To its friends and fans it is just AR. It started out in Cambridge Mass in the 50s. It based its business on a revolutionary speaker design that allowed much better and smoother bass response. The AR-3 is a deserved classic. They kept making good stuff until the 80s and eventually petered out in buy outs and corporate BS. Another product they developed was the AR turntable. Simple, basic, well designed and good. Examples still change hands and can be modified to be pretty damn good by high end standards. A deserved good reputation and worth pursuing.

A descendant of that vision was KLH speakers and eventually ADVENT. Good names for things up to the early 80s.

Another company from Framingham Mass. was BOSE. Started by an MIT professor he developed a speaker that used the walls of your room to reflect sound. The classic 901 had 9 small drivers per channel with one shooting forward and the rest aimed backward. It needed an inline equalizer to correct its poor frequency response. I think it is a poor design. Reviewers were careful to not offend but people who like it like it. Later they made strange and exotic small units that are best considered as equal to a nice clock radio. ( then also made a clock radio.)

They moved into automotive sound, low end consumer audio and public address systems. They are still in business now owned by MIT but nothing they make is high end. Nothing they ever made is high end or really even good by my standards.

Dynaco started in the late 50s and had a good run right through the 80s. They evolved into Halfer and then disappeared into bigger firms ESS and then Panor. Either of those first two brand names can be depended upon for good stuff. Recently both brands have been resuscitated and make a few good, but expensive things.

My big amplifier is a Dynaco.

Harman Kardon also started in the 50s. Mr Harman and Mr Kardon worked for a company called Bogen that made fairly respected electronics and speakers in the Eastern US. The HK Citation line of products was a sophisticated attempt at selling really good stuff for reasonable cost. Both HK and Dynaco sold their products as kits for a time to make it more accessible.

HK still exists as a division of Samsung. They had a weird journey through corporate buying and selling, but still kept a sense of purpose. Any HK product is worthy of respect if taken care of. The Citation 11 preamp and the Citation 12 amp were once SOTA. I have a Harman Kardon Citation 12 amplifier and an HK ST5 Rabco turntable.

Marantz is another firm from the East founded by a Saul Marantz in New York. They made a good reputation on high end stuff and quickly went through several new owners including Philips Corp from the Netherlands. The old stuff up to mid 70s is considered pretty good.

SAE was a California Company started in the 70s with an avowed purpose to make good solid stuff. The designs were from a James Bongiorno who became one of the audio engineering saints. His early SAE amplifiers and preamplifiers made the golden ears sit up and take notice. I have an SAE mk XXX preamp. It is a good solid unit and frankly under priced on the used market right now.

SAE went away, and are now back as a brand selling really big stuff. Amplifiers you could weld with. Not cheap by any means.

Insert angelic choir here.

Audio Research Corporation. Started in the 70s, still going strong but owned by Mcintosh since 2016. Founding visionary was William Zane Johnson another audio saint. A defender and promoter of vacuum tube electronics. I will safely say they never made anything less that great, and most things were SOTA when they came out. They were never inexpensive. There is a decent selection of good stuff for under two grand on the used market, but it gets crazy for the new stuff. My main preamp is an Audio Research SP-12.

There are two things about their stuff you have to be aware of. The first is they voiced the phono preamps to sound good with moving coil pickups starting around the SP9. The input capacitance is too high for most moving magnet or moving iron types. Easy to fix with solder. The second thing is they flirted with all solid state designs for a time. They used fabricated Operational Amplifier units in potted blocks. These units cannot be fixed if they fail. They failed in the market as the fans liked the warm glow of glass and felt betrayed. Eventually there was a compromise with "hybrid" designs. I lust after an SP-9 mk2/3 which is a hybrid.

This is not an exhaustive list. There are other brands and names. These are ones I have personal experience with and can vouch for the value of my opinion.

It is fun to hunt for stuff.

Don't forget to listen!

#cheap audiophile #audio research #classic high end audio #dynaco #SAE preamp #Harman Kardon

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wesleyhill · 4 years ago

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God’s Blood for All Saints

A homily on Revelation 7:9-17, preached at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on the Feast of All Saints 2020

I would speak to you in the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. It’s impossible to open a news site or paper or magazine without seeing words like “division,” “polarization,” and “disagreement.” (Indeed, it’s nearly become a cliché to mention these things.) A columnist for Time magazine named David French recently wrote this: We [Americans] increasingly loathe our political opponents. The United States is in the grip of a phenomenon called “negative polarization.” In plain English this means that a person belongs to their political party not so much because they like their own party but because they hate and fear the other side. Republicans don’t embrace Republican policies so much as they despise Democrats and Democratic policies. Democrats don’t embrace Democratic policies as much as they vote to defend themselves from Republicans. At this point, huge majorities actively dislike their political opponents and significant minorities see them as possessing subhuman characteristics. I think David French is right about our political divisions, but there are so many more instances of division and hostility we could mention. Our country is rife, it seems, with enmity and hatred. Families are fracturing. Churches are splitting. Black lives are being snuffed out with impunity. It’s no wonder that we are hearing worried chatter about the possibility of “civil war.” The Bible is not naïve about these realities we are currently enduring. It is clear-eyed about hostility and violence between individuals and within societal groups. Barely four chapters in, the Bible tells the story of a brother who murders his brother. And only a few chapters after that, it tells the story of humanity’s arrogant attempt to build a stairway to heaven and God’s resulting judgment: “And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth.” Division is God’s judgment. Enmity between people groups is a tragedy and a curse, as the Bible sees it. The main division, though, that we see in the Bible is the division between God’s chosen people Israel and the rest of the nations. In the New Testament, St. Paul describes this division like this: there is “the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” Jews often despised Gentiles as “sinners,” as “dogs,” as the antithesis of everything they were called to be and to do as God’s special people. And Gentiles returned the favor, disdaining Jews and persecuting them, driving them from their homeland, subjecting them to idolatrous demands. There is no human way of breaching such a division between peoples, no way of overcoming the hostility. That is the reason why our reading this morning from the book of Revelation is so breathtaking. Listen to a portion of it again. John, the seer, who writes down his visions, says this about God’s heavenly throne room: “I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” If you know the Bible’s history, its stories of division and hostility and enmity, this is an astonishing passage. Here tribes and people groups that were at war with each other are now joining their voices together to praise God the Father and the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Here are Jews and Gentiles together in the same choir. Here are Persians and Babylonians, Judeans and Samaritans, Romans and barbarians — and, we might add, Hutus and Tutsis, North Koreans and South Koreans, Israelis and Palestinians. They are all equally robed in fine linen, with no one in a better or worse off position than anyone else. And they are giving thanks to God for rescuing them — that’s what “salvation” means. They are united, they are equally sharers in the same salvation, and they are singing the same song. This is a vision of all the saints of God, the holy ones whom God has redeemed, whom we commemorate on this feast of All Saints. It is a picture of our ultimate destiny. We trust that in the end, by God’s mercy and faithfulness, we will be there among the saints before God and his Christ, and we will spend all eternity adoring God and basking in the light of His life and love. But we need to ask a difficult question here. How is all this talk of togetherness not cheap? How is it not just singing Kumbaya and pronouncing “peace, peace” when there is no peace? How is it not whistling a tune while the world burns? In his latest encyclical, Pope Francis poses the question: “Nowadays, what do certain words like democracy, freedom, justice or unity really mean? They have been bent and shaped to serve as tools for domination, as meaningless tags that can be used to justify any action.” How, then, can we “unbend” a word like unity? How can we make sure it isn’t simply a covert tool to preserve the status quo? One of the striking things about our reading this morning is that it refers to Jesus Christ without using His name. It refers to Him four times as “the Lamb.” And one of those four times is in the longer phrase “the blood of the Lamb.” The saints from every tribe and language who gathered around the throne of God are described as the ones “who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Let’s linger over this image for a moment. It’s a picture drawn from the Old Testament and the story of Israel. On the eve of God’s liberation of his people from their slavery in Egypt, God commands the Israelites to kill a lamb and smear its blood on their doorposts and lintels so that they might be spared the judgment of God in the form of the angel of death. The lamb’s shedding its blood, its yielding up of its life, is what protects Israel and delivers them from destruction. What the seer John’s vision says to us is that our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate and final Passover lamb. Jesus, the Lamb of God, bore the full weight of all the guilt and injustice and sorrow and hatred and immorality that we perpetuate. Jesus is the Lamb of God who shed His blood to bring it all to an end, so that we might be forgiven and set free from sin and death and changed into agents of justice and mercy and healing and virtue. God does not wink at our grievances against one another. God does not tell us all simply to “get along,” sweeping our divisions under the cosmic rug. God does not offer us a cheap “reconciliation” that is built on ignoring the real issues at hand. What God does instead, we might say, is ratchet up the stakes. God tells us through His holy law that the main division, the primary hostility in the world, is not between Jew and Gentile or Black and white or rich and poor or Republican and Democrat. No, the chief division, the tallest and thickest wall of hostility, is between a sinful, angry, rebellious humanity and a righteous, holy, and loving God. St. Paul goes so far as to call us — all of us, every single human being — “God-haters.” We have all turned aside from God’s ways; we have all strayed like lost sheep. And the wonder of God’s good news is this: rather than disown us as hopeless sinners, God agrees to pay Himself the price of our enmity. God endures our hatred and murderous divisions at the cost of His own blood. God overcomes the great division in the universe — the division between God and humanity — at the price of His own death. The great Karl Barth describes this “wondrous exchange” in such powerful terms I feel I must quote him: If we would know what it was that God chose for Himself when He chose fellowship with humanity, then we can answer only that God chose our rejection. He made it His own. He bore it and suffered it with all its most bitter consequences… God chose our suffering (what we as sinners must suffer towards Him and before Him and from Him). God chose it as His own suffering… [God chose] to empty and abase Himself for the sake of [His] chosen ones. Judas who betrays Him He chooses as an apostle. The sentence of Pilate God chooses as a revelation of His judgment on the world. God chooses the cross of Golgotha as His kingly throne. God chooses the tomb in the garden as the scene of His being the living God. That is how God loved the world. That is how from all eternity God’s love was so selfless and genuine… [F]rom all eternity God has determined upon [our] acquittal at His own cost… God has ordained that in [our] place… God Himself should be perishing and abandoned and rejected — the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (translation slightly altered) God Himself has paid the price in His Son Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself. If this greatest and deepest hostility between God and humanity has been overcome, then the lesser divisions between ourselves have also been overcome. We now, whether Jew or Gentile, Black or white, rich or poor, old or young, are called and empowered to live out the unity we have been given in Jesus Christ. The Christian writer Francis Spufford is right when he says, “This is not very comfortable. Here Christianity overspills the separate categories by which we conventionally understand the world now, insisting to an awkward degree on common ground.” Precisely. This is awkward and challenging and costly in all sorts of ways, and it must involve the telling of hard truths about ongoing injustice and the need for repentance, but just this is what we are called to in Christ. We have common ground with each other: we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are all broken and in need. And, at the same time, we have been forgiven and declared righteous in God’s sight through the death and resurrection of Christ. In a few moments, all of us here, who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, will come forward to eat and drink the Lamb’s body and blood. “Love is that liquor sweet and most divine, / Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine” (Herbert). The blood of the Lamb that was shed on the cross has become our salvation and sustenance. Hymn #174 in our hymnal is a hymn whose origin dates back to the sixth century. It says much better than I could ever say everything that we are celebrating on this great feast day. As I read its words to you, may they be a preparation and invitation for the feast we are about to share together: At the Lamb’s high feast we sing praise to our victorious King, who has washed us in the tide flowing from his pierced side; praise we him whose love divine gives his sacred blood for wine, gives his body for the feast, Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Where the paschal blood is poured, death’s dark angel sheathes his sword; Israel’s hosts triumphant go through the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed, paschal victim, paschal bread; with sincerity and love eat we manna from above. Mighty victim from the sky, Pow’rs of hell beneath thee lie; death is conquered in the fight, thou hast brought us life and light: hymns of glory and of praise, risen Lord, to thee we raise; holy Father, praise to thee, with the Spirit, ever be. Amen.

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mytastessuck · 4 years ago

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Gorillaz: D-Sides

1Man, why do musicians always have to shelve their good stuff?

Seriously though, D-Sides contain some of the best b-sides and demos I've heard in my life. Makes sense that they get their own album to shine on. Also, the remixes on this album are to go ape for, with people making the songs a completely different category while still fitting the spirit of the song.

And on that note, this review will be split into two parts due to the album's length. Today's write-up will cover the demos and the b-sides and tomorrow's will cover the remixes.

All that aside, let get started.

1. 68 State

This is some space shit. Probably one of the best instrumentals I've ever heard in my life with the effect of feeling like you are swimming in a aural ocean of keyboards and strings. Great way to open an album and damn, this shit should be played in museums. I refuse to elaborate.

10/10

2. People

Ah, the stripped Dare. This version has its own charm to it despite not really holding a candle to its successor. Still, it's funny to watch Damon fail to reach a high note that he has no trouble reaching on other tracks. "Loving a lot" indeed.

8/10

3. Hongkongaton

Heh. I love how this track starts its verses off slowly only to rush near the end of the line. Even the instruments seem to making fun of them for this. Then it ends with everything getting lost in a mist. Never change, Albarn.

10/10

4. We Are Happy Landfill

Okay, so about being fair while scoring...I never promised that and you're about to see why.

This is my favorite Gorillaz song.

The use of car honks, the screeching yardling, the screaming of the chorus during the second iteration of the verse. This is it. I've found the quintessential alt-rock song. Every other quirky alt-group should hang their heads in shame. Looking at you, Presidents of the United States of America. Go antagonize some more ninjas, peach farmers.

100/10

5. Hong Kong

This is some cool chill shit. Love Damon's voice on this and I adore the use of traditional Chinese instruments on this track. I'm more of a slut for traditional Japanese instrumentation but fuck it, this track showed me there's another path. I should really pick up that Journey To The West album.

10/10

6. Highway (Under Construction)

They are building a highway back...and Damon going into your heart. Don't try to stop him, he's already got the ordinance. Anyone who doesn't want Gorillaz in their heart is screwed. Love the clapping too. Really makes this more folksy than it needs to be.

9/10

7. Rockit

I remember this being the single used to promote the album. I showed my dad the video for it and he had a goofy grin the whole time. Anyway, I have fun singing along to this swipe at pop songs. Really brought out the hipster in me when I was younger. Also, go wild on that synthesizer, funky eyeless man.

10/10

8. Bill Murray

Bill should be honored to have such an awesome beat named after him. It's cool and freaky, just like him. Too many people get lost indeed...in this track's funky groove! Ha ha ha ha! Yes, I have friends.

10/10

9. The Swagga

WHOO!!!

This song had to grow on me. First, I found it annoying...

WHOO!!!

But after a few lessons, I started rocking out to it.

WHOO!!!

I especially appreciate the breakdown at the end. Really makes the track to get drunk to and scream along with without paying attention to the melody.

WHOO!!!

This a party track. Don't put it on unless you're ready to party.

ALRIGHT!

9/10

10. Murdoc Is God

This track is dirty, filthy, an affront to the mercy of God...it is my second favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs in the world. The fucking bass growling, the chanting, the climax at the end...dude, Murdoc really doesn't deserve such a fucking raw track.

50/10

11. Spitting Out The Demons

I used to listen to this song all the time in high school right before I went to sleep. The piano opening, the funky beats, the mumbling lines...this album should be required listening for anyone who wants to become a DJ. Give them an idea of what to do with their mixes.

11/10

12. Don't Get Lost In Heaven (original demo)

Wow...they should have kept this version. It feels like a homeless man is screaming this at me on the street and a choir randomly decided to back him up. This would have made Demon Days a blessed item that would have been canonized by the Catholic Church as the Saint of Slaps.

9/10

13. Stop The Dams

Good environmental song, as usual pertaining to Gorillaz track record. It's just...I heard this in a tech ad once and that kinda cheapens the point so...

8/10

Join me tomorrow where I finish the album and give the album its final score. It's going to be ridiculous.

#gorillaz #d-sides #music #review

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