"For then they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn unto fables...gathering unto themselves teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear."
Not my favourite journo at the best of times, nevertheless having given (thus far) the only telecast interview with 'His Holiness' the Dalai Lama, broadcaster Susan Wood's tete-a-tete a wee while ago bears scrutiny.
But perhaps first we oughta let Ms Wood's (evidently carefully-chosen) words speak for themselves. In a 'backgrounder' (piece) with NZ National Radio's Noelle McCarthy on Thursday afternoon the 20th of June, in which Ms McCarthy examined the Dalai Lama's recent revisit of God's Own, observing that "his effect on his (celebrity) interviewers has been [well] noted", Susan Wood referred back to that conversation she'd had, and made the following comments and observations.
The Dalai Lama "[brings/exudes] an enormous sense of soul and compassion...and a great [deal] of fun...[is] full of energy and life...he made me laugh...feel great actually." And in light of these momentous realizations and/or states of being thus elicited by "His Holiness", Ms Wood conculuded: "I asked him finally the only question that popped into my head: "Are you looking forward to your [soon coming] birthday?" To which 'His Holiness' amazingly(!) responded: "It doesn't matter." Whoa! What a revelation from beyond! Of course it doesn't. But so what? An adolescent could 'discern' as much, once s/he has, through natural, inevitable life setbacks and disenchantments, started realizing a few home truths about life, the universe and everything else. Will such scintillating insights never cease? With journalists like Sue, who needs the media?
To sum up the quintessence of the Dalai Lama's impact upon chiefly his Western audiences, let's say this:
He's warm and cuddly, cute and charismatic - moreover in a gentle, unassuming kinda way (hey, like the new Pope!) As in: that's all that really matters to this supremely superficial 'now', image-fixated generation.
Warm cuddlies, someone who makes us (all) 'feel good' - no matter how undeserved or meaningless the description. I.e. the cult of self-esteem writ large, bold and bulging 'so no-one feels left out' or poorly.
Someone offering a 'feel good' religion of kisses and cuddles, of pats and strokes - the cult of pleasure, or more aptly hedonism - the 'if it feels good, let's pursue it, ipso pronto, hook, line and sinker - now or never; the sooner the better...and without a taint or tinge of 'psychotic', 'neurotic' guilt attached. So what's possibly stopping me? Go for it - just do it! It's all about me, myself and I, first, last and always...ever and ever, world without end. Amen. "He makes us feel alright", i.e. about ourselves, our sinful lives and selves. So no need to repent, to confess, to make it right between ourselves and our Maker. 'It's all right Jack - and Jill!"
No, what cannot be disputed is that the effect of The Dalai Lama upon many of his hearers was not altogether diferent from a brand new word I've stumbled across in the last few minutes. 'Kef', being derived
from the 'Ar[amaic?] 'kaif, [meaning] pleasure', is a noun denoting 'a state of dreamy repose: something, as Indian hemp, smoked to produce this'. And who would or could deny that New Zealand today literally basks in both this state of mind as well as such various narcotic substances well known to elicit it?!?!
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The Dalai Lama #4: What they supposed I meant - What I actually did mean
The (actual) public scenario presented:
Poor, much-maligned, ostracized world traveller/proselytizer of a despised and oppressed religious minority is sidelined by local civic leaders - for purely sordid political/economic/trade reasons; to not offend our new-found Chinese market (or more correctly, its political/bureaucratic superiors). Using obfuscation and flimsy excuses to pretend there were actually some genuine reasons such a meeting could not take place. But at least 'admitting' the DL only represented a small and insignificant collection of religious devotees anyhow.
My reaction/letter to the editor response:
Natural 'co-aggrievement' for a fellow-minority religious 'member', snubbed by political leadership - however relatively insignificant those selfsame leaders (and their fellow travellers) are in the overall scheme of things - purely to avoid ruffling the feathers of (perceived) economic/political interests and/or incurring (anticipated) economic pressure/ostracism if he had met up with them.
Unfortunately the impression given - from what the newspaper omitted - was that said Dalai Lama actually somehow deserved to be feted and dined by local officialdom as if such oughta be the fate of all such globe-trotting religious proselytizers simply by being the world-travelling standard-bearers for their particular brand of religious belief. Or even that calling such an esteemed individual as the Dalai Lama the leader of a minority religion was a gratuitous insult and flew in the face of his actual world renown. Or that by dint of the DL's well-known sublimity of character and disposition he automatically deserved special treatment not befitting the rest of us lesser mortals, plebs and citizenry of Planet Earth. Not one of which was intended.
No, the only 'beef' if such it could be termed I had with Mayor Cull was his use of the Dalai Lama's minority religious status as a justification for publicly sidelining and snubbing him, and moreover, kowtowing to the Chinese authorities (in a general sense) out of fear (of potential trade repercussions) and (unwillingness to lose any hoped for) favour with the same if he'd acted otherwise. When Mayor Cull's fellow New Zealand and Dunedin forefathers were willing to die if need be rather than compromise their moral principles
- and least of all with a regime which not only doesn't respect such values upon their own soil, but indeed infracts them with utter impunity daily, hourly and moment by moment; and with no international sanction.
Not that I gave or would give the proverbial rat's razoo about members of minority 'religions' - my own or anybody's - being snubbed, denigrated, defamed or misrepresented by the mainstream media or political elites; why, it happens all the time. It's called life, reality, the world we live in. Correction: sure, it tends to annoy me, naturally more so when it's my own faith system being devalued, demeaned, and downtrodden
(by the powers that be). And yes, I do indeed 'care' about it, and deeply, just as John Hanlon does about
this world and its natural environs as so sublimely expressed in his classic hit 'I Care' of yesteryear. But let's just say one comes to expect as much, no less, in this day and age...and indeed when the treatment is otherwise one naturally has fairly legitimate grounds to suspect an ulterior motive or several. Because in such scenarios there often are indeed ulterior (if surreptitious) motives actuating the various players concerned.
In summary, insults for - primarily Christian - 'sects' are only to be expected, 'par for the course' these days. No-one, religious leader or otherwise, has any God-given right to expect special treatment such as civic wining and dining by local officialdom (in any context) - and indeed, the 'greater' the leader, the less he or she will take such to heart anyhow. And mistaking one's real status by treating an individual (of evident great note) as just another lowly pleb like the rest of us will not incite that individual, if they're indeed not merely religious but truly spiritual, to react or respond in any petty, self-serving, aggrieved manner.
Quite unlike the infamous Pope Gregory VII centuries ago when given the cold shoulder by then German Emperor Henry IV. Gregory's pride was so offended by his apparent disregard for his supposed superior earthly authority that he required Henry to literally 'bow and scrape, curtsey and kowtow' to him, doing utter abeisance to Gregory in the dead of winter by coming to the pope's alpine residence and awaiting his pleasure for 3 days and nights scantily clothed in pitiful, freezing conditions till Gregory deigned to allow him forgiveness for the egregious sin of offending his pride. A contrast (if indirectly related) exquisitely captured by a couple of artists in ancient Bohemia who depicted said cognitive dissonance between these self-appointed religionists and their 'Master' in a couple of 'pavement sermons' which drew crowds in Prague to note and judge for themselves the difference between these respective 'representatives' of their heavenly Father. One already cited - in this instance decked up in full papal regalia upon one of his travelling forays into his realm - the other said pope's supposed Master and Lord 'who knew not where to lay his head', who lived and died an overlooked pauper and who breathed a prayer of forgiveness from His cruel cross for those who'd done the dastardly deed and/or urged the ungodly ordeal on. Who Himself entered Jerusalem as its Servant-King 'lowly, and seated on an ass, and even the coat of an ass'.
Poor, much-maligned, ostracized world traveller/proselytizer of a despised and oppressed religious minority is sidelined by local civic leaders - for purely sordid political/economic/trade reasons; to not offend our new-found Chinese market (or more correctly, its political/bureaucratic superiors). Using obfuscation and flimsy excuses to pretend there were actually some genuine reasons such a meeting could not take place. But at least 'admitting' the DL only represented a small and insignificant collection of religious devotees anyhow.
My reaction/letter to the editor response:
Natural 'co-aggrievement' for a fellow-minority religious 'member', snubbed by political leadership - however relatively insignificant those selfsame leaders (and their fellow travellers) are in the overall scheme of things - purely to avoid ruffling the feathers of (perceived) economic/political interests and/or incurring (anticipated) economic pressure/ostracism if he had met up with them.
Unfortunately the impression given - from what the newspaper omitted - was that said Dalai Lama actually somehow deserved to be feted and dined by local officialdom as if such oughta be the fate of all such globe-trotting religious proselytizers simply by being the world-travelling standard-bearers for their particular brand of religious belief. Or even that calling such an esteemed individual as the Dalai Lama the leader of a minority religion was a gratuitous insult and flew in the face of his actual world renown. Or that by dint of the DL's well-known sublimity of character and disposition he automatically deserved special treatment not befitting the rest of us lesser mortals, plebs and citizenry of Planet Earth. Not one of which was intended.
No, the only 'beef' if such it could be termed I had with Mayor Cull was his use of the Dalai Lama's minority religious status as a justification for publicly sidelining and snubbing him, and moreover, kowtowing to the Chinese authorities (in a general sense) out of fear (of potential trade repercussions) and (unwillingness to lose any hoped for) favour with the same if he'd acted otherwise. When Mayor Cull's fellow New Zealand and Dunedin forefathers were willing to die if need be rather than compromise their moral principles
- and least of all with a regime which not only doesn't respect such values upon their own soil, but indeed infracts them with utter impunity daily, hourly and moment by moment; and with no international sanction.
Not that I gave or would give the proverbial rat's razoo about members of minority 'religions' - my own or anybody's - being snubbed, denigrated, defamed or misrepresented by the mainstream media or political elites; why, it happens all the time. It's called life, reality, the world we live in. Correction: sure, it tends to annoy me, naturally more so when it's my own faith system being devalued, demeaned, and downtrodden
(by the powers that be). And yes, I do indeed 'care' about it, and deeply, just as John Hanlon does about
this world and its natural environs as so sublimely expressed in his classic hit 'I Care' of yesteryear. But let's just say one comes to expect as much, no less, in this day and age...and indeed when the treatment is otherwise one naturally has fairly legitimate grounds to suspect an ulterior motive or several. Because in such scenarios there often are indeed ulterior (if surreptitious) motives actuating the various players concerned.
In summary, insults for - primarily Christian - 'sects' are only to be expected, 'par for the course' these days. No-one, religious leader or otherwise, has any God-given right to expect special treatment such as civic wining and dining by local officialdom (in any context) - and indeed, the 'greater' the leader, the less he or she will take such to heart anyhow. And mistaking one's real status by treating an individual (of evident great note) as just another lowly pleb like the rest of us will not incite that individual, if they're indeed not merely religious but truly spiritual, to react or respond in any petty, self-serving, aggrieved manner.
Quite unlike the infamous Pope Gregory VII centuries ago when given the cold shoulder by then German Emperor Henry IV. Gregory's pride was so offended by his apparent disregard for his supposed superior earthly authority that he required Henry to literally 'bow and scrape, curtsey and kowtow' to him, doing utter abeisance to Gregory in the dead of winter by coming to the pope's alpine residence and awaiting his pleasure for 3 days and nights scantily clothed in pitiful, freezing conditions till Gregory deigned to allow him forgiveness for the egregious sin of offending his pride. A contrast (if indirectly related) exquisitely captured by a couple of artists in ancient Bohemia who depicted said cognitive dissonance between these self-appointed religionists and their 'Master' in a couple of 'pavement sermons' which drew crowds in Prague to note and judge for themselves the difference between these respective 'representatives' of their heavenly Father. One already cited - in this instance decked up in full papal regalia upon one of his travelling forays into his realm - the other said pope's supposed Master and Lord 'who knew not where to lay his head', who lived and died an overlooked pauper and who breathed a prayer of forgiveness from His cruel cross for those who'd done the dastardly deed and/or urged the ungodly ordeal on. Who Himself entered Jerusalem as its Servant-King 'lowly, and seated on an ass, and even the coat of an ass'.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Belated #3 of dalai lama letter to the editor (as published by ODT)
I suppose one oughta be ever thankful to be printed by our esteemed daily here in the Scottish capital of the Southern Hemisphere, whether - as ever - (fairly) abridged or not...but anyhow, here's what was printed:
I wasn't always a big fan of former mayor Sukhi Turner, but have to say she was "on the money", I mean morally, when it came to meeting the Dalai Lama - unlike the current mayor. Sure, the Dalai Lama may well be "the representative of a minority religious 'faith' ", but as another ex-politician has put it well: "some things matter more than money" - like the reason we recently commemorated our "men in khaki" giving their lives sacrificially overseas, for 'freedom', religious liberty and all that sort of thing.
So why does what the ODT published irk, peeve, brass me off (not to put to fine a point on it)? Aside from my own self-disgust, quite apart from wholly missing my own self-appointed deadline to publish this 3rd blogpost upon said subject, but moreover of (seemingly semi-permanently) misplacing my original scribbled draft of this blogposting - so what I now write is not as I would have wished:
They essentially defanged it of all its oomph. Leaving aside the (more than) odd bit of tweeking here, there and everywhere, replacing nouns like 'morality' for adjectives such as 'morally', which admittedly offends pedants like me who no doubt inwardly pride ourselves upon proper English grammar and sense - and the frequent omission of various (even entire strings of sense-giving) words for space - I'd have preferred they left in the initial punchy 'but at least she (i.e. Sukhi Turner) has balls, if you'll excuse my French', as it well conveys the strength of my sentiment. But even more meaningful, and well concluding the thrust of my piece, were the following words:
But returning to reality and the 'realpolitik' of today's 'leaders' in society, I suppose bowing and scraping and curtseying and kowtowing will be next on our 'progressive' Mayor's agenda?
But hey, the press (and their sub-editors) always know best and what's right in each and every - literary - situation, don't they? And seeing as my brother said my piece showed I was now 'one of the movers and shakers in Dunedin' in that my letter was published alongside a couple of others contemporaneous with a public and civic leader response to Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull's much-criticized approach to the Dalai lama that led to the mayor's hasty backtracking and apologizing, I probably have reason to be thankful. But don't feel so, principally as the essence of what I felt I meant to say was thus distorted and rearranged to suit the paper's preferences. So tomorrow - I promise - I'll print the essence of what I was wanting to convey, and show how that essentially differs, and substantially, from what other mayoral critics evidently took out of the situation and Mayor Cull's aboutface upon the whole scenario.
Clear as the proverbial mud and grime? Now even I'm confused! But hopefully tomorrow all will be duly cleared up and clarified, made plain and pertinent - and moreover, to the point. Enough - for now.
I wasn't always a big fan of former mayor Sukhi Turner, but have to say she was "on the money", I mean morally, when it came to meeting the Dalai Lama - unlike the current mayor. Sure, the Dalai Lama may well be "the representative of a minority religious 'faith' ", but as another ex-politician has put it well: "some things matter more than money" - like the reason we recently commemorated our "men in khaki" giving their lives sacrificially overseas, for 'freedom', religious liberty and all that sort of thing.
So why does what the ODT published irk, peeve, brass me off (not to put to fine a point on it)? Aside from my own self-disgust, quite apart from wholly missing my own self-appointed deadline to publish this 3rd blogpost upon said subject, but moreover of (seemingly semi-permanently) misplacing my original scribbled draft of this blogposting - so what I now write is not as I would have wished:
They essentially defanged it of all its oomph. Leaving aside the (more than) odd bit of tweeking here, there and everywhere, replacing nouns like 'morality' for adjectives such as 'morally', which admittedly offends pedants like me who no doubt inwardly pride ourselves upon proper English grammar and sense - and the frequent omission of various (even entire strings of sense-giving) words for space - I'd have preferred they left in the initial punchy 'but at least she (i.e. Sukhi Turner) has balls, if you'll excuse my French', as it well conveys the strength of my sentiment. But even more meaningful, and well concluding the thrust of my piece, were the following words:
But returning to reality and the 'realpolitik' of today's 'leaders' in society, I suppose bowing and scraping and curtseying and kowtowing will be next on our 'progressive' Mayor's agenda?
But hey, the press (and their sub-editors) always know best and what's right in each and every - literary - situation, don't they? And seeing as my brother said my piece showed I was now 'one of the movers and shakers in Dunedin' in that my letter was published alongside a couple of others contemporaneous with a public and civic leader response to Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull's much-criticized approach to the Dalai lama that led to the mayor's hasty backtracking and apologizing, I probably have reason to be thankful. But don't feel so, principally as the essence of what I felt I meant to say was thus distorted and rearranged to suit the paper's preferences. So tomorrow - I promise - I'll print the essence of what I was wanting to convey, and show how that essentially differs, and substantially, from what other mayoral critics evidently took out of the situation and Mayor Cull's aboutface upon the whole scenario.
Clear as the proverbial mud and grime? Now even I'm confused! But hopefully tomorrow all will be duly cleared up and clarified, made plain and pertinent - and moreover, to the point. Enough - for now.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The Dalai Lama #2: PLEASE don't bother printing my letters to the editor if you're gonna abridge, distort 'em...Understood?
So as to put what I said in context, 'out there' again, so to speak, this is what I said - the unedited version:
Wasn't always a big fan of (former [Dunedin, Aotearoa-New Zealand] mayor) Sukhi Turner...
but at least she has 'balls', if you'll excuse my French. Yes, have to say she's 'on the money',
I mean morality, when it comes to meeting the Dalai Lama - unlike the current mayoral occupant.
Sure, he may well be "the representative of a minority religious 'faith' ", but as another ex-politician
(I was also not altogether keen on) has put it well: "Some things matter more than money."
No, really - like the reason we recently commemorated our 'men in khaki' giving their lives
sacrificially overseas, i.e. for 'freedom'/religious liberty and all that sort of thing.
But returning to reality and the 'realpolitik' of today's 'leaders' in society, I suppose
bowing and scraping and curtseying and kowtowing will be next on our 'progressive' Mayor's agenda?
But what our esteemed daily rag, often dubbed 'The Odious Daily Slime' by its congregation of admirers, printed was as follows...(to be recontinued tomorrow; my beauty sleep is fast being hijacked)
Wasn't always a big fan of (former [Dunedin, Aotearoa-New Zealand] mayor) Sukhi Turner...
but at least she has 'balls', if you'll excuse my French. Yes, have to say she's 'on the money',
I mean morality, when it comes to meeting the Dalai Lama - unlike the current mayoral occupant.
Sure, he may well be "the representative of a minority religious 'faith' ", but as another ex-politician
(I was also not altogether keen on) has put it well: "Some things matter more than money."
No, really - like the reason we recently commemorated our 'men in khaki' giving their lives
sacrificially overseas, i.e. for 'freedom'/religious liberty and all that sort of thing.
But returning to reality and the 'realpolitik' of today's 'leaders' in society, I suppose
bowing and scraping and curtseying and kowtowing will be next on our 'progressive' Mayor's agenda?
But what our esteemed daily rag, often dubbed 'The Odious Daily Slime' by its congregation of admirers, printed was as follows...(to be recontinued tomorrow; my beauty sleep is fast being hijacked)
Monday, June 17, 2013
Call no (mere mortal) 'man' 'father', 'teacher', 'rabbi', 'master'
So 'His Holiness', the Dalai Lama, set foot again, at last, upon Dunedin soil. Well good on 'im, I wish him well. From all account's the dude's a real cool sort of a fella, one of a kind in fact. One out of the bag, as they say. I've no doubts about the reality of that - at all. Just, pretty please, don't call him such a pretentious and untrue thing. Coz he, simply, ain't. Not now, not ever - at least upon this celestial orb. One day p'rhaps.
One only fulfilled that description. they held Him up to ridicule, they spat in His face, they scourged, and ultimately crucified Him - on an old rugged cross. Held up to public shame and abuse. Yeah, That One you can call holy. Coz He was; absolutely; in every way. It oozed from His every pore, especially as He squirmed and agonized, despaired and cried out in lonely abandon. But don't pretend that's all a fiction.
Coz it weren't, it ain't. Not now - not ever. Sorry, you miss that, and ya've missed all that really matters.
One only fulfilled that description. they held Him up to ridicule, they spat in His face, they scourged, and ultimately crucified Him - on an old rugged cross. Held up to public shame and abuse. Yeah, That One you can call holy. Coz He was; absolutely; in every way. It oozed from His every pore, especially as He squirmed and agonized, despaired and cried out in lonely abandon. But don't pretend that's all a fiction.
Coz it weren't, it ain't. Not now - not ever. Sorry, you miss that, and ya've missed all that really matters.
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