Sin as an Agent for Repression [Blog Copy]

Deepak Chopra posted this on his blog not too long ago…thought i’d share it with you

SF Chronicle: What Comes Next After Sin?

June 22, 2009

“Improvement is a simple, natural impulse — everyone wants to see a better life for his family and society. But when you add the ingredient of sin, improvement becomes clouded. Is it an improvement to deny women education and health care, to dictate what they wear in public, and to regard them as inferior beings?  To the Taliban and the clerics in Iran, those ideas are considered steps on the road to an Islamic paradise. But every society dominated by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has had to struggle with the notion of sinfulness.  The supposed sinfulness of women, as many Muslims see it, is that the mere sight of a woman inflames sexual passion and arouses temptation, thus pulling men away from God.

A woman who walks bare-headed through the streets of most Islamic  countries would be considered sinful, but before we shake our heads, consider Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, where the sinful heroine, Hester Prynne, must run into the forest to take off her cap and unloose her hair in the sun.  Also consider that conservative politics in this country is largely based on the notion that human being are not improvable, that without harsh opposition to free thinking and liberal sexual mores, not to mention a massive military and police force, human depravity would run amok.

Sin isn’t a fact of human nature. It’s an idea.  As such, it has proved very useful to religious and political elites.  The current repression exacted by the Iranian mullahs may be in the name of God, but the clerical elite in that country are immensely wealthy and corrupt.  In this country hellfire fundamentalist preachers grow rich, and many feel free to pursue personal corruption shielded by their prestige and money. Getting past the idea of sin is difficult when the myth is fostered that God hates sinners and favors the righteous. Who wouldn’t want to be on the winning team, where all the power and money lie, not to mention the grand prize of salvation?

It would benefit the world as a whole if every society could move past the toxic idea of sin to a new idea.  There’s no lack of alternatives.  Human nature is as capable of love, tolerance, rationality, and spiritual yearning as it is of sin.  Psychotherapy was a non-religious movement that attempted to deal with sin’s fundamental forces — aggression, sex, guilt, and shame — by examining the psyche and ridding it of conflict, by bringing the darkness of the unconscious to light.  The average person doesn’t take advantage of psychotherapy, certainly not the kind that goes inward for self-knowledge, yet the general idea of bringing darkness to light holds good. It underlies liberal politics, reformist religion, secular tolerance, and spiritual seeking.

As a body of ideas, those movements have more to offer the future than the reactionary idea of sin.  I feel optimistic about the ongoing campaign against sin-based ideologies (which don’t have to be religious; police states like the former Soviet Union were completely secular but based on the necessity to repress freedom), and optimism is needed in the light of recent events in Iran, where the religious reactionaries have clamped down, as well as Israel, where a kindred form of religious reaction grows bolder.  The next idea after sin is being born, and despite the fact that sin holds sway over millions of minds, those minds can free themselves whenever they wish.”

i’ll save my thoughts this time. comment if you so please.

-sah

“Contrilly 2 Pop-yillie the “Coloreds” are awoke…”

…might do a review on this (after i get the others out the way :eyeroll:) but fa now- this’ll suffice. any choice of sah’s should be a choice of…

-sah

Nigger.

~2pac-Souljah’s Revenge~

…so my boy posts a question on his face book status:

In honor of today being Juneteenth, I will ask this question. How do you feel about the word NIGGER/NIGGA in 2009? Is it a word people take too seriously or do people not take it seriously enough?

i jumped in the discussion and for the first time was able to articulate (as best i could) how i feel about its use, and why  at this point in my life (i’m aware time may bring change) i feel no qualms using it.

to simplify things, i’ll just re-post. starting with my original reply to the question:

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a word is a word, its all about the context in which it’s used. to eliminate the word nigger is to actually give it more power. it exists deep within the roots of american history, and as long as there are descendants of [american] slaves, the word nigger will be forever on the conscious of the world and on the lips of various races. even if it were to never be uttered again. to look in the eyes of another man and know he is THINKING nigger is no different then him [or you/i] saying it. what people really want, but rarely articulate, is for there to be less niggerish behavior. and THAT comes with educating our young and drawing a bridge between the past and the future.

on a personal note: i’d prefer the word to remain because it is a memorial site for the atrocities of the african diaspora. even if some use the word unknowingly.

either way…before we can eliminate its use, the country AS A WHOLE would have to have serious dialogue about our past. very few of us, however, have the stomach for that.

a response:

“…And Matthew a memorial for a word that symbolizes the torture of my ancestors mind,bodies and soul is blasphemous… Like a woman degrading a man’s sexual performance and him saying “hey girl let’s frame that up in a plaque….”

NEW SONG- Death to the Industry

…set to a familiar tune (unless you’ve been under a rock, of course)

here’s the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?mwu5mhnxdym

Ton3x.

..if you read my blog on “the menu” you already know i dont really listen to gospel. well, this dude seems to be changing all that, cuz i’m really getting into his work. a few people have suggested his stuff to me before but i’m just now really starting to enjoy it (funny tho, cuz most of the church seems hell bent on casting him out <=i blogged on this before[old myspace page], i may do so again).

anyway, here are 2 songs from a recent mixtape of his “Baptost.O.G.I.C”, and 1 from “The Naked Truth” . straight [church boy] heat. (lol) seriously tho, check this shit.

-”My Father’s House 1962″

-”Make You Happy”

-”Never”

I want the people who do art for Twitter to do stuff for me…

i mean…isnt this the dopest thing you’ve ever seen?

(VLOGGIN)NEWIndustry Lessons: School’s In Suckas…

2 Videos about where I believe the record industry is going (using Jay-Z’s new song “Death of Autotune” as an example)..

Reviews and Recommendations: “Food for Thought” (The Menu)

i wrote this sometime ago, but forgot to post it on my blog..

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i don’t listen to alot of gospel.

since my earliest memory, i have spent my entire life in the church. born a PK (”preacher’s kid” for those unfamiliar with the term) i have been privy to the journey, trials, and pitfalls of those in the ministry from in front of and behind the pulpit. the reason why i am not a fan of modern gospel music is i’m usually met with the feeling that a disservice is being done. either the music comes across (to me, of course) as a faux attempt at grabbing youthful listeners via hip hop-ish drum patterns and production- or i feel that the message, while relying on concrete scriptural truth, does not offer any light for those who are NOT in he choir loft (”preaching to the choir” as the common saying goes). usually i am more moved by the gospel of past years, and more so by tradition hymns- written decades before i was born. still, timeless as the matter at hand may be, a fresh translation always has been, and always will be, needed.yet if said translation does not consider those outside of the church AS WELL AS those within- i personally feel much is lost, and the task at hand – by many gospel artists – is far from met.

SJP, tha menu, and generation genius (as a collective) are different..

*i hope lydia takes no offense to my concentration on her brother. knowing him personally, it is easier for me to write with a focus on him, though her contributions are far from unnoticed*….

Together… (a short story 4 the fraile at heart) {09}

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…at first the sound was soft..

occasional breaks- in her blanket of blackness.

then.

there was cold.

and then

heat.

..then cool.

and then warmth.

and as the echoes became louder, colors began to form.

first white.

soon specks of yellow

&blue

swirling….andbleeding…

and it calmed her- as much as it excited her..

-in an instant-

she knew where she was…

Ain’t that the truth…