"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" Review

This weekend I went to see "Rogue One," the first "Star Wars Story" movie that lies outside the main Episodic Trilogies.

Although I tried to avoid spoilers as the release date got closer, I knew that this movie dealt with the lead-up to the original Star Wars film (now known as "Episode IV: A New Hope"). Specifically, it told the story of the Rebel spies who stole the plans for the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying superweapon, The Death Star.

In the beginning of "A New Hope", Princess Leia is introduced trying to take the stolen plans to the Rebellion while trying to find one of the last Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Her ship is intercepted by the Emperor's enforcer, Darth Vader, but the plans manage to reach Obi-Wan after Leia sends them off with the droids, R2-D2 & C-3PO. The farmboy Luke Skywalker gets caught up in the situation & eventually ends up taking down the Death Star thanks to the stolen plans & his connection to The Force, a mystical field of energy that surrounds all living things.

This is the now-familiar scenario that "Rogue One" leads into by the end of the movie, and it does so seamlessly.

•  Here is my spoiler-free review of the movie:

It was a great movie, with everything a Star War fan could possibly ask for in telling this particular story. Despite the regular presence of battles and conflict in the series, this was more of a war movie than any other Star Wars film to date. It focused on the harsh realities and unforgiving nature of battle, while also showing the power of hope combined with the determination to fight for a just cause. As opposed to the storylines of the Skywalkers and Force-wielding Jedi, this movie focused on the experiences of "ordinary" rebel soldiers.

One interesting thing that "Rogue One" accomplished was to gray the area between "good" and "bad". This was especially true regarding some of the tactics of the Rebels. From the point of view of The Empire and its sympathizers, the Rebel Alliance would be considered terrorists- willing to carry out sabotage, assassination, and killing on a large scale to meet its ends. Of course, the Rebel view would be that drastic measures need to be taken in order to free the galaxy from an oppressive military dictatorship. In this movie, you definitely get to witness the oppressive nature of The Empire, through forced labor camps, invasive planetary occupation, and the willingness to commit genocide to maintain fear and order in the galaxy. It's easy to sympathize with the plight of the Rebellion and the people who want to escape the iron grip of The Emperor.

The main protagonist was Jyn Erso, the daughter of reluctant Imperial engineer Galen Erso. Galen is a brilliant scientist was coerced into working on the beam weapon of The Death Star. He is responsible for covertly integrating a flaw into the design that would later be exploited by the Rebels, once they had acquired the detailed plans of the battle station. After Galen was separated from his family, Jyn was raised by the isolated Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrara. Like other women in the Star Wars universe, Jyn is tough, independent, smart, and able to hold her own in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

The supporting characters were diverse and came together to form a ragtag, but dedicated, team who understood the crucial importance of their mission. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives, if necessary, to save the lives of countless billions from the destructive power of The Death Star.


I really liked the blind warrior monk character, Chirrut Îmwe. He wasn't a Jedi, but was a devotee of The Force- which flowed through him as he took out squads of Stormtroopers with his staff. His mantra was: "I am one with The Force and The Force is with me." Interestingly, he and his companion Baze Malbus were identified as "Guardians of the Whills". In the original conceptions of Star Wars, George Lucas envisioned the Skywalker saga as a story told in an ancient book chronicling the events of the galaxy, called "The Journal of the Whills".


Chirrut & Baze were residents of the moon Jedha, which was once an stronghold of the Jedi containing ancient temples and colossal statues. These remnants of The Old Republic are now ruins strewn across the desert landscape since the Empire took over and destroyed the Jedi's legacy there. I loved the visuals of these ruined monuments that hearkened back to a forgotten age. I would love to see movies that eventually explored this location in it's prime, as a site of Jedi power.

Jedha is also a source of Kyber Crystals, which were used in the construction of lightsabers. The Empire is now confiscating all the crystals it can find, for use in the Death Star's main weapon.

In addition to the gritty experiences of the rebel soldiers, "Rogue One" also showed the power struggles and operations of The Empire. The main conflict on this side is between the head of the Death Star project, Director Orson Krennic, and one of the top Imperial officers, Governor Tarkin, who wants to take both control & credit of the Death Star. Only one of these characters is seen in "A New Hope", so one can guess at how this rivalry turns out...

Amazingly, Gov. Tarkin was recreated digitally, since the original actor, Peter Cushing, died. The level of realism achieved by this & one other surprise appearance was an impressive feat of CGI. Star Wars continues to push the envelope of special effects that Industrial Light & Magic started almost 40 years ago.

Another featured character from the original series (that everyone was the most excited about from the previews) was The Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader. If I had one complaint about the movie, it would be that they could have given Vader just a *little* more screen time. I say this because the very limited time he did have was absolutely awesome. I'm not going to spoil his scenes, but it was an excellent handling of (in my opinion) the greatest fictional character ever. You got a quick glimpse into Vader's tortured existence, and a clear understanding of his terrifying power.

As a extremely critical, but fervent Star Wars fan, I can say that this was an outstanding and satisfying addition to the saga's canon. There was a lot of focus on war & battles, and I usually enjoy the more mystical aspects of the stories. However, there were so many treats for fans and the film was visually so engaging, that I got totally swept up in the adventures of the Rogue One squad.

I would highly recommend this movie, and if you consider yourself a Star Wars fan, you should see it immediately! I guarantee you will want to re-watch "Episode IV: A New Hope" (or at least the opening sequence) right after it.

Having loved this saga since I was a child, I feel grateful to experience a new age of Star Wars!

The Official Monkey Buddha Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Meditating on Death & Impermanence

I've posted this picture before, but found a better quality image. It is a picture of an enlightened being meditating on Death.

"Of All Mindfulness Meditations, 

That on Impermanence and Death 

is Supreme."

-Buddha

Although it seems macabre to think about dying, I deeply love Life & the incomprehensible miracle of being alive. One thing that keeps me fully aware and appreciative of the experience of living is the awareness of my own mortality.

The realization that, one day, I will no longer be in this world helps me to live with a greater sense of immediacy in the present moment.

The Buddha taught that meditating on the inevitable death, decay, & dissolution of one's own body was a way to overcome the ego & delusional sense of "self" that is an illusion of our limited perceptions.

Only by accepting and contemplating the idea that our bodies will soon cease to exist, can we overcome the fear of death and truly awaken to the rare treasure of being alive.

“This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. 


To watch the birth and death of beings 

is like looking at the movements of a dance. 

A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky,
 

rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.” 

-Guatama Buddha

Yama, Lord of Death

This is a composite picture that I made from a few different photos.

It's my interpretation of Yama, the god of death in Vedic mythology.

Yama is also a part of the pantheon of wrathful deities in Tibetan Buddhism.

I took the body of a Ho-Tai (laughing fat buddha) on a zen candle base, & Photoshopped in a metal skull with menacing red eyes:

The black emptiness of death envelopes him...

Yama smiles grimly down on the deceased soul, whose karma is under his scrutiny.

His glowing, demonic eyes pierce through the infinite darkness.

He sits cold & unmoving, like a granite tomb, atop a sea of blood red.

Of course, the highest realization is that, Yama, like ALL anthropomorphic deities, is a ultimately a manifestation of the mind; a figment of the imagination.

For some reason, I got the idea to make this composite photo when looking at the skull. Although I'm really not obsessed with death, I have had a few truly near-death experiences. These events helped give me a deep understanding of my own mortality & the fragile miracle of being alive.

From this comes an appreciation for Life, which we must realize is always overshadowed by the possibility of an unexpected Death.

That is why every moment should be lived consciously with gratitude, and not taken for granted.

"Star Wars: Rogue One" Trailer

The poster & final trailer for "Star Wars: Rogue One" were released this week. It is the first in, what I assume, will be many "Star Wars Stories" in addition to the numbered main Episodes I-IX.

The "Rogue One" story takes place before the very first Star Wars movie, which is now know as "Episode IV: A New Hope". This movie details the efforts of the Rebellion & the central character Jyn Erso to stop the Empire from realizing it's planet-destroying weapon, The Death Star. Jyn's father Galen Erso was coerced by the Empire to help design the super laser weapon on the Death Star, and there is speculation that his reluctance may have been a factor in the presence of the exhaust port design flaw that was used in its destruction.

We all know the Death Star ends up being completed, then used against Princess Leia's planet of Alderann, and finally destroyed by Luke Skywalker. Despite knowing the eventual outcome, this movie looks to be an engaging and beautifully shot backstory to these events.

What most people are hyped about is the appearance of the greatest villain, and in my opinion the greatest character in all of fiction, Darth Vader. The former Jedi Anakin Skywalker is now the menacing Sith Lord and is probably overseeing the construction of the Death Star, while hunting down the Rebels who are trying to thwart the Empire's plans. This trailer only shows a few fleeting glimpses of Vader's menacing presence, but it is enough to make any Star Wars fan get excited for this movie.

There is alot of other cool stuff in this trailer, including this shot of a giant fallen Jedi statue on the planet Jedha, that I didn't notice until I saw someone mention it in comments about the trailer.

These are some of the other cool details that I think are part of what's going to make this a great addition to the Star Wars universe:

• The battles with AT-ATs in tropical settings

• Director Orson Krennic, the threatening Imperial officer in charge of the Death Star project 

• Blind Force-believing martial artist Chirrup Imre, played by Donnie Yen

• The oppressive presence & power of the Empire that is represented by the looming Star Destroyers

• Hope and resistance to authoritarianism as a message of the strength of the human (or alien) spirit

There has been some question about whether this is too much Star Wars media being released by Disney. As long as the content is well-produced & provides inspiring storylines, this lifelong Star Wars fan is happy to explore as much of the galaxy far, far way as possible.

Ah Pook,The Destroyer, Is Here

(click to watch)
"When I become Death,
Death is the seed from which I grow."

(transcript)

Description from Zed Gallery:

"In the scattered remains of a burnt out cosmos, the last god, "AH POOK" debates with his alter ego the trembling balance between life and death. An animated stream of consciousness in Burroughs’s idiosyncratically mesmeric voice breaks delivers us a requiem for the carcasses of Armageddon, nihilistic ramblings of ‘the last god’ searching for meaning in his universe, and finally a bitter manifesto of enlightenment, and liberation."

This is a very strange animated narration that works on a level that really defies rational understanding. It is like a dark Zen riddle that causes you to look into the very nature of Life, Death, the Cosmos, and the Human Experience. It is a puzzle that cannot be solved, only pondered.

We are usually so busy dealing with the trivialities of primitive human existence such as war, relationships, politics, and entertainment, that the huge questions and dangers staring us in our collective face often end up going unnoticed. This video, for me, touches on that base instinct that our relatively fragile world could be obliterated at any moment. Ah Puch, the God of Death, is always here, but without it, the World of Life could not exist.

Meditation on Life & Death

As a college design student, I created an interesting booth for my senior show.

One part of my exhibit was the hand-crafted prototype of the game, based on the Flower of Life, which became "Da Vinci's Challenge™".

In another part of my exhibit, I had graphic art & found items, accompanied by meditative quotes. At the time, I had begun to explore Eastern spiritual philosophies which expanded my perspective greatly.

For instance, I smashed a porcelain laughing buddha, with the quote: "If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha!"

One quote that was used with the Death Buddha I made below, & which I reflect on almost daily, was this:

"Of All Mindfulness Meditations, 

That on Impermanence and Death is Supreme."

-Buddha

I recently came across this painting, which initiated this post. It pictures a monk visualizing the process of bodily decay after death:

Although revulsive for many to think about, it is important to expose yourself to the natural cycle that follows the departure of life force from the body.

In addition to preparing the mind for its point of departure, meditating on the reality of Death should be meant to give you a greater appreciation for Life... right now!

Fully grasping the inescapable, impermanent nature of our existence should make any person eager to completely fulfill each precious moment they experience.

Passing Through the Death Experience

"Dying" by Alex Grey

Seen on DailyZen:

Passing Through the Death Experience

"An ancient Zen text recommends that when people are dying, they should contemplate their mental and physical elements as being void of ultimate reality, having no independent being and no identity of their own.

Further, they should contemplate the true mind as being formless, neither coming nor going, the essence of mind not coming into existence at birth and not going out of existence at death, being forever tranquil.

By this means, people can leave the world; they will not be drawn to beatific visions or frightened by horrific visions, such as they may experience at death, according to their mental states. The mind will be forgotten and merged with the cosmos."

- Muso Kokushi (1275-1351)

Broken Jesus

From the blog Operation Eden, a personal chronicle of the New Orleans disaster by a resident.


"For what is the nature of your life?
Why, it is but a mist,
which appears for a short time and then
is seen no more."
- James 4:14

"You live on earth only for a few short years which you call an incarnation,
and then you leave your body as an outworn dress and go for refreshment
to your true home in the spirit."
- White Eagle

"Normally we do not like to think about death.
We would rather think about life.
Why reflect on death?
When you start preparing for death you soon realize
that you must look into your life... now
...and come to face the truth of your self.
Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected."
- Sogyal Rinpoche

Since everything is but an apparition,
having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection,
one may well burst out in laughter.
Longchenpa

Many years ago, I had found a web page with quotes & insights from an esoteric Buddhist text, along with those by some of the greatest scientific minds of modern times.  It was an astounding collection of ideas.

I have studied most of the world's religions in depth, have read countless works of philosophy, & studied the many mysteries of the Universe that science has discovered so far. However, this single page contained the most profound, penetrating wisdom I had ever seen.

One day, when trying to re-visit the page, I found that the site had been taken down!!! I was alarmed that this amazing wisdom had vanished from the Web. Some time later, after searching the Internet for some keywords that I had remembered from the text, I finally found another site that had posted the content in its entirety.

Determined not to lose this information again, I bookmarked it, downloaded all of the page's contents on my own computer, & I'm now also going to mirror it here on my blog. This way, there's a better chance that people will see it & it will be available in the future. So, here it is... read these mind-shattering insights carefully & perhaps bookmark it for later contemplation, or share it, to open the eyes of others.

The Secret Doctrine

The primary source for this document is The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects by Alexandra David-Neel & Lama Yongden. Alan Watts calls this work "a wonderfully lucid account of the Madhyamika (or 'middle-way') School of Buddhism, a method of meditation and enlightenment which was worked out sometime between 150 and 250 AD by the great Indian sage and pundit, Nagarjuna." 

Holomovement

The world is movement.

"The tangible world is movement, say the Masters, not a collection of moving objects, but movement itself. There are no objects 'in movements', it is the movement which constitutes the objects which appear to us: they are nothing but movement."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Wholeness is flowing movement. With the hologram, the movement of interference patterns of coherent light enfolds a subtle range of structures and orders. In a similar, but unthinkably vaster, way, the whole movement or "holomovement" of the universe carries the implicate order and allows us to see and experience our four-dimensional space-time world."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Movement arises from flashes of energy.

"This movement is a continued and infinitely rapid succession of flashes of energy (in Tibetan tsal or shoug). All objects perceptible to our senses, all phenomena of whatever kind and whatever aspect they assume, are constituted by a rapid succession of instantaneous events."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Mind, I believe, exists as fleeting energy in parallel universes. The universe we perceive consists of the overlap of these fleeting flashes of energy. The patterns create mind as surely as they create matter. Both the existence of matter and the perception of it are the same thing."
- Fred Allen Wolf, Parallel Universes


A single result arises from many causes.

"Nothing is produced by one single cause; the combination of several causes is always necessary to bring about a result. The seed without the co-operation of earth, dampness, light, etc. will never become a tree."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Though the universe is in some sense determined, it is in another more important sense multidimensional, creative, and indeterminate, constantly unfolding new 'forms' or subtotalities which are expressions of the whole. The galaxy, the city, the corporation, even the very cells of a human's body are in a ceaseless energy exchange like water flowing through a vortex."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


The microcosm and macrocosm are intimately connected.

"The cycle of Interdependent Origins thus takes place in everything, everywhere, in the infinitely small as in the infinitely great. Its development does not take place progressively in time; the twelve causes...are always present, co-existent and interdependent, their activity is interconnected, and they only exist on with the other."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The development of structures in what is called microevolution mirrors the development of structures in macroevolution and vice versa. Microstructures and macrostructures evolve together as a whole."
- Erich Jantsch, Creative Evolution


The World as Mental Projection

"Mind" is a description not a thing.

"During his meditations, while watching his mind with close attention, he [the student studying the Secret Teachings] has attained Lhag Thong and 'seeing more' than most men, he has contemplated the continual arising and disappearance of ideas, of volitions, of memories, and so on, which pass like a procession of short-lived bubbles floating down a river. He has realized for himself that 'mind' is only a word indicating a series of mental phenomena."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"For the operation of the nervous system, there is no inside or outside, but only maintenance of correlations that continuously change (like the indicator instruments in a submarine)."
"Self-consciousness, awareness, mind - these are phenomena that take place in language.."
"'Mind' is not an entity but can be ascribed to a system exhibiting regular behavior."
- Humberto Maturana, The Tree of Knowledge


The apparent world is a creation of the observer.

"It is this world which we watch like a play which unfolds outside of ourselves while, in fact, there is nothing there but a canvas bearing many colored patterns, which we have woven and printed in ourselves according to the indications of our erroneous knowledge."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The apparent world, the one which is perceived, with its figures, its brightness, its colors, is a psychical product, a creation of the observer. The figures seen on the vault of heaven are neither the celestial bodies, nor the true clouds or the falling stars, but are only effigies which the observer's psyche has created and localized how and where it can."
- Vasco Ronchi, Optics, The Science of Vision


All that we perceive are our own projections.

"The greatest saint, even if he has sacrificed a thousand times all that he held most dear, even his life itself, for love of others, for that of a God or for a noble ideal, remains a prisoner of samsara if he has not understood that all that is a childish game, empty of reality, a useless phantasmagoria of shadows which his own mind projects on the infinite screen of the Void"
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"...All sensation will be the reconstruction of objects in space and time from apparent or virtual images of those objects recorded in the cortex. All that we sense as 'out there' is projected from our 'witness' of the recorded virtual images."
- Fred Alan Wolf, Parallel Universes


Memories are painted over our screen of perception.

"This root originally free from any admixture, origin of the illusory world in which we live is a fleeting contact with some unknowable instant of Reality, some indefinable force which the vasanas [memories] obscure at once, superimposing on it the screen on which the images which we see, are painted."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Consciousness unfolds like a computer displaying its contents on a screen. A considerable part of that display comes from the past and is confused with the self."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Our Illusory Self

Thought encloses itself in its own world.

"What then is this activity from which one ought to abstain? It is the disordered activity of the mind which, unceasingly, devotes itself to the work of a builder erecting ideas, creating an imaginary world in which it shuts itself like a chrysalis in its cocoon."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Thought forms a world of its own in which it is everything. It rectifies itself and imagines there's nothing else but what it...thinks about."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


We are the many fragments of others.

"The Secret Teachings lead the pupil further. They teach him to look, with the same serene indifference at the incessant working of his mind and the physical activity displayed by the body. He ought to succeed in understanding, in noting that nothing of all that is from him, is him. He, physically and mentally, is the multitude of others.
"This 'multitude of others' includes the material elements - the ground, one might say - which he owes to his heredity, to his atavism, then those which he has ingested, which he has inhaled from before his birth, by the help of which his body was formed, and which, assimilated by him, have become with the complex forces inherent in them, constituent parts of his being.
"On the mental plane, this 'multitude of others' includes many beings who are his contemporaries: people he consorts with, with whom he chats, whose actions he watches. Thus a continual inhibition is at work while the individual absorbs a part of the various energies given off by those with whom he is in contact, and these incongruous energies, installing themselves in that which he considers his 'I', form there a swarming throng."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The origin of chaos is in our fragmented, atomistic thought. Only when thought is not there would it be possible to perceive what is beyond thought."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


We do not exist as a soul or individual self.

"The answer to those that imagine that Buddhist salvation consists in the annihilation of the 'ego', at the death of the 'person', is that, as Buddhism denies the existence of an 'ego' or a soul, whatever be the name given to it, there cannot be any question of the annihilation of that which is held to be non-existent.
"In reality there is annihilation but it is that of false views, of ignorance, and more exactly of the belief in the existence of an 'ego' which is independent, homogeneous and permanent, a belief which deforms our understanding of the world in deforming our mental vision."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects 

"Humans come to think of the individual self as a fundamentally separate 'thing' which persists despite an immensity of changes that take place in one's life."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Beyond Thought

The void is an absence of anything we can conceive of.

"Void is understood as a state in which the elements do not produce any combination, give rise to no phenomenon, a state in which only forces, latent and non-manifest, exist. Being the sphere of complete absence of manifestation, the Void is inconceivable."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Nothingness' is not the vacuum of physics, loaded with geometry and field fluctuations; it is a nothingness devoid of structure, law or plan..."
- John Wheeler, "Frontiers of Time"


Insight is a process that bypasses thought.

"To go beyond virtue and vice, opinions and beliefs is to go beyond the mental constructions which are built up by the mind, unceasingly, and to recognize, by transcendent insight, that they are void of reality. It is also to recognize, by transcendent insight, that which has been imagined as practicing virtue, surrendering to vice, as holding opinions and elaborating theories, as traveling towards a goal and reaching the goal, is nothing but an inconsistent phantom, devoid of reality."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Insight is an intelligence beyond any of the energies that could be defined in thought. Insight directly transforms matter; it sort of by-passes thought as of little consequence."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


Consciousness continually creates the universe.

"According to the Secret Teachings the origin of things is not situated in any place or moment of past time; it is produced now, at each instant, in our minds. At every moment the subjective image which is the world, arises in our mind only to sink back and dissolve in it the moment after, like the 'waves which arise from the sea and fall back into it'.
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Not in the dim past but continuously by conscious mind is the miracle of creation wrought."
- Sir Arthur Eddington


The Great Liberation

"...The well-informed dreamer may cease taking pleasure in dreaming. He may stop imitating those dreamers who, enjoying the phantasmagoria which they watch and in which they play a part, persist in wishing to remain asleep. In truth, why do the dreamers fear awakening, why do they imagine in advance other dreams of hells and heavens which await them after death? It is because they fear that with the disappearance of the 'images seen in dreams', the illusory 'Ego' which is an integral part of them will disappear. They have not yet perceived that the real face of this chimerical 'Ego' is the face of Death. As long as the idea of this impermanent Ego lasts, this simple mass of elements which various causes have brought together and which other causes will separate, death also subsists. The Dhammapada alludes to the disappearance of this phantom from the field of our mental activity when it refers to whom 'death does not see', that is, he for whom death does not exist.
"To wake up...The Buddhas have done nothing else than this, and it is this awakening which has made them become Buddhas."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"History is the nightmare from which I am trying to awaken."
- James Joyce, Ulysses

"There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being."
- Albert Einstein

"Subtle, sparkling, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations... That is the radiance of thine own true nature."
- Bardo Thodol

On Being a Bag O' Bones

I'm not generally a morbid person, but it is healthy to reflect on our mortality. It makes us appreciate the fleeting beauty & infinite mystery of Life much more consciously.
Death & violence are glorified in our culture, but nobody really wants to examine the transience of their own existence.

I came across these meditations on the human condition, in the unlikely form of playfully-drawn cartoons.

The first comic is based on a story about the Greek philosopher, Diogenes.

 "Diogenes and the Bones" by John Porcellino

This is a more direct commentary on the eventual fate of every human being:

It's reminiscent of the skull racks of the Mayans & Aztecs, in which the heads of victims were stacked up in a gruesome display of power.

Most of historic death cults were controlled by people that we would consider to be psychopaths today. However, the fear and awe associated with The Great Beyond has been around since humans became self-aware, in both an individual & social context.

Awhile back, I saw this gallery of dignified portraits of terminally ill people, before & after their passing. As their faces begin to sink away, the bones of the face become more defined. It is obvious why the skull is such a powerful symbol in the human mind.

Guardian:

Life Before Death

 Finally, Salvador Dalí's famous photo (taken by Philippe Halsman) of a skull formed by the bodies of living women:

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

"Of all mindfulness meditations,
that on death is supreme."

I usually read on my lunch break. Right now, I've started my my 3rd read-through of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, a book that I consider essential knowledge.

I have a deep appreciation for Buddhist philosophy, but this book really goes beyond the boundaries of religion. It deeply addresses both experiencing life to the fullest and dealing with the inevitability of death. Sogyal Rinpoche writes in a way that is wise and fascinating at the same time.

Rigpa.org
Sogyal Rinpoche's Website w/ Excerpts

It is basically a explanation of the Buddhist teachings behind the Bardo Thodol, often called the "Tibetan Book of the Dead". The actual translation is "Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State," but that doesn't sound nearly as creepy.

This is not some kind of death-worshipping "goth" religion or something. Much of the material is very matter-of-fact, practical, and positive. It's 400 pages that I consider myself fortunate to be able to read and try to fully appreciate.

A New Frontier:
Magazine interview with Lama Sogyal Rinpoche

Movie Review: Marvel Infinity War

 

Last night my brother had dinner & movie night at his house. Some of my family watched the Marvel Studios epic, "Infinity War".

It has already been out for awhile, so I've already seen a lot of the hype & memes that this movie has generated. Since the "Infinity Gauntlet" was one of my favorite comic book series as a kid, this film had a lot to live up to, especially considering how critical I am when it comes to movies.

The feat Marvel pulled off is pretty amazing- having many character-based superhero movies thread together & culminate in a blockbuster that ties them all together. DC tried to rush through a similar approach, but did it in a hurried manner that had nowhere near the depth that has been developed in the Marvel Universe.

Some of the casting for the superhero roles is phenomenal: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, aka. Iron Man, might be the most perfect casting ever. Also, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Capt. America, Benedict Cumberpatch as Dr. Strange, etc. are all great choices of actors. Josh Brolin's CGI-assisted portrayal of the villain Thanos was good enough to make me forget that I was watching a motion-capture animation.

Speaking of Thanos, I think he was portrayed pretty well. My biggest complaints are superficial and more fundamental to the story. First of all, I hate the bald-headed, helmet-less Thanos. They should have saved that for the end, when he becomes a farmer or recluse or whatever, like in the comic. The armored Thanos is so much more awesome looking, I can't believe they changed his look for this movie. Especially when they had the armor in his previous cameos in the previous movies. Second of all, I didn't like how they omitted Thanos's obsession with Death, whose female manifestation is a grim reaper-like skull in a robe. The unhealthy desire Thanos had for Death and his effort to please her were the driving force for his mission to kill off 1/2 of the sentient life in the universe. The fact that this element was left out of the story is crazy to me, it defines everything about the comic book character, including the name "Thanos," from the Greek personification of death, Thanatos. You know what, there's a 3rd big criticism I have... and it's that they made the supposed "Mad Titan" into too much of a sympathetic character. He was pretty brutal in the movie at times, but he didn't have the same level of madness and aura of unhinged cosmic terror as the comic version of the character.

I think the special effects and visuals were awesome. Marvel has really developed the sense of a multiverse of worlds & locations, as well as a convincing yet amazing portrayal of the powers these beings wield. The Infinity Stones housed within Thanos gauntlet allow him to control all aspects of the universe- Reality, Time, Space, Power, Mind, and Soul. The problem I had with this plot device, even in the comic book version, is that it basically makes the user an omnipotent being who should not fall for the tricks or make the mistakes that Thanos does. It's almost impossible to write any kind of plausible scenarios for this kind of god-like power, but hey, it's just a fun fictional idea I guess. I get way too nitpicky about this stuff!

Anyway, despite my few criticisms, I think Infinity War and the entire arc of Marvel movies was done extremely well. It was a fun, exciting movie to watch, and to see all these iconic characters come together in ways that made sense and were integral to the story was impressive.

I'd definitely recommend it, especially to any superhero or comic book fans.

• The Monkey Buddha's Official Rating: 9 out of 10

Death, Grief, & Monkeys

from National Geographic

Although I usually try to focus on humorous monkey stuff, existence is unfortunately not all fun & games.

I was interested in this National Geographic photo showing our 'primitive' genetic cousins trying to silently comprehend the unknown void that is Death.

Although it is impossible to completely put into words, the phenomenon of grieving loss on some level will one day be understood to exist among all social animals. As much as the death of a member of the community is a loss of another, it is also a loss of part of one's self that identified and connected with someone else.

It is a sad scene & an reminder that we are also animals made of flesh that will cease to function one day. Beyond that, it's all a bunch of speculation.

There's an article giving some background on this incident:

The Story Behind Our Photo
of Grieving Chimps

Documenting the Horror of War

While randomly browsing the web, I came across this article by the author of Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict.

OpEdNews
"The Pictures of War
You Aren't Supposed to See"

Reading through the available excerpts definitely didn't help my natural cynicism regarding the brutal realities of human existence. Death & suffering are universal human problems that are exponentially increased through the business of War.

Afterwar:
Veterans From a World in Conflict

People are inherently neither 'good' nor 'evil', both of which are completely subjective judgments exclusive to the human mind. Therefore, I try to maintain a sense of neutrality about the countless events going on in the world. However, the scale of human suffering & death inflicted by fellow humans throughout history can be nauseating to consider. Seeing images or reading gut-wrenching accounts of the products of war - slaughtered children, raped women, & mutilated men- is unspeakably painful and terrible. Understanding that these horrors exist is necessary, though, to keep a realistic perspective about the complex world in which we live.

Warning!:
These links are graphic & f*cking horrible,
but should be seen on every nightly newscast
until people are completely sick of War

Iraq War Images Uncensored

Iraq War Casualty Pictures

Unfortunately, we must bear witness to & attempt to sublimate the worst in mankind if we are to try to embody the higher ideals that the wiser among us aspire to. Fully realizing these countless tragedies of human experience should be frightening. They make us see that life is constant suffering that can never be fully overcome. Despite this, we can take solace in the fact that people will always continue to work for positive change to alleviate even a little of that suffering.

The unthinkable atrocities committed around the world each day by people of every nation are also a startlingly clear indication that the idea of a loving paternal deity, "God the Father"/"Yahweh" (as well as evil incarnate, like a Devil) are fantasies that are like a safety blanket covering our eyes from the truth. What truth?...

The Absolute Truth is... that there is No Absolute Truth.

However, a 'relative truth' is that we have nothing to rely on- except ourselves and each other. Life in this physical realm will always be chaotic, sometimes good & sometimes bad, but ultimately 'meaning'-less in the cosmic scheme of things. I am not a total nihilist by any means, but I've come to be able to hold any number of simultaneously contradictory views in my mind.

For instance, I believe human life is an infinitely precious phenomenon that should be treasured... but life also has no abstract "purpose" other than to exist, so a human being dying is ultimately no different than an ant dying. Some people would say that these two views can't co-exist, but it is simply the way things are.

Despite all my existential bullshit, I am a very empathetic person, so the idea of war & vast human suffering deeply disturbs me. No matter how much of a jaded realist I become, the idea of barbaric violence among people will always cause profound sorrow.

Watching President Obama escalate America's offensive (either meaning of the word is appropriate) military actions has been hard for alot of people because now he, like George W. Bush, is a mass-murderer by proxy. Strong words, yeah, but it's not un-true. I voted for him & think he's dealing with alot of harsh realities. This escalation is antithetical to the beliefs of most people who supported his candidacy on the principle of reversing our aggressive militarism.

I've stated before that I, like any sane person, accept the realistic need for a military to defend the country. Many of my good friends are in the military & the actions of the individual soldier is not my issue. My concern is the overall objectives that these soldiers are dutifully following.

To the country we are occupying, every drone or bomb that takes out a village or innocent children 'by mistake' is a unnecessary murder by The President, the military, & the country as a collective. This may sound anti-American & outrageously unpatriotic... but only to an ignorant jackass with no conscious.

I am not a moral coward & I'm not afraid to look critically at my relatively tiny role either. The reason that our destructive Imperial Oil Wars conducted deceptively in the name of fighting 'terrorism' disturbs me so much is that I don't try to deny that I'm responsible, as well. A bit of my tax dollars go toward every Afghan or Iraqi civilian that is killed by our forces.

Sure, there are degrees of separation between my tax revenue & the acceptable 'collateral damage' of someone in a foreign land, but I do not accept that conceptual convenience. If I do not accept and internalize my role in the causality of inevitable needless death that I pay into, no matter how small, then I might as well be turning my eyes away while pulling the trigger myself. Some might say this is unnecessary worrying over issues way beyond my control. I say it is the ultimate expression of the social conscious that my parents raised me to cultivate & that my sense of compassion forces me to confront.

That is also why I feel compelled to express my thoughts like I am doing now.

I only wish that I could do much, much more
to make the world chill the hell out.

"DEATH" - 'Thinking Aloud', with 2 Paul Micarelli's

 *Originally posted to the Conscious Living for You blog 

 "DEATH" - 'Thinking Aloud', with 2 Paul Micarelli's

9-28-20 

Paul Micarelli & son Paul Giuseppe take a walk and talk about interesting topics. 🤔💡👶🏻 

***Please LIKE & SHARE if you'd like to see more!*** 

More info at: www.ConsciousLivingForYOU.net

 

2010 Health Care Bills- H.R.3590 & H.R. 4872

After a year of dramatic struggle and far too little factual information, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: H.R. 3590 has been signed by President Obama. The final reconciled amendment bill H.R. 4872, has been passed by The Senate & The House again, and will be signed by The Long-Legged Mack Daddy tomorrow.

Now that the bill is becoming law & the sideshows of the process are over, actual details regarding the legislation are becoming better known:

CBS News
Health Care Reform Bill Summary:
A Look At What's in the Bill

CNN
Timeline: When health care reform will affect you

Crooks & Liars
Health care reform rollout timetable

As someone who follows current events & national politics constantly, my views on the whole Health Care Reform situation are as complicated as the process itself. I'll start by saying I'm a political Independent. While I try to transcend labels & polarized thinking, like "conservative" vs. "liberal", it is an unavoidable aspect of human society to rally around political ideologies that reflect one's own Reality Tunnel.

Having said that...
Now it's time for polarizing labeling & name calling!!! Wooo-hoo!!!

When it comes to the circus surrounding Health Care, I think the obvious carnival barkers stirring up the crowd who are vehemently against it are the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the other "conservative" personalities. Most neutral observers would agree that their deliberately incendiary misinformation is mistaken for truthful patriotic passion by their listeners, whose collective mental functioning is centered in their amygdalas.

Just one year into his Presidency, anytime someone begins ranting about Obama's Tyranny of Socialism! or his love of Karl Marx or Saul Alinsky (whoever the hell that is) you can be sure the are being fed their B.S. from the Master himself, Glenn Beck. Personally, I can't watch his show for a whole segment. He is just a total turd. There are some things he touches on that deserve scrutiny, like The Fed. Top film director James Cameron was correct, though... like many extremist right-wingers he's basically an asshole, or a pompous jerk, if 'asshole' offends you. I can't understand how any self-aware person can take a man seriously who said that a multicultural, mixed-race Obama is "a racist" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people." That is somehow more astoundingly retarded than anything even Sarah Palin has ever said!!! Listening to that self-righteous doofus long enough could probably warp anyone's mind.

Speaking of the Alaskan dingbat herself, Caribou Barbie (aka Sarah Palin) has proven herself firmly in the violent right-wing reactionary camp during this 'debate'. Forgetting her ridiculous lies about "Death Panels"... recently her blatantly threatening euphemisms to 'reload' and 'target' Democrats seems to be the dividing line that separates the extreme right from the extreme left in politics.

So-called Liberals and The Left couldn't stand the walking disaster George W. Bush and understood what a horribly destructive administration he ran. The difference is the majority of negative reaction wasn't about killing him, hanging him, & acting out physically against him. Yes, people compared him to Hitler etc., but mostly there was a desire to see him and Cheney held legally or at least politically responsible for their obviously destructive agenda. Activists like MoveOn.org, Code Pink & Cindy Sheehan weren't threatening bodily harm or death toward members of the Bush Administration.

Now, alot of Republicans are stamping their feet saying this Health Care bill is treason! & criminal! & blah blah blah! There's a bit of a difference between trying to reform the Health Care system & waging unnecessary war, killing millions of innocent Afghani & Iraqi people while sacrificing our soldiers under false pretenses.

So, because regressive Republicans ran the country into the ground for 8 years & were voted out, it is now the Democrat's turn to pursue a progressive agenda for the country. Although I don't consider myself a Democrat, I personally agree with many of the Democratic initiatives- as opposed to the Republican agenda which has been tax cuts for rich people & unfunded war spending.

Of course, conservatives and the Republican party in particular will cry & scream over the coming years as Obama and the Dems try to clean up their decade-long mess. Unfortunately, this health care battle is just one of many to which Republicans seem ready to cross their arms and say "HELL NO!" like a bunch of impotent babies. The current crop of dreadfully uninspiring dolts in the GOP leadership should be enough to turn any reasonable person away.

It's okay though, because through the whole process, backing the Republican Party line, cheerleading the Tea Party, demonizing the legislation, and enabling the woefully uninformed masses has been the Fair and Balanced Most Trusted Name in News™, Fox News. However, to be 'fair & balanced' on my part, there has been a general incompetence of ALL the news media in informing the public about important issues like the health care debate. Fox News pundits just routinely cross the line into outright distortion.

Things seemed to have turned the corner for Obama because of this historic victory & now he has the wind in his sails as the Republicans scramble to be relevant in any meaningful way:

Plan A was "Kill the Bill!" which failed.
Plan B is "Sue the Federal Government!" which will also fail.
Plan C is "Win back Congress & REPEAL!" which will (of course) fail... due to a little thing called 'Presidential veto'.

The GOP must think failure on all fronts will somehow get them elected come November.

Not for the sake of the Democrats, but for the sake of the people who need it & are getting reamed by the insurance companies, I hope some of these measures start having noticeable effect on the system soon.

The funniest thing about all the buffoons screaming about 'Socialism!' & 'Communism!' is that Obama is way more conservative than his base would like him to be! Many of his supporters would have preferred to see Obama push for a truly socialist Single-Payer System. While he's at it, he should have also signed an executive order banning health insurance companies completely! This is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. As Congressman Anthony Weiner argued below, why do they even exist?



Americans are so used to their shitty way of doing things that they can't imagine a better way. I think Obama is an intelligent, competent leader who can help our country to a better way of doing things. That's why I voted for him over Grandpa McGrumpy & The Snow Queen. I don't regret my decision one bit.

Game Review: Star Wars Battlefront II

 

After a several-year hiatus, I have finally gotten back into gaming. My wife got me a PS4 for Christmas because I was always talking about how cool certain games looked. I guess she felt bad that I couldn't enjoy one of my favorite pastimes anymore.

The console came bundled with a few games, but knowing what a huge Star Wars fan I am, she also got me Star Wars: Battlefront II. It was the first game I played & I was pleasantly surprised on how good it is.

I had the "original" Battlefront II for Playstation 2 and it was awesome. I can't tell you how many dozens (maybe hundreds) of hours my brother & I probably put into that game playing each other in Versus Mode over the years.

When the next-gen Battlefront II first came out, it got a bunch of bad publicity due to the publisher, EA, including loot boxes and limited content. To their credit, they've addressed a lot of the negative complaints and improved the game greatly since its release. When I first launched the game, I downloaded the latest updates which included a lot of additional free content.

I haven't ventured into the realm of online gaming, so I stick to playing the story or arcade mode- where you can play the computer or another player with a split screen. My wife grudgingly agreed to play me when I begged her to humor me... but she then kept asking me for "One more game!" because she really got into it. We just put it on "Heroes Only" so we can play as the lightsaber-wielding characters, which is more fun than using the troopers with blasters. There's nothing quite like playing as The Emperor alongside your wife playing as Darth Vader, cutting down waves of rebels like true Sith Lords.

When playing Arcade Mode, I'll sometimes use the troopers because there are so many great variations from the Star Wars movies- Jet Troopers, Clone Commandos, classic Stormtroopers, and now even Sith Troopers from Episode 9.

The space battles, where you're flying in starships, are also pretty awesome. The flight controls are a little weird at first, but with some practice they become easier to get the hang of.

In general, the graphics and sound are amazing. It really puts you into the Star Wars universe and is visually stunning, with the iconic sounds of blasters and lightsabers adding to the authenticity. While playing the story, and sometimes even during an arcade battle, I catch myself just looking all around, impressed with the settings.

I finished the Story Mode, and the additional epilogue "Resurrection". I thought it was very enjoyable overall and thought it weaved a new narrative into the existing "Star Wars" canon very well. Unfortunately, this game had a more interesting & coherent vision than the entire "Sequel" trilogy! I kept thinking, "Wow this really feels like Star Wars, but is also fresh" - from the settings, to the integration of new & familiar characters, to the story itself. The new movies, on the other hand, were a goddamn mess story-wise, and were disappointingly limited in scope & imagination.

The Battlefront story mode takes place after "Episode 6: Return of the Jedi" immediately after the destruction of the second Death Star. It follows an Imperial Special Forces commando, Iden Versio. Iden becomes disillusioned with the Empire after the death of Emperor Palpatine triggers orders for "Operation Cinder," which even targets worlds that are home to Imperial loyalists. You follow her journey as she eventually switches sides to the Rebellion/New Republic. The great thing about the game is that you also get to play as other familiar characters, including the main heroes, Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando at different points. The great thing is that the inclusion of these characters feels like a proper extension of their stories told in the original movies, and not random or shoehorned placement to give them an appearance in the game.

Overall, Battlefront II is a great game that has excellent replay value & is guaranteed fun for any Star Wars fan.

• The Monkey Buddha's official rating: 9.0

Imagine

The message hasn't been lost... but the world can nevertheless be a real hellhole.
We could use more insanely idealistic hippies with a powerful mind & voice these days:




There's been alot of new 'Beatlemania' recently w/ the release of Beatles Rock Band & their remastered albums.

I'm usually really bad w/ dates, & time in general, but I've always remembered Dec. 8th for being Jim Morrison's birthday & the dayt John Lennon being killed. Maybe they're easy for me because it's also my brother's birthday, but the anniversary of John Lennon's death hasn't stopped affecting people around the world.

Thanks to my Dad, I've always been a fan of The Beatles & Lennon in particular. His sarcastic but creative insight made him one of my personal idols. It's a shame he couldn't live on to futher inspire the world, but such is life & death. His light shone bright while it lasted.

Book Review: "Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy" by Mircea Eliade

After months of intermittent reading, I finally finished the 500+ page comparative study of shamanic practices that was originally published in 1951.

"Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy" 

by Mircea Eliade

I first became aware of this work from listening to talks by the late, great Terence McKenna- who would reference Mircea Eliade when discussing the use of altered states of consciousness in shamanic cultures.

So, after receiving the book as a Christmas gift, I began the literary journey exploring the details of shamans and medicine men throughout history. Although I found most of the book fairly dry and mostly occupied with listing characteristics of belief systems and practices, there were parts of it especially near the end that were thought-provoking and helped open the veil of mystery behind the shamanic experience.

A shaman is a unique personality of a tribe or village, who has the unique ability to enter "ecstasy" through trance or altered mind states to contact the spirit world. This could be a hidden dimension of reality, a realm of light beings or souls, or maybe just a deep aspect of the mind. Regardless of the actual nature of the "place" to which the shaman is traveling, he or she uses this ability to transfer their presence elsewhere for the good of the community. Often, the goal is to contact or retrieve the dead, or to find information used for healing.

Many of the differences between shamans of various cultures were documented- but, to me, the similarities were much more interesting.

Often, shamans are initiated due to lineage, or because of some grave childhood illness or trauma that they emerge from recognized as having the shamanic gift. One common theme among shamans of all cultures is the idea of dying and/or being dismembered, then being reconstituted and reborn.

This shamanic process of traveling down to the serpentine labyrinths of the genetic molecules, having the self-identity annihilated, and returning with healing powers was vividly depicted by one of my favorite artists, Alex Grey, in his series below:

Journey of the Wounded Healer

There are many other characteristics that are shared across cultures and locales - the idea of passing over a narrow bridge to get to the other side that can only be traversed by the worthy, the ability to fly or become a "skywalker" (hence the name of the mystically-inclined Star Wars family), conversely the journey to the underworld or land of the dead, the experience of transforming into animals, and becoming impervious to pain or discomfort.

The shaman obtains these abilities through entering a trance or altered state by various means, including; drumming, dancing to the point of exhaustion, the use of psychedelic plants, sleep deprivation, and the use of secret language and chants.

After reading the book, I felt like one of the most important social functions the shaman performs is the de-mystification of death for the community. Death is the ultimate mystery, the state of being from which few, if any, have truly returned. The fear that faces each human being when contemplating their own mortality can be terrifying precisely because there are no answers. By claiming to travel to the spirit world or the realm of the dead, and bringing back information about it, it makes this eventual destination we all must pass through much less scary. It at least seems quantifiable and knowable in some sense, therefore lessening the fear of the unknown associated with it.

Overall, it would be hard for me to recommend this book to anyone other than those with a hardcore interest in shamanism or anthropological studies. Because of the length of the book, the amount of information present, and the specialized niche it represents, it would be daunting for the casual reader. However, I can see why it is regarded as such an important work in this area and has informed subsequent studies and research over the years.

 "Shaman's Mask" 

by Paul Micarelli