• • • google suggested • • •
WORD SALAD: Australian Music Producer and Founder of Merkaba Music, Kalya (Ka –lee- yah) Scintilla ( Sin–till –ah) has always had a love for music; playing in garage bands, banging on drum kits, spinning vinyl in the night clubs of Sydney and getting down to funk! Kalya had a knowing one night listening to one of the most profound pieces of visionary music from the legendary Herbie Hancock, that his soul’s mission was to make music his life’s devotion.
• • • some of the things I read in antisocial isolation • • •
Kharkhorin, Mongolia: Erdene Zuu
The oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia has survived centuries of invasions, political shifts, and religious purges.
Temple at Erdene Zuu in winter. Embiggenable. Explore at home.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ERDENE ZUU dates at least to 1585, and some posit it goes back much further, as far as the 8th century. It is the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. The name translated means “100 Treasures,” a nod to the number of original temples and the chain of stupas (mounded reliquaries) that form the exterior walls of the sacred site. Tangled in its legacy, there are the scars of centuries of fighting across those sacred walls.
The history of Erdene Zuu is a mix of invasions, religious purges, political shifts, and outright murder. Damaged and dismantled in 1688 during a conflict between Dzungars (a confederation of Mongolian tribes) and Khalkha Mongols (historically ruled by the Khans), what remained of the monastery was reassembled in the 18th century.
Again, in 1939, the order suffered a blow at the hands of Khorloogiin Choibalsan, the Communist leader of Mongolia, who ordered the destruction of scores of temples and the slaughter of thousands of monks throughout the country. All that remained of Erdene Zuu were three temples and a small order, with nearly one hundred structures destroyed and an estimated one thousand members either murdered or imprisoned.
It was either sheer luck or the twisted wisdom of Stalin that saved the site from total destruction, kept as a token of “religious tolerance” to be put on display for international visitors, including U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace during a trip in the late 1940s. Intervention by the Soviet leader convinced the Mongolian regime to spare the monastery, a move motivated less by goodwill than by political pretense. …
I miss coherence.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) July 21, 2020
Is this really what I want? How lockdown made us question every life choice
These strange months have made everyone realise that this isn’t a rehearsal. Now we face difficult decisions about what to do next.
All change … medicine, yoga and law are now attractive career choices.
Recently, the historian Jessica Otis wrote in this paper about how the plague of the mid-1600s led to behaviour among the populace that closely mirrored our own reactions to coronavirus. There were those who scoffed at the risk, those who had to go out to work anyway just to survive and those who felt vulnerable and practised extreme caution. Then there was a privileged contingent that upped and went to their country estates at the first whiff of rotting sea-rat.
Of course, taking a trip to the countryside out of mortal necessity isn’t the same as a mini-break, but the effect can sometimes be the same. You notice nature, you notice peace, you notice the air smells sweeter and you start to ask yourself a few questions.
For the very lucky few, lockdown has been an extended retreat – combined with a very long sequel to The Stepford Wives. Artists have always been good at this: hunkering in the bunker, and using the unstructured time to feel what comes next. But many other people are now also asking where they are in their lives and how they got here.
Coronavirus hasn’t brought out anything that wasn’t already there. Instead it has accelerated and clarified what was going to come up anyway, and the usual white noise of daily life isn’t there to blot it out. All but the very young are looking back on hopes foregone and choices made as lockdown keeps us in place and imposes a deep perspective on things. …
Ed. More tomorrow? Possibly. Probably. Maybe. Likely, if I find nothing more barely uninteresting at all to do.
If you could ask Me one question, what would it be?
Keep in mind, I won't be answering it.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) July 19, 2020
In your fantasies, how does it happen?
Reply below. Use your pronouns.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) July 6, 2020
