Category Archives: READING MATTER

Books I read & recommend

DYING TO ENTERTAIN

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Why is it that killing, mayhem, destruction, murder, blood & guts, war and death in general are called “entertainment”?  It’s not just on television.  Dying horribly has featured as the prominent theme in books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies and every kind of “entertainment” ever conceived.  A couple thousand years ago we used to go to arenas all over the Roman Empire to watch people slaughter each other and innocent animals by the thousands!  Bloody “sports” like boxing, wrestling, sword fighting, and jousting have been  popular for thousands of years.  More people have been slaughtered on battlefields all over the world throughout human history than by any other cause (except disease and old age).

Why are homo sapiens are utterly fascinated by, and relish violent, dramatic death?  Why is death entertaining?

My guess is because we don’t really die.  We just keep on coming back and doing it all again.  What we really love about death is the drama, the mystery and the pain of playing a game.

— Lawrence R. Spencer, 2012

CLOTHES OF THE SOUL

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The BHAGAVAD GITA is an ancient Sanskrit text comprising 700 verses of the Mahabharata. The verses, using the range and style of Sanskrit meter (chandas) with similes and metaphors, are very poetic; hence the title, which translates to “the Song of the Divine One”, of Bhagavan in the form of Krishna. It is revered as sacred by the majority of Hindu traditions, and especially so by followers of Krishna. In general speech it is commonly referred to as The Gita. The content of the Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just prior to the start of a climactic war. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a famous warrior and Prince and elaborates on number of different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy.

PHOTOGRAPH:  taken during the 1930s in the workshop of Madame Tussauds  wax museum in London.  The museum was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud (1761–1850) who was born in Strasbourg, France.  Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.  Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777.