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Thursday, September 29, 2011

??? !!!

We can look at the history of the development of many different disciplines of intellectual engagement and theorization. We may see how much these developments are simultaneously meanderings and innovations of, as well as increasingly sophisticated ways that Consciousness gets to know itself.

Just as alchemy preceded but paved the way for chemistry, astrology preceded but paved the way for astronomy, early Vedantic religion preceded but paved the way for Buddhism, feminism for queer theory, and so on and so forth… Just so it is that all of these practical-, belief-, and theoretical- systems themselves become precedents for future elaborations… These are ever more holistic ways of or attempts at describing and measuring our universe and the marvelousness of all of Creation, revelry in the multiplicity of meaning-making systems, but at the same time with seemingly progressive surgical precision.

How does consciousness do this in this way that this is done? Why?

Even questions like “How” and “Why” fly as tepid mistakes in the mysterious, unanswerable and unquestionable mystery that is Consciousness.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Erotic This

This:
The erotic politics of just remaining discernibly present to what presents itself as true and viable and real and possible in each moment that arises... Right before it falls away, back into that primordial void from which it came, and some familiar something emerges in its place (that is, every successive moment, moment and another moment and yet another still…)

This:
This is the beginning of something erotic, my fingers tap tap typing on a keyboard with an agenda: To explore the erotic with abandon, like clothes flung off of a body too weighted by civilisation’s distinctions of top halves and bottom halves, sleeves and sandals, broaches and belts. All the ways our bodies are subdivided become moot when these articles of consensual bondage are tentatively undone. We embrace one another to start toying with uncivilised meaning. Up becomes down, face to crotch, the impropriety of tongue to cock, fingers to cunt, arse to mouth, the eyes that gaze much longer on any given mound of flesh, or that remain shut so that the sounds we typically mold into words escape unformed from some wellspring of vibrations much deeper than our throats… somewhere guttural, gluttonous, gargantuan graceland of moans and yelps and squeals and sighs and we are mammals once again, Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You for this Marvellous regression.

This:
That this is no regression… No… A prior vision has already structured and enabled this encounter in this incarnation (in words, electronic format, birthed from my fantasy): That we have already conditioned our environs with candles and fresh sheets and calm music (or heavy metal) and latex condoms and lube and drawn curtains and duly forewarned housemates and phones put on silent. This is the earth from which we have planted the seeds of two or more lovers whose time have come to sprout their shoots, dip deep their roots, and bear fruit in carnal convalescence. Lovemaking is the limbic pushed through and emerging, just as whole, but now wings to soar through the frontal cortices of our visionary ill-logic…

This:
The time after with which to reflect with one another on what has just occurred, through giggles and laughter and joy or in sobs or cries or sorrow, or perhaps just a blissful silence through touch... Or in dreams through slumber... (dreams of a dream that has just played itself out). This is the rapturous After, the Real tomorrow. We are grateful that we are alive to witness the gracious gift that we have been bestowed, the gift of this celebration of our bodies in song… Our only mission, should we accept it, is to ensure that the bed gets made, and honour that we remember one another’s names…

Efficiency! Now!

Great post by Adam Frank, "Beyond The Punch-Clock Life: The Tyranny Of Modern Time II" about our conception of time, and why we should change it.

The value of efficiency we learned as children drives the expectation that we can "time-manage" our way out of impossibly overbooked schedules. The myth of multitasking has only compounded this dilemma, taking efficiency to new imaginary limits where we can somehow duplicate ourselves and get twice as much done.

The truth is that we have limits.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Weltschmerz and Compassion

Both forgiveness and compassion arise spontaneously with the opening of the heart. Somehow, in feeling our own pain and sorrow, our own ocean of tears, we come to know that ours is a shared pain and that the mystery and beauty and pain of life cannot be separated. This universal pain, too, is part of our connection with one another, and in the face of it we cannot withhold our love any longer.

Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart, p 47.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Integral Theory & Pornography

In my previous post on Abstinence from Porn, I attempted to delineate a 'middle way' between two philosophical extremes, between being 'Anti-Porn' and 'Pro-porn.'

I wrote about abstinence from porn as an opportunity to gain mindful perspective on the nature of sexual desire. And how it manifests itself differently in simulacral form (online internet porn) as compared to the textures of interpersonal, tactile Relationship (being sexual/sensual with others, embodied, and in person).

In this post, I am going to try and speak more about porn from an integral perspective.


AQAL and Porn



According to Ken Wilber's AQAL model, all given phenomena can be apprehended from at least four different perspectives from four 'quadrants,' as shown in the image above.

The top row is about the Individual
The bottom row is about the Collective
The left hand side refers to Interiors
and the right hand side refers to Exteriors

To put them into quadrants, we thus have:
an Upper Left (UL) "Individual Interior"
an Upper Right (UR) "Individual Exterior"
a Lower Left (LL) "Collective Interior"
and a Lower Right (LR) "Collective Exterior"

Let's use porn as an example.

Porn would have a UL, Individual Interior manifestation, these comprise our interior, subjective responses:
e.g. the experience of titilation, yearning, horniness, intentionality, freedom, or disgust, aversion, apathy, boredom, compulsion, guilt, etc.

It manifests in the UR, Individual Exterior, as in its measureable effects on our individual, objectifiable physical body and behavioural change: e.g. bloodflow to genital region, neurotransmissions in our limbic brain, increased heart rate, etc., as well as masturbation, etc.

Porn has LL, Collective Interior or CULTURAL aspects... The "who and what" that is represented, as conditioned by certain cultural expectations of propriety and impropriety, the specific 'fetishisms' that arise, the meaning of certain bodytypes, acts, humiliations, triumphs, cultural tropes that are explored or undermined in the narratives of pornography given diverse cultural contexts etc... For example, Japanese porn and German porn are different not just because of different body/phenotypes, but also because of how these physical types are racialised by consumers both within and outside of their cultural boundaries, for both intended and unintended consumers...

Its LR, Collective Exterior aspects have to do with the measureable, material conditions and its effects on collectives/populations
e.g. How porn is produced and distributed? What is the medium of its expression (print? online video?)? What are the physical sites of its consumption (e.g. in a bedroom? in a cinema?)? What are the political systems are in place that condition its production, distribution, and consumption, and what are the aggregated effects it has on people on a population-wide level (e.g. epidemiological data of correlations between porn use and certain sexual health outcomes), etc...

Any given phenomenon (in this case, porn), exists in the way that it does in ALL FOUR QUADRANTS (there is no phenomenon that ABSENTS its manifestation in any single quadrant).

The study of porn, from an integral perspective, therefore requires the careful consideration of the methodologies for studying the contents of each quadrant.


Considering my Previous post on Abstinence from Porn

In my previous post, I explored the UL by studying the subjective states that arose in me from my consumption of or abstinence from porn throughout the narrative of my personal experiences. I also included the study of some subjective reports from others who had themselves used porn, or who had explored their sexuality with partners who had used porn.

The UR perspective I gave through an amateur elucidation of the material workings of the mind-body in its exposure to pornographic material. Here, I have found Marnia Robinson's blog, Cupid's Poisoned Arrow especially helpful. She talks about the neurochemical differences between pornographic sexual stimulation and interpersonal touch, and how habituation to porn can be argued on the basis of noting brain changes through habitual porn use.

I then briefly mentioned Robinson's failings. She does not adequately address her own biases from a LL and LR perspective. My criticism is of her heteronormative assumptions, and her privileging of monogamy as the ideal social arrangement, through biological determinism: that is to say, through a REDUCTION of the phenomenon of porn/sexual stimulation to its measureable UR manifestations in the brain.

In my last post, I noted how critiques of porn centre around the depiction of women and people of colour (which is a LL analysis using cultural theories: feminist/queer/anti-racist/postcolonial theories), as well as around who owns the means of production (which is both a LL socio- and LR economic analysis). I also surmised that there are liberatory uses of porn in this way as well, in terms of reclaiming porn through a radical emancipatory lens.

My own attempt in finding a 'middle way' here was around integrating the wisdom and perspectives of the LL (feminist, queer) and LR (materialist/Marxist) with those of the UL (phenomenology, personal experience) and UR (neuroscientific understandings)...


And then what?

By integrating these various perspectives in my project to apprehend Porn-As-Phenomenon, I believe I have grown in my own understanding of pornography. I see the limitations of the strictly UL perspective (i.e. ONLY personal experience of porn, which doesn't situate personal experience in a framework of socio-cultural-biological relations), the limitations of Robinson's UR commentaries (which rely on unsophisticated LL assumptions around the primacy of monogamy, heterosexual male experience, etc.) and the limitations of the LL 'culture war' debates.

Neither pro-porn nor anti-porn advocates adequately address the more morally-neutral neurochemical implications of habituation. According to Robinson's commentary, pro-porn proponents do not adequately consider the addictive and escalating potential of porn use, even if it begins innocuously... And of course, anti-porn advocates who shame others into quitting porn for moral reasons themselves inadvertently HEIGHTEN the addictive quality of porn (because that which is forbidden elicits a greater 'hit' of dopamine rush, which is implicated in experiences of addiction).

In other words, while Robinson's UR reductionism could use some LL deconstruction, the LL perspectives that I delineated as strawmen in my last article could also use the wisdom of the UR (made possible because of advances in neuroscience) and the LR (made possible because of emerging epidemiological/social research data, for example, on the correlation of endemic porn use with erectile (dys)function).


That said, I would like to address some of my own assumptions in my critique of porn use, and in my personal decision to opt for abstinence... and I will raise some further questions for pondering.

1. That Authenticity is important in sexual experience
and that porn is 'less authentic' than relating to another person in person. What IS authenticity? What are measures of authenticity? To be informed by neurochemical affect (UL & UR) is one thing, but to assume that 'authenticity,' however it is arbitrarily defined, is impossible through porn... That was a bit of a philosophical leap. I also did not consider the specific sorts of intimacies that could hypothetically be enabled by using porn with a partner.

2. That the Interpersonal is more central to sexuality than Solo sexuality
What role does the Other play in my experience of authentic sexual experience? Are there hierarchies of contact with the Other? Who draws these lines where? Why do I privilege certain sorts of contact with Others as compared to another (sort of contact)?

There are all sorts of sexual relationships one can have with others...
There could be an Orgy / Group Sex encounter
A one-on-one sexual encounter with One other
The contact with the Other through porn (which involved real people in its production)
The contact with the Other through fantasy while masturbating solo
The complete non-contact with the Other through masturbating solo and intentionally focusing on one's own body.

Perhaps Porn is LITERALLY a middle-way between certain extremes?

Still, I would argue that mindful masturbation (remaining present with the sensations of my own body) is more emancipatory, from a strictly meditative component, as compared EITHER to mindless pornographic consumption OR mindless sex with others. This likely will require a future post for elaboration...

3. That the 'producers' of porn are the empowered, owning classes
I have a slightly different perspective on this now, based on an amazing conversation I had yesterday with a group of folks on this piece on Integral Sexology by Ray Harris... Factoring a more traditional, Marxist, class-critique of porn in a late-capitalist world... We can consider how sexual experience has historically required that all of us identify with Labour. We work to have sex. We court, we date, we buy dinner, we flirt, we dance; We have to increase our skills in these ways in order to reach orgasmic satisfaction in interaction with Others.

However, now, the ubiquity of porn means that consumers of porn no longer require the Marxist revolution, i.e. identifying with Labour and empowering ourselves by taking control of the means of production, such as the people depicted in porn simultaneously owning the cameras, and the channels of distribution if any at all...

Instead, we now identify with the owning classes: That we are ENTITLED to others' sexual Labour, that we need only click a mouse or a button with high speed internet access in order to be titillated... We require no introspection, no wresting of control of the 'means of production,' etc. etc.

Far from being the Enemy, producers of porn are simply pawns... They are rewarded by consumers, who pit the Labour of the producers AGAINST the Labour of the actors...

My previous proposed solution was from the perspective of the 'owning class' of the Consumer of porn. That is: To abstain from consumption altogether.

But another potential solution (or attempt at redress) can be in the form of identifying with sexual Labour, and to then work more closely with Producers and Actors of porn, indeed, perhaps even dissolving that distinction altogether. To be producer, actor, AND consumer of porn that I co-create with a community of folks who are similarly committed to emancipation and de-habituation (from compulsive patterns of consumption) as well as to Love.

Indeed, while this may look nothing like porn as we know it, it would be helpful not to toss porn out of the window... Far more dangerous and liberating to completely demystify it, and feel THAT freedom. The only way out as Through...

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Pro basketball player changes name to Metta World Peace

Basketball

"Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world," World Peace said in a statement released after the hearing [to change his name].

Link to AP article: Artest's name change to Metta World Peace approved

Friday, September 16, 2011

Podcasts

Radio

Here's what I'm listening to these days:

On Being
Krista Tippett interviews various people about being. Previously "Speaking of Faith." Sometimes a little too middle-of-the-road for me, but I do appreciate the interfaith nature of it.

Counterspin
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)'s podcast. A cutting, often snarky take on the week's mainstream media junk reporting. Also features one or two substantive interviews on important issues that the mainstream news misreports or fails to report on.

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
Kind of a mixed bag. They showcase different programs each week. My favorite is The News Quiz, featuring dryly hilarious Danish lesbian host Sandy Toksvig. The past month, however, has been this awfully dull interview show, Chain Reaction.

Get-Fit Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Slim Down and Shape Up
What can I say, I'm still questing after the body perfectible. One day I will take seriously in my own life Judith Butler's question, "what can a body do?"

On The Media
Another snarky media analysis program. Less progressive than Counterspin, but often funnier. I think they also have a bigger budget, so can do longer features on special subjects, and sometimes do theme shows on trends in the media. They also have a broader conception of "media," including reporting on social media and not-strictly-news internet media, like blogs.

The Moth Podcast
Live storytelling show. Generally high caliber stories, but of course they have different people each time. I've heard some pretty moving and funny stuff, but once in a while there's some sentimental pablum.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
Comedy News show based in Chicago, with a rotating panel of guest journalists and comedians. My favorite regular personalities are Paula Poundstone and Mo Rocca. One time they had Maz Jobrani (who did the Axis of Evil comedy tour) on, which was great.

Latino USA
News magazine program on issues of relevance to Latinos. I really appreciate their coverage of immigration issues, though sometimes I get too emotional and I have to stop listening.

Snap Judgment
Another storytelling podcast, hosted by Glynn Washington, based in Oakland. I really like the show, but sometimes I find Glynn's hosting personality gets in the way. He does it in this conspiratorial whisper that is a bit over the top. Great featuring of stories from people of color and Bay Area folks.

Philosophy Bites
A connection to my undergrad. I love geeking out on discussions of consequentialism, especially.

Selected Shorts
I don't listen to this all that often, but it's good for airplane rides, when I have a long hour without interruption or other distractions. Famous and famous-ish people (usually actors or authors) reading great short stories, often (or always?) to a live audience, which adds something special.

To The Best of Our Knowledge
Magazine program featuring authors and other thinkers on a variety of subjects. Each week they have a theme. One recurring subject is the intersection of science and faith, I think because one of their big sponsors is the Templeton foundation. Pretty middle of the road, politically, which means in America it's kind of left-y.

RISK!
Another storytelling podcast - more sexual and dirty than either the Moth or Snap Judgment. They get some big names on sometimes, I think maybe because host Kevin Allison was pretty famous as a comedian, and gets comedian pals to come on sometimes. His hosting does get in the way, and he usually tells a story or two. I like that he is super openly gay and talks about that in his stories. I do NOT like when he talks about his Asian guy fetish - I think it's pretty much straight up racist and alienating. Still, some good LGB representation in the storytellers, which I appreciate.

The Sporkful
This is a new one for me. An irreverent take on food. So far I'm enjoying it, mainly because the hosts don't feel the need to gush about food they enjoy. How many ways, seriously, can a radio host find to say "this tastes good"?

Studio 360
Arts magazine show. The host, Kurt Anderson, is spiky, quirky and amusing. I like his interview style. They feature some good musicians, too. Pretty accessible and fun take on the art world. Shows generally do not have a theme, but have a feature story. They did a great series of shows on American Icons, where each show had a certain theme. My favorite was the entire show on "I Love Lucy."

Stuff You Should Know
Ridiculously addictive random science (and other trivia) podcast, featuring co-hosts Chuck and Josh, with Josh being the kidder and Chuck sort of playing the straight man (though he sometimes does voices, which amuses Josh to no end). Really what I enjoy about the show is their dynamic - it's two male best friends just hanging out. It kind of reminds me of hanging out with my college roommate Evan. If one gets a voyeuristic thrill from witnessing friendship, this show is the one to listen to. Also, I have a crush on Josh's voice.

This American Life
Ira Glass is sort of the Lady Gaga of the NPR aging hipster set. Apparently I am in this set, because for me, this show reaches heights of magnificence other radio shows can only dream of. They broadcast every Sunday, and the podcast comes out soon after. I listen religiously. Many of their episodes have made me cry. I used to listen to this show on my bike ride to my therapist, and I realized I would then just spend half my session talking about the show and how it made me feel.

A Way With Words
A show about language, mainly English. The hosts are lovely, though kind of corny. They have a regular segment with a Quiz guy or "Quizzicist," when they play word games, which is quite enjoyable. I do love finding out trivia about this weird thing we call the English language.

Radiolab
Kind of a nerdier, science-ier This American Life. I wish they had longer seasons - they seem to only do a handful of shows per season, on a certain theme. The co-hosts, Jad and Robert, have a great dynamic going on. They also do some really great things with music and voice, transmuting one into the other in virtuosic feats of technoradio wizardry.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

On Potential

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson

Thursday, September 8, 2011

On Trusting Yourself

"What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Fighting Back, and Compromise



"In Hell (with Jean-Claude van Damme), a bleak story set in a corrupt post-Soviet Russian prison, contains a surprisingly accurate Christological moment. Van Damme plays an American working in Moscow who, sentenced to prison long-term for killing the murderer of his wife, has to fight brutal to-the-death duels with other prisoners to satisfy the guard who put high bets on the fights. Unable to finish off his beaten opponent, van Damme refuses to fight and is cruelly punished, chained to a high mast where he hangs for days without food and water, until he will once again agree to fight. One of the prisoners, observing from the cell window, complains to his mates: "Why does he refuse to fight? He will not only lose and die, but also bring trouble to all of us!" A wise colleague replies: "No! Can't you see he is not fighting for all of us!" And he is of course right: van Damme's refusal to fight is in itself a more dangerous fight to change the whole life of the prison, so that prisoners will no longer be forced to stage cruel combats for the obscene amusement of their jailers. This is a paradigmatic case of Jesus' line from Matthew [Matthew 5: 38-40]: "Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also." Sometimes, a refusal to fight amounts to a much more violent gesture of refusing the entire field that has determined the conditions of the fight; likewise, sometimes, directly striking back is the surest sign of compromise."

- Slavoj Zizek, from "Living in the End Times" pp 126-127