J. Krishnamurti
....just biked home in the dark from seeing Religulous, in which Bill Maher rips on Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, Scientology, and belief in general in an incredibly offensive and utterly unrelenting fashion—I fucking loooved it—to find that my new neighbors are seriously smoking up some very pungent ganja to the point that I can’t help smelling it...in my apartment, not just the hallway—again—which, I can report, brings on some nostalgic feelings...put on some Hendrix...but no particular desire to go and join them...seriously, the last time I smoked I thought, man, I’d rather be doing yoga...but, no, in case you’re wondering, the word hypocrite perhaps, quite understandably, blooming on your lips, I wouldn’t have minded if the movie ripped on yoga, too...hell, if you’ve read this blog at all, you know I do it all the time...was kinda disappointed, in fact, that the movie left the whole Eastern spiritual spectrum alone...and I say that with a big namasmotherfuckingte to everyone...and the view, held at least momentarily, that all of our beliefs and practices are pretty ridiculous when you think about it...or, at least, when I think about it...not bad, necessarily, or good, necessarily, just ridiculous...and if we could realize that we might have a whole hell of a lot less to kill each other for...or, maybe not, as that would be a far too logical conclusion for such a ridiculous species as we....and they also threw this in my face:
they said
uh anyway
you know good and well
it would be beyond the will of God....
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
20 comments:
Hey Dr Jay,
That movie sounds right up my alley... Hope we get it down here some time.
I suspected as much (about the film, not the neighbors. *L*) I don't tend to "go out" to movies anymore, but I'll definitely put this on my satellite "to do" list. I'd already wanted to see it, actually (although my husband--the agnostic--doesn't.)
I still have to go see this movie. I have seen the previews and my fear was that a movie like this would be too mean spirited to be funny, but I am glad to see it gets your endorsement.
It would be nice if more people realized that religion should be something to laugh over and not to kill over. I'm sure that is the way God would want it.
religulious is on my agenda. in the meantime, impressed that Maher got an interview with the hot-Jesus from the bible theme-park... and jealous.
and... once again appreciate your willingness to call out the eastern spirituality/yoga crowd. no stone must be left unturned, or some such...
yeah, kind of:)) I'll watch the movie, I read some more about it on the net, it sounds interesting...
Love Bill Maher and I bet he had a field day with this subject. Gotta see it!
I haven't been out to a movie in a very long time but when this one comes to my area I want to see it. I'm so fed up by the cross clingers posting to the BC forum that I'm coming close to forgetting that I'm a pacifist.
maher's a funny guy and i enjoyed the movie a lot.
the only complaint i had was the one thing that i agreed with the reviewers about: all the irritating stock footage inserts and the occasional heavy-handed sound effects.
and that "origins of the jesus myth" section blew me away. even if the movie had sucked, it would've been worth seeing for that alone.
I've been wanting to see that, although who knows when it will drift our way out West.
In the meantime, a Tom Stoppard quote (from Jumpers):
“If God exists, he certainly existed before religion. He is a philosopher’s God, logically inferred from self-evident premises. That he should have been taken up by a glorified supporters’ club is only a matter of psychological interest.”
That said, I oscillate from atheism to agnosticism and back again so what do I know.
Why not...I can see that movie, but, I have not see that they have it here in Sweden...so I will see mama mia instead...(ABBA)...:)
I've been gone for a while and I come back to find you in top 'Jay form'. Namaste to you. I won't say the bad word part of that greeting because I have a standing promise not to (Long story) but I digress... you've made me laugh. I'll watch Religious even though Maher is not my cup of tea only on the basis of you liking it.
Your take on religion? Ditto. This from a born Catholic who studied and seriously considered Judaism but in the end converted to Islam even though she is really an agnostic at heart.
I'm with AnthroYogini - sounds awesome and I hope it makes it to one or the other of our independent cinemas. Definitely doesn't sound mainstream!
I don't think having beliefs is ridiculous. But I do think that thinking your beliefs are somehow better or 'more right' than someone else's is dangerous territory. Even if you're not planning on becoming a suicide bomber to prove your point!
That sort of attitude still leads to a very limited view of life.
The woman who gave me a lift the other day - as per one of my recent blogs - was actually a pretty hard core Christian. But she was cool and I told her I wasn't a Christian but definitely connected to some form of "God-energy". And I liked spending time in her car very much because she wasn't into the whole preach and convert thing.
Just how it should be. Do your own thing. If someone wants to join you - awesome. If not - awesome!
Namaste my friendly cynic.
I've always liked Bill and I think he's made terms like atheist and agnostic far more accepted, understood and normalized and I have a great appreciation and respect for that. I look forward to watching the movie-but I'm very cheap and likely will wait the year it'll take to see it on HBO.
This is one of the movies on my list to see..another one being "W". I've listened and watched Bill for all these years now. At least he is honest and not afraid to speak his mind. Maybe from this movie and his questioning "searching for why the way we are" he might find a spiritual path along the way!
I was born and raised into a radical fundamental baptist religion...hell, fire and damnation, the whole deal..it wasn't much fun at all and in my opinion very "evil" spiritual wise. Coming from that background I went from one extreme to the other, not believing in a "God" of any kind in my young adult years. As time went on I slowly found my path to some sense of a spirituality I am unable to really explain..just interesting "intuitive" type things have happened to me that have affected me..in the sense that I feel a higher power or "spirit" that is more highly evolved than ourselves..or maybe it is a part of ourselves that we might finally come into contact with and "feel" if we go within enough to search for it without any expectations. If that makes any sense. I do believe in Guardian angels for good reason from my life experiences.
However I do understand your point as we have been basically fighting over religion and who's right and who's wrong for eons now. It brings about a lot of anger, evil and people here in our own country shouting out "terrorist, kill him, he's an arab" type fear mongering that is more scary to me than whats going on, on the other side of the world in the mid-east.
We need to look within ourselves more here in this country and try to heal our prejudices, anger and "fear" for it sure does stir up a lot of "I'm right and your wrong so I'm going to get you" crap! Maybe some would be happier to divide and split up our country into all their little religions so everyone can think just like them where they live. Sigh..how sad. Yep, I think it sure is time for a "change" and I still have hope it will happen. I prefer purple over seperating states into blue and red..enough of that divided color crap..in more ways than one!
don't go smoking those joints again!..:o)
Blessings,
Rhi
Tired of progressives "ripping" on us... we need HELP fighting the fundies and traddies in our midst, we don't need to be written off at a time like this. Must be nice to be so far above the masses that you can make fun of their quaint little habits. (referring to Maher, not you)
Speaking of ganja, Bill is on the advisory board of NORML, which I assume means some of the money he makes from this movie will go to them and like his fellow advisory board member, Willie Nelson, is a regular and substantial donor. For that reason alone, I won't say anything more about him here, and haven't taken him down on my blog.
But truthfully? I can't tell the extreme atheists (like Maher) and diehard fundies apart without a scorecard. They all think they are superior to people who don't see the world as they do.
Hey Dr Jay,
Your font is actually a nice How-Green-is-my-Valley green. My old MistyLook font was undeniably dried, snot green. Not even as nice as Olive Drab. Not even!
You know who ...
How Could Maher Resist? People make it so easy. Believers and as noted prior, extreme Atheists hand in hand, bitter elitists to the end. Why do I have to put up with either. When both seem totally contented to burn one another, and everyone else outside their narrow view of the world at the stake, or commit them to the loonie bin.
Love Maher to a point.. He makes a living after all, on sarcasm. Its always funny when that particular weapon is aimed at someone you dont like.
And as mentioned previously, now is not the time to alienate progressive mainstream religious people. We need them to win the battle being waged upon the rest of us by the Religious Reich.
Thanks for your review. I'm planning on seeing the movie when it goes to Redbox or the like.
I can't wait to see this. It's definitely on my asap list. BTW, I love your quote, "the kind of doctor who, in case of emergency, can explain Faulkner while you die." That's hilarious and having been a critical care nurse for the past fifteen years let me tell ya, I'd much rather have the kind of doc you explain yourself to be around at my celestial transitioning moment. Much rather.
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