By Chance, are You a Cosmic Dancer?

[Sunstone]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

On a broader note, do you any of you good people who are so heavily politicized you only look at things through a political lens ever get tired of how narrow the view is?

Aren't all ideologies -- regardless of anything else -- a bit like looking at the world through soda straws?

What about cultures? Isn't your culture a bit like a soda straw? Isn't every culture that way?

What do you think of Nietzsche's notion that we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly" -- rather than "rest heavily" -- on any particular perspective and who dance between "perhaps a hundred perspectives" when looking at any given thing?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

 

[wizanda]

What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer?

It's Groovy!!

Life is a giant symphony with many parts, each variety of sound has many layers, and all of it makes funky patterns to dance in.

The idea there are different instruments separated from the rest, is part of the problem with religion, it mutes hearing the whole, as we become absorbed by our own part.

Some people are just snooty when it comes to different genres, as it is all just the same maths in different sequences.

If we do lock to set values, we dance like a robot, and get stuck in formulation, rather than dynamic vibration.

In my opinion.

 

[JJ50]

I have never danced in my life or ever wished to do so.

 

[Aupmanyav]

All I can say is that I am not a 'cosmic dancer', and I would not like to be one. There are two realities in the universe. 'Absolute' and 'Pragmatic'. They are called 'Paramarthika' and 'Vyavaharika' respectively, in Hinduism. We cannot take one for the other. I drink my pragmatic soda with a straw.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Good one, yes to all of that. I think what we often take for granted (and this isn't something people like to hear) is that all ideologies and cultures originated as nascent creative works. That is to say, they are the result of a stage of creative flux, a time when nothing was cast in marble, and the punch tool to chip words into stone was still hot with spark. Before or just as people were learning food ideas with olive oil, or what musical scales might work with different languages. That is the hot living edge of protoculture, when we humans were the most novel. Not now in the information age when have a billion modern analyzers and tools to quote the bible for example, but when the ink for something like a bible was not yet even dry. That's when western civilization was in a cosmic dance, when more people were trying to think of what to think than like now, when we are trying to think an awful lot about things that have already been thought....

 

[Sunstone]

They are called 'Paramarthika' and 'Vyavaharika' respectively, in Hinduism.

I have a genuine respect and admiration for "Hinduism", as it has come to be called. The profundity of thought is extraordinary. But I have noticed that remarkable culture does in fact encourage people to think well and decisively "inside the box" on issue after issue after issue. There is a "term or terms for everything" -- and one need think no further than the terms.

I sometimes wonder how many hundreds of years one would need to travel back before coming across the most recent major creative thought or insight in Hinduism. I am by no means an authority, but perhaps the Bhakti Movement? Yet that originated roughly 1500 years ago at least!

A good friend of mine -- lives here in town now, but was born and raised in Southern India -- tells me "if it's not broke, don't fix it", and "Hinduism was perfected long ago." Such an impossibly cute attitude for a well-educated person who holds a doctorate in one of the sciences! Our cultures -- east, west, everywhere -- so frequently blind even the best of us.

In my opinion, India faces at least four key challenges that it must deal with before it can rise to its natural place in this world. First, it must get off imported energy -- it's oil imports are a huge drag on its growth. Fortunately, it seems headed in that direction. It is rapidly building solar farms and electric cars are coming soon. I don't worry about India becoming energy independent.

Second, it must deal with its infamous corruption. Capital is just waiting to flow like water into India once it begins making headway against corruption.

Next, India appalls the world for its abuse and mistreatment of women. Women are in so many ways vital to an economy -- but almost every Indian woman who gets a marketable degree leaves the country within a month of her graduation -- just to keep from getting raped. India cannot compete on the world stage with one arm tied behind its back.

Last, something really must be done about Indian "in the box thinking".

Just my two cents. I'm probably wrong about it all. I'm almost always wrong about nearly everything.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

I've never been able to cut loose. I took a chakra test online about 10 years ago. It said all my chakras were closed. I'm not kidding. In life I came this close >.< to being the next Nathan Hale.

On a broader note, do you any of you good people who are so heavily politicized you only look at things through a political lens ever get tired of how narrow the view is?

Loathe political side taking and football team religion, but I get why people are into that. Its about being part of a group, in on the same scandal. Its like a moderator a little bit. We are disparate individuals who don't always agree, yet we have to show a consolidated face. There is something human and appealing about it. I imagine that for political hounds and sports fans that is a feeling that they seek. If our political disputes are any indication then most of them never tire of it.

A good friend of mine -- lives here in town now, but was born and raised in Southern India -- tells me "if it's not broke, don't fix it", and "Hinduism was perfected long ago." Such an impossibly cute attitude for a well-educated person who holds a doctorate in one of the sciences! Our cultures -- east, west, everywhere -- so frequently blind even the best of us.

There are multiple Hindu religions, and we have yet to see how they will behave out of the influence of colonial England. It hasn't been that long, yet. They also never before have had a republic or industrial machines and appliances, and that definitely will affect their religion I think. Its a whole new place and a new generation, so I don't think we can predict based on the past. Here in the states they are a minority, and so that is no indication either.

What do you think of Nietzsche's notion that we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly" -- rather than "rest heavily" -- on any particular perspective and who dance between "perhaps a hundred perspectives" when looking at any given thing?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

Mothers have babies, and that is the end of such things. Such wisdom has to be rebuilt over and over with every new life. Children like to look like they believe what we say and like to be told that they understand things and told that they are good. They don't take things to heart. The best you can do is teach them words they might remember when they do begin to seek for understanding. You can't press anything into them without squishing the life out of them.

 

[Howard Is]

Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

I took that to heart as a young man. I also took two pieces of advice from Dr John Lilly...

Keep it general purpose.
Let it run.

I love dancing, playing guitar, cooking, riding motorbikes, doing yoga, lifting weights, reading books, writing songs, building things, doing research on a dozen topics, getting crazy horny, spending time in nature, talking to animals and doing hilarious standup in my room alone after my cookie and milk.

 

[ChristineM]

I was going to answer, yes, i am a comic dancer, in fact i am hilarious. Ok, i misread the title

 

[Howard Is]

I was going to answer, yes, i am a comic dancer, in fact i am hilarious. Ok, i misread the title

I’m a cosmic danger. Don’t tell anybody.

 

[crossfire]

Yes, I'm flighty and non-commital.

One religion isn't enough for me. I actively carry around at least four religions and have even more that I'll take up as needed. I also like science. And art. And mythology. And pushing the limits of language and going past its limit. And arguing for positions I don't hold in order to challenge myself and my positions. And getting lost in a maze of philosophical thought to see if I can find my way out.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I have dated a few dancers, I don't know if they were cosmic.

 

[Fool]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

On a broader note, do you any of you good people who are so heavily politicized you only look at things through a political lens ever get tired of how narrow the view is?

Aren't all ideologies -- regardless of anything else -- a bit like looking at the world through soda straws?

What about cultures? Isn't your culture a bit like a soda straw? Isn't every culture that way?

What do you think of Nietzsche's notion that we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly" -- rather than "rest heavily" -- on any particular perspective and who dance between "perhaps a hundred perspectives" when looking at any given thing?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

ride on time. i've had the help of many a straw and a bit of music.


cernunnos is called the lord of the dance
jesus was called the lord of the dance
nataraja is the lord of the dance


isn't the dancer also the dance??? the knower the known?


quetzalcoatl dances
kukulkan dances


saquasohuh dances before the dawning of a new day


you are the bright and morning star let your light shine before men!!!!!!!!!!!!


its the selfs ability to create/destroy and to be the destroyer/creator. so are you going to dance the tandava? or the lasya?


2 Peter 1:19 NIV We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

love is mystery that shines like a light in the eyes of them that it dawns.upon


the awe of love is the beginning of wisdom.

 

[Aupmanyav]

- In my opinion, India faces at least four key challenges that it must deal with before it can rise to its natural place in this world. First, it must get off imported energy -- it's oil imports are a huge drag on its growth. Fortunately, it seems headed in that direction. It is rapidly building solar farms and electric cars are coming soon. I don't worry about India becoming energy independent.
- Second, it must deal with its infamous corruption. Capital is just waiting to flow like water into India once it begins making headway against corruption.
- Next, India appalls the world for its abuse and mistreatment of women. Women are in so many ways vital to an economy -- but almost every Indian woman who gets a marketable degree leaves the country within a month of her graduation -- just to keep from getting raped. India cannot compete on the world stage with one arm tied behind its back.
- Last, something really must be done about Indian "in the box thinking".

Just my two cents. I'm probably wrong about it all. I'm almost always wrong about nearly everything.

1. Yes, we have a big energy problem.
2. We now have the right person in chair to control corruption - Narendra Modi.
3. I do not think we have a problem there. Women, in cities and villages, are progressing in all fields. Sex crimes are a problem, but we have instituted heavy punishment for it. Hopefully people will realize that it does not pay anymore. Half of those who sent out our moon-buggy (Chandrayana-2, though we failed on the last step just 2 miles from Moon's surface) are women.
4. We are not 'box-thinkers'. We are not averse to change, but we will do it our way.

Thanks for your nice, encouraging post.

Muthayya Vanitha, Project Director. She won the best woman scientist award in the year 2006. She was the woman responsible for the entire project. The other woman is Ritu Karidhal, Mission Director, who is also known as the Rocket Woman Of India. She was also the Deputy Operations Director on India's Mars Mission. She had the same post while working for India's Moon Mission. Both the women have led a lot of satellite launches. It was the first time in the history that both the heads of the mission are women.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I've never been able to cut loose. I took a chakra test online about 10 years ago. It said all my chakras were closed. I'm not kidding. In life I came this close >.< to being the next Nathan Hale.
There are multiple Hindu religions, and we have yet to see how they will behave out of the influence of colonial England. It hasn't been that long, yet. They also never before have had a republic or industrial machines and appliances, and that definitely will affect their religion I think. Its a whole new place and a new generation, so I don't think we can predict based on the past. Here in the states they are a minority, and so that is no indication either.

Chakras are a farce and falsehood.
We had republics probably before any one else had in the world. Yeah, we have many sects and philosophies. Hinduism does not put any shackle on personal belief.
England (United Kingdom) is a small island in the Atlantic ocean and breaking up politically. Our sympathies are with them. We are the world's third largest economy and have overtaken United Kingdom by GDP (nominal). List of countries by GDP (nominal) - Wikipedia
We also have nearly thrice the Foreign Exchange Reserve than United Kingdom has (464 billion and compared to 163 billion USD). List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves (excluding gold) - Wikipedia

 

[sun rise]

looking at life through a soda straw...

we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly"

There are times when people learn best by focusing on one perspective. Aka your "soda straw". But you're right that after a while that lesson is absorbed and people become tired of it.

It's called "deadly" serious because it is deadening. So I partially agree with "step lightly". There have been endless writings, songs and dances with the "lightly" perspective.

But there needs IMO to be a focus to the dancing. Otherwise it just becomes aimless. The dance steps, as it were, change as the music changes, but the spiritual goal remains the same.

 

[atanu]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

I have a genuine respect and admiration for "Hinduism", as it has come to be called. The profundity of thought is extraordinary. But I have noticed that remarkable culture does in fact encourage people to think well and decisively "inside the box" on issue after issue after issue. There is a "term or terms for everything" -- and one need think no further than the terms.

You are partly correct, but profoundly wrong -- as always.

The point with fixity is that attention on constantly moving clouds may make you forgetful of the sun. But once the forgetfulness is overcome for good, one by default is the cosmic dancer.

...

 

[Nakosis]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

On a broader note, do you any of you good people who are so heavily politicized you only look at things through a political lens ever get tired of how narrow the view is?

Aren't all ideologies -- regardless of anything else -- a bit like looking at the world through soda straws?

What about cultures? Isn't your culture a bit like a soda straw? Isn't every culture that way?

What do you think of Nietzsche's notion that we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly" -- rather than "rest heavily" -- on any particular perspective and who dance between "perhaps a hundred perspectives" when looking at any given thing?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

 

[Vinayaka]

I'm curious. Do any of you good people who are so devout you only look at things through a religious lens ever get tired of the view? I mean, doesn't looking at everything through a religious lens get a little bit like looking at life through a soda straw after awhile?

On a broader note, do you any of you good people who are so heavily politicized you only look at things through a political lens ever get tired of how narrow the view is?

Aren't all ideologies -- regardless of anything else -- a bit like looking at the world through soda straws?

What about cultures? Isn't your culture a bit like a soda straw? Isn't every culture that way?

What do you think of Nietzsche's notion that we should become "cosmic dancers" who only "step lightly" -- rather than "rest heavily" -- on any particular perspective and who dance between "perhaps a hundred perspectives" when looking at any given thing?

Does that make any sense to you? Would that be too many soda straws for you? Would it be too much work? Would it seem unnecessary? What would be the strength and weaknesses of being a cosmic dancer? Your thoughts, please.

I worship a cosmic dancer, some would say THE cosmic dancer.

As far as being one as you describe, no, I'm not. The key to me is that I did decide for myself, more or less, rather than being 'stuck', and I would move on in a heartbeat.

Your comments on India were about India, not so much Hinduism. It's quite the place, full of irony and contrast. Very difficult to make huge generalisations at all.

This is what generally happens when Hindus and Muslims cross paths. Not uour typical western press view.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Would that be too many soda straws for you?

Nah. Many are cracked and easily and quickly discarded. Many are of no real use. Many are interesting but limited overall, leaving us with just a few that can actually help us learn about the world.