Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
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Part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction - this is new material that Rob hasn’t taught before, exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better. the tour. the community. the videos. the books: velvet elvis & sex God.
the book the products the exhibition the video the praise the criticism
disclaimer: the following passages may need to be read several times to understand the intent, enjoy the carefully crafted personification, and relish in the meaning… sometimes, words are truly beautiful. sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. it happens to nearly everyone. you can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. it is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. the skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. its beginning has the pleasure of a great-stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the...
Read Moreliving buildings operate not as a machine, but a flower. they are not driven by invented, by man, but inspired by nature. they are unique and rooted in place, drawing resources from the immediate land they inhabit. they receive most of their energy from the sun and water from the sky. living buildings do not only support themselves, but those within their walls. architecturally, this is accomplished by simply following the example nature has already set for us. adapting buildings specifically to the site they sit upon will make buildings sensitive to the immediate climate, i.e. winds, sun, rain, etc....
Read Morein a pluralistic world, a religion is valued based on the benefits it brings to its non-adherents. [111] to call the ch.n ch. ‘holy’ is to say something about its purpose, not its behavior at any given moment. the word ch. means those called out. holy means devoted to a sacred purpose. thus, the ch. is a community of people called out from the profane rush and secular hassle of life to be devoted to a sacred purpose. [222] what if we were to redefine protestant as pro-testifying, pro meaning ‘for’ and testify meaning ‘telling our story’? what if protestants switched their...
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if i seem to show too little respect for your opinions or thought, be assured i have equal doubts about my own, and i don’t mind if you think i’m wrong. i’m sure i am wrong about many things, although i’m not sure exactly which things i’m wrong about. i’m even sure i’m wrong about what i think i’m right about in at least some cases. so whenever you think i’m wrong, you could be right. if, in the process of determining that i’m wrong, you are stimulated to think more deeply and broadly, i hope i will have somehow...
Read Moreindia has trouble caring for the living, but it perhaps reveals more of itself in how it cares for the dead. laws can be made and unmade with a stroke of a fountain pen, but attitudes must be crafted with time and unflagging will. in india the greatest barrier to class integration may well be the attitude of the untouchables themselves. the poorest and the least educated members of society, harijans, are often the most conservative as well. at election time they may vote to shake the tree in hopes of dislodging choicer fruit, but most would never consider chopping the...
Read MoreRight about now, Jill should now be hard at work finishing up her second project trip… this one in guntur, about midpoint on India’s eastern coast, only further inland. By American standards, not far at all from her former adventures in Machilipatnam; by Indian standards, not even close. After nearly a week of travel, she first met up with her incoming US team in Chennai, then on to the site of what will by g-d’s grace become a children’s home. Tucked in along the way was an invigorating side excursion to acquaint them with an existing children’s home. Meeting its...
Read Morefrom childhood onwards, an indian is exposed to more combinations of flavors and seasonings than perhaps anyone else in the world. their cuisine is based on variety, which, in flavors, encompasses hot-and-sour, hot-and-nutty, sweet-and-hot, bitter-and-hot, bitter-and-sour, and sweet-and-salty; in seasonings, it stretches from the freshness and sweetness of highly aromatic curry leaves to the dark pungency of the resin, asafetida, whose earthly aroma tends to startle westerners just as much as the smell of a strong, ripe cheese does indians. their spice shelves often contain more than thirty seasonings. the indian genius lies not only in squeezing several flavors out of...
Read Moreas i’ve been here these past few months, i’ve especially enjoyed extra time to read. most of the books i’ve read have been set in india or written by an indian author. in their vivid use of words and articulate sentence structures, they seem to describe this place far better than i ever could. in my absence, i hope to share a few of their descriptions for which i myself could never find the adequate words. india is everything human. it is all of our history: it is the past, it is the future. if it has been thought, experienced, or...
Read Morethe clear, logical development of a work of architecture depends on rational and objective criteria. when i permit subjective and unconsidered ideas to intervene in the objective course of the design process, i acknowledge the significance of personal feelings in my work. when architects talk about their buildings, what they say is often at odds with the statements of the buildings themselves. this probably connected with the fact that they tend to talk a good deal about the rational, thought-out aspects of their work and less about the secret passion that inspires it. the design process is based on a constant interplay...
Read Morei, who live by words, am .......wordless when i try my words in prayer. all .......language turns to silence. prayer will take my words .......and then reveal their emptiness. the stifled voice .......learns to hold its peace, to listen with the .......heart to silence that is joy, is adoration. the self is shattered, all words torn .......apart in this strange pattern time of .......contemplation that, in time, breaks time, breaks .......words, breaks me, and then, in silence leaves me .......healed and mended. i leave returned to language, for i see .......words are ended, i, who live by words, am .......wordless when i turn me to the Word to pray. .......amen. [madeleine l'engle: lines scribbled on an envelope while riding the 104 bus] [enjoy the silence. robbins]
tonight is one of those lazy kind of saturday nights where you take your shower after dinner and just sit around doing all of those things you never make time to do or nothing at all. i like nights like this, no pressure to be out and about, going or doing. i enjoy this type of rare, uneventful evening. time to listen. time to sleep. [or try to sleep] time to be still. i finished velvet elvis and i must say the last chapter was definitely my favorite. usually, i'm not one to give away endings, but i think this is different. it's...
Read Morei bought rob bell's velvet elvis back in july, but am just now finishing it. i think this is due to my bad habit of starting something but not following through. it's really starting to bother me. so i've tried to buckle down. it's just a lot to handle at once. but whatever you do, you must pick it up. you must read it. you must process through it. discuss it. you must question it. [the idea that some people have faith and others don't is a popular one. but it is not a true one. everybody has faith. everybody is following somebody. the real...
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