by beq
(bigger)
For the average person, who is yet to be enlightened, yoga is a way to positively increase one’s spiritual awareness and cultivate their powers of perception.
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August 31, 2007
Enlightened
by beq
(bigger)
Comments
Ha! Reminds me of Bresson’s The Condemned Man Escapes, a Catholic allegory of escaping the human condition. I vaguely remember it as involving hours of filing through a prison cell door with cutlery.
Posted by: Dismal Science | Aug 31 2007 18:04 utc | 1
Oh threatening sky!
Through geometries of encirclement,
stalwart battlements of civilization,
De Chirican angles devoid of humanity:
We are protected by our faux-mansard roofs,
We are safe beneath our all-seeing twin Helios halogen suns,
We are safe within our HVAC compound,
We are safe in our anonymity,
We are safe from all threat of exposure.
And safe behind our concrete ramparts,
Where beneath four innocuous grey-limned sans-serif letters,
Which spell out an ancient message — Y-O-G-A —
YOGA!
There, within our pre-cast womb,
We are safe to pursue our ancient disciplines.
O threatening sky!
Spirited from nature,
Here deep within our man-made world,
We pursue spiritual experience,
Profound understanding,
Ancient mysteries,
Secrets of the universe,
The very nature of existence.
Yoga. . .
Union. . .
The divine. . .
Atman.
O threatening sky!
We have found true bliss!
Beneath your guard towers,
Our God towers.
You cannot touch us!
Posted by: Malooga | Aug 31 2007 19:16 utc | 2
A De Chirico oainting, that’s what it reminds me of.
And of one of my first memories as a kid: standing outside looking up at the sun, which was hiding behind a hazy sky with patches of cloud moving rapidly across it. To me and my young eyes, it looked like the face of another planet, rotating rapidly – the counterworld.
That image, and that feeling of looking through the veil of this world to see another one hidden not so much behind as within it, has never left me, and comes back when I see images like this one.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Aug 31 2007 20:56 utc | 3
Surreal!
I’ve suspected I’m being watched as I stretch out but you just helped add to my paranoia. Thanks beq (with just a little tongue in cheek).
Posted by: Juannie | Sep 1 2007 0:12 utc | 4
Yog:a [N.] A:gôy(im).
An easy mark, a dude.
[Alt.]Properly done shechita.
Posted by: Tante Aime | Sep 1 2007 3:16 utc | 7
this seems to fit:
“I have a decaffeinated coffee table. You’d never know it to look at it.”
— Steven Wright
you rascal.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 1 2007 7:07 utc | 9
Thanks for the picture and caption, a bit of a puzzle!
For the average person, yet to be enlightened, Yoga is … but what is Yoga for the non-average, the below or above — not to mention to those who aren’t unenlightened.
My attempt above sounds like the student’s question of the zen master who often rewards the student with a snap from his stick.
Also, as Juannie points out, as does aunt amy, Yoga is a physical exercise.
And the reason I responded originally was Malooga’s poem “Oh threatening sky!”
Myself I see the combination of picture and caption as funny like a one-frame comic like you find in the New Yorker. Others’ deconstruction of beq’s paintings have clued me into your sense of humour.
Thanks, and thanks.
Posted by: jonku | Sep 1 2007 8:37 utc | 10
Seems like a view from the twilight supermarket car park, “golf sale” would next in my line of vision as I pack the groceries into the boot.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Sep 1 2007 10:32 utc | 13
or airbrush out the Yoga sign, add some concertina wire and it could be the view from a prison yard…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Sep 1 2007 10:58 utc | 14
Not far off CP. The next sign over [cropped out] was Lil Joe’s Pizza.
Posted by: beq | Sep 1 2007 12:43 utc | 15
I think the photograph is much more interesting, in a minimalistic sort of way, maybe in a Zen sort of way, when cropped between the silver/white roof vents and the dark line separating the roof from the wall.
Posted by: Doran Williams | Sep 1 2007 13:26 utc | 17
..and next to that: Nationwide.
as you continue driving down the road you come to the truth compound followed by liberty and justice.
Posted by: annie | Sep 1 2007 16:03 utc | 18
Well, that was fun. Thanks all. [and Malooga, thanks again]
Prison yard is not too far off either ralphieboy. I’m condemned to look at these light poles for a year or so.
😛
Posted by: beq | Sep 4 2007 12:54 utc | 19