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Tag overview for: 'religion'

Entries on this site with 'religion'

• god's dissatisfaction
  God breathed in deeply, looked at the mist around Him and murmured in the hushed tones of someone who has just made an unexpected and curious discovery, It would never hav
• when the new season makes its way
  If after seeing ' Hadewijch ' ( reviewed before ), you're curious about the 13th century poet, mystic and beguine ('begijn') from Brabant, here's a sample of her work. Had
• iffr: hadewijch
  Modern mysticism at the International Film Festival Rotterdam , with Bruno Dumont 's new film ' Hadewijch ', a thoughtful meditation as austere and introspective as its tr
• franny and zooey
  Franny: What happened was, I got the idea in my head - and I could not get it out - that college was just one more dopey , inane place in the world dedicated to piling up
• the fisher king
  Did you ever hear the story of the Fisher King? It begins with the king as a boy having to sleep alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. While he's
• the religious experience of philip k. dick
  In 1974, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick experienced a series of mystical visions. They would greatly influence his writing, most explicitly in ' Valis ', a philosop
• al-mahdi
  "What inferno, what terrible plague or huge massacre or catastrophic earthquake is needed to make those people stop and look around them, to contemplate in silence what te
• coptic egypt
  At more than 10% of the population, the Copts are a sizable minority in Egypt, and in most towns church towers can be seen side by side with the mosque minarets. The Copti
• the simorgh
  It's a bit weird to use a spoiler warning when reviewing a book that's over 800 years old. But ' The Conference of the Birds ' ('Mantiq at-Ta'ir'), by twelfth century Sufi
• morocco: gnawa
  Back to Morocco, where the traditional music of gnawa , or gnaoua, provides a fascinating representation of the different ethnic and religious groups that have shaped it.
• la convivencia
  The period known as La Convivencia refers to the peaceful coexistence of Muslems, Jews and Christians during the Moorish reign of al-Andalus (Spain), between 711 and 1492.
• tales of the alhambra
  The swan song of the Moors in Europe, the 14th century Alhambra palace remains suffused with exotic mystery. Located on a hilltop overlooking Granada , its fortified walls
• geertgen tot sint jans
  The 15th century in Dutch painting was that transition period when perspective was not quite understood yet (or maybe just not deemed relevant), painting styles were still
• christvertising
  Is your brand in God's good books? Some hilarious satire for Easter Sunday: Christvertising.com , which had many in the American blogosphere wondering whether it was real
• deer park
  Just four lines long, the ancient Chinese poem 'Deer Park', by Buddhist poet Wang Wei , has inspired poets and translators through the ages. Eliot Weinberger 's '19 Ways o
• the god necessity
  As we look back through the religious conceptions of human nature - and indeed we need not look so very far back because the same doctrine can be found in Freud - it becom
• things
  If you thought materialist escapism and spiritual dabbling were modern phenomena, check out this very amusing short story by D.H. Lawrence , called 'Things', written in 19
• singing in tongues
  It'll be hard to put into words the experience of seeing Lisa Gerrard live, last night at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg (not your ideal concert venue, but with Nighttown clos
• the consolation of philosophy
  Since today is the memorial day of Saint Severinus , better known as Boethius , it seems fitting to take a look at his masterpiece ' The Consolation of Philosophy ' ('De C
• god is in the details
  The absolute highlight of the Persia exhibition in the Hermitage Amsterdam was its collection of medieval manuscripts and miniatures . Unfortunately, due to their fragilit
• mexico: tenochtitlan
  Mexico City, formerly known as Tenochtitlan , the capital of the Aztecs , was built on an island in Lake Texcoco and one of the world's largest cities by the time it was d
• mexico: teotihuacán
  So, to finally delve into Mexico, with the awe-inspiring archeological site of Teotihuacán , just north-east of Mexico City. Built by unknown predecessors of the Aztecs (w
• chinese art and greek art
  Following up on my earlier post on Pamuk's 'The Black Book', it appears the story about the competition between the two painters was inspired by a poem by Jalal ad-Din Muh
• the black book
  This post is not about Paul Verhoeven's film but about Orhan Pamuk 's novel ' The Black Book ' ('Kara Kitap'). As a caleidoscopic, metaphysical detective novel, 'The Black
• the golem
  Gustav Meyrink 's 1915 novel 'The Golem' is a classic of fantastic and expressionist fiction. Imagine Kafka (a friend of Meyrink's) writing ' Frankenstein ' (published onl
• time & perfection
  There was an artist in the city of Kouroo who was disposed to strive after perfection. One day it came into his mind to make a staff. Having considered that in an imperfec
• eternal youth
  According to the mythology of the Trobriand Islands , human beings used to be immortal, by simply shedding their skin when it grew old. At some point, however, they lost t
• iffr: scream of the ants
  The Rotterdam Film Festival is always a good place for Iranian cinema. Tehran was one of this year's hot spots , and there was also master-in-exile Mohsen Makhmalbaf 's ne
• the mahabharata
  The Indian Mahabharata has been called the longest epic in the world. Spanning over 74.000 Sanskrit verses (about ten times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined!),
• mary
  Abel Ferrara 's latest film ' Mary ' is a thought-provoking investigation of religious redemption in a cynical, intolerant world. Heavy on theological ideas, the story cen
• de zee die denkt
  ' De Zee Die Denkt ' ('The Sea That Thinks') is a weird, thoughtprovoking film about itself and about a script writer struggling with the question of what the 'I', the sel
• zen logic
  Without claiming to understand much of Zen (if that's even the point), here's a koan that seems to sum up its spirit nicely: A master was asked the question, "What is the
• a secret veiled by a secret
  It's the simplest possible system. Consider only the outer circle. To code something, you replace each letter of your original message with the letter that precedes it: fo
• the chance of humming
  A man standing on two logs in a river might do all right floating with the current while humming in the now. Though if one log is tied to a camel, who is also heading sout
• time, pt. 2
  What time is for the nonreligious man of modern society would be more difficult to put into a few words. We do not intend to discuss the modern philosophies of time nor th
• jihad?
  To Westerners [the word jihad ] conjures scenes of screaming fanatics being egged into war by promises that they will be instantly transported to heaven if they are slain.
• big ideas in perspective
  Reading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy puts some of human kind's biggest ideas in perspective for you: Big idea #1: Their [Leucippus and Democritus, 5th

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