My Life as a Jack Mormon (satire)

“Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” — Joseph Smith, Jr - History of the Church, 4:553–557

From this quote, baptism shows God, angels and heaven that the baptized does the will of God. Along with faith in the Christ and repentance, it is the only way God has ordained me to come to him to be saved and enter the kingdom of God.

Repentance means that I am committed to not sinning by following Mormon precepts and values. However, there is some leeway here since I am currently an unbaptized prospect.

It is only during times when I am tired or stressed that I might be tempted to sin, but have overcome alcoholic use because I have barely used alcohol for about seven weeks. I stopped smoking completely, and resisted all relapses. Hot drinks require only time for them to cool down; therefore I have kept that Mormon precept. As for dangerous drugs, I currently do not use any of them. Thus I keep the precepts about alcohol, tobacco, hot drinks, and dangerous drugs.

As well, I have even decided to keep chaste, mainly because I am sure that prayer and meditation will help me resist temptation.

Mainly because of prayer and meditation is all of this possible. However, faith in the Christ helps me to maintain repentance, preparing me for baptism in a few years.

Even so, a Buddhist who adheres to Mormon precepts is but a Jack Mormon. For I am not a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Having attended Sunday meetings at the local meetinghouse, I have become friendly towards Church members and Mormonism, having sympathized with them, and have taken an active interest in their belief system, even though much of how I view Mormonism is seen through Buddha eyes.

Of course, "Buddha eyes" is metaphor for "seeing and understanding life with a caring and compassionate heart".

This comes through regular meditation to develop the calm mind necessary for seeing with the heart until I understand that life is meaningful due to suffering when it inspires us to see the truth about suffering. and reject the vain grasping of desire that is "evil passion", which is merely the act of mental calculation to commit error and thus "sin".

Therefore meditation is heavy duty prayer, and merely giving thanks to God is enough to begin my meditations, which help keep me focused on living like a Mormon. Although it would be impossible for me to completely think like a Mormon, I know that it is not in my nature to be radically conservative.

Indeed, I would rather balance the conservatism of Mormon thought with the liberalness of Buddhist humanism, for the ecumenism of Mormonism does counterbalance its conservative elements.

My path into Mormonism however is not a course in vain. Rather, it is a cautious journey into a religion that not only has conservative elements in it, but also liberal elements. In my heart, I know that Mormonism isn't just a fad for me. It has drawn from my own Buddhist faith to help enlighten my understanding of the Mormon way, which ranges from conservative to liberal.

Returning to baptism, "unbaptized" reminds me of the phrase "the unwashed masses" — I used to be one of them. Even though I remain "unwashed", in my heart all those sins are being washed away by keeping the Mormon precepts.

Perhaps one day when I am baptized the gift of the Holy Ghost that is promised will help prepare me for becoming a full member of the Mormon faith.

Indeed, today I feel like I truly belong, because Mormons have come to know and love me. They even pray for me, and I am thankful for that.

Just as in Mormonism, thanksgiving is a vital part of my Buddhist faith. I know that much of that faith will help "fill in the blanks" where Mormon literature preaches the Christology, though I will tactfully refrain from filling in the blanks for Mormons.

Yes, I admit to adhering to religious pluralism. However, the light that shines before the world is the spiritual light of what Mormons call the Christ. I would call it Buddha Nature, which also may be described in terms of water as the drops of each person's faith that mingle together into an ocean of pure compassion.

For no matter what faith I was born into, the tenets of Buddhism are the core elements that inspire me to yield to what Mormonism wishes of me, provided I continue to purify my mind through meditation so that all that is Mormon fits with all that I know of Buddhism. This means the Pure Land will akin to the Celestial Kingdom as a destination in the afterlife where the faithful Mormons go to receive spiritual guidance from the Christ.

Will I forget about baptism? No, but my continued association with the Mormons will be worth the change of faith. As for now, I am satisfied with my life as a Jack Mormon, balancing Zen and Mormonism.

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Reference:

Jack Mormon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Mormon

The Angels That Understand (Their Place in A Man's World) (Satire)

In 2003 tATu came out to the world by kissing after singing "All the Things She Said."

This video (above) was a promo for reality show "t.A.T.u. Under The Heaven" which came out in 2008.

After twelve years of existence, which is a long time for two young teenagers named Julian Volkova and Lena Katina, they grew up working as the girl group since 1999 and it went on hiatus in 2011.

However, the sexism inherent in Russian society is also contained in this short clip from six years ago.

Here is how the reality show "t.A.T.u. Under the Heaven" was introduced to the world:

Лучшее качество девочек — покорность.
Девочкам запрещается проявлять физическую силу.
Они не имеют права заниматься боевыми искусствами и брать в руки оружие.
Когда девочек бьют, они не должны стонать и жаловаться на боль.

The best quality in girls is obedience.
Girls are forbidden from expressing physical strength.
They do not have the right to engage in martial arts or hold weapons.
When girls are beaten they must not make any noise or complain about the pain.

It is apparent that this reality show was the last chance to grab more fame from controversy before moving on.

Back in 2004, both Julia and Lena came out and said they were coached by their manager to pretend to be lesbian to appeal to the world.

Given the power and influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, it is doubtful they were ever lesbian. This was a gimmick by their manager using the forbidden to appeal both domestically and globally. Both women are heterosexual, though Julia is consider to be bisexual due to her admission that she "still likes boys and girls".

When t.A.T.u was disbanded in 2011 with the previous seven years under scrutiny, including their proposed "Show Me Love" tour in the UK which canceled due to poor ticket sales in 2002, both women launched solo careers. It turned out the poor tickets sales was due to a parental advisory based on the belief that the girls' sexual image were inappropriate.

Having gone solo since 2008, Julia Volkova created her genre Sex Rock, and both Lena and her were based in LA for a bit but often return to Russia for tATu gigs and promos for their brands. Later Julia based herself in Moscow.

After breaking up Lena has admitted going to a shrink to recover from the 12 years of performing in tATu. I can't blame her.

In 2012 Lena moved to LA to reboot her career.

After Lena was being managed by Tristam Buckley from 2012 to 2013, the Tatu management team returned. Buckley helped reboot Lena's solo career which had gone down the tubes due to mismanagement in the year since t.A.T.u officially went into hiatus in 2011.

In 2013 Buckley sued for his share of the t.A.T.u. pie.

As of now, the new t.A.T.u, which began in December 2012, consists of small concerts they do and also product endorsement. However, the concerts they do ares not the biggest part of their lives due to being solo artists.

They also have their own lives to live. Julia has two kids from two relationships and converted to Islam because her second boyfriend is a Persian-Russian businessman, and Lena just got married in 2013 to a Russian musician.

Because the old t.A.T.u. concerts were a part of grueling tours, I can certainly understand why they are reluctant to dedicate all of their time to t.A.T.u.

Their solo careers have only begun.

As far as genre goes, Julia does Europop, Pop and Rock. Lena is definitely Rock.

However, these two angels of tATu will never be forgotten. These angels that understood their place in a man's world live on.

After Putin approved the anti-gay law, which forbids the practice of homosexuality in public, Rolling Stones Russia interviewed Lena Katina. During the interview they shared three bottles of wine. Lena jokingly admits to being an alcoholic. However, drinking is a big part of Russian culture along with big parties during birthdays and holidays, even on weekends.

Lena admits to not being particularly interested in politics back in Moscow, and loves the fact that American television filters out most of the "demonstrations, arrests, fights with the Special Purpose Mobile Unit" happening back home.

While she was not in touch with Julia after she moved back to Moscow almost two years before this interview, she's fine with that. As well, she holds no grudge against Ivan, the man who created t.A.T.u. and their fey-gay persona while performing.

Even though the lesbianism was all an act, I got the feeling after reading the interview, that to them, t.A.T.u was just as much performance art as it was a musical act.

Indeed, I am pretty sure it is the same with Pussy Riot, who may have inspired Putin to sign the anti-gay law due to the fact that none of the members of that musical act had boyfriends because they were ardent feminists too busy with their political performance art. It would be interesting for Rolling Stones Russia to interview Pussy Riot and ask them if t.A.T.u. inspired them in some way, too.

When asked if she and Julia would return to t.A.T.u., Lena denied it, saying that both she and Julia are very much into their solo careers. However, she never flat out said "Never."

As well, she described how Ivan had once took them to a drug den after the fame had gone to his head. Nothing like this shocked Lena Katina, who claims Ivan considered her to be the "conscience" of t.A.T.u. Such goings-on merely made her a little sad. In fact, she once fantasized becoming a famous psychotherapist who would counsel drug addicts for a living.

Well, after her beauty fades in her 40s and she becomes another dumpy babushka, Lena Katina the music star could become Elena Katina the psychotherapist in a world-famous rehab clinic for celebrities who want to kick their drugs habits.

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Reference:

tATu tumblr fansite, blog post for January 17, 2014: http://ta-tu.tumblr.com/post/73629164053

t.A.T.u. v Podnebesnoi (promo 4) for reality show "t.A.T.u. Under The Heaven" circa 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7zN4eym1E

T.A.T.u : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.A.T.u.

Julia Volkova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Volkova

Lena Katina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena Katina

t.A.T.u sued: http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/09/tatu-lena-katina-manager-lawsuit/

2012 interview of t.A.T.u: http://www.muumuse.com/2012/11/10-years-in-the-wrong-lane-an-interview-with-t-a-t-u.html/

Rolling Stones Russia interview: http://www.lenakatina.nl/rolling-stone.php

A Quasi-Political Analysis of Microsoft and the Social Activists (satire)

It's sad that Microsoft has no presence on the competition at Google+. They copied gmail just like Apple copied everyone else with the iPhone.

Just so you know, I don't use my Hotmail account much since 2006. I stopped using Hotmail because of the rise of email spam due to sloppy security.

I also stopped using Yahoo chat circa 2005 due to the increasing risk of being attacked by chatbots since 2001. Though this has been "fixed" by getting rid of chat rooms on Yahoo chat.

Much of this is due to the insecurity of Windows prior to XP and specially of older versions NT server software in general.

This is primarily a Microsoft problem due to their factional nature. They hired right-wing fascists circa early1990s but rarely hire socialists or left-wingers due to the New Left's anti-corporate stance.

You'd only get hired IF and only IF you were paid to infiltrate to do something like what happened to Windows ME (a hack by the left who were annoyed at the right-wing neo-conservative faction using Microsoft addresses to traffic in porn). Though the programmer that kluged ME was a hired gun.

However, the anarchists are canny, because they aren't left or right. Anarchists are known to call the Left fascist for using violence like the Black Bloc (BB) even though the evidence says that most BB are dissatisfied with the old Left and the New Left for not being radical enough. BB use the same tactics as animal activists and other saboteurs. They attack property, not people. Ergo they are non-violent to people.

Right-wing neocon elements in the military & police form attack almost everyone in the name of law. Ergo, the military and police are violent to people and are known to damage property to achieve their objectives.

For they, along with doctor, nurses, teachers, and anyone dealing with the State are usually agents of the State regardless of which side they root for.

Observed events of tactics show that the agents of the state's tactics are representative of patriarchal forms of government. Let's consider the military. Because large groups of military work together, they have a very large number of circles of influence. This is why there is oversight by a command of hierarchy i.e. a commanding officer and the troops in the case of the military.

It cannot be determined what the BB and the New Left are representative of, because the rule is no more than three people are supposed to decide on what to do. This is to limit the circles of influence.

Therefore the New Left does not work by command by hierarchy but by roughly anarchist methods, which is harmonious in very small groups, but in large groups, become chaotic with non-violent groups unintentionally working for the State by blocking BB and similar radicals.

However, anarchists who are pacifist and non-violent tend to use non-violent tactics against the State. Jaggie Singh was a prime example of this: at no time in the past 25 years has there been any evidence of Mr Singh using violence.

Though the Montreal police complained that shooting teddy bears with a jury-rigged sling shot was a form of passive violence i.e. non-violent. This is ridiculous because teddy bears are cute, while tear gas makes your eyes run tears.

Sadly though, there are few articulate pacifists like Singh amongst the New Left, who have gone radical due to their tendency to party a lot and live in denial of their alcoholism and drug addictions.

However, the previous paragraph is not an indictment against the New Left, as their problems with drugs make them aware of what the homeless people face daily.

As it stands now, politics is polarized between the left and the right for the traditional reason that with conflict comes change.

As for myself, as a Buddhist, I cannot be left or right; I'll always be in the middle, rolling and tucking.

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Originally posted October 27, 2012 0311H

Why Militants of Religion Attack Women

Celebration of the female body was also partially supported in Constatinople, though radical Christians back then were known to desecrate any art that depicted nudity.

Some of the battles that the Byzantine Empire fought were with Christians who subscribed to a more militant form of Christianity led by religious leaders sympathetic to Gnostic teachings which claimed that worldliness was evil and that godliness was good.

Due to militancy among the Christians, a pagan mathematician was assassinated by radical Christians in Alexandria for preferring the pagan sciences over the conservatism of Christianity.

IMO militant elements of Islam cater to this same kind of conservatism. Even though the Roman Empire was corrupt before Constantine the Great made Christianity a state religion, its art was did not lead to the excesses of pornography in America.

Although the decadence of Caligula is well known, only writings by authors who were not fond of him are known as it was common to destroy any literature praising him after that emperor's death along with statues of him and his god-horse.

Today, the fans of celebrities sometimes tend to worship almost like gods. Even when they act like drug addicts and never-do-wells, their fans still support them when they go into rehab.

However, American mass media is keen to display the bodies of celebrities as though it is a social good i.e. the right to freedom of expression.

To Muslim conservatives, it is obscenity mainly due to hardliners who fear that such obscenity will corrupt the morals of their youths, especially the men.

What they do not admit is that such obscenity was condemned by Muhammad because he too feared being corrupted by the idols of Mecca.

When a good man who fears corruption lashes out by killing people, that is the root of militancy. It matters not if it was 1500 years ago or last year.

As long as a religion protects its core values with militancy and the threat of death of unbelievers, it is an intolerant religion. This is what American Christians are trying to say.

Yet in more primitive areas of Asia, Christians are not less militant and intolerant as their Muslim brothers and sisters e.g. Brazil after an amateur football game, clashes between Christians and Buddhists in rural areas of Burma, India and Thailand, the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, etc.

Religion promote conservative values, many of which are becoming increasingly outdated. This is why people apostate and leave religion.

As long as religion holds onto traditional values without tolerance of modern values, the violence will continue.

For any religion that allows for killing and other violent forms of repression has lost the core values of non-violence and peace that was integral to its founding.

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Hypatia murdered by Christian mob: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HypatiaTo conservatives such as the Muslims, it is obscenity.

Speculation on Occupy Rome, Occupy Oakland and other musings

Oakland has been where the militant hippies resided after clashes at Haight Ashbury in LA during the 60s.

It's hard to say why Oakland turned out like they do today is primarily due to the influx of Yippies and other political groups, or the associated migration of rural people of all colours there from other places.

As well, because of ages-old clashes of color e.g. Crips and other black gangs, the police there became militant in response to high crime mainly due to poverty and fiscal mismanagement of predominantly white police departments in the city and suburbs.

In short, poverty is the leading cause of militancy amongst certain social activists in Oakland.

This may explain the violence in Occupy Rome since poverty is also endemic in various Italian metropolitan areas due to influx of migrant workers and the unfair distribution of wealth under the current coalition of moderate and right-wing parties.

Thus, Oakland may be this way due to the 1% who are predominantly right-wing conservatives supported by a strong Big Business presence.

It also explains San Jose, and nations run by conservatives globally, including Germany.

Germany is of note because it has used spyware to monitor its citizens, primarily in Bavaria, which has a high influx of immigrants.