Recently in Spirituality Category

Over at Jezebel, a jeremiad against the commodification of spirit & community in Bali in the wake of spiritual tourists inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love:

According to the locals who met her, Gilbert was a rather quiet woman, not abnormal or larger than life. It's something to consider when almost every conversation in Ubud will somehow return to The Book, which is prominently displayed around town, framed and in multiple languages. Expats (many of whom are ponytailed men who once lived in Northern California) mostly hate it. One restaurant has a t-shirt for sale, the design of which urges people to Eat, Pay, Leave.

According to a post in the Bali Expat Forum, the restaurant where you can find these t-shirts for sale is Naughty Nuri's Warung.

It's been an interesting few months--more about which later--and as I was catching up email tonight & thinking about when to get back posting, I noticed a sponsored ad for spiritual Healing Bling.

How could I not click?

The designer of this trademarked jewelry line offers work designed for both aesthetic and restorative ends:

Allyson Rice is an energy healer, and works with each piece of jewelry in ceremony and prayer to instill a particular healing intent for the wearer of the jewelry, corresponding to the healing properties of the gemstones and the unique name and description given to the piece. The price includes the additional energy work that is done after the jewelry piece is initially completed, and again when Allyson knows who has bought the piece.

"The activation of a superstition can indeed yield performance-improving effects." That's the conclusion of an upcoming article in Psychological Science, which observes that lucky objects can reinforce a person's sense of control and thereby actually increase the likelihood of achieving a desired outcome.

However, the same article notes that lucky charms tend not to be propitious in situations over which a person has little to no control--such as, say, an eBay auction for a lucky pendant:

The "Figa" is Brazil's omnipresent good luck symbol. The raised fist with thumb between first and second fingers is multi-functional - symbolizing fertility, passion, luck. Made from everything from broken stones to silver and semi-precious stones, it keeps evil spirits away.

Cleanliness and heavenly scents have been integral elements of spiritual identity throughout history. Sacred Suds transforms this history into a personal, ethical & ecumenical experience, offering handmade vegetarian soap designed to reflect the values of gods and goddesses from various religious traditions.

Welcome to Sacred Suds, where you will find handcrafted vegetarian soaps to pamper your body and nurture your soul. Inspired by the Goddesses and Gods of ancient mythology, and created with love and intent in sacred space, Sacred Suds soaps provide a luxurious means of bringing positive energy into your life.

We craft all of our soaps from scratch, carefully choosing ingredients based on their excellent skin-care, aromatherapy, and magical properties.

Everyone's heard of Aphrodite, of course, but a luxury soap based on the Canaanite goddess Asherah--that's truly inspired!

Via io9, Gade's fascinating artwork uses a blend of superheroes and Buddhist iconography to explore consumerist spirituality:

Gade points out "In most people's minds, Tibet is an ancient, mysterious and exotic place. The notion of 'Tibet' is a conundrum. When outsiders actually visit Tibet, especially Lhasa, they get culture shock when they see all the pop culture, fast food, rock music, Coke and beer, brand name clothing, Hollywood movies, the nightlife scene, etc. I think Lhasa ought to be renamed Lhasa Vegas."

Paintings from his 'New Buddha Series' and his 'Diamond Series' reflect this culture shock with images of such American iconic pop figures as Mickey Mouse, Spiderman and the Hulk appearing in the centre of traditional-looking works. Gade points out that these figures show up in every corner of the earth. "When I visited a tiny village called Pazi at the base of Mount Xishabangma (8,102 metres) in the Himalayas, the kids there had backpacks with Mickey Mouse on them, and were drinking Coca Cola. That made me realise the incredible power of those ubiquitous emblems of Western culture and Western values."

Although Gade's work deals with consumerism, which he finds fascinating, he says "I sincerely want my work to be part of the continuity of Tibetan art, to belong to a 'Tibetanised' context, rather than to a Western or Chinese language system". His new 'Mandala Series' takes the Buddhist mandala, which represents an entire world or state of mind, and puts in monsters, tools and objects or, as in Five new Buddhas, Mickey Mouse and Batman as two of the 'new Buddhas'. A Buddhist himself, Gade does not believe that such works are blasphemous as "The Buddhist gods are wise: they know precisely why I do what I do. … The responsibility of the artist goes beyond creating beautiful things. I just say what I believe."

A meditation by the late Alex Chilton.

Via the Dieline, a collage of luck symbols adorns the label of "a famous accidental lucky blend" of Compass Box scotch malt whisky. From the same company: Hedonism & Hedonism Maximus.

A mural inside the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.

Advertising "for a less painful world."