Crowley didn’t mean it the way Warhol did…

Oh I know, I was just throwing things together

“Every man and woman is a star.”

Crowley didn’t mean it the way Warhol did…although I wonder if there’s a connection between Crowley and the idea of referring to celebrities as ’stars.’

is that like the Shambalya meditation centers? they talk about ‘mindful meditations’ where you meditate with your eyes open and walk around to teach you to be awake in the world. really really hard to do.

Which is arguably the only “meditation” really worth anything, because as any decent meditation teacher/facilitator will tell you, it is what happens BETWEEN sessions in your life that is most important. No matter how beautiful/profound your experiences in seated meditation are, they evaporate and are consigned to the past.

Of course spending significant amounts of time outside the US helps as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/heal...&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

Why do people love seeing how fat or skinny or ugly celebrities really look in real life? Because we unconsciously see them as our competition nowadays.

I have my doubts about that particular line of reasoning. Perhaps for some folks, but it seems like a rather simplistic answer for what by any measure has become a far-reaching cultural plague of sorts…

Whether or not it is a uniquely postmodern fame ‘meme’ that contributes to modern Americans’ shallow despondency or just the circular quest for meaning itself is debatable. At times the human inclination toward existential angst reminds me of a dog chasing its tail. The real conundrum, of course, must be faced if you manage to actually catch it (in this case, fame… but insert whatever your persoanl ‘grail’ is)… now whatchoo gonna do with it, hermano? What was the point of catching it anyhow?

It seems to me that a healthier approach to ‘fame’ would be to think of it as byproduct or tool to be used for good or ill, not as a end in & of itself. Fame is really little more than a tool to be used by savvy individuals & corporations. Unfortunately, for a lot of folks who achieve some measure of fame… they simply do not know what to do with it. It becomes a trap rather than a tool.

As for that Crowley quote… to my mind, that speaks volumes about how he faired upon facing the chasm of Choronzon. The fear of being nobody is so great that many will sacrifice damn near everything else… friends, family, love, health, money… raher than shed the sole perspective of their ego.

an amusing, modern variation of this is to develop one’s in-the-moment consciousness by cultivating the mindset that one is always on the camera of a live movie set.

it is commonly said that the most well-performed actions are the ones most automatic and free of self-consciousness. some examples: a reliable method of getting someone to screw up their next shot in pool, or, in general, to inhibit someone’s performance in front of others, is to compliment them, pointing out how incredibly well they are doing.

why? it generates self-consciousness, of course. however, using these meditations can actually, in time, overcome this disability, allowing one to perform with maximum effectiveness, fully in the moment with full self consciousness. this is a back door method of transcending dualistic consciousness, and what true zen was about before it became assimilated into buddhism as the boring old sitting meditation.