“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Christian Politics of the Neighbor

 I'm working on a Christian Communism (I believe it's the only way to go). I just found this in Richard Rohr's writing: 

Torah and the Prophets warned Israel not to discriminate against economic or political refugees, since in YHWH’s eyes even the chosen people were “but aliens and tenants” (Leviticus 25:23). Instead, they were to treat the “sojourners in your midst” with dignity and justice (Deuteronomy 24:14). This fundamental regard for the resident alien, and call to solidarity with the “outsider,” came to full realization in the teaching and practice of Jesus of Nazareth. An oft-cited verse that captures this is Matthew’s last-judgment parable, in which Jesus commends those who welcome him in the guise of a stranger—and condemns those who do not (Matthew 25:35–46)

Three archetypally vulnerable groups are commonly named in almost formulaic fashion: widows, orphans, and strangers. Because YHWH “watches over” them (Psalm 146:9), they have intrinsic rights to sustenance (Deuteronomy 14:29, 24:19–21, 26:12–13) and to human rights (Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalm 94:6). And the prophets measure the health of the nation by how widows, orphans, and strangers are treated (Jeremiah 7:6, 22:3; Zechariah 7:10; Malachi 3:5)

But there is another, theologically startling characteristic of scripture: from beginning to end, God too is portrayed entering our world in the guise of a stranger in need of hospitality. One of the first divine epiphanies is YHWH’s mysterious appearance in the form of “three guests” (Genesis 18:1–8). Abraham and Sarah offer them food, drink, and shelter, and their hospitality occasions the great promise of progeny that launches the salvation story of an entire people (Genesis 18:9–10)…. 

We can go further: the God of the Bible is consistently portrayed as “stateless,” and we can reasonably add undocumented. This is in stark contrast to the patron-gods of the empires that surrounded Israel, who lived comfortably in the temples of the king. In the Exodus tradition, the wilderness God doesn’t even have a name, much less “papers”: the moniker YHWH means “I will be whoever I will be” (Exodus 3:14). God’s voice summons Moses into a conspiracy for freedom from a burning bush outside the borders of, and in opposition to, Pharaoh’s political and economic system. Inspired and led by this God, the Hebrews flee Egypt “in haste” (Exodus 12:33), and wander in the desert as a people with no legal status—as political refugees still must do.  

The Gospel writers portray Jesus as a refugee in need of hospitality: 

 The Second Testament continues in this tradition. The gospel story begins with Jesus’ family fleeing violence as political refugees, pushed around Palestine by the imperial forces of Caesar and Herod (Matthew 2; Luke 2). The adult Jesus not only characterizes himself as homeless (“the Human One has nowhere to lay his head,” Luke 9:58), but stateless. “My kingdom is not of this world,” he says before the Roman procurator (John 18:36). The evangelists also portray Jesus as a constant recipient of hospitality who sometimes even “invites himself in” (see, for example, Luke 19:5).    (SOURCE)

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Friday, March 14, 2025

The Teeth of Hell

 Come on, you have to admit 




Andrew Melchior in Krakow

My friend Andy (Massive Attack, Björk, David Bowie) is an incredibly creative human and we are working together on two very special things: The Logos (it's a creation-wide artwork) and HELL...yes...

This is what he has been up to recently

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

I'm in an Essay about Butoh

 Paul Miller (DJ Spooky) very kindly shared this essay with me, which uses some of my ideas. It's about Butoh, very close to my heart. My idea for the Hyperobjects cover was a  Butoh dancer--a reaction shot, if you will. I've written about Butoh in a number of places. 

Sankai Juku


Sunday, March 2, 2025

Resurgence

 I must say, I'm hugely enjoying the resurgence of interest in this blog. 

When I started, I began to get about 2000 hits a day during the heady OOO blogging years. 

Things have waxed and waned since, with a massive spike when it was announced that I had written a book with Bjork. 

Things got a bit slim in the later 2010s. I was rushing around and curating things and writing an opera and it was really hard to keep up with regular life, let alone blogging. It's my fault. 

Then Hell started to happen and I must say, the blog has NEVER been as healthy as this. It's a plump luscious thing. Love it. Massive amounts of interest in Hell. I posted some stats recently so I won't bother with that just now. But truly, 7000 hits a day is a LOT. That's more than three times the heady times.