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The Festival of Lieversity
7 years ago
Glimpse The Thoughts of Jack the Beaver
I'm writing this journal in a period of intense sadness. But an intellectual exercise will help me cope. So I'm going to take apart something that pissed me off when I read about it.
Specifically I am focusing on the "Beloved Festival", which when I tell you want this is you will actually start to scream. This is a camping trip in the woods for the super rich, designed to allow the people there to quote "Make Love to the Mystery." Each day they take part in different "sacred" activities, such Sufi soul singing, reciting Buddhist sutras and finding their spirit animals with an American Indian shaman. As the article in The Economist put it best, it's a celebration of religion for people who don't wan't to be troubled by belief.
The article, well worth a read if you want to make your blood boil, goes on and on about how diverse everything is and about how it's a celebration of all these different belief systems. And obviously you can tell, because Buddhism is all about luxury and materialism in the woods of Oregon. I'm sure the Islamic theologins who created Sufism are beaming with pride with their belief system being co-opted by a bunch of rich posers "glamping" in the woods.
Every single thing I read about in the Beloved Festival made my blood boil. Halfway through it I began to wonder what
tonyasong would have thought about the Indian shaman helping them find their spirit animal. When I read that I literally face palmed. But it got me thinking about something. This festival is supposed to be a celebration of diversity and belief without religion. In truth it's an insult to diversity, belief and organised religion.
Let's start with diversity. Diversity, in my opinion, means you are not only tolerant of but willing to listen and engage with those who hold a variety of beliefs and mindsets. It means that while you don't agree, you don't let that stand in the way of befriending someone. I think diversity is a wonderful thing because it can lead to a more enriched life. It makes you consider why you think what you do, makes you question it. And you know what? Questioning doesn't mean you'll throw out all your beliefs. It means that you think about and grow stronger instead.
How does the Beloved Festival handle diversity? By removing everything that might be distinct, unique or different from the norm. It handles different religions the way my meat tenderizer handles chicken. It stamps and stamps until several distinct faiths are flattened into a smooth, featureless slurry that can be tolerated by limousine liberal audience who talk about diversity while being scared of the Mexican man they saw walking down the street.
Giving someone a surface level of several different religions is not "diverse". It's homogenized crap, removing the beauty and just leaving some exotic New Age mumbo jumbo. Though I must admit it was creative of them to celebrate diversity by removing everything that makes all these different religions distinct. That's showing a diverse idea on what the word "diversity" means.
This is also disrespectful to the religions themselves. Now Catholicism isn't represented here, and thank Christ for that, but Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and many others are. And these are centuries old religions. Brilliant theologians and philosophers have been birthed from their traditions. They are faiths people sincerely follow because they make sense.
And the Beloved Festival declares all that thinking was too hard! Toss it out. Again, they advertise the joy of the festival is belief without religion. They want the trappings of religions the patrons will consider exotic, but not any of the actual theology. What they're saying is all that thinking, all that theology, is pointless. You just need to "make love to the mystery" (easily my favorite dumb line), engage in "Sacred activities" and bam! You've found universal truth!
You can toss all that morality and belief crap right out the fucking window, we went glamping in the woods and that taught us the truth of life itself!
By removing the theology from religion, we get to keep the fun things but not any of the stuff that might make us feel guilt. I would say if you're feeling guilt, maybe their is a reason. By removing the theology, they miss what the religion is trying to teach them. And if you need an example, the Beloved Festival is advertised as a luxurious and expensive glamping trip, while also claiming they incorporate the truth of Buddhism into their activities. I must have missed the part where the Buddah went glamping.
If it seems like I'm ranting at this point that's only because I am. I am sincere in my Catholic faith. I know people of other religions as sincere in their faiths. And the Beloved Festival is here to tell them they've got it all wrong. You don't need to believe in God or any particular creed. Just believe in some vague "mystery" while camping in the woods at a festival that can cost $2500 to get a ticket for.
Oh and meditate with a crystal. They really like to emphasize the crystals.
I'd go more into the article, but talking about this thing nauseates me. If you're curious, please google the Beloved Festival and be amazed by how unintentionally racist they can get.
I believe in diversity. Rather than trying to pretend my beliefs are the same everyone else holds, I'd rather hear about what people believe. Diversity means you have to think. It can keep you from intellectual stagnation.
The Beloved Festival is not diversity, it's lieversity. It's safe homogenized slurry, designed to be palatable to an audience as broad and thin as possible. I hope no one thinks that this festival is an actual celebration of different beliefs.
And I hope one day the founders of the festival see the hypocrisy in having a day dedicated to Buddhism in an expensive, materialistic camping trip. But that's just me.
Specifically I am focusing on the "Beloved Festival", which when I tell you want this is you will actually start to scream. This is a camping trip in the woods for the super rich, designed to allow the people there to quote "Make Love to the Mystery." Each day they take part in different "sacred" activities, such Sufi soul singing, reciting Buddhist sutras and finding their spirit animals with an American Indian shaman. As the article in The Economist put it best, it's a celebration of religion for people who don't wan't to be troubled by belief.
The article, well worth a read if you want to make your blood boil, goes on and on about how diverse everything is and about how it's a celebration of all these different belief systems. And obviously you can tell, because Buddhism is all about luxury and materialism in the woods of Oregon. I'm sure the Islamic theologins who created Sufism are beaming with pride with their belief system being co-opted by a bunch of rich posers "glamping" in the woods.
Every single thing I read about in the Beloved Festival made my blood boil. Halfway through it I began to wonder what
tonyasong would have thought about the Indian shaman helping them find their spirit animal. When I read that I literally face palmed. But it got me thinking about something. This festival is supposed to be a celebration of diversity and belief without religion. In truth it's an insult to diversity, belief and organised religion.Let's start with diversity. Diversity, in my opinion, means you are not only tolerant of but willing to listen and engage with those who hold a variety of beliefs and mindsets. It means that while you don't agree, you don't let that stand in the way of befriending someone. I think diversity is a wonderful thing because it can lead to a more enriched life. It makes you consider why you think what you do, makes you question it. And you know what? Questioning doesn't mean you'll throw out all your beliefs. It means that you think about and grow stronger instead.
How does the Beloved Festival handle diversity? By removing everything that might be distinct, unique or different from the norm. It handles different religions the way my meat tenderizer handles chicken. It stamps and stamps until several distinct faiths are flattened into a smooth, featureless slurry that can be tolerated by limousine liberal audience who talk about diversity while being scared of the Mexican man they saw walking down the street.
Giving someone a surface level of several different religions is not "diverse". It's homogenized crap, removing the beauty and just leaving some exotic New Age mumbo jumbo. Though I must admit it was creative of them to celebrate diversity by removing everything that makes all these different religions distinct. That's showing a diverse idea on what the word "diversity" means.
This is also disrespectful to the religions themselves. Now Catholicism isn't represented here, and thank Christ for that, but Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and many others are. And these are centuries old religions. Brilliant theologians and philosophers have been birthed from their traditions. They are faiths people sincerely follow because they make sense.
And the Beloved Festival declares all that thinking was too hard! Toss it out. Again, they advertise the joy of the festival is belief without religion. They want the trappings of religions the patrons will consider exotic, but not any of the actual theology. What they're saying is all that thinking, all that theology, is pointless. You just need to "make love to the mystery" (easily my favorite dumb line), engage in "Sacred activities" and bam! You've found universal truth!
You can toss all that morality and belief crap right out the fucking window, we went glamping in the woods and that taught us the truth of life itself!
By removing the theology from religion, we get to keep the fun things but not any of the stuff that might make us feel guilt. I would say if you're feeling guilt, maybe their is a reason. By removing the theology, they miss what the religion is trying to teach them. And if you need an example, the Beloved Festival is advertised as a luxurious and expensive glamping trip, while also claiming they incorporate the truth of Buddhism into their activities. I must have missed the part where the Buddah went glamping.
If it seems like I'm ranting at this point that's only because I am. I am sincere in my Catholic faith. I know people of other religions as sincere in their faiths. And the Beloved Festival is here to tell them they've got it all wrong. You don't need to believe in God or any particular creed. Just believe in some vague "mystery" while camping in the woods at a festival that can cost $2500 to get a ticket for.
Oh and meditate with a crystal. They really like to emphasize the crystals.
I'd go more into the article, but talking about this thing nauseates me. If you're curious, please google the Beloved Festival and be amazed by how unintentionally racist they can get.
I believe in diversity. Rather than trying to pretend my beliefs are the same everyone else holds, I'd rather hear about what people believe. Diversity means you have to think. It can keep you from intellectual stagnation.
The Beloved Festival is not diversity, it's lieversity. It's safe homogenized slurry, designed to be palatable to an audience as broad and thin as possible. I hope no one thinks that this festival is an actual celebration of different beliefs.
And I hope one day the founders of the festival see the hypocrisy in having a day dedicated to Buddhism in an expensive, materialistic camping trip. But that's just me.
And naturally Christianity isn't represented, because Christians are all bad guys to these type of folk. We are the Other they must hate.
Dominus tecum
I don't want to be represented by them. I find it rewarding not to be.
I am also glad we are not represented by them. I look at things like "Coexist" and I hate what they really mean, because the Cross they promote to be in their little band is one stripped of everything that matters.
Dominus tecum