I will soon talk about how Gaga is transforming the church/religion, I'm not putting it off, I have been too busy and recent events make this the topic of the moment. You know how I think, magically, and there will be a major event that represents Gaga's "cultural baptism" - which will have this intervention/transformation of Christianity/Catholicism/religion in general as one effect - and I will go ahead and predict this event will take place around Halloween, or by 11-11-11. So I will be writing that Gagablog soon.
This week, however, there were some major events that are magically connected and I feel it is my duty to point it out. One is the protests on Wall Street that have grown and spread to other cities, which have been compared to the protests in Tahrir Square in Egypt at the start of the movement that just overthrew the Egyptian government. The other is a dinner where Lady Gaga met President Obama and asked him to put a stop to bullying. To those "with ears to hear" (Oh Gaga, just wait!) you already know what I mean, but let me explain in case anyone else reads this.
The protests on Wall Street could be the beginning of a movement that overthrows the American Government and starts a new way of life - for us but ultimately for the whole world, the way they have always talked about America leading by example only they were lying and wanted to use force. This could be an American Fall to match the Arab Spring. I know I was predicting a European Summer then World Fall, but the American Fall would effectively be a transformation for the whole world, both because we would cease our negative influence on the world that is holding everyone back and we would really be a good positive example to follow. And it has to do with overcoming "bullying". The protesters are currently criticized for lack of focus, but when I was asked what they are protesting I said "economic disparity" and a few other things like oppression that I feel are synonymous with that. The fact that there are so many issues that have this at their root, that there are so many different people with different causes joining this protest, speaks to the power of it and the depth of the problem. The protest is growing because economic disparity is such a big problem, because people are being bullied by the rich and powerful. It will continue to grow, with more people realizing their stake in it, and when it gets to the point that people realize it will not only effect change, but take over if enough change is not enacted - well, at that point we have won the government back for the people, we have overcome the bullies. I heard one of the protesters on NPR saying "we represent the 99% who aren't going to take the abuses of the 1% anymore" and "we are on the ground calling out to them 'you are cutting the limb out from under yourself' and they can either listen or the tree will go on growing without them." One of these may have been a quote from the Arab Spring, the interviewer asked him about parallels, and he said someone told him they were in Tahrir Square at the start of the Egyptian Revolution and that the protests on Wall Street looked like the exact same thing.
I won't lie, I have long believed our current system needed serious change, or collapse, to fix it. I hoped, and still hope, that Obama has us going in that direction. He could deal justly with the protests, enact the changes people need, and stop Wall Street and corporations from bullying people. He may get a chance to do that before the election, if the protests grow that quickly. And he might make the mistake of dealing with them unjustly. Or if the protest simmers and does not come to that for a year, then we somehow are stupid enough to elect a Republican, just asking for it - well, if any president deals unjustly or harshly with the protesters, as this develops, it would escalate quickly. I'm afraid that's what would happen with a republican in office, or if Obama sells out too much, and it would be Revolution. The people would win, I'm not worried about that, but I think there is a more peaceful path.
Lady Gaga presented the peaceful path when she met Obama at a fundraiser dinner last week. Much has been said of how she towered over him, he referred to it as "intimidating" and this was widely reported. Why was it widely reported, "Obama says meeting Gaga was 'intimidating'"? Its the very nature of this topic: bullying. While he was referring to her outfit, since with her 18-inch heels and high hair she was reportedly two feet taller than him, the headline implied he was intimidated by her, because that feeds the bully mentality to make fun of him for being intimidated by a woman or by a pop star. This Tea Party mentality reveals it, and the right in general, as a bullying clique. I'm glad the headline read that way to show this, but it was not Gaga's intention to intimidate the President, but to deliver a message. There are two types of bullies. There are powerful/rich people who instead of sharing their fortune lord it over others. They feel guilty for having more and need to sustain their position and deny that guilt by trying to make others feel bad and pointing out why the less fortunate are less deserving. There are rich people, and rich kids, who don't do this, but too many are snobs and bullies because of this mentality. The other bully mentality is the powerless people who envy that power instead of seeing through it, seeing it for the sickness that it is. These are the minions of the snobs, and all the "normal" people who don't reject this social order. In the political world, the rich and right-wing are the first group and the Tea Party is the second group.The people who do reject this social order, the outkasts and freaks, are abused by the people in power or who crave that power. People of minority groups might want to be part of the status quo but are likely to be subject to bullying and ostracism just because of how they were born. And the truth is there are more of us, the outkasts, poor, disadvantaged and minorities. We will survive and we will ultimately rise up and create a society that is just to all people. This was part of Gaga's message to Obama by towering over him. She was not trying to intimidate or bully him herself, just visually showing a mystical truth that she is more powerful than he is as long as she is the one who is doing more to help the people who need it most. The main message of her outfit, a long black dress and black veil/train on her hair, was that it was a costume of mourning for Jamey, the little monster who committed suicide after incessant bullying, to whom she dedicated her performance of "Hair" at the Las Vegas show recently. She wants an end to bullying and has taken it up as a cause to seek a political solution to a social evil, with a focus on the well-being of kids. I have so much to say about how important it is that Gaga focuses on kids, how if we can always do right by kids we will grow into a just and good society naturally. This is of paramount importance, because while kids have become immensely powerful as a demographic to be marketed to, they still have very little power in our society. We end up pandering to the negative cravings of childhood, like bullying, to the point that we have this whole political movement of adult bullies, the Tea Party are in fashion now but represent that same bullying mentality the right has always had of being rich snobs or honoring that. It's just that our focus has become so infantile that we aren't ashamed promoting that behavior in adults. But we don't listen to the kids, or respect that what they really want to do is not to exclude each other but to play together. One effect of the protests on Wall Street is that many Tea Partiers, libertarians or other right-wing sympathizers will join the protest because it coincides with their causes as well, and they will find that it is more fun and effective to protest with a large group of diverse people that with a clique, whether they are in the drunk Tea Party or the dry Tea Party. It's just more fun to hang out with everyone than it is to make an insular group to try and feel better than everybody else.
Some would say that a law against bullying would make the government a bully over the bullies, or that bullying is natural, a part of growing up. But the truth is it should not be and does not have to be, and having specific consequences to address it can both prevent it more and make people more aware of it, just as hate crime laws have done. It might not stop someone from committing a hate crime to know it will be called that, but if such a terrible thing happens and it is reported that way, it can change peoples' minds and get people to think about things more deeply so they don't hate others or tolerate it. The same is true for abolishing DADT. Yes, many peoples' lives are directly effected by this, but so are the lives of people who have no interest in the military. It is such a big institution, and pervades into every part of the country and much of the world, that a change in military culture has far-reaching effects. States may become more likely to recognize gay marriage if the military does, for example. The same will be true of bullying. By bringing more public awareness to the problem of bullying, we can stop more kids from ding it and spare more kids from suffering it. But while we are thinking about it, we can also see how the bullies in our society are acting, the adults, and even how our country has acted and still acts like a bully around the world. By becoming aware of something that has bothered kids forever and actually doing something about it, we can literally save the world. We will free kids to be who they really are, we will appreciate their ideas and listen to them and benefit greatly in so many ways to hearing their voices. We won't ever lose another child because they did not fit in - this should never have happened but should certainly never happen again. When we all become aware we will all be responsible. And we will become responsible for ourselves as adults, too, and for our country. We have to stop bullying people who are different or less well-off. We have to stop insisting that there is One American Way that is right for everyone here and the world, when America's greatness is in our diversity. There are many American ways, and if we can realize how they all go together towards the brightest future, how we are the best by including the most of us, we will be an example for the rest of the world to follow - and we will come to appreciate other cultures for their examples for us to follow. We will realize that we are all kids learning from each other, both big and small.
I love Gaga for speaking up for kids. I was always a smart kid who felt insulted that I could not vote. We at least learned about global warming when I was a kid in school in the 80's and 90's, yet put up with a decade of government denying it after that, and it's somehow currently a debate. 2010 was the year they said in the 80s that if we didn't change by then there would be no going back - they meant scientifically and hopefully were wrong, but could thay have imagined that we would go backwards in awareness even as it got worse, as predicted? I'm mentioning this because as a kid, we got it, but adults are keeping us from fixing it. Still, if we focus on doing right by kids we will have a better society as they grow up. Kids today already smoke less cigarettes and eat less meat than they used to. Maybe we can make the changes where they bully each other less too. And I still have hope for kids of all ages as we grow up retaining or rediscovering our love for animals and nature so we literally save this planet from the "grown-ups" who don't seem to care.
Hopefully this won't become a real issue, but while talking about bullying and economic protests, and the importance of honoring kids, I recall hearing someone say on the radio that in Greece their could become a civil war between the young and the old. The economic structure is bullying Greece to pay it's debts, instead of being cool about it as Bart Simpson would advise, not realizing that with an economy so bent on tourism Greece will be fine again when the economy picks up, or as more Chinese tourists go there - the Chinese alone will make Greece rich in coming years. And apparently, as in America, Greece has a social/political structure that favors the older generation at the expense of the youth. Because things are so bad there someone is suggesting there could be Civil War - between young and old. I hope not but it shows the way these issues come down to generational disparity as well. This should be all I have to say about this topic, because honestly Civil War between young and old should never be more than myth or an idea, even in Greece where their myths can be pretty intense.
I will soon write more about how significant it is that Gaga, the Goddess incarnate, has such an emphasis and care for kids. It's only natural, she is our Mommy Monster. And when kid's emerging power is on the internet, it is fitting that Gaga is Queen of Twitter and Empress (High Priestess?) of Facebook. Kids have a mastery of imagination that we lose as we grow up learning to master other things, unless we hold on to our youth. We need a society that values imagination, that values kids, and Mommy Monster is creating that in our monster family and as an example to the world. Let's support each other, monsters, and let's survive so that the world can survive. We owe it to each other, ourselves, the planet, and Gaga to live on and make the brighter future she is showing us.
And I will soon write the gagablog about how she is transforming the Christian religion, and religion in general, as there are monsters all over the world of every faith. But Christianity/Catholicism is long overdue, and the nature of the songs on Born this Way and Gaga's social messages will bring her in conflict with the old Jesus religions and reveal the new one that will replace them. It will transform other religions as well, ultimately, since it is a universal message of love that is already at the heart of all religion, and it will bring us all together. With the old-school Jesus churches, the conflict should come shortly, in the spiritual period between Halloween/Samhain/All Saint's Day and 11-11-11. It may coincide with the release of a new single. If she stays with a political message, it could be "Government Hooker", but this and all the Born This Way songs have strong enough sexual and empowerment messages to provoke an intervention for the Church. "Bloody Mary" or "Black Jesus t Amen Fashion" would be more on the nose, or "Marry the Night", but any of the songs could do it because they all have this radical message of universal love. It is liberation theology of Christianity, what I believe Jesus was truly all about, and while it upsets the established church it is the foundation of the new one - the stone the builder's rejected becomes the cornerstone of the new, in this case the feminine, sexual, and compassionate/tolerant. And it may be a news/media event that provokes this confrontation of Gaga vs. the Church, or just all the kids with Gaga-inspired Halloween costumes this year, representing her power. I saw a party supply store ad with their "Monster High" line of costumes, obviously going for the little monster appeal. But I will talk about the details of her spiritual message on these songs soon - I need to write a book about the theology of Gagaism and the messages of all her lyrics - and how she is improving the way people love Jesus and each other. Paws up, Monsters! Gaga, I love you!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
"my song "Savior Mom (Lady Gaga)" and Gaga's songs sung by me, Bert, and Ernie" gagablog 33
http://youtu.be/nxAgloeSF64 - "Savior Mom (Lady Gaga)" http://youtu.be/vHs3lSY3T1s - "Bad Kids"
http://youtu.be/dtOvecztzfI - "So Happy I Could Die" http://youtu.be/xCZD6VwS2k4 - Bert singing "Beautiful Dirty Rich" feat. Ernie http://youtu.be/vF0te55ehOk - Bert and Ernie singing "Just Dance"
Its a beautiful day again as summer is turning to autumn, and one of my favorite times of year. It reminds me to just sit back and relax and enjoy things as they are, like Gaga's recent so-called au natural photoshoot. I don't see what the big deal is, didn't she do that interview with Anderson Cooper and skipped "getting ready" for one part of it?
But of course everything she does is a big deal and more pictures of her are always awesome and very welcome.
Well, I hope you are having a nice relaxing day, too, and I hope you enjoy the videos, fellow monsters. You can laugh, I know they can be pretty silly, that's part of why I make them. I will make more soon, and return with "serious commentary" soon too, ha ha. Paws up!
http://youtu.be/dtOvecztzfI - "So Happy I Could Die" http://youtu.be/xCZD6VwS2k4 - Bert singing "Beautiful Dirty Rich" feat. Ernie http://youtu.be/vF0te55ehOk - Bert and Ernie singing "Just Dance"
Its a beautiful day again as summer is turning to autumn, and one of my favorite times of year. It reminds me to just sit back and relax and enjoy things as they are, like Gaga's recent so-called au natural photoshoot. I don't see what the big deal is, didn't she do that interview with Anderson Cooper and skipped "getting ready" for one part of it?
But of course everything she does is a big deal and more pictures of her are always awesome and very welcome.
Well, I hope you are having a nice relaxing day, too, and I hope you enjoy the videos, fellow monsters. You can laugh, I know they can be pretty silly, that's part of why I make them. I will make more soon, and return with "serious commentary" soon too, ha ha. Paws up!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Gagafesto "From 'Paparrazzi' to 'You and I', how I found Gaga is the Goddess" gagablog 32
Jo Calderone taught us a lesson when he perfromed "You and I" at the VMA's: Don't be an asshole. Even if you ARE an asshole, just because you are a guy, or from Jersey, or whatever - don't be an asshole to your girl. Hell, even if you are from Boston and no one is expecting you not to be an asshole, still be better than that for Love and don't be one to the girl who puts up with you.
But there is another lesson in the song, and in the Love between Jo and Gaga, one which she really is the best at sharing, which made me realize how divine she is, which made me conclude that she is the human incarnation of the Goddess in the way I had always hoped and expected a girl would be, and the world would recognize. I'm not really putting Gaga above the rest of us by saying she is the Goddess, but she is in a special place if she is the first person in a long time that so much of the world can see the Goddess in, and once we learn from her we start to see the Goddess in everyone - well, you can see why I say we may all be divine, we are all the Goddess, but Gaga is just better at it right now. But we can all be better at it, we can all manifest more of our divine nature. And Gaga shows us how.
This special place in Time that Gaga appears is between our past dismissive view of people and our future wonderous view of each other, recognizing the divine in everyone. It's the heart, the special center of the universe within everything that the scientists can't find - that's the special place in "space" that Gaga occupies. She is in all of us. She let us know early, and reminds us, in the divine inspiration of the lyrics. I mentioned "Paparazzi" in gagablog 31 and I can't say enough about it. Yes, I will be exporing Gaga's intervention for Christianity/Catholicism soon, but I realized I need to be a real typing monster and say all I can to keep up with Gaga. Love is in all of us, unites us, and is amazing and overwhelming and indescribable, and yet the person who can reveal it the best to the most is more direct experience of and pathway to the Goddess - rebirth of the Goddess in us. Gaga's lyrics have revealed the mystical secret of love to me in a way no other art has, and I will try to explain in my best remembrence of the Goddess.
"Paparazzi" is one of the best, most mystical songs to me because Gaga does that thing where she takes both sides of identity and perception itself. It's beyond genius, it's divine inspiration. And this is the nature of Love - its "between us" but really we are all it. While we still need to wake up and see how we are all connected, even deeper than that we are all the same consciousness. Just as your clearest thought in a trainyard messy mind is the Goddess of you in the moment, the person amongst us who can best express the Love that confounds all of us is the Goddess of the World in the current era. The best love songs show how love is between us - remind us of Love we feel for someone with the story of two other lovers, or love itself. Some songs manage to present both sides - duets, obviously, but songs that get into the real mystery of how we are all one, yet two people realizing their oneness is the mystical trick of love, do this in a more magical way. And "Paparazzi" takes it to another level entirely: I had just started paying real attention to Gaga, expecting the mystical from her, when I heard/saw "Paparrazzi" and it blew me away. She was playing both sides of the love mystery, not just for the song but to show us how we are all doing this. On one level she is the "fan" and the "star", the fan in love with the star and vice versa. But on another level she is the paparazzi, chasing the star "in love with her", and the star, chasing the paparazzi "in love with the love of the world". This is the perspective of the Goddess, to me: within all of us, sad for being unrecognized/unappreciated and doing anything to get our attention in each other and get us back into love. Its a perfect song, which shows how the One thing becomes Two, the Lovers, and how it all becomes 3 and 4 to infinity, with the perception of "others", which again are all reflections of "ourself" - the Goddess. How, by being two mirrors, and facing each other, with the "center of space" of Love between them, Gaga reflects her image infinitely - one becomes two becomes a google, and infinity.
"Paparazzi" was one of the best presentations of this message to me, but the whole album "The Fame" brought out this side of love, the way the world can be in love with someone and someone can be in love with, and earn and deserve, the love of the world. Romantic love is there, too, and playing both sides of a relationship, and a lot of "girl" perspective on different relationships, too, that our culture has neglected or underepresented. But being in love with the whole world was a major message for me, and I saw Gaga as the Lover of the World, the mysterious Bride of Christ, and the Goddess for the whole world, of Love and Art and more.
By contrast, "You and I" is more of a traditional love song, between two people. While I had been a bit of a holy fool and thought it was all about sex (and weed, ahem, "champagne") "You and I" reminded me of the love between two people, monogamy even, in a way that at first made me uncomfortable, ashamed even. In the course of the last month I have realized that I had rejected monogamy in a sense by seeing it as patriarchal but I have come to appreciate it's good qualities due to recent personal events, but also from hearing "You and I", and that's a story I can share.
When I first heard "You and I" I told my little monster friend Maesa that it was "the only song on the album that was not my very favorite - but I realize it's just because I am jealous of Luc Carl because I want Gaga to be in love with ME!" But I also could tell that this Gaga homage to monogamous love was a challenge for me to appreciate. But of course, Gaga ended up making the lesson easy. Yes, I had drastic personal events that taught me long-needed lessons, and I now more fully appreciate my lover. But even when I heard "You and I" and was not ready to think of myself as really monogamous I knew she was right in presenting this message and I knew I would have to learn it, though I still did not want to hear it yet. Even now I'm still flexible for a monogamist, but I actually appreciate the value of the monogamous side in a way I never did before. And Gaga made it easy to learn. It's a traditional love song, with some lines built in quoting her lover - but the choice to perform it as Jo Calderone just made it all come home for me: my belief that we really are all the Goddess becomes real, not just words, when she changes gender like that in this song about "the two of us". Love songs, the really good ones, can be for any love, between a man and a woman, two women, two men, or even two kings and a Queen ("Judas") or any combination. Gaga shows us how we are all the same, we are all in this love together and are just trying to be more together, better, and that's the real goal. For me, appreciating Gaga's love and longing for one person helped me realize that it IS "cool" to be in love with one person, and I truly am learning to care better for my lover, my "own...personal...gaga". And then she just drove the point home, well, he did, Jo Calderone. He is in love with Gaga just like I am, wanting to catch up with her, wanting to be the best I can be just to have shot. I do appreciate the idea that people can love the world more, even having more lovers than they generally expect, in more ways. But for me I have been insecure in love and not true enough to myself. I have been sure in my mind, but not in my actions. But now I have a better image of myself as a male, thanks to Jo Calderone, and I'm going with this lesson. It's true you have to love yourself, but one of the best ways to learn how to do this is by truly loving another.
I'm a kind of gnostic, I already felt like I knew a lot of these messages on "Born this Way" and was just like "Yeah, Gaga! Tell em about it!", but "You and I" was a big lesson for me, one that came with a real-life drama in my personal life that made other concerns, even revolutions!, seem petty to me, personally, in comparison. Having learned this lesson, or begun to, I feel I am a much more complete person. Ironically, it helps me get over a problem I have had with monogamy since being raised in a christian context that I had issues with. I realize that some of these issues were my own insecurity and there is value in that, so I appreciate an aspect of monogamy that I did not before, and can accept more variety in people, that it really is the best for some people, not a trap or ruse of christianity to oppress women. Just as I realized I had been duped in my impressions from christianity when I discovered that girls really like sex, too, I recently found out that girls really do like to have committed relationships, for healthy reasons, not just fear or expectation. Now, a lot of other problems I have with patriarchal christianity are actual problems that need to be addressed and reconciled, the church is just wrong about some things. And I really look forward to giving my play-by-play of Gaga's "cultural baptism", what I'm now calling an intervention for Christianity, because she is going to fix and heal it. But at the heart of it all is Love, and when we can love better, we can do everything better.
Jo Calderone gave us a clinic on this at the VMA's. Gaga is laying out the whole curriculum. Let's make the most of these days - we have full scholarships to Monster University, let's get the highest degrees in Love!
Oh, and I really like "You and I" now, it has joined all the other songs on "Born this Way" as my very favorite song. I haven't seent the video yet, but Jo Calderone completed the message for me, and it will always be the theme song for this transformational period in my life. And you know that's part of what she wanted to accomplish, tranfroming people so they can be their best. And I am happy for Gaga and Luc, for thier love, and for whoever else is lucky enough to be in love with her. And yeah, of course I would love for that to be me one day, I'm a fantasist of the highest order so I believe the impossible, but it really reminds me how lucky I am to be in love, to be with my lover, how awesome she is and how I will always cherish our moments together and seek the greatest love and togetherness as we chase each other around into the future years. Sometimes I fall behind and need to catch up to her - "I was an asshole" - but in the same way Gaga has taught me more about universal love, I'm learning from my lover, from myself, and from the divine inspiration of what Gaga is doing for all of us, the value of personal love and seeking it in its greatest truth and purity when you are lucky enough to be with someone. Sometimes its the longing from losing someone that reminds us of the true feelings - if we can learn this from a song without having to go completely through it, and save love, well, that is a blessing. Thanks Gaga, thanks Jo, I love ya'll, thanks for loving us.
And someone called him "King Jo" on facebook, reminding me how he is a great complimentary God to Goddess Gaga, or any lover to beloved - good for the passion and rage and action when necessary, knowing his place serving and catching up to his lover, and being a man who is real to her in pleasure, support, inspiration and grounding, without ever being an asshole again, being aware of that tendency and overcoming it, using that energy for good. I hope Gaga really does have that in another actual boy or girl, and I'm so happy I still have a chance to be with my lover again, I hope, but I am overcoming some of my deepest barriers to love and learning to be the best for her. Well, my neighbor invited me to plant a tree, so I will do the best I can for Mother now by wrapping this up going outside. Leaves Up!
But there is another lesson in the song, and in the Love between Jo and Gaga, one which she really is the best at sharing, which made me realize how divine she is, which made me conclude that she is the human incarnation of the Goddess in the way I had always hoped and expected a girl would be, and the world would recognize. I'm not really putting Gaga above the rest of us by saying she is the Goddess, but she is in a special place if she is the first person in a long time that so much of the world can see the Goddess in, and once we learn from her we start to see the Goddess in everyone - well, you can see why I say we may all be divine, we are all the Goddess, but Gaga is just better at it right now. But we can all be better at it, we can all manifest more of our divine nature. And Gaga shows us how.
This special place in Time that Gaga appears is between our past dismissive view of people and our future wonderous view of each other, recognizing the divine in everyone. It's the heart, the special center of the universe within everything that the scientists can't find - that's the special place in "space" that Gaga occupies. She is in all of us. She let us know early, and reminds us, in the divine inspiration of the lyrics. I mentioned "Paparazzi" in gagablog 31 and I can't say enough about it. Yes, I will be exporing Gaga's intervention for Christianity/Catholicism soon, but I realized I need to be a real typing monster and say all I can to keep up with Gaga. Love is in all of us, unites us, and is amazing and overwhelming and indescribable, and yet the person who can reveal it the best to the most is more direct experience of and pathway to the Goddess - rebirth of the Goddess in us. Gaga's lyrics have revealed the mystical secret of love to me in a way no other art has, and I will try to explain in my best remembrence of the Goddess.
"Paparazzi" is one of the best, most mystical songs to me because Gaga does that thing where she takes both sides of identity and perception itself. It's beyond genius, it's divine inspiration. And this is the nature of Love - its "between us" but really we are all it. While we still need to wake up and see how we are all connected, even deeper than that we are all the same consciousness. Just as your clearest thought in a trainyard messy mind is the Goddess of you in the moment, the person amongst us who can best express the Love that confounds all of us is the Goddess of the World in the current era. The best love songs show how love is between us - remind us of Love we feel for someone with the story of two other lovers, or love itself. Some songs manage to present both sides - duets, obviously, but songs that get into the real mystery of how we are all one, yet two people realizing their oneness is the mystical trick of love, do this in a more magical way. And "Paparazzi" takes it to another level entirely: I had just started paying real attention to Gaga, expecting the mystical from her, when I heard/saw "Paparrazzi" and it blew me away. She was playing both sides of the love mystery, not just for the song but to show us how we are all doing this. On one level she is the "fan" and the "star", the fan in love with the star and vice versa. But on another level she is the paparazzi, chasing the star "in love with her", and the star, chasing the paparazzi "in love with the love of the world". This is the perspective of the Goddess, to me: within all of us, sad for being unrecognized/unappreciated and doing anything to get our attention in each other and get us back into love. Its a perfect song, which shows how the One thing becomes Two, the Lovers, and how it all becomes 3 and 4 to infinity, with the perception of "others", which again are all reflections of "ourself" - the Goddess. How, by being two mirrors, and facing each other, with the "center of space" of Love between them, Gaga reflects her image infinitely - one becomes two becomes a google, and infinity.
"Paparazzi" was one of the best presentations of this message to me, but the whole album "The Fame" brought out this side of love, the way the world can be in love with someone and someone can be in love with, and earn and deserve, the love of the world. Romantic love is there, too, and playing both sides of a relationship, and a lot of "girl" perspective on different relationships, too, that our culture has neglected or underepresented. But being in love with the whole world was a major message for me, and I saw Gaga as the Lover of the World, the mysterious Bride of Christ, and the Goddess for the whole world, of Love and Art and more.
By contrast, "You and I" is more of a traditional love song, between two people. While I had been a bit of a holy fool and thought it was all about sex (and weed, ahem, "champagne") "You and I" reminded me of the love between two people, monogamy even, in a way that at first made me uncomfortable, ashamed even. In the course of the last month I have realized that I had rejected monogamy in a sense by seeing it as patriarchal but I have come to appreciate it's good qualities due to recent personal events, but also from hearing "You and I", and that's a story I can share.
When I first heard "You and I" I told my little monster friend Maesa that it was "the only song on the album that was not my very favorite - but I realize it's just because I am jealous of Luc Carl because I want Gaga to be in love with ME!" But I also could tell that this Gaga homage to monogamous love was a challenge for me to appreciate. But of course, Gaga ended up making the lesson easy. Yes, I had drastic personal events that taught me long-needed lessons, and I now more fully appreciate my lover. But even when I heard "You and I" and was not ready to think of myself as really monogamous I knew she was right in presenting this message and I knew I would have to learn it, though I still did not want to hear it yet. Even now I'm still flexible for a monogamist, but I actually appreciate the value of the monogamous side in a way I never did before. And Gaga made it easy to learn. It's a traditional love song, with some lines built in quoting her lover - but the choice to perform it as Jo Calderone just made it all come home for me: my belief that we really are all the Goddess becomes real, not just words, when she changes gender like that in this song about "the two of us". Love songs, the really good ones, can be for any love, between a man and a woman, two women, two men, or even two kings and a Queen ("Judas") or any combination. Gaga shows us how we are all the same, we are all in this love together and are just trying to be more together, better, and that's the real goal. For me, appreciating Gaga's love and longing for one person helped me realize that it IS "cool" to be in love with one person, and I truly am learning to care better for my lover, my "own...personal...gaga". And then she just drove the point home, well, he did, Jo Calderone. He is in love with Gaga just like I am, wanting to catch up with her, wanting to be the best I can be just to have shot. I do appreciate the idea that people can love the world more, even having more lovers than they generally expect, in more ways. But for me I have been insecure in love and not true enough to myself. I have been sure in my mind, but not in my actions. But now I have a better image of myself as a male, thanks to Jo Calderone, and I'm going with this lesson. It's true you have to love yourself, but one of the best ways to learn how to do this is by truly loving another.
I'm a kind of gnostic, I already felt like I knew a lot of these messages on "Born this Way" and was just like "Yeah, Gaga! Tell em about it!", but "You and I" was a big lesson for me, one that came with a real-life drama in my personal life that made other concerns, even revolutions!, seem petty to me, personally, in comparison. Having learned this lesson, or begun to, I feel I am a much more complete person. Ironically, it helps me get over a problem I have had with monogamy since being raised in a christian context that I had issues with. I realize that some of these issues were my own insecurity and there is value in that, so I appreciate an aspect of monogamy that I did not before, and can accept more variety in people, that it really is the best for some people, not a trap or ruse of christianity to oppress women. Just as I realized I had been duped in my impressions from christianity when I discovered that girls really like sex, too, I recently found out that girls really do like to have committed relationships, for healthy reasons, not just fear or expectation. Now, a lot of other problems I have with patriarchal christianity are actual problems that need to be addressed and reconciled, the church is just wrong about some things. And I really look forward to giving my play-by-play of Gaga's "cultural baptism", what I'm now calling an intervention for Christianity, because she is going to fix and heal it. But at the heart of it all is Love, and when we can love better, we can do everything better.
Jo Calderone gave us a clinic on this at the VMA's. Gaga is laying out the whole curriculum. Let's make the most of these days - we have full scholarships to Monster University, let's get the highest degrees in Love!
Oh, and I really like "You and I" now, it has joined all the other songs on "Born this Way" as my very favorite song. I haven't seent the video yet, but Jo Calderone completed the message for me, and it will always be the theme song for this transformational period in my life. And you know that's part of what she wanted to accomplish, tranfroming people so they can be their best. And I am happy for Gaga and Luc, for thier love, and for whoever else is lucky enough to be in love with her. And yeah, of course I would love for that to be me one day, I'm a fantasist of the highest order so I believe the impossible, but it really reminds me how lucky I am to be in love, to be with my lover, how awesome she is and how I will always cherish our moments together and seek the greatest love and togetherness as we chase each other around into the future years. Sometimes I fall behind and need to catch up to her - "I was an asshole" - but in the same way Gaga has taught me more about universal love, I'm learning from my lover, from myself, and from the divine inspiration of what Gaga is doing for all of us, the value of personal love and seeking it in its greatest truth and purity when you are lucky enough to be with someone. Sometimes its the longing from losing someone that reminds us of the true feelings - if we can learn this from a song without having to go completely through it, and save love, well, that is a blessing. Thanks Gaga, thanks Jo, I love ya'll, thanks for loving us.
And someone called him "King Jo" on facebook, reminding me how he is a great complimentary God to Goddess Gaga, or any lover to beloved - good for the passion and rage and action when necessary, knowing his place serving and catching up to his lover, and being a man who is real to her in pleasure, support, inspiration and grounding, without ever being an asshole again, being aware of that tendency and overcoming it, using that energy for good. I hope Gaga really does have that in another actual boy or girl, and I'm so happy I still have a chance to be with my lover again, I hope, but I am overcoming some of my deepest barriers to love and learning to be the best for her. Well, my neighbor invited me to plant a tree, so I will do the best I can for Mother now by wrapping this up going outside. Leaves Up!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Jofesto "You (are Jo) and I (am You)" gagablog 31
"Yeah, I was with Gaga. Of course I went crazy for her - wouldn't you? And I was a jerk - but I'm a guy and that's what we're like, right? ("We're the bad guys remember?, we're SUPPOSED to do bad things to people!" - a villianess from Corrector Yui) We always make this mean face like there's a motor giving us trouble and we have to show it who's boss. I wanted her to see through all that, but I couldn't stay with her. I thought when she got rich and famous, the negativity would melt away, but I didn't get that chance, did I? It's my own fault, I know and now she is a world away. What am I supposed to do, overcome all the faults and conditioning of my gender for her?"
Yes, we do have to overcome the limitations of our personalities, our gender, our human nature, for love. Gaga inspires us to do this, shows us how, and reminds us to do it. "When I'm on a mission, I rebuke my condition, when you're a strong female, you don't need permission." - from "SheiSe". As Jo Calderone she made me realize how much I still rage to get that spotlight myself - at one time with negative motivation, with the desire to show people I felt rejected by, then with positive motivation, to get famous to meet Gaga, and now with reconciling intention, for "myself/the world".
I Love how Gaga changes things up, plays both sides of Love. Jo, too. But it's one thing I fell in love with about Gaga, how she does this mystical thing of taking both sides. "Paparazzi" is an example that proved her divinity to me, being the Star and the Eyes Upon Her at the same time in the song, herself the star and the lover of the star - to me, it's a perfect presentation of the divine's experience, the way the Goddess feels within all of us and calling us back to Her. She is seeking herself in us and our desire for her, simply to remove the barriers that keep us from realizing we ARE her.
Jo was Gaga last night on the VMA's and I'm so proud of him. You can't be jealous of people you love, who get to do and be what you want, like Gaga's lover, you just have to be happy for them. I am so happy for Jo last night, he rocked it, and Brittany will certainly regret that she passed a chance to kiss him! He is a star, and he reminds me that's what I want, too. He inspires me to take that spotlight. And he taught me a lesson: I may have "never wanted to be a man" (Boy George) because I did not see the role models I wanted - the spiritual men were presented as not having enough sex for my taste, and the ones who had lots of sex seemed to often be assholes, and I couldn't reconcile it, not wanting to be an asshole. But I have come to realize that my masculine passion and power can be put to good use, both in love and for Art in loving the world. And I can be tough in persuing the fame to put the spotlight on love.
Okay, I'm jealous of Jo for ever being with Gaga, I'm jealous of him for having a chance with her now, as he grabs that light. But let's face it, he's a lesson to us: Don't be an asshole. And when you get your priorities straight, realize what you are really mad about and use art to change that, not the girl you love. And you love can make you do the best for the world - hopefully together but if not, in trying to catch up and be good enough, like Jo. Damn, he gets me going, makes me glad, proud, FINALLY to be a dude. Thank Gaga for a positive male role model, one who is getting going right for once.
And before I end this, with so much more to say, how hilarious were the looks of some of the other artists in the crowd at the VMA's, who apparently have not seen art before? oh my! A guy on the internet who lives in Japan showed me Jo Calderone photos over a year ago, months before the news hit America last year - monsters are on top of it, but some celebs have never even seen Jo before, apparently! ha ha, Paws Up!
Jo, you fucking rock! Go for it, man, you are an inspiration. .....but I('ll) love Gaga better!
Oh, I know I promised "Gaga Intervention for Christianity" - but I did not know of the VMA event at the time. And that has BEEN the deal, there is more time to talk about it. Gaga is going to reconcile this tragedy that is centuries old - "Jesus is the new black", she's giving us the "cultural baptism." I'll do a little sermon over it next time, okay? Love ya, Gaga, Jo, and fellow monsters!
Yes, we do have to overcome the limitations of our personalities, our gender, our human nature, for love. Gaga inspires us to do this, shows us how, and reminds us to do it. "When I'm on a mission, I rebuke my condition, when you're a strong female, you don't need permission." - from "SheiSe". As Jo Calderone she made me realize how much I still rage to get that spotlight myself - at one time with negative motivation, with the desire to show people I felt rejected by, then with positive motivation, to get famous to meet Gaga, and now with reconciling intention, for "myself/the world".
I Love how Gaga changes things up, plays both sides of Love. Jo, too. But it's one thing I fell in love with about Gaga, how she does this mystical thing of taking both sides. "Paparazzi" is an example that proved her divinity to me, being the Star and the Eyes Upon Her at the same time in the song, herself the star and the lover of the star - to me, it's a perfect presentation of the divine's experience, the way the Goddess feels within all of us and calling us back to Her. She is seeking herself in us and our desire for her, simply to remove the barriers that keep us from realizing we ARE her.
Jo was Gaga last night on the VMA's and I'm so proud of him. You can't be jealous of people you love, who get to do and be what you want, like Gaga's lover, you just have to be happy for them. I am so happy for Jo last night, he rocked it, and Brittany will certainly regret that she passed a chance to kiss him! He is a star, and he reminds me that's what I want, too. He inspires me to take that spotlight. And he taught me a lesson: I may have "never wanted to be a man" (Boy George) because I did not see the role models I wanted - the spiritual men were presented as not having enough sex for my taste, and the ones who had lots of sex seemed to often be assholes, and I couldn't reconcile it, not wanting to be an asshole. But I have come to realize that my masculine passion and power can be put to good use, both in love and for Art in loving the world. And I can be tough in persuing the fame to put the spotlight on love.
Okay, I'm jealous of Jo for ever being with Gaga, I'm jealous of him for having a chance with her now, as he grabs that light. But let's face it, he's a lesson to us: Don't be an asshole. And when you get your priorities straight, realize what you are really mad about and use art to change that, not the girl you love. And you love can make you do the best for the world - hopefully together but if not, in trying to catch up and be good enough, like Jo. Damn, he gets me going, makes me glad, proud, FINALLY to be a dude. Thank Gaga for a positive male role model, one who is getting going right for once.
And before I end this, with so much more to say, how hilarious were the looks of some of the other artists in the crowd at the VMA's, who apparently have not seen art before? oh my! A guy on the internet who lives in Japan showed me Jo Calderone photos over a year ago, months before the news hit America last year - monsters are on top of it, but some celebs have never even seen Jo before, apparently! ha ha, Paws Up!
Jo, you fucking rock! Go for it, man, you are an inspiration. .....but I('ll) love Gaga better!
Oh, I know I promised "Gaga Intervention for Christianity" - but I did not know of the VMA event at the time. And that has BEEN the deal, there is more time to talk about it. Gaga is going to reconcile this tragedy that is centuries old - "Jesus is the new black", she's giving us the "cultural baptism." I'll do a little sermon over it next time, okay? Love ya, Gaga, Jo, and fellow monsters!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
"I'm a Monster of Typing!" gagablog 30
I hang over the screen like a gargoyle, a raptor clawing at words. I bat this yarn around with my Paws and draw threads out of it, we chase and dance and tangle it into stories around the furniture legs. It only takes a few hooked talons to pluck letters from their legs and into the sky, and every so often a ringman slips in too, or even a magic pinky.
Gaga inspires the living fuck out of me, I'm so far behind all she does, and madly typing to catch up. I'm about to work on my fantasy story, that I've been typing for almost 5 years, on and off - it only took two years to come up with it and write it by hand! But now I'm a monster of typing - from raving about Gaga on the internet, from writing this extensive blog (see below! ha ha).....
So I still have to watch my tape of her performance on So You Think You Can Dance, I still have to watch the video for "You and I" and so much more she does that I would like to honor and comment on. Thanks to the thousands of other Little Monsters around the world who keep me posted on her via Facebook, and especial thanks to those of you who read this blog. I expect it will be looked back on in the future when people want to understand the emergence of Gaga, so I really want to write it Now. For decades I have been somewhat putting off my own creative work to do "regular work", but since I'm now a monster of typing thanks to Gaga I can start knocking out my books. And success from my books will enable me to afford more art supplies and more time to make music, and more time to devote to words of praise for Gaga. I can do my best to increase love in the world by truly loving myself, not selfishly but in order to better Love.
I will finish my book, though, soon, and am very excited about it, after 7 years in the making. But I'm also extremely excited about my next gagablog, "Gaga's Intervention for Christianity", a major focus since "Born This Way" was released, and I hope that I can write about it in a way that is worthy of Gaga's divine inspiration and purpose.
Check back soon, it won't be long - I'm a monster of typing!
Gaga inspires the living fuck out of me, I'm so far behind all she does, and madly typing to catch up. I'm about to work on my fantasy story, that I've been typing for almost 5 years, on and off - it only took two years to come up with it and write it by hand! But now I'm a monster of typing - from raving about Gaga on the internet, from writing this extensive blog (see below! ha ha).....
So I still have to watch my tape of her performance on So You Think You Can Dance, I still have to watch the video for "You and I" and so much more she does that I would like to honor and comment on. Thanks to the thousands of other Little Monsters around the world who keep me posted on her via Facebook, and especial thanks to those of you who read this blog. I expect it will be looked back on in the future when people want to understand the emergence of Gaga, so I really want to write it Now. For decades I have been somewhat putting off my own creative work to do "regular work", but since I'm now a monster of typing thanks to Gaga I can start knocking out my books. And success from my books will enable me to afford more art supplies and more time to make music, and more time to devote to words of praise for Gaga. I can do my best to increase love in the world by truly loving myself, not selfishly but in order to better Love.
I will finish my book, though, soon, and am very excited about it, after 7 years in the making. But I'm also extremely excited about my next gagablog, "Gaga's Intervention for Christianity", a major focus since "Born This Way" was released, and I hope that I can write about it in a way that is worthy of Gaga's divine inspiration and purpose.
Check back soon, it won't be long - I'm a monster of typing!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Gagafesto "Gaga and High Magic, Libyan Revolution, 'It's over, Frizz-head'" gagablog 29
The idea that a butterfly's wings cause a hurricane on the other side of the world is a silly cliche, but there is magical truth in it. Everything is connected, and there is divinity in the connections - well, there is divinity in everything, but we tend to focus on the seperateness of things, the sad reality, and ignore the glorious mystery of connectedness. When we do remember that we are all one, we can see it all from the point of view of the mystery, the connections within everything. Love is the essential reality, the ultimate truth, and uderlies and encompasses everything, but if we are stuck on the separateness we don't feel it. Separation is an illusion, "but a very persistent one" as Claude Ansin Thomas told me. It is false, contradicting the truth of Love, but ultimately it is not real and will falter. And all that is built on the idea of separation, the denial of love, will crumble, whether it be unloving relationships or oppressive rule of countries. While we are all divine, if we are caught up in the illusion of separation we don't feel divine, and look to those people who have transcended it for clues and links to the divine. Unfortunately in the modern mentality, transcending "separation" is equated with being rich, overcoming struggle - and "ironically" entering a secluded class, based on materialist hierarchy, which of course only increases separation. While riches don't prevent people from being spiritual, it is impossible for people to be satisfied with riches for their own sake with the idea that money will help them overcome the unlovely feeling of separation, and persuing riches like that only increases it by reinforcing the focus on separate, limited material side of the world, and in the case of greed it even separates other people further from the things that they need. Riches are fine, can be great even if they are sought after and used as a means to increase love, though, instead of an end themselves. The trick that was played on us was to replace seeking love with seeking money, and the trick we need to do to be happy is switch it back and seek love instead of money.
Gaga says it perfectly in "Edge of glory" when she says "with fame and wishes earned, with you I'd watch them all be burned" - all the success in the world does not compare to love and is at best a road to love. She implies that there is a danger to "worldy power" if it stands in the way of love in "Heavy Metal Lover" when she says "I could be your girl girl girl, girl girl girl, but would you love me if I ruled the world?". Coming from Gaga this is a legitimate, realistic question - and one of my favorite lyrics ever. Because she COULD rule the world, but she would choose not to if her lover was too "metal" to love her if she did.
This is the lesson that dictators need to learn. Does all their power, does 144 tons of gold, make anyone Love you more? Are you possibly on the wrong, even opposite track, fighting against love for greater separation, a futile fight for an illusion? As I type this, the news on CNN at about 5:30 AM EST on August 22, 2011, they are saying this could be noted as the historic day when the rebels won Libya. There have been fluid reports, which is what prompted me to write this gagablog tonight, and just a few minutes ago they reported that one of the three main areas in Tripoli where there was still fighting, the pro-Gaddafi forces had just surrendered.
I predicted a "surprise twist" that would allow the rebels to win with less bloodshed and was reminded of that when I heard that one turning point was when the rebels reached Tripoli and one of the main guard forces there surrendered in mass - because the commander was secretly allied with the rebels since Gaddafi had his brother executed years ago. This whole Gagablog is based on High Magic, in which intention can produce fantastic results. A butterfly, or thought, that produces an event on the other side of the world. I like to play with this magic, to see what events can be invoked or influenced. I don't know if Gaga would think like this herself or not, I suspect she is "higher" than even the Highest Magic and is just doing her thing ("symbolism was left behind" - from "Black Jesus t Amen Fashion")
To me, "her thing" is being the Goddess. People get cranky when I say that sometimes, and Im not saying that they are not divine themselves, just that Gaga "really" is, that for me she is "especially" divine. I have a lot of philosophical and spiritual belief about love, but I don't always feel it, I often feel separated and alone myself, and I hate it. Gaga specifically reached out with love for all the "freaks" in the world, and all people are missing love in ways, but some of us really stuck out and missed out more, and Gaga is so wonderful for loving us "first", those of us whom the rest of the world waited to love last. To me she is Love itself, the Goddess, manifest fully in this reality, complete with different looks everyday and is the Goddess within every different person/image. It's no "coincidence" that her emergence in fame occured with a cultural change in attitude and policies regarding gay people - she was a very vocal proponent of this change - but I also am not at all surprised that as her popularity increases people are seeking freedom and gaining it around the world.
This is High Magic. I don't do spells, I don't call for help, "I" don't hardly do anything. It's like how I became a math genius - at a young age I realized there was an answer, in the back of the book, and if I got it wrong it was nothing to feel bad about. With faith that it was there, it took the pressure off, let the answer meet me halfway. Love is the answer and we should know and have faith we will find it in the end, or before, somewhere in the back of the book. With that faith we can be bold seeking the freedom to enjoy it. Love is the key and the door and the light on the other side. Gaga loves us all, even and especially those of us who have felt unloved. If we can accept it we can feel good, we can love ourselves and not fall for greed. Even a dictator can give up his power for love and have a chance. But Gaddafi is showing how the quest for power and money instead of love is so wrong: clinging to power and maintaining the great gulf of separation between him and his people is so destructive, and he is so far into it he can't salvage even a little respect by giving up the tiny power he has left, order his troops to surrender, and save some lives. And as they talk of the rebels surrounding his compound as I type this, he might lose his own life as well in that stubborness.
I talk about this for two reasons - one, we all have stubborness and can all learn "little lessons" for ourselves from the archetypes in this big historical lesson of revolutions. But I also talk about it for Magic. This is the way I understand High Magic - it is using a truth and manifesting it. Like "The Secret" and the law of attraction, anything can happen - those methods suggest you can even become a dictator and have 144 tons of gold, and you "can" - but do you really want to? High Magic is above the law of attraction, because while recognizing that anything is possible, only the best things are truly lasting. The best, Love, is available to us all, in fact, the "I" may be the only thing standing in the way of experiencing it. So it can almost be the "opposite" of the Secret, - its the Open Truth - that while you can "get" anything you want with the law of attraction, what we truly want is love and you can't "get" it any more than you can take it from someone else - you can only accept that we already are it, share it - thats the only way for love and the way to be in love the most.
How does High Magic influence revolutions? For me, it is as simple as expecting it. I know how ridiculous it sounds to say that Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" album release caused the Egyptian revolution - but I said it anyway, predicted it, and expected it, and it happened. Like I said in my last gagablog entry, you do not have to be psychic at all to predict that this is the eve of victory for the Libyan rebels, well, maybe a little bit - but I have faith that truth is on their side so they have to win. Coming right out and saying it is not really risking anything, but if anyone sees how these events can be connected then I hope it will show some of the glory of Gaga, of the Truth of Love itself.
I do want this entry to mark the end of Gaddafi's oppressive regime in Libya - I have more to say about it, of course, but am rambling on so long already I "fear" that they will find Gaddafi and end this conclusively before I finish typing! High Magic is in play whether we recognize it or not. While I am intentionally focusing on "improbable" connections to sense these things from the highest possible perspective, I think Gaga is above focusing on it at all, and I think most people would be completely unaware of this kind of thinking altogether - and yet are unwitting participants in it.
I was thinking of how last night they were reporting the celebration in "Green Square" in Tripoli, then throughout the night suggesting that might have been premature since there was still fighting in parts of the city. Of course, with "fingers crossed" I was pleased to hear that the rebels continued to make gains, I heard the report about that battalion defecting in the middle of the night, and a few hours later that one of the loyalists neighborhoods where there was fighting was now negotiating surrender. I wondered why they would report the celebration as if they had already won when they had not, when it still "could" go the other way. And I concluded it is a matter of perception - the more people who are convinced the rebels have won, the more they will come out and contribute to making it happen for sure - they will manifest it. It may be excited media, but the scenes I have seen look like they really have taken Tripoli, and the more the world sees those images the more we will all manifest that reality. And practically, when people see more of what is to come they can get more involved supporting it. Awareness is key for people closeby - if the people directly involved, such as the pro-Gaddafi forces, can get some awareness, even that they are not fighting foreigners or Al- Queda as they were told, but other Libyans, well, that awareness can cause whole groups to defect and save lives. I am not involved in the situation, I don't have power other than my ideas, but in trying to increase awareness both of the events in Libya and the correlating events in our own hearts, I feel like I am doing my part to focus on the Truth of Love and encourage people that the greatest power is with us when we act boldly and bravely for love, freedom, and justice. I am following Gaga and sharing the message of love, even in the strangest of terms, because it is the ultimate truth, even when it is weird. Some would doubt a magical connection between Gaga, this gagablog, and World events, maybe I am really not doing anything and only imagining a connection, or maybe that imagined connection is enough of a butterfly to make a difference - either way, I was not doing anything better to help, and it's worth a shot. And if it actually requires high magic of this kind, well, maybe I'm the only one to do it so it's my duty, what I have to do, to help people.
The important factor seems to be awareness - are people in the area aware of a successful revolution and joining it? Are people around the world aware of the situation and supporting it? I am saddened by our general level of awareness in America, as respresented by the news media essentially asking if spending $1.5 billion in Libya was "worth it" when an estimated 13,000 Libyans were killed by Gaddafi, like this is some kind of long division problem with a "correct" answer. Dollar valuations of life show how stuck on separation we are as a society, we are so sick with it, but we can get better, we have to. Love is what we all crave, and people will come together for love, freedom, and justice. The chant in the Square in Tripoli last night was "It's over, Frizz-head", their name mocking Gaddafi's crazyhair. Frizz-heads everywhere's days are numbered. The fallacy of seeking money instead of love has been exposed at every level. And as they are discussing him on the news, as a unique world leader for he extent of his rage and mood swings and craziness, I am reminded that I can't act all superior to him, when I also can get very enraged, moody and crazy-acting. If I want him out of power in the world, how much more do I want that anger out of power in myself?
This is High Magic. You do in yourself what you want in the world, with the goal of love if you want it to last, with the faith that the connections and magic will make it happen. This is why Gaga is the Goddess. I may want to love myself better, may see that as essential to loving he world better - but if I am caught up in an unlovely feeling its great to have someone love me and remind me. I have been fortunate to have someone love me at times, but when I don't, or for people who don't, for the world at large, we all need a reminder of love, someone who loves the whole world. Gaga loves us all, and you know what? We will love her when she rules the world - we will love everything more. And we will still be metal for fun and style, some of us, but there won't be all this evil to rebel against. Paws up for Gaga! Paws up for Revolution! It's over, Frizz-head!
Gaga says it perfectly in "Edge of glory" when she says "with fame and wishes earned, with you I'd watch them all be burned" - all the success in the world does not compare to love and is at best a road to love. She implies that there is a danger to "worldy power" if it stands in the way of love in "Heavy Metal Lover" when she says "I could be your girl girl girl, girl girl girl, but would you love me if I ruled the world?". Coming from Gaga this is a legitimate, realistic question - and one of my favorite lyrics ever. Because she COULD rule the world, but she would choose not to if her lover was too "metal" to love her if she did.
This is the lesson that dictators need to learn. Does all their power, does 144 tons of gold, make anyone Love you more? Are you possibly on the wrong, even opposite track, fighting against love for greater separation, a futile fight for an illusion? As I type this, the news on CNN at about 5:30 AM EST on August 22, 2011, they are saying this could be noted as the historic day when the rebels won Libya. There have been fluid reports, which is what prompted me to write this gagablog tonight, and just a few minutes ago they reported that one of the three main areas in Tripoli where there was still fighting, the pro-Gaddafi forces had just surrendered.
I predicted a "surprise twist" that would allow the rebels to win with less bloodshed and was reminded of that when I heard that one turning point was when the rebels reached Tripoli and one of the main guard forces there surrendered in mass - because the commander was secretly allied with the rebels since Gaddafi had his brother executed years ago. This whole Gagablog is based on High Magic, in which intention can produce fantastic results. A butterfly, or thought, that produces an event on the other side of the world. I like to play with this magic, to see what events can be invoked or influenced. I don't know if Gaga would think like this herself or not, I suspect she is "higher" than even the Highest Magic and is just doing her thing ("symbolism was left behind" - from "Black Jesus t Amen Fashion")
To me, "her thing" is being the Goddess. People get cranky when I say that sometimes, and Im not saying that they are not divine themselves, just that Gaga "really" is, that for me she is "especially" divine. I have a lot of philosophical and spiritual belief about love, but I don't always feel it, I often feel separated and alone myself, and I hate it. Gaga specifically reached out with love for all the "freaks" in the world, and all people are missing love in ways, but some of us really stuck out and missed out more, and Gaga is so wonderful for loving us "first", those of us whom the rest of the world waited to love last. To me she is Love itself, the Goddess, manifest fully in this reality, complete with different looks everyday and is the Goddess within every different person/image. It's no "coincidence" that her emergence in fame occured with a cultural change in attitude and policies regarding gay people - she was a very vocal proponent of this change - but I also am not at all surprised that as her popularity increases people are seeking freedom and gaining it around the world.
This is High Magic. I don't do spells, I don't call for help, "I" don't hardly do anything. It's like how I became a math genius - at a young age I realized there was an answer, in the back of the book, and if I got it wrong it was nothing to feel bad about. With faith that it was there, it took the pressure off, let the answer meet me halfway. Love is the answer and we should know and have faith we will find it in the end, or before, somewhere in the back of the book. With that faith we can be bold seeking the freedom to enjoy it. Love is the key and the door and the light on the other side. Gaga loves us all, even and especially those of us who have felt unloved. If we can accept it we can feel good, we can love ourselves and not fall for greed. Even a dictator can give up his power for love and have a chance. But Gaddafi is showing how the quest for power and money instead of love is so wrong: clinging to power and maintaining the great gulf of separation between him and his people is so destructive, and he is so far into it he can't salvage even a little respect by giving up the tiny power he has left, order his troops to surrender, and save some lives. And as they talk of the rebels surrounding his compound as I type this, he might lose his own life as well in that stubborness.
I talk about this for two reasons - one, we all have stubborness and can all learn "little lessons" for ourselves from the archetypes in this big historical lesson of revolutions. But I also talk about it for Magic. This is the way I understand High Magic - it is using a truth and manifesting it. Like "The Secret" and the law of attraction, anything can happen - those methods suggest you can even become a dictator and have 144 tons of gold, and you "can" - but do you really want to? High Magic is above the law of attraction, because while recognizing that anything is possible, only the best things are truly lasting. The best, Love, is available to us all, in fact, the "I" may be the only thing standing in the way of experiencing it. So it can almost be the "opposite" of the Secret, - its the Open Truth - that while you can "get" anything you want with the law of attraction, what we truly want is love and you can't "get" it any more than you can take it from someone else - you can only accept that we already are it, share it - thats the only way for love and the way to be in love the most.
How does High Magic influence revolutions? For me, it is as simple as expecting it. I know how ridiculous it sounds to say that Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" album release caused the Egyptian revolution - but I said it anyway, predicted it, and expected it, and it happened. Like I said in my last gagablog entry, you do not have to be psychic at all to predict that this is the eve of victory for the Libyan rebels, well, maybe a little bit - but I have faith that truth is on their side so they have to win. Coming right out and saying it is not really risking anything, but if anyone sees how these events can be connected then I hope it will show some of the glory of Gaga, of the Truth of Love itself.
I do want this entry to mark the end of Gaddafi's oppressive regime in Libya - I have more to say about it, of course, but am rambling on so long already I "fear" that they will find Gaddafi and end this conclusively before I finish typing! High Magic is in play whether we recognize it or not. While I am intentionally focusing on "improbable" connections to sense these things from the highest possible perspective, I think Gaga is above focusing on it at all, and I think most people would be completely unaware of this kind of thinking altogether - and yet are unwitting participants in it.
I was thinking of how last night they were reporting the celebration in "Green Square" in Tripoli, then throughout the night suggesting that might have been premature since there was still fighting in parts of the city. Of course, with "fingers crossed" I was pleased to hear that the rebels continued to make gains, I heard the report about that battalion defecting in the middle of the night, and a few hours later that one of the loyalists neighborhoods where there was fighting was now negotiating surrender. I wondered why they would report the celebration as if they had already won when they had not, when it still "could" go the other way. And I concluded it is a matter of perception - the more people who are convinced the rebels have won, the more they will come out and contribute to making it happen for sure - they will manifest it. It may be excited media, but the scenes I have seen look like they really have taken Tripoli, and the more the world sees those images the more we will all manifest that reality. And practically, when people see more of what is to come they can get more involved supporting it. Awareness is key for people closeby - if the people directly involved, such as the pro-Gaddafi forces, can get some awareness, even that they are not fighting foreigners or Al- Queda as they were told, but other Libyans, well, that awareness can cause whole groups to defect and save lives. I am not involved in the situation, I don't have power other than my ideas, but in trying to increase awareness both of the events in Libya and the correlating events in our own hearts, I feel like I am doing my part to focus on the Truth of Love and encourage people that the greatest power is with us when we act boldly and bravely for love, freedom, and justice. I am following Gaga and sharing the message of love, even in the strangest of terms, because it is the ultimate truth, even when it is weird. Some would doubt a magical connection between Gaga, this gagablog, and World events, maybe I am really not doing anything and only imagining a connection, or maybe that imagined connection is enough of a butterfly to make a difference - either way, I was not doing anything better to help, and it's worth a shot. And if it actually requires high magic of this kind, well, maybe I'm the only one to do it so it's my duty, what I have to do, to help people.
The important factor seems to be awareness - are people in the area aware of a successful revolution and joining it? Are people around the world aware of the situation and supporting it? I am saddened by our general level of awareness in America, as respresented by the news media essentially asking if spending $1.5 billion in Libya was "worth it" when an estimated 13,000 Libyans were killed by Gaddafi, like this is some kind of long division problem with a "correct" answer. Dollar valuations of life show how stuck on separation we are as a society, we are so sick with it, but we can get better, we have to. Love is what we all crave, and people will come together for love, freedom, and justice. The chant in the Square in Tripoli last night was "It's over, Frizz-head", their name mocking Gaddafi's crazyhair. Frizz-heads everywhere's days are numbered. The fallacy of seeking money instead of love has been exposed at every level. And as they are discussing him on the news, as a unique world leader for he extent of his rage and mood swings and craziness, I am reminded that I can't act all superior to him, when I also can get very enraged, moody and crazy-acting. If I want him out of power in the world, how much more do I want that anger out of power in myself?
This is High Magic. You do in yourself what you want in the world, with the goal of love if you want it to last, with the faith that the connections and magic will make it happen. This is why Gaga is the Goddess. I may want to love myself better, may see that as essential to loving he world better - but if I am caught up in an unlovely feeling its great to have someone love me and remind me. I have been fortunate to have someone love me at times, but when I don't, or for people who don't, for the world at large, we all need a reminder of love, someone who loves the whole world. Gaga loves us all, and you know what? We will love her when she rules the world - we will love everything more. And we will still be metal for fun and style, some of us, but there won't be all this evil to rebel against. Paws up for Gaga! Paws up for Revolution! It's over, Frizz-head!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Gagafesto "'Follow me!' - don't you believe her, monsters?" gagablog 28
I know the idea that Gaga is especially manifesting the Goddess may be strange to some people - it works for me and I don't expect everyone to relate. It makes sense that she has such christian connotations in "Born this Way" and that while so many christian taditions have denied and repressed the Goddess, Gaga is renewing or transforming those traditions as she emerges as a Goddess figure even in a christian context.
And the christian context of Love, the message of Jesus, not all the bullshit that has become associated with it, is perfect for Gaga. Especially the liberation theology of christianity, that love gives us the power to overcome oppressors.
Gaga has never claimed to be a Goddess, I don't think, she would probably laugh at me or think I was another cute fan. I can see her that way, as a Goddess for the world, and I do think it fits with her art and mission, but personally I seek to see the Goddess in my lover - but Gaga is like a lover for the whole world. The love of Jesus, or Gaga, is intended to make us brave and strong in the face of injustice, and one of the greatest things christianity has done, if not the greatest thing, is giving hope to oppressed people. Its so ironic that the right wing of the church in america has been the oppressor of gay people instead of helping liberate them, for example, and this is why it is fitting for Gaga to renew and modernize the liberating love message, and transform those intitutions that got it wrong in the process.
I know in my previous gagablogs I linked the release of "Born this Way" with the liberation of people in Egypt. I know this might only be comprehensible in some magical way, and maybe not even in those terms! - but it works for me to see parallels in the world in expressions of liberation. And I truly believe that history shows that justice will be done, sometimes slowly, and sometime quickly.
I have been meaning, for months, to say whatever I could to "prompt" the needed historical event of removing Gaddafi from power. I did not know what to say, I hate to wish for anyone's death, and was hoping for a "surprise twist" that would result in peaceful transformation in that country. Recently, seeing the news that Mubarak is being tried for crimes while he clung to power in Egypt, I think the message is that justice will be done and the power of dictators is crumbling, one way and another. The tide is turning against those who hold power by force, all of them ultimately, including the monied powers that control so much of Western governments, as is being exposed in the FOX/NewsCorp scandal with their influence in the Brittish government - and will hopefully soon be exposed more in America. The atrocities in Lybia have been horrendous, and are long overdue to end. The current news seems to be that the rebels have surrounded his compound, so I surely hope that this is my last occasion to write about it until it reaches a better conclusion.
But even as I type that I remember that there are still struggles in other countries, still struggles in Egypt even, and recently terrible violence in Iraq - it seems like there is just not enough awareness to go around for all the problems in the world, especially when we all have our own personal problems to contend with, which may seem petty in some intellectual comparison but always feel even more important to us.
I guess I feel like we fear our hearts are too small, and yet we hopefully have felt at least a glimpse of the vast expanse of love, from our families or lovers, hopefully, but I even feel it truly from Gaga, and from the world itself and creatures in it. And it all goes into teaching me to love myself, and realize how much is possible with love. Love is ultimately what lets us speak up and even fight for our freedom, and love is right and will win out. When we are on the side of love we have all the power and security of truth on our side so that we can accomplish anything, even what seems impossible. Love of freedom and justice can overthrow countries, but even more powerfully, love for another person can overthrow the tyrant of ego in each of us - we can be liberated from our personal dramas and empowered by love with our lovers when we are truly in love and believe in it. With the vast power of love on our side, we won't feel small compared to it, we will feel our part in it, and be able to help others, help the whole world, and reach the greatest good for all.
Gaga reminds me that I'm part of this vast love already, not to give into the fear of feeling separate from it no matter what the circumstances. That gives me the confidence to be brave and bold and patient in my personal life and I realize that loving myself, my lover, and the world can and should all grow together in harmony. We do have the power of love on our side, the security that it is true and justice will prevail, and we can do so much more when we act with his knowledge. Gaga may not "be" the goddess to other people, but her message of love and its liberating power is divine, its Truth. She might not say she is the Goddess, but she has said her lyrics are divinely inspired - don't you believe her, monsters? Love is true, and for us all. And where we struggle with injustice, we will survive!
And the christian context of Love, the message of Jesus, not all the bullshit that has become associated with it, is perfect for Gaga. Especially the liberation theology of christianity, that love gives us the power to overcome oppressors.
Gaga has never claimed to be a Goddess, I don't think, she would probably laugh at me or think I was another cute fan. I can see her that way, as a Goddess for the world, and I do think it fits with her art and mission, but personally I seek to see the Goddess in my lover - but Gaga is like a lover for the whole world. The love of Jesus, or Gaga, is intended to make us brave and strong in the face of injustice, and one of the greatest things christianity has done, if not the greatest thing, is giving hope to oppressed people. Its so ironic that the right wing of the church in america has been the oppressor of gay people instead of helping liberate them, for example, and this is why it is fitting for Gaga to renew and modernize the liberating love message, and transform those intitutions that got it wrong in the process.
I know in my previous gagablogs I linked the release of "Born this Way" with the liberation of people in Egypt. I know this might only be comprehensible in some magical way, and maybe not even in those terms! - but it works for me to see parallels in the world in expressions of liberation. And I truly believe that history shows that justice will be done, sometimes slowly, and sometime quickly.
I have been meaning, for months, to say whatever I could to "prompt" the needed historical event of removing Gaddafi from power. I did not know what to say, I hate to wish for anyone's death, and was hoping for a "surprise twist" that would result in peaceful transformation in that country. Recently, seeing the news that Mubarak is being tried for crimes while he clung to power in Egypt, I think the message is that justice will be done and the power of dictators is crumbling, one way and another. The tide is turning against those who hold power by force, all of them ultimately, including the monied powers that control so much of Western governments, as is being exposed in the FOX/NewsCorp scandal with their influence in the Brittish government - and will hopefully soon be exposed more in America. The atrocities in Lybia have been horrendous, and are long overdue to end. The current news seems to be that the rebels have surrounded his compound, so I surely hope that this is my last occasion to write about it until it reaches a better conclusion.
But even as I type that I remember that there are still struggles in other countries, still struggles in Egypt even, and recently terrible violence in Iraq - it seems like there is just not enough awareness to go around for all the problems in the world, especially when we all have our own personal problems to contend with, which may seem petty in some intellectual comparison but always feel even more important to us.
I guess I feel like we fear our hearts are too small, and yet we hopefully have felt at least a glimpse of the vast expanse of love, from our families or lovers, hopefully, but I even feel it truly from Gaga, and from the world itself and creatures in it. And it all goes into teaching me to love myself, and realize how much is possible with love. Love is ultimately what lets us speak up and even fight for our freedom, and love is right and will win out. When we are on the side of love we have all the power and security of truth on our side so that we can accomplish anything, even what seems impossible. Love of freedom and justice can overthrow countries, but even more powerfully, love for another person can overthrow the tyrant of ego in each of us - we can be liberated from our personal dramas and empowered by love with our lovers when we are truly in love and believe in it. With the vast power of love on our side, we won't feel small compared to it, we will feel our part in it, and be able to help others, help the whole world, and reach the greatest good for all.
Gaga reminds me that I'm part of this vast love already, not to give into the fear of feeling separate from it no matter what the circumstances. That gives me the confidence to be brave and bold and patient in my personal life and I realize that loving myself, my lover, and the world can and should all grow together in harmony. We do have the power of love on our side, the security that it is true and justice will prevail, and we can do so much more when we act with his knowledge. Gaga may not "be" the goddess to other people, but her message of love and its liberating power is divine, its Truth. She might not say she is the Goddess, but she has said her lyrics are divinely inspired - don't you believe her, monsters? Love is true, and for us all. And where we struggle with injustice, we will survive!
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