10AR15-02
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Apologia Report 15:2 (1,007)
January 20, 2010
Subject: Hindus respond to "Avatar"
In this issue:
DRUG-BASED SPIRITUALITY - new book profiles four now-famous academics who once sought God through hallucinogenics
HINDUISM - positive response to new film "Avatar" by Hindus
+ Is Yoga Hindu? Perspectives from the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions
ORIGINS - a "Wedge Strategy Update" from Skeptical Inquirer
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DRUG-BASED SPIRITUALITY
The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America, by Don Lattin [1] -- begins: "Aldous Huxley was a major inspiration for the four men Don Lattin profiles in this lively retelling of the start of America's romance with hallucinogenic drugs.
In its day, Huxley's The Doors of Perception (1954) served as the
premier guide for experimenting with and studying the effects of
mind-altering chemicals on human consciousness. Huxley was also a connector. No sooner had M.I.T. religion scholar Huston Smith (The World's Religions [2]) mentioned to Huxley in 1960 that he had never had a mystical experience than Huxley gave him Timothy Leary's telephone number at Harvard as a source of a drug that would do the trick.
"Leary had just begun the Harvard Psilocybin Project to investigate psychological effects of the psychoactive substance in 'magic mushrooms.' He was thrilled to bring Huston Smith into the study since Smith, with his background, would be the perfect person to reflect on and analyze the mystical aspects of responses various participants were reporting. Also joining the study was Richard Alpert, a Harvard psychologist who would later become known as Ram Dass. Under the influence of the drugs Leary was studying, these three high-powered and ambitious academics initially bonded strongly with each other as they experienced sensations and perceptions overwhelmingly new to
them. Smith for one has stated that he had had 'the most powerful
experience [I] would ever have of God's personal nature.'
"After the rush of sharing a sense of 'oneness' wore off, however, Leary, Alpert and Smith faced the reality of being three very different men with huge egos from widely varying backgrounds. The project might have continued for a while despite clashing personal agendas, though, if it hadn't been for Harvard undergraduate Andrew Weil [known today for "Integrative medicine" which combines conventional and alternative approaches]. When he found out that the project could not include undergraduates, Weil wrote to Huxley to ask about sources of mescaline. Huxley, ever the accommodating connector, gave him the name of a possible supplier, and soon Weil and his dorm mates were running another psychedelic study, unfunded by the university and unknown to it. Lattin reports that Weil harbored deep-seated grudges against Leary and Alpert, eventually spearheaded an investigation of the project and was instrumental in getting Leary and Alpert fired. The scandal tainted everyone involved for life, including Harvard's Administration. Shelf Awareness, Dec 14 '09, <www.tinyurl.com/yaqyd47>
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HINDUISM
"New Movie 'Avatar' Shines Light On A Hindu Word" (no byline) --
begins: "In James Cameron's new film, Avatar, the Titanic director
creates a world where humans take on the form of what the characters call avatars to exist on a planet called Pandora. Humans control the avatars through technology, but some use their powerful avatar bodies for evil as they try to ruin the resources of the planet. ...
"The word avatar's origins, however, come from the Sanskrit
language in sacred Hindu texts, and it's a term for divine beings sent to restore goodness to Earth.
"Hindu theology names 10 numbered avatars. Two of the most
important from Hindu scripture are Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and written about in the Ramayana; and Lord Krishna, written about in the Mahabharata. Illustrations of these Hindu avatars, which are magnificently detailed and reflect an aura of divinity, are in stark contrast to Cameron's alien-meets-robot-warrior look in the film. Despite the very different avatar interpretations, local Hindus' reverence for specific avatars from their scripture does not conflict with how they are seeing the modern usage of the term.
"[HPI note: This belief is particular to some denominations of
Hinduism. Vaishnavas and Smartas believe in avatars of the Supreme God, while Saivites and Shaktas traditionally do not.]
"'The way the term is now being used is not a distortion of my
beliefs,' said Anil Dandona, a practicing Hindu. 'It is just a term.
We believe the Supreme Being sent humans to create righteousness.
These messengers of God take a human form, but they have godlike qualities, and they are delegates sent to do a task.'
"Local filmmaker Ashok Rao is looking forward to Cameron's film, and he feels that as long as filmmakers do not insult the sensitivities of a particular religion, then artistic license can be used. 'The film's use of avatar is a close relationship to the original meaning. It is a word meaning reincarnation and isn't meant to always mean a representative of God on Earth. It simply means one being in another form.'" Hindu Press International, Dec 21 '09. For the HPI source behind this item, see <www.tinyurl.com/ye62bvd>.
"Is Yoga Hindu?" (no byline) -- notes that at the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions (PWR) the Hindu American Foundation sponsored a PWR panel session called 'Practising Yoga: Covert conversion to Hinduism or the Key to Mind-Body Wellness for All.'"
Included are brief statements which indicate the contrasting views of those in attendance. One example: "In Malaysia the National Fatwa Council ... issued advice that yoga is inherently Hindu, so Muslims should not do it." Hindu Press International, Dec 18 '09. For the HPI source behind this item, see <www.tinyurl.com/y968kt9>.
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ORIGINS
"Wedge Strategy Update: Intelligent Design Creationism Since the Dover Trial" by Barbara Forrest -- complains that "the creationist havens of Louisiana and Texas are doing all they can - which is considerable - to flout the law and inject intelligent design into public schools." Included with Forrest's review of anti-creationism concerns since Dover is a concluding focus on the Discovery Institute's legislative proposal based on design theory named the "Model Academic Freedom Statute on Evolution" and its successful influence on the Louisiana legislature.
Forrest reports that "Governor Bobby Jindal signed the Louisiana
Science Education Act (LSEA) on June 25, 2008 (LA Legislature 2008).
"The LSEA requires Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to 'allow and assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators' to promote 'critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning' through the use of 'supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials' (LA Legislature 2008). The law includes an almost verbatim restatement of the Discovery Institute's telltale religion disclaimer in its model statute: 'Nothing in this act shall be construed as promoting any religious doctrine, promoting discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs, or promoting discrimination for or against religion or non-religion' (DI 2007). By including other 'theories,' the bill's authors tried to deflect accusations that evolution was being targeted."
Forrest notes that "Academic freedom bills in five other states
failed in 2008, as did six bills in 2009, making Louisiana - so far -
the only state with such a law." She then discusses multiple factors that she feels contributed to the success of the academic freedom approach by creationists in Louisiana, concluding: "Creationists are welcome in the public schools of the Pelican State. The Discovery Institute wedged open the door." Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb '10, pp40-45.
Forrest is a co-author with Paul R. Gross of Creationism's Trojan
Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design [3].
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America, by Don Lattin (HarperOne, 2010, hardcover, 272 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/ye3rqu9>
2 - The World's Religions, by Huston Smith (HarperOne, 50th Anv ed., 2009, paperback, 448 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/y9zznyo>
3 - Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross (Oxford Univ Prs, 2007, paperback, 448 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/ygktc9n>
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