Monthly Archives: June 2013

Into India and Back To Poland (Elliot Wolfson, A Dream Interpreted Within a Dream)

Posted on June 19, 2013 by zjb

To the best of my knowledge, Elliot Wolfson’s A Dream Interpreted Within a Dream is the most realized attempt to fuse Jewish and Buddhist mystical traditions. I was expecting it, sort of, but found myself somewhat surprised nevertheless. Very late … Continue reading →

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Idiocy Imagination Mysticism (Elliot Wolfson, A Dream Interpreted Within a Dream)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by zjb

An interesting and maybe surprising moment in Elliot Wolfson’s recent A Dream Interpreted Within A Dream, it’s story related by Menachem Mendel Schneerson about a group of hasidim talking about the nullification (annihilation) (Hebrew: biytul) of self. A Russian officer … Continue reading →

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CFP Derrida Conference

Posted on June 17, 2013 by zjb

#CFP: 4th Derrida Today Conference, NYC May 2014 The Derrida Today Conference will focus on the ongoing value of either Derrida’s work, or deconstruction, to the political-ethical, cultural, artistic and public debates and philosophical futures that confront us. The conference … Continue reading →

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Mystical Vision Visual Tricks (James Turrell, Perceptual Cells)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by zjb

This article by Wil S. Hylton from today’s NYT magazine about light artist James Turrell includes as good a description of mystical vision as anything. It turns on blinding intensity of light as the eye is forced to turn in … Continue reading →

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Historic and Contemporary Icons (Brooklyn Bridge Park)

Posted on June 14, 2013 by zjb

When I first took them, I wasn’t sure how these photographs of and from the just opened Pier 5 at Brooklyn Bridge Park all fit together. A shiny new park with a green and jewel-like soccer fields full of life, … Continue reading →

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Call for Papers — Mordecai Kaplan

Posted on June 13, 2013 by zjb

The Mordecai M. Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, The Program for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, and the Department of Jewish Studies of McGill University are pleased to announce a conference dedicated to the life, work and legacy of Mordecai … Continue reading →

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Rogue DNA Databases

Posted on June 13, 2013 by zjb

This is what they mean by bio-politics, and bio-power. Involving the collection of information, abstracting biological informaiton, the phenomena are  both large scale and deeply intimate. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/us/police-agencies-are-assembling-records-of-dna.html?hp We can now add  these to the lexicon: –DNA database –unregulated, rogue DNA database … Continue reading →

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Big Data-Mining Big Apathy Shifts in Scale

Posted on June 13, 2013 by zjb

Please excuse the crowd sourcing, but would anyone out there let me know what you think about the big data-mining data-surveillance story? I’m asking because I’m surprised that most of my left progressive friends don’t seem to care. I’m actually … Continue reading →

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Simulacral Democracy in the Age of Big Data – Big Surveillance (PRISM Thoughts)

Posted on June 12, 2013 by zjb

Some inchoate thoughts about the use of data-mining by the U.S. government. –The State is not the dead dog that some have said it is in this age of global capitalism. For all the power of transnational corporations to shape … Continue reading →

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Bird of Prey Christian Saint (Red Tail Hawk at St. John the Divine)

Posted on June 11, 2013 by zjb

A pair of red tail hawks have nested and are raising their young, carried by  St. Andrew at the back of St. John the Divine off of Morningside Drive. High above the park, it’s a great place from which to … Continue reading →

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