In
honor of Women's History month, here's our list of the
Top Ten Spiritual Chicks of all time.
1. Eve. The
original Spiritual Chick. We can debate forever whether
Eve did the right thing by tempting Adam with that Apple,
but there's no doubt that she was a free-thinker who
really questioned authority...the ultimate authority. Now
that takes guts.
2. Venus of
Willendorf (24,000-22,000 BCE).
The earliest great mother symbol and prototype for
voluptuous women everywhere. This woman just looks like
she wouldn't take any crap. Yup, that's her to the
left.
3. Yu Niu
(somewhere between 770 BC - 221AD) Thought the fighting
women in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were just
characters pulled from someone's imagination? Think
again! Yu Niu was the best swordsman of her period.
According to Chinese history she beat over 3000 swordsmen
in a seven-day contest. Jet Li, move over.
"Weak and exposed in appearance;
But powerful when unleashed.
One's reactions may start afterwards,
But the response arrives there first."
4. Namnah
bat HaLevi of Baghdad (11th
Century). While today she'd probably be chair of the
Judaic Studies Department at a major University, in 11th
century Persia, Namnah, an expert in Talmud, had to teach
through a window on the top floor of a Yeshiva while her
male students listened from below so that they could not
see her. Although there is no surviving record of what
she said, her grave was venerated by Persian Jews for
centuries.
5. Joan of
Arc (1412-1431) Talk about standing
up for what you believe, Joan of Arc took on the whole
English Army for God-and her beloved France.
"I know this now. Every man gives his life for what
he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she
believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing
yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One
life is all we have and we live it as we believe in
living it. And then it is gone. But to sacrifice what you
are and live without belief, that's more terrible than
dying."
6. Sojourner
Truth (~1797-1883) Born into slavery in
New York, a mystical awakening led Sojourner Truth to a
kick-ass career as an abolitionist and proponent of
women's suffrage.
"If women want any rights more than they've got, why
don't they just take them, and not be talking about
it."
7. Annie
Besant (1847-1933). A passionate
risk-taker, Annie Besant's journey from pastor's wife to
radical free-thinker and social reformer led her to
become the leader of The Theosophical Society.
"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired
and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly,
as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into
an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a
comrade, to win and lose many a battle."
8. Peace
Pilgrim (~1908-1981). During her life as
Peace Pilgrim, Mildred Norman Ryder walked more then
25,000 miles across the United States. Talking with
people from all walks of life along the way, she spread
her message that world peace will occur when enough
people have attained inner peace. "Why do you look
at me? Look at your own self. Why do you listen to me?
Listen to your own self. Why do you believe in what I
say? Do not believe in me or any other teacher, rather
trust in your own inner voice. This is your guide, this
is your teacher. Your teacher is within not without. Know
yourself, not me!"
9. Byron
Katie (1942-present). After an
awakening in 1986, Byron Katie began using her four
question method of inquiry to show people the futility of
fighting reality and the beauty of loving what is. And,
she really walks her talk. In her presence, enlightenment
seems almost possible.
"If I'm to be aware of living a full life, I must be
successful in dying a thousand times each day. Every
belief I let go of is death-death of old concepts/beliefs
that don't serve..."
10. The
Underground School Teachers of Afghanistan. Denied
the right to an education under the Taliban regime, many
women have risked their lives to provide schooling for
Afghan girls. These women prove that even under the most
desperate conditions, life will not be held down.
"When you see the joy and excitement in the
students' faces, when you see them sitting on dirt
floors, under trees, in dark basements, anywhere to get
an education, you forget all of your trouble," says
Sakena Yacoobi, head of the Afghan Institute of Learning.
Some
nominations from our readers:
Robin
Casarjian is the executive director and
founder of The Lionheart Foundation. (www.lionheart.org)
She wrote the ground breaking book Houses of
Healing: A Prisoner's Guide to Inner Power and
Freedom. Lionheart's National Emotional
Literacy Program for prisoners provides a path to
behavioral change, dignity, and respect---for oneself and
for others--- allowing many of our prisoners to heal
and return to their families and society as whole,
productive adults.
--- Andrea
Her
name is Cheri Huber and she
is an American Zen teacher. But she might dislike it if
she heard me use the word teacher. She prefers the word,
"guide." And her life's work is to guide people
to the place within themselves that is joyful and
peaceful and full of compassion. She guides us out of the
world of self-hate through a practice of observing what
we are being told about ourselves and continually seeing
how often what we are told is not true. She believes that
we all have everything we need to know within us. That we
can find everything we need within us. That we are all
adequate to any life experience. That' swhy she doesn't
see herself as a "teacher." She always says she
is just a mirror for us, allowing us to see ourselves and
recognize what is true for each of us. (www.cherihuber.com)
--- Sherry
Dear friends,
It appears that the Bush administration will have succeeded in
colonizing Iraq sometime in the next few days. This is a
blunder of
such magnitude -- and we will pay for it for years to come.
It was not
worth the life of one single American kid in uniform, let
alone the
thousands of Iraqis who have died, and my condolences and
prayers go
out to all of them.
So, where are all those weapons of mass destruction that were the
pretense for this war? Ha! There is so much to say about
all this, but
I will save it for later.
What I am most concerned about right now is that all of you --
the
majority of Americans who did not support this war in the
first place
-- not go silent or be intimidated by what will be touted
as some great
military victory. Now, more than ever, the voices of peace
and truth
must be heard. I have received a lot of mail from people
who are
feeling a profound sense of despair and believe that their
voices have
been drowned out by the drums and bombs of false
patriotism.
Some are afraid of retaliation at work or at school or in their
neighborhoods because they have been vocal proponents of peace.
They
have been told over and over that it is not
"appropriate" to protest
once the country is at war, and that your only duty now is
to "support
the troops."
Can I share with you what it's been like for me since I used my
time on
the Oscar stage two weeks ago to speak out against Bush and
this war? I
hope that, in reading what I'm about to tell you, you'll
feel a bit
more emboldened to make your voice heard in whatever way or
forum that
is open to you.
When "Bowling for Columbine" was announced as the Oscar
winner for Best
Documentary at the Academy Awards, the audience rose to its feet.
It was
a great moment, one that I will always cherish. They were
standing and
cheering for a film that says we Americans are a uniquely violent
people, using our massive stash of guns to kill each other
and to use
them against many countries around the world. They were
applauding a
film that shows George W. Bush using fictitious fears to
frighten the
public into giving him whatever he wants. And they were
honoring a film
that states the following: The first Gulf War was an
attempt to
reinstall the dictator of Kuwait; Saddam Hussein was armed
with weapons
from the United States; and the American government is
responsible for
the deaths of a half-million children in Iraq over the past
decade
through its sanctions and bombing. That was the movie they
were
cheering, that was the movie they voted for, and so I
decided that is
what I should acknowledge in my speech.
And, thus, I said the following from the Oscar stage:
"On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael
Donovan (from
Canada), I would like to thank the Academy for this award. I have
invited the other Documentary nominees on stage with me.
They are here
in solidarity because we like non-fiction. We like
non-fiction because
we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where
fictitious
election results give us a fictitious president.
We are now fighting a war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's
the
fiction of duct tape or the fictitious 'Orange Alerts,' we
are against
this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you.
And, whenever
you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you,
you're time is
up."
Halfway through my remarks, some in the audience started to
cheer. That
immediately set off a group of people in the balcony who started
to boo.
Then those supporting my remarks started to shout down the
booers. The
L. A. Times reported that the director of the show started
screaming at
the orchestra "Music! Music!" in order to cut me
off, so the band
dutifully struck up a tune and my time was up. (For more on
why I said
what I said, you can read the op-ed I wrote for the L.A.
Times, plus
other reaction from around the country at my website www.michaelmoore.com)
The next day -- and in the two weeks since -- the right-wing
pundits and
radio shock jocks have been calling for my head. So, has
all this
ruckus hurt me? Have they succeeded in
"silencing" me?
Well, take a look at my Oscar "backlash":
On the day after I criticized Bush and the war at the Academy
Awards,
attendance at "Bowling for Columbine" in theaters
around the country
went up 110% (source:DailyVariety/BoxOfficeMojo.com). The
following
weekend, the box office gross was up a whopping 73%
(Variety). It is
now the longest-running consecutive commercial release in
America, 26 weeks in a
row and still thriving. The number of theaters showing the
film since
the Oscars has INCREASED, and it has now bested the
previous box office
record for a documentary by nearly 300%.
Yesterday (April 6), "Stupid White Men" shot back to 1
on the New York
Times bestseller list. This is my book's 50th week on the list, 8
of
them at number one, and this marks its fourth return to the
top
position, something that virtually never happens.
In the week after the Oscars, my website was getting 10-20
million hits
A DAY (one day we even got more hits than the White
House!). The mail
has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive (and the
hate mail has
been hilarious!).
In the two days following the Oscars, more people pre-ordered the
video
for "Bowling for Columbine" on Amazon.com than
the video for the Oscar
winner for Best Picture, "Chicago".
In the past week, I have obtained funding for my next
documentary, and I
have been offered a slot back on television to do an
updated version of
"TV Nation"/"The Awful Truth."
I tell you all of this because I want to counteract a message
that is
told to us all the time -- that, if you take a chance to
speak out
politically, you will live to regret it. It will hurt you
in some way,
usually financially. You could lose your job. Others may
not hire you.
You will lose friends. And on and on and on.
Take the Dixie Chicks. I'm sure you've all heard by now that,
because
their lead singer mentioned how she was ashamed that Bush
was from her
home state of Texas, their record sales have
"plummeted" and country
stations are boycotting their music. The truth is that
their sales are
NOT down. This week, after all the attacks, their album is
still at 1
on the Billboard country charts and, according to
Entertainment Weekly,
on the pop charts during all the brouhaha, they ROSE from 6
to 4. In
the New York Times, Frank Rich reports that he tried to
find a ticket
to ANY of the Dixie Chicks' upcoming concerts but he
couldn't because
they were all sold out. (To read Rich's column from
yesterday's Times,
"Bowling for Kennebunkport," go here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/articles/index.php?article=20030406-nytimes.
He
does a pretty good job of laying it all out and talks about my
next
film and the impact it could potentially have.) Their song,
"Travelin'
Soldier" (a beautiful anti-war ballad) was the most
requested song on
the internet last week. They have not been hurt at all --
but that is
not what the media would have you believe. Why is that?
Because there
is nothing more important now than to keep the voices of
dissent -- and
those who would dare to ask a question -- SILENT. And what
better way
than to try and take a few well-known entertainers down
with a pack of
lies so that the average Joe or Jane gets the message loud
and clear:
"Wow, if they would do that to the Dixie Chicks or
Michael Moore, what
would they do to little ol' me?" In other words, shut
the f--- up.
And that, my friends, is the real point of this film that I just
got an
Oscar for -- how those in charge use FEAR to manipulate the
public into
doing whatever they are told.
Well, the good news -- if there can be any good news this week --
is
that not only have neither I nor others been silenced, we
have been
joined by millions of Americans who think the same way we
do. Don't let
the false patriots intimidate you by setting the agenda or
the terms of
the debate. Don't be defeated by polls that show 70% of the
public in
favor of the war. Remember that these Americans being
polled are the
same Americans whose kids (or neighbor's kids) have been
sent over to
Iraq. They are scared for the troops and they are being
cowed into
supporting a war they did not want -- and they want even
less to see
their friends, family, and neighbors come home dead.
Everyone supports
the troops returning home alive and all of us need to reach
out and let
their families know that.
Unfortunately, Bush and Co. are not through yet. This invasion
and
conquest will encourage them to do it again elsewhere. The
real purpose
of this war was to say to the rest of the world,
"Don't Mess with Texas
- If You Got What We Want, We're Coming to Get It!"
This is not the
time for the majority of us who believe in a peaceful
America to be
quiet. Make your voices heard. Despite what they have
pulled off, it is
still our country.
Yours,
Michael Moore
The
Spring (After
Rilke)
Spring has
returned! Everything has returned!
The earth, just like a schoolgirl, memorizes
Poems, so many poems. ... Look, she has
learned
So many famous poems, she has earned so many
prizes!
Teacher was strict. We delighted in the white
Of the old man's beard, bright like the
snow's:
Now we may ask which names are wrong, or
right
For "blue," for "apple,"
for "ripe." She knows, she knows!
Lucky earth, let out of school, now you must
play
Hide-and-seek with all the children every
day:
You must hide that we may seek you: we will!
We will!
The happiest child will hold you. She knows
all the things
You taught her: the word for
"hope," and for
"believe,"
Are still upon her tongue. She sings and
sings and sings.
~ Delmore
Schwartz ~from Panhala
J.P.
NDS
Lawrence,
You, Me of Arabia
Here
now, I sip french vanilla coffee in a Toronto cybercafe. I see
images of war happening on this speck of a tiny quark of a planet
spinning in the awarenessverse bubble.
Here now, I see demi-gods hurling their bolts of fiery fury that
spread from mind to mind. Ancient battles re-enacted and
prolonged.
Baghdad today to Damascus tomorrow to Tehran to Riyadh to North
Korea to Cairo to Kalamazoo and to my quiet neighborhood too.
Here now, in my Brigitte Bardo moment to moment rising and
falling
dance of emptiness and form - here in unknowing.
Here now is the vast mandala.
Here now - Hell realm, Animal realm, Hungry Ghost realm, Human
realm, Warring God realm, Formless God realm.
Yesterday, I spoke to an old friend who said to me,
"Violence? Oh
no - not me. I am for peace. I meditate. I eat fruit and
vegetables.
Ahimsa is my solemn vow and way of life. I have experienced
divine
real bliss and Love. I have tasted enlightenment beyond all
duality."
I listened and recalled how someone once said that Shambhala
abides
in the midst of it all.
Me - I abide in the midst of a cybercafe.
I will now send this silly message - this disappearing trace - an
atomic cloud display - and go pay the very nice Korean owner
$4.00
for my hour of Net access - go home to feed the pregnant cat and
later - try to go visit my dying father.
----------------
Lawrence: I killed two people. One was yesterday. He was just a
boy,
and I led him into quicksand. The other was... well... before
Aqaba.
I had to execute him with my pistol, and there was something
about
it that I didn't like.
General Allenby: That's to be expected.
Lawrence: No, something else.
General Allenby: Well, then let it be a lesson.
Lawrence: No... something else.
General Allenby: What then?
Lawrence: I enjoyed it.
--I bow to Him in
the lotus of the heart, who is without any speciality,
without desires, One to be Known through Vishnu, Mahadeva, and
Prajapati Brahma, One to be meditated upon by Yogins, One beyond
the fear of life and death, the Self of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss
Absolute, the source of the seeds of the whole
universe---God, the Self of the Knowledge of Brahman.
2. Venus of
Willendorf (24,000-22,000 BCE).