Eurgh, why is it so damn hot? It was like 44C yesterday! In other news, my brain is producing little in the way of coherent thought, and I haven’t been making bento, so updates will be slow for the next week or so. At some point I’ll bully myself into making more of an effort with this. 
In the meantime enjoy one of the many melancholy yet poignant Post-Secrets:
Will return soon, hopefully with things worth reading.
This is another of those “old rambles from several years ago that are potentially interesting” posts.
Notes: This thought was inspired by a thread on MysticWicks NeoPagan forums. For reference, ’samsara’ is the Sanskrit term for the idea of reincarnation found in Hinduism and Buddhism.
I was just contemplating the idea of the separation between the ’spirit’, or soul if you will, and the physical body. It’s a core concept in all of the major world religions, and it’s prevalent in a lot of NeoPagan ones too (albeit there is less of a negative judgment passed upon the physical body).
In terms of the afterlife, that means that when your body dies, your spirit then progresses to… whatever. Personally I believe in samsara/reincarnation, so in my case, the ideology is that the body dies, and the spirit, as a separate entity, moves on to inhabit a new form.
However, what if I were to adopt a more animistic approach to it? I was thinking about this, and I believe that although animism, strictly speaking, refers only to a general transcendent dimension, without regard to Deified specifics or an afterlife, it is possible to reconcile a believe in reincarnation with that of animism.
If animism is held to be the belief that every natural object possesses a kind of “spirit”, whether that’s an individual spirit or a collective one (but in this instance, for ease of arguments’ sake, I’m saying it’s an individual spirit), then the physical body itself possesses a spirit purely because it is a natural object. That is, the spiritual component of the body is simply an integrated aspect of it.
Therefore, when the body rots in the ground (haha nice lack of euphemism there!) this spirit also “degrades”, as it is integrally a part of the physical body. However, as this is theological rather than biological, we’re not talking about molecular breakdown – instead, the spiritual component would become “absorbed” into the collective spiritual of the natural world. There, perhaps, it becomes mixed with this collective spirit, and is then manifested in the next physical carried that is created (since even humans are, generally, still a part of the cycle of biological material).
This theory also proposes that, therefore, there is no constant distinct spirit for each of us, but instead that it gets reintegrated with the collective spirit of the natural world, and therefore effectively ‘refracted’, so that in its next manifestation in a physical carrier, it is a different composition, comprised of various parts of the collective spirit. But then is that a presupposition that the individual spirits of organisms vary (and is that in turn a presupposition of a society obsessed with individuality and the need to believe in an eternal unique ‘us’?)?
Ow. My brain.
Lately, an absurd amount of people seem to be asking “pfft, what can you even eat, if you can’t eat dairy or meat???” Apparently forgetting that these only comprise the minority of food-groups (there are only a very limited number of meats people generally eat, compared to how many different grains and vegetables there are). So, I thought that, as an example I’d present you with this somewhat facetious list.
15 Things I Wouldn’t Have Tried Before Becoming Vegan
These are in no particular order, and were basically just “what is within eyesight in the kitchen”. This list will be followed soon with a list of “15 things I never would have made from scratch if I hadn’t become vegan”, so stay tuned!
(Note: this is also tagged “politics” because it relates to the politics of food. More on this will be discussed at a later date.)
Top tier: tofu/avocado/kimchi sushi roll, soy fish, carrot sticks and snowpeas, with hommus (Stitch sauce case).
Bottom tier L-R: purple seedless grapes and blueberries, nori-wrapped rice crackers, mini bhakarwadi rolls, dry-roasted peas (kitteh cup).
Also took some delicious seasoned nori sheets, yummmmm. And I don’t think I’ve featured this particular box on here before; it’s rather plain, but good because both tiers have fairly tight-sealing lids. Exciting!
Top tier L-R: carrots, snowpeas, hommus (in my awesome Stitch sauce cup!), purple seedless grapes.
Bottom tier L-R: sultanas (orange cup), chickpea crisps, dry-roasted chickpeas and edamame, dry-roasted green peas, home-made dried fruit mix (papaya, rockmelon, pineapple, mango; pink cup).
Carolan’s Concerto by Caiseal Mor.
This book was an absolute joy to read. It was a delightful narrative, weaving together elements of fairy-tale and historical reality in a manner that leaves you constantly questioning how much is real, and how much is fantasy. But within the context of the book (through the character of Edward, who is hearing the life-story of Turlough Carolan, being told by a blind brewer), you seen the gradual acceptance of the magical as being possible.
It really does pay tribute to Irish culture, without being overtly OMGIRISHGUINESSGREENLEPRECHAUNS!!! etc. It’s in the subtle capturing of the national pride, but also the fierce pragmatism that is prominent in the many Irish people I’ve met. That is to say, he doesn’t rely entirely on hyperbolic stereotypes and shallow portrayals.
On that note, it was interesting that it treated the Irish rebellion against English rule in the manner that it did; the standard ‘fight for your country, patriotic hatred of the English’ trope of so many novels, films and poems was absent. Personally I don’t have a problem with that sentiment, when expressed well, but it was interesting that Mor instead chose to focus on the reality of any culture that’s been oppressed by an invading force; that, ultimately, many people are forced to choose between sacrificing everything in the name of their ideological beliefs, and instead enduring in order to ensure the survival of themselves and their families. And he does portray it well; there’s the sense of fierce Irish pride, but it’s tempered by the weary acknowledgement that Connor’s rebellion is a subtle one, by necessity, as they try to survive in hard times.
So, for a brief overview; Mor uses mis en abyme (framing a story within a story) to particularly fantastic effect. Both stories are equally engaging, and the ‘containing’ story isn’t simply a framing device, it’s a rich tale of its own, and the combined stories work beautifully. The external story is of a Dublin-based rebel, who shoots an English officer and then escapes and seeks refuge with a country family; while hiding out there, the patriarch of the house recounts tales of his master, Turlough Carolan, arguably Ireland’s most famous musician. Throw in liberal doses of Sidhe mythology, sharp humour, and beautifully subtle cultural references, and you’ve got yourself an enchanting fantasy novel.
Stylistically, this is another of those books that, much like Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, you read for the narrative content, not for syntactical experimentation. So, the structure is fairly basic, though Mor uses his customary evocative description and expansive vocabulary to paint a very vivid mental picture.
Overall rating: 10/10.
Incidentally, Caiseal Mor is one of my all-time favourite authors. If you’re looking for fantasy that isn’t full of stupid names (or ones that are a blatant, and insulting, plagiarism of Tolkien’s works), bodice-ripping shit, and 4 pages of nothing but a description of the stock-standard ‘heroine’, definitely check him out.
From here. This is another relatively new discovery of mine, and it’s consistently brilliant.
Top tier: brown rice, carrot, broccoli and mushroom with soy sauce (panda!).
Bottom tier L-R: broken up muesli bar, raw cashews, couple of sugared peanuts, home-made dried fruit mix (mango, rockmelon, papaya, pineapple; orange cup), khatta meetha.
Sorry for the rather overbright photograph, my kitchen is shocking for light sources. Stay tuned for (hopefully) more frequent updates coming soon!
Top tier: strawberry (yellow cup – and it’s a SMALL strawberry. Gives you an indication of tiny, tiny bento size lol), home-made dried fruit mix (papaya, mango, rockmelon and pineapple) with red peanuts on top, dried winter melon, and pepita and sunflower seeds (orange cat cup).
Bottom tier: dry-roasted chickpeas (yellow cup), mini bhakarwadi rolls, haw flakes, dry-roasted edamame, and khatta meetha (pink cup).
And then a ‘fruit/salad box’ containing green and purple seedless grapes.
Top tier L-R: dry-roasted chickpeas, sugared lotus root, dried guava, vanilla almond, pepitas and sunflower seeds (yellow cup), home-made dried fruit mix (papaya, pinapple, mango and rockmelon) with a couple of red peanuts on top, strawberry mochi (yellow cup).
Bottom tier: chickpea, broccoli and seitan curry with brown rice.
