=kit003sa
Summary (sa) of PVK =kit003
which is: KIT 3 - Bringing Spirituality Into Everyday Life
		
"The temple represented an area considered sacred, and
within it, the "sancto sanctorum" (the holy of holies) was out of
bounds for anyone except the priests since they were organized in
a way that was conducive to the strictest dedication to a
spiritual way of life."(PVK KIT 003)


Correction, best's I recollect:  The Kdosh Kdoshim -- 'holy of
holies' in the Temple could be entered only by the High Priest,
and only on Yom Kippur.

Before that was a courtyard for all but only cohenim (priests).

Prior to that an area for all but only Jewish men, and prior to
that the 'Courtyard of the (Jewish) women'.

And prior to that a courtyard for anyone.
That, I suppose, was where the money_changers sat.
So Jesus overdid it a bit.    
[ Footnote kit003_1] 

When the Romans destroyed the Temple -- 

the Second Temple, that is, the Babylonians had trashed the First
one 600 years earlier -- 

-- the obvious question to ask was:  "how  can we sing the song of
the LORD in a strange land" 
(Psalms; attributed to the Jewish intelligentisia deported en
masse to Babylon ca. 572 B.C.E.) -- 

-- that is, is it possible for the Jewish  religion to continue
without the Temple ritual.  

The obvious answer is:  of course not.

But the Rabbis were inspired to create an isomorphic mapping of
Temple ritual, such that "a man's table is his Temple" 
(that's my paraphrase, Cf. the Talmud).  

That is, that Jewish religion continued as an essentially
home_based ritual in place of the now_impossible Temple_based
ritual.


PVK takes this one step further -- 

-- R. Zalman would say, in the evolution ffrom the Age of Pisces to
the Age of Aquarius -- 

from the written word to -- energy, I suppose -- and says: 

"We are the real temple." (PVK kit003).  
[kit003_1a]


There is a rather subtle distinction between 'G_d' and
'divinity',in a quotation presumably from HIK, although QutoeDude
& Source ain't noted.

This becomes the distinction between potentiality and actuality. 
PVK develops this into the notion of 'jagged ends', remarking:

"At the jagged ends, the  universe and creatures get tarnished."
(PVK kit003)

Thus meditation is a matter of 
"getting in tune with this immaculate nascent sacredness in its
pristine state prior to its becoming tarnished" (PVK KIT003)

That is, of recalling one's potentialities.

(We find that theme of 'Remberance' -- zichar_on_ote  -- in the
Rosh HaShana liturgy.)

                        
PVK remarks:
"Hopefully the faithful may be observing ablution rituals with the
effect of washing away some of the inevitable psychological
pollution." (PVK kit003)

That is a very useful phrase -- 'psychological pollution' -- and a
helpful acknowlegement  -- 'the inevitable psychological
pollution'.            

I also recall PVK speaking of 'sound pollution'.
(kit003_3)


PVK adds:
"Since one feels the need to adapt oneself to the common
denominator, maybe one does not observe this tarnishing in the
midst of life."(PVK kit003)

Well, PVK does have a nice, refined, compassionate realism, and
the education and ability to aritculate it with delicacy and
precision.
(kit003_0a)


Note that PVK also acknowleges what Gedalya Persky once termed
'existential guilt' 
(kit003_4)


So PVK says
"When one is programmed into the personal vantage point, one fails
to see that which transpires behind that which appears; one gets
alienated from one's spiritual home, the holy of holies, and feels
sullied and profaned."(PVK kit003)  

(kit003_0b)


At this point this KIT gets too dense and brilliantly written to
summarize.  PVK is speaking of the being of humankind, as multiple
dimensions of energy, of which the chakras are merely the
concepualization of an aspect.


"All living structures in the
universe including our bodies, are based on the same formative
process as the galaxies, more elaborate than a vortex.  In fact,
the formation is a double helix on the principle of the caduceus
of Esculapius:  two crisscrossing spirals generated by an axis
that is considered to be a vacuum but represents the threshold
into an inverted space.  It can only maintain its continuity in
the process of becoming by continually dissolving and reforming
itself and it edges off into the stars.  It is pulsing, sparkling,
radiating and whirling in many dimensions.  The inlets and outlets
are what the yogis call the chakras." (PVK KIT003)

"One may discern an altar
corresponding to the heart (anahata) chakra, mounted upon the
tabernacle, the solar plexus (manipura) opening into the inverted
space where one has access into the treasurehouse of the many
splendored bounty of the universe (Pandora's box).  For the Sufis,
it is the "hidden treasure that desired to be known."  At the
vortex, in the middle of the resplendent radiance, flashing out
like a fountain, is a channel wherein one may experience the
descent of pure spirit (which again is a dimension of our being)."
(PVK, KIT003)

In a few parapgraphs, PVK has summarized themes that he usually
takes almost half a seminar/retreat to develop.
(kit003_0c)



PVK then makes a renark that puts both (interpersonal) ethics and
(personal) mrality in a deeper context than that of the usual
do's_and_don't_s:

"In considering the inner temple, moral codes represent the
provisions taken by society to ensure a basic order and protect
its members from exploitation and abuse.  Its buttresses are built
of the taboos we have come to observe to avoid being humiliated in
our spirit." (PVK, KIT003)

PVK then characterizes the the path of the spiritual quest as:

"climbing the hill of divine orderliness,
overcoming the entropy of slackness, disenchantment,
destructiveness.  It is a pilgrimage to the sources of life, much
as the throngs of pilgrims trek to the source of the Ganges in the
high Himalayas." (PVK, KIT003)

Which reminds me a remark by PVK during a Zenith class (which I
paraphrase from memory):  'If you don't know what to do, tidy up
your room, or your hard_disk. '

That is, that it is good per se to bring a bit more order into
one's life -- to throw a few more shovel_fulls of entropy into an
at_least temporarily  useful place.   
(kit003_5, Clive)


PVK per_orates:

"The world is a treasure house of splendor manifesting as beauty
wherever it can overcome the resistance of those who obstruct it. 
By what sardonic twist do people choose ugliness when there is so
much beauty about!" (PVK KIT 003)

And then he adds:  


"It is very sad.  There is no accounting for taste." 
(PVK KIT003)

But that's being too polite to the bad_guys, as_it_is_said
(Talmud, I think), "He who is kind the the cruel will in the end
have been cruel to the kind."

There is an accounting for bad taste:  account it as a debit. 
(kit003_6)

 
OK, day is breaking, cut and dump the witty quips down to botdoc,
throw in a few Layout flags, print it and rewarm the coffee for
breakfast.

------------------------------------------------------------------
sa, Campra, 26 Dec '05 -- 25 KisLev -- lst day of Chanukah -- 25
Dhu al-Qu'idah -- looks like a typical sunless windy day here,
about 10 below zero Centigrade I suppose

------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY:

(Footnote kit003_0)
[ OK, I'm winging these summaries as I go along.  The right way to
do it would be first to read the whole thing, then try a summary. 
But "I'm in love but I'm lazy" (Beattles).  Maybe some day I'll
try to do a 2nd_draft set of summaries from these lst_draft
summaries.  ]

(kit003_0a)
I am not yet getting a gestalt from this KIT, just a number of
nice apercu's.
It is a pretty rich Christmas cake, these KITs.  I can't do more
than a little bit, a few bites, at a time.
 
(kit003_0b)
Incidentally, in theese summaries I'm apt to over_simplify PVK's
thought.
Ideally, a summary incorporates all that is essential, and omits
only what's extraneous.  But there ain't that much extraneous in
PVK.

Well, these KIT summaries are not turning into the sort of
gem_like conceptual wrapups I had hoped to produce.

Just more of the same old SteveShlock.
#L2

By the time my wit is properly appreciaed, no_one will speak
English any more.  And I will be in no position to "meet
girls" (that's a Jules Feiffer line). 
#L1

----------------------------------------------------

[ Footnote kit003_1] 
[OK, here's an excellent booklet of maps published by the JW's --
(c)'03, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, New York -- they have
a floor plan of the 2nd Temple -- innermost of the 'most holy' --
that would be the Kdosh Kdoshim, entered only by the Cohen
HaGadol, the High Priest, and only on Yom Kippur --  the ante_room
to that is the 'Holy' -- I'm not clear who that was for -- maybe
for the High Priest during the rest of the year -- surrounding
those two enclosures is a larger 'Cout of Priests' -- I'm not
clear if that was only Cohenim, or also Levi_im , who were the
singers -- behind that is the 'Court of Israel' -- I suppose that
was for the Ma'amud, the representatives of ordinary Israelites --
only men, of course -- a delegation would have been selected and
sent each month, for a month -- I do not know if delegations
represented a different tribe each month -- the 12 tribes would
neatly fit the calendar -- the two half_tribes of Joseph, ie
Manasseh and Ephraim, making up for the place of the Levites --
behind that is the large 'Court of the Women' -- only Jewish
women, of course -- and outside that, the equally large 'Court of
the Gentiles' -- which is where young Jesus of Natzereth, or the
Nazir, or both, reportedly acted rather impetuously, and
unfortunately got himself into rather serious trouble -- the
priests were no doubt a bit stressed_out, having to make nice to
that lunatic Herod all the time, so they may well have
over_reacted and said something which they later regretted to the
senior Roman officer_of_the_day -- I mean, as Jesus himself would
be the first to acknowlege, we're all only human, and we do make
mistakes -- You do have our apologies, for what that's worth --
but really, someoone of his intelligence and sensitivity might
have been a bit more diplomatic -- I mean, Romans are not noted
for their sense of humour, and some of our senior Cohenim have had
to spend so much time bullshitting and bribing low_grade officials
-- even when they should be at home on Shaabat with their families,
Heaven defend us -- that they start to think like Romans -- 
N.B.:  None of the foregoing remarks, which represent the view
only of the writer at most, are to be taken as any admission of
alleged agency much less guilt in this unfortunate reported
alleged incident. ]


When the Romans destroyed the Temple -- the Second Temple, that
is, the Babylonians had trashed the First one 600 years earlier --
the obvious question to ask was:  "how can we sing the song of the
LORD in a strange land" (Psalms; attributed to the Jewish
intelligentisia deported en masse to Babylon ca. 572 B.C.E.) --
that is, is it possible for the Jewish religion to continue
without the Temple ritual.  The obvious answer is:  of course not.
But the Rabbis were inspired to create an isomorphic mapping of
Temple ritual, such that "a man's table is his Temple" (that's my
paraphrase, Cf. the Talmud).  That is, that Jewish religion
continued as an essentially home_based ritual in place of the
now_impossible Temple_based ritual.

[kit003_1a]
And so the SoupySufis (Nu, you would rather I term them the
S.O.W.'s?) sing, "This is not my body, this is the Temple of G_d."

(Footnote kit003_2)
There ain't no Footnote kit003_2.  "Get over it." as they say in
the USA nowadays, or so I read, I says.
             
(kit003_3)
At about 10 PM on Christmas Eve. Mr. Surely, the Headwaiter of
Honest George's Restorante, was playing over the skating_rink
loudspeaker some very mocking Italian pop_radio feature -- they
used to do the same thing on Israel radio.  I had to walk out of
earshot to daven a belated Ma'ariv.

(kit003_4)
(I was breaking down, and acting quite shamefaced, and he asked
me, in effect, did you do something wrong, or is it just
'existential guilt'.)

(kit003_0c)
[ ONe can't really call them seminars, there aint't no collegial
back_and_forth, but they ain't precisely lectures either -- not
quite a retreat, since PVK is talking almost all the time --
'guided meditations' is maybe the best term, but intersperesed
with a lot of exposition.  In the good old days, the mid_1970s,
PVK would give a guided meditation in the morning, and a lecture
in the afternoon.  And at Camps, in the early morning, before
breakfast, he would give a very refined guided meditation, with
minimal expoisition, less than in the after_breakfast guided
meditationa class.  In those days the week would follow a
clear_cut dissolve_et_coagule pattern -- so the first morning, you
could count on confronting your sins (not to mention the sins of
all your family, which one was called upon to forgive), hit
samadhi about Wednesday, and be able to relax back down into the
Divine Attributes on Friday.  
But by the late '90s, with PVK older, he cut out the early_morning
meditations -- the A_team would give those, Faizy and Munior
mostly -- and also seems to have let go of a chronologic
dissolve_et_coagule, so that one might get hit with a
shargal_and_samadhi on Friday or even Saturday morning, just when
one really wanted to relax and have a bit of vegetarian cholent.

Oy gvalt.  6 AM on the Feast of Stephen, this being the end of the
first night of Chanukah, and the wind is blowing fit to kill -- if
I didn't slam the door shut, it would blow down to Olivone.  And
the privy is 100 yards uphill on hard_packed snow_and_ice, against
the wind.  

Take me back to Jericho and pass the basket of dates, I'll
convert.  Even put back on a necktie too.  I bought some cheap
blue after_shave too.  No_one says you can't wear it 40_odd years
after you last shaved.  Generic Menon__skin_bracer, which always
was the USA Cheapo.  Something to wear in the subway.  The least I
can do with regard to social graces, since I don't dare shower
here, for fear of turning into an icicle on the walk back to my
shack.  

(kit003_5, Clive)
One afternoon in a crash_pad on the lower East Side, a few blocks
above Delancy street, I took half a a cap of the mescaline I had
stored in the refrigerator.  There wasn't much else to eat. 
Besides being struck that trip by the colorfulness of the old New
York neighborhood -- a bit of an Edward Hopper trip I suppose --
darned lucky I didn't take a full cap, then all that would have
been, not pretty, but overwhelming -- so anyhow, besides very much
wanting a piece of real cheese, to remind me of the existence of
the organic side of things, I was struck by the genius and art in
the house_wife's trip -- continually making order, and a rather
complex albeit temporary order at that,  within and in the midst
of that continual chaos.

TEXT:
"It is very sad.  There is no accounting for taste." 
(PVK KIT003)

But that's being too polite to the bad_guys, as_it_is_said
(Talmud, I think), "He who is kind the the cruel will in the end
have been cruel to the kind."

There is an accounting for bad taste:  account it as a debit. 
(kit003_6)
(kit003_6)
I mean, no relativism here please, thank you very much.

If you won't stand up and say, Klee is good art, Warwhol was cute
trash, then how can you even say, imprisonment is a violation of
human nature and hence of human rights 

(George Bernard Shaw said that first, in his booklet, 'The Crime
of Imprisonment' -- not that I've read more than the title, of
course; I mean to read the text of anything by Shaw is indeed
'cruel and unusual punishment', although with a few highballs and
a good seat in the loge one might sit through, eg, Major Barabara) 

, and capital punishment is an indency.

I mean, it's not that those bastards on Death Row don't deserve
much worse than death, of course they do.  Peronally I'd dump them
all off on a desert island and let them either eat each or grow
potatoes, whichever happens first. 

And as for the born_again__Christians on Death Row -- Jesus loves
you; pass the pepper.

And you see, this is where sci_fi comes in -- in articulating,
however fancifully, the intolerable but logical consequences of
varoius possible positions -- intellectual positions, social
positions, political positions.

Wittgensein, in PI, made a few starts at doing that.

And it is said that very many have indeed truly repented and
become not merely decent people, but very good ones, at least
while confronted with their highly restricted environment and
desperate future -- Kayla Thorpe, who Texas Governor Georgie
Bushie Junior let be trundled to her death while he was on his way
to the LIncoln Bedroom in the White House, was such a person.  And
maybe Tookie Williams too, for all that that Austrian Monster
Faggot mocked his plea.  

I mean, it's really happened, California has, by majority vote,
gone mad:  Hollywood Rules.


But the problem is, you simply cannot put a helpless member of
your own species to death.  No animal does that.

And if you won't stand up and make those simple judgements, which
we do need to carry on in a decent fashion, then how can you even
reject fallibilism for realism.  So the only holdout becomes G.E.
Moore, standing there like a Stupido with his finger up his nose,
saying like a stubborn Englishman, 'I know this is my hand.' 
Yeah, mazaltov Moore.  Be sure to take your Nanny's hand before
you cross the street, even if the light is Green.

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