Thursday, October 30, 2008

Book review of the month


Well here on Planet Tiru the monsoon seems to have finally come and everyone has fever or flu. Fortunately the 5-6 hour/day power cuts seem to have stopped. So at least we can be sick in relative comfort and catch up on some reading ... and what a gem of a book I discovered ...

The Last Waltz by Jacqueline Marie Longstaff of the Singing Heart Ashram, a couple of miles past Rangammal Hospital on the Bangalore Road.

First published in 2004 this has become a classic of its genre, a spiritual Listen with Mother for those with cerebral palsy. It's appallingly written, with trite kindergarten jokes at the end of every chapter for extra laughter therapy! Most of the content is unashamedly lifted from David Icke, who she lavishes praise on it in a sycophantic frenzy. You've guessed it: lizards, the Illuminati, mind control sex slaves and Manchurian candidates etc, etc. But worst of all, a sinister plot by the Teletubbies to brainwash toddlers, before they even have a chance to be really stupid. Another one of her sparks of genius is for sexual deviants to have a SPANK HOLIDAY MONDAY (No I'm not making it up!) So every Monday there would be a phalanx of bare backsides exposed ready to be whipped, impaled or whatever. This would obviously rectify all sexual and psychological guilt and we would all be happy brainwashed bunnies. (Would it stop the rapist en route to the Skanda Ashram?) ...

You can guess here, background Pune late 70s, lots of confrontation groups and therapy and then a trawl through the detritus of the New Age (Barbara Marciniak, Pleiadians etc etc), before meeting her soulmate Mr Icke ... The funny thing is that she claims to distrust the New Age movement as stooges for those naughty Illuminati ... I do find it amazing how people like Jacqueline Longstaff swallow fear-based conspiracy theories (which are deeply dualist by nature) and then attempt some surreal shotgun marriage with non-dualist Advaita. It's a dialectical Frankenstein of epic proportions and takes a very confused mind to reconcile its inherent nonsense ...

I have to admit Ms Longstaff is a real trooper (of the space cadet kind!) and I haven't pissed myself laughing like this for a long time, but God help those poor fools who give her money for spiritual guidance. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and with her help it could get very, very scary!



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