bagley - Archived Blog Posts

[bagley]

As you know, if you have read any of my rants....I am not a Christian. There was always something in me that resisted. As a child of seven I was baptised as the result of a chalk talk given by some Baptist Children's evangelists..who were reaching out to the children in the poorer neighborhoods. Every evening for a week this wonderfully scrubbed married couple would use chalk and music to bring the wonderful gospel story to the less fortunate. The man evangelist would narrate and the woman would draw the gospel story in livid pastels..lit by some sort of light which made them glow...The figure of Jesus and the disciples were made of thick felt....it was surreal. I adored it. Afterward we did Popsicle stick crafts or coloring, had cookies and kool-aide ...and were persuaded to accept Jesus as our personal savior.....I can still see those phosphorescent chalk talk sunsets highlighted with Jesus walking on water. So I agreed to be baptised..and got my mother to sign "the paper". After the ceremony I sort of disappointed....the Chalk talk Jesus never seemed to materialize and I was left...disappointed. Naturally I assumed I was unworthy. Over the course of my childhood and teenage years I was re- baptised at least 5 times....it never seemed to "take". By the time I was 15 I realize maybe Jesus didn't manifest to fags. At seventeen I fell into the "Jesus movement" and tried to be in a relationship with "Jesus"...I fasted, prayed in tongues, was exorcised....Jesus never manifested. I wanted that "chalk talk" Jesus...I wanted the real presence.....it just never took.

Harold Bloom in his book, "American Religion" points out that this "chalk talk Jesus" the friend of children and small animals is a very gnostic Jesus, who dwells outside "history" and who gives salvation with his friendship.....it is gnostic because it is through "knowing" the Savior, that you become a Christian. This is outside of the historical creedal nature of Christianity, which is based upon acceptance of a formula of belief, hence Credo or I believe. This gnostic religion underpins much of the modern American experience. For example, there are many American Christian denominations which claim "no Creed" as their rallying cry.

European civilization didn't become Christian through chalk talks or revivals. The fate of European religion was decided by a Roman Emperor and a few successive barbarian kings. If Constantine the Great not promoted Christianity it would not have the strength it has today. Without the allure of the Roman past barbarian kings may not have converted their kingdoms. I can't think of a European country which was evangelized without at least some sort of royal patronage. Christianity was a religion of the sword from 330 c.e. until the middle of the 17th century c.e. Protestantism was born as an aristocratic revolt. Protestant used force of arms rather than evangelism most of the time. Anabaptists are of course a notable exception to this swordplay.

In the 20th century traditional creedal Christianity seems to have lost it's strength or at least it's numerical strength in it's traditional heartland. However the new evangelical/pentecostalist brand of the faith seems to be growing by leaps and bounds in the 3rd world. [ In America for all the hooplah...this evangelical/pentecostal brand suffers from revolving door syndrome] There is a common thread between the old creedal religion and the new "gnostic" brand and this commonality is the exercise of political power and violence. So much for, "turn the other cheek"

 

[bagley]

I have a philosophy at work in my galleries on JUB. I want them to be fresh and to be just one one page.

I just added a "Erotic Photos which make me weak" gallery. The one photo I have there now makes me have that "butterfly feeling in my stomach"...every time I look at it.
As for uncut cocks....Uncircumcised cocks have interested me ever since I saw them painted on ancient Greek vases. The more I see of them [uncut cocks] the more aesthetic appeal they have for me.

My obsession with religion and magick is boundless. I practice magick in some form every day. It is like sports..the more you do the more you can do...personal magick is built upon the shifting and subtle energies which the magician can learn to recognize and perhaps manipulate. To do magick requires luck, skill and a certain amount of serendipity. I experienced some of this "serendipity" this morning when I cast a circle and for some reason..invoked my own personal god, or daemon. In antiquity each person had a personal god which guided him through life..sort of a spirit guide, but more powerful and it was called a Daemon. I did this because I want to increase my intuitive awareness. I have never invoked my personal daemon before within a circle. I then went and ran some errands and visited a thrift store...looking for garden pots..instead I found a monograph partially about the role of the daemon in Greco-Roman religion...So I'll take it as a sign..something is on track here...the book also gave me a corrective...for my invocation....which is nice. I'll take it.

 

[bagley]

Gay bois whining after ST8 men has always irritated the shit out of me. The fag boi desiring the ST8 male is like Pinocchio who longs to be a real boy. It's a set up. I believe our desires reflect who or what we want to become. There is no way to change the qweer boi into a red blooded, pussy banging heterosexual. The gay boi is doomed to walk in the shadows of unfulfilled desires. He will never be part of the club. I believe this idolizing of the ST8 male is destructive for qweer men and has it's roots in malignant monoculture.

The monotonous monoculture we have inherited from our monotheistic past has set up conditions where faggots don't really exist. This poison has been fed to qweer people for a long time. The monoculture has only one basic male model or male archetype with, of course a couple of variations. The qweer male archetype in "our" monoculture has been edited out and/or demonized. Examples.... Recently Luther Vandross died and nothing was said in the major media about his "gayness".or that he had a same sex partner. When Ismael Merchant died almost nothing was said about his "life partner, James Ivory..at least in the mainline press. The Gay/qweer archetype is edited out of mainline modern history unless it is a Shadow or confirms the Shadow side.

Another legacy qweer people have from the modern monoculture is the idea that sex is only a physical act and only has worth when used to procreate. It is my belief that sex is an emotional act charged with the exchange of shared psychic energy. I believe shared sexual energy can be used for healing. Gay sex is not just getting a nut or a shallow substitute for real heterosexual sex( by men who are afraid of women or who can't compete with real men.) I believe the more qweer men view sex as a magickal act the more healing they will receive. Qweer sex can also be a spiritual path to self awareness.
I'm not a puritan, however, so have sex with ST8 men if you want. maybe you'll turn em qweer....

 

[bagley]

Perhaps 10 years ago I discovered I was not a lily white, pure Caucasian American...gasp. There was a family tradition that "we" were part American Indian" My grandmother would always became very quite when one of the aunts or cousins would ask questions about "the Indians". She would change the subject or start humming.......


In Coastal Southern New England there was a substantial slave population of Native Americans and Afro-Caribbean peoples. Because of the famous Triangle Trade there were commercial and family ties especially to Barbados. Two of my ancestors were slaves from Barbados, but were transported to New England. In New London, Connecticut they mixed with a bizarre group of people called Rogerenes. Rogerenes were the first American abolitionists and freely married across color and class lines. The last race mixing in my family was from late 18th century Haiti.

First I would like to say I don't claim to be African American..or Native American, however I know this race mixing has effected me. A distant cousin of mine (4th+) wrote a scholarly paper and documented 8 generations of this "mixed" family living in marginal places and practicing the less desirable trades. He found almost no member of this family owned land until the 19th century. They lived near political boundaries to facilitate the quick get away. They moved often. I found in my own genealogical research they consistently lied across the generations about their place of birth or their parents place of birth. They were hiding something. After 1800 they all married white.

Here is what I know. I know my father wouldn't have married my mother if he knew she had an African ancestry. I don't think of my father as a hard line racist, but I know from his own mouth he felt blacks and whites shouldn't marry. He used the "N" word in place of black or the polite 1950's "Colored" . I can go down the line and see my genteel great grandmother, who was almost a spinster refusing to marry my dark great grandfather if he hadn't passed. So my physical life, my body is here because some one told a little "white lie".

Even as a kid I always felt separated or alienated. Part of that is the Gay/Qweer sensibility and I think part is a residual of ancestral psychic pain. As I struggled over this revelation of "Coloredness" I felt a long buried cyst open, drain and heal deep with in my emotional self. It was similar to the feeling I felt when I came out Gay. The truth is always better than the lie. This mixed race thing, plus the Gay/Qweer thing has really helped me hone my Spirituality thing.

 

[bagley]

There is no doubt that Americans were the first and only nation to use atomic weapons. I don't think the use of Atomic weapons can ever be justified. We are coming up to the 60th anniversary of this awful event. This is part of an article by Yoshibumi Wakamiya.

Japan Notebook/ Yoshibumi Wakamiya: Danger of swarming human locusts
08/01/2005

On the afternoon of Aug. 7, 1945, the Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo made the following announcement: (1) "Yesterday, Aug. 6, Hiroshima was attacked by a small number of enemy B29s and suffered severe damage.", and (2) "While it appears that the enemy used a new type bomb for the aforementioned attack, we are currently looking into the situation in detail."

When the announcement was made, people in Hiroshima were in a living hell. Two days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

A blinding flash, followed instantaneously by a violent explosion and radiation, killed many people. Countless survivors eventually succumbed to agonizing deaths. Even now, people still suffer from the aftereffects. To date, the death toll in Hiroshima from the bombing stands at 237,000. For Nagasaki, the figure is 135,000. Ordinary citizens and children accounted for most of those who died or were injured.

On Aug. 10, Japan lodged a formal protest with the United States, saying, "The use of bombs that are incomparably more indiscriminate and atrocious than any conventional weapons and projectiles is a new crime against human culture." The protest was ignored and Japan surrendered unconditionally on Aug. 15.

That was 60 years ago this month.

The scars of the bombings are much in evidence.

The atomic bombs were dropped after repeated air raids by U.S. bombers on Tokyo and other cities. In the 2004 movie "The Fog of War," Robert McNamara said the United States would have been guilty of war crimes if it had lost the war. McNamara was involved in the U.S. effort against Japan under the command of Gen. Curtis LeMay and later became U.S. secretary of defense.

But victors never admit they were at fault. At the peace festival (later peace memorial ceremony for A-bomb victims) held in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1948, to mark the third anniversary of the bombing, commander-in-chief Horace Robertson of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force delivered a speech in which he referred to the punishment inflicted on Hiroshima as an act of retaliation against Japan as a whole.

Robertson attended the ceremony on behalf of the occupational forces.

Were it not for the atomic bombs, Japan probably would not have surrendered and instead waged fierce resistance in a ground battle on its mainland. Why should Japan, which started the war, present itself as a victim of atomic bombings? It doesn't seem right. That is the logic and emotional response of many people in the United States. When the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome was added to the list of World Heritage sites in 1996, the U.S. government objected.

But was it really necessary to drop an atomic bomb on a densely populated city center just after 8 a.m. on a Monday morning when people had just started their week? Was the United States simply trying to find out what the bomb could do? Although Japan and the United States ended up forming a close postwar alliance, we are left with uneasy feelings over the atomic bombings.


War changes people. What was once unbelievable becomes common sense. The atomic bombs dropped by the United States-a country committed to fighting oppressive totalitarianism-embody the ultimate contradiction and horror of humans.

For a long time, the nuclear powers managed to keep their arsenals to themselves. However, nuclear weapons have proliferated, which was one of the reasons given by the United States for invading Iraq. The world is also troubled by North Korea, which has declared nuclear weapons programs.

Terrorism is raging in Iraq, where there were no nuclear weapons. Suicide bombers have attacked London and Egypt.

Nuclear weapons and suicide bombers have one thing in common. They both indiscriminately kill civilians. What would happen if nuclear weapons traded in the black market are used for terrorist attacks?

The author heads The Asahi Shimbun editorial board.(IHT/Asahi: August 1,2005)
From Wikipedea:

Hubris is a common theme in Greek tragedies and mythology, whose stories often featured protagonists suffering from hubris and subsequently being punished by the gods for it. In Greek law, it most often refers to violent outrage wreaked by the powerful upon the weak. In poetry and mythology, the term was used of those individuals esteeming themselves as equal to or greater than the gods. Hubris was often the "tragic flaw", or Hamartia, of characters in Greek drama.

I think the American War machine suffers from Hubris. I think the American culture as a whole suffers a kind of narcissistic hubris. If one believe in Karma or just in simple cause and effect you will realize at some point the chickens will come home to roost. To quote Jesus, "To whom much is given, much will be required" or" cast your bread upon the water and in many days it will return to you." We started Atomic warfare, but I wonder who will finish it.

If this post seems sort of gloomy..it's because I have been reading Oswald Spengler

 

[bagley]

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USA makes me depressed. I can understand the desire to stop the war with Japan. What I can't understand is the dropping of the 2nd bomb.

Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima killed mainly civilians. Women and children were vaporised. It wasn't a military target. The destruction was horrible. Over 300,000 people were killed in one morning. Perhaps the United States military didn't realize the actual power of the bomb.

The 2nd bombing on Nagasaki killed over 150,00 people. To me this is an unbelievable act of barbarity. I can't begin to understand the 2nd atomic bombing. Why not use the 2nd bomb to black mail the Japanese government into submission.

I don't want to think Americans are so brutal. I want to think Americans would rather negotiate than obliterate. Perhaps it's the military and political elite which are brutal. Perhaps our leaders are only using our principals as mere window dressing.

 

[bagley]

People have always believed the strangest things about the origin of the Universe. The current crop of religious beliefs are no exception. There are two basic philosophies about the origin of the material universe. One is the Materialist view which postulates a complete random origin for the universe. The opposing philosophy is Creationism which believes in a First Cause. Most people on earth sort of believe in the latter philosophy and this is the philosophy I want to discuss.

Creationism itself is divided into many camps from a vague intellectual pantheism to a hard line monotheistic monarchal view. I think most people's beliefs fall between these extremes. The traditional Christian view is that of a transcendent god, who created a finished material universe with it's own set of physical and moral laws. God the harsh father is in charge. This is the view of many modern Evangelical and Fundamentalists Christians. In this monarchal creationist view it is impossible to admit any evolution, beneficial mutation or randomness. The absolutism of monarchal creationism makes the creator an ogre.

Under intellectual pressure Christian monarchal creationism has begun to evolve. A theology of the limited sovereignty of god or "open theism" has been making the rounds. Here is a link from Greg Piper about "Open Theism" lhttp://www.gregpiper.com/archives/000028.html

"Open Theism" has a lot in common with the new model of Creationism called , "Intelligent Design". This new evolution in creationism takes away the word god and replaces it with the word "intelligence".

To me these two new ideas dove tail in a strange way. The emasculated god of "open Theism" creates a universe full of flaws and wrinkles. His limited sovereignty allows for all kinds of trouble and despair. His design is flawed and must be constantly adjusted. ( ID requires a constant rain of miracles to function) Intelligent Design has replaced The ogre god with a Rube Goldberg creator.

For me the truth must be subtle and elegant. ID is neither.

 

[bagley]

I have been contemplating the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan at the end of WWII. A lot of the American rags still defend this action. I also read some Aussie rags which defended the dropping of the bombs. I have been trying to wrap my emotions around the "droppings". I have been trying to find a truthful answer in the din.

Liberal Pacifica radio had a radio program which really damned the USA's action. Usually Pacifica is a bit to strident for my taste. However, they quoted what Einstein said about the Atomic droppings. ( Just "google" Einstein and Hiroshima) This show also showcased Lord Bertrand Russell, the great British philosopher. Russell believed that the American government just wanted to show off their new weapons. Most of the target sites in Japan had been bombed and napalmed to oblivion. The Americans wanted fresh relatively undamaged targets to show off their new weapons.

"Newsweek" also did an article on the atomic droppings and some of the information they pass is damning to the USA.

Do you believe in Karma.......?

 

[bagley]

I am a realist. I know Americans and the American Government won't change their opinions on Atomic weapons because I rant and rave. However, I know my rants have some effect magickally...I believe truth is found in paradox.

I put my blog words out in a magickal manner. My vague feelings crystallize into a concentrated stream of ideas. These ideas take on form and I send them out to the edge of the universe. A subtle change in energy returns to me and I embrace it. I am transformed and therefore a point in the universe is transformed ...thus the universe is changed. It is much different from prayer energy, which is more passive. At some point this magickal energy will multiply and a world wide attitude will take place. Magick is optimism.

I have been reading a book titled, "The World Since 1945" by T.E. Vadney. published by Penguin 2nd edition 1992. I had been reading about the Atomic Bombing of Japan and then went to the Korean Conflict. Did you know General MacArthur wanted to use the Atomic bomb against the Chinese. President Truman on 30 November 1950 admitted in a press conference that he always regarded the use of atomic weapons as an option 9in an Asian land war) . This remark caused the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee to fly to Washington and urge restraint. The cool heads prevailed. Thank you Clement..which by the way means peaceful. This shows me that as the greatest stock-piler of Nukes, America is just one heart beat away from dropping the bomb....

I send my words out............

 

[bagley]

I love to watch Trinity Broadcasting Network..it is so camp. I love Jan Crouch...what a mess she is as she raises millions of dollars. And Paul Crouch...seems he likes Black Men, so he and I have something in common. http://www.trinityfi.org/press/latimes03.html The Crouches are living a life style which Jesus or Saint Francis wouldn't recognize. I also love that Trinity Broadcasting Network..TBN just showed the homo-erotic "Gospel of Saint Mathew" by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Pasolini, himself was so beautiful.....anyway I digress

The latest fun I had watching TBN was the special they either produced or just ran..."Breaking the Da Vinci Code...it was a fun packed hour of very serious scholars or pseudo scholars de bunking a novel....I thought to myself...don't they realize the Da Vinci Code is a novel...don't they understand literary devices. I think Dan Brown's statement of the impeccable research he used for the book was a literary device. It set the stage. dah. However the Christian apologists went to town on all his research mistakes. I think Dan hit a nerve. History and historical events have always been the glass jaw of Christianity. To me the Christian reaction is a lot more interesting than the actual Dan Brown book.

I have been reading a lot of "Da Vinci Code" type books for 20 years i.e. secret societies...magick and occult fiction with a pseudo historical back ground. As a magickian and occultist I have had to refine my sense of history in order not to drown in the sea of bogus theories.

I was slightly disappointed in "The Da Vinci Code" as a veteran of this genre of fiction there was nothing new or fresh in the "Code". I might add..what code...I was hoping for something new based upon Leonardo's paintings or note books. Instead Brown just rehashes the old worn out Grail, Templar, Mary Magdalen...Roslyn stuff.

The Christians attacked this novel so vigorously because it exposes their historical weakness. The historical Jesus is an elusive figure. What people know about Jesus is based upon anonymous documents called gospels. The names attributed to these documents are not actually part of the text. The Geek texts of these gospels are perhaps translations from Aramaic ( a language related to Hebrew), but there is no real proof. The gospels have no punctuation or word separation so all the divisions and punctuations are add ons.

I recommend a better novel..."The Last Temptation of Christ" The movie was lame...the book, even in English is riveting....I also likethe italian author Umberto Eco...

 

[bagley]

The job search intensifies. I had two interviews last week........but I don't think I am in the running.... I really want a job so I can fuel my art, book and collecting fetishes. I am a serious collector. So being very low on money inhibits my ability to collect, but it does not stop me. Since I have been in L.A. I have found three very good paintings at very small prices..(only because they were abstracts) I still have a lot of luck collecting queer/gay, signed 1st edition books...and have branched out into collecting art exhibition catalogs....mainly from the 40's , 50's and 60's. I also want a job so I can actually enjoy Los Angeles. Get out and meet people.

On Saturday we have tickets to the "Antiques Road Show" I am taking a set of Japanese scrolls and a Tibetan tanka....

On Sunday we are going up to Northridge to have dinner with a Gay Republican (and his b/f) he works with my hubby. I am instructed to keep my liberal/ commie/ anarchist/Luddite mouth shut and be good. fat chance.

 

[bagley]

Those ultra right-wing Christians believe there is some kind of organized political agenda to promote what they call a "homosexual agenda". And I must confess, I have an agenda.

1.) I want a secular democracy. I want a body politic divorced from the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. I offer the old example of "blue laws" or "Sunday Closing laws" . Most of the "blue laws" are gone. But , even today, some towns restrict certain activities on Sunday during the Church hour. What purpose did the blue laws serve..???

2.) I want a law passed which will make it illegal for a tax exempt churches to be active in politics. A lot of churches are bases for anti gay and anti pro choice ballot measures..this activity should be illegal.

3.) I want an educational system which is based on the best scientific and educational information available. If you want to learn about religion or religious beliefs..go to your local house of worship.

4.) I want domestic partnerships to be the law of the land. The domestic partnerships would be valid for Male-male, female-female, male-female partners. If you want to have a ceremony in a private church..you could do it after your civil registration. Domestic partnerships could only be entered after the age of 21. I would abolish the law against polygamy....

 

[bagley]

Fundamentalist and other Christians are the prime defenders of what they call traditional marriage. One man and one woman......perpetual enforced procreational heterosexual monogamy. These true believers tout a party line which doesn't reflect the early view of Christianity or the view of Jesus. Christianity in it's long tumultuous history has had an ambivalence toward marriage and sex. Heterosexual marriage was only made sacramental in the 13th century (Western Church). For the longest time virginity and asceticism were the hallmarks of Christian virtue.

I would like to point out that there is no marriage ceremony in the Bible. ( There is however, a ceremony to bestow slavery) Jesus the supreme example for Christians was never married and died a virgin. His teachings on sex and family life are extremely negative. I think you could sum up his views on marriage and family by saying "let the dead bury the dead." Jesus also didn't come from a "regular procreational family" being in fact a technical bastard.

The whole Jesus virgin birth mythology is a real mess for the modern marriage crazed Christians. First this mythology represents an old unscientific view of procreation. Before modern science many people thought the male sperm was a minute embryo. Thus spilling seed (sperm) in non procreational sex acts were thought to be murderous. The woman was viewed as only the nourishing receptacle You can hear a lot of that language in many of the early hymns to the Virgin Mary. The confusion over the virgin birth of Jesus caused early Christianity a lot of schisms and heresies. One will note, however that the marriage crazed modern Christian almost never directly quotes Jesus on marriage or on family.

Modern biology and genetics have put modern Evangelicals and Roman Catholics on the defensive. Jesus' words also should put them on the defensive. I would like to see Christianity go back to it's otherworldly ascetic roots and live like Jesus taught. Let them be heavenly made eunuchs Right now, to me anyway, these marriage crazed Christians just seem like they are being manipulated by the right wing politicians and seem like dupes.

 

[bagley]

As a queer magickal person I have found strength in the lives and histories of queer (GLBT) people who have walked this queer magickal path before me. One of these bright trailblazers is Leo Martello. http://www.geocities.com/leomartellomemorial/bio.html

I recently was in the Barnes & Noble in Westwood and was browsing through the new age/witch/magick section and came across a book with bios of modern leaders in the Neo pagan movement. Leo Martello had an entry, however, the entry had been ST8 washed. I could find no reference to Martello's gayness.

Martello was deeply involved in the gay struggle which emerged after Stonewall... Martello's name appears in the flyer " "Once Upon a Time" put out by the GAA ( Gay Activists Alliance) in 1971. The GAA was a seminal organization for gay political and social rights. Martello wasn't the only witchy person associated with the GAA..I also saw the name of Arthur Evans.

Queer magickal people have been at the core of the fight for GLBT self empowerment. The Hebrew scripture says that, "witchcraft is as the spirit of rebellion." It is rebellion. It's the rebellion of the woman and the queer against the patriarchal hegemony. My list goes on and on.....

I cast my first Western Geomantic chart divination last night. I have been working with western Geomancy for about a year....but last night I cast a formal chart...the results were interesting. Western geomancy seems to have come to Europe from North Africa with the Arab/Berber invasion. It had it's high point with Cornelius Agrippa and had a minor revival ala "The Golden dawn". It is basically poor peoples astrology. In the Middle Ages casting an astrological chart was expensive and required reading and writing skills. Geomancy requires a stick and dirt. If you are familiar with Harry Potter...Rowling uses several Geomantic characters as first names....Albus and it's opposite Rubius. In my magickal journey I have used several methods of divination. Two have come to me as almost unlearned....one is the Runes and the other is western geomancy. For some reason the tarot, astrology and other mantic arts are less intuitive for me. Out you go

 

[bagley]

This is my personal opinion. This blog is a way for me to sort out ideas, emotions and explore my own inner conflicts. I am also a Neo pagan, a queer identified man who is erotically attracted to males. These factors color my religious and political views.

Like most people in the USA I was raised as a nominal Christian. When I was seventeen, I succumbed to the apocalyptic pressure of the late 1960's and converted to a revivalist, tongues speaking form of the Christian religion. The Rapture and the Tribulation seemed very plausible during that time. Jesus freaks and Jesus people became my tribe. I enrolled in a strict Evangelical college and majored in Biblical Studies.

I studied and read voraciously and at one point began to read [in English] the early Christian writings of the "fathers". Patristic Christianity seemed very remote from what I was being taught and what I was experiencing. I also read two books which shook my faith to it's foundation. One of the books was The Passover Plot and the other was The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross . These books turned my world upside down. I had to go to a public library to read these books and prayed no one I knew would see me with them. I had no defense against their arguments. I think these books are pretty funny now...very dated.

Having said all that as some background...I say this... I don't believe in an historical Jesus. I believe the Jesus of the New Testament is a composite figure cobbled from various sources. One source is the wandering miracle worker. Miracle workers, thaumaturgist (wonder workers) and Goetae (sorcerers) were a common phenomena in the Roman world. Many of these wonder workers were Jewish (the 7 sons of Sciva in Acts 19) . That Jesus was a wandering wonder worker was a theory of Morton Smith. A second Jesus tradition I see is the mystery religion/dying god Jesus. This Jesus embodies the very ancient theme of salvation brought through the death of a divine being. This tradition seems very "un Jewish to me" It seems more akin to Dionysus or Orpheus. Indeed, some of the early icons of Jesus portray him in an Orpheus-like pose. A third tradition is the Jesus as Rabbi/teacher and perhaps there was an historical country rabbi from Galilee and perhaps some of the ethical teachings and sayings come down from this tradition....

Christians go to a great length to prove that Jesus the Christ had an historical basis. It has become their obsession and their weakness. I'm sorry but there are just to many gaps and anomalies for me to believe.

I have often wondered why Jesus' words in the Gospels are for the most part Greek..only a few Aramaic phrases are thrown in....What language do you think Jesus spoke.

 

[bagley]

Recently a doctor of some sort wrote a funny, tongue- in-cheek book, "Why men have Nipples" or something along that line....it got some slow day air time on the local news...details at 11.00 stay tuned...The good doctor said our nipples are vestigial organs..leftovers from our fetal development. It Seems the human fetus starts out female and it's only later that the Y chromosome steps in and constructs a male....the nipples are just decorations.... ah the blind mechanical universe. Poor sexually repressed ST8 doctor..Male nipples are for sex fun. Male nipples are like CLITS.....Male nipples and clits are signs that GOD wants human beings to have sexual pleasure. My nips have been popping out since I was 11.

I added 2 new galleries...One is called Gay Interiors. Sometimes,I think the background of the photo reveals more about the person than just his stark nakedness. The other gallery is called Head Shots...men giving head....I have a feeling/theory about male cocksucking...The most personal and intimate part of your body is your face....when you use your mouth and lips as sexual organs your are eroticizing the most intimate part of You....plus it feels good giving or getting head ...I once knew a guy who would get so turned on giving head he would cum without any other stimulation.......

 

[bagley]

I have stated many times that I believe Israel has the fundamental right to exist. Israel is the only country in that region where gay people have any kind of life. However, I don't think Israel is without flaws. I don't think Israel should get a break on human rights violations. I also think Israel should sign the nuclear non proliferation treaty. Why isn't the US pressing Israel to do so....but instead is going after N. Korea and Iran. ISRAEL has an large unregulated ATOMIC ARSENAL. This is from Michael Schwartz

Just at this moment (shades of Iraq), Iranian exiles are releasing new information on supposedly secret and illegal nuclear work being done by the Iranians, while Donald Rumsfeld is claiming that U.S. forces have found new weaponry in the hands of the Iraqi insurgency that came "clearly, unambiguously" from Iran and that these will "ultimately [be] a problem for Iran." (Forget that it's quite illogical for the Iranians to be supporting the largely Sunni Iraqi insurgency against an allied, mainly Shiite government.) In the meantime, there's an 800-pound nuclear gorilla sitting starkly at the center of the Middle Eastern proliferation living room. That's Israel, of course, with its extra-legal, super-secret arsenal of nuclear weapons, an estimated 200-300 of them, ranging from city-busters to battlefield-sized tactical nukes, and yet no news piece on the Iranian nuclear danger would be complete without the absence of the Israeli arsenal. Go look yourself. A thousand articles are appearing right now in the U.S. press on the Iranian nuclear crisis and you would be hard-pressed to find a mention of the Israeli nuclear arsenal in any of them You can read more at "TomDispatch.com".... (end of the Schwartz article)

The American press and and government is silent on the Israeli Atomics.....the silence is deafening. The silence of the US Government on Israeli Atomics is hypocritical in the light of the the outcry about Iran. American hypocrisy is a political feint meant to manipulate the American people to fund the War machine. I also think Israelis are aware of this duplicity and have acted accordingly...by spying. It is my view that Israel should let the IAEA inspect it's weapons and become part of the World Nuclear Club.

Congratulations to the Israeli Government and people for the Gaza pull out. The IDF actions were superb.

 

[bagley]

I have very mixed feelings about the American military involvement in Iraq. As of today 1868 American troops, 93 British troops and 101 other nation troops have been killed in Iraq. http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx . The Iraqi civilian casualties are guesses...but seem to be above 100,000. The US government keeps changing it's story line as to the reason for the involvement....WMD..to fighting the terrorist threat...to founding a viable democracy..have been used as reasons. The powers say we will have troops in Iraq until 2009. I know we can't pull the Troops out of Iraq and pretend nothing happened. What the US needs is an exit strategy. I have a book of Boston Globe political cartoons by the cartoonist SZEP..from the 1960's....and a lot of the political cartoons on Vietnam echo the same verbiage being used by the current administration. Scary

Factoids

1. I have grown a full beard and it looks good.

2. I had a great birthday..two days of fun and frolic.

3. We had lunch at a Silver Lake eatery and the inked leather daddies and their boys were out in force +++ and they were very friendly....

 

[bagley]

The more I think about sex and sexuality I realize sex is really a conversation. It is a conversation that takes place in the emotions and in the physical body.

The gay sexual conversation is very different from the heterosexual conversation in many ways. The dominant sexuality on our planet (heterosexual) is a conversation about life and death and is tied to procreation. Heterosexual sex is about passing on genetic material with an idea of the strongest male passing on his strength. This conversation leaves queer people out of the picture. Sex for pleasure or intimacy is a second tier theme in the heterosexual world. In Gay Sex the sexual conversation is about intimacy and emotion.

Something else is happening in the sexual conversation gay men are having with each other. As Gay men we are opening up our emotions and sometimes our bodies to the outsider. We are probing and being probed. I believe the body, itself is a storehouse of emotion, trauma as well as joy. The body holds a memory of past-life wounds and situations which lay deeply buried and untapped by the ego or rationality. This gay sexual conversation can release these hidden places. It can release them because it is introspective. This Gay Sexual conversation is a sort of shamanism and has been used for transformation for thousands of years.

 

[bagley]

I am not really a homosexual...I am not Gay....these are convenient labels which were invented to describe certain aspects of my life. How many discreet points or qualities define a human being....12...60...1000.... How many discreet points or qualities define human sexuality. Is my sexual expression linear or is it 3D. Is my sexual expression an innate predetermined aspect of my personality or in other words..am I wired to suck cock. Or is my homo desire some flaw in my family structure. I only know that since puberty I have sexually desired the male sex.

Yesterday I wrote about sex as a conversation. A wordless conversation with emotional and physical aspects mainly hidden. I wrote that the dominant conversation is the "breeder" aspect driven by biology and male domination. By comparison the gay sexual conversation is a minor, but crucial aspect in the larger context. In times past the gay sexual conversation was recognized as a shamanic tool..a secret language. I called this the language of introspection. In pre technological times the queer shaman was the bringer of secrets to the larger world.

When I allow another man to probe my emotions and my body with his masculine force I am not a female. I am still male. My energy is male. My body is male. It doesn't matter how queeny I am or how effeminate I act his maleness is still penetrating my maleness. When the top man penetrates my anus he also penetrates my root center and my body connects him to antiquity. When he orgasms he sends his sex energy deep into my creative center and a variety of things may happen..to him and to me..sometimes incredible magick.. It is a sexual conversation which the dominant breeder sexuality no longer understands or acknowledges.

In the old temples and in the older religions passive male sacred prostitution was practiced as a way to connect to the divine. Even the temple in Jerusalem had a house for Qedishim (passive male prostitutes) In our own day..Master Therion used this queer sexual conversation to bring in a new magick....this connection to antiquity is one reason why [X]ians hate Fags