“We pray for freedom”

Here’s a new animated video from the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights concerning the human rights situation in Iran for everyone in general and Baha’is in particular.

We are extremely excited to release our latest video, which has been in the works for quite some time now. As we noted on our timeline, abuses against the innocent Baha’i minority in Iran have been committed for over 30 years. Inspired by the reactions of Iran’s latest election, where many Iranians took to the streets to demand change and respect for their human rights, we felt that a new video was in order, especially after this powerful video (whose chants we used in the background to one of this video’s scenes.)

Spread the word!

Destroy all humans! (Belgian-style)

Still getting myself situated here in Leuven. Found this discotheque down the street from the university’s international office. For all you Futurama and transhumanists out there in the “Schwartzosphere” haha!

Click on the photo to go to the discotheque’s website.  Party like it’s 2999! }:-)

Inside the Doomship

A Sumerian themed plaque. "Bijenkorf", by the way, means "bee hive".

This tour of Den Haag’s commercialist doomship is for my good friend Todd Keyser.  It’s an exquisite example of art nouveau or what the locals call jugendstil.  In truth, I suspect it’s from slightly later (I’ll ask the folks at the municipal music what they know about it).

Warning: this is a big post.

Meteorology, thy name is Den Haag

The thermometer has pulled an Icarus and soared sunward here in Den Haag.  There is no escape because the Dutch apparently do not believe in air conditioners.  I’m told this is due out of part environmental concerns (AC destroys the earth) and part Calvinist miserliness (AC destroys the wallet).  Fair enough.

I’ve been sick all day, in a kind of torpor, as though I were a lobster being boiled alive.  Why?  It can’t be the heat itself because I’ve been in seriously sunny places — the Holy Land isn’t known for its hot temper for nothing — and I’ve worked physical labor through multiple summers.

No, it’s Den Haag’s meteorological attention deficit disorder that’s hurting me.  Situated as it is on top of the North Sea, the weather in this city can change dramatically throughout a single day.  Only a few days ago it was chilly and breezy; now it’s sweltering and humid, and rumor has it that tonight the mercury’s going to drop again (we’ll see).

Yet one more reason to get the hell out of this place.

Guessing the spiritual future

Spirituality has always been subject to trends.  Influenced by everything from geography to technology, the metaphysical inclinations of society can serve as evidence of the unseen processes and forces shaping the direction of human civilization.

Previously, it was possible to discuss and debate the spirituality of the human species in terms of its various societies.  However, we are now entering a new phase of civilization marked by the rise of a global society.

It is true that this global society is, to a great extent, simply a patchwork of individual nations and communities.  However, the same can be said for human consciousness: the mind is made up of all its many individual neurons — and yet it is also somehow, almost ethereally more.

In likewise manner, at some point during the next few centuries a true global society will emerge from its constituent cultures.  So, the question I put to you now is: what do you think will be the initial spirituality of the global society?

Leave a comment below or click here to take a poll.

The Religions of the Future?

A new religious movement (NRM) is a term used to refer to a religious faith or an ethical, spiritual, or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part of an established denomination, church, or religious body.

Christianity and Islam were NRMs once upon a time.  My question to you, dear reader, is which of today’s NRMs do you think is the religion of the future.  Click here if you want to know what the heck I’m talking about and to take a poll.  }:-)

Den Haag by Night

The Dutch capital, remorselessly bourgeois by day, intimates another side by night.

The pavement of Grote Markstraat at 1 AM.

Revenge of the Digital Camera

I finally got the drop on my inner spendthrift, clubbing him over the head and locking him in the closet long enough to purchase a new digital camera. It’s a Sony Cybershot DSC-S930. As the saying goes, it’s nothing to write home about (although that’s what I’m doing now, isn’t it?) Cost 99 EUR plus another 37 EUR for a memory card and rechargeable batteries. I tremble to think about how much this means in USD.

The Media Markt salesman seemed to take a liking to me as soon as he discovered I’m a journalist from the United States. He enlightened me to a lot of things — how his father is a deadbeat in New York City and how I can steal Media Markt products by cutting open the boxes a certain way to remove the security sensors. Nice guy.

So, without further ado, here are some photos (videos to come later)…

Southwestern entrance to Grote Marktstraat, the main thoroughfare of the Hague.

Sojourn to Leuven

I spent the weekend in Leuven, Belgium, visiting my friend John Hymers and his family, as well as seeing the sights.  If all goes well, this September I’ll begin classes at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  I’m hoping to continue now ancient undergrad work on the Muslim Aristotilean philosopher Ibn Rushd, and just in general get a good European-style education in Belgium’s philosopers bootcamp.

Yours truly with Leuven's famous city hall behind.