The Uplifting Thread

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ieee23
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The Uplifting Thread

Post by ieee23 »

This is the thread where you post the uplifting things you have to write. Lets go :)
Whatever a bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of his mind. - MN 19
perkele
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by perkele »

There is this anti-islamic Black Metal band from Saudi Arabia which I just discovered.
I find their music to be quite awesome and uplifting.



:candle: :stirthepot: :candle:
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SDC
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by SDC »

perkele wrote:There is this anti-islamic Black Metal band from Saudi Arabia which I just discovered.
I find their music to be quite awesome and uplifting.
It would be interesting to see if the black metal scene in SA (if there is one) mimics that of Norway in the early 90's, where the perceived vacuum created by the religious establishment there produced a youth willing to do such evil and ungodly things in order to express their displeasure. Surely that wouldn't make me happy per se, but to know that such rebellion were able to happen in such a authoritarian country would be something to see.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
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CedarTree
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by CedarTree »

perkele wrote:There is this anti-islamic Black Metal band from Saudi Arabia which I just discovered.
I find their music to be quite awesome and uplifting.



:candle: :stirthepot: :candle:
I kinda liked it lol


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perkele
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by perkele »

<Mostly off-topic>
CedarTree wrote:I kinda liked it lol
Yeah, it is really quite refreshing, :smile: this Arabic sound with its quarter-tone harmonics and full of energy. Comparing it to this rather monotonous typical Norwegian old-school black metal song (which I also find uplifting somehow, sometimes, to some extent, in a different way | by some neo-nazi Pagan YouTube pseudo-philosopher and convicted murderer, whose views I find partially somehow appealing and partially very disturbing), this is really happy and energizing stuff. Go Arabic metalheads! :twothumbsup:

Sorry for having hijacked this thread with my peculiar musical preferences and continuing to do so now. I am going to finish the hijacking now to be done with it with this lenghty reply and continue on-topic afterwards.
SDC wrote:It would be interesting to see if the black metal scene in SA (if there is one) mimics that of Norway in the early 90's, where the perceived vacuum created by the religious establishment there produced a youth willing to do such evil and ungodly things in order to express their displeasure.
Not sure exactly what the "perceived vacuum created by the religious establishment" was that you are talking about. I suppose with the "evil and ungodly things" you refer to the church burnings and so on.

I don't know too much about those things and what drove that scene including its crazy lunatics with their morbid tendencies, but I believe there can be no real comparison between the oh-so-rebellious church arsonists of the Black Metal scene in Norway in the 90s and whatever is going on in Saudi Arabia nowadays.

According to what some googling revealed to me here, as a first superficial glance, there have been some improvements on the freedom for musicians some years ago (that article is from 2008), but they cannot perform publicly in the country because that is somehow sinful and so on. But at least they are not punished for recording in private.

That particular band whose music I linked to here, though, has to stay anonymous, apparently, because their lyrics are decidedly anti-religious, so they could face severe punishment for that. They don't even have to burn any churches (or mosques) to be criminals. And their rebelliousness has to stay totally underground, it seems.

There are other Middle-Eastern anti-islamistic (not necessarily anti-islamic) bands like Seeds of Iblis ([I think Iblis = "Satan", more or less]there is no English Wikipedia page for them yet). Their texts are reasonably critical (very uplifting) to what is really happening around them in terms of religious strife and bloodshed and so on, as opposed to the crude generic anti-christian "satanist" black metal musical messages of those black metal bands that arose in Norway in the 90s. Seeds of Iblis are supposedly based in Iraq, but no one is really sure, because, of course, they can not show their real faces and so on.

There are also bands like this one (the name means something like "hellfire", apparently) from Bahrain, who, just as in Saudi Arabia, cannot perform very much or at all in public, because the religious establishment does not like that style of music, but since their (mostly religious/quranic inspired, apparently) lyrics are not anti-Islam (it seems they sing about hellfire and stuff all in line with the quran, but it is in Arabic, so I don't really know) they are not persecuted for it, but perhaps ostracized to some degree by the mainstream surrounding culture, maybe like "satanist" metalheads back in those days here a bit, or maybe a bit more seriously. No idea if ISIS fighters would approve of and bang their heads to something like this, though. I don't like it particularly.
SDC wrote:Surely that wouldn't make me happy per se, but to know that such rebellion were able to happen in such a authoritarian country would be something to see.
I am very ignorant about what it may be like to live in those islamic Middle-Eastern countries and can mostly only fantasize about it. But as some of the YouTube commenters to some of that music like to say "True jihad is against the self", or true rebellion works (from? to?) within one might say perhaps, or something like that. I think that is a good attitude, and something which might be encouraged by the social circumstances and generally prevailing (non-)acceptability of that type of music in those regions. Or at least that's how I'd like to imagine it. :juggling:

</Mostly off-topic>
Last edited by perkele on Sat Aug 12, 2017 1:26 am, edited 3 times in total.
perkele
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by perkele »

(split in two for better sortability / possibility to move off-topic stuff away)

But to come back on-topic and to uplifting things: I was fired recently by my Indian pizza big boss (who is actually a decent guy by himself), or rather, by his evil witch of a wife, after spending far too much time on fixing his computer and getting paid far too little for it (but at l(e)ast, he did pay me, despite his wife). And simultaneously I was driven out of my previous flat, more or less, by some clan of invaders who came unannounced to replace my former roommates and could not say anything in German to me except for some broken phrases along the lines of "But here: clean up!"

So now I live in a much better place and social environment, cheaper and more comfortable, in a crooked old farmhouse on top of a quagmire, surrounded by a nice wild garden, a scrapyard, some caravans, cows and Marihuana plants, dog and cats and chicken, and friendly only slightly deranged people who are afraid of wifi and mobile phone radiation (but refuse to wear tinfoil hats), and have now much more time to do what I actually want to do for a living in the long run: programming (and enough work ahead as well). Hooray!

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bodom
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by bodom »

perkele wrote:There is this anti-islamic Black Metal band from Saudi Arabia which I just discovered.
I find their music to be quite awesome and uplifting.



:candle: :stirthepot: :candle:
Good stuff \m/(><)\m/

Perkele, SDC,

Have you guys ever heard of Acrassicauda? There a metal band from Iraq. They had to flee to Syria, Turkey and finally to US due to death threats from Islamic terrorists. There pretty good and there is an amazing documentary about them called Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Check it out if you havent seen it yet.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjC3VtR8GzY

But anyway to stay on topic listening to Metal definitely puts me in a great mood and is great to listen to in the gym (another uplifting past time of mine) to help you knockout those last few reps.

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
Bundokji
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by Bundokji »

Thanks perkele,

I live in the Middle East and never knew that these bands exist! (it is somehow funny to find them on a Buddhist forum). I tried to listen to what they say, i could not understand anything, i could not even recognize that the language is Arabic. :rolleye:

It is understandable that acts of rebellion coming from Islamic countries are seen in positive way by westerners, but i am not sure if this is the kind of rebellion we need. Even if they wanted to use music, Metal is foreign to our culture hence they came across (at least to me) as imitators.

To share something i perceive more original, there is a Lebanese band called Mashrou' Leila مشروع ليلى, at least one member of the band is known to be homosexual. Their songs address many taboos and flaws in Lebanese society and Arabic culture in general. A concert was arranged for them in Jordan two months ago and they got a permission by the minister of tourism, then the house of representatives interfered and cancelled the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGEX_Wbq5EE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashrou%27_Leila
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
Bundokji
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by Bundokji »

This song is a bit too old, but one of my favorites. It is called "the year 2000" and mocks the status of Arab countries in the new millennia. When you listen to it, you get a good taste of what real Arabic music sounds like :smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5RlnPq4JGg
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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TreeSleeper
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Re: The Uplifting Thread

Post by TreeSleeper »

Even as the days go by, and I feel this suffering, continuously, I know there is a way out, for I have tasted bits of freedom, happiness, friendship, joy, tranquility. The fruits of this practice. These memories uplift me. I have the strength to carry on. I know that in the end, all of my effort's will have meant something, for I did the right thing, even when it hurt, even when I hardly had faith, even when I wanted to beat my chest and scream to the sky. I will keep going, struggling to swim to that light I believe is there, somewhere deep in this dark ocean. Even now as darkness settles in and the bruisers of defilement gang up on me, I will hold on tight to that Supreme Goal, for I have Faith in the Blessed One. For he is my guide, my friend, and my proof.
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