Is California beyond repair? A sizable number of Golden State citizens have concluded that it is. Incessant budget crises plus a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock have led to demands for reform; even a constitutional convention. But what; exactly; is wrong and how can we fix it? In California Crackup; Joe Mathews and Mark Paul provide clear and informed answers. Their fast-paced and often humorous narrative deftly exposes the constitutional origins of our current political and economic problems and furnishes a uniquely California fix: innovative solutions that allow Californians to debate their choices; settle on the best ones; hold elected officials accountable for results; and choose anew if something doesn’t work.
#309139 in Books 2008-03-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .58 x 6.00l; 1.03 #File Name: 0520252195240 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating encounter with a little known; and less studied; traditionBy William CoursonFor centuries; the Aghori have been counted among the most radically unconventional; eccentric and orthodoxy-upsetting ascetics in India: living naked on the cremation ground; meditating whilst seated on rotting corpses; engaging in cannibalism and coprophagy; consuming intoxicants out of human skulls and "blessing" those who would approach them by a slap in the face - cultivating an affinity for noxiousness in all its myriad forms in the name of a commitment to the realization of non-duality; to the realization that all is; indeed; one.In recent years; the Aghori have shifted their practices from the embrace of ritually polluted substances; events and past-times to the healing of socially stigmatized diseases; such as (in the present instance) vitiligo and leprosy; two afflictions believed by many Indians to be among the vilest curses that could beset a human being. In the process; they have become a wealthy; large; mainstream; and quite socially acceptable and politically connected organization. The Aghori lineage of which Dr. Barrett writes; the Kina Ram tradition; whose center of gravity is located in Varanasi; asserts that Aghori are like the river Ganga; accepting the purest streams from its sources in the Himalayas as well as the sewage and offal of the cities. These Aghori consider the founder of their lineage; Baba Kina Ram; to be the embodiment of Lord Shiva on Earth; his dhuni (campfire) a cremation pyre; and the Ashram he established; the mahas shmarshana; the great charnel ground. Like the teeming city of Varanasi that surrounds it; the ashram and its namesake play the role of cosmic sink wherein takes place the removal of pollution and the effects of sin from the many pilgrims and patients they receive.Amongst the residents of and pilgrims to Varanasi; Shakti takes the form of Ganga Ma; the river who is the mother of countless millions. Lord Shiva takes the form of cremation ascetic. Both are as infinite as their capacity to absorb the sins of the universe without themselves becoming soiled. These dynamics hold true for Aghor as well.The author writes: "The use of cremation wood in Aghor dhunis is symbolic of this connection between death and digestion; with not only the Aghori but also their patients ingesting the products of ritual sacrifice--offerings of food and even the ash from the wood. Along these lines; Prem spoke of imbibing ash as a blessing: 'It is like this. . . .We apply [the ash]; that is for the peace of our heart; for our own mental peace; and that which has burned itself. From that; I feel something different in myself. For instance; we are very cruel. With that dhuni . . . because that is burning outside; that is a different process. One is burning inside. They [these two fires] have the same relation.' Such acts of ritual ingestion represent a kind of 'tantric homeopathy;' purification and healing by confronting the source of the pollution.'Ronald Barrett is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropological Sciences at Stanford University. He is also an initiated disciple of the Aghor spiritual lineage. In writing this book; he has walked a fine line and has successfully traversed it: managing to write from both an etic as well as an emic standpoint; he at once avoids the perils of the hagiography of the devotee and the sterility of the mere chronicler.This lucidly written; very well-organized book explores the dynamics of Aghor healing; a unique concatenation of conventional Western medicine; Ayurveda and the folkways of the Aghori and their followers. Ron Barrett examines a range of Aghor therapies and clarifies many misconceptions about this little-studied group and its highly unorthodox; powerful ideas about health and disease; healing and dying. I enthusiastically recommend "Aghor Medicine: Pollution; Death; and Healing in Northern India" to anyone with interests in the realms of India and its healing traditions1 of 7 people found the following review helpful. The book is BOORINGBy MargaretThe book is very hard to get through. the author changes "voices" often and use of Indian terms with no explanation makes reading this even harder. It had to read it for school and still never got through it
