Ben Myers reminded me of an essay I wrote a few years ago entitled "Transgressing Boundaries in the Nine Inch Nails: The Grotesque as a Means to the Sacred".
The thesis is this:
"The grotesque aesthetic and explicitly religious quoting of the Nine Inch Nails provides a clear medium through which the tentative structure of boundaries is expressed creating creative space for the mystery of the sacred to emerge."
Hardly a very apt picture of worship for most of us. But part of what such boundary transgression does is tear down one's assumptions of truth and purity, and causes one to view their own state of being as something fragile and tentative. By tearing down, the sacred can re-build. More that that, even without the presence of the grotesque, it is the presence of the sacred that enacts a sort of creative destruction which leads even Paul to say "For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,* who loved me and gave himself for me."
It is the same message in the Pilgrim's Progress where it is only through the Slough of Despair that we find redemption. The image of God purifying God's people through suffering is about as powerful an image in the Scriptures as we can find. The climax of the image is found in Christ crucified and risen to take away the sins of the world. The true paradox of the sacred and the grotesque that finds it intersection in the death and resurrection of the Savior.
Nine Inch Nails' 1999 double CD release The Fragile is a continuation of sorts from the previous album The Downward Spiral. A consistent theme for Trent Reznor (who for all intents and purposes is Nine Inch Nails) is understanding the shackles of inherent human limitations and then finding redemption that one makes for one's self in the midst of that situation. Thus, The Fragile begins with the song "Somewhat Damaged" with this lyric:
So impressed with all you do
Tried so hard to be like you
Flew too high and burnt the wing
Lost my faith in everything
Lick around divine debris
Taste the wealth of hate in me
Shedding skin succumb defeat
This machine is obsolete
made the choice to go away
Drink the fountain of decay
Tear a hole exquisite red
F**k the rest and stab it dead
Broken bruised forgotten sore
Too f**ked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too f**ked up to care anymore
The length of the album stays in this Slough with a sublime a deep rage burning under a compressed sense of repressed self-loathing. It is, in this respect the sense of Despair and Anxiety that Kierkegaard tells us is a self that relates itself to itself. It is a profound misrelation of idolatry – of yearning for the Other in a profoundly misguided way that finds its object of desire in the seduction of the material.
Most of the album reveals the condition of humanity in the various angles of this sense of despair and loneliness when idols ultimately fail and reveal humanity's own fragility in the midst of human life. But as with The Downward Spiral Reznor gives a glimpse of redemption in the closing lyric from the song "Underneath It All":
all i do
i can still feel you
numb all through
i can still feel you
hear your call
underneath it all
kill my brain
yet you still remain
crucified
after all i've died
after all i've tried
you are still inside
all i do
i can still feel you
you remain
i am stained
Which seems like a reflection on Kierkegaard's own source of redemption in true self-relatedness again from The Sickness Unto Death:
"The formula that describes the state of the self when despair is completely rooted out is this: in relating itself to itself and in willing to be itself, the self rests transparently in the power that established it."
Until we find our source in that which is sacred, the grotesque will lead to idolatry even as it opens the space for the sacred to inhabit our fragile sense of self so readily susceptible to despair.
No related posts.
But where are you going to find a Sacred Source in 2008. Especially in the West which has been totally embedded or entangled in a totally godless secular-materialist "world"-view for over 200 years now.
Every cubic millimitre of our culture, and our bodies too, is permeated and patterning by the all pervasive dominant anti-god ideology/paradigm of scientism—no exceptions.
Even, or perhaps especially, all theology begins with and is limited by the same all pervasive invisible paradigm. You cant think yourself out of the trap. Or even create a theology that takes everything into account.
And besides which words themselves are the most subtle and seductive forms of idolatry. And unless spoken by an Illuminated saint, mystic, yogi, sage, or Adept Realizer are all spoken by and centred around the primary idol that we all share and consider to be completely normal.
I is the primary I-dol. A koan to be understood.
.
The presumption that I am separate from All and everything. That I am the source of wisdom and my self-fulfilment and even "salvation" is what IT is all about. That everything revolves around me or that I am the centre of everything. The consumer ego. The consumer "religious" ego.
Have you noticed that there have been no Illuminated saints in the West for several hundred years.
Why?
Because even the possibility of a truly Divine Life was systematically shut down in the West beginning with and extending from the Renaissance.
.
Actually at least 85% of Americans believe in God and the country remains quite religious so none your assertions are remotely accurate. Europe may be a different matter though. In fact Stark has argued that it was never really Christianized.
Religious homogeneity breeds sectarianism, irreligiousness breeds cultic activity.
Is the game easy to learn how to play?
Yes. We strive to make all of our games easy to learn how to play, yet difficult to master.
Is Blizzard aware of some of the game play problems that have been prevalent in other MMORPGs?
Yes. Blizzard employees are gamers first and foremost, and we have played more than our fair share of existing massively multiplayer games. We tend to agree with MMORPG gamers on the strengths and weaknesses of the genre to date. We have striven to advance the genre with World of Warcraft by building on the positives already established in the genre and eliminating as many of the negatives as possible. We think we've done a successful job, but we hope you will try the game to see for yourself.
How do you prevent camping and kill stealing?
There are several things that have been implemented to limit this problem. First, there is "tapping." If you damage a monster first, you have thereby "tapped" it and thus only you and your party will gain experience and loot from it, even if another player attacks and kills it. We also limit camping and kill-stealing issues by "instancing" certain areas of the game. No other players, unless they are part of your group, can enter your instance.
How do you prevent camping and kill stealing in non-instanced areas?
Competition over rare item drops and quest items is the primary cause of camping and kill stealing. In World of Warcraft, many rare item drops are not exclusive to any one creature. Several creatures will have a chance of dropping the same item. If the required item is a quest item, the player can join a group of other players on the same quest. Every player on the quest will receive a copy of the quest item from the monster or location where it was found.
Are there other things to do besides leveling?
There is a huge variety of things to do to keep players from feeling like they just have to grind through one creature battle after another. Characters can craft items, fight in vast battles against other players, and explore distant lands. Even when players do fight monsters, it will often be as part of a quest, or in search of special ingredients for their crafts.
Is there a party system for group adventuring?
Yes. <a href=" http://www.iwpls.com ">buy WOW Gold
How large is the party size for players?
The maximum number for a party is five players, and the game is generally balanced for groups of five. Smaller groups can still be quite successful, and regardless of the group's size, everyone in the group can make important contributions. You can also create larger groups of players, which are called raid groups.
Are there ways to gain experience in the game besides fighting?
Yes, there are ways to gain experience other than by fighting. You can gain substantial experience from doing quests. Exploring is another example of how you can gain experience; a character can receive experience by simply journeying to areas where your character has yet to explore.
How does group experience work?
All players in a group share experience for a kill. However, to offset the lesser experience that comes from grouping, all players in the group also get a group xp bonus depending on the number of players in the group. You gain more experience for kills if you group with players closer to your level, while you gain less if you group with players more than a few levels higher than you.
http://indihot.com/indihot-news/gautam-gambhir-...
Is there a way to finish World of Warcraft? How long can I play?
There are thousands of hours of game play in the game (and even more in The Burning Crusade), and nearly infinite goals for players. Because our live team is regularly adding new quests, creatures, and items, the game will never truly end.
Your post reminds me of when Johnny Cash covered NIN. He sang "Hurt" and changed the words Crown of … to Crown of thorns. It was incredibly moving. Very sacred to me.
Absolutely! What a powerful video too. My friend Andy Tinker wrote something about that for Presbyterian Media Mission a few years ago. The idea that in suffering there is redemption is probably why I remain a Christian and images like that move me and nourish me.
Back to the Middle Ages! Or, as we of the "dominant anti-god ideology/paradigm of scientism" like to say, the Dark ages.
For most of us science, technology and material progress are not impediments to faith. If you find modern life intolerable, please, feel free to live in a cave.
Thanks for your "Transgressing Boundaries" article, too: great stuff!
Back to the Middle Ages! Or, as we of the "dominant anti-god ideology/paradigm of scientism" like to say, the Dark ages.
For most of us science, technology and material progress are not impediments to faith. If you find modern life intolerable, please, feel free to live in a cave.
Thanks for your "Transgressing Boundaries" article, too: great stuff!