ON CLASSICAL AFRICAN THOUGHT IN MODERN TERMS

This project explores the significance of classical African thought in terms of its applicability within contemporary contexts. The notion of the classical is used in preference to conceptions through which foundational African thought is more often characterised. These concepts are those of the “traditional” and the “endogenous”.

The endogenous character of many of theses schemes of thought is being challenged by a colonial and post-colonial modernity in which these once dominant but now often marginalised schemes of thought have become alien to the dominant epistemes through which modern African societies are organised and managed. The concept of the “traditional” is also not employed here since many of these schemes of thought are functioning within modern societies in a manner that foregrounds questions about the parallel existence of various forms of modernity, within and between societies.

The conventional understanding of the opposition of the traditional and the modern is therefore called into question by the active coexistence of styles of thought and action which represent each of these supposedly antithetical points of social development.

One of such forms of conflictual or heterotopic modernity is one in which the underlying premises of these pre-modern systems have a part.

Christianity, Islam and other more recent entrants into African experience might also be examined in terms of how they have been made endogenous to Africa.

ON EXPLORINGDECADENCE

I have been able to move closer to the definitive shape I expect
this vision to take.I have resolved that,for the moment,I will use a
blog rather than a DVD to provide access to the material I am
developing.This will be easier for me to manage and also provide a
more interactive encounter of the viewer and reader with the material.

To elaborate on what I stated in my gumtree posting,I am integrating
philosophical,religious,spiritual and literary texts with erotic
imagery,including pornography.The purpose of this is to enable an
enjoyment of the erotic/pornographic image while providing the
opportunity to engage oneself in implications of that image at
philosophical,religious,spiritual and literary levels.

I achieve this by correlating the images with texts from these various
areas of discourse.The texts are drawn from various cultures and time
periods,from ancient Asia to the modern West,from the Bible to the
Hindu epic of the Mahabharata.

The variety of the texts is further developed through the contrasts
between the contents of the texts.Texts that celebrate sensuality and
sexuality are posted alternately with those that denigrate those
aspects of human life or demonstrate a wariness of them.The purpose of
this juxtaposition is to highlight the contradictions demonstrated
by human attitudes to sexuality.These contradictions are further
highlighted by the provocative pairing of texts that are wary of the
erotic with striking erotic images.These juxtapositions also lead
into philosophical reflections on the role of contraries in the world.

The wealth of the blog is also further developed by the fact that I,as
publisher of the blog, demonstrate relationships between the images
and the texts through a reflection on both of them.These reflection
not only makes explicit the relationships I perceive between the
images and the chosen texts,but take the blog to the philosophic level
that inspires it in the first place.This level is suggested by the
words of the porn actor Lexington Steele,which are quoted in the blog
header-his words about how he integrates his relationship with God
with his life as a professional fornicator,as he describes himself.

In my reflections on the relationships between the texts and the
images,I explore the manner in which they highlight the kind of
contradiction suggested by Steele's words.I describe the appeal of
the image for me and its relationship to the ideas at play.

The blog format enables this reflection to open in a separate window
that facilitates a seamless browsing experience.It also enables the
reader to contribute their reflections to the blog by making comments
in the comments links the blog provides,thereby making the encounter
an interactive one.

At the moment,I have twenty posts where images are paired with texts.I
have also uploaded some of my reflections on the pairing of images
and texts.

I will update the blog at the rate of one pair of images and texts a
week and one reflection on an image and text pair a week.

All the images and texts are within the law.

TRAVELLER FROM BEYOND SEEKS PARTICULAR TERRESTIAL LIFE FORM


Passing through space near the third planet from the sun, I received news on my transmitter that life forms of the kind I seek are present on that sphere.

I alighted and assumed the identity of a man from a continent where the sun often burns hotter than in other places and where the people are therefore coloured a dusky hue.

It seems, though, that the creatures of this place are not so easily understood as on other planets, so I have chosen to use this medium in my quest for the kind of humans I am looking for.

Humans of negative gender but with positive character.

Who delight in the exercise of the mind.

I will respond to you as I take a break from exploring this wondrous sphere as shown in the products of human minds in books, art and the peculiar configuration of this world in natural forms.

THE END OF UNINTELLIGENT PORNOGRAPHY

Why must our minds and spirit be separate from our enjoyment of the glorious pleasures of the flesh?

Why must I leave my mind and education at the door when I want to enjoy the unbridled demonstration of that lust that makes the world go round?

Philosophers like St. Augustine, Buddha, Hegel, Nagarjuna, critics of the erotic as well as hard core sensualists, come together in this DVD.

A feast for the senses and the mind.

The great conflict of mind and body is here enacted in a canvas that spans all ages of time and all regions of the earth.

You are left to form your own conclusions.

An experience you will never forget. Erotica will never be the same again.

Stunning images that take you to the debauchery of ancient Rome, the glorious celebrations of the flesh in the modern West, the cornucopia of the flesh that emerges from Africa.

Explorations of the senses and the flesh as evil are contrasted with explorations of them as fundamental to our heritage as humans.

Hard core pornography from the mistresses and masters of the art, celebrations of the art of the body, words of poetic power and philosophical thought,

There is something here for everyone.

Ogle great pictures, read powerful text, challenge your mind, titillate yourself with uncompromising erotica.

Puzzle over what St. Augustine and Buddha are doing in a porn DVD.

The choice is yours.