Reading List, March 2023

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Our monthly stories are productions looking to connect people to the magic of stories.

We create supplementary reading lists as a way to give you an insight into the inspirations and thinking behind our monthly stories. These reading lists take you behind the story, revealing the process of its making.

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Image: Cienna Smith

Rasa → Śāntam (शान्त) Peace, tranquility. Presiding deity: Vishnu. Colour: perpetual white Śṛṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, attractiveness. Presiding deity: Vishnu. Colour: light green

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Archetype → Lover

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Love defies the ego’s instinct to selfishly survive. Love attunes you to another being, and through that experience, it attunes you to yourself with renewed devotion.

This month’s newsletter is curated around the storytelling archetype of the lover. We borrowed the lover archetype from the psychology theories of Carl Jung. It’s an interesting archetype that helps us typify personalities that seek connection through intimacy, attentiveness and enjoying experiences. To those with a dominant lover archetype, experiencing the object of their affection means everything. Profound expressions of love are the signature trait of the lover. We use the lover archetype in stories; sometimes as characters we make—like Kavita—and other times as brand personalities that we create stories for. We find the lover archetype driven to make decisions through passion, and always looking to fill their vast capacity to experience, and of course, to love.

But, stories involving the lover archetype are not limited to learning to love another or the self; this archetype also connects to spiritual love and ecstasy. This story about Kavita was designed to induce two rasas (a state of mind caused by emotions)—śringāra (sensuality) and śāntam (tranquillity).

This reading list will take you through the ideas, incidents, people, films, music and research that inspired us through the making of this story.

March 2023

• When the incredibly talented English musician Ratan Devi—whose real name was Alice Ethel Richardson—married the prolific Sri Lankan writer and philosopher Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, the couple seemed to form a creative powerhouse. But, their promise was short-lived after they formed a friendship with the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley who was dubbed the ‘wickedest man in the world’ at the time. The couple got involved with Crowley’s sex rituals exploring the connection between sexual arousal and altered states of mind, ultimately leading to the destruction of their relationships, exposing the danger of the practice at inexperienced hands.

  1. 2023, Ed Holland, The singer and the mystic; Love, Music, and Magick in 1910’s New York. Medium.

  2. 1929, Magick in theory and practice by the Master Therion (Aleister Crowley). Crowley, Aleister. Lecram Press, Paris.

• Madhura bhava and Veer bhava: In some sects of Hinduism, fostering an amorous relationship with the divine is considered among the accepted forms of worship. Madhura bhava and veer bhava, meaning the state of sweetness and the hero-state, are documented and instructed in various texts of Hindu devotion, detailing poetry, rituals and even warnings for practitioners.

  1. Pujya Dr. K.C. Varadachari - Volume 8.

  2. 1927, Triveni Journal. Dr. P. P. Sharma. Madhura Bhakti in Devotional Poetry.

  3. Kularnava Tantra. M. P. Pandit. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.

• Sometimes, humans form sexual fixations with inanimate objects. Often, these objects resemble a glorified version of the human body—like sex dolls, mannequins or statues—and other times, they are objects that spark more abstract desires. Characterized by sexual or romantic attraction focused on particular inanimate objects. Individuals with this attraction may have strong feelings of love and commitment to certain items or structures of their fixation.

  1. Objectophilia. Wikipedia, retrieved March 2023: Object sexuality or objectophilia is a group of paraphilias characterized by sexual or romantic attraction focused on particular inanimate objects.

  2. 2022, In Love With A Chandelier, Objectum Sexuality. OMG Stories. Youtube.

• 2018, Ulrich Pfistere. Divine ecstasy and eroticism in catholic art. München: In Catholicism—and similarly in most other religions— moments of religious rapture or elation, of prophetic inspiration or overwhelming emotion are thought to lead to ecstatic states while encountering divine sublimity. This short paper analyzes the idea through some of the most beautiful works of European religious art capturing divine ecstasy.

• 2016, Madhura-rati. Hare Krishnas: Krishna is known as a god who accepts his devotees as lovers. Madhura-rati, or attachment in conjugal love, is described as the conjugal relationship experienced between the Godhead and the devotee in Krishna worship. Conjugal love is divided into two classifications-namely, dutiful love as husband and wife and amorous love as lover and beloved.

• 2006, Divine Intoxication & Rumi. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. Ascent Magazine: Rumi’s poetry touches on every dimension of the love between God and the mystic. This is one of the reasons that makes Rumi’s mysticism so attractive—it’s not simply the beauty of his language but also the emphasis on exalting affections. The lover he writes about is often unnamed and remains between divine and human.

• Maithuna. Wikipedia, retrieved March 2023: Maithuna is an idea of spiritual union in tantric practices that involve both physical and metaphysical union, usually without any release of sexual fluids. Tantric teachers and practitioners describe it as a penetration of sexual energy, in which the two opposing forces, the masculine and the feminine, transfer and come to a balance; a sexual union of the subtle bodies.

• 1981, Under Pressure. David Bowie and Queen. EMI Elektra Records: ‘Because love’s such an old-fashioned word, and love dares you to care for the people at the edge of the night, and love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves.’ The song is considered among the greatest musical productions of all time, and a twentieth-century anthem for universal love.

• Anandamyi, Wikipedia, retrieved March 2023: Anandamayi was an Indian saint whose spiritual path was defined by the practice of love and joyfulness, known as the path of Bhakti (trans. Loving devotion). Her name—chosen by Ānandamayi herself during the self-initiation into a spiritual journey—translates to ‘joy permeated’. Anandamayi pointed to love as a path to understanding, and joy as a viewpoint toward truth.

• 1969, My sweet lord. George Harrison. All things must pass. Apple records: George Harrison's ‘My sweet lord’ stands alone in the history of rock music for going against the secular grain as a full-on love song to the almighty. It was written by Harrison in the aftermath of his spiritual awakening following The Beatles’ visit to Rishikesh, India, in 1967 when they were learning from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The song captures what the musician felt as an overwhelming desire to be in union with god—an idea with roots that can be traced back to the eastern concept of monism which talks about being one with the only truth in the world. Peppered with blissed-out hallelujahs and Haré Krishna utterances, the song captures the idea of loving the divine in a way that was not limited to a single religion.

• 1981, The essence of Yajnavalkya Smriti. Translated and interpreted by V.D.N. Rao, Mumbai: Yajnavalkya was a Vedic sage from c.700 BCE. He recorded observations of his philosophical explorations with remarkable lucidity and he was often overwhelmed by the sheer weight of this knowledge deeming it impossible to originate from his human mind. Therefore, he attributed this knowledge and works to the feminine icon of knowledge—Saraswati. He harboured a lifelong devotion to the goddess, writing hymns of praise to express his bhakti (devotional love) for her. But he considered his intellectual pursuits to understand the human mind and use that knowledge to structure society as the ultimate homage to the goddess of knowledge, and the only way in which he could truly ‘see’ her.

• 2017, Longing for the Beloved. Mirabai Starr. Parabola: There is a longing that burns at the root of spiritual practice. This is the fire that fuels the spiritual journey for some. Romantic suffering seems central to this kind of devotion. Throughout history, there have been holy lovers who swear by the glorious sweetness that lies on the other side of yearning, when the boundaries of the separate self momentarily melt into the one reality.

Reading List, February 2023

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Our monthly stories are productions looking to connect people to the magic of stories.

We create supplementary reading lists as a way to give you an insight into the inspirations and thinking behind our monthly stories. These reading lists take you behind the story, revealing the process of its making.

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Rasa → Hāsyam (हास्यं): Laughter, mirth, comedy. Presiding deity: Shiva. Colour: white Śṛṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, attractiveness. Presiding deity: Vishnu. Colour: light green

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Archetype → Rebel

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“The will to stand against the currents, to go against the grain; to speak what no one wants to say; to break the mould; to challenge the norm; to break the known world open with revolt…”

Among the archetypes presented in Carl Jung’s theory of psychoanalysis, the rebel is the one fearlessly heralding change. Also known as the revolutionary, the reformer, the misfit, the maverick and the free spirit, the light side of the rebel archetype is at the frontlines of all historic movements that broke open social boundaries. The rebel archetype is inspiring—moving mountains, facing hard truths head-on and leading to changes that benefit generations. But, in its shadow, this archetype can be frustrating as troublemakers, provocateurs, and rule-breakers.

A rasa that is very conducive to the rebel archetype and its unceremonious attitude towards social norms, is the hāsyam rasa (humour). We created Shali’s tale mixing hāsyam rasa with slight undertones of sringāra mood (sensuality), weaving a micro story of a bisexual woman; it’s part of our story series exploring human desire.

This reading list will take you through the ideas, incidents, people, films, music and research that inspired us through the making of this story, and explore the storytelling archetypes and moods used in our creative process.

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Below is a list of art, literature, research and knowledge that inspired us in the making of this story;

February 2023

• One of the most memorable South Asian movie characters that embodied the feminine rebel was Janice in the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1971. The movie came out at a time when the idea of a South Asian woman contradicting her traditional identity was at a delicate balance. With growing foreign influences at the start of globalization, it was only a matter of time; but, who would dare? Enter Janice, played by Zeenat Aman. The movie script itself was not groundbreaking, following a story arc of a rebellious woman realizing her mistakes all too late. But, outshining this story and its tragic end of the rebel, the character Janice was cemented in the South Asian psyche of the time with her culture-defying outfits, smoke in hand, and a to-hell-with-the-world attitude. In the true spirit of the rebel, it was an instance when a character outshone the story and the plight it had decided for her.

  1. 2016, I’m your Janice, Dev. Romancing With Life, Dev Anand, Penguin India: The real story behind the unforgettable movie character, inspired by a chance encounter with a rebellious young woman at the heart of the social scene of the counterculture movement unravelling in Kathmandu, Nepal in the 1970s.

  2. 1971, Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Dev Anand. Mumbai, India.
     

• (Wiki) ‘Rebel Girl’ is one of the best known compositions by the American punk band Bikini Kill, and was performed in concert as early as 1991. Songwriting credit is given to all four band members. The lyrics are attributed to Hanna, and were reportedly inspired by the influential feminist artist Juliana Luecking. The song's theme and lyrics overturn the traditional heterosexual tropes of pop music. Giving voice to an unconcealed queer perspective, it is a frank and explicit "tribute to, and love song for, another woman". In a larger sense, it is viewed as an ode to feminist solidarity.

  1. It is considered to be Bikini Kill's signature song, but it has an equally enduring affiliation with the feminist movement known as riot grrrl. From their start, Bikini Kill was inextricably linked to riot grrrl and, more than any other song, ‘Rebel Girl’ was that movement's most widely recognized musical expression, its ‘one definitive anthem’.

  2. Rebel Girl was used in the film Ghost World: (Wiki) A 2001 black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas and Steve Buscemi. Based on the 1993–97 comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes, with a screenplay co-written by Clowes and Zwigoff, the story focuses on the lives of Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson), two teenage outsiders in an unnamed American city. They face a rift in their relationship as Enid takes interest in an older man named Seymour (Buscemi), and becomes determined to help his romantic life.

  3. Riot grrrl: (Wiki) Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics. It’s seen as a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less common for women.
     

• 2019, NoLogo. Naomi Klein: (Youtube) No Logo, based on the best-selling book by Canadian journalist and activist Naomi Klein, this story reveals the reasons behind the backlash against the increasing economic and cultural reach of multinational companies. Analyzing how brands like Nike, The Gap, and Tommy Hilfiger became revered symbols worldwide, Klein argues that globalization is a process whereby corporations discovered that profits lay not in making products (outsourced to low-wage workers in developing countries), but in creating branded identities people adopt in their lifestyles.
  

• 2006, The Modern Amazons; warrior women on screen. Dominique Mainon and James Ursini. Limelight books: This interesting, but poorly presented, book documents the evolution of the female action hero in cinema, television and pop-culture. From Barbarella to Barb Wire, the book surveys the public's interest with the warrior-woman and amazon archetype in media, giving access to some key insights about feminine characters that are counterculture, rebellious and defying the accepted role of the woman.
  

• A story that captured the conflict between the rebel and authority with a classic narrative of a rich father and his disenchanted son came in Yugānthaya by Martin Wickremesinghe. The book is considered a classic in Sinhala literature, and its movie adaptation by Lester James Pieris was also a major success.

  1. Simon Kabalana (played by Gamini Fonseka in the movie) is a powerful and ruthless capitalist who uses terror to keep his workers under control. His son Malin Kabalana (played by Richard De Zoysa) is the complete opposite, coming back from England idolizing Marx and Lenin, confronts his father’s views and decides to join the socialist movement in Sri Lanka.

  2. Richard de Zoysa was a profoundly talented actor, poet and playwright. His alleged affiliation with Sri Lanka’s socialist movement in the late 1980s and his charismatic role as the rebel Malin Kabalana in Yugānthaya is thought to have led to his horrific murder by a government death squad. Richard’s death became one of the most widely recorded and evidenced cases against government death squads in Sri Lanka.
     

• 1972, Walk On The Wild Side. Lou Reed, Transformer. RCA: This hit song by Lou Reed from his second solo album, was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. Known as a counterculture anthem, the song received wide radio coverage and became Reed's biggest hit and signature song while touching on topics considered taboo at the time, such as transgender people, drugs, male prostitution, and oral sex. In 2013, The New York Times described it as a ballad of misfits and oddballs that "became an unlikely cultural anthem, a siren song luring generations of people...to a New York so long forgotten as to seem imaginary".
  

• 1957, On the Road, Jack Kerouac. An unabridged recording of the entire book read by Tom Parker: The book is based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use.
  

• 1969, William Buckley television programme. Interview with Jack Kerouac: (Youtube) In this video, conservative columnist William Buckley attempts to understand the hippies by interviewing Jack Kerouac, completely drunk while on the air. The hippies were, and if you look at the comments on my videos, still are very controversial. The worst elements of their culture seemed disgusting to many – staying clean – overuse of drugs – coming from rich families where they did not need to make a living, etc. But the philosophical ideas some hippies expressed as expressed in this program, were and are appealing to many and most people don't realize the hippies stood behind any values at all.

>> Read the previous reading list

Monthly Story, January 2023

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Image → alleksana

Archetype → Everyperson

Rasa → Veeram (वीरं): Heroism. Presiding deity: Indra. Colour: saffron

Śṛṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, attractiveness. Presiding deity: Vishnu. Colour: light green,

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It was 8:10 am; a late start for Sunil. He had just gotten into the shower. Tanya was still in bed. Except for the sound of water splashing off of Sunil’s back, the room was still. Sunil watched Tanya from the shower; she smiled at him, slid his pillow between her legs and turned, tucking herself further into the sheets. Sunil wished he didn’t have to go to work.

Since Sunil started managing The Lewis property, he didn’t go fishing as much. But, he still went out at every daybreak to help his brothers pull their boats in. Every day, that is, until this morning.

Sunil walked out of the shower and stood near the bed looking at the rise and fall of Tanya's body, like mountains and valleys. She had worn just a loose shirt that had fallen off one shapely shoulder. He imagined sinking his mouth into her skin. He was tempted to slide back into the bed with her. The soft cotton sheets had twisted around her, tight around the thighs and falling loose over her calves. Just a while ago, he was there, buried in her. The thought of doing it again was all Sunil could think about.

It was getting late; Sunil tried to focus on what he had to do. If he finished the work now, there would be peace of mind by afternoon. He had to get the mason started on the terra-cotta tiles, make sure the lobby and lounge were tidied, check if the pool had been cleaned and get the new playlist going—although, the mason, the pool boy and the morning shift team really should know what to do themselves. But, Sunil knew better. If he didn’t go out there, the mason would be sipping tea till 10 am and the pool would still have yesterday’s leaves floating across its waters, while his staff would be smiling at guests through the bland space with no music on.

Yet, he remained rooted by the bed watching Tanya.

Her eyes were closed but Sunil knew she was waiting for him. She rolled over a second time revealing herself some more.

Sunil never got to work that day, but he still got peace of mind.

Read the previous story

Go to Reading List for this story.

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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.