Many historians and sociologists believe history runs in cycles. Hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes of the past and not repeat them in the future. Based on current events, this is not the case.
In Sarkar's Law of Social Cycle social progress is defined in terms of a new vision of human progress by placing an emphasis on human spiritual development. Integrated with that is Sarkar's theory of four basic ages of warriors, intellectuals and acquisitors, as well as a brief age oflabourers. During such ages humanity has faced an eternal struggle with each epoch deteriorating into a harmful exploitative phase.
Sarkar devises an exit strategy from such a development, based on the role of enlightened moralists, the Sad-Vipras. It is their role, based on self-less virtues and ideation on the divine, to apply energy and accelerate social momentum when the evolutionary process is caught up in social stasis. If this is not done, the ruling class, after having abandoned its original virtues, by placing an intense focus on its social agenda begins to inflict tremendous and unjustified misery on other sections of society. The downfall of Soviet Communism in 1990[1], the Great Depression of the 1930s[2] and the crisis of present day Capitalism[3] are manifestations of such social stasis.
It appears history and society will run its natural course, though. Currently, we are in an economic crisis caused by capitalism run a muck. Extreme economic, political and religious views exacerbate humanities problems. They base their values, their faith and,indeed, their entire nationalistic values not on spiritual growth, abiding in peace and abiding in prosperity but on self centered greed and narcissism.
Egocentric, narcissistic people/nations/religions/corporations are found through out the entire human race. The human condition can be just what it implies unless an individual chooses to break this narcissistic cycle by accepting personal responsibility, become accountable for every decision and action and become an authentic individual willing to move ahead into a new era. Learn from the past, live in the present and plan for the future.
'Uncovered: The Diary Project': Dance of gender
Nirmala Nataraj
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Award-winning choreographer Sean Dorsey has a knack for creating poignant movement poems - pieces that are driven by strong narratives, accessible to audiences who claim not to "get" modern dance. Dorsey's work delves deeply into the courageous accounts of individuals on the margins of recorded history with his latest performance, "Uncovered: The Diary Project."
"Uncovered" consists of two parts ("Lou," a suite of dances centered around the journals of the late Bay Area transgender activist Lou Sullivan, and "Lost/Found," Dorsey's whimsical personal fantasy about the boyhood he never got to live out). The work stems from Dorsey's "curiosity as an artist and activist around the gap between recorded history versus collective memory versus actual lived experience when transgender/queer people get left out of history books."
After uncovering one of his own early childhood diaries, Dorsey researched the lives of transgender and queer people through diaries, letters and interviews.
After coming across Sullivan's journals, Dorsey knew that he wanted to devote a suite of dances to this pioneering Bay Area figure.
Dorsey was touched by the honesty and personal struggles of Sullivan, who longed to live as a boy through adolescence and identified as a gay man later in life. In the 1970s, Sullivan was rejected as a candidate for hormone treatments and surgery, and he eventually forged the way toward deeper understanding and education around transgender issues.
"At that time, there was no analysis or acceptance of sexual orientation and gender being separate things ... or being both trans and queer at the same time," Dorsey says. "Lou opened up the door for trans people who lived outside acceptable medical models of what being trans could look like."
The dances incorporate everything from Sullivan's writings as a young girl to pieces that he wrote a week before he died of AIDS-related complications in 1991. Something that struck Dorsey in his research was the experiences of those who came out as transgender before there was any identifiable trans community or level of acceptance from the queer community.
"It's easier for younger generations of trans people to forget or not even realize how much has changed in the last 10 or 20 years, so I was happy I had the opportunity to honor the stories of pioneers who have made my life possible."
In creating work with an activist slant, Dorsey believes that art can play a significant role in documenting, preserving and interpreting transgender/queer history.
"It is also up to us (the transgender and queer community) to make each other visible," he says, "and ensure that we document each other's lives, art and accomplishments."
8 p.m. Thurs.-Sun., also 4 p.m. Sun. $15-$20. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., S.F. (415) 273-4633. www.freshmeatproductions.org.
- Nirmala Nataraj, 96hours@sfchronicle.com
This article appeared on page G - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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