Vinyasa Bliss #6: “Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille.”
“Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille (1881)” by Jacques Offenbach, from "Les Contes d’Hoffmann."
Kate, a Belarusian foreign language academic, describes Jacques Offenbach’s “Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille.”
Vinyasa Bliss: Sacred Sunday’s sixth installment is the fourth song from our March 2024 SENSATION~translation project – “Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille.”
“Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille” is part of a 19th-century French opera by German-French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) titled “Les Contes d’Hoffmann.”
In the opera, Spalanzani, an inventor, creates his most wondrous invention yet: a mechanical doll named Olympia. Spalanzani throws a large party to display his creation and invites as many people as possible.
As the first guest to arrive, Hoffmann is immediately captivated by Olympia. Unaware of her true nature, he is under the illusion that Olympia is a living, breathing woman.
Nicklausse, Hoffmann’s loyal friend, attempts to caution him about Olympia’s true identity, but his warnings fall on deaf ears.
Nicklausse does not know that the mad scientist Coppelius sold Hoffmann a magic pair of glasses that makes Olympia seem human.
Despite Olympia’s need to have her mechanical gears frequently rewound so she can continue singing an aria during the party, Hoffmann remains in the dark about her identity.
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Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille is an excellent analogy for the propensity of yoga practitioners to place blind faith in yoga “gurus” - and for the current abysmal state of the US presidential campaign.
Affluent yoga studios, schools, and wellness associations are part of an industry that is nothing more than an international “pyramid scheme.” Most “advanced” or master-level teachers and “spiritual gurus” require their students to pay for endless yoga workshops, seminars, and retreats. Even if you are poor or working-class, yoga gurus constantly pressure their students to “sacrifice” and commit to expensive tourist locations like Toronto, Canada – Miami, Florida – San Francisco, California – Triopetra Beach, Greece – the South Coast of France, and India.
The worst teachers and “gurus” come from the “spiritual” lineages or so-called “shamanic” schools” of yoga:
Kundalini
Tantra
Sivananda
Sampoorna
The “spiritualists” preach endlessly about non-attachment, simplicity, and abstinence. But they all live their personal lives very differently.
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Photo by kike vega on Unsplash.
These “spiritual gurus” and the places and spaces they promote are especially committed to marketing their teachings, “wisdom,” and “services” to wealthy people who can consistently pay a lot of money for memberships, expensive international seminars, retreats — and name-brand fitness fashion accessories, equipment, food, and drinks.
It is all geared to generate a lot of money for themselves by convincing others they must belong to the proper “in-club” to achieve health, wellness, and serenity. Every “spiritual guru” we read, hear, or watch news about seems to eventually reveal some of the worst aspects of narcissistic behavior observed in people.
Speaking of narcissism, US President Joe Biden, his family, and supporters are all willing to allow Donald Trump to burn the country down to hold onto power and feed their massive egos. Despite a small but growing number of twenty congressional Democrats publicly calling on President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, Mr. Biden is determined to remain in a political contest he will surely lose in November.
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Secret Service agents surround Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he is helped off the stage after a would-be assassin shot at him during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13th, 2024.
What is worse is that President Biden’s most loyal supporters are from African American communities and congressional districts.
Most of the sixty members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – with about forty members in the House of Representatives still support Biden. Suppose Joe Biden loses to Donald Trump on November 5th. In that case, the constituents from the communities in which the congresspersons currently offer the most support to the President will suffer the most under the GOP’s Project 2025 plan.
Last night, A disgruntled young former Republican Party supporter named Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a GOP campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Here, we get another warning about the public health emergencies we receive every day in the United States because of gun violence and mental health issues. Like Hoffmann in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann,” we all prefer our “magic glasses” to the reality of what is happening before our eyes.