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screenshot from Commissioner of Sewers
Literary

William S. Burroughs – Commissioner of Literary Addictions

Burroughs wanted to free people from the slavery of addiction, whether to heroin or money or sex. “The Garden of Earthly Delights” was his shorthand for the diseased saturnalia of American affluence. From his earliest writings Burroughs foresaw a time when human beings, drenched in orgasmic “freedom,” would be reduced to their bodies, their minds completely manipulated by advertising and mass media.

spiritual fasting, Gandhi
Environmental Health

Dietary Fasting: Detoxification, Spirit Healing and Rejuvenation

We are cut off from the healing calm of nature, we drive in gridlock inhaling carbon monoxide, and spend our leisure enclosed in a cold dark movie theater or dine at all-you-can-eat fried-food-extravaganzas. Hence, people often undertake a number of calorie-limiting diets and fasting regimes, which also may include connecting with the forests and oceans or communing with animals out in the wilds.

microtonal music, Harry Partch
Sound

Harry Partch: Genesis of a Musical Outsider

Composer, dishwasher, hobo, fruit picker, sailor, microtonal theorist, instrument builder, writer, visual artist, philosopher, musicologist, iconoclast teacher Harry Partch was one of the first 20th Century composers to work with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit (43-tone) just intonation.