--- In [email protected], bob_brigante <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > the joy of drinking... > http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/books/review/Harris.t.html
Many thanks for this, Bob. Such a funny, well- written review makes me want to order the book. The Bar is certainly a source of fascination. Honestly, I really don't drink that much -- too fuckin' old to get away with it -- but I really do appreciate a good bar. I'm a fan of the Bars With Ambiance Of Their Own. It doesn't have to be a classy, upscale, designer-Buddhist ambiance, like the Buddhabars in Paris and in Barcelona. Obviously. I blew out of the Nirvana bar in Sitges within minutes. By comparison, the Bar Pay Pay down the block is tacky to the max. But it's got soul, man. One feels good sitting here and watching the passersby. One has cool conversations here, and has them consistently. What more can one ask of a bar? The "social lubricants" of human society such as aloohol have been around as long as there have been humans, and thus are an important part of the sociology of the human race. I mean, *cave men* found ways to distill plants and get high. Ponder that. Even though they were only one rung up the evolutionary ladder from chimpanzees, the earliest humans carried with them the chimps' inherent desire to "get high," to shift their state of attention. In the absence of technologies such as meditation, bars are where humans go to shift their state of attention. Most of the humans on this planet are unaware of technologies such as meditation. There- fore, in my book, bars are interesting. That's where you would go if you were a seeker who had found no other way to shift your state of attention. The best bar I've ever had the privilege of sitting and writing in is no more. It was Windows On The World, in the World Trade Center. *Magnif- icent* ambiance. The next best bar I've ever been in is the bar at Yab Yum in Amsterdam. This may be a stretch for those still attached to the puri- tanical ways of the TMO; Yab Yum is a brothel, the highest-class brothel in Amsterdam, at the time I was going there. But, it's also the kind of brothel where you might run into the Stones at the bar, or politicians from major countries of the world. It's a real trip. It's also a visual treat. The bar was decorated, rather well, with authentic Asian art. I'm some- what of a collector of Asian Art, and can only drool over some of the pieces they have on display there. In a brothel. Go figure. And in that bar/brothel I have had some of the highest conversations I have had on planet Earth. Again, go figure. And then there was the Nirvana bar, tonight. All flash, no substance. There is an actual silence that underlies Yab Yum, and that underlies the Bar Pay-Pay as I write this that is sorely missing from Nirvana. Go figure. > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > I was going to write tonight from Nirvana, but I've > > decided against it. I was there earlier and lemme > > tell you...no matter what you've heard in all of > > those spiritual books, Nirvana is *way* overrated. > > > > I had been looking forward to kicking back in the > > environment the ads proclaimed as "Sitges' Best > > Chillout Bar," surrounded by Buddhas and drinks > > with little floating lotuses in them, but Noooooo. > > It turned out to be a tightass bar, full of young > > upscale Spanish youth longing to "chillout," as > > the ads had invited them to do, but somehow > > lacking the knack. > > > > So I moved back to the Bar Pay-Pay. The Waitress > > With The Legs Designed In Brahmaloka is not here > > tonight, so I might just be able to write a little > > something about Nirvana, even if I'm not there. > > > > Nope. Not a damned thing. > > > > Wouldn't it be a kick if Nirvana the spiritual > > goal turned out to be a lot like Nirvana the bar? > > You struggle and struggle for lifetimes, performing > > weirdass sadhanas like bouncing on your butt on > > slabs of foam, and after eons of Class-A tapas like > > that you finally "reach" Nirvana...and it's like > > the bar of the same name in Sitges? Full of stuck-up > > people who came there looking to chill but who never > > quite mastered it? Bummer. > > >
