The world knows Valeria Lukyanova as the girl who turned herself into a real-life Barbie doll. Controversy has surrounded her every move since her computer-perfect visage went viral. However, what most of the world doesn’t know is that Valeria is not a real girl at all, but a time-traveling spiritual guru whose purpose is to save the world from the clutches of superficiality and negative energy. Valeria, AKA Space Barbie, gives us exclusive access to her world to show us how physical perfection truly is the best medium through which to deliver life-changing philosophy to the human race.
Tag Archives: spirituality
Psychics in the Suburbs
Psychics in the Suburbs is an insider’s look at the Australian psychic medium industry, revealed through the extraordinary life and work of south-western Sydney’s top psychic. Florence’s ability to communicate with the dead means that her clients are willing to pay top dollar for the chance to connect with deceased loved ones. It’s a business in Australia that is certainly booming, but also raising eyebrows.
Ayahuasca: Expansion of Consciousness
Ayhuasca: Expansion of Consciousness, tells the story of Ayahuasca, from its emergence in the Amazonian Forest, to its popularity with the Santo Daime religion, and on to its arrival in urban centres.
Combining scientific, religious and anthropological perspectives on the use of Ayahuasca in modern society, and in parallel with the director Fausto Noro’s own healing process, Ayhuasca: Expansion of Consciousness provides for the first time, a holistic, yet balanced view of this controversial subject.
Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy
Four years in the making and hailed as a “masterpiece” on its theatrical release in 1979, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy takes you to the heart of an ancient Buddhist culture. Filmed in the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamasala, and captured on film with startling beauty, the trilogy begins by observing Tibetan monks engaged in furious metaphysical debate giving lie to the stereotype of the placid Buddhist. The film goes on to create an intimate portrait of the Dalai Lama’s everyday life, before he was known to the western world, in his dual role of political leader and spiritual teacher, from naming children to orating on the value of preserving Tibetan culture. In elegant cinematic style, the first part explores the ways in which inner knowledge of Tibetan Buddhist culture is developed in monasteries through vigorous debate and solitary meditation, and communicated to the masses.
With extraordinary authenticity Part II of the Trilogy journeys deep into the mystical inner world of monastic life. The film follows the lamas of the Phulwary Sakya Monastery through their contemplative retreats, the building of an intricate cosmogram, and the performance of an ancient protective ritual known as ‘A Beautiful Ornament’. Gracefully shot and with a subtitled commentary based on the teachings of the great 20th century master Dudjom Rinpoche, the essence of tantric Buddhism is powerfully revealed.
Set in the majestic mountain landscape of Ladakh, Part III is a meditation on impermanence and the relationship between the mind, body and environment. It follows the monks and farmers through a day, ending with an unflinching depiction of the monastery’s moving ritual response to a death in the community. As described in the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”, the departed is guided through the dream-like intermediate state between death and birth.
From a portrait of the Dalai Lama, as a spiritual and temporal leader, to the unprecedented revelation of the mystical inner world of monastic life and its rituals, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy brings you face to face with the unbroken continuity of Tibet’s ancient culture.
The Fake Funerals of South Korea
Whilst the rest of the world gorges itself on K-Pop, Korean movies, and smartphones produced by Korean tech giant Samsung, Koreans themselves have never been more bummed out. With over 14,000 of its citizens killing themselves in 2012, South Korea is the suicide capital of the developed world, despite its booming economy.
This troubling trend has resulted in a lot of national soul-searching and the formation of the “Well Dying” or “Near Death” movement, which aims to help people appreciate their lives more and thus reduce the number of suicides. The most bizarre manifestation of this movement is the rise of “Fake Funeral” services, where people are lectured by a philosophical guru, told to write out their own eulogies, and ultimately climb into a coffin to meditate for 30 minutes so as to experience the afterlife.
The Dark Side of Psychadelic Tourism
Tulum is experiencing an explosion of people taking Bufo Alvarius. Also called “speed-toading,” it involves smoking the milked poison of the Sonoran Desert toad in a glass pipe and is considered to be the most powerful hallucinogen in the world. Now, growing numbers of psychedelic tourists are traveling to Tulum where Bufo ceremonies are legal, in search of a life-changing experience. However, there are many reports of profoundly negative experiences, lasting psychosis and allegations of sexual assault during ceremonies. Matt Shea visits Tulum to see and experience this Bufo tourism firsthand, to discover whether taking the world’s most powerful hallucinogen is worth the risk.