Word: mysticism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...political and public relations possibilities of the Olympics better than Adolf Hitler. The show he staged in Berlin in 1936 was, in its grandiose effects, designed to be rhapsodized by Leni Riefenstahl, the epic cinematic poet of Nazism. An array of swastikas lined the Reichs-sportfeld in the vast, mystic excess of the genre; Hitler jugend glowed in the golden well-being of their Aryamsm. At the nighttime finale, reported The New Yorkers Janet Planner "a giant chorus sang Schiller's words to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; overhead, 17 searchlights from far outside the arena made a lofty...
...which never changes, can be shaped into ingots, bars, coins, which has no nationality, and which is eternally and universally accepted as the unalterable fiduciary value." From the biblical references to the gift of the Magi, to the modern-day totem of triumph in Olympic competition, gold holds a mystic promise. Says Smelser: "Gold resides in the subconscious of man as a tangible symbol for all the fantasies that are completely positive...
...Khomeini, the essence of the mystic attitude is detachment?serenity in accepting and preaching God's will. He does feel emotion; intimates insist that with students and his family, he weeps, laughs and even cracks jokes. In public, however, Khomeini will not permit himself to display joy, sorrow, rage or any other emotion. His angriest words are delivered in a soft, uninflected voice that seldom rises above a murmur...
Ignorance and mystic certitude can be a dismaying combination. Some of Khomeini's preachments sound bizarre and even irrational to Western ears. He has justified polygamy, for example, on the ground that there are more women than men in the world, and that women without the protection of multiple marriages would be driven into prostitution. He asserts that the Shah's soldiers, who fired into crowds during the Iranian revolution, were imported Israelis dressed...
...stand as a symbol of the Ayatullah's whole rule, which aims at creating, to ward the end of the 20th century, a modern version of his ideal 7th century state. In one sense he has succeeded: Iran is undoubtedly the only major nation that is ruled by a mystic philosopher-king sitting cross-legged on the floor of a bare room in a dusty provincial town...