Post originally composed at the beginning of 2011 but held for this special occasion.
Wisdom Quarterly
Internal website audits throughout 2010 revealed a perplexing statistic: Yoga Saves Jennifer Love Hewitt was turning up with the most pageviews on the Wisdom Quarterly. Why? Today's millionth-view landmark is likely to make her a sensation until at least 2012.
By mid-2010, Love Hewitt was getting the most pageviews, but now stories on 2012 overshadow our favorite agnostic yogini. And this even as she seems to lean towards Buddhism with selfless acts of loving-kindness. How are we to treat this perplexing pageview anomaly?
"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane offers the easiest explanation: It probably comes down to our media-fueled obsession with being reminded we're mammals, a name we take from our mammalian glands. And if we ain't nothing but mammals, we should probably be watching a lot more Discovery Channel or MacFarlane cartoons:
Jen pleads with the ghosts (fantamas) to explain why they always come to her. One ghost stumbles then proclaims that it's just because they, uh, trust her. (English version banned)
(Huffington Post) Apparently relaxing and enjoying life was one of Jennifer Love Hewitt's resolutions for 2011, as the starlet took in the new year with a relaxing Hawaiian vacation with her boyfriend, Alex Beh, and family. Hewitt was snapped this weekend lounging and floating around in a blue bikini. Bikini photos>>
Buddhists Obsessing On Breasts?
Wisdom Quarterly
The problem has gotten so pointed, even new Buddha statues are affected (Woottamee)
Whether trying to meditate, do yoga, watch TV, or shop for groceries, distractions are everywhere. The Buddha once pointed out that the shape of a woman is men's greatest obsession, and vice versa for women. Why are we obsessed?
It seems to be a deep seated compulsion that goes beyond our cultural conditioning all the way down to the brainstem or reptilian brain and the limbic system.
But it is made far worse by the multibillion-dollar breast industry. They are used to sell consumer goods. There are undergarments and bathing suits to be sold, even sex and movies. But it in no way stops there. And the obsession is not limited to pandering to men.
Women are as much if not more affected by it. They are given body dysmorphic disorder and an inferiority complex trying to keep up with airbrushed images. But these images are modelled on the figures of pubescent animal hormone fed American teens, push-up bra wearers and those who have undergone surgical procedures.
Male mammals have mammaries, too, which can look just like female breasts.
Actresses like Jennifer Love Hewitt (and Julia Roberts/Erin Brockovich, Scarlett Johansson, Dolly Parton, and others) are not helping matters. We pretend not to notice cleavage. Advertisers pretend not to accentuate the mammalian trigger in our brains. But the industry is growing, and our obsession is becoming more powerful. And no one dares to talk about it.
Mindfulness helps, as does meditation on the repulsive aspects of corporeality (32 body parts contemplation), because the Buddha did not simply say that we are obsessed. He offered solutions. The body is beautiful. But in it there is a danger. And there is an escape from the danger.
We are sunk if we simply go about life following our impulses and being manipulated by the media and those whose central aim is to profit from our obsessive and wandering eyes.
Envy, jealousy, cattiness, lust? Just what are women looking at?
In nature, breasts are incidental. All mammals, male and female, by definition, have them. Our riveted attention is manufactured and by design. We have to take responsibility, but it helps to understand what is driving us. If we were to assume that it is nature, we are trapped. (What can we do about nature?)
But if we understand that it's an industry (involving sex, self-esteem, fashion, psychology, cancer treatment, magazine covers, body image, unrelated product sales, femininity, and so on), we can begin to see through it and free ourselves.
Jen has a show based on real life "Ghost Whisperer" James Van Praagh. But mainly she gives people a serious case of Bebe Stevens Syndrome.
