Wednesday, March 22, 2006
MODERN METAPHYSICS IN MEMPHIS
If it's spiritual freedom you're looking for (And what exactly is spiritual bondage, anyway...Christianity, I presume.), you can leave your cash at the Spiritual Freedom emporium where they stock everything from tarot cards to tantra to Native American music. They even have a Power Plate "which is used by many professional athletic organizations, including the Memphis Grizzlies" according to the article. The Power Plate "a round vibrating plate on which a person stands and performs various exercises. It's supposed to improve muscle strength, flexibility, range of motion, bone density and stimulate circulation.
So, do the Grizzlies get a lot of demonstrations of the Power Plate by the attractive owner, pictured? I'm wondering not only because they sell tantra stuff, but also because
Spiritual Freedom is a work in progress, with a large back room that eventually will round out the store as Sensual Awakenings. It will offer a massage and sensory deprivation chamber, allowing customers to cut themselves off from all outside stimuli.
Not long ago back rooms existed only in porn shops, but now it's supposed to be respectable, I guess. I mean, there's the owner of the place pictured in the article watering plants.
The last part of the article says a great deal about the spiritual health of Christianity, IMHO:
Piper said she feels the people of Memphis are ready for a change.
"If you look at commercials and billboards and things, you'll see that people are really starting to get into conscious living, from recycling to the environment to the foods that we're eating," she said. "Spiritual freedom is heart energy. It's about taking the ego aside and really opening the heart up to everything, and seeing everything the way it is, and really asking yourself, 'What is going on?' and changing yourself."
Customer Jennifer Browning notes Spiritual Freedom not only is for the ethereally inclined.
"It's important to remember that it's for all walks of life," said Browning. "I'm from a Southern Baptist background, and I don't think this place is evil or anything like that. You can find things here even if you're not into tarot cards or shamanism or kama sutra."
I don't suppose they sell any prayer books or holy cards in there, though. It's telling that a Southern Baptist would get out that word "evil" in her apology for the place. Sounds like a guilty conscience talking to me.
