September 29th, 2023

Dear Friends, 

Welcome to our new, limited edition drop from Broome Street Clothiers:

 David Bowie Sits in Lotus!

David Bowie has long been an inspiration of mine, since the time I was 13. In fact, I am pretty sure my teenage brain neurons were wired to the songs of Bowie. He basically was the musical fuel behind my search, at a young age, for meaning, creativity, and purpose. Bowie basically never called himself a musician, he called himself an artist, and music was one of his ways of expressing his creativity, of pushing his own personal boundaries. Once I started practicing Yoga, I recognized that like Bowie's music, practicing Yoga wasn't an end in itself, it was a vehicle to express creativity, search for meaning, and push personal boundaries, narratives, and assumptions. In essence, to search for truth. 

The idea of being on a journey, when it comes to a spiritual search, is pretty commonly heard, the language people use. But many teachings from Yoga and the Vedanta traditions question of whether there is any place to journey to, and that if there is, when we do arrive, we simply arrive within ourselves.

The quote on the back of this shirt, from Bowie, says:

"The truth of course, is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time." 

A journey is from point A to B, and perhaps back again, and sometimes takes twists and turns. But at each point when we arrive somewhere, and depart from somewhere else, it's happening at the same time. So where is the coming, and where is the going? There is just the experience of that moment, and we fit it into a linear model. The linear model is a false idea, human made, and the universe is wholly unconcerned with our funny little notions about time and history. 

For our latest, limited edition drop, I've designed a shirt to honor Bowie. My friend Caitlin did the graphic design, because I don't know how to use illustrator. In the old days when I designed and printed tee shirts, I'd just use a xerox machine to create my designs. This shirt reflects those days, with big newsprint halftones. From a distance, the image of Bowie looks clear and crisp, but up close, the dots reveal space and everything gets a little fuzzier, just like the boundaries between our skin and the air around us. The neon colors frame his image, a la Warhol, and his quote is on the back of the shirt. 

These are available for our beloved temple supporters, pre-sale, for one week, before going to the public. 

Yours, 

Eddie, director BSGT
Shruti, assistant director, BSGT