Billy's OK, You're OK
By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 6, 2005 6:42PM
When Chicagoist thinks about “ecology and natural living,” the name Billy Corgan doesn’t come immediately to mind. Yet there he is on the cover of Conscious Choice magazine as the publicity blitz for his first solo album TheFutureEmbrace begins in earnest (it hits streets on June 21st).
The subject of the article is Corgan’s newfound peace and spirituality. Or something. Listening to rock stars discuss religion and spirituality often comes off a bit like hearing your parents talk about the night you were conceived: you know it’s coming from a place of love but it just makes you squirm and feel nauseous nonetheless.
Coming off not unlike Britney when she used to talk about Kabbalah, Corgan says he “believes in everything” and follows a sort of Chinese menu spirituality with aspects of Catholicism and Buddhism in equal measure. He’s also been working with some “unconventional” spiritual advisors like Ken Wilber, a devotee of Universal consciousness. Wilber’s Web site discusses this philosophy at integralnaked.org (it’s disappointingly safe-for-work so click away). We spent about 15 minutes on the site and near as we can tell if Laurie Anderson and Deepak Chopra had a baby and that baby grew up to form its own spiritual movement and/or progressive rock band then that’s what Intergral Naked would look like.
The article also summarizes some of the biographical information that Corgan has been spilling at his Web site and it’s heady stuff. Corgan’s mental portrait during the Pumpkins’ Adore sessions is described as “a depressed, bald-headed, overweight Pisces in a Ferarri, dressed from head to toe in leather.” (Chicagoist’s Uncle Phil spent the late 1970s in much the same way.)
His newfound spirituality also has allowed him to come to some new realizations. In a quote that seems aimed at the American Idol judges, Corgan notes “It’s no good to say about others, ‘You’re fat, you’re stupid, you’re the worst America has to offer.’” Finally, Corgan advises that one cannot “access God through the intellect ... when you intellectualize the divine, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.” Somebody might want to let the folks at U of C’s Divinity School know that before fall registration opens.
Corgan's also trying to love everyone more, even the hangers-on. He says:
"I see why someone is around me, and sometimes I try to show them that I actually love them beyond their own narcissistic desire to feel O.K. because they're standing next to me. But that doesn't work either. They end up hating you for it."
Keep on turning the other cheek, Billy.