The City of Light and Illusion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201cOld World Elegance\u201d of Bellagio (1998) on the right, the \u201cUrban Sophistication\u201d of City Center (2009) on the left There is perhaps no less spiritual\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The City of Light and Illusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cOld World Elegance\u201d of Bellagio (1998) on the right, the \u201cUrban Sophistication\u201d of City Center (2009) on the left There is perhaps no less spiritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-25T21:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-09T00:37:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_cpRXT6ZSHTw\/SzWDqpOgdeI\/AAAAAAAAAWo\/9arPRVB4F9c\/s400\/City+Center+Bellagio+2009.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html\",\"name\":\"The City of Light and Illusion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-25T21:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-09T00:37:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"The \u201cOld World Elegance\u201d of Bellagio (1998) on the right, the \u201cUrban Sophistication\u201d of City Center (2009) on the left There is perhaps no less spiritual\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The City of Light and Illusion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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{"id":459,"date":"2009-12-25T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-25T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion\/"},"modified":"2015-06-08T18:37:33","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T00:37:33","slug":"the-city-of-light-and-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/12\/the-city-of-light-and-illusion.html","title":{"rendered":"The City of Light and Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>
\nThe \u201cOld World Elegance\u201d of Bellagio (1998) on the right, the \u201cUrban Sophistication\u201d of City Center (2009) on the left<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There is perhaps no less spiritual city in the country than Las Vegas. So why did I just get back from a Solstice \/ Christmas trip there? Well, Cathy loves the slot machines. And after the past couple months at work, all I wanted to do was kick back, read a bit, and forget about things. Las Vegas is good for that: plenty of good food and drink, all kinds of distractions and diversions, and a great place to people-watch. Plus with the economy being down the room rates are really cheap right now.<\/p>\n

Cathy and I have made several trips to Las Vegas, the first in 1996. In that time it\u2019s gone from \u201cDisneyWorld for adults\u201d to \u201cold world elegance\u201d to what\u2019s now being called \u201cUrban Sophistication\u201d \u2013 lots of glass and steel and sharp angles. What hasn\u2019t changed is what Las Vegas sells \u2013 illusion.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not talking about Lance Burton or David Copperfield. And I\u2019m not really talking about gambling, although gambling is still a major source of the city\u2019s income. Anybody with a high school proficiency in math can figure the odds, and more importantly, that they aren\u2019t on the players\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m talking about the illusion that you can become someone glamorous just by going to Las Vegas. First it was being cool like Frank and Sammy and Dean, or hanging out with the mob. Then it was visiting Rome or Paris, Egypt or Camelot. In the 90s the illusion was being wealthy enough to afford it all. Now the emphasis is on clubs and lounges and ultra-expensive restaurants and shopping \u2013 you too can be a rich idle celebrity with nothing better to do than spend thousands looking sexy and chasing the latest novelties.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been uneasy in Las Vegas, fascinated (and a bit seduced) by the gaudy decadent excess of it all, but also unwilling to pay the fare to buy the illusion. I\u2019m either maturing or just getting old, because the last couple of trips the illusion hasn\u2019t bothered me in the least.<\/p>\n

There is one piece of spirituality in Las Vegas \u2013 the Cirque du Soleil shows. I\u2019ve described them as one part circus, one part gymnastics and three parts psychedelic drugs. The shows and the performers are incredibly beautiful, but they\u2019re so bizarre my logical mind can\u2019t figure them out. So for once, I don\u2019t try. I just experience, and enjoy.<\/p>\n

This time we saw Le R\u00eave, which technically isn\u2019t a Cirque show, but since it was developed by former Cirque du Soliel director Franco Dragone you\u2019d never know it. I\u2019m not going to try to review it, but here\u2019s a review I mostly agree with<\/a>. I\u2019ll just say the ticket prices are horrible but they\u2019re worth every penny.<\/p>\n

Maybe there are some illusions I will buy\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"