Government is too big and important to be left to the politicians.
Chester Bowles
*******************
Hello Lily
*******************
It's all a matter of worship. We are the modern day children of Israel. So the so called Christians, Jews, Muslims and others had better pay attention to what Moses is telling us.
"Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed to Moloch; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones." (Leviticus 20:2)
Moloch was an ancient god who, in some cultures, required the sacrifice of children. How many of our seeds: our ideas, thoughts, faiths, beliefs, practices, prejudices, actions, present, future, freedoms, rights, our children, are we sacrificing to the modern day Moloch? And who is this modern day Moloch? Allen Ginsberg tells us.
"Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!"
How many of our seeds, our reason, compassion, understanding, humanity and love, our future and our children's future must we heave onto the smoking alter of this modern Moloch and it's priests, the politicians, wearing the putrid robes of false progress? How long will we worship this false god whom we call God, or Right, or Truth, before we go reaching for the stones, the words, the revolt?
They are not long in coming, the days of destruction. No Rapture, no Judgement Day from Heaven, no earth wide earth quake, no aliens from outer space. Just the ultimate piracy of the rich and powerful, the point of no return, the critical mass, the moment when Moloch wins and swallows up all the intangible beauties and true values that we used to have.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
***************************
Showing posts with label Moses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moses. Show all posts
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Behind The Veil
Enlightenment - that magnificent escape from anguish and ignorance - never happens by accident. It results from the brave and sometimes lonely battle of one person against his own weaknesses.
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
************************
Hello Kate
************************
The older I get and the more I try to grasp and understand the things that are the most important to me, the more I realize that they are easily within my reach. So then why is it I don't have universal wisdom safely tucked into my back pack?
Nyanasobhano, who is an American born, Dartmouth educated, former actor, Buddhist, says it is because of my weaknesses. I ponder that and I can't identify my weakness itself, but I can see the effects of it. Principally it is the common human desire to find easy explanations for things, to try to accept things as they only appear to be, to avoid the fearful task of looking for the reality behind the masquerade. Nyanasobhano implies in his writings that if we really understood the Nature that we take for granted we could find a universe of peace and beauty hiding there. But, in fact, it isn't hiding. It is just that we have put up veils in front of it.
It was veils that hid from the Israelites the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and allowed only the high priest to enter.
It was a veil that hid the face of Moses from his followers because his skin shown from his own understanding of truth and reality. And it frightened them.
Veils hide the faces of beautiful Arab women, and it was veils that Salome cast off of herself when she danced for Herod.
It was the veil of the Temple that was torn in half when Jesus was crucified.
What's with these veils?
A veil is nothing, it has no power, no intelligence. It's just used to hide things. We all have our own veils. What we see, hear, feel, etc., the senses are our veils. The geologist is staring at a chunk of moon rock. Is it just a rock, or is it a path, a journey to knowledge and then to understanding and maybe then to wisdom, enlightenment? A man can make a silly, ugly noise vibrating his lips together. But when he does it into the mouth piece of a horn out the other end comes a beautiful tone. What is that tone? What does it mean in the overall cosmic scheme of things? Is it just a tone, or is it a journey? Is Nature explaining it's true self to us in a language we can't understand because we don't look past what we think it is?
My ignorance resides in my avoiding the brave and lonely battle with my weakness, with my failure to look beyond the veil, to dare, to question, to imagine, even to plead for the real truth of things.
DB - The Original Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Autumn is moving along.
Only 5 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answers.
DB
********************
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
************************
Hello Kate
************************
The older I get and the more I try to grasp and understand the things that are the most important to me, the more I realize that they are easily within my reach. So then why is it I don't have universal wisdom safely tucked into my back pack?
Nyanasobhano, who is an American born, Dartmouth educated, former actor, Buddhist, says it is because of my weaknesses. I ponder that and I can't identify my weakness itself, but I can see the effects of it. Principally it is the common human desire to find easy explanations for things, to try to accept things as they only appear to be, to avoid the fearful task of looking for the reality behind the masquerade. Nyanasobhano implies in his writings that if we really understood the Nature that we take for granted we could find a universe of peace and beauty hiding there. But, in fact, it isn't hiding. It is just that we have put up veils in front of it.
It was veils that hid from the Israelites the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and allowed only the high priest to enter.
It was a veil that hid the face of Moses from his followers because his skin shown from his own understanding of truth and reality. And it frightened them.
Veils hide the faces of beautiful Arab women, and it was veils that Salome cast off of herself when she danced for Herod.
It was the veil of the Temple that was torn in half when Jesus was crucified.
What's with these veils?
A veil is nothing, it has no power, no intelligence. It's just used to hide things. We all have our own veils. What we see, hear, feel, etc., the senses are our veils. The geologist is staring at a chunk of moon rock. Is it just a rock, or is it a path, a journey to knowledge and then to understanding and maybe then to wisdom, enlightenment? A man can make a silly, ugly noise vibrating his lips together. But when he does it into the mouth piece of a horn out the other end comes a beautiful tone. What is that tone? What does it mean in the overall cosmic scheme of things? Is it just a tone, or is it a journey? Is Nature explaining it's true self to us in a language we can't understand because we don't look past what we think it is?
My ignorance resides in my avoiding the brave and lonely battle with my weakness, with my failure to look beyond the veil, to dare, to question, to imagine, even to plead for the real truth of things.
DB - The Original Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Autumn is moving along.
Only 5 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answers.
DB
********************
Saturday, October 22, 2011
No End In Sight
A myth is something which is not true on the outside, but is true on the inside.
Anonymous 4 year old girl.
*****************************
Hello Sue
****************************
Well, the end of the world has come and gone again and except for another day gone by there is no appreciable change in most of our lives. I'm sure there are one or two young millenniumists waiting for their chance to calculate when the Day of Judgement is coming, the Great Catastrophe, the End of the World, the Rapture and the plummet into Hell of the Unbelievers. Their efforts will be just as futile of Mr Camping's and all the other prophets of doom that have existed throughout the ages.
One can play complex games with mathematics and come up with a precise date for the creation of Adam and end up nowhere. For two reasons. One, mathematics is a human method of calculation and not a divine one. "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter) And two, the story of the Garden of Eden is a myth, with it's man made out of mud, it's woman made from a rib, an evil tree and a talking snake. It's the truth inside that myth that's important to understand.
Believers are determined to hold on to the concept of an anthropomorphic god, a superior man who has a judgmental eye on every little thing we do, an all powerful creature whose main purpose is punishment and reward, a whimsical being who answers one man's prayers and not another's. It all comes from the bad habit, which is very hard to break, of reading sacred texts literally. The Bible was written by human beings for human beings and thus the words and images used are in human terms. As they must be. If one argues with this idea he will only be quoting human words to do it. Enlightenment comes to one who one day sees what is inside the words. But that can only happen if one is looking for it.
God did not give Moses an exhaustive and elaborate set of instructions about erecting a tabernacle, designing clothes for it's priests, butchering and sacrificing animals or a myriad of rules and regulations for human behavior. What Moses experienced on the mountain top was a vision, a flash of enlightenment, a kind of big bang of spirituality and he set about to describe in human terms what he experienced.
The Revelation of Saint John was not about candlesticks, men on horses, vials of plagues, a lamb prepared for slaughter, a woman descending from heaven surrounded by stars and a great red dragon. We don't know what he saw. All we know is his attempt to describe it in human terms.
I believe a genuine seer who had the purity of thought and the intense obligation could find the real meanings inside of all those symbols and trace them back to the original vision of Moses on the mountain top or of Saint John on the island. And if he got to that state of enlightenment he would find a God nothing at all like the one most people worship. There would be a God that doesn't reward and punish, that knows nothing of a Day of Judgement and that will not, cannot bring and end to It's creation.
Dan Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
******************************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Only 5 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answers.
DB
********************
Anonymous 4 year old girl.
*****************************
Hello Sue
****************************
Well, the end of the world has come and gone again and except for another day gone by there is no appreciable change in most of our lives. I'm sure there are one or two young millenniumists waiting for their chance to calculate when the Day of Judgement is coming, the Great Catastrophe, the End of the World, the Rapture and the plummet into Hell of the Unbelievers. Their efforts will be just as futile of Mr Camping's and all the other prophets of doom that have existed throughout the ages.
One can play complex games with mathematics and come up with a precise date for the creation of Adam and end up nowhere. For two reasons. One, mathematics is a human method of calculation and not a divine one. "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter) And two, the story of the Garden of Eden is a myth, with it's man made out of mud, it's woman made from a rib, an evil tree and a talking snake. It's the truth inside that myth that's important to understand.
Believers are determined to hold on to the concept of an anthropomorphic god, a superior man who has a judgmental eye on every little thing we do, an all powerful creature whose main purpose is punishment and reward, a whimsical being who answers one man's prayers and not another's. It all comes from the bad habit, which is very hard to break, of reading sacred texts literally. The Bible was written by human beings for human beings and thus the words and images used are in human terms. As they must be. If one argues with this idea he will only be quoting human words to do it. Enlightenment comes to one who one day sees what is inside the words. But that can only happen if one is looking for it.
God did not give Moses an exhaustive and elaborate set of instructions about erecting a tabernacle, designing clothes for it's priests, butchering and sacrificing animals or a myriad of rules and regulations for human behavior. What Moses experienced on the mountain top was a vision, a flash of enlightenment, a kind of big bang of spirituality and he set about to describe in human terms what he experienced.
The Revelation of Saint John was not about candlesticks, men on horses, vials of plagues, a lamb prepared for slaughter, a woman descending from heaven surrounded by stars and a great red dragon. We don't know what he saw. All we know is his attempt to describe it in human terms.
I believe a genuine seer who had the purity of thought and the intense obligation could find the real meanings inside of all those symbols and trace them back to the original vision of Moses on the mountain top or of Saint John on the island. And if he got to that state of enlightenment he would find a God nothing at all like the one most people worship. There would be a God that doesn't reward and punish, that knows nothing of a Day of Judgement and that will not, cannot bring and end to It's creation.
Dan Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
******************************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Only 5 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answers.
DB
********************
Monday, July 11, 2011
Ancient Trails
Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.
T. S. Eliot
*********************
This is not a sermon. I am not a theologian, not even an amateur one. But I am a reader and student of theological works as I am of philosophy and history. What follows is not a manifesto or testament of my personal religious beliefs nor a scholarly paper subject to peer review, it is a meditation on some very ancient religious ideas, gleaned from many different sources.
In ancient times, before Christianity, before Islam, before even Judaism, there were in the Holy Land Patriarchs and Prophets who lived in proximity and coherence with their deity, a divine spirit expressed in the sounds EH, OH, AH, which became Jehovah, which became Joshua, which became Jesus, and Yahweh when spoken in reverse. These were names for the nameless.
These Patriarchs lived in the years from before the Flood until the dawning of Abraham. They left a cosmology, codified, arbitrarily or not, in a system of 7 days. The poet who saw and described the myth of the Garden of Eden prophesied what would become the great hubris of man, seen again in the Tower of Babel and the 40 years in the wilderness.
After the Flood, the hidden and difficult (for me) to understand doctrines of the Noachic tradition which symbolically added wine to the bread and meat sacrifices of Cain and Abel, but which did much more to establish the ground work for a return to Jehovah which had been prophesied as coming after the Fall.
These ancient Patriarchs left the world many important lessons, treasures buried in the ground, to be dug up when the need was greatest. Among them are these three: Atonement, Certainty. Empowerment.
Atonement. Many mistakes and erroneous concepts are gathered around the subject of atonement. It is believed that the human race must attone for it's sins in order to be worthy of God's love. But as the Patriarchs declared God loves all of His creation absolutely, unequivocally. He hates none of it. And He pours forth His love upon it in abundance. God sheds more love upon us than we take. Why is that? Because we have set up barriers against it with our erroneous thinking and behavior. We have constructed walls by thinking that we can exist without the Spirit, we can eat the forbidden fruit of our own interpretations, sacrifice the unholy fire in place of the truth. Atonement is the process of cleaning up the mess, tearing down the barriers and realizing the abundance of divine affection that is coming to us non stop from it's infinite source without questions.
Certainty. Certainty is more than belief and stronger than faith. Faith is needed to bear upon an outcome of which we are not sure. It ties itself to hope and a sense of righteousness. Certainty, on the other had, is the quality the Patriarchs held up as the right of man in his real relationship with God. Certainty was tested on Noah when he was told to build the ark. It was tested on Abraham when he was told by God to leave his home and go into a strange land. It was tested at the Red Sea when God refused to answer the prayer of the Israelites except to say in essence, "You have the right to cross the sea. Do it." It is said in one tradition that a Certain Man, named Nacshon, wadded into the water and as he did the sea gradually parted for him. The lack of certainty is what kept the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The Patriarchs were certain of God's Word and it never failed them.
Empowerment. The Patriarchs had a daily, conscious, one to one relationship with Deity and that enabled them to receive directly the Divine word and the power that accompanied it. They had no churches, temples or synagogues They had no religions. They had a simple worship of a Deity they understood to be theirs. Moses provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments which some treat as rules for living (which is not a bad idea) but they are more than that. They are prophecies of what life will be when perfection is reached among the human expressions of the divine, the image and likeness of God, the Kingdom of Heaven Earth. Through the years the ancient lessons of the Patriarchs has shown itself to be present in power, a strength given to man by his adherence to the Divine principles spoken by the Patriarchs and left for the world to own. It was with Joshua at Jericho, it was with David when he met Goliath. It is the power given to man that is greater than the power of wrong.
The history of the Fall, Atonement, Certainty and Empowerment of man is written in the Book of Job, probably the earliest book of the Bible. It is also written in the lives of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish prophets through the centuries.
As I said at the top, this is not a description of my own personal religious beliefs, but a gleaning from various sources of literature on religious subjects and my meditations on them. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
T. S. Eliot
*********************
This is not a sermon. I am not a theologian, not even an amateur one. But I am a reader and student of theological works as I am of philosophy and history. What follows is not a manifesto or testament of my personal religious beliefs nor a scholarly paper subject to peer review, it is a meditation on some very ancient religious ideas, gleaned from many different sources.
In ancient times, before Christianity, before Islam, before even Judaism, there were in the Holy Land Patriarchs and Prophets who lived in proximity and coherence with their deity, a divine spirit expressed in the sounds EH, OH, AH, which became Jehovah, which became Joshua, which became Jesus, and Yahweh when spoken in reverse. These were names for the nameless.
These Patriarchs lived in the years from before the Flood until the dawning of Abraham. They left a cosmology, codified, arbitrarily or not, in a system of 7 days. The poet who saw and described the myth of the Garden of Eden prophesied what would become the great hubris of man, seen again in the Tower of Babel and the 40 years in the wilderness.
After the Flood, the hidden and difficult (for me) to understand doctrines of the Noachic tradition which symbolically added wine to the bread and meat sacrifices of Cain and Abel, but which did much more to establish the ground work for a return to Jehovah which had been prophesied as coming after the Fall.
These ancient Patriarchs left the world many important lessons, treasures buried in the ground, to be dug up when the need was greatest. Among them are these three: Atonement, Certainty. Empowerment.
Atonement. Many mistakes and erroneous concepts are gathered around the subject of atonement. It is believed that the human race must attone for it's sins in order to be worthy of God's love. But as the Patriarchs declared God loves all of His creation absolutely, unequivocally. He hates none of it. And He pours forth His love upon it in abundance. God sheds more love upon us than we take. Why is that? Because we have set up barriers against it with our erroneous thinking and behavior. We have constructed walls by thinking that we can exist without the Spirit, we can eat the forbidden fruit of our own interpretations, sacrifice the unholy fire in place of the truth. Atonement is the process of cleaning up the mess, tearing down the barriers and realizing the abundance of divine affection that is coming to us non stop from it's infinite source without questions.
Certainty. Certainty is more than belief and stronger than faith. Faith is needed to bear upon an outcome of which we are not sure. It ties itself to hope and a sense of righteousness. Certainty, on the other had, is the quality the Patriarchs held up as the right of man in his real relationship with God. Certainty was tested on Noah when he was told to build the ark. It was tested on Abraham when he was told by God to leave his home and go into a strange land. It was tested at the Red Sea when God refused to answer the prayer of the Israelites except to say in essence, "You have the right to cross the sea. Do it." It is said in one tradition that a Certain Man, named Nacshon, wadded into the water and as he did the sea gradually parted for him. The lack of certainty is what kept the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The Patriarchs were certain of God's Word and it never failed them.
Empowerment. The Patriarchs had a daily, conscious, one to one relationship with Deity and that enabled them to receive directly the Divine word and the power that accompanied it. They had no churches, temples or synagogues They had no religions. They had a simple worship of a Deity they understood to be theirs. Moses provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments which some treat as rules for living (which is not a bad idea) but they are more than that. They are prophecies of what life will be when perfection is reached among the human expressions of the divine, the image and likeness of God, the Kingdom of Heaven Earth. Through the years the ancient lessons of the Patriarchs has shown itself to be present in power, a strength given to man by his adherence to the Divine principles spoken by the Patriarchs and left for the world to own. It was with Joshua at Jericho, it was with David when he met Goliath. It is the power given to man that is greater than the power of wrong.
The history of the Fall, Atonement, Certainty and Empowerment of man is written in the Book of Job, probably the earliest book of the Bible. It is also written in the lives of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish prophets through the centuries.
As I said at the top, this is not a description of my own personal religious beliefs, but a gleaning from various sources of literature on religious subjects and my meditations on them. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Jacques And Job
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
Herman Melville
****************
Years ago I played Jules in a production of "My Three Angels" in Florida. During the show I had to carry a live chicken across the stage. The hen was big and heavy but she was no trouble. She flapped her wings on cue. The only problem was with her name.
The crew person who handled her backstage kept referring to her as "Henrietta" and that's how she would be listed in the program. I objected. Every chicken who has ever appeared on a stage has been called HEN rietta. Couldn't people, for once, come up with a real name and not try to be cute. No. Henrietta she remained. I don't think she cared, but I did.
Another time I did a play in New England which was based on a short story that had been made into a famous film. The director wanted us to do the play exactly the way they did it in the film. He even hired actors who looked the same as those in the film. He would not listen to any alternative reading of a line or interpretation of the script. We were to reproduce the film on the stage. How boring.
I've known directors who have come straight out of a Drama Department somewhere who then try to produce a play just the way it was done back in school. How boring! How stupid!!
I have seen actors who try a Rex Harrison hair cut or Marlo Brando speech because they saw it in a movie. This sort of nonsense doesn't stop at the stage door.
Some thinker comes up with a theory about something. It sounds good. So people accept it as fact and then base their words and actions on it without ever challenging the basic premise. That can go on for decades, even centuries. How many different ways can one explain the theology that comes out of most seminaries? When you come right down to it the question "What's new?" has no answer.
Jacques Bolduc was a theologian who lived in the 16th - 17th Century in France. He was a Capuchin friar and a Hebrew scholar. After many years of research and study he published an account of the book of Job in which he claimed Job was the first book written, possibly by Job himself or one of his friends and possibly discovered by Moses and rewritten. He also put forth the idea that Judaism and hence Christianity are based on Natural Law and the 7 precepts of Noah's sons (Genesis 9).
Bolduc was basically ignored. But when he wasn't there were scathing criticisms of his books. Other theologians called them heretical, absurd, preposterous and sacrilegious. Why? Because they didn't conform to the traditional teaching of the church. Even today there is hardly any notice of Bolduc in modern theological study, and yet some are beginning to think that Job did predate Moses, though they don't give Bolduc credit for first thinking so.
He wasn't completely ignored however. Among the few who listened to him was Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher, who used Job's term "Leviathan" as the title of his most important work, which then troubled the theological waters, like the healing angel of Bethesda, and began a world wide discussion of what that name Leviathan really means.
Look closely. The smiling parson with his arms outstretched in beneficial holiness may be preaching nonsense and not know it. But if so, be assured the nonsense doesn't stop at the last pew.
In science, education, economics, politics, sports and any major endeavor are those who hold on to the "tried and true" and don't listen to a different reading of it. It's easy to believe you're right when no one disagrees with you. It's hard to believe you're right when everyone disagrees with you But those who have the courage to step away from imitation, to practice original thinking and to stand tall and sturdy when the storm of mindless disagreement pelts and blows, just might be on to something.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
8 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Herman Melville
****************
Years ago I played Jules in a production of "My Three Angels" in Florida. During the show I had to carry a live chicken across the stage. The hen was big and heavy but she was no trouble. She flapped her wings on cue. The only problem was with her name.
The crew person who handled her backstage kept referring to her as "Henrietta" and that's how she would be listed in the program. I objected. Every chicken who has ever appeared on a stage has been called HEN rietta. Couldn't people, for once, come up with a real name and not try to be cute. No. Henrietta she remained. I don't think she cared, but I did.
Another time I did a play in New England which was based on a short story that had been made into a famous film. The director wanted us to do the play exactly the way they did it in the film. He even hired actors who looked the same as those in the film. He would not listen to any alternative reading of a line or interpretation of the script. We were to reproduce the film on the stage. How boring.
I've known directors who have come straight out of a Drama Department somewhere who then try to produce a play just the way it was done back in school. How boring! How stupid!!
I have seen actors who try a Rex Harrison hair cut or Marlo Brando speech because they saw it in a movie. This sort of nonsense doesn't stop at the stage door.
Some thinker comes up with a theory about something. It sounds good. So people accept it as fact and then base their words and actions on it without ever challenging the basic premise. That can go on for decades, even centuries. How many different ways can one explain the theology that comes out of most seminaries? When you come right down to it the question "What's new?" has no answer.
Jacques Bolduc was a theologian who lived in the 16th - 17th Century in France. He was a Capuchin friar and a Hebrew scholar. After many years of research and study he published an account of the book of Job in which he claimed Job was the first book written, possibly by Job himself or one of his friends and possibly discovered by Moses and rewritten. He also put forth the idea that Judaism and hence Christianity are based on Natural Law and the 7 precepts of Noah's sons (Genesis 9).
Bolduc was basically ignored. But when he wasn't there were scathing criticisms of his books. Other theologians called them heretical, absurd, preposterous and sacrilegious. Why? Because they didn't conform to the traditional teaching of the church. Even today there is hardly any notice of Bolduc in modern theological study, and yet some are beginning to think that Job did predate Moses, though they don't give Bolduc credit for first thinking so.
He wasn't completely ignored however. Among the few who listened to him was Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher, who used Job's term "Leviathan" as the title of his most important work, which then troubled the theological waters, like the healing angel of Bethesda, and began a world wide discussion of what that name Leviathan really means.
Look closely. The smiling parson with his arms outstretched in beneficial holiness may be preaching nonsense and not know it. But if so, be assured the nonsense doesn't stop at the last pew.
In science, education, economics, politics, sports and any major endeavor are those who hold on to the "tried and true" and don't listen to a different reading of it. It's easy to believe you're right when no one disagrees with you. It's hard to believe you're right when everyone disagrees with you But those who have the courage to step away from imitation, to practice original thinking and to stand tall and sturdy when the storm of mindless disagreement pelts and blows, just might be on to something.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
8 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
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Sunday, May 3, 2009
Clarified Consciousness 5/03/09
We should free ourselves of the prejudice that rational insight is "mysterious."
Tim Crane
*************
Welcome aboard.
_____________
A mystery is a phenomenon for which we have no explanation. Fortunately for the human race there are people, scientists and philosophers, who will not settle for the "unexplainable." Things happen according to law: natural law and (yes) divine law. And laws are identifiable, measurable and explainable.
One of the most graphic examples of natural law is happening right now in our northern hemisphere. We call it Spring. The farmer doesn't make his crops grow. Natural law does that, but the farmer needs to know and respect the natural law to bring his crops to harvest. I often tell people when asked that the art of acting must conform to natural law. In that case the farmer's field is the actor's mind, but the law is the same. The end result in both cases may seem miraculous, but it is not mysterious.
Great marvels performed by spiritual leaders of the past certainly seemed mysterious but when explanations were asked for by rational thinkers, they were forthcoming. That we can't understand some of those explanations doesn't make them mysterious. It simply means we haven't yet graduated from elementary school.
The ancient prophets knew about divine law and some of them wrote about it. They were not irrational thinkers. How did Moses bring bread down from the sky to feed his followers? What was Elisha doing while he was sitting on a rock making a tempest brew up out of a clear sky? How did Jesus change the water into wine? "I can of my own self do nothing" he said. And "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets." That is, divine law.
There may be many phenomena in this universe that we will never know about, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't understand them if we did know. Some ancient peoples used to worship the rising of the sun, the phases of the moon and other phenomena as gods or acts of god that needed to be feared and praised. Some peoples still do. But that useless, primitive theology was dispelled by rational thinkers uncovering what those phenomena are about and the laws which govern them. Some people still bow down to hurricanes and earthquakes. Why is it that many people don't want to accept the discoveries of the scientific mind as anything but mysterious? To say that it is God's will that the hurricane destroyed one house while it left standing the one next to it is nonsense.
Some pseudo prophets have come forward with their own interpretation of various scriptures but none of them seem to agree with each other. Theories abound in the scientific, philosophical and religious communities, but to accept any of them as facts until they have been rationally proved and their laws discovered is wasteful foolishness.
How far along the trail have we come from the babbling tower? Some have come further than others, but it's all relative, since we are all still in mental and spiritual infancy. But I don't think the human race will progress very quickly toward enlightenment until we stop accepting things as mere "mysteries" and let it go at that.
If this entry offends or insults your religious beliefs I can understand that, believe me I can, but just know that the words here do not come from shallow thinking.
DB _ Vagabond Journeys
__________________
May you see new blossoms today.
*************************
Tim Crane
*************
Welcome aboard.
_____________
A mystery is a phenomenon for which we have no explanation. Fortunately for the human race there are people, scientists and philosophers, who will not settle for the "unexplainable." Things happen according to law: natural law and (yes) divine law. And laws are identifiable, measurable and explainable.
One of the most graphic examples of natural law is happening right now in our northern hemisphere. We call it Spring. The farmer doesn't make his crops grow. Natural law does that, but the farmer needs to know and respect the natural law to bring his crops to harvest. I often tell people when asked that the art of acting must conform to natural law. In that case the farmer's field is the actor's mind, but the law is the same. The end result in both cases may seem miraculous, but it is not mysterious.
Great marvels performed by spiritual leaders of the past certainly seemed mysterious but when explanations were asked for by rational thinkers, they were forthcoming. That we can't understand some of those explanations doesn't make them mysterious. It simply means we haven't yet graduated from elementary school.
The ancient prophets knew about divine law and some of them wrote about it. They were not irrational thinkers. How did Moses bring bread down from the sky to feed his followers? What was Elisha doing while he was sitting on a rock making a tempest brew up out of a clear sky? How did Jesus change the water into wine? "I can of my own self do nothing" he said. And "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets." That is, divine law.
There may be many phenomena in this universe that we will never know about, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't understand them if we did know. Some ancient peoples used to worship the rising of the sun, the phases of the moon and other phenomena as gods or acts of god that needed to be feared and praised. Some peoples still do. But that useless, primitive theology was dispelled by rational thinkers uncovering what those phenomena are about and the laws which govern them. Some people still bow down to hurricanes and earthquakes. Why is it that many people don't want to accept the discoveries of the scientific mind as anything but mysterious? To say that it is God's will that the hurricane destroyed one house while it left standing the one next to it is nonsense.
Some pseudo prophets have come forward with their own interpretation of various scriptures but none of them seem to agree with each other. Theories abound in the scientific, philosophical and religious communities, but to accept any of them as facts until they have been rationally proved and their laws discovered is wasteful foolishness.
How far along the trail have we come from the babbling tower? Some have come further than others, but it's all relative, since we are all still in mental and spiritual infancy. But I don't think the human race will progress very quickly toward enlightenment until we stop accepting things as mere "mysteries" and let it go at that.
If this entry offends or insults your religious beliefs I can understand that, believe me I can, but just know that the words here do not come from shallow thinking.
DB _ Vagabond Journeys
__________________
May you see new blossoms today.
*************************
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