Showing posts with label The Koran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Koran. Show all posts
Monday, August 13, 2012
What A World
Vie with each other in good works.
The Koran
*****************
Hello Bruce
*****************
There's an amusing saying about the competition among the super rich which goes, "He who has the most when he dies wins." It's funny, but it's also pathetic.
Imagine a world in which the acquiring and hoarding of wealth is not the primary acclivity of people, where the fear of financial insecurity doesn't drive them to obtain more than they need, where there is no military-industrial complex, no multi national corporations, no mega farms, but where instead goodness and morality are the basic commodities of life.
There have been times and places where that was true. When the early Puritan pilgrims arrived in America they had a meager start to their new lives, the church was the center of their small communities and goodness was what prompted them and kept them together. Unfortunately along with their simple fundamentalist religion came superstition. Thus when the witch trials started it wasn't theft, rape and murder they were tried for. It was evil. Non goodness.
Imagine a community where superstition does not rule, where real goodness has a chance to establish itself and flourish like the flocks and crops of the first settlers. Imagine a world where the competition is for kindness, mercy, good deeds, instead of more land and more money.
Is it an impossible utopia? Maybe. But give it a lick. If we all started genuinely trying to win gold medals at kindness, benevolence and good works, what a world, what a world, what a world.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Burn Down The Library
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
Rebecca West.
******************
Hello Bruce
******************
"Watchman, tell us of the night."
Everything I write is a plea for redemption.
I hope they ban my books.
------------------------------------
You don't have to write "The Tropic of Capricorn" or "Lady Chatterley's Lover" to have your book banned. No matter what you write you will offend someone. And if that someone gets together with other someones who then have your book ripped from library shelves in a fit of self righteous rage you will know you have written an important book.
An idiot in the South can burn a copy of the Koran but, other than seriously insulting a lot of people, it will have no effect whatever on centuries of profound Islamic religious thought.
Elsewhere some concerned do-gooders are working to have removed from the schools any literature which discusses the Theory of Evolution for fear that some impressionable youth might get the idea that God didn't create Adam and Eve. (He didn't, by the way. It's a myth.)
The pendulum of learning tends to swing too far in both directions. I have, and you have too, met youngsters that step into young adulthood with some preconceived notion about the realities of life, preconceived because taught by some system or authority figure who was, in turn, unable to factor into his or her thinking the uncertainties and vagaries of reality. That's why West likens it to infanticide. Why raise a child with simple formulas for living while hiding the more complicated issues if they happen to occur? Or why convince a child of the truth or untruth of things unproven simply because of beliefs? Why not just keep the kid locked up, as some perverted parents have done.
Then when the young person finally gets to confront the world out there as it really is, with opposing and conflicting ideas and practices, a period of rejection clicks in and that person may go too far in the other direction and adopt some ism or ology just as confining as the one they left behind. How long the straightening out process takes depends upon the strength of character of the person involved and how extreme the teaching has been. The search for truth has been going on for centuries and it's still going on but it can't be aided by building a brick wall of ignorance in front of books someone doesn't like.
In spite of the heroics they claim for themselves book banners are cowards. They're also hypocrites. How would anyone know which books to ban if they haven't read them? I recall coming across a demonstration in New York against a movie theatre that was showing "The Last Temptation of Christ." I asked one of the demonstrators if she had ever read the Kazantzakis novel. She said she wouldn't go near it. When I told her the true story of a Jewish girl I knew who converted to Christianity after reading the book, she didn't want to hear it.
I love to read. I like to read history and philosophy among other things. I frequently come across authors who express an opinion or a point of view I disagree with or find troublesome to think about. But even if they don't change my mind, I will give them my earnest consideration. That's the pleasure of it.
For the edification of the book banners there's an old saying: "Get a life." And leave the books where they are.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
************************
Rebecca West.
******************
Hello Bruce
******************
"Watchman, tell us of the night."
Everything I write is a plea for redemption.
I hope they ban my books.
------------------------------------
You don't have to write "The Tropic of Capricorn" or "Lady Chatterley's Lover" to have your book banned. No matter what you write you will offend someone. And if that someone gets together with other someones who then have your book ripped from library shelves in a fit of self righteous rage you will know you have written an important book.
An idiot in the South can burn a copy of the Koran but, other than seriously insulting a lot of people, it will have no effect whatever on centuries of profound Islamic religious thought.
Elsewhere some concerned do-gooders are working to have removed from the schools any literature which discusses the Theory of Evolution for fear that some impressionable youth might get the idea that God didn't create Adam and Eve. (He didn't, by the way. It's a myth.)
The pendulum of learning tends to swing too far in both directions. I have, and you have too, met youngsters that step into young adulthood with some preconceived notion about the realities of life, preconceived because taught by some system or authority figure who was, in turn, unable to factor into his or her thinking the uncertainties and vagaries of reality. That's why West likens it to infanticide. Why raise a child with simple formulas for living while hiding the more complicated issues if they happen to occur? Or why convince a child of the truth or untruth of things unproven simply because of beliefs? Why not just keep the kid locked up, as some perverted parents have done.
Then when the young person finally gets to confront the world out there as it really is, with opposing and conflicting ideas and practices, a period of rejection clicks in and that person may go too far in the other direction and adopt some ism or ology just as confining as the one they left behind. How long the straightening out process takes depends upon the strength of character of the person involved and how extreme the teaching has been. The search for truth has been going on for centuries and it's still going on but it can't be aided by building a brick wall of ignorance in front of books someone doesn't like.
In spite of the heroics they claim for themselves book banners are cowards. They're also hypocrites. How would anyone know which books to ban if they haven't read them? I recall coming across a demonstration in New York against a movie theatre that was showing "The Last Temptation of Christ." I asked one of the demonstrators if she had ever read the Kazantzakis novel. She said she wouldn't go near it. When I told her the true story of a Jewish girl I knew who converted to Christianity after reading the book, she didn't want to hear it.
I love to read. I like to read history and philosophy among other things. I frequently come across authors who express an opinion or a point of view I disagree with or find troublesome to think about. But even if they don't change my mind, I will give them my earnest consideration. That's the pleasure of it.
For the edification of the book banners there's an old saying: "Get a life." And leave the books where they are.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
************************
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Forgive Me
One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody, everything, every night before you go to bed.
Bernard Baruch
***************************
Hello Sue
------------------------------
THIS IS THE LAST DAY
The Summer Question is closing it's doors at midnight EST.
------------------------------------
I read thoroughly the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran, as well as a lot of philosophy, history, science and other dust covered tomes. In all three of those sacred texts great stress is laid on the commandment to forgive, friends, enemies, everyone, including ourselves. In fact the issue is so big and important the writers must have felt there was some divine power behind forgiveness.
I've found that it is much easier to forgive people than I ever thought it was back in my smart aleck days. Oh, I can make excuses for people: he has a headache, she's having a bad day, they just don't understand. But that isn't the same as forgiving.
True forgiveness is a matter of consciousness, it is holding in thought the truth about human life and human behavior. Nothing is easier in this uncertain world than to do something wrong, to make a mistake, to miscalculate or, worse, to be motivated by something sinister, like hunger or greed, to do damage to another person or his property. Those demons are all part of the great struggle we have as human beings against the powers of darkeners that would destroy us.
None of are exempt from that struggle, not even the rich and beautiful. In fact, and this is an important fact to know about, it is often that the rich and beautiful succumb to the temptations to do harm more often than those who grapple with the chains of a difficult life.
An even more important discovery about forgiveness is that it is a mark of maturity. The idiot who engages in road rage or any process of "getting even" is still back in his childhood, refusing, like Peter Pan, to grow up.
The first urge we have to forgive is usually met with a counter urge. "What! Forgive that bastard. Never!" But if the need to forgive has divine power behind it, that counter urge has no divine power to strengthen it no matter how vigorously our nerves may shake with anticipation. The so called reality of revenge is an illusion. The anger that lives with one who cannot forgive takes over and controls that person's life. Heaven forbid if that anger is salted with the heavy spice of violence. Eat dynamite and drink human blood, there's nothing left.
I won't make a list of the people I need to forgive. For one thing, that would only legitimize my negative feelings about them and for another thing, I've already forgiven them. When one person or event pops into my mind I simply remind myself I've forgiven them and that's that. I have set them free and I've set myself free.
But, ironically, the buzzing fly of conscience that may keep me awake at night is that I need to forgive myself for more than any one else has done to me. If I could genuinely and completely forgive myself for all the stupid things I did and the smart things I didn't do, which seems like an impassible, life long task, that would be freedom and a divine state of being indeed.
"Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
****************************
This is it, your last chance.
SUMMER QUESTION
It's been a long, hot, wet and sticky summer, so here's the hot, sticky question..
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
22 interesting answers so far.
You have until midnight.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Bernard Baruch
***************************
Hello Sue
------------------------------
THIS IS THE LAST DAY
The Summer Question is closing it's doors at midnight EST.
------------------------------------
I read thoroughly the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran, as well as a lot of philosophy, history, science and other dust covered tomes. In all three of those sacred texts great stress is laid on the commandment to forgive, friends, enemies, everyone, including ourselves. In fact the issue is so big and important the writers must have felt there was some divine power behind forgiveness.
I've found that it is much easier to forgive people than I ever thought it was back in my smart aleck days. Oh, I can make excuses for people: he has a headache, she's having a bad day, they just don't understand. But that isn't the same as forgiving.
True forgiveness is a matter of consciousness, it is holding in thought the truth about human life and human behavior. Nothing is easier in this uncertain world than to do something wrong, to make a mistake, to miscalculate or, worse, to be motivated by something sinister, like hunger or greed, to do damage to another person or his property. Those demons are all part of the great struggle we have as human beings against the powers of darkeners that would destroy us.
None of are exempt from that struggle, not even the rich and beautiful. In fact, and this is an important fact to know about, it is often that the rich and beautiful succumb to the temptations to do harm more often than those who grapple with the chains of a difficult life.
An even more important discovery about forgiveness is that it is a mark of maturity. The idiot who engages in road rage or any process of "getting even" is still back in his childhood, refusing, like Peter Pan, to grow up.
The first urge we have to forgive is usually met with a counter urge. "What! Forgive that bastard. Never!" But if the need to forgive has divine power behind it, that counter urge has no divine power to strengthen it no matter how vigorously our nerves may shake with anticipation. The so called reality of revenge is an illusion. The anger that lives with one who cannot forgive takes over and controls that person's life. Heaven forbid if that anger is salted with the heavy spice of violence. Eat dynamite and drink human blood, there's nothing left.
I won't make a list of the people I need to forgive. For one thing, that would only legitimize my negative feelings about them and for another thing, I've already forgiven them. When one person or event pops into my mind I simply remind myself I've forgiven them and that's that. I have set them free and I've set myself free.
But, ironically, the buzzing fly of conscience that may keep me awake at night is that I need to forgive myself for more than any one else has done to me. If I could genuinely and completely forgive myself for all the stupid things I did and the smart things I didn't do, which seems like an impassible, life long task, that would be freedom and a divine state of being indeed.
"Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
****************************
This is it, your last chance.
SUMMER QUESTION
It's been a long, hot, wet and sticky summer, so here's the hot, sticky question..
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
22 interesting answers so far.
You have until midnight.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Caress The Unknown
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Benjamin Franklin
***********************
Hello Botswana
*************************
How many phantoms are dancing on your nose? How many window shades have you yanked down? How long have you been waiting for the curtain to go up? Do you, as with most people, have two big boxes, one in the attic and the other in the cellar, one marked "unimportant" and the other marked "I'll get to you some day" and they are both filled up with stuff?
One night I was walking a teen age girl home from a meeting. It was dark, she was anxious to get home and glad for the company. On the way we passed a field that would be a shortcut, but she didn't want to go into it if there was water. I offered to go and find out but she said not to. Instead she picked up a rock about the size of her fist and threw it. We heard it splash in the water and avoided the field. I asked her where she learned that and she said it was from her brother. It's the sort of lore country people know. This city boy learned a lesson.
When I'm in a hurry and I want to know the meaning and spelling of a word I'll go to the online dictionary. But if I have the time I'll open up my big 2,214 page Random House/Websters unabridged and find what I'm looking for plus 5 or 6 other words I've never heard of before. That's how I discovered acerbic, abiosis, praxis, proleptic, mondagreen and jerk. Some of them are not all that useful to me but when they are I will use them to entertain us poor, effete, eastern, intellectual snobs, as I think Newt described us.
Someone I once knew said to me "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My first answer is: Because I want them to be. But the real answer is that I don't consider myself any more intelligent than anyone else. But I am curious. Einstein once said that he wasn't all that clever but that he was just very curious.
We are all ignorant of most things, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the desire to remain ignorant is a cud chewing crime. A man will refuse to read the Quran but he'll set fire to it. People did not read Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation Of Christ" but they demonstrated against the film. The professional wrestler says :If I can do it, it aint art." and yet he rehearses and acts out a scripted wrestling match every time he steps into the ring. One of the nations wealthiest CEOs says he's never given a dollar to any cultural cause, never will and he's proud of it. The ignorance is breath taking. If I didn't doubt it I would think that some people are abjectly and shudderingly frightened to death of the "terrorism" of philosophy, science, art and ideas.
"Don't go looking into things that don't concern you." How will you know if they concern you or not until you look into them? "The more you know the less you know." Yes. Isn't that great?
Ignorance is the perpetually dancing phantom distracting us from the realities. It's the strange light on the other ise of the window shade. It's what's behind the curtain. It's the monster in the cellar and the ghost in the attic. It's the shadow on Plato's wall. It's the creature from outer space. It's the great, terrifying unknown, which once known is simply known.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7. So what's the big deal? For ignorance there is an excuse. For unwillingness to ask, seek and knock there is no excuse.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
One day puzzle, First one in with the right answer wins the badge.
"Every Jerrerson, Nixon and Truman. Or,
Every ----------. ------------- and -------------.
dbdacoba@aol.com
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Benjamin Franklin
***********************
Hello Botswana
*************************
How many phantoms are dancing on your nose? How many window shades have you yanked down? How long have you been waiting for the curtain to go up? Do you, as with most people, have two big boxes, one in the attic and the other in the cellar, one marked "unimportant" and the other marked "I'll get to you some day" and they are both filled up with stuff?
One night I was walking a teen age girl home from a meeting. It was dark, she was anxious to get home and glad for the company. On the way we passed a field that would be a shortcut, but she didn't want to go into it if there was water. I offered to go and find out but she said not to. Instead she picked up a rock about the size of her fist and threw it. We heard it splash in the water and avoided the field. I asked her where she learned that and she said it was from her brother. It's the sort of lore country people know. This city boy learned a lesson.
When I'm in a hurry and I want to know the meaning and spelling of a word I'll go to the online dictionary. But if I have the time I'll open up my big 2,214 page Random House/Websters unabridged and find what I'm looking for plus 5 or 6 other words I've never heard of before. That's how I discovered acerbic, abiosis, praxis, proleptic, mondagreen and jerk. Some of them are not all that useful to me but when they are I will use them to entertain us poor, effete, eastern, intellectual snobs, as I think Newt described us.
Someone I once knew said to me "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My first answer is: Because I want them to be. But the real answer is that I don't consider myself any more intelligent than anyone else. But I am curious. Einstein once said that he wasn't all that clever but that he was just very curious.
We are all ignorant of most things, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the desire to remain ignorant is a cud chewing crime. A man will refuse to read the Quran but he'll set fire to it. People did not read Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation Of Christ" but they demonstrated against the film. The professional wrestler says :If I can do it, it aint art." and yet he rehearses and acts out a scripted wrestling match every time he steps into the ring. One of the nations wealthiest CEOs says he's never given a dollar to any cultural cause, never will and he's proud of it. The ignorance is breath taking. If I didn't doubt it I would think that some people are abjectly and shudderingly frightened to death of the "terrorism" of philosophy, science, art and ideas.
"Don't go looking into things that don't concern you." How will you know if they concern you or not until you look into them? "The more you know the less you know." Yes. Isn't that great?
Ignorance is the perpetually dancing phantom distracting us from the realities. It's the strange light on the other ise of the window shade. It's what's behind the curtain. It's the monster in the cellar and the ghost in the attic. It's the shadow on Plato's wall. It's the creature from outer space. It's the great, terrifying unknown, which once known is simply known.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7. So what's the big deal? For ignorance there is an excuse. For unwillingness to ask, seek and knock there is no excuse.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
One day puzzle, First one in with the right answer wins the badge.
"Every Jerrerson, Nixon and Truman. Or,
Every ----------. ------------- and -------------.
dbdacoba@aol.com
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Standing Better
Follow a straight path and do not walk in the footsteps of ignorant men.
The Koran
****************
When I read this quote I thought, Well, that's good common sense. Then I ran across this parallel quote from Psalms "Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."
Yesterday I wrote about being a leader and not a follower, or, more precisely, not getting on board when some idiot is riding his hobbyhorse thorough the land.
These two quotes caused me to stop and think. Every morning when I fire up the computer the first thing I do is check the news. It isn't long before I'm irate about something: people who have no authority sounding off about some issue. reading how our money is being wasted by programs that don't work and by large corporation executives pilfering us one way or another, bad laws being enacted and good laws not being administered, courts making stupid decisions, people who think they are clever casting humorous but insulting remarks about other people, pastors praying for the failure and death of our president, congress members vowing to vote against bills for political reasons only, foreign leaders justifying kidnapping, torture and assassination, bombing of civilians, religious leaders assigning divine causes to natural disasters, insane hatred expressed for racial, religious, national, cultural or social reasons, crime, disease, poverty, homelessness, ignorance, desperation and whole groups trying to hold back and reverse the improvements and progress of the world.
I realize I'm doing exactly what the Koran says not to do. I'm walking in the footsteps of ignorance by giving it part of the most impressionable part of my day. I am fretted before I even get to my email. I have been led to get on board and ride the hobbyhorse of anger, outrage and disgust. I'm doing exactly what evil wants me to do. I am an unwitting follower of the workers of iniquity by my reactions and envious fascination with the wrongs of the world.
A better reaction is to begin the day by finding the solid ground of my own sense of peace and right, to stand firmly on it and let it guide my thinking and not get on board the nowhere ride to chaos.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 7 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
The Koran
****************
When I read this quote I thought, Well, that's good common sense. Then I ran across this parallel quote from Psalms "Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."
Yesterday I wrote about being a leader and not a follower, or, more precisely, not getting on board when some idiot is riding his hobbyhorse thorough the land.
These two quotes caused me to stop and think. Every morning when I fire up the computer the first thing I do is check the news. It isn't long before I'm irate about something: people who have no authority sounding off about some issue. reading how our money is being wasted by programs that don't work and by large corporation executives pilfering us one way or another, bad laws being enacted and good laws not being administered, courts making stupid decisions, people who think they are clever casting humorous but insulting remarks about other people, pastors praying for the failure and death of our president, congress members vowing to vote against bills for political reasons only, foreign leaders justifying kidnapping, torture and assassination, bombing of civilians, religious leaders assigning divine causes to natural disasters, insane hatred expressed for racial, religious, national, cultural or social reasons, crime, disease, poverty, homelessness, ignorance, desperation and whole groups trying to hold back and reverse the improvements and progress of the world.
I realize I'm doing exactly what the Koran says not to do. I'm walking in the footsteps of ignorance by giving it part of the most impressionable part of my day. I am fretted before I even get to my email. I have been led to get on board and ride the hobbyhorse of anger, outrage and disgust. I'm doing exactly what evil wants me to do. I am an unwitting follower of the workers of iniquity by my reactions and envious fascination with the wrongs of the world.
A better reaction is to begin the day by finding the solid ground of my own sense of peace and right, to stand firmly on it and let it guide my thinking and not get on board the nowhere ride to chaos.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 7 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
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