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Texas, United States

4/27/2013

Wisdom & Spirituality Of Those Who Were Here Before Us



My Great Grandmother was Apache and all I know of her legacy is the wisdom she
instilled in my Grandfather and Father. A love of this good earth, it's blessings, all
humanity, and respect for a greater spirit than themselves.
*********


If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come" -Arapaho

"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, Wisdom is of the future." -Lumbee

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." - Cherokee

"Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man." - Sioux


"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave." - Dakota




"Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins." -Cheyenne


"There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail." - Navajo


"Man's law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same." - Crow


"It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest". - Anishinabe
******

"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove." - Cheyenne





"You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep."
Navajo Proverb

"Maybe not...but you can keep beating drums in his ear hoping he will hear reason."
Anna's Proverb

"Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it." - Crow

"Ask questions from you heart and you will be answered from the heart."Omaha

"Do not wrong or hate your neighbor for it is not he that you wrong, but yourself."
 - Pima

"It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace, and live in peace" - Shenandoah

"Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you. "- Hopi


"When the white man discovered this country, Indians were running it. No taxes, no debt, women did all the work.  White man thought he could improve on a system like this. -Cherokee



4/22/2013

Do You Really Care Who Your Neighbor Worships...As Long As It's Not The Devil?



Last week was mentally exhausting. The Boston bombing on Monday was horrific. The terrible explosion at the plant in West, Texas was catastrophic. 
But what I also found very disturbing was the way a lot of normally rational people reacted 
on "social" media. Facebook and other media was in flames with heated opinions. 
Awkwardly enough, I was lured into the debates 
trying to defend Muslims and our President 
from folks ready to march on the White House fully armed to execute the President of the United States... 
and then expel all Muslims immediately. Lordy!  

A few who are always ready to blame Obama for everything that goes wrong, and gives their "Lord Jesus Christ" credit for their "pure" thinking, started blaming Obama for allowing Muslims to continue to immigrate here, and also for allowing imprisoned terror suspects prayer mats in their cells...claiming it's because "secretly" he's one also, plotting against America...and mind you....this was before anyone 
even knew who was to blame for the bombings. 

The hysteria was alarming. One fundamental Christian
friend of a friend wrote on the friends blog about my previous post on our bloody history and Hypatia, "Sure, keep writing about "atheist" and bad Christians as
if that is promoting world peace...Prejudice 
masquerading as truth!"

Say what? Too much tea this morning? Didn't

sleep well with your over-loaded AK-47 in bed with you? Ancient peaceful Pagans were not "atheist," they worshiped all sorts of gods and goddess's and they didn't pretend they were perfect...or horrible!

I did remind some that Liberals didn't blame George
Bush when 9/11 happened on his watch, we pulled together, 
not apart. Neither did we blame all Muslims. Just the
ones responsible for the insanity and their devil leader.
Of course, (secretly) I do blame George for going
after Saddam before Osama.

I met a family of Muslims and some of their relatives over 15 years ago who owned a small  convenience
 store in my former neighborhood. We became friends and talked about a variety of things, including religion. They told me they had immigrated here because Islamic radicals were causing strife in their native country and they did not want their children exposed to it, especially their daughters. These conversations began at least five years before 9/11. They were
just as appalled and saddened by 9/11 as I was...maybe more so. They knew how Americans would think of them from
then on because of their religion. They were right.
*****
This is what I really think about religion....

Hate filled Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship a wrathful god who would allow them to slay sons and torture their enemies, the same as the deity they obey "supposedly" did...and will continue to torment all those he "damns" in hell fire and brimstone for eternity. 

Pure Bullshit!

Peace loving Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship a loving, comforting, and forgiving God who 

created earth for us to live our lives in peace. 
"Blessed Be The peacemakers," Jesus said, Yea!

All others who worship various deity's are just as authentic and justifiable members of humanity...
as long as they worship idols of peace.
Buddha and Hindu Gods among them.

Those who do not worship or believe in any supreme being...but are productive contributors to making our earth a wiser and more peaceful, healthy, and safe place to survive our precious lives are just as worthy human beings as those who do worship a divine being 
of some sort....and there is quite an assortment of 
idols and prophets out there and NO one 
on earth knows if any 
of them are correct...or
none of them. 

The fact that so many can not see this truth is what continues to cause wars, terrorism, and fanaticism...as
well as "holier than thou" rants on social media.


HUMANITY SHOULD WISE UP FOR 
OUR CHILDREN'S AND THEIR
CHILDREN' S SAKE BECAUSE
HISTORY PROVES MASS HYSTERIA
CAN LEAD TO HORRIFIC ACTS!
If you don't believe it...look up what
happened in Massachusetts
in 1692 when Holy Puritans
"thought" their town had been
invaded by the devils witches.

Don't think it couldn't happen today
just because we have better technology.
There are still a lot of radical "religious"
thinking humans out there.
Last week proved it on
both sides of the fence!

4/13/2013

And So Our Bloody History Goes On...And On...And On...


Hypatia ?-415 A.D. (Hi-pat-cha)
***
Her exact date of birth is not known but Hypatia was 
believed to be between 40 and 60 years old when she was martyred by zealous Christians in 415 A.D. 
History reveals ancient popes and bishops tortured 
to death at least as many innocent martyrs 
as "heathen" Pagans did.
***
Hypatia was a Greek Neo-Platonist philosopher who was the first 
full-documented woman in mathematics. She was also an 
astronomer, teacher, editor, inventor, and musician.

She became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria and taught philosophy and astronomy there. She was of the intellectual school of the 3rd century thinker Plotinus, which encouraged logic and mathematical study in place of empirical enquiry (experiment instead of theory), and strongly encouraged law in place of nature. She was educated at Athens. She imparted the knowledge of Plato and Aristotle to any student interested; her pupils included pagans, Christians, and foreigners. Because of self-assurance and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she frequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. She evidently felt neither abashed or inhibited going to an assembly of men only. 

It is disputed if she ever married. I found it noted, that like many geniuses, Hypatia likely had a "prickly" personality. That "historian" used as evidence the only anecdote that offers an insight into her personal life, which has her hurling her "menstrual rags" at a lovesick student and saying, "They demonstrate nothing beautiful about carnal desire."


That little temper fit response lends itself to all kinds of interpretation, but I'll refrain from a "thorny" feminine opinion. I have had experience with and totally comprehend PMS. 


No written work, widely recognized by scholars as Hypatia's own has survived to the present time. Many of the works commonly attributed to her are believed to have been collaborative works with her father, Theon Alexandricus. This kind of authorial uncertainty is, unfortunately, typical for female philosophers in Antiquity. 

It still makes me wonder why we seem to have so many more details about the way back B.C. Pharaoh's of Ancient Egypt than we do about the early Christian centuries including the life of Jesus. We allegedly know of all the Pharaoh's dalliances, especially the last, Cleopatra....names, dates, mistakes, places and "affairs."

Hypatia is known with certainty to have edited a number of works in collaboration with her father, who was the last director of the Museion that was the center of scholarship in the classical world...kinda like Harvard and Oxford are today I suppose.  Among those works were a commentary on the 13-volume Arithmetica by Diophantus. She also edited Theon’s commentary on Euclid's Elements, which was likely the basis for every geometry text for the next fifteen centuries.


Contemporary 5th-century sources do identify Hypatia of Alexandria as a practitioner and teacher of the philosophy of Plato and Plotinus, but, two hundred years later, the 7th-century Egyptian Coptic bishop, John of Nikiu, identified her as a Hellenistic pagan and alleged that she was devoted at all times to magic,astrolabes,(early sextants) and instruments of music, and  beguiled many people through her Satanic "devotion." Not all Christians were as hostile towards her as John of Nikiu or the monks who killed her: Some early Christians used Hypatia as symbolic of Virtue, somewhat similar to the way they venerate the "Virgin" Mary today

Since she was trained in the philosophical schools of Plato and Plotinus, she was admired by most of her contemporary scholars for her dignity,virtue, and wisdom. Of the anger she provoked among Christians, Scholasticus, a Greek Christian church historian of the times, wrote, "Hypatia ultimately fell victim to the political jealousy which at the time prevailed.The Roman Governor, Orestes, was known to seek her counsel, and a rumor spread among the Christian community of Alexandria in which she was blamed for his unwillingness to reconcile a disagreement with Bishop Cyril."

 A mob of Christians gathered, led by a  minor cleric named Peter, whom Scholasticus described as a fanatic. They kidnapped Hypatia on her way home and took her to a Church called Caesareum.The Caesareum in Alexandria was a temple conceived by Cleopatra to honor her lover, Mark Antony, and believed to be where she committed suicide. It was converted to a Christian church in the late 4th century and was the headquarters of Bishop Cyril. The angry mob stripped her naked and murdered her. Scholasticus is interpreted as saying that, while she was still alive, Hypatia's flesh was torn off using oyster shells, the Greek word is "ostrakois," also used to describe brick tiles on the roofs of houses as well as to denote pottery shards.  Afterward, the men proceeded to mutilate her, and finally burn her limbs. When news broke of Hypatia's murder, it provoked great public denouncement, not only against Bishop Cyril, but against the whole Alexandrian Christian community. The sins of a few indeed can affect all.

Scholasticus closed his account of what happened to 
Hypatia with this lament:

"Surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity 
than the allowance of massacres,fights, and transactions of that sort."

School of Athens 
is an immense painting  in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, it is one of a series of four frescoes painted by Raphael, representing branches of knowledge, this one is dedicated to philosophy as a path to knowledge and especially relates to understanding the causes that drive knowledge.
  
All of the philosophers shown in the fresco traditionally sought knowledge through an understanding of root causes, tying back to the title and theme of the fresco. The painting is considered by some to be Raphael's greatest masterpiece...but he did not leave a description and it is unknown whether he alone devised who would be included and how they would be portrayed, or whether Pope Julius II, who commissioned the painting, contributed his "disputable" input.  It's certainly evident in the Vatican that Julius II commanded the greatest masters of the day to decorate his "private" opulent palace of "worship" floor to ceiling.
Murky Shades of Egyptian Pharaohs & Roman Caesars!

Those who can be identified with some certainty are: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy, Zoroaster, Raphael, Sodoma and Diogenes. Other identifications are more or less speculative, including whether the only woman in the group is indeed Hypatia. 

"Stands to reason," I thought when I marveled at that wall and contemplated the huge fresco in one of the museums in the Vatican, this one known as Stanze di Raffaello. The building is in the shape of a Greek cross which some have suggested was intended to show a harmony between Pagan philosophy and Christian theology. Hum..... 



Detail of Hypatia on a fantastic huge wall painting by iconographer, Mark Dukes, located in an Episcopal church in San Francisco depicting a lot of the never officially proclaimed "saints" line dancing. When I first viewed it, I thought surely Mark must have had a snappy Texas country tune in his brilliant head while he worked. 

If you want to boggle your mind with master frescoes,  exquisite marble sculptures, and the results of the ultimate egomaniac, infamous Pope Julius II, nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" as well as "II Papa Terribile" ... take a tour of the Vatican museums.
 I have not thought the same about dogma ever since I viewed truths I had not imagined existed prior to that trip to Italy to critique for myself 
some of the greatest artistic creators and thinkers in history. 

There are many interpretations written of who the ancient philosophers, artists, and astrologers really were, just as there are many versions of who the Divine Creator really is.We are very fortunate indeed that most of us are free in this day and time to make up our own minds...though some are still not allowed to do so...such as the young girl from Pakistan whose brother recently hacked her with an ax 15 times trying to kill her as a matter of "honor," as he had slayed the younger man she ran away with to escape her abusive tyrant old husband her parents had forced her to marry when she was 14 and he was 60. It is apparent neither her parents nor their religion consider her brother did anything wrong, they still blame her for surviving and not being willing to conform to their archaic beliefs.
*****
Hypatia Quotes

"All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.
"***
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."
***
"Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things 
that are at our door is the best preparation for 
understanding those that lie beyond."
***
"In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth-often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable."
***

"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain, and perhaps tragedy  can he be in after years relieved of them."


***

In this painting, Philosopher Of Alexandria, by 15th century Italian Renaissance artist, Masolino da Panicale, Hypatia is depicted with a halo, implying she was venerated as someone "special." I surmise she was just as often misrepresented and defiled by various ancient popes and clergy as Mary Magdalene was, but I think not by brilliant master artist's, because they almost always depicted her
 beautiful as they did Mary M.

In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in countries all over the world, Hypatia was still portrayed any where from being a satanic evil witch, to being a loving, saintly, and
 virtuous teacher.She has remained ever since her martyr the subject of countless essays, books, plays, and several movies. 

Most 21st century scholars now consider Hypatia to have 
been a "Universal Genius" born at a time pagan and any other woman were not believed to be as brilliant as men were who converted to 
Christianity to preach the message they muddled so ignorantly
 of Jesus..."The King Of Peace"...who thus became an inspiration for men to commit horrible crimes in his name...just as Mohammed still is being an inspiration, an ancient concerned Prophet 
who initially wanted to escape the  condemnation of Jews and Christians of his era and formed his own opinions and flock, still misinterpreted horribly by present day terrorists who believe slaying those who don't agree with you is a matter of "honor."

Oh dear God!...if there is a Supreme Creator...how “IT” must weep tears of torment at humanity's continued ignorance!
*****
And so our bloody history goes on...and on...and on...

4/09/2013

A Great Mind Who Made Both Science & Science Fiction Read Plausible


Painting by Rowena Morrill depicting Isaac Asimov enthroned 

with symbols of his life's work.


Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)


Isaac Asimov was born Isaak Judah Ozimov, on January 2, 1920, in Petrovichi shtetl, near Smolensk, Russia.His father and mother were Orthodox Jews. His family immigrated to the United States when he was three years old and he grew up in Brooklyn New York. 

He is best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.

 Asimov began reading science fiction pulp magazines at a young age in the confectionary his family owned. His father, as a matter of principle, forbade him reading the pulps, as he considered them to be trash, but Isaac persuaded him that the science fiction magazines had "Science" in the title, so they were educational.

Asimov was a claustrophile:... he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces. In the third volume of his autobiography, he recalls a childhood desire to own a magazine stand in a New York City subway station, within which he could enclose himself and listen to the rumble of passing trains while reading. At some point, he obviously rationalized writing was more his calling. 

Isaac graduated from high school at 15 to enter Columbia University. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1939 and went on to get his M.A. and Ph.D. from the same institution. In 1949, Asimov began a stint at Boston University School of Medicine, where he was hired as an associate professor of biochemistry in 1955. He eventually became a professor at the university by the late 1970s. Yet even with his impeccable academic credentials, writing for general readers was to be the professor's passion.

Asimov was also known for writing books on a wide variety of subjects outside of science fiction, taking on topics like astronomy, biology, math, religion and literary biography.

Asimov suffered a heart attack in 1977, and had triple bypass surgery in December 1983. When he died in New York City on April 6, 1992, his brother Stanley reported heart and kidney failure as the cause of death. Ten years after his death, his widow, Janet Asimov's edition of Asimov's autobiography, It’s Been A Good Life,  revealed that the myocardial and renal complications were the result of an infection by HIV, which he had contracted from a blood transfusion received during his bypass operation. He had stated during a televised interview that he hoped his ideas would live on past his death; his wish has come to fruition. 

Asimov won more than a dozen annual awards for particular works of science fiction and a half dozen lifetime awards. He also received 14 honorary doctorate degrees from universities. Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs". He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association.

Asimov was an intriguing genius...below are some of his quotes.



“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers
 knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” 
***
“Never let your sense of morals prevent 
you from doing what is right.” 
***
“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, 
I wouldn't brood, I'd type a little faster.” 
***

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but, "That's funny...” 
***
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.”
***
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” 
***
“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force 
for atheism ever conceived.” 
***

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” 
***
“I write for the same reason I breathe ... 
because if I didn't, I would die.” 
***
“Those people who think they know everything 
are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” 
***
“Self-education is, I firmly believe, 
the only kind of education there is.” 
***

“While he lives, he must think; 
while he thinks, he must dream.” 
***
“If knowledge can create problems, 
it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” 
***
“If I am right, then religious fundamentalists will not go to Heaven, because there is no Heaven. If they are right, then they will not go to Heaven, because they are hypocrites.” 
***

“I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.”
***
"The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing."
***

"Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowlege, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance."




“Once, when a religionist denounced me in unmeasured terms, I sent him a card saying, "I am sure you believe that I will go to hell when I die, and that once there I will suffer all the pains and tortures the sadistic ingenuity of your deity can devise and that this torture will continue forever. Isn't that enough for you? Do you have to call me bad names in addition?”
***


"I am not a Zionist, because I don't believe in nations, and because Zionism merely sets up one more nation to trouble the world. It sets up one more nation to have "rights" and "demands" and "national security" and to feel it must guard itself against its neighbors."


***

"There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, 
because there will be no humanity."
***
 GREAT MINDS ARE FASCINATING TO PONDER!