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 3 Aug 2006 @ 11:06, by jazzolog. Religion
In my hut this summer,
there is nothing---
there is everything!
---Sodo
Know that joy is rarer, more difficult and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.
---Andre Gide
Don't play what's there, play what's not there.
---Miles Davis
Still Life with Fruit and Shellfish (and insects), 1653
Jan van Kessel
My mother was a country girl, born and raised on a working farm in the dairy country around Frewsburg, New York. That is, she was until her father died suddenly just as she entered her teenage years. Then her mother had to sell the place and move her and her 2 sisters into a house in town. It was a difficult time, but through it all that family and the relatives were strengthened and maintained by a religion of strict fundamentalism. No dancing, no music that wasn't church, no theater, no card games (except one called rook, for some reason), lots of Bible and hours and hours at services. These were the United Brethren, a sect related to Amish and Mennonite, which communities also flourished in that part of New York. They still do, although I understand the United Brethren have disbanded. The radio humorist and writer Garrison Keillor was raised United Brethren and he talks about it sometimes---but not often.
My mother became a registered nurse and met my father at a hospital in the nearby city, where he was working as an orderly. He was not a churchgoer particularly, and some family history showed unrepented troubles. The more successful of the Carlsons were politicians and lawyers. His uncle Samuel was mayor of the town, eventually earning the honor of Mayor Emeritus of Jamestown, New York. All of this did not impress my mother's family one bit. The Johnsons opposed the relationship in spades---er, rooks. Dad had great interest and experience in drama, eventually getting a job with the fledgling radio station there. He also took leading parts in plays at the active community theater. When they married, the Johnsons saw it as my mom's seduction into sin by my father. Mom no longer went to church. When I was born a few years later I suppose I was viewed as some kind of bastard at best.
It was very strange growing up and being viewed by my mother's side this way. We didn't see much of them, but of course some family events were unavoidable. My father was well known in the area and he did his best to be cheerful and at least entertaining, but mostly it all was extremely uncomfortable. I had a cousin on that side who was a boy and about my age. We got along pretty well, but playing together was a bit strange since there was so much he couldn't do---and I had been coached not to mention those kinds of things. By the time he was a teenager he was one of the wildest boys in town, with fast cars and fast girls. His family moved quickly to repair that situation by sending him to a rigid bible college. He came back into the fold and remains there still. His 2 brothers-in-law are fundamentalist ministers. More >
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 2 Aug 2006 @ 23:32, by delphinius. Religion
Dan Brown's phenomenal novel has recently been released as a Hollywood blockbuster creating a furore of religious boycotts, distraught parishioners and an upheaval of interest. Jesus Christ is depicted as having married Marie Magdalene, a former prostitute who became his avid follower, if not a disciple as well. She absconds to France after his crucifixion carrying his unborn child. Mystery and intrigue follow a colourful series of events as the bloodline of Jesus, the true Holly Gail, continues until this day. Another conspiracy theory where this information has been systematically removed and ignored by the overseeing officials of the clergy for almost 2,000 years? That Leonardo Da Vinci, a forbearer of the Enlightenment that ushered in the conventions of Science, was privy to this knowledge and surreptitiously exposes it in such objects such as his painting of Christ's last supper. The Da Vinci Code, a supposedly fictional dramatization interlaced with lesser know facts, continues to escalate in controversy. If this is just a 'load of old cobblers', why is there so much concern and conflict. What does it all mean? More >
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2 Aug 2006 @ 16:36, by vector8. Spirituality
"To err is human, to forgive divine."
We've all experienced forgiveness in various ways. It could be someone said something hurtful and you forgave, or you hurt someone and you were forgiven. Can you forgive in all occasions or are there certain situations you believe are unforgivable?
Recently, the British media focused on the Stephen Lawrence case, a young black man who was murdered 13 years ago. No one has ever been convicted.
[["An investigation is being launched over claims that police corruption helped shield the killers of black teenager Stephen Lawrence from conviction." Lawrence case 'corruption' probe]] More >
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1 Aug 2006 @ 11:06, by armos. Alternative Money Systems
If we speak about the real program of creation of the New Civilization, we are obliged to have the adequate program of transformation of monetary system. And this transformation should provide not only cardinal increase of efficiency of new monetary system, but also render appropriate influence on improvement of human nature, on its ascension from the animal essence through actually human essence to the Divine nature. About practically sold program of transformation of an existing financial system to MetaSystem of issue and the circulation of MetaMoney also there will be a speech in my article
P.S. I make my apology for my awful English; it is not understood even by me More >
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30 Jul 2006 @ 08:09, by shreepal. Economics, Financing, Banking
Marx has admitted that he stumbled upon the concept of dialectics, on which his entire philosophy is founded, while he was a student of Hegelian Philosophy of History. He claimed that with Hegel this Dialectics was standing on its head and he simply made it stand on its feet. Hegel maintained that it is the Idea, the Spirit, that is real and there is conflict between two irreconcilable contradictions elements inherent in this Idea. This conflict is between thesis and antithesis, and their conflict is resolved by emerging synthesis. Out of this conflict, this contradiction, human history is evolved. Therefore, the history, with all its evolved institutions, is merely an unfolding of the Idea. Marx says that he retained the dialectical process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis as propounded by Hegel but made the historical conditions the real thing and the Idea a reflection of these material conditions in human mind, in his thoughts and culture. Hegelian invention was an accidental discovery by Marx and its correction was his genius. He also very frankly admitted that principles of capital working he discovered from the study of British economy and the revolutionary element he learnt from the French revolutionary Communes. It was his brilliant mind that integrated these three diverse elements into a harmonious philosophic edifice that logically explained human history, economics and culture, and gave hope to the exploited millions of salvation in impending Socialist and thereafter Communist society.
What are dialectical principles?
Engles says:
Outlines of the General Plan (for the application of dialectics to Nature): (1 )... (2).... (3) Dialectics as the science of universal inter-connection. Main laws: transformation of quantity and quality - mutual penetration of polar opposites and transformation into each other when carried to extremes - development through contradiction or negation of the negation - spiral form of development.
He further says:
And indeed they (laws of dialectics) can be reduced in the main to three: The law of the transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa; The law of the interpenetration of opposites; The law of the negation of the negation.
The founders of Marxism claimed that the dialectical process was a universal one, governing from material natural phenomena to the evolution of human society.
F. Angles says:
We are not concerned here with writing a handbook of dialectics, but only with showing that the dialectical laws are real laws of development of nature, and therefore are valid also for theoretical natural science.
Therefore, it was claimed that the predictions made by the application of these laws were accurate and scientific. By applying these "laws" to capitalist society, prediction was made that this society would transform, as of necessity under the natural process, into Socialist society and this view of Socialism was dubbed as scientific Socialism. It was claimed that in due course of time, when old habits of capitalist mentality die under the new social system, Socialism would transform into Communism and state would wither away. It was explained that in socialist society "each would work according to his capacity and get according to his work" while in communist society "each would work according to his capacity and get according to his needs."
'Dialectics' as conceived by Hegel and applied to 'material world' by Karl Marx is a 'mental construct' and it has all the limitations, which mind has.
When dialectics is applied to material world in general and history of mankind in particular, dialectician is faced with the problem of irreconcilable nature, that is, how to reconcile the 'human will' with the 'dialectical determinism'. To reconcile the irreconcilable 'will and determinism', it was proposed by F. Endless and K. Marx that dialectical principles operate in the 'general' way and not in 'specific individual' instances.
When this explanation is applied to social history of mankind, the time scale of operation of dialectics is extended to centuries, if not millenniums. In this situation, though the past (of human history) seems to be explained by dialectics in logical manner, the future changes predicted by dialectics may not be verifiable in decades or centuries.
The dialectical model has a peculiar component of spiral form of its (evolutionary) movement. When dialectics is applied to human history, it predicts that the 'primitive Communism', or the first stage of social evolution of history, would be repeated at higher level of the 'spiral' in the form of "scientific Communism'. Marx pointed out that in primitive Communism, there is 'direct' struggle of people with nature as there are two contradictory classes (nature and mankind), that there are no social class conflicts there and that owing to this absence of social class-conflicts there is no 'wastage' of human energy in the form of social class conflicts.
Likewise, in the 'modern' or 'scientific Communism' also there would be 'direct' struggle of people with nature as there are no two social conflicting classes and no wastage of human energy.
Then, how the 'modem Communism' would progress further in the dialectical terms? How the 'modern Communism' would become the 'thesis' and would give birth to the 'two contradictory' elements inherent in it? Would the 'modem Communism' embark on a new uncharted course of evolutionary life history? Would the 'direct' struggle of people with nature effect the very constitution of mankind, or in other words, would it change the human race into a new and higher race?
These are profound questions that are thrown open by the dialectics, if that be the working mechanism of nature. More >
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29 Jul 2006 @ 15:15, by armos. Communities
The following theme of our discussion - the certain passivity of members NCN and others potentially interested persons in relation to realization concrete of the civilization projects, and also a way of its overcoming. The ways supposing creation at NCN of a financial system of support of civilization innovations, first of all - of projects of members NCN More >
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29 Jul 2006 @ 11:45, by vector8. Spirituality
In one form or another I have always been interested in consciousness raising, which is focusing one's attention on a particular belief or cause. This motivates you to join groups or organisations focused on the same belief or cause. What you focus on gets magnified and that's all you end up experiencing for as long as you are interested. More >
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 27 Jul 2006 @ 15:34, by scotty. Spirituality
In my previous thread - as in several of my threads - I talk about being One !
The more I talk about it the more I realise that I have to really LIVE it .. right here and now - in the present - and in all the future presents that will become my Now !
Everything is constantly changing - objects relationships situations ( the list can continue on and on and on ad nausium ) and our reaction to this reality of change depends on how we look at it!
The bad part about this is - as much as we'd like certain things to stay the same - (our friends family etc... ad vomi) they don't !
The good part is - new things can happen and sometimes things can turn out even better than we expected!!!!
One of Buddha's favorite images was that each and every one of us is a wave in the great ocean of life... if we don't realize or see this oneness then we'll just continue to feel seperated and the result is we'll suffer.
Buddha once asked a studen 'What is the length of a human life?' ... After several incorrect answers the student finally said 'It is the length of one breath ' to which the Buddha replied ' YEAH ! at long last you've understood the lesson !!! Yahoooooo !!!!
And that's what the secret of living in ONeness is about - everything is constantly changing and constantly new - we can't hold onto a moment and we have to let it go !
The leaf that falls from the tree to the earth becomes the food for the tree ... everything is linked - everything becomes one like the waves in the ocean ... we are One and we can live it in our ever changing instants .. in our Now.
I'd like to share the following with you because I believe it's really important !!
****************************************************************************************************************
"Realizing oneness puts an end to grumbles;
Consequences thought of first as to oneself.
Viewing beings as equals avoids prejudices;
Each eats karmic fruits of his own activities." ~ Yutang Lin More >
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27 Jul 2006 @ 12:07, by vector8. Spirituality
Life is a chair. By "life" I don't mean the human experience, I'm referring to the one life that is taking infinite forms.
A chair is both form and formlessness.
Chairs come in many forms: with backs, backless; with arms, armless; with wheels, without wheels; and in myriads of colours, shapes and sizes. All chairs share the one purpose - to give support. More >
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 27 Jul 2006 @ 10:34, by jstarrs. Visual Arts, Graphics
There's an on-going auction (for charity) of original paintings by people with autism/Asberger's Syndrome which finishes on 17th September with an exhibition at The Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, UK.
Anyone that would like to bid can do so over the net.
Click on Auction on the right menu to see the works available, if you're interested.
(my son Leo is exhibiting there and very excited about it, too!)
[link]
photo - "reclining nude" by leo. More >
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