DE GEK OP DE HEUVEL

From Myth to Reality

2010-10-11T11:12:00.004-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam". ~Popeye the Sailor:

I once searched many years for the true religion of the Creator; until I found there was none but LOVE.

"For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit."
~Kahlil Gibran

The long walk

2009-11-17T19:14:00.003-05:00

Funny, I thought I could create and devote this blog to my pursuit of the Great Mystery, and use my other blog as my playground. Ha, what a fool I was. For the powers of creation, are not about to take a back seat to no one. The fool on the hill will have to think of another way to use the blog. As I am ever evolving, many things that I have said here are already obsolete, as I grow away from religion into some form of universalism.

Of Mice and Men

2009-05-31T14:51:00.005-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".

To A Mouse
By Robert Burns

On turning her up in her nest, with the plough, November, 1785
We again see how, in the words of Thomas Carlyl, the poet "rises to the high, stoops to the low, and is brother and playmate unto all of God's creation. ." This is, by readers gentle and readers simple, acknowledged to be one of the most perfect little gems that ever human genius produced. One of its couplets has passed into a proverb:- "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley!

Surely one of the finest poems written by Robert Burns, containing some of the most famous and memorable lines ever written by a poet, yet, to this day not really understood by the mass of English-speaking poetry lovers, for no other reason than that the dialect causes it to be read as though in a foreign language.All readers of Burns know of the "Wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie" but not many understand the sadness and despair contained within the lines of this poem. What was the Bard saying when he was inspired by turning up a fieldmouse in her nest one day while out ploughing?
- George Wilkie

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

The poet is doing his utmost to assure this terrified little creature that he has no intention of causing it any harm. bickerin’ brattle =scurry, run; laith = loath; pattle = a small spade for cleaning a plough

I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!

He then goes on to apologise to the mouse for the behaviour of mankind using beautiful prose which requires neither translation nor interpretation. Listen to what he is saying, and you will be well on your way to understand what made Burns such a greatly loved man. Note how he equates himself with the mouse in life’s great plan.

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request:
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!

Here he tells the mouse that he realizes its need to steal the odd ear of corn, and he does not really mind. He’ll get by with remainder and never miss it. daimen = occasional; icker = an ear of corn; thrave = twenty four sheaves; lave = remainder

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Dismay at the enormity of the problems he has brought on the mouse causes him to reflect on what he has done - destroyed her home at a time when it is impossible to rebuild. There is no grass to build a new home and the December winds are cold and sharp. Her preparations for winter are gone! Big = build; foggage = moss; baith = both

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast,
An' weary Winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

Where the mouse had thought that she was prepared for winter in her comfortable little nest in the ground, now she is faced with trying to survive in a most unfriendly climate, with little or no hope in sight. cosie = comfortable; coulter; = iron cutter in front of a ploughshare.

That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald.
To thole the Winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!

It seems probable that here the poet is really comparing his own hard times with that of the mouse – a life of harsh struggle, with little or no reward at the end. monie = many; thole = to endure; dribble = drizzle; cranreuch = hoar-frost; cauld = cold

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

How many times have people glibly trotted out, “The best laid schemes” without realising that they were quoting from Burns? The sadness, the despair, the insight contained within this verse are truly remarkable and deeply moving. no ‘thy lane = not alone; gan aft agley = often go awry.

Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

This final verse reveals the absolute despondency that Burns was feeling at this stage in his life. Not at all what one might expect from a young man of twenty-six, supposedly so popular with the lassies, and with his whole life ahead of him, but nevertheless expressing sentiments with which many of us today can easily relate.

Thanks to George Wilkie for letting us have this explanation of this poem from his book, "Understanding Robert Burns".

The big fool that I be; I thought God would be happy here on this wee blog, but no! He is not about to be bottled up in obscurity only to be brought out at my convenience. It seems that I have learn a lesson. God is everywhere I go, and is very much alive in every part of what we know as creation.

The contributors to this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between God and man. From God's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. God's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

Happy Valentine's day

2009-02-14T06:33:00.003-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".

I wish you all well, may you abide with much Love and happiness.

Few come to this side of my life, where I wage my war on all religions, and yet I know that it matters not to God. For regardless of what religion you may hold; it is in your heart that He builds His Temple. Why on earth do so many think God is so primitive that he required a human sacrifice? Frog Jesus.

The contributors to this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between God and man. From God's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. God's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

The wonderful simplicity of Abraham

2008-11-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".

He said, ’Take now your son`. —Genesis 22:2

G-d’s command is, "Take now," not later. It is incredible how we debate! We know something is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it immediately. If we are to climb to the height G-d reveals, it can never be done later— it must be done now. And the sacrifice must be worked through our will before we actually perform it.

"So Abraham rose early in the morning . . . and went to the place of which G-d had told him" ( Genesis 22:3 ). When G-d spoke, he did not confer with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to "confer with flesh and blood" or even your own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on your personal relationship with G-d. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to G-d.

Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be. Always guard against self-chosen service for G-d. Self-sacrifice may be a disease that impairs your service. If G-d has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of G-d means a hard and difficult time for you, go through it. But never decide the place of your own martyrdom, as if to say, "I will only go to there, but no farther." G-d chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed. If you are not living in touch with G-d, it is easy to blame Him or pass judgment on Him. You must go through the trial before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial you learn to know G-d better. G-d is working in us to reach His highest goals until His purpose and our purpose become one.

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The contributors to this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between God and man. From God's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. God's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

Great Minds, Creative Geniuses & Philosophers

2008-10-27T01:35:00.003-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".

President George Washington - "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." (Treaty Of Tripoli, 1796)

President John Adams - "Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days?"

President Thomas Jefferson - "History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."

President Thomas Jefferson - "The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."

President Thomas Jefferson - "Religions are all alike – founded upon fables and mythologies."

President Thomas Jefferson - "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."

President Thomas Jefferson - "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."

Abraham Lincoln - "The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession."

President James Madison - "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."

President James Madison - "In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people. Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."

President William Howard Taft - "I do not believe in the divinity of Christ and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe."

Aristotle - "Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life."

Benjamin Franklin - "I have found Christian dogma unintelligible."

Ayn Rand - "Faith is the commitment of one's consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof. A mystic is a man who treats his feelings as tools of cognition. Faith is the equation of feeling with knowledge."

Voltaire - "Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror."

Arthur C. Clarke - "Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?"

Elizabeth Cody-Stanton - "The memory of my own suffering has prevented me from ever shadowing one young soul with the superstitions of the Christian religion."

Thomas Paine - "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit

George Bernard Shaw - "There is not one single established religion that an intelligent, educated man can believe."

Magellan - "The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church."

http://www.darrellwconder.com/biblelegends3.html

The contributors to this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between God and man. From God's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. God's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

Illuminati

2008-10-25T13:36:00.010-05:00

We Live In An Evil Generation

"Woe to this evil generation which calls 'evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness…" Isaiah 5:20
We are living in a generation where good is bad, and bad is good. We are living in a generation that is a repeat of the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Today, humanity is not building a tower per se, rather it is coming together and uniting under a centralized global government.

THE ILLUMINATI:

The Secret Covenant of the Jewish Secret Society Known As the Order of the Illuminati is nothing more than antisemitic conspiracism, much like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A hoax document fabricated by the Czarist secret police in the early 1900s to divert grievances caused by an oppressive monarchy toward the scapegoat of Jews. It is the kind of inflammatory rhetoric favored by fascist nazi propaganda! In times of great adversity, is it not the Jews who are a favorite target of Evil?

The idea of a widespread freemason conspiracy originated in the late 1700's and flourished in the US in the 1800's. Persons who embrace this theory often point to purported Masonic symbols such as the pyramid and the eye on the back of the dollar bill as evidence of the conspiracy.

The major immediate political effect of allegations of an Illuminati Freemason conspiracy in Europe was to mobilize support for national oligarchies traditionally supported by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Across Europe authoritarian governing elites were coming under attack by reformist and revolutionary movements demanding increased political rights under secular laws. The ideas of the Enlightenment were incorporated by the leaders of both the French and American revolutions, and in a sense, these Enlightenment notions were indeed subversive to the established social order, although they were hardly a secret conspiracy. The special status of the Catholic Church in European nation-states was actually threatened by the ideas being discussed by the Illuminati and the rationalist wing of the Freemasons.

It is difficult, in the modern English-speaking world, to determine exactly what the Illuminati of Bavaria really was.

"As Weishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot and priests, he knew that caution was necessary even in spreading information, and the principles of pure morality. This has given an air of mystery to his views, was the foundation of his banishment.... If Weishaupt had written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavors to render men wise and virtuous, he would not have thought of any secret machinery for that purpose."
- Thomas Jefferson

The International Jew

Will Power

2008-09-26T13:47:00.011-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".

"They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!"
-Lieutenant General. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

When the Marines were cut off behind enemy linesand the Army had written the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22 enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting thehighest casualty ratio on anenemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men

Fourteen personal decorations in combat, five Navy Crosses, a Purple Heart, and a long list of campaign medals, unit citation ribbons and other awards: Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller's heroics earned him more military decorations than any Marine who served before or since.

If you have the will, and the faith; anything is possible for the intrepid.

THE WEEKLY PARSHA

2008-09-13T19:11:00.009-05:00

The "Great Mystery"

2008-08-22T02:29:00.005-05:00

"I Yam What I Yam".
Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between G-d and man. From G-d's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. G-d's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman, Ohiyesa (Winner), Wahpeton Dakota (Eastern Woodland Sioux), 1858-1939.
The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the "Great Mystery" that surrounds and embraces us, was as simple as it was exalted. To him it was the supreme conception, bringing with it the fullest measure of joy and satisfaction possible in this life.

The worship of the "Great Mystery" was silent, solitary, free from all self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to G-d in wordless adoration. It was solitary, because they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude, and there were no priests authorized to come between a man and his Maker. None might exhort or confess or in any way meddle with the religious experience of another. Among us all men were created sons of G-d and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our faith might not be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were unwilling to receive it; hence there was no preaching, proselyting, nor persecution, neither were there any scoffers or atheists.

There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. Being a natural man, the Indian was intensely poetical. He would deem it sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible world where our Great-Grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched upon majestic rivers and inland seas—He needs no lesser cathedral!

That solitary communion with the Unseen which was the highest expression of our religious life is partly described in the word bambeday, literally "mysterious feeling," which has been variously translated "fasting" and "dreaming." It may better be interpreted as "consciousness of the divine."

The first bambeday, or religious retreat, marked an epoch in the life of the youth, which may be compared to that of confirmation or conversion in Christian experience. Having first prepared himself by means of the purifying vapor-bath, and cast off as far as possible all human or fleshly influences, the young man sought out the noblest height, the most commanding summit in all the surrounding region. Knowing that G-d sets no value upon material things, he took with him no offerings or sacrifices other than symbolic objects, such as paints and tobacco. Wishing to appear before Him in all humility, he wore no clothing save his moccasins and breech-clout. At the solemn hour of sunrise or sunset he took up his position, overlooking the glories of earth and facing the "Great Mystery," and there he remained, naked, erect, silent, and motionless, exposed to the elements and forces of His arming, for a night and a day to two days and nights, but rarely longer. Sometimes he would chant a hymn without words, or offer the ceremonial "filled pipe." In this holy trance or ecstasy the Indian mystic found his highest happiness and the motive power of his existence.

When he returned to the camp, he must remain at a distance until he had again entered the vapor-bath and prepared himself for intercourse with his fellows. Of the vision or sign vouchsafed to him he did not speak, unless it had included some commission which must be publicly fulfilled. Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth.

The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him, as to other single-minded men in every age and race, from Diogenes to the brothers of Saint Francis, from the Montanists to the Shakers, the love of possessions has appeared a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree—a matter profoundly important to him.

It was not, then, wholly from ignorance or improvidence that he failed to establish permanent towns and to develop a material civilization. To the untutored sage, the concentration of population was the prolific mother of all evils, moral no less than physical. He argued that food is good, while surfeit kills; that love is good, but lust destroys; and not less dreaded than the pestilence following upon crowded and unsanitary dwellings was the loss of spiritual power inseparable from too close contact with one's fellow-men. All who have lived much out of doors know that there is a magnetic and nervous force that accumulates in solitude and that is quickly dissipated by life in a crowd; and even his enemies have recognized the fact that for a certain innate power and self-poise, wholly independent of circumstances, the American Indian is unsurpassed among men.

The red man divided mind into two parts,—the spiritual mind and the physical mind. The first is pure spirit, concerned only with the essence of things, and it was this he sought to strengthen by spiritual prayer, during which the body is subdued by fasting and hardship. In this type of prayer there was no beseeching of favor or help. All matters of personal or selfish concern, as success in hunting or warfare, relief from sickness, or the sparing of a beloved life, were definitely relegated to the plane of the lower or material mind, and all ceremonies, charms, or incantations designed to secure a benefit or to avert a danger, were recognized as emanating from the physical self.

The rites of this physical worship, again, were wholly symbolic, and the Indian no more worshiped the Sun than the Christian adores the Cross. The Sun and the Earth, by an obvious parable, holding scarcely more of poetic metaphor than of scientific truth, were in his view the parents of all organic life. From the Sun, as the universal father, proceeds the quickening principle in nature, and in the patient and fruitful womb of our mother, the Earth, are hidden embryos of plants and men. Therefore our reverence and love for them was really an imaginative extension of our love for our immediate parents, and with this sentiment of filial piety was joined a willingness to appeal to them, as to a father, for such good gifts as we may desire. This is the material or physical prayer.

The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always secondary and intermediate in character. We believed that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself. The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence.

The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.

In every religion there is an element of the supernatural, varying with the influence of pure reason over its devotees. The Indian was a logical and clear thinker upon matters within the scope of his understanding, but he had not yet charted the vast field of nature or expressed her wonders in terms of science. With his limited knowledge of cause and effect, he saw miracles on every hand,—the miracle of life in seed and egg, the miracle of death in lightning flash and in the swelling deep! Nothing of the marvelous could astonish him; as that a beast should speak, or the sun stand still. The virgin birth would appear scarcely more miraculous than is the birth of every child that comes into the world, or the miracle of the loaves and fishes excite more wonder than the harvest that springs from a single ear of corn.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears Adonai is to be praised.

2008-07-31T02:59:00.015-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
The contributors to this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. It is all about a journey into oneself from within and without. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of G-d, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between G-d and man. From G-d's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. G-d's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.
This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

Remember the former things long past, for I am Elohim, and there is no other; I am YHWH, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it."
Isaiah 46:9-11

For thousands of years, all the world's greatest spiritual teachers: Abraham, Zarathushtra, Thoth (Hermes Trismegistus), the ancient Egyptian God of Wisdom, (an anunnaki), Confucius, Siddhārtha Gautama, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, Bodhidarma, Socrates, Pythagoras, Tatanka Yotanka, Isaiah, Osho Rajneesh, Yochanan the Immerser, (and others) have been preaching the same thing to humanity.

Ever since this world evolved, human beings have spent much time and energy improving external conditions in their search for happiness and a solution to their many problems. What has been the result?

Instead of their wishes being fulfilled, human suffering has continued to increase while the experience of happiness and peace is decreasing. This clearly shows that we need to find a true method for gaining pure happiness and freedom from misery.
The example of the Prophets are still good today, and anyone who sees his or her own religion overwhelmed by insensitive, exploitative "orthodoxy" can sympathize with these ancient revolutionaries; whose message is ever fresh and ever new.

Rain Man Did It !

2008-07-30T00:57:00.009-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

My autistic little brother crashed the computer again, he is a good boy most of the time.
I've been looking after him, ever since our mother died unexpectedly at 63. Help is on the way, my two handsome nephews are coming, and we should have it fixed by next week.

In religion we attempt to mask our doubts, and fears, and to put a false face on G-d to suit our liking. Because this applies to all religions, there is automatically an inherent danger of false teachings. We find ourselves forgetting, that all our words are merely man made symbols. The sin of all religions is religion, and the worship there of. Too frequently we become so attached to our ways of thinking and speaking that we forget that they are only creations of the human mind. We not only forget that our forms of worship are designed by man, but also that our ideas about the nature of the world spring from our very thoughts.

Bruce Springsteen On 60 Minutes

2008-07-28T03:41:00.006-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

I love this guy, he is a few years older than me, but he is not ready for the rockin chair yet. Bruce still Rocks! And if he can play it, I can dance to it. God has been so good to us. I have seen men and women in their 40s, all used up, and ready for the old folks home.
It is a sad site for me to see, because I once dated some of those nubile girls so full of life. Now 20 years later, I hardly know them. They seem to have lost all their zeal for life.

The Alpha Male

2008-07-26T08:20:00.002-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

One of the problems of being an alpha male, is the impact of your spiritual, and emotional health on those who become dependant on your leadership, or guidance. I can't afford to allow myself to bleed out for an indefinite period of time.
No matter how badly I may be hurting inside; I must force myself to recover or the people around me will go nuts. Much like a hive of bees that has lost their queen.

To those of you who have been feeling the shock waves, I'm sorry to have caused you to be concerned. It is not the end of the world, I am recovering even as you read this. In fact I will post this message on my other blog, in a few days. As I endeavor to get back to normal.

Sanctuary of Grace

2008-07-26T02:52:00.004-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!:

I'm not accustomed to rejection, it is something I rarely encounter in the real world. Blogging was just a sideshow in my life until I won and lost Sarah in a flash. Then I realised such an event would never have happened had I been able to establish some credibility for myself. I had nothing to offer, I failed to make a single friend. I did get invitations to visit Germany, and the great state of Alabama. I think it is a cultural thing with the Germans, they are bound to invite anyone they blog with to come visit their country. For the most part I get the feeling that most bloggers would rather keep me inside their computers, and not come anywhere near their home state. Like I said all this did not bother me, until Sarah placed me in an extremely challenging situation, with no chance of showing her just who and what I am. Sarah did her best to accommodate me, but words are only words, and she needed the habeas corpus, to make me a real candidate. Oh how much I wished that anyone, would of invited me to come up North, so I could at last be someone as real as my love.

The way I feel

2008-07-24T22:27:00.008-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Only the lonely know the way I feel. I never would have thought, blogging could make you feel so empty in a house full of friends.
Don't you worry about me, I am, de gek op de heuvel; and I still enjoy a good life, free to do as I please. I will not give up until I please Caren, and for once, make her proud. Maybe then, the Queen of all my dreams will return to take me for a real test drive. Yes, a date with Sarah was, all I wanted, but what do I get instead? Well just let me tell you; I get a date with Ned Flanders! I'm not kidding, this guy is so Ned, he even talks, word for word like him, and wants to pick me up for church Sunday. His real name is Dick, and I have had Dick after me for a month now. I need to find a nice way to tell Dick and the other Baptist that their religion is junk, and that there was no Jesus.

My Hiding Place

2008-07-23T22:57:00.010-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

This is the place where my religious metamorphosis into Abraham, all began. I went through a lot of changes on this blog, before I got to the finale point of denouncing all religions, as pagan idolatry. Christianity and Islam are among the worst, but Jewish idolatry is also a very real problem. "Our forefather Abraham began his search for the infinite dimension when he was three years old with a very simple, yet piercing question -- the kind of question most three year olds ask when they see something for the first time".

"Whose is it?"

One day little Abraham sees the moon and asks his father, "Dad, who owns the moon?" His father answers in the way of any self-respecting idol worshipper: "It belongs to the moon god, son," as he pulls the moon god off the shelf to show him.

Abraham's next question is, "Well who owns the moon god?"

With this simple question, Abraham is on the cusp of discovering the source of creation. He realizes that finite gods have a beginning, something that existed prior that created them. So Abraham keeps going backwards through the process, searching for the beginning of it all, disregarding the finite gods that exist in time and space. Eventually he reaches God with a capital G, the Being that existed before there ever was time, and asks, "Well, who created God? Where did He come from?"

A being that exists beyond time doesn't come from anywhere. He has always existed. If something created God, God would have a beginning and He'd be finite, not infinite. Beyond time means having no beginning and no end. Eternal. It means there is nothing that exists before God. 'Before' is a time-bound quality that applies only to finite entities. Therefore God is called "the First Cause" -- the Prime Mover -- the dimension that has no other dimension preceding it.

Abraham discovers the infinite source of existence, an Eternal Being, unhindered by time and space.

"Every Jew must believe and know that there exists a First Being, without beginning or end, who brought all things into existence and continues to sustain them. This Being is God." [Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, in his 18th century work, The Way of God]
I may have lost the love of my life, but I still have the walk to replenish my soul and restore my battered heart. Some of these people I blog with are so much like kin folks I can't help but love them. When we were in our 20's. Caren could of passed for the sister I never had. Except she has the beautiful eyes of my mother's cousin Roy. And cousin Roy himself, was a dead ringer for Sarah's grandfather, the late Rabbi, Alvin Fine. Brad, looks like and is just as strange as my cousin Kenny. Dave is uncle George, only much more honest. If Roy is Caren's real father, that would explain a lot of things. Joel Keller, reminds me of my best friend in high school, Mike Hackworth, a real nice guy, but he could be a real prick if things did not go his way. Derek Rose, is another dead ringer! Looks just like Larry, one of my cousins over in Ohio. I'm so embarrassed, after all these years, I'm still just a nobody in their eyes. I may be here for a good while, I must be really bad at communicating, I'm sure that these nice folks, would think a lot better of me, in the real world.

The Sacred Mountain

2008-06-29T12:01:00.003-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

For thousands of years, this magnificent site was the gathering place of many nations. Tribal leaders and spiritual elders made pilgrimages to the Great Ma-na-ta-ka Mountain to sit in great councils with many tribes. Some came every seven years, others came every eleven years, and others made the journey more frequently depending on local custom.

Tribal leaders prayed and made peace offerings to the Creator, the Great Manataka (Place of Peace) Mountain and each other. They danced and sang around huge campfires in the narrow valley situated between the Manataka mountain and her sister mountain, today called North Mountain. Her other sister mountain, today called Indian Mountain stood guardian to her east. Daughters of the first nations gathered rare medicinal herbs found in great abundance in a large area surrounding Manataka in the shape of a circle. Their sons found precious clear crystals, gold, silver, pyrite, and whetstones.

2008-06-12T18:50:00.003-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

There is averse in Amos which mentions that in the end of days there will be a thirst in the land but not for water and a hunger but not for food but for the Living G-d. It is also said by the Hand of Yeshayahu Behold a light unto the nations. We are the generation which I believe can fuse our Judaic roots and identity and bring people back to the Master of All creation blessed is He. G-d desires us to return so hes pushing us along but we are not returning as chnyukim but as those who seek the Living G-d and like Avraham Avinu Alav Hashalom we go out into the world and stand for our belief we fufill the meaning of what it is to be a beacon of truth, light and love.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

2008-05-06T02:51:00.001-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Sorry for taking so long, I'm in the process of moving to a larger house, also the Rav Luzz bomb, that ever so sly Dave, dropped on me in my last post, had me scrambling, combing the Internet for more information on The Knowing Heart Indeed this book would be a good topic for Dave's home study group. That's if he can find enough hungry minds willing to consider all things supernatural. There must be a few brave seekers determined to intrepidly journey far beyond the pale of the norm, and dare to explore the limitless aspects of the divine.

http://www.eng.utah.edu/~spiegel/kabbalah/jkm02.htm

Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad
שמע ישראל יי אלהינו יי אחד
Hear O’Israel the Lord our G-d the Lord is One

Baruch sham cavod malchuto l’olam vaed
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד
Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom in this world forever

v’ohavta et Adonai Eloheha behal lvav’vha oovhal nafsheha oovhal m’odeha
ואהבת את השם אלהיך בכל-לבבך ובכל-נפשך ובכל-מאדך
And you shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and all your soul and all your might.

והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך היום על-לבבך
And these words, which I command you this day shall be upon your heart

ובננתם לבניך ודברת בם בשבתך בביתך ובלכתך בדרך ובשכבך ובקומך
And you shall teach them to your children and speak of them when sitting in your house, when walking along your way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,”

2008-05-06T02:00:00.001-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe): 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832

It is good to know that there is someone who thinks a wee bit the same as
I do.

The following is an extensively revised version of a past edition of Insights.

Sometime during my youth (many, many moons--and even more pounds--ago), a certain slogan became all the rage. It was on bumper stickers and buttons, T-shirts, ashtrays and keychains; it was on the lips of television actors and comedians, like Flip Wilson, Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman, and everybody else you happened to converse with. It was The Cool Thing to Say.

The slogan I'm talking about was: "The Devil made me do it!"

Were you caught doing something rude, indecent, crass or anti-social? Just grin wickedly (or innocently), and explain, "The Devil made me do it." End of discussion.

How would the Torah view this particular slogan? Believe it or not, "The Devil" is not the problematic part. Though many people may not realize it, his roots are firmly planted in the Jewish tradition. The word, "Satan," comes from a Hebrew root that means to hinder or denounce; there are many references to him in the Talmud and Midrash--not to mention the Book of Job, where he makes perhaps his most famous appearance.

The Satan is real: he's an angel (malach), that is to say, a spiritual force created by Hashem to play the role of Accuser, and Tempter, of the Jewish people...and of each individual. A manifestation of the Satan exists inside of every human being, in fact. It is the powerful force that our Sages called the "yetzer ha'ra," or "evil inclination." As one great contemporary Torah scholar defines it, the yetzer ha'ra is "the collective name for the drives and attitudes which interfere with [i.e. hinder] man's search for spirituality and closeness to G-d." (Rabbi Aharon Feldman, The Juggler and the King, p. 21) We can spot the footprints of the yetzer ha'ra in our almost insatiable desire for pleasures, honor, wealth, attention. If not kept in check, this desire can swamp that opposite yearning we have inside of us for spiritual growth and holiness, the manifestation of the yetzer ha'tov, or "good inclination."

So there is a Devil inside us, if you will, a force whose very purpose is to challenge us. But he was put there by G-d, the King of All, and reports to HIM (He�s not an independent actor). And the reason G-d put the yetzer ha�ra inside of us is so that we will rise above it'i.e., gain spiritual reward (and fortitude) by following the promptings of the yetzer ha'tov instead. We develop our spiritual muscles by refusing to follow the yetzer ha'ra--however strong the temptation--and by heeding the guidelines of the Torah,and of our own higher selves.

Far from being a tragedy, then, the existence of the Satan/yetzer ha'ra is for our own benefit. It exists in order to help us become better people, and more loyal servants of the Holy One, Blessed be He. (In a sense, we can characterize the struggle against the yetzer ha'ra as the very purpose of our existence on earth!)

So, the problem with the slogan, "The Devil made me do it," ain't the Devil part. It's the "made me do it" business. The Devil doesn't make us do anything. Free will is an absolutely central concept in the Torah. With exceedingly rare exceptions, a human being can always either choose to do good, or choose to do evil. (This fact makes human beings greater than the angels, who lack the element of free will.) In fact, the moral realm is really the only area in which man has such freedom. As the Talmud states, "Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except the fear of Heaven." (Berachos 33b) Ultimately, everything is in G-d's hand,except our decision to either fear (and serve) Him, or not. [Note: The exception alluded to above is discussed by Rambam. He explains that in the case of extremely wicked individuals, like Pharaoh, the ultimate punishment from G-d may be the removal of their ability to repent after a certain point.]

We human beings are always looking for someone, or something, to pin the blame on for our transgressions. If it's not the Devil, then it's our genes or our dysfunctional families or our anger from childhood abuse that made us do it. Something else is always making us do it (hit, hate, curse, turn aside from the stirrings of our conscience, etc.) The Torah, however, teaches that nothing makes you do it...not even your yetzer ha'ra, the most likely culprit of all. Each of us decides whether or not we do it, each of us uses the free choice given by G-d to go in one direction or the other. Certainly, there are parameters that limit our moral choices (both circumstance, and the cumulative effect of our previous choices). But nothing determines them�or compels us to go a certain way.

Though we do have free will, then, it is (admittedly) not always so easy to oppose the yetzer ha'ra. The Talmud tells truly frightening stories about individuals who thought they had whipped theirs, only to find themselves attacked later with an overwhelming force of temptation. The Satan is a formidable opponent. As Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzatto puts it in his classic ethical work, Mesilas Yesharim (Path of the Just):

"...[the yetzer ha'ra] is a man of war, and well versed in craftiness. It is impossible to escape from him except with great wisdom and a broad outlook...And it is obvious that even if one watches closely over himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of the Holy One, Blessed be He. For the evil inclination is exceedingly tenacious, as Scripture states, 'The wicked one looks to the righteous and seeks to kill him...' (translation taken partly from edition by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein; Feldheim, pp. 31, 33)

Elsewhere in the book, Luzzatto explains that the only way to defeat the yetzer ha'ra is through Torah study (combined with dedicated moral self-reflection resulting from that study), for the Talmud explains that G-d expressly created the Torah as its sole antidote! (Tractate Kiddushin, 30b) By our own efforts alone, we may well NOT be strong enough to choose wisely all the time. We need spiritual fortification from the Torah.

So while it is not true that the Devil made me do it, he certainly does make me offers that are sometimes quite hard to refuse!

Along comes our parsha, and lifts our spirits with the promise of a brighter future when things won't be quite so difficult.

Rabbi Yosef Edelstein.

Native American Commandments

2008-03-16T17:07:00.003-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

1. Treat the Earth and all that dwell theron with respect.

2. Remain close to the Great Spirit.

3. Show respect for your fellow beings.

4. Work together for the benefit of all Mankind.

5. Give Assistance and Kindness wherever needed.

6. Do what you know to be right.

7. Look after the wellbeing of mind and body.

8. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.

9. Be Truthful and Honest at all times.

10. Take full Responsibility for your actions.

An Indian Prayer

by H. Kent Craig

My Grandfather is the fire. My Grandmother is the wind.

The Earth is my mother. The Great Spirit is my father

The World stopped at my birth and laid itself at my feet.

And I shall swallow the Earth whole when I die,

and the Earth and I will be one

Hail the Great Spirit, my father, without him no one could exist,

because there would be no will to live.

Hail the Earth, my mother, without which no food could be grown,

and so cause the will to live, to starve.

Hail the Wind, my grandmother, for she brings loving, life giving rain,

nourishing us as she nourishes our crops.

Hail the Fire, my grandfather, for the light, the warmth, the comfort he brings,

without which we be animals, not men.

Hail my parents and grandparents, without which,

not I, nor you, nor anyone else, could have existed.

Life gives life, which gives unto itself, a promise of new life.

Hail the Great Spirit, the Earth, the Wind, the Fire,

Praise my parents loudly, for they are your parents too.

Oh, Great Spirit, giver of my life, please accept this humble offering

of prayer, this offering of praise, this honest reverence of my love for you.

The Hidden One

2008-01-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

A long time ago, in a village by a lake, there lived a great hunter who was invisible. He was called the Hidden One. It was known that any young woman who could see him would become his bride.

Many were the hopeful young women who visited his wigwam at the far end of the village. Each was tested by the hunter’s sister, who was called the Patient One. But years passed, and none succeeded.

In the same village lived two sisters who had lost their mother. The younger sister had a good heart, but the older one was jealous and cruel. While their father was out hunting, the older sister would torment the younger one, holding her down and burning her arms and face with sticks from the fire.

“Don’t you dare tell our father,” she would say, “or next time will be worse!”

When the father came home, he would ask in dismay, “Why is she burnt again?”

The older sister would answer, “The stupid, clumsy thing! She was playing with the fire, just like you told her not to!”

The father would turn to the younger. “Is this true?”

But she only bit her lip and said nothing.

After a while she had so many scars, she was called Little Scarface. She lost her long braids too, when her sister singed them off. And she had to go barefoot and wear rags, for her sister would not allow her any skins to make moccasins or new clothes.

Of course, the sister made up all different reasons to tell their father. And he would shake his head in sorrow and disappointment.

One day, the older sister put on her finest clothes and many shiny strings of shell beads.

“Do you know what I’m doing?” she asked Little Scarface. “I’m going to marry the Hidden One. Of course, that’s something you could never dream of.”

Little Scarface bowed her head.

When the older sister reached the wigwam at the edge of the village, she was greeted by the sister of the hunter.

“You are welcome,” said the Patient One. “My brother will return soon from the hunt. Come help me prepare the evening meal.”

The two of them worked awhile, until the sun was nearly down. Then the Patient One led the young woman to the shore of the lake.

“My brother comes,” the Patient One said, pointing along the shore. “Do you see him?”

The young woman saw no one, but she had decided to pretend. “Of course. There he is now!”

The eyes of the Patient One narrowed. “And what is his shoulder strap?”

“A strip of rawhide,” said the young woman, thinking it a safe guess.

The Patient One frowned. “Let us return to the wigwam.”

They had just finished making the meal when a deep voice said, “Greetings, my sister.”

The young woman jumped in surprise. She stared at the entrance but saw no one.

“Greetings, my brother,” replied the Patient One.

As the young woman watched with wide eyes, a moccasin appeared in mid-air and dropped to the floor, followed by another. A moment later, bits of food were rising from a birch-bark tray near the fire and vanishing into an invisible mouth.

The young woman turned to the Patient One. “When will our wedding take place?”

The Patient One turned to her angrily. “What wedding? Do you think my brother would marry a liar and a fool?”

The young woman ran crying from the wigwam.

All the next morning she stayed in bed, weeping and sobbing. Then Little Scarface came to her.

“Sister, let me have skins to make moccasins and new clothes. It is my turn to visit the Hidden One.”

“How dare you!” screamed the sister. She jumped up and slapped Little Scarface, knocking her to the floor. “Are you so stupid to think you can do what I couldn’t? Even if you saw him, do you think he’d marry a pathetic thing like you?”

She sank back to the bed in tears.

Little Scarface sat huddled for a long time, listening to her sister howl and sob. Then she rose and said again, “It is my turn to visit the Hidden One.”

Her sister stopped crying and stared in amazement.

Little Scarface went to her father’s chest and took out an old pair of moccasins. She put them on her own small feet.

Then she went out into the woods. She chose a birch tree and carefully stripped off the bark in a single sheet. From this she made a suit of clothes, which she put on in place of her rags.

Then she started back through the village.

“Look at Little Scarface!” yelled a boy. “She’s dressed like a tree!”

“Hey, Little Scarface,” a young man called, “are those moccasins big enough for you?”

“I don’t believe it!” an old woman said. “She’s on her way to the Hidden One!”

“Little Scarface,” called a young woman, “did you burn yourself and cut off your hair to look pretty for him?”

Ignoring their taunts and laughter, Little Scarface walked on till she reached the wigwam at the village edge.

The Patient One regarded the young woman with surprise, but she told her, “You are welcome.”

Little Scarface helped prepare the evening meal. When the sun was nearly down, the Patient One led her to the lake.

“My brother comes,” the Patient One told her. “Do you see him?”

Little Scarface gazed along the shore. “I’m not sure . . . .”

Then her eyes lit in wonder. “Yes, I see him! But how can there be such a one?”

The Patient One looked at her curiously. “What is his shoulder strap?”

“His shoulder strap is . . . is the Rainbow!”

The Patient One’s eyes grew wide. “And his bowstring?”

“His bowstring is . . . the Milky Way!”

The Patient One smiled. “Let us return.”

When they reached the wigwam, the Patient One took the strange clothes off Little Scarface and washed her with water from a special jar. The young woman’s scars disappeared, leaving her skin shining and smooth. A magic comb made the young woman’s hair grow quickly to her waist, ready for braiding.

Then the Patient One opened a chest and took out a beautiful wedding outfit. Little Scarface had just put it on when a deep voice said, “Greetings, my sister.”

Little Scarface turned to the entrance and stared at the magnificent young hunter. As their eyes met, she saw the surprise in his.

“Greetings, my brother,” said the Patient One. “You are discovered!”

The Hidden One walked over to Little Scarface and took her hands in his. “For years I have waited to find a woman of pure heart and brave spirit. Only such a one could see me. And now you shall be my bride.”

So they were married. And from then on, Little Scarface had a new name—the Lovely One. For she too had been hidden, and now was hidden no more.

A very good parable indeed!

"This tale was popular in many Native American tribes with languages in the Algonquian family. The variant here comes from the Mi’kmaq (or Micmac) tribe of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was recorded in Nova Scotia."

"The sources for my retelling were Legends of the Micmacs, by Silas Rand, Longmans, New York and London, 1894; and The Algonquin Legends of New England, by Charles Leland, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1884. (Rand’s manuscript, though published later, was the basis for Leland’s version.) Background on the Micmacs came from The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada, by Wilson and Ruth Wallis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1955."

Are you looking for the Hidden One, or have you given up hope?
Do not despair my beloved, for I am always near, open your heart, keep seeking My face; and you will find the One that you seek. Therefore, follow ye not, after the self-righteous who only seek to bury themselves in the conceited vaingloriousness of religion, or as those who in order to preserve their false pride, are driven by their vanity to pretend that they have seen Me. For they are one and the same.

When God gets us alone

2008-01-20T18:56:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.

As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance our God has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when God gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? God cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.

Infidelity

2008-01-10T02:29:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

"There is one kind of infidelity blacker than all infidelities,
Worse than any blow of secularist, pessimist, atheist,
It is that of those persons
Who regard God as an old institution."

THINK NOT THAT GOD EVER SLEEPS! FOR YOU ARE LIVING IN HIM.

Crisis Tough Times

2008-01-05T14:52:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

I am not a Christian, but I do believe G-d is sovereign over all aspirations of man.
I behold God as an independent agent free to deal with every heart regardless of whatever religion we may try to hide ourselves in.
The good heart seeks out the face of God, and YHWH seeks out the hearts of men, without regard to heritage or faith.

I like this Christian, he is a military man like myself, and because my uncle was a navy pilot, who thanks to the hand of God, also survived a few crashes.

Crisis:
A time of danger;
A time of opportunity

Very rarely do we ever go out and try to find a crisis that we can be a part of and experience. For most people, life is often a series of crisis's and we spend our energy running away from them. I have been blessed, in having several crisis's occur early in my adult life and that I had no chance to run from them. I was forced to try to survive them. I had to face them. I learned some things after about a half dozen of these not-so-wonderful events. Some are these are described here on the website.

If a fool I must be; let me be God's own

2007-12-03T02:36:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
In being a Fool for G-d, we are led by the allure of a deeper mystery, a presence that leads to unimaginable freedom.

And the Lord said to Abram: “Leave your land, your family, and your paternal home and go to the land that I will point out to you”.
This is the beginning of the parashat Lech Lecha, the third of the Book of Genesis. I wish it were all so simple, for I know not where I'm going, nor what my future holds, if indeed there is a future.
"I will neither yield to the song of the siren nor the voice of the hyena, the tears of the crocodile nor the howling of the wolf." —
George Chapman (1560-1634)

I wish you all well, my friends.

Letter to the Christians

2007-10-21T14:51:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

To a Christian friend offended by anti-christianism.

I feel for you. Really. It is hard to be disliked because of your beliefs. Maybe it will help you to see how I, a no non Christain feel all the time.

To start with, living in this society means living in a reality where someone wonderful lived and died 2000 years ago. Even non Christians are encouraged to emulate this universal figure.

But:

1. If Jesus existed, he sure was not called "Jesus Christ." Christ is a greek word meaning anointed. While Judaism of 2 millenia ago did yearn for a leader who would overthrow the Roman yoke, the idea that the Jews rejected Jesus as a messiah makes no sense.

The word "Christ" had no "coming of the seviour" meaning in Jesus' own time. There is NO historical evidence, outside of the Christian Bible (CB), of a gentle teacher who was regarded by Romans or Jews as a savior figure during Jesus's time. MUCH earlier, there were similar figures ...a Yashua ben Pantera lieved abut 100 years earlier and, of course 30 years later, bar Kochba was hailed as a messiah.

2. No one knows what "Jesus Christ" said. The is extensive evidence that the citations attributed to Jesus in the Christian Bible (CB) were not made by any one person. Some of the statements, if they had been made, wold have resulted in his being stoned to death as a blasphemer. Others would have led many to regard him as a Quisling. This does not say there are not good things too, but Christians who want to claim to "know" WWJD, have a real problem.

3. The Jesus painted in the CB is a sanctimonious blasphemer. Judaism is an obligate monotheism. Anyone claiming to be a personification of God, literal son of God, or any such thing would have beens toned for blasphemy.

Worse,despite the good words of the sermon on the mount, that ACTS pf Jesus do nto include a single act of simple charity .. as opposed to miracles. If this was aman, he was not a very good man. WWJD, for most of us, means uisng magic powers to help others.

4. Many of the aspects of Christianity growing out of its role as a state religion are repulsive to those of us who are not Christian:'

a. Exclusivity. To my knowledge, Christianity was the first religion to claim to be the sole, exclusive truth and to depict a Deity who requires belief in Himself. The evil done because of this is overwhelming.

b. Destruction of the past. Wherever it has gone, Christianity has practiced cultural abalation. The thought of the dead deities and faiths of Europe, Africa, Asia, ..is saddening.

5. Many of the commonly held beliefs of Christians are deeply offensive to others:

a.The evil Pharisees. The Pharisees were the leaders of the resistance against Rome ..not surprisingly the Roman religion denigrates the people who founded modern Judaism. My son is named for the head Pharisee, Hillel. Hille is credited with inventing rabbinic Judaism.

b. Theophagy ... it is awfully impolite, but the ritual practice of the mass is distasteful. Imagine, if you will, a "native: culture that baked and ate images of babies. To a non-Christian, that is the image the mass conveys.

c. To accept Christianity is, to most, to accept the idea that Judaism was flawed.

d. Idolatry. It is deeply troubling to watch people who genuflect before atatues of Mary, Jesus, the Sainst, etc .. and then denigrate Buddhists (who have NO God), Hindus, etc,

6. Asking a Jew to be tolerant of Christianity is akin to asking me to tolerate a religion that came into being with the intent of destroying all other religions.

How did this religion come into being? The Christian religion we have today can be traced to only one clear event .. the Council of Nicea. At that meeting, the religion was codified by a Roman Council as a means to politically unite the Empire. The result was suppression of many christianities that existed before that time.

Posted by SM Schwartz:

Christianity

2007-10-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
With it's twisted roots more deeply pagan than Jewish, Christianity none the less, it is a powerful warhorse. Christianity is also a conundrum. Christian teachings and behaviour are riddled with contradictions.Acts of supreme self-sacrifice to ice cold blooded murder have been undertaken in the name of Christianity. From its inception Christians have been arguing and even fighting among themselves over the meaning of their religion.
Still today the beginnings of Christianity are shrouded in mystery.Many and various are the theories put forward to explain it.Initially Christianity grew out of Judaism in an almost parasitic fashion.To the Jews the Christians were heretics.Christians used Jewish scriptures as justification of their own teachings and scriptures.I believe that the major Christian doctrines emerged out of the mystery teachings that existed in Greece and the Middle East around 2000 years ago, but became distorted by the Church.Early Christian fathers such as Clement of Alexander and Origen mention the continuity between Greek philosophy, especially Plato, and the inner mystery teachings and Christianity.Both stated that Christianity had secret teachings for the few, just as was the case in the mysteries.

The early church was called "catholic", which means universal.It claimed to be for all, and it attempted to combine elements of many religions.In Christianity there is Judaic monotheism, Persian dualism, eastern otherworldliness and asceticism, and various mystery teachings.A veritable potpourri of religious ideas, bound to cause confusion.

Religion

2007-10-17T17:32:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

There is this friend of a friend, she was a Jew at the same time I was a Christian.
When she adopted the most pagan of all Christian religions. I said to myself, if this Jesus was a Jew, why would a Jew need to be a pagan? I had to take a new look at religion, and turn my back to all of it.
"But Jesus was such a nice boy!" Millions, perhaps Billions have been slaughtered in the name of Jesus and other religions.

"The great philosopher – sage of the twelfth century, Maimonides, basing himself on the earlier midrashim, maintains that it was actually Abraham who discovered the concept of ethical monotheism – a unique and single Creator of the universe who demands justice, compassion and peace. Abraham shattered the idols in Ur Kasdim, was chased to Haran where he continued to preach his new-found religion, and was at that time addressed by G-d and sent to the land of Israel (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 1,3). In effect, then, if the question is raised:"

“How odd of G-d to choose Abraham for the Jews”

the logical answer must be:

“It was not at all odd because Abraham chose G-d”.

The Big Guy, does not restrict Himself to being G-d of only one religion. He is the only G-d of all creation. The only saving grace of all the world religions, is that the living G-d; is G-d over the heart's of all men.

Yeshayahu 29.13

2007-10-06T20:15:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 29.13

"And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment learned by rote."

Christian Claim: Mark 7.7 translates the same verse as follows: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men."

Jesus supposedly cites this passage in opposition to the pharisees, after being asked why his disciples do not observe Jewish traditions.

Jewish Refutation: The verse was simply mistranslated in the Christian Bible in order to provide the Christian savior (Jesus) with a more convincing argument against the rabbis, who were responsible for preserving the Judaism all of Israel was taught by Moses in his generation.

In Isaiah 29.13, the Hebrew words "yirosam osi mitzvas enoshim melumodoh" mean that the fear of G-d to some insincere Jews became a mere commandment devised by man, lacking proper Jewish devotion.

There is no mention anywhere in that verse, or even before or after it, of G-d rebuking the Jewish leaders for their traditional teachings. The Talmud and other Jewish sources of traditional teachings are filled with utmost praise of G-d and the holiness of Jewish life. G-d did not rebuke Jewish leaders at any time for continuing to teach the Torah we received at Sinai to the Jewish people, both its oral and written parts.

All Have Been Called But Who will Answer?

2007-09-30T10:47:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of G-d, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, "Here am I! Send me" ( Isaiah 6:8 ).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet G-d can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, "If G-d would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!" But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed— you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb G-d has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if G-d had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of G-d as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into G-d and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with G-d and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will not only provide spiritual food for the Haskalah; but will also be a light unto His other children.

Does G-d love the goy more than the Jew?

2007-09-09T18:41:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
Many Jews do have more responsibilities that non-Jews do not have. To be considered a good and righteous person in the eyes of God, a non-Jew need only follow the seven Noahic commandments, whereas a Jew has to follow all 613 commandments given in the Torah. I have a feeling, G-d poopooed all those laws when he destroyed the temple. If G-d were to send a Moshaich to eliminate some of the useless dogma, and unnecessary laws, he would most likely be quickly killed.

A Gift

2007-08-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Identity Crisis is a Gift:
Awakening to the Role and Goal of Your Soul
Kirk Douglas, the actor, once told me that when people compliment him on a performance, they often tell him how great he was at losing himself in the part. "You just became Vincent Van Gogh! You were so wonderful." And he answers, "No, you lost yourself in the part. I can't afford to lose myself in the part. I have to pay attention to the director, to the cues. I have to hit the mark just right so the action is in the camera frame. I must stay aware that I am an actor playing a role."

A good actor plays his part, but he doesn't get lost in his part. He can't even begin to think he is the character he is playing. On the other hand, he still embraces that role with a tremendous amount of love and gives everything he's got to play his character. But he doesn't get lost in the part and start to think he is in fact Van Gogh, or Napoleon, or the President of the United States.

Similarly, you -- the soul ---are playing a character. And you must always be aware of that.

I am not David Aaron. I am a soul. I play the character David Aaron. I play the role of a short red- headed rabbi, founder and dean of Isralight International, an author of several books. I may come back in a different life and play another character.

Another way of putting this is to compare your character to a garment. Your garment is never your essence. The clothes you wear are not you, they are on you. Similarly, your character is not your "self." So you must never confuse the two. You must know the difference.

You do not have a soul. You are a soul. But you have a character. And you--the self-- are a soul, a part of God - the Soul of all souls, the Supreme Self.

The key question in your search for true identity and self worth is what do you choose to identify with? Do you identify with your character?" Or do you base your identity on your service to God - the Supreme Self -the Soul of all souls?

Great artists have confided in friends that they have looked at their own work on the gallery wall and wondered "Where did this come from?" Writers, composers, sculptors, have expressed the same thing. Bob Dylan was asked "How do you write your music?" And he said, "I put my pen on the page and I know it's going to be alright." Go to school to learn how to do that.

I met a famous screenwriter who told me that everyday before he writes he says a little prayer "Please, God, use me." He explained that none of the films he wrote he wrote. Rather he experiences himself as only the typist in service of the true Writer. He sees himself as a tool for a God and believes that God is writing through him.

I told him that he was right about the good films but the bad ones are his.

Creative inspiration can sometimes be a very faint hint to the dynamics of prophecy. When the Torah says, God speaks to a prophet, it does not mean like a person speaks to another person. The prophet must transcend his character, free the soul and thereby bond and commune with the God - Source of all self; the Supreme Self. Only then can they hear "I--God--am your Lord."

The Torah teaches us that Moses was the greatest prophet ever. This is what Hashem said about Moses, "If there shall be prophets among you, in a vision shall I, Hashem, make Myself known to him, in a dream shall I speak with him. Not so My servant Moses, in my entire household he is the trusted one. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him, in a clear vision and not in riddles....' (Numbers 12:6-8) Moses sometimes reached prophetic peaks where Hashem would even speak out of Moses' mouth. This is apparent in number of places in the book of Deuteronomy where Moses talks about Hashem in third person and then suddenly pops into first person. Here is one such example, "It will be if you hearken to My commandments that I commanded you today, to love Hashem, your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I shall provide rain for your land in its proper time, ....... I will provide grass in your fields for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied." Obviously it is not Moses who will provide rain, at this prophetic point God is speaking through Moses.

When we take a brief look at Moses early life, we begin to see the roots of his amazing ability for transcending his character and living in humble service of God's wisdom and words. Moses was born to a Jewish family during the time of their bitter oppression by the Egyptians. King Pharoah issued a decree to kill all the Jewish baby boys. In desperation, Yocheved puts her new born baby in a basket and placed it among the reeds at a banks of the Nile river. Thanks to providence, the princesses of Egypt comes along and finds this abandoned baby, names him Moses and takes him home. Ironically she ends up hiring Moses real mother to nurse the child so Moses grows up knowing he is a Jew and yet receiving the royal upbringing of an Egyptian prince. Moses, however, was a restless soul and wanted to share in the suffering of his Jewish brethren who were enslaved by the Egyptians. The first day he goes out of from being isolated in the palace he sees an Egyptian beating a Jew. Without hesitation he kills the Egyptian to save the Jew. Realizing the implications of what he had done he quickly hid the body and returned to the palace. You would think after a day like that he would just stay put and never go out again. However, the very next day Moses goes out. This time he sees a Jew about to beat another Jew. He is shocked. "Why would you strike your fellow?"

"Who appointed you as a dignitary, a ruler, and a judge over us? Do you intend to murder me as you did the Egyptian?" Moses was devastated--- the word was out. The Jew that he had saved must have spread the word. Pharoah also heard, and immediately issued orders to kill him. So Moses fled to the land of Midian. There he married a Midianite women whose family was excommunicated and harassed by the community. He moves in with her family and shepherds his father-in-law's sheep. We can understand why Moses named his first son Gershom which alluded to his intense feeling of alienation. "I have been a stranger in a foreign land."

It's just after these painful words of Moses that the bible narrates his first encounter with prophecy--- the vision of the burning bush. This is no coincidence. Imagine the identity crisis of this man. He was a Jew but rejected by his people. He was the prince of Egypt but now a wanted fugitive. He once enjoyed royal status living in the palace of the king of Egypt and now he is a simple shepherd grazing in the desert. Here is a very lonely man. He has no real identity. However, it's precisely his being stripped of his identity that freed his soul to bond with God. This identity crisis, the abandonment, loneliness and alienation freed Moses soul from getting lost in his character, identifying with any persona, and thereby freed him to only identify with God.

Most spiritual journeys start with an identity crisis. It is God's gift to us; to awaken us to the truth that only He is our source of self worth. As a soul we know that the only role worth playing is a humble servant of God; a vehicle for His loving presence on earth.

Rabbi David Aaron

2007-08-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is his spiritual life; which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Ask and God will do. Give God the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

To say that "prayer changes things" is not as close to the truth as saying, "Prayer changes me and then I change things." God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.

Living in God's Light

2007-08-15T05:32:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam. Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. "If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.

The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working that experience out in his everyday life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound. Are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured.

CHASTENING

2007-08-13T16:13:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam. Oh, the pain.

"Despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him." Hebrews 12:5

"It is very easy to quench the Spirit; we do it by despising the chastening of the Lord, by fainting when we are rebuked by Him. If we have only a shallow experience of sanctification, we mistake the shadow for the reality, and when the Spirit of God begins to check, we say - oh, that must be the devil."

"Never quench the Spirit, and do not despise Him when He says to you - "Don't be blind on this point any more; you are not where you thought you were. Up to the present I have not been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now." When El Shaddai chastens you like that, let Him have His way.

"Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him." We get into sulks with God and say - "Oh, well, I can't help it; I did pray and things did not turn out right, and I am going to give it all up." Think what would happen if we talked like this in any other domain of life!

"Am I prepared to let God grip me by His power and do a work in me that is worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me, and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly."

ENLIGHTENMENT MUST COME

2007-08-11T16:03:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
"And he saw him no more." 2 Kings 2:12

It is not wrong to depend upon Elijah as long as God gives him to you, but remember the time will come when he will have to go; when he stands no more to you as your guide and leader, because God does not intend he should. You say - "I cannot go on without Elijah." God says you must.

Alone at your Jordan. v.14. Jordan is the type of separation where there is no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one can take the responsibility for you. You have to put to the test now what you learned when you were with your Elijah. You have been to Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are up against it alone. It is no use saying you cannot go; this experience has come, and you must go. If you want to know whether God is the God you have faith to believe Him to be, then go through your Jordan alone.

Alone at your Jericho. v.15. Jericho is the place where you have seen your Elijah do great things. When you come to your Jericho you have a strong disinclination to take the initiative and trust in God, you want someone else to take it for you. If you remain true to what you learned with Elijah, you will get the sign that God is with you.

Alone at your Bethel. v.23. At your Bethel you will find yourself at your wits' end and at the beginning of God's wisdom. When a person has not perfected himself, there is a rift between his mind and his emotions. Intellectually, one may understand the correct path, but the heart and desires are not fully controlled by the mind. The disparity, if not corrected, will eventually lead to a spiritual collapse.
When you get to your wits' end and feel inclined to succumb to panic, don't; stand true to God and He will bring His truth out in a way that will make your life a sacrament. Put into practice what you learned with your Elijah, use his cloak and pray. Determine to trust in God and do not look for Elijah any more.

Prayer

2007-08-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
The only abiding reality is God Himself, and His order comes moment by moment. Am I continually in touch with the reality of God, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong— when there is some disturbance in my life? I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. ". . . I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father’s house.

Think about your own circumstances. Are you so closely intune with
El Shaddai’s grace that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands? Is the eternal Child in you living in your Father’s house? Is the grace of His divine love being worked out through you in your home, your business, and in your circle of friends? Have you been wondering why you are going through certain circumstances? In fact, it is not that you have to go through them. It is because of your relationship with God who is always ready to come into your life. You must allow Him to have His way with you, staying in perfect oneness with Him.

Becoming Entirely His

2007-07-31T17:07:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is like an insult to El-Shaddai. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? "I am Almighty God . . ."— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that others do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, "Oh, that will have to do for now." Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

We won't know God in His power and kindness until we know ourselves in our weakness, sinfulness, and lack of faith.

We will handle with ease many of the "tests" that come into our lives, once we have an adequate knowledge of God and an accurate knowledge of ourselves.

Pelvis Presley? Antoniu Petrescu the Elvis priest.

Purity?

2007-07-24T03:43:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Initially we trust in our ignorance, calling it innocence, and next we trust our innocence, calling it purity. Then when we hear these strong statements from our Lord, we shrink back, saying, "But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart." We resent what He reveals. Either El Shaddai, is the supreme authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust the penetration of His Word into my heart, or would I prefer to trust my own "innocent ignorance"? If I will take an honest look at myself, becoming fully aware of my so-called innocence and putting it to the test, I am very likely to have a rude awakening that what Yahweh said is true, and I will be appalled at the possibilities of the evil and the wrong within me. But as long as I remain under the false security of my own "innocence," I am living in a fool’s paradise. If I have never been an openly rude and abusive person, the only reason is my own cowardice coupled with the sense of protection I receive from living a civilized life. But when I am open and completely exposed before G-d, I find that He is right in His diagnosis of me.

The only thing that truly provides protection is the redemptive grace of Elohim . If I will simply hand myself over to Him, I will never have to experience the terrible possibilities that lie within my heart. Purity is something far too deep for me to arrive at naturally. But when the G-d's Spirit comes into me, He brings into the center of my personal life the very Spirit that was exhibited in the life of His prophets. A prophet’s job is twofold. First and foremost, the prophet is G-d’s mouthpiece, receiving G-d’s message and transmitting it to His people. This should not be taken to suggest that the prophet’s input and interpretation are not part of his prophecy; quite to the contrary, the prophets are partners of G-d in conveying to his people the word of their G-d who sought their obedience. The prophets view the world from G-d’s perspective but also comprehend the human perspective; hence they are able to speak to the human condition through a vision of the divine. The Spirit of G-d, which is absolute unblemished purity.

2007-07-18T11:15:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain, consequently it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. It is not natural to obey, yet it is not necessarily sinful to disobey. There can be no real disobedience, nor any moral virtue in obedience, unless a person recognizes the higher authority of the one giving the orders. If this recognition does not exist, even the one giving the orders may view the other person’s disobedience as freedom. If one rules another by saying, "You must do this," and, "You will do that," he breaks the human spirit, making it unfit for G-d. A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy G-d.

Many people begin coming to G-d once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart— El Shaddai, He is the very core of the spiritual experience, not religion. But "Woe is me" if after seeing Him I still will not obey ( Isaiah 6:5 , also see Isaiah 6:1 ). G-d will never insist that I obey, but if I don’t,I have already begun to sign the death certificate of my spiritual life. When I stand face to face with Adonai and say, "I will not obey," He will never insist. But when I do this, I am backing away from the recreating power of His redemption. It makes no difference to G-d’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the light. But "Woe is me" if I refuse the light!

NO MATTER WHAT

2007-07-09T14:12:00.000-05:00

YOU GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY!

I am not a shaman or guru with eastern religion philosophies. Although I am a former student of many of the worlds religions and spiritual organizations. What I represent, is no particular religion or philosophy, although many of these apotheosis of faith may be mentioned.

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

2007-07-04T02:56:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

"From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all"

Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian

"Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.

They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.
As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.

Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognise the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells it might have.

It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable - as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here. And that we are further along than we realise.

Conason eloquently warned of the danger of American authoritarianism. I am arguing that we need also to look at the lessons of European and other kinds of fascism to understand the potential seriousness of the events we see unfolding in the US.

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

After we were hit on September 11 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it. We were told we were now on a "war footing"; we were in a "global war" against a "global caliphate" intending to "wipe out civilisation". There have been other times of crisis in which the US accepted limits on civil liberties, such as during the civil war, when Lincoln declared martial law, and the second world war, when thousands of Japanese-American citizens were interned. But this situation, as Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda notes, is unprecedented: all our other wars had an endpoint, so the pendulum was able to swing back toward freedom; this war is defined as open-ended in time and without national boundaries in space - the globe itself is the battlefield. "This time," Fein says, "there will be no defined end."

Creating a terrifying threat - hydra-like, secretive, evil - is an old trick. It can, like Hitler's invocation of a communist threat to the nation's security, be based on actual events (one Wisconsin academic has faced calls for his dismissal because he noted, among other things, that the alleged communist arson, the Reichstag fire of February 1933, was swiftly followed in Nazi Germany by passage of the Enabling Act, which replaced constitutional law with an open-ended state of emergency). Or the terrifying threat can be based, like the National Socialist evocation of the "global conspiracy of world Jewry", on myth.

It is not that global Islamist terrorism is not a severe danger; of course it is. I am arguing rather that the language used to convey the nature of the threat is different in a country such as Spain - which has also suffered violent terrorist attacks - than it is in America. Spanish citizens know that they face a grave security threat; what we as American citizens believe is that we are potentially threatened with the end of civilisation as we know it. Of course, this makes us more willing to accept restrictions on our freedoms.

2. Create a gulag

Once you have got everyone scared, the next step is to create a prison system outside the rule of law (as Bush put it, he wanted the American detention centre at Guantánamo Bay to be situated in legal "outer space") - where torture takes place.

At first, the people who are sent there are seen by citizens as outsiders: troublemakers, spies, "enemies of the people" or "criminals". Initially, citizens tend to support the secret prison system; it makes them feel safer and they do not identify with the prisoners. But soon enough, civil society leaders - opposition members, labour activists, clergy and journalists - are arrested and sent there as well.

This process took place in fascist shifts or anti-democracy crackdowns ranging from Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s to the Latin American coups of the 1970s and beyond. It is standard practice for closing down an open society or crushing a pro-democracy uprising.

With its jails in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, of course, Guantánamo in Cuba, where detainees are abused, and kept indefinitely without trial and without access to the due process of the law, America certainly has its gulag now. Bush and his allies in Congress recently announced they would issue no information about the secret CIA "black site" prisons throughout the world, which are used to incarcerate people who have been seized off the street.

Gulags in history tend to metastasise, becoming ever larger and more secretive, ever more deadly and formalised. We know from first-hand accounts, photographs, videos and government documents that people, innocent and guilty, have been tortured in the US-run prisons we are aware of and those we can't investigate adequately.

But Americans still assume this system and detainee abuses involve only scary brown people with whom they don't generally identify. It was brave of the conservative pundit William Safire to quote the anti-Nazi pastor Martin Niemöller, who had been seized as a political prisoner: "First they came for the Jews." Most Americans don't understand yet that the destruction of the rule of law at Guantánamo set a dangerous precedent for them, too.

By the way, the establishment of military tribunals that deny prisoners due process tends to come early on in a fascist shift. Mussolini and Stalin set up such tribunals. On April 24 1934, the Nazis, too, set up the People's Court, which also bypassed the judicial system: prisoners were held indefinitely, often in isolation, and tortured, without being charged with offences, and were subjected to show trials. Eventually, the Special Courts became a parallel system that put pressure on the regular courts to abandon the rule of law in favour of Nazi ideology when making decisions.

3. Develop a thug caste

When leaders who seek what I call a "fascist shift" want to close down an open society, they send paramilitary groups of scary young men out to terrorise citizens. The Blackshirts roamed the Italian countryside beating up communists; the Brownshirts staged violent rallies throughout Germany. This paramilitary force is especially important in a democracy: you need citizens to fear thug violence and so you need thugs who are free from prosecution.

The years following 9/11 have proved a bonanza for America's security contractors, with the Bush administration outsourcing areas of work that traditionally fell to the US military. In the process, contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been issued for security work by mercenaries at home and abroad. In Iraq, some of these contract operatives have been accused of involvement in torturing prisoners, harassing journalists and firing on Iraqi civilians. Under Order 17, issued to regulate contractors in Iraq by the one-time US administrator in Baghdad, Paul Bremer, these contractors are immune from prosecution

Yes, but that is in Iraq, you could argue; however, after Hurricane Katrina, the Department of Homeland Security hired and deployed hundreds of armed private security guards in New Orleans. The investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill interviewed one unnamed guard who reported having fired on unarmed civilians in the city. It was a natural disaster that underlay that episode - but the administration's endless war on terror means ongoing scope for what are in effect privately contracted armies to take on crisis and emergency management at home in US cities.

Thugs in America? Groups of angry young Republican men, dressed in identical shirts and trousers, menaced poll workers counting the votes in Florida in 2000. If you are reading history, you can imagine that there can be a need for "public order" on the next election day. Say there are protests, or a threat, on the day of an election; history would not rule out the presence of a private security firm at a polling station "to restore public order".

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

In Mussolini's Italy, in Nazi Germany, in communist East Germany, in communist China - in every closed society - secret police spy on ordinary people and encourage neighbours to spy on neighbours. The Stasi needed to keep only a minority of East Germans under surveillance to convince a majority that they themselves were being watched.

In 2005 and 2006, when James Risen and Eric Lichtblau wrote in the New York Times about a secret state programme to wiretap citizens' phones, read their emails and follow international financial transactions, it became clear to ordinary Americans that they, too, could be under state scrutiny.

In closed societies, this surveillance is cast as being about "national security"; the true function is to keep citizens docile and inhibit their activism and dissent.

5. Harass citizens' groups

The fifth thing you do is related to step four - you infiltrate and harass citizens' groups. It can be trivial: a church in Pasadena, whose minister preached that Jesus was in favour of peace, found itself being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, while churches that got Republicans out to vote, which is equally illegal under US tax law, have been left alone.

Other harassment is more serious: the American Civil Liberties Union reports that thousands of ordinary American anti-war, environmental and other groups have been infiltrated by agents: a secret Pentagon database includes more than four dozen peaceful anti-war meetings, rallies or marches by American citizens in its category of 1,500 "suspicious incidents". The equally secret Counterintelligence Field Activity (Cifa) agency of the Department of Defense has been gathering information about domestic organisations engaged in peaceful political activities: Cifa is supposed to track "potential terrorist threats" as it watches ordinary US citizen activists. A little-noticed new law has redefined activism such as animal rights protests as "terrorism". So the definition of "terrorist" slowly expands to include the opposition.

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

This scares people. It is a kind of cat-and-mouse game. Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the investigative reporters who wrote China Wakes: the Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power, describe pro-democracy activists in China, such as Wei Jingsheng, being arrested and released many times. In a closing or closed society there is a "list" of dissidents and opposition leaders: you are targeted in this way once you are on the list, and it is hard to get off the list.

In 2004, America's Transportation Security Administration confirmed that it had a list of passengers who were targeted for security searches or worse if they tried to fly. People who have found themselves on the list? Two middle-aged women peace activists in San Francisco; liberal Senator Edward Kennedy; a member of Venezuela's government - after Venezuela's president had criticised Bush; and thousands of ordinary US citizens.

Professor Walter F Murphy is emeritus of Princeton University; he is one of the foremost constitutional scholars in the nation and author of the classic Constitutional Democracy. Murphy is also a decorated former marine, and he is not even especially politically liberal. But on March 1 this year, he was denied a boarding pass at Newark, "because I was on the Terrorist Watch list".

"Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that," asked the airline employee.

"I explained," said Murphy, "that I had not so marched but had, in September 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the constitution."

"That'll do it," the man said.

Anti-war marcher? Potential terrorist. Support the constitution? Potential terrorist. History shows that the categories of "enemy of the people" tend to expand ever deeper into civil life.

James Yee, a US citizen, was the Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo who was accused of mishandling classified documents. He was harassed by the US military before the charges against him were dropped. Yee has been detained and released several times. He is still of interest.

Brandon Mayfield, a US citizen and lawyer in Oregon, was mistakenly identified as a possible terrorist. His house was secretly broken into and his computer seized. Though he is innocent of the accusation against him, he is still on the list.

It is a standard practice of fascist societies that once you are on the list, you can't get off.

7. Target key individuals

Threaten civil servants, artists and academics with job loss if they don't toe the line. Mussolini went after the rectors of state universities who did not conform to the fascist line; so did Joseph Goebbels, who purged academics who were not pro-Nazi; so did Chile's Augusto Pinochet; so does the Chinese communist Politburo in punishing pro-democracy students and professors.

Academe is a tinderbox of activism, so those seeking a fascist shift punish academics and students with professional loss if they do not "coordinate", in Goebbels' term, ideologically. Since civil servants are the sector of society most vulnerable to being fired by a given regime, they are also a group that fascists typically "coordinate" early on: the Reich Law for the Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service was passed on April 7 1933.

Bush supporters in state legislatures in several states put pressure on regents at state universities to penalise or fire academics who have been critical of the administration. As for civil servants, the Bush administration has derailed the career of one military lawyer who spoke up for fair trials for detainees, while an administration official publicly intimidated the law firms that represent detainees pro bono by threatening to call for their major corporate clients to boycott them.

Elsewhere, a CIA contract worker who said in a closed blog that "waterboarding is torture" was stripped of the security clearance she needed in order to do her job.

Most recently, the administration purged eight US attorneys for what looks like insufficient political loyalty. When Goebbels purged the civil service in April 1933, attorneys were "coordinated" too, a step that eased the way of the increasingly brutal laws to follow.

8. Control the press

Italy in the 1920s, Germany in the 30s, East Germany in the 50s, Czechoslovakia in the 60s, the Latin American dictatorships in the 70s, China in the 80s and 90s - all dictatorships and would-be dictators target newspapers and journalists. They threaten and harass them in more open societies that they are seeking to close, and they arrest them and worse in societies that have been closed already.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says arrests of US journalists are at an all-time high: Josh Wolf (no relation), a blogger in San Francisco, has been put in jail for a year for refusing to turn over video of an anti-war demonstration; Homeland Security brought a criminal complaint against reporter Greg Palast, claiming he threatened "critical infrastructure" when he and a TV producer were filming victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Palast had written a bestseller critical of the Bush administration.

Other reporters and writers have been punished in other ways. Joseph C Wilson accused Bush, in a New York Times op-ed, of leading the country to war on the basis of a false charge that Saddam Hussein had acquired yellowcake uranium in Niger. His wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a CIA spy - a form of retaliation that ended her career.

Prosecution and job loss are nothing, though, compared with how the US is treating journalists seeking to cover the conflict in Iraq in an unbiased way. The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented multiple accounts of the US military in Iraq firing upon or threatening to fire upon unembedded (meaning independent) reporters and camera operators from organisations ranging from al-Jazeera to the BBC. While westerners may question the accounts by al-Jazeera, they should pay attention to the accounts of reporters such as the BBC's Kate Adie. In some cases reporters have been wounded or killed, including ITN's Terry Lloyd in 2003. Both CBS and the Associated Press in Iraq had staff members seized by the US military and taken to violent prisons; the news organisations were unable to see the evidence against their staffers.

Over time in closing societies, real news is supplanted by fake news and false documents. Pinochet showed Chilean citizens falsified documents to back up his claim that terrorists had been about to attack the nation. The yellowcake charge, too, was based on forged papers.

You won't have a shutdown of news in modern America - it is not possible. But you can have, as Frank Rich and Sidney Blumenthal have pointed out, a steady stream of lies polluting the news well. What you already have is a White House directing a stream of false information that is so relentless that it is increasingly hard to sort out truth from untruth. In a fascist system, it's not the lies that count but the muddying. When citizens can't tell real news from fake, they give up their demands for accountability bit by bit.

9. Dissent equals treason

Cast dissent as "treason" and criticism as "espionage'. Every closing society does this, just as it elaborates laws that increasingly criminalise certain kinds of speech and expand the definition of "spy" and "traitor". When Bill Keller, the publisher of the New York Times, ran the Lichtblau/Risen stories, Bush called the Times' leaking of classified information "disgraceful", while Republicans in Congress called for Keller to be charged with treason, and rightwing commentators and news outlets kept up the "treason" drumbeat. Some commentators, as Conason noted, reminded readers smugly that one penalty for violating the Espionage Act is execution.

Conason is right to note how serious a threat that attack represented. It is also important to recall that the 1938 Moscow show trial accused the editor of Izvestia, Nikolai Bukharin, of treason; Bukharin was, in fact, executed. And it is important to remind Americans that when the 1917 Espionage Act was last widely invoked, during the infamous 1919 Palmer Raids, leftist activists were arrested without warrants in sweeping roundups, kept in jail for up to five months, and "beaten, starved, suffocated, tortured and threatened with death", according to the historian Myra MacPherson. After that, dissent was muted in America for a decade.

In Stalin's Soviet Union, dissidents were "enemies of the people". National Socialists called those who supported Weimar democracy "November traitors".

And here is where the circle closes: most Americans do not realise that since September of last year - when Congress wrongly, foolishly, passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 - the president has the power to call any US citizen an "enemy combatant". He has the power to define what "enemy combatant" means. The president can also delegate to anyone he chooses in the executive branch the right to define "enemy combatant" any way he or she wants and then seize Americans accordingly.

Even if you or I are American citizens, even if we turn out to be completely innocent of what he has accused us of doing, he has the power to have us seized as we are changing planes at Newark tomorrow, or have us taken with a knock on the door; ship you or me to a navy brig; and keep you or me in isolation, possibly for months, while awaiting trial. (Prolonged isolation, as psychiatrists know, triggers psychosis in otherwise mentally healthy prisoners. That is why Stalin's gulag had an isolation cell, like Guantánamo's, in every satellite prison. Camp 6, the newest, most brutal facility at Guantánamo, is all isolation cells.)

We US citizens will get a trial eventually - for now. But legal rights activists at the Center for Constitutional Rights say that the Bush administration is trying increasingly aggressively to find ways to get around giving even US citizens fair trials. "Enemy combatant" is a status offence - it is not even something you have to have done. "We have absolutely moved over into a preventive detention model - you look like you could do something bad, you might do something bad, so we're going to hold you," says a spokeswoman of the CCR.

Most Americans surely do not get this yet. No wonder: it is hard to believe, even though it is true. In every closing society, at a certain point there are some high-profile arrests - usually of opposition leaders, clergy and journalists. Then everything goes quiet. After those arrests, there are still newspapers, courts, TV and radio, and the facades of a civil society. There just isn't real dissent. There just isn't freedom. If you look at history, just before those arrests is where we are now.

10. Suspend the rule of law

The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president new powers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency - which the president now has enhanced powers to declare - he can send Michigan's militia to enforce a state of emergency that he has declared in Oregon, over the objections of the state's governor and its citizens.

Even as Americans were focused on Britney Spears's meltdown and the question of who fathered Anna Nicole's baby, the New York Times editorialised about this shift: "A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night ... Beyond actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or any 'other condition'."

Critics see this as a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act - which was meant to restrain the federal government from using the military for domestic law enforcement. The Democratic senator Patrick Leahy says the bill encourages a president to declare federal martial law. It also violates the very reason the founders set up our system of government as they did: having seen citizens bullied by a monarch's soldiers, the founders were terrified of exactly this kind of concentration of militias' power over American people in the hands of an oppressive executive or faction.

Of course, the United States is not vulnerable to the violent, total closing-down of the system that followed Mussolini's march on Rome or Hitler's roundup of political prisoners. Our democratic habits are too resilient, and our military and judiciary too independent, for any kind of scenario like that.

Rather, as other critics are noting, our experiment in democracy could be closed down by a process of erosion.

It is a mistake to think that early in a fascist shift you see the profile of barbed wire against the sky. In the early days, things look normal on the surface; peasants were celebrating harvest festivals in Calabria in 1922; people were shopping and going to the movies in Berlin in 1931. Early on, as WH Auden put it, the horror is always elsewhere - while someone is being tortured, children are skating, ships are sailing: "dogs go on with their doggy life ... How everything turns away/ Quite leisurely from the disaster."

As Americans turn away quite leisurely, keeping tuned to internet shopping and American Idol, the foundations of democracy are being fatally corroded. Something has changed profoundly that weakens us unprecedentedly: our democratic traditions, independent judiciary and free press do their work today in a context in which we are "at war" in a "long war" - a war without end, on a battlefield described as the globe, in a context that gives the president - without US citizens realising it yet - the power over US citizens of freedom or long solitary incarceration, on his say-so alone.

That means a hollowness has been expanding under the foundation of all these still- free-looking institutions - and this foundation can give way under certain kinds of pressure. To prevent such an outcome, we have to think about the "what ifs".

What if, in a year and a half, there is another attack - say, God forbid, a dirty bomb? The executive can declare a state of emergency. History shows that any leader, of any party, will be tempted to maintain emergency powers after the crisis has passed. With the gutting of traditional checks and balances, we are no less endangered by a President Hillary than by a President Giuliani - because any executive will be tempted to enforce his or her will through edict rather than the arduous, uncertain process of democratic negotiation and compromise.

What if the publisher of a major US newspaper were charged with treason or espionage, as a rightwing effort seemed to threaten Keller with last year? What if he or she got 10 years in jail? What would the newspapers look like the next day? Judging from history, they would not cease publishing; but they would suddenly be very polite.

Right now, only a handful of patriots are trying to hold back the tide of tyranny for the rest of us - staff at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who faced death threats for representing the detainees yet persisted all the way to the Supreme Court; activists at the American Civil Liberties Union; and prominent conservatives trying to roll back the corrosive new laws, under the banner of a new group called the American Freedom Agenda. This small, disparate collection of people needs everybody's help, including that of Europeans and others internationally who are willing to put pressure on the administration because they can see what a US unrestrained by real democracy at home can mean for the rest of the world.

We need to look at history and face the "what ifs". For if we keep going down this road, the "end of America" could come for each of us in a different way, at a different moment; each of us might have a different moment when we feel forced to look back and think: that is how it was before - and this is the way it is now.

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... is the definition of tyranny," wrote James Madison. We still have the choice to stop going down this road; we can stand our ground and fight for our nation, and take up the banner the founders asked us to carry".

· Naomi Wolf's The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot will be published by Chelsea Green in September.

TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM

2007-07-03T00:39:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

You know there must be more to a relationship with G-d than just a list of dos and donts? That a religion should be more than a slick Sabbath morning production? That the dogma and religion isn't just a patch for your insecurities or candy for your hunger? Strip back the bulky layers of traditions and step into something more comfortable. It's called having a direct heart to heart relationship with G-d. People all over the world are doing it, and it's rooted in biblical principles! The Apotheosis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not! for traditions are full of Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one Creed. Plato and Philo, also, were inspired. ”Organised religion has its own inner traditions: Judaism has its Kabbalah, Islam has Sufism, and Protestant Christinaity could be said to have Freemasonry, in it's genuine Gnostic and esoteric forms, while Catholicism has its monastic orders whose acolytes strive towards a deeper experience of G_d's presence. Buddhism also has its many different forms. Its most exoteric face could be interpreted as the Theravadan tradition, whereas the Mahayana and all of it's tantric offshoot's have a far more esoteric bent and often a much more Guru/Chela centred relationship, rather than Layman/Priest. The priest is a closed gateway to the G-d in exotericism, whereas the guru teaches the student how they may experience G-d or divinity directly and by their own steam. Spirituality is as natural as sex and does not require religious institution to experience and develop. More often than not institutions get in the way of authentic spirituality. Within virtually all religious traditions there is a polarity between the Dogmatic tendencies of doctrine and the Gnostic tendencies that generate prophetic vision. Dogma tends to be supported by religions leaders who believe they have the one and only valid interpretation of Dogmatic "truth". Once a social concern has been reduced to a tenant of Dogma and once that Dogma is associated with G-d's Will, all discussion within the common community comes to a halt. If you believe G-d created women as inferior to men then there is no reason to discuss gender equality. If you believe God gave certain people dark skin as punishment for ancestral sins there is no motivation to eliminate institutional racism.
"We live in the aretz, in the world, and yet in one way or another it is an essential faculty of the human being' -- a mysterious longing which Abraham Joshua Heschel identifies as the root of all our religious practice -- to yearn for something more. We seek the shamayim, whether that shamayim is ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ or purely secular, romantic, materialistic, athletic, ideological, pharmacological, or in any other form." "This is not only the occupation of the religionists. All sensitive women and men are engaged in it, whether we are trying to chase our dreams, or at least learn what they are; carpe diem; to pursue pleasure and have fun, if that brings lasting joy; or simply trying to have a warm life, surrounded by a family or other people whom you love. Anytime we are doing something other than killing time or losing our way, we are defining, and hopefully chasing, What Matters. We are valuing. From the surfer in search of the perfect wave to the guru in the desert, we are in a struggle with our own ultimate aretz -- with the knowledge that, within a century or so, we will be no more. Our human existence is conditioned by this polarity, this constant wandering between what we are and what we want to be, what we know and what we dream. We live it every day.
"And so, the Jewish mystics note, the first word of the Jewish Bible begins a Beit, the second letter of the alphabet; the world exists from its first moments in two modes. It is impossible to conceive of the shamayim, the ideal, without the aretz, the clothing in which it is manifested. And it is impossible to conceive of the aretz, I have suggested, without imprinting a notion of value on it. Like Buddhists, Jews are suggested to see a dissonance between samsara and nirvana, the world we know and the world to which we aspire. And like some schools of Buddhism, but unlike others, I will suggest that the Jewish approach to integrating shamayim and aretz is not to reject one in favor of the other but to find a way to shape the aretz in the image of shamayim; even an arbitrarily defined image.
"Jews do not begin with a perfect world, subsequently ruined by Man, but with a primordial dissonance in the world’s structure that humans are to heal. To recapture that lost, silent aleph – the unity, the wholeness, the emptiness, the only letter "spoken," according to Midrash, by the divine breath at Sinai: that is the challenge. To somehow build a place in our finite world for the infinite; to repair, or to see beyond, all the mirrors and the opposites. To make “What Matters” matter to us in every day of our lives."

Dalai Lama: on human value

2007-07-01T18:11:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.

Dalai Lama: on human value
The Dalai Lama addresses audience following receipt of an honorary degree
(from the U of T Bulletin, May 10/04)

The following are excerpts from an address given by the Dalai Lama during a special convocation ceremony April 27 at which he received an honorary degree from the University of Toronto for his spiritual leadership and commitment to the
non-violent liberation of the Tibetan people. Parts of his talk were delivered with the help of his spiritual adviser and interpreter, Geshe Thuppten Jinga.

Humans as social animals:
I believe that every human being has the responsibility to take care of humanity. We are social animals. And particularly now, the reality of today’s world is such that everything, every part of the world, everything is interdependent and interconnected, especially in the modern economy and the environment. Now national boundaries or religious boundaries or differences of ethnicity are no longer there, are no longer relevant.

Therefore, in order to achieve one’s own happy life, it must depend on humanity as a whole. If humanity is happy, certainly each individual human being as a part of humanity will naturally get maximum benefit. That is my fundamental belief. I always try to serve others in day-to-day life, every morning. As a Buddhist monk, as a Buddhist practitioner, I am always shaping my motivation, every morning. The rest of the day, my physical being, my speech, my thoughts should be something useful. Although, I am Buddhist, so my daily way of thinking is much related to the Buddhist way of thinking but I believe like any other religion that Buddhism and all religions are helping people to be good human beings. Because all the teachings, they carry the same message — messages of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and selfdiscipline.
So I found my Buddhist practice not as a Buddhist practice but as basic human values. On that level I always find something useful to make a contribution to others. Humanity, human beings all have the same desire for a happy life, desire for peace. All have the right, the equal right, to be a happy person, to have a successful life.

The power of inner peace:
When our mind, on an emotional level, is disturbed for the moment, then that person could be very intelligent, very educated, very experienced, but because of the negative emotion in that period, that person may not detect properly the reality in front of them. That’s the nature. So therefore a calm mind is very essential. But in order to achieve a calm mind, it’s not through knowledge alone, but some other methods. That is through compassion, a sense of forgiveness, a sense of tolerance. These really give you inner strength. So with inner strength comes more self-confidence. And with that comes less fear, less doubt. And you can see objectively because you have self-confidence.

Sometimes if your inner-self is weak, then I think sometimes due to fear you fail to see the reality more objectively. I think each of us can do an experiment. Take an object, but look at that same object when your mind is calm and then at a time when your mind is agitated. It doesn’t have to be anger or hatred, but even strong attachment. So during that period, your mind now exaggerates the object, good or bad. The mental obstruction is so strong that you cannot see the reality properly. As a result, you cannot make a decision, the right decision.

So therefore even those people who are very much against religion, their minds, when they make certain decisions, their minds should be calm.

I think these destructive emotions usually focus on one independent absolute target, like hatred. When hatred develops, then you mentally project one particular object as absolute, as independent — that becomes the target which your hatred feeling is now hitting. So during that moment try to look at that same object from a holistic or wider perspective. Then not only that independent target will be different but you will see more aspects from a wider perspective and then I think the intensity of the hatred will automatically reduce.

Compassion is good for everyone. Certainly when we pray, these positive emotions see no need for an independent absolute target. Certainly we can pray for all human beings, the whole world. There’s no absolute independent target. On this basis, given that when you have more destructive kinds of emotions you need an independent absolute object that you conceptually or imaginatively
create. On the other hand, you can have positive and constructive emotions that can be extended to a much wider object. This suggests that within our emotion world, there are broadly speaking two types: one destructive, one constructive.

Secular ethics:
Now I would like to share my fundamental belief that things like compassion are very essential to human value, are a very important matter for a happy life, a happy society, a happy family — irrespective of whether you are a believer or non-believer. It’s what I usually call secular ethics. If you have religious beliefs, it is good and useful for these basic human values. But even without religion, even some individuals may have negative attitudes towards religion. That is OK, they believe their attitude is absolutely right. No problem. But these people also need these basic human values in order to be happy.

Science and spirituality:
My main point is that human values, like compassion and warm-heartedness, these things are very essential. So therefore our institutions, like this institution, are paying attention but still I think could be more useful.

According to recent scientific findings, for good health, a calm mind, certain emotions are good. For example, compassion. A person who meditates on compassion, during that period the left side of the brain becomes more active. That is according to neurobiologists who consider more activities on this side of the brain are good for health. These experiments were carried out on human beings. In another study where some monkeys who were left with their mother and some monkeys were separated from their mother, things become very clear. Those young monkeys who live with their mother, these monkeys are more playful, more joyful, and fight less than those young monkeys who were separated from their mother. So we also have a similar situation with humanity. At a recent dialogue with scientists, one scientist made a presentation of his study. He mentioned those individuals who often express the words of self like I, me, or mine, that such people have a greater risk of heart attack. I think the reason they often use these words, this one expression of deep feeling, is they are narrow-minded, self-centred. So under their circumstances I think the actual mental focus is very narrow, just on self. So even small problems within that focus appear very big and unbearable.

When you think more compassionately, think about others and automatically your mind can open. So as a result, one’s own problems, even serious problems, appear not to have that much significance. So on the basis of scientific findings I think we can develop some right kind of attitude for our own interest. Also, if we investigate in our daily experiences, when we look at a certain object with certain affected emotions, then you can’t see the reality clearly.

So on a scientific basis we can promote basic human values without adopting a religious effect. I hope that educational institutions like this university will pay more attention to the
promotion of human values as secular ethics. In other words, this is also a part of academic work, the study of the function of these emotions. Then accordingly we develop a certain way of looking, a way of life. So that is what I wanted to share with you and I think perhaps if I touch on these things then my own studies seem somewhat relevant to today’s world.

The Unchanging Law of Judgment

2007-06-21T02:20:00.000-05:00

With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of G-d. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. The basis of life is retribution— "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from G-d’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26 ). Yochanan the Immerser began his ministry, ‘preaching a Mikveh of repentance for the remission of sins. Who of us would dare to stand before G-d and say, "My G-d, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinners— if G-d should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet G-d judges us on the basis His compassionate grace.

Though Your Heart Has No Ears, only It Knows The Voice of G-d

2007-06-21T00:39:00.000-05:00

As you can see; I do a lot of extolling of people to take a new look at the nature of G-d around here. I see that a lot of the same inspiration on other blogs. In the Book of Koheles King Solomon wrote: "There is absolutely nothing new under the sun. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again." Thousands of years ago he coined the now well-known perspective. If one would take the time to search, you will find that every common thought a man can think of has already been written many times. The remaining task is to assemble all this wealth of knowledge in some comprehensive manor. No doubt some will accuse me of biblical cherry-picking. This has some truth, as I have no religion, I am free follow my heart, and without the shelter of a blinding faith; I feel a real need to be closer to the true and living G-d.

…My Name shall be declared in all the earth.

2007-06-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to YHWH. Although use of the Name of YHWH was clearly commonplace in Tenach times (Old Testament times), by the first century the Name was used only in the Temple. Even when reading the Scriptures, mainline Judaism used euphemisms or substitutions instead of pronouncing the name (j.Meg. 71d). Thus the ban on use of the name conflicted directly with the Torah itself. There is a direct contradiction between the Rabbinical precept that the name should be "hidden" and "kept secret" (b.Pes. 50a; b.Kidd. 71a) and the Torah precept that the name should be "declared in all the earth." The Tenach speaks of apostates "which think to cause my people to forget my name" (Jer. 23:27). The precept of keeping the name secret also conflicts with other Tenach passages:

"Many people do not really want to be devoted to YHWH, but only desire to be a social member of some inert religious organization. Adonai is deeply offensive to some educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Adonai personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a successful believer’s life is devotion.
A self-centered, sickly type of religion, is not the vigorous and simple life of a child of G-d. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with G-d, it is simply a case of our "hanging on by the skin of our teeth," although we say, "What a wonderful G-d I have!" Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption you seek is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as according to the Talmud, (tractate Taanit 2a), prayer is a Biblical command: "You shall serve G-d with your whole heart (Deuteronomy 11:13) - What service is performed with the heart? This is prayer". The prayers are therefore referred to as Avodah sheba-Lev (service from in the heart) has said, in essence, "Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the servants of G-d, and pray for all men." Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in that you are G-d's creation, not on the basis of this argument: "Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now."
How long is it going to take G-d to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything G-d might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. We must get to the place where we are right with G-d. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.

Behold, I Will Send You Elijah The Prophet

2007-06-16T14:57:00.000-05:00

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and... all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch... And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.... Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD" -Malachi 4:1-5

Yochanan the Immerser:

At the outset, an extraordinary character is introduced – an unkempt, austere rabbi heralding in the wilderness with remarkable spiritual poise and focus. Yochanan, the evangelist writes; “There was a man sent from G-d, whose name was Yochanan.” This man, Yochanan the Immerser, is a character of immense significance rarely studied with the contextual eye warranted by his fascinating life.

Commonly regarded as the Messianic forerunner but as little else, the cultural impact of the Immerser in the first century is oft overlooked in contemporary thought. F.B. Meyer, in the 19th century, astutely wrote; “Yochanan’s influence on the world has diminished as men have receded further from his age…”.

The birth narrative of Yochanan the Immerser: A devout and elderly couple, Zacharias (a descendant of Abijah) and Elizabeth (a descendant of Aaron) were visited by the angel Gabriel, who foretold the birth of their son – revealing that he was to become a type of Elijah and a Messianic forerunner. Zacharias was also instructed to raise the child in a Nazirite-like manner. This child was born and named (in a somewhat unconventional manner) Yochanan.

At this point, the evangelist concludes the pre-ministerial experience of the Immerser in summary fashion – “So the child grew, and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”

The contemporary reader is left with an incomplete picture – blanks must be filled in if one is to grasp the true significance of the Immerser in the transitional phase. The issue doesn't seem to be one of Yhoshua but more of letting the love he felt into ones heart for others. There is also a communion aspect to this type of love. Jeremiah was hinting at this when he said that G-d will put the law into your hearts. But it is more than the law; we must learn to listen with our hearts. Solomon said cultivate a ‘heart that hears’, Lev Shema (Kings 1:3:9). The Nazarene focus offers this perspective while striving to keep the Jewish law. There is the love of G-d and G-d’s love for us and our love for each other. Rabbi Y. was an example of this, but this does not make him into the Nicene Creed, a trinity, and a god who must die for our sins. That is Roman thinking; to save a life is Jewish thinking.

To properly understand the Immerser must be viewed through Jewish eyes – from the vantage point that takes into account the vastly different nature of two thousand year old Judaism. The religious spectrum of the Immerser’s day must be examined and correspondently scrutinised alongside the ascetic preacher’s life and doctrine. Reasoning that suggests a continuity of Judaistic practice over the last two millennia is false – it cannot even be accepted cum nota. The Judaism of the Immerser’s time must be viewed as all historic religions must – de die in diem, always being mindful of the influence and interaction that takes place between socio-geopolitics and religion.

In the Immerser’s day, spirituality and politics were closely intertwined. Judaism of this period can be roughly divided into a trichotomy that mirrors the current spiritual vogues of Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes.

Elitist and aristocratic, Sadducaism can be accurately viewed as the early-Jewish theological equivalent of Arminianism. Central to both Sadducean and Arminian religion is a strong belief in free will – Arminianism teaches ‘conditional predestination’ (based on G-d’s foreknowledge of how an individual will or will not accept Him), and Josephus notes that the Sadducees shared this belief (“They maintain that each man has the free choice of good or evil, and that it rests with each man’s will whether he follows the one or the other”. Much confusion surrounds the Sadducean belief concerning the canonicity of Scripture – common understanding suggests that they rejected all Old Testament Scripture barring the law. VanderKam, however, suggests that this is inaccurate;

“[In legal matters, the Sadducees rejected the unwritten regulations of the Pharisees … there is no evidence that the Pharisees and Sadducees differed regarding which books were scriptural.”

As a priestly group, the Sadducees would almost certainly have incorporated the Psalms in worship – this likely use of non-legal Old Testament literature adds weight to VanderKam’s argument.

Acts 23 records that the Sadducees did not believe in “the resurrection, or angel, or spirit”. This is an unusual stance, given that angels and spirits are explicitly mentioned in the law of Moses and other parts of the Old Testament writings. Perhaps Sadducean doctrine was an overreaction to the unusual Essene belief that, in worship, people became like angels.

At the centre of the theological compass were the Pharisees; mentioned by Josephus in his writings. Concerned largely with the exposition and application of the law of Moses, they were a band of ‘moral policemen’ represented (in soteriological terms) today by mainstream evangelicalism through their (theoretical) belief in an element of Divine sovereignty and simultaneous human free will. The practical causa causans of this juxtaposition was a vague, disjointed system of theology where the will of the Creator inevitably transpired as subservient to the will of His creation. Usually remembered for their disproportionate focus on ritual purity and hypercritical attitudes towards others, the name ‘Pharisee’ is generally regarded as being rooted in the Aramaic passive participle ‘pĕriš, pĕrišayyā’, meaning ‘separated’. Interestingly, the Pharisees were regarded by the Essenes (a contemporary Jewish sect) as being somewhat liberal in their application of the law, referring to them as ‘halaqot’ (seekers of the ‘easy way’) rather than ‘halakhot’ (those who seek the law).

Due to their role in teaching the laity to apply the law of Moses in everyday living, the Pharisees exerted considerable influence despite their relatively small numbers.

To the right of the religious spectrum lay the Essenes – a highly significant conservative Jewish sect that co-existed in Palestine with the Pharisees and Sadducees. This puritanical reform sect can (due to its ideology concerning predestination, pre-existence and the spirit world) be fairly regarded as the Jewish equivalent of the Christian movement. Secondary information on the Essenes is comparatively sparse, the most valuable sources being Philo’s Apology for the Jews and Every Good Man is Free; Josephus’ Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews and Pliny’s Natural History. These sources fairly easily reach a common consensus in substantively defining Essene life and practice. Abstemious living was perhaps the great hallmark of the Essenes – mirroring the Christian Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites by living communally and avoiding any kind of luxury while unequivocally bowing to the notion of Divine sovereignty in the same mindset as the Reformers of the 16th century.

The Essenes opposed the Sadducean denial of the afterlife and the Pharisaic application of the law.

Within this context of religious tension and political undercurrents, Yochanan the Immerser began his ministry, ‘preaching a teviláh of repentance for the remission of sins. Prior to the beginning of this homiletic and sacramental ministry, Scripture records that the Immerser was ‘in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Where does the Immerser fit in this confusing spiritual jigsaw?

As a consequence of being born to elderly parents, it is likely that Yochanan was orphaned in his youth, leaving a young adolescent orphan wandering (at some point) into the wilderness of Judea.

Two questions must be asked, however; and these questions (or rather, the answers to these questions) have a significant role in examining the impact of the Immerser’s life and ministry; amongst the Jewish people.

First, where was the Immerser while in the wilderness?

At the outset, it must be noted that there is no definitive evidence that de facto states the wilderness experience of Yochanan the Immerser – there are, however, facts that, when taken together, provide rational inferences hinting at where the Immerser may have been. The Gospels provide a character profile of Yochanan that yield interesting results when examined in the light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The impact of the discovery of the Qumranic texts is startling when researching the life of the Immerser – a wealth of additional historical information has led to a new maturity of empirical understanding in studies of the Immerser.

F.B. Meyer’s biography of the Immerser provides a typical example of pre-Qumran understanding of Yochanan the Immerser. Section three of chapter three (titled ‘The school of the desert’) deals with the Immerser’s wilderness experience. Meyer admirably details the harshness of the Judean wilderness and the strength of character needed for a young man to survive therein, but is unmistakably vague in stating anything more than that Yochanan was in the desert and that it was a difficult and character-building experience.

Compare then, a good example of a post-Qumran study of Yochanan the Immerser – B. Witherington III writes a list of points connecting Yochanan the Immerser with the Essene community at Qumran.

The Essenes frequently adopted orphans; it is likely that Yochanan was orphaned at an early age. Yochanan spent his adolescence in the Judean wilderness; the Essenes were locally based at Qumran in the Judean desert. The Immerser and the Essenes had a shared interest in priestly matters and a priestly Messiah and a shared focus on Isaiah 40:3 (albeit with different interpretations). Both parties adhered to Spartan diets and ascetical behaviour. Similar interests in sacramentology also link the Immerser to the Essenes (in that Yochanan’s water rite was comparable to Qumran ablution rights). Of the three main Jewish sects, Yochanan the Immerser’s eschatological orientation is closest to the Essene position.

However, there are also several points of incongruity between John and the Qumran community noted by Witherington; the most obvious being that in the Gospels, Yochanan the Immerser is not (or is no longer) part of the Qumran community. The reclusive mindset of the Essenes (to withdraw from the sin of society) is vastly different to the mission of the Immerser (to call the nation to repent from their sin). Yochanan allows ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ people to come into contact with him and did not believe in a ‘righteous remnant’ existing prior to repentance. The Immerser was seen as a political threat in a way that the Qumran were not. Yochanan’s diet was typical of any eremite in the Judean wilderness, at most suggesting that he took a mantle on himself or was performing a Nazirite vow.

Fasting, prayer and austerity were not unique to the Qumran community. Josephus writes of one Bannus, who was similar to the Immerser in most respects but was not connected to the Essenes.

Neil Fujita also writes of the connection between the Immerser and the ; noting the same arguments for and against as Witherington. Fujita does add more weight to the arguments against in that he writes of the Immerser’s dress being distinct from the priestly white robes worn at Qumran. He also points out stark differences between Yochanan’s sacramentology (a ‘one-off’ Immersion) and that of the Essenes (a daily task).

On the basis of evidence presented by the Qumranic texts and the profile of the Immerser shown in the Gospels, it seems reasonable to conclude that the similarities between the Immerser and the Essenes were caused by Yochanan having been (at one time) a member of the Qumran community; and the differences being because (when the Immerser begins his ministry as recorded in the gospels) he has left the Qumran community. This conclusion must be taken ex hypothesi, however.

Second, how did the Jews view the Immerser?

Jewish history is dotted with moshiach figures – men who drew crowds in remote areas, performing actions with messianic overtones. In this respect, Yochanan the Immerser may have been viewed by some Jews as a messianic figure (in that he preached to crowds in the wilderness while immersing people; ("mikvah"). The Immerser was quick, however, to denounce claims of his own divinity, preferring instead to state his calling as a messianic forerunner.

The pagan Christians looked at the Immerser as the fulfilment of the Elijah redivivus hope and the association between Elijah and Yochanan is something clearly shared by the early Essenes. Yochanan’s denial of this identification is likely to be the Immerser quashing Jewish expectation that the messianic forerunner would literally be the resurrection of Elijah. The Immerser’s admission of being Isaiah’s ‘voice in the wilderness’ seems to show his attachment to the role of foreshadowing the coming of a moshiach.

The evangelist writes concerning Yochanan the Immerser; “for all counted Yochanan to have been a prophet indeed”. Viewed through Jewish eyes, Yochanan the Immerser was a prophet in the most unique sense of the word. Jewish intertestamental tradition was that the Old Testament prophets were no more (the Talmud explicitly states that Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi were the last prophets). The arrival of the Immerser’s ministry was at around AD 28, some 540 years after Haggai and Zechariah and roughly 450 years after Malachi. In the sense that the Jews viewed him as a prophet, Yochanan was received as a new and different figure (in the mould of Isaiah and Jeremiah). To them he was a transitional figure held in the highest regard by the Jews.

To the first century Jew, Yochanan the Immerser was an enormously significant figure – held as potentially messianic and definitely prophetic, bearing the hallmarks of one-time Qumranic membership but leaving the religious establishment to herald the coming of another, ‘held as a prophet by all’. Coupled with the fact that, Yochanan the Immerser becomes arguably the most significant person.

Indeed, it must then be asked, the big question “What was the role of Yochanan the Immerser in relation to the ministry?

Quoting Malachi 3:1[Yochanan is the one who prepares the way for G-d’s eschatological activity’ Yochanan the Immerser as an important transitional figure, linking the Old Testament era of prophecy with the coming of the Great Prophet, Elijah.

Despite preaching the same message The ministry of Yochanan was characterised by mikveh and preaching.

Despite the evident differences between Elijah and Yochanan the Immerser, some thought they were the same person- whether this is resigned to the people having a dim view of euphoric estimations of Yochanan, we shall never know.

In conclusion, it can be said that Yochanan the Immerser was a noteworthy figure in his own context.

Yochanan came as a witness, to testify. "Witness" and "testify" are legal terms, used in courts of law and other important situations to attest to the truth. A witness who testifies knows what is true, and speaks what he knows.

Yochanan knew the truth that this was the long awaited time for G-d to send the Messiah, and so Yochanan declared this to all Israel. He did this in order that all - everyone in Israel, and eventually everyone in the whole world - might believe. Remember that "believe" means than mere mental affirmation. It means following, obeying, becoming a disciple.

Was Yochanan completely successful? Did all believe because of his witness and testimony? Obviously not. Will all believe through our witness, our testimony? No. Should that prevent us from being a witness, and giving testimony about what we know to be true about Elohim? No.

May I also suggest that G-d is calling us to be Immersers - witnesses who give testimony to the abiding love of Adonai. The ways of the world is still very dark - full of evil, and with much confusion about Elohim, tremendous confusion about the way to redemption. G-d is calling each one of us, in our own ways, to be a witness, to attest to the truth, so speak what we know about Adonai Yeshuateynu, so that all might believe - men and women, boys and girls, Jews and Gentiles, black and white, might believe through us, and join us as disciples of our G-d.

"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me? says the L-rd. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats...Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come let us reason together says the L-rd, `Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be like wool, if you consent and obey..." (Isaiah 1:11-18).

Have we not made too many laws? Love G-d and he will show the way.

"The word "halakhah" is usually translated as "Jewish Law", although a more literal translation might be "the path that one walks". The word is derived from the Hebrew root Heh-Lamed-Kaf, meaning to go, to walk, or to travel".

"Some non-Jews and non-observant Jews criticize this legalistic aspect of traditional Judaism, saying that it reduces the religion to a set of rituals devoid of spirituality. While there are certainly some Jews who observe halakhah in this way, that is not the intention of halakhah, and it is not even the correct way to observe halakhah."

"On the contrary, when properly observed, halakhah increases the spirituality in a person's life, because it turns the most trivial, mundane acts, such as eating and getting dressed, into acts of religious significance. When people write and ask how to increase their spirituality or the influence of their religion in their lives, the only answer we can think of is: observe more halakhah. Keep a closer walk, or light sabbath candles, saying the grace befor meals, When you ask for and recive G-d's blessing, all things are made kosher, and always pray once or twice a day. When you do these things, you are constantly reminded of your faith, and it becomes an integral part of your entire existence."

"In general, Jews do not try to convert non-Jews to Judaism. In fact, according to halakhah (Jewish Law), rabbis are supposed to make three vigorous attempts to dissuade a person who wants to convert to Judaism."

"As the discussion above explained, Jews have a lot of responsibilities that non-Jews do not have. To be considered a good and righteous person in the eyes of God, a non-Jew need only follow the seven Noahic commandments, whereas a Jew has to follow all 613 commandments given in the Torah. If the potential convert is not going to follow those extra rules, it is better for him or her to stay a Gentile, and since we as Jews are all responsible for each other, it is better for us too if that person stayed a Gentile. The rabbinically mandated attempt to dissuade a convert is intended to make sure that the prospective convert is serious and willing to take on all this extra responsibility". Is this is the way G-d wants us to be A Light unto the Gentiles?
“The Jewish State must be—for its own sake—a light unto the Gentiles. If Israel is not a light unto the Gentiles, it will not be a light unto the Jews; if it is not a light unto the Jews it will not be able to survive.” WANTED! A holy man with a light.

ISAIAH:
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and the kings to the brightness of thy rising.

"This is a central point, not only for understanding, but is a theme that runs like a gossamer thread through all of Jewish thinking about what we are. “Judaism” (if it’s at all correct to even speak of such a thing!) is not, first and foremost, a “religion,” a system of religious beliefs and principles, or even a system of law and behaviors, that can in theory apply to all humankind (like Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc.). This is true, even though conversion to Judaism is possible, and is becoming increasingly common in today’s open world; indeed, the proselyte himself does not become a “believer” in his new-found faith or a “member” of the Synagogue; rather, he/she becomes an adopted son or daughter of the Jewish people. In principle, Judaism is the story of one people and its covenantal encounter with is God. Hence, “Israel, Torah and God are one”—the people as such are an essential element , whose history culture, even in the purely secular sense, are of importance in their own right."

"This creates two seeming paradoxes or anomalies: one, that we maintain our particularity as a people, as a specific group, notwithstanding the ultimately universal nature if our ground beliefs: the unity of God, and the singularity / oneness of truth and of the ethical norms that follow from God’s Torah, by its very nature."

"Second, that secularism and Judaism are not mutually exclusive or contradictory: something that would be absurd if Judaism were simply a “religion.” In the modern world, in particular, we have many Jews, including some of the most outstanding figures in modern times—such as Freud, Einstein, Ben-Gurion, etc.—who saw themselves as secular. I will leave aside the attempts of some religious thinkers, such as Rav A. I. Kook, to legitimize this in religious terms through complex and fascinating theological dialectics about the presence of holiness within the secular. Quite simply, the existence of secular facts is a fact; they are our brethren, and our differing interpretations of the meaning of our history, cultural heritage, and identity are a family dispute, which should not prevent feelings of love, common identity and cultural interests, and certainly of vital political interest / destiny."

I think that yeshua ben yoseph is an enigma. We are 2 milenia removed and very many acretions have piled onto the story. I will hope in the faithfulness of ELohim who shall redeem Israel, and that this prophet known as Yehoshua, calls all who are and would be joined to Israel to observe the Torah with wisdom and grace.

May Blessings be with you from the Merciful Eternal Being, Blessed is the Blessed One

BROTHERS of COLOUR

2007-06-10T19:14:00.000-05:00

" I had to re-examine my feelings toward the (Confederate) flag when I read a newspaper article about an elderly black man whose ancestor worked with the Confederate forces. The man spoke with pride about his family member's contribution to the cause and was photographed with the (Confederate) flag draped over his lap. That's why I now have no definite stand on just what the flag symbolizes, because it no longer is their history, or my history, but our history."
Terri Williams, a Black journalist for the Suffolk "Virginia Pilot" newspaper. ..."Amen!!!" PoP

by Tim Westphal:
As far back as the American Revolution, African Americans have fought in every conflict this country has been engaged in. A number of authors have studied the participation which blacks played for the Union and Confederate governments during the Civil War. Most of these writers have focused on the Union army since it employed a large number of blacks as soldiers during the conflict. "When authors do cover the Confederate side, they usually limit their coverage to the free blacks of New Orleans who formed a regiment of "Native Guards" for the Louisiana militia and the Confederate effort late in the war to employ slaves as soldiers" [2]. Civil War historians have not given these blacks their due recognition, and have left the truth of their involvement for the Confederacy covered in obscurity and confusion.

As many as 90,000 blacks, slave and free, were employed in some capacity by the Confederate army. The majority of these men fall into two categories, as military laborers or body servants. The fact that some Southern blacks might have played an important role for the South is a very controversial issue. Scholars have avoided the difficult task of linking any blacks to the Southern war effort. One of the main reasons they choose not to attempt this is because they are afraid of confronting the great paradox that exists. Why would any slaves or free blacks work towards a Southern victory when this war was seen as one to sustain blacks' enslavement and degradation?

Camp Douglas SCV 1507
Black Rebels of the C.S.A..

"It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks. Over 13,000 of these, "saw the elephant" also known as meeting the enemy in combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. The Confederate Congress did not approve blacks to be officially enlisted as soldiers (except as musicians), until late in the war. But in the ranks it was a different story. Many Confederate officers did not obey the mandates of politicians, they frequently enlisted blacks with the simple criteria, "Will you fight?" Historian Ervin Jordan, explains that "biracial units" were frequently organized "by local Confederate and State militia Commanders in response to immediate threats in the form of Union raids". Dr. Leonard Haynes, a African-American professor at Southern University, stated, "When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the South."

Work Out" What G-d "Works in" You

2007-06-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
Your will agrees with G-d, but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the G-d initially comes in contact with our conscience, the first thing our conscience does is awaken our will, and our will always agrees with G-d. Yet you say, "But I don’t know if my will is in agreement with G-d." Look to G-d and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. What causes you to say "I will not obey" is something less deep and penetrating than your will. It is perversity or stubbornness, and they are never in agreement with G-d. The most profound thing in a person is his will, not sin.

The will is the essential element in G-d’s creation of human beings— sin is a perverse nature which entered into people. The source of the will is Almighty G-d. ". . . for it is G-d who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." With focused attention and great care, you have to "work out" what G-d "works in" you— not work to accomplish or earn "your own salvation," but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith in the complete and perfect will of the true and living G-d. As you do this, you do not bring an opposing will up against G-d’s will— G-d’s will is your will. Your natural choices will be in accordance with G-d’s will, and living this life will be as natural as breathing. Stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier, refusing enlightenment and blocking its flow. The only thing to do with this barrier of stubbornness is to blow it up with "dynamite," and the "dynamite" is obedience to Yahweh.

Do I believe that Almighty G-d is the Source of my will? G-d not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it.

2007-06-03T01:22:00.000-05:00

I Yam What I Yam.
"Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, "No, by nothing," but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are belivers, by our own experience of the believers life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by G-d. The abiding awareness of the holy life is to be G-d Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of G-d. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to "live and move and have our being" in G-d, looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives".

"If we are obsessed by G-d, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when G-d totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by G-d is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy."

"He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . ." ( Psalm 25:13 ). G-d will cause us to "dwell in prosperity," keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our "life is hidden in G-d". We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. "God is our refuge . . ." ( Psalm 46:1 ). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection".

A THREAD OF BLUE

2007-05-26T16:34:00.000-05:00

"Let them attach a cord with a thread of blue at each corner."

(Numbers 15:38)

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

(5763)

"This week I want to look at light from a more mystical point of view."

"When we see light, it usually appears as white. Of course, white is a mix of all the possible colors of light. Spin a wheel with a variety of colors and it will appear white. Hold the light to a prism and it separates into the variety of colors. Or let the light reflect through water vapor in the air and a rainbow appears. The rainbow recalls the Noah story and God's covenant with humanity".

"In this portion we are commanded to place fringes on the corners of our clothing. The fringes are white, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. However, one fringe is techelet, a purplish blue. (Today Jews keep this commandment by wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl, while at prayer. Very pious Jews wear an undershirt with four fringes all day long. Today most Jews no longer wear the thread of blue, since the precise procedure for making the dye has been lost. Some Jews have begun to wear a thread of blue once again.")

"Why this purplish blue? Why pick one color, when white contains all the colors. According to Jewish tradition, techelet is the color at the far end of the rainbow, the highest energy color we can see, the edge before radiation becomes ultraviolet rays and invisible to the eye. It is the color that stands for God=s presence in the universe".

"According to the Talmud (Menachot 43b), "Rabbi Meir said, Why is techelet different from all other colors? Because it is like the color of the sea, and the sea is like the color of the sky, and the sky is like the color of the divine throne." According to one understanding of this, when an astronaut travels into space, techelet is the last color she sees before the blackness of space. We have a thread of blue because it represents God's color, God's presence. In a very mysterious passage, the Bible speaks about how seventy elders beheld God's throne, and "under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity." (Exodus 24:10) What color is sapphire? A dark, purplish blue".

"We look at the fringes and see white (all the colors) and see the one thread of blue. The thread of blue symbolizes God's presence. Some have said that the word techelet comes from the Hebrew word tachlit which means purpose. We see the thread of blue and recall God's purpose in creating the universe. We are reminded of our role in fulfilling God's purpose and completing creation".

"Several years ago I received a mystical insight from a rabbi out in California. (Forgive me, but I do not recall the rabbi's name.) He mentioned that if purplish blue is at one end of the rainbow, what is at the other end? What is the most low energy color? The answer is red. The red of the rainbow is next to the infrared spectrum, more low energy radiation that cannot be seen. The Hebrew for red is adom. And the Hebrew word for mankind is adam. If God is at one end of the rainbow, humanity is at the other end. Our job is to cross the rainbow, start with humanity and reach out to God".

"Now suddenly, the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" makes mystical sense. My only question - did the Wizard of Oz wear a tallit?" One of the major problems I have observed in Jewish society today is the tendency of Jews to cheat other Jews. In a societal race where the only winners are the ones who pray the longest and most enthusiastically, competitive religion arises. Jews compete against other Jews for "Yichus", roughly translated as a concept of social and religious standing based on your bloodline, and piety. Charity becomes a competition where the person who gives the most is the most honored. They have dinners in their names to promote the unselfish deed of giving charity.

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
-Matthew, 6:1-4

An observation of the Jesus of Matthew's Gospel on the Jewish community strikes a true chord today. Our synogogues are named for people. Our schools are named after loved ones of families that donate immense amounts of money. They do this publically, as Jesus said, and they essentially 'sound a trumpet' when they have honorary dinners. In this respect, we are a lot like the Jews of the Second Temple.

Religious observance also became a contest. Swaying and enthusiasm during prayers, which should usually be very personal meetings between each of us and God, is very apparent. Those who have the trendy tzitzit, fringes, and phlacteries are those that are believed to be the closest to God. I observed at the SOY Seforim Sale at Yeshiva University male students buying incredibly complex books and volumous sets of the Babylonian Talmud. This is pretty commonly known as a mating ritual in the Jewish world. The bigger the set of Babylonian Talmud one gets, the better person they are. Possesions and appearances become the primary mode of courtship in the Jewish community. Jesus made a very true observation about his Jewish community when Matthew wrote that he said:

"But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments"
-Matthew, 23:5

This hierarchy based on appearances is not the revolution in humanity that God wished to inspire. Courting and marriage based on outer religiousness is wrong but will not stop because the community feels that that is the true path to the Almighty, a building of "Yichus" based on outer appearances and bloodlines. We are not a caste system, but we certainly have the mentality for it. We have gone a long way in the wrong direction since Moses and Joshua's glorious revolution establishing a meritocracy. Earning is a new concept to the youth of the new Jewish community.

See! The comments still work.

THE COMING DREAM

2007-05-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

My dear and most sincere friend, you are about to receive a wonderful gift. A very special lucid dream. As sure as there is a true and living G-d: You will be assured that there is no such thing as Death, and that life and love are both eternal. You are indeed blessed.
For some unknown reason G-d wants no comments on this post. Just as well I suppose for this is more of a prophecy than a actual posting.

415 A.D.
The dream experiences of Gennadius, a physician from Carthage. Gennadius, disturbed by doubts as to whether there was life after physical death, had two dreams. In the first he was visited by a youth "of remarkable appearance and commanding presence" who demanded that he follow him. Gennadius did so and was led to a city where he could hear singing "so exquisitely sweet" and unlike anything he had ever heard before. He asked his guide what the music was, and was told, "it is the hymn of the blessed and the holy." At this point Gennadius woke, believing the experience to be nothing more than just a dream.

However, the next night, as he dreamed again, his young guide of the previous night returned and asked Gennadius if he recognized him. Gennadius replied "Certainly!" Then the youth asked him where they had met, but Gennadius could not remember, though he did correctly recall and describe the event of their meeting and what had occurred.

The youth pressed on; "Do you know that the eyes in this body of yours are now bound and closed, and that with these eyes you are seeing nothing?" "I know it," answered Gennadius. The guide then asked, "What then are the eyes with which you see me?" To this, Gennadius could not respond, he did not know the answer. The young guide then provided him with answers he had been seeking in his waking life:

"As while you are asleep and lying on your bed these eyes of your body are now unemployed and doing nothing, and yet you have eyes with which you behold me, and enjoy this vision, so after your death, while your bodily eyes shall be wholly inactive, there shall be in you a life by which you shall live, and a faculty of perception by which you shall still perceive. Beware, therefore, after this of harboring doubts as to whether the life of man shall continue after death."

“If we cannot remain present during sleep, if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes?. . . Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake.”
Tenzin Yangal Rinpoche

"Nevertheless, while it is free to every one to believe or disbelieve these statements, every man has his own consciousness at hand as a teacher by whose help he may apply himself to this most profound question.”

New Post

2007-03-23T12:12:00.000-05:00

Time to post something new, but what? Would you like me to talk about myself for a change? I know it's what most bloggers do. Here is a song while I think about this, Old Hippy.

FORT MUDGE MEMORIAL DUMP

2007-02-17T16:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Fort Mudge:We have met the enemy and he is us.
"What is the point, a sensible fellow might ask, of writing about Walt Kelly, who
A) was American,
B) died in 1973, and
C) was never published in Britain?
To which I reply, 'Just so. Exactly. An excellent point', and proceed to celebrate, as common-sense would decree, the admirabobble Walt, a genius sadly missed."
Read Walt Kelly and Pogo Possum. By JBP. Diss look like a good spot for a depot, a nice place where I can dump some of my little treasures. Like,
The Ballad of the Green Berets. Also this strange stoty, Devil David. And we will have order in the Full Metal Classroom! Some Velvet Morning

Oh My, Now You've Done It!!

2007-02-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

My obscure and long neglected, auxiliary blog is now exposed to world scrutiny. He he, oh mother; so this must be what it like to go to hospital with dirty underware. Ok, so I like gathering intelligence more than writing about it and the trivial things that normal bloggers do. Well I have been a public serpent...er-servant, for most of my life; I see no reason to stop now. So let me first offer you a WARM WELCOME to my humble blog. I am sorry there is not currently much to see here, but thanks to Miss Cellania, I will now have to be a more attentive and congenial host to all my new and old friends. And to think; It all started with you Caren! Caren is a wonderful writer and my blog mother. She travailed with me many years, before giving birth to the Keeper. Caren is cool, so be sure to give her a big hello. And for you Star Trek people, here is something I found. Have Fun.

God is always on our side. Right?

2007-01-27T17:25:00.000-05:00

"I can't understand how all this could have happened, it's enough to make one lose one's faith in God!" (Eva Braun). Apr, 1945.
Is this the face of the enemy? There is too much killing going on. Is God on our side? Or have we in our lust for power and wealth, become the devil's slave. There are more Iraqi blogs HERE.

Is there a need for someone to die for our sins?
Psalms 32:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
2. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.
4. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5. I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,"
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6. For this cause everyone who is saintly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.
7. You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8. [Yahweh answers,] “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
9. Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.”
10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in Yahweh, mercy shall surround him.
11. Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!)

Another translation of the same Psalms 32

A Psalm of David. Maschil. Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is pardoned.

32:2 Happy is the man unto whom the Lord counteth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

32:3 When I kept silence, my bones wore away through my groaning all the day long.

32:4 For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my sap was turned as in the droughts of summer. Selah

32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid; I said: 'I will make confession concerning my transgressions unto the Lord' --and Thou, Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah

32:6 For this let every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found; surely, when the great waters overflow, they will not reach unto him.

32:7 Thou art my hiding-place; Thou wilt preserve me from the adversary; with songs of deliverance Thou wilt compass me about. Selah

32:8 'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will give counsel, Mine eye being upon thee.'

32:9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, that they come not near unto thee.

32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy compasseth him about.

32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

I Am What I Am

2007-01-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

And it is all your fault!
You have changed my destiny, and I owe it all to you; my friend.