| To: Tom Clarke who wrote (7368) | 8/21/2022 10:22:24 AM | | From: Joachim K | | | | JEWISH ZEN
Let your mind be as a floating cloud.
Let your stillness be as the wooded glen.
And sit up straight.
You'll never meet the Buddha
with such round shoulders.
There is no escaping karma. In a previous life,
you never called,
you never wrote,
you never visited.
And whose fault was that?
Wherever you go, there you are.
Your luggage is another story.
To practice Zen
and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance,
do the following: get rid of the motorcycle.
What were you thinking?
Be aware of your body.
Be aware of your perceptions.
Keep in mind that not every physical sensation
is a symptom of a terminal illness.
If there is no self,
whose arthritis is this?
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Forget this and attaining Enlightenment
will be the least of your problems.
The Tao has no expectations.
The Tao demands nothing of others.
The Tao does not speak.
The Tao does not blame.
The Tao does not take sides.
The Tao is not Jewish.
Drink tea and nourish life.
With the first sip, joy.
With the second, satisfaction.
With the third, Danish.
The Buddha taught that one should practice
Loving kindness to all sentient beings.
Still, would it kill you
to find a nice sentient being,
who happens to be Jewish?
Be patient and achieve all things.
Be impatient and achieve all things,
faster.
To Find the Buddha, look within.
Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.
Each flower blossoms ten thousand times.
Each blossom has ten thousand petals.
You might want to see a specialist.
Be here now.
Be someplace else, later.
Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes!!!!!! |
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| To: Joachim K who wrote (7372) | 9/2/2022 8:05:33 AM | | From: Tom Clarke | | | | What Questions Did Ancient Greeks Ask the Oracles?
By Philip Chrysopoulos
September 1, 2022
View of Delphi. In ancient times, this was a sacred place that served as the seat of Pythia, the great oracle who was consulted about important decisions.
Ancient Greeks were curious people, and they would frequently ask questions about the world and themselves, as the writings of philosophers of the times indicate. At the same time, in some aspects at least, they resembled modern people who try to discern their own futures by searching for answers from astrologers, coffee grounds, tea leaves, or psychics.
In ancient days, Greeks went to oracles to obtain the answers they desired. After extensive research, Professor Mika Kajava from the University of Helsinki found some of the most common questions ancient Greeks asked the oracles.
Kajava found that the concerns and wishes of ancient Greeks were not very different from the ones modern Greeks have. And like today’s Christian Orthodox faithful who pray to God and ask for guidance and answers, the Greeks of older days ran to the oracles asking very similar questions.
Priestess Pythia, the oracle of Delphi
The Delphic oracle was the most prestigious, with both kings and common people asking their questions about their future plans and waiting to receive a response about what the gods thought of them. The Pythia, who presided over the holy sanctuary of Delphi, is the best known priestess, or oracle.
Lycurgus Consulting the Priestess Pythia at the Oracle of Delphi.
Delphi became so busy that long lines would form on certain days of the month on which the priestess could be consulted and, in later times, several oracular priestesses would operate at once. However, consultants had to be careful how they interpreted the often unclear answers of the oracle.
Questions ancient Greeks asked of the oracles
Questions about happiness with future spouses, about whether or not one would have children, and about whether or not one would find a good job were all common questions asked by ancient Greeks. Other concerns were the safety of future journeys to colonies and about sacrifices to gods to ensure continued good health. These were some of the questions ancient Greeks asked of the oracles and for which they would never get a clear answer.
Some of the people visited the oracles asking questions in order to solve crimes and mysteries, expecting the wisdom of the gods and their representatives on earth. These included questions such as the identity of thieves, the individual who poisoned certain people, or even whether or not the child a wife was carrying was in fact that of the husband.
A very common question ancient Greeks asked the oracles was: “To which god should I pray in order to see my business prosper?”
However, the answers were almost always enigmatic. King Croesus of Lydia asked the oracle whether or not he should go to war on his neighboring kingdom. The oracle replied that if he went to war, a great kingdom would fall. Croesus interpreted this as being his enemy’s, but it turned out to be his own kingdom.
When the Persian army under Xerxes approached Athens, the Athenians wanted to know whether to fight the Persians, and of course, they went to Delphi to ask the Pythia. Ambassadors also consulted the oracles as to what policies were the best to pursue.
greekreporter.com |
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| To: Joachim K who wrote (7372) | 9/8/2022 6:23:24 AM | | From: Tom Clarke | | | | Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the republic that emerged from the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th Century. At first this was a personal union, similar to that of James I and VI in Britain, but this was formalised in 1569 into a vast republic, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Kings and princes from across Europe would compete for parliament to elect them King and Grand Duke, and the greatest power lay with the parliaments. When the system worked well, the Commonwealth was a powerhouse, and it was their leader Jan Sobieski who relieved the siege of Vienna in 1683, defeating the Ottomans. Its neighbours exploited its parliament's need for unanimity, though, and this contributed to its downfall. Austria, Russia and Prussia divided its territory between them from 1772, before the new, smaller states only emerged in the 20th Century.
podcasts.apple.com |
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| To: Tom Clarke who wrote (7376) | 9/9/2022 12:06:48 AM | | From: Joachim K | | | | Islamic Republic of Iran sentences to female gay activists to death for ‘spreading corruption on earth’
SEP 8, 2022 3:00 PM
BY ROBERT SPENCER
4 COMMENTS
“The only reward for those who make war upon Allah and his messenger and struggle to spread corruption on earth will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be expelled from the land. Such will be their degradation in this world, and in the hereafter, theirs will be an awful doom.” (Qur’an 5:33)
Will “Queers Against Islamophobia” wake up to their delusions and realize how they’ve been aiding their own worst enemies? Come on, man!
“Two women gay rights activists are sentenced to death in Iran for ‘corruption on earth,'” by Olivia Devereux-Evans, MailOnline, September 5, 2022:
Two women gay rights activists have been sentenced to death in Iran for ‘corruption on earth’.
Zahra Sedighi-Hamedani, 31, and Elham Choubdar, 24, were handed the death sentences at the Revolutionary Court of the city of Urmia.
A third activist, Soheila Ashrafi, 52, is involved in the case but her verdict has not yet been decided.
Zahra and Elham are currently being held in the women’s ward of Urmia Central Prison.
In January, they were charged with ‘spreading corruption on earth’ by ‘promoting homosexuality’, ‘communication with anti-Islamic Republic media channels’ and ‘promoting Christianity’ by prosecutors.
The news that they have been sentenced to death has sparked outrage online, with advocates and rights groups taking to social media to protest the innocence of the women.
Iranian authorities use the term ‘corruption on earth’ to refer to a range of offences, including those related to Islamic morals…. |
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