Without Reference to Time

We are interested in living well. We look-over new ways. New seems good. We sometimes seem uncertain of the distinction between new and good. We sometime come near to equating the new with the good. It seems the new car is better than the old car, the new TV better than the old one. We general believe that new things are better than old things. We sometimes go a step further and believe that new ideas are better than old ideas. We seem to believe that ideas which appeared earlier are inferior to those which cam more recently.

We know that things and ideas are not the same. We may not be clear about the difference between them, even though we may feel their natures differ. With little thought we know that a TV set tends to ware-out from use, whereas democracy stops functioning from lack of use. We may know that the TV is in the living room, but have difficulty locating democracy. Democracy is an idea that moves and lives in as mind. When the ideas central to democracy are not stirring and moving in mind, democracy diminishes. An idea acting in the mind of man does not ware-out as does a TV. That idea may stay good so long as it is active.

An idea may be good no matter what its age.

Citizen Thoughts on Killing

You and I can consider the situation and conditions a bit more thoroughly before we decide to kill Panamanians, Iranians, Bosnians, Indochinese, or any other people. It is probably illegal or immoral to kill them and it is certainly very costly. We could look over the alternatives and options before kill, or ask our youth to. We could even look-over the options and alternatives before we pay a stranger to kill. Perhaps we could keep handy a menu of things we can do before we kill.

It makes sense to me to carefully decide to kill, before we kill in deed.

I have heard it said that a people who does not act as though they revere life, cannot revere God.

Others have called it immoral to kill people we fear before we are clear about the validity of that fear.

If, when you say, "I don't think we should kill them." and the other asks, "What makes you think so?" what do you say?

Might it be useful to ask, "Why is it important for us to decide to kill people before doing so?"

I like to kill on purpose. There is just too much off hand killing.

You and I could work out a process for deciding to kill.

One thing we could do as American citizens is to follow our own rule about mass killing. We once agreed to make the decision to war as a government of the people, by the people and for the people by declaring war in a particular way. That way is by telling our representatives in Congress to vote a declaration of war.

We started as a common law nation. It seems that in order to maintain a common law we need a bit more common will. In order to have more common will a bit more common dialogue would help. If we are to be a people we need to share values, assumptions, opinions about things that are important to us.

Christian Thoughts?

Prophets; Christians seem to feel relief that their age has passed.

Our useful, though fallible, prophets might be insightful writers who arouse social resentment and resistance.

The biblical wise-man's present, is the moment in which past and future are balanced, the uncertainties of the future being minimized by the observance of the law that comes down from the past. With some variation in the nature of 'the law,' isn't that the nature of all wisdom?

Some have called repentance the beginning of Christian life. Many Christians seem even more confused about the nature of repentance than some of the Apostles seem to have been. I think that repentance is about the wondrous mystery of reality. Some suggest that it relates to to a spiritual metamorphosis. I've called it part of the pureficatory process. Some benefit by calling it an honest and insightful change of outlook. Others have called it a move toward or into the one of all. You might benefit by calling it an enlarged vision of the dimensions of human life.

Some saintly persons have not called the illegal or immoral sinful, but rather say that failure to cooperate with god is where sin lies. Some religions have called the righteous man, the one who cooperates with the way of things. You might benefit, and stay on 'the straight and narrow,' by acting in accord with reality and purifying yourself of ignorance. Some call ignorance the great lie. Of course, you will probably also benefit a lot by avoiding the illegal and the immoral.

Some Christians have trouble locating 'the kingdom.' they get lost in time and space. They are helped when they are reminded that the central point is here and now. I suggest that the kingdom is not there, rather it is here, among us and within us now.

Faith might be called a power to act informed y vision. Vision may be informed by experience. If one goes into his house at night whit the thought that the electrical system has gone to hell and there is now way the light switch is going to work, he may spend the night i the dark. With a bit of faith he is more likely to try the switch. He may spend the night in the dark anyway, but h has given himself a chance for light. with continued faith he may repair a malfunctioning switch or an electrical system that 'has gone to hell.'

Moralists of some religions have been a bit like many of our parents were... Telling us the 'no,nos.' Jesus was not that way. For example, he understood the Ten Commandments rather than than learn them by rote. He restated them as an enthusiasm for life, respect for the dignity of persons, delight in helping others, a nurturing and strengthening love.

Jesus, I believe, knew that ignorance is a major, perhaps the major, source of the hurtful and harmful in man's existence. He chose enlightenment as the cure for ignorance. The enlightenment he chose included prompt, here and now, action to right wrongs.

It has seemed to me that Jesus was also interested in unification and the knowledge of oneness. he seems to preach the healing in unification,in the move to oneness. He tells us that the way to healing is open. He tells us that the way to abundant life is open to us. He tells us that man has infinite energy behind him to help himself.

Snake Peeking Around My Dresser

I found myself feeling a bit down. Not even having completed as much of my construction plans here around Camp Thunderbird nor having a compatible red racer in my bedroom seemed able to relieve my melancholic state.
So, I thought to reviver myself by reviving my practice of morning exercise followed by a period of meditation.

I keep a large set of index cards, each card of which contains brief instructions for an exercise I have found interesting and/or effective. I promise to devote myself to exercise for a certain amount of time and draw cards to fill that time. I may, for example, need a half dozen cards to fill and hour of exercise. This morning I decided on 1/2 and hour of exercise, but drew a card that would take an unusually long 40 minutes. I'm flexible and did the 40 minutes, and it was good.

I also have a set of cards suggesting meditations. Many of the cards suggest what I call seed meditations and the one i drew this morning was such a card. It just contained the words, "relate to food."

After exercising i began meditation. Probably to avoid considering my relationship to food i came to focus on "to relate to." I have meditated enough so that i don't usually have to each time raise my consciousness about breathing, and I didn't this time. Because I have not been meditating regularly and because I had decided to return to sitting in a chair to meditate, I did give some attention to good posture and having a relaxed comfortable body as an aid to my active mind.

As I avoided the "food" portion of my seed meditation, I found my mind moving around "relate" as a relative or a relationship as compared to relate as in to tell a story. I found myself being asked, "
What's your story?" and soon, "How does your story relate to reality?"
One of these days I might benefit by becoming more aware of the story I have been telling myself about food.

Anyway, after a bit of exercise and a bit of meditation, I do feel pretty good.

Still, I am moved to actively consider meanings. My blue dictionary suggests that 'relate' has something to do with 'carry back.' What have I carried back from my experience with food? It goes on to say that 'to relate' is to 'tell or to give and account of.' I wonder how mathematically correct it benefits one to be? 'Relate' also means to show or establish logical connection between. What is the logical connection in my mind between me and my food? Can I establish a more logical connection between me and food? This blue dictionary definitely suggests that I can show or establish my casual connections with food retroactively. Better late then never. Lastly, it reminds me that there may be a social or familial relationship. a dictionary sure has a lot to say.
My red dictionary reminds me that 'to relate' implies narration or story. It also reminds me that 'to relate' means to bring into logical and natural association. So, maybe I can use my food story to direct me to a more natural and logical relationship with food. How can I bring myself into a more logical and natural relationship with food? How can I better know the present state of my relationship with food? How might I begin my story?
'Relate to food' sounds like and imperative, 'You, relate to food!' or it could be the simple statement of fact, You relate to food.'
It doesn't seem unreasonable to consider how one relates to food, does it?

I am willing to better consider how I relate to food.

Year One

Year one is so important to us that we have made it two years long: 1BC and 1AD!

What was going on then? The answer to that for that time is the same as it is for any other time, "Everything."
~ The main thing for us is that Jesus was born about that time.
~ Jerusalem was getting modernized. Its new aqueduct had recently come into use.
~ Tiberius, second emperor of Rome, lived.
~ Polaris was about 14 degrees from the north pole.
~ The great Jewish scholar4, Philo of Alexandria(Philo Judaeus)mentioned the negative of the golden Rule.
~ Dead Sea Scrolls were being written.
~ Advanced boat building and gold mining was ongoing in what is now Mindanao, Philippines.
~ Saint John the Baptist was active. He may have been a cousin of Jesus. John's parents were Zackariah, a priest in the temple Elizabeth, a daughter of Aaron.
~ and as we have said, "Everything Else."

West Balt

I'll probably post a bit of the history, recent and long past, of Prussia, Poland, and Germany, as well as of Ireland and the US, should I live long enough. Then again I might just begin to post some semi-curious information about the the Prussians, Poles, Germans, Norwegians, and Irish and leave it at that.

Not all that long ago Prussia disappeared, with the help of Russia and others, into the lands of Poland and Germany. "Prussia" may sound like Russia, but a Prussian is not a Russian, a German or a Pole. Prussians have rarely like Russians, nor the Russians, Prussians.
Some have said that Prussians are really a kind of German. Some, including some Germans, say that the German state began in Prussia, but It bares repeating, a Prussian is not a German.

In very recent years Prussians have begun to show a renewed spirit of unity where once even existence may have been doubted.
Once Prussians traded and fought in dignity with Romans, vikings and Swedes. Later for a time, they found it difficult to maintain their independence in the face of German, Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian onslaughts. At times they found support from Lithuanians and learned from Poles and Germans. Of Course Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians learned from the Prussians. Prussians learned little love for Russians, but very likely share some Slavic cousins with them.

If you can find north-west Europe on your map, you can probably find the Baltic Sea. The people on the eastern shore of that sea were long called West Balts. Prussians came from these people and their lands are still along that same shore.
The Prussian language, like other languages, has changed over time. Languages disappear and Prussian has come very close to doing so. The Old Baltic language of the Prussians is one of the oldest in Europe.