Posts
Karen and Joe made some comments re some recent articles in the uld.
Here are responses:
Dear Karen,
The ancient art of Chinese physiognomy (face-reading) is based upon the study of thousands of faces over many centuries. We need not be dogmatic and claim that it cannot be wrong, that it is always correct, but it is generally a reliable system. If we discover contradictions to its principles, or exceptions, we are free, of course, to believe that the entire system is flawed, or that it does not work. Or, in some cases, we might simply need more knowledge, or a more objective perspective. At any rate, it is a very fascinating system that increases understanding of our fellow human beings.
To Joe:
Dear Joe,
Yes, my friend, we must admit that evil really does exist in our world. For ours is a world of illusion and duality. Evil does not exist absolutely-- that is, in the perfect Mind of the Absolute, the Supreme, the Ultimate. But in this world, it is a very real factor. It is really an educational guideline, for its avoidance helps the human mind clarify the meaning of the good, by contrast. We can see how hideous, how
horrible, is evil, and that impels us away from it, keeping us more firmly on the path of goodness. To deny the absolute existence of evil is not to deny the existence of evil. It does exist, and is very real, within the context of a world that itself has only a secondary reality.
An ancient mystic wrote, "God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him." (1 Jn. 1:5) So, in the perfect Mind of God, which is stainless purity, "evil" has no reality; most of what we call "evil" might be the outworking of a perfectly good, and educational, karma. This is the spiritual explanation of suffering.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Always Double-check!
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If you looked up the word Elohim, I congratulate you. It is always good and wise to double-check our sources. It is always possible that I can be in error.
But in this case, I am not wrong. The Hebrew word elohim is definitely a plural word. It does NOT mean "God," even though much tradition, based on the King James Version, supports this falsehood. The word definitely means "gods."
What was the name of the reference-work in which you looked the word up? For fundy churches have produced an entire library of false "reference" works that are unreliable, and it is possible that you used one of these.
Always remember this very valuable principle: Just because a statement appears in a book, that alone does not guarantee that it is correct. In the history of religion, especially, tens of thousands of falsehoods and errors have appeared in print, in books. Still, you are very wise to question everything that I say, and also, that everyone else says.
Thanks for staying "on your guard," and double-checking on this. This is precisely what a good student should do!
*******
If you looked up the word Elohim, I congratulate you. It is always good and wise to double-check our sources. It is always possible that I can be in error.
But in this case, I am not wrong. The Hebrew word elohim is definitely a plural word. It does NOT mean "God," even though much tradition, based on the King James Version, supports this falsehood. The word definitely means "gods."
What was the name of the reference-work in which you looked the word up? For fundy churches have produced an entire library of false "reference" works that are unreliable, and it is possible that you used one of these.
Always remember this very valuable principle: Just because a statement appears in a book, that alone does not guarantee that it is correct. In the history of religion, especially, tens of thousands of falsehoods and errors have appeared in print, in books. Still, you are very wise to question everything that I say, and also, that everyone else says.
Thanks for staying "on your guard," and double-checking on this. This is precisely what a good student should do!
*******
Thursday, October 11, 2007
America Tortures its POWs
Thanks to Nate Merritt.
*******
The article below details the little known truth regarding the Fascist Nazi interests of George W Bush's Grandfather, Prescott Bush, as he and others attempted to overthrow the US government in the 1930s in order to install a fascist dictatorship. This is important in order to understand the true motivations behind The Bush Family and why they need to be stopped.
http://republican.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3317707
Richard Gage presentation: "How the Towers Fell".
This is one of the most well presented, clear cut, honest and compelling presentations regarding evidence as to the Controlled Demolition of the World Trade Center. Please watch if you have any doubts that the Towers were taken down by explosives.
http://911blogger.com/node/10025
*******
AMERICA TORTURES ITS POWS former president Carter reveals
America Tortures Prisoners, Carter Says
CNN
Posted: 2007-10-10 20:01:44
Filed Under: Politics News, World News
WASHINGTON (Oct. 10) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.
Photo Gallery: Former President on the Offensive
Alfred de Montesquiou, AP
Former President Jimmy Carter, seen here in the Darfur region of Sudan last week, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the U.S. tortures prisoners captured in the war on terror. "I don't think it. I know it," Carter said.
"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."
Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.
Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques." These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning, and frigid temperatures," according to the Times.
The White House last week confirmed the existence of the documents but would not make them public.
Responding to the newspaper report Friday, bush defended the techniques used, saying, "This government does not torture people."
Asked about bush's comments, Carter said, "That's not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored -- certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.
"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don't violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate them."
...Carter also criticized some of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates, calling former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani "foolish" for his contention the United States should be open to use force on Iran.
"I hope that he doesn't become president and try to impose his conviction that we need to go to war with Iran," Carter said.
CNN was attempting to get a response from the Giuliani campaign.
The former president didn't spare the rest of the GOP field either.
"They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity -- things of that kind," Carter said.
"They're competing with each other to appeal to the ultra-right-wing, war-mongering element in our country, which I think is the minority of our total population."
Carter declined to say which Republican candidate he feared the most. (I would too. -NJM)
"If I condemn one of them, it might escalate him to the top position in the Republican ranks," he said. (Sounds exactly like the way the hawks think! -NJM)
Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois also drew Carter's criticism for refusing recently to pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of their first terms if they win the presidency in 2008.
"I disagree with their basic premise that we'll still be there; I think the American people want out," Carter said. "If there is an unforeseen development where Iraqi people request American presence over a period of time, I think that would possibly be acceptable, but that's not my personal preference."
CNN's Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.
*******
The article below details the little known truth regarding the Fascist Nazi interests of George W Bush's Grandfather, Prescott Bush, as he and others attempted to overthrow the US government in the 1930s in order to install a fascist dictatorship. This is important in order to understand the true motivations behind The Bush Family and why they need to be stopped.
http://republican.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3317707
Richard Gage presentation: "How the Towers Fell".
This is one of the most well presented, clear cut, honest and compelling presentations regarding evidence as to the Controlled Demolition of the World Trade Center. Please watch if you have any doubts that the Towers were taken down by explosives.
http://911blogger.com/node/10025
*******
Love (God) Calls to Love
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Religion has taught people, for so many centuries, that "understanding the Bible" is what spirituality is all about. But, in history, people who were "experts" at understanding and explaining the Bible have been pedophiles, thieves, liars, political manipulators, warriors, rapists, and murderers (such as those who murdered Jesus).
So, "understanding the Bible," or particular teachings, is not what true "Christianity" is all about.
No, instead, Christianity is about living with as much Love as possible. Jesus himself said that his true followers would be marked (identified) by only Love. (Jn. 13:34,35). Jesus was not an expert on the Bible; for our modern Bible did not even exist during his lifetime.
No, pleasing God is not about understanding everything, or even understanding many ideas, concepts, teachings, or doctrines. It is all about Love.
A very simple man (let us use the parable of a mentally arrested person) who truly showed kindness and gentleness to all, who did the very best that he knew how, but never picked up a Bible, would fare better at Judgment than A Bible-expert who was a "walking encyclopedia," but who did not "have time" for others.
God does not care if we learn much about dogmas and teachings. People are always arguing over the Bible precisely because it is not clear in these matters. If God really cared about intellectual teachings, he would have written a ten-volume encyclopedia, explaining everything.
God uses the earth, not a church, as our "school." The church should energize us to remember the holiness of Love, and it should encourage the activities of Love.
Every act of Love is an act of worship.
And there is no "small" act of Love.
All involve God, Who is Love.
God could not care less about our intellect or our beliefs. He cares about only our Love, and Jesus always encourages Love-- mostly, through non-judgment (never saying that any Soul has no good), and endless forgiveness.
To please God, you do not have to belong to the "right" church. Jesus and the apostles did not belong to any of the modern churches-- neither Catholic nor Protestant. They did not exist in those days. So, we must do what Jesus did-- according to our limited ability. We cannot cure the sick, but we can perform acts of loving-kindness everywhere that we go. Sometimes, a simple smile can change a whole day; sometimes, you can help by doing errands; sometimes, you can listen on the phone; sometimes, you can write emails or snailmails. A kind word can help a person through a tough day.
Every action of Love is an act of service to God.
The only Way to "love God" is to love human beings and other creatures.
God wants us to love ourselves and to help (aid, assist, give to) each other. Our world needs a billion acts of Love every day. It is better to lay a single brick than to dream of a thousand palaces. An act of Love is worth a thousand sermons. So, do something "small," some small acts of kindness, every day. For kindness is Love; kindness is true religion. Forget about all the complicated ideas of religion. They can be interesting, but, when they become a burden, drop them and lay them down. But never stop loving!
*******
Religion has taught people, for so many centuries, that "understanding the Bible" is what spirituality is all about. But, in history, people who were "experts" at understanding and explaining the Bible have been pedophiles, thieves, liars, political manipulators, warriors, rapists, and murderers (such as those who murdered Jesus).
So, "understanding the Bible," or particular teachings, is not what true "Christianity" is all about.
No, instead, Christianity is about living with as much Love as possible. Jesus himself said that his true followers would be marked (identified) by only Love. (Jn. 13:34,35). Jesus was not an expert on the Bible; for our modern Bible did not even exist during his lifetime.
No, pleasing God is not about understanding everything, or even understanding many ideas, concepts, teachings, or doctrines. It is all about Love.
A very simple man (let us use the parable of a mentally arrested person) who truly showed kindness and gentleness to all, who did the very best that he knew how, but never picked up a Bible, would fare better at Judgment than A Bible-expert who was a "walking encyclopedia," but who did not "have time" for others.
God does not care if we learn much about dogmas and teachings. People are always arguing over the Bible precisely because it is not clear in these matters. If God really cared about intellectual teachings, he would have written a ten-volume encyclopedia, explaining everything.
God uses the earth, not a church, as our "school." The church should energize us to remember the holiness of Love, and it should encourage the activities of Love.
Every act of Love is an act of worship.
And there is no "small" act of Love.
All involve God, Who is Love.
God could not care less about our intellect or our beliefs. He cares about only our Love, and Jesus always encourages Love-- mostly, through non-judgment (never saying that any Soul has no good), and endless forgiveness.
To please God, you do not have to belong to the "right" church. Jesus and the apostles did not belong to any of the modern churches-- neither Catholic nor Protestant. They did not exist in those days. So, we must do what Jesus did-- according to our limited ability. We cannot cure the sick, but we can perform acts of loving-kindness everywhere that we go. Sometimes, a simple smile can change a whole day; sometimes, you can help by doing errands; sometimes, you can listen on the phone; sometimes, you can write emails or snailmails. A kind word can help a person through a tough day.
Every action of Love is an act of service to God.
The only Way to "love God" is to love human beings and other creatures.
God wants us to love ourselves and to help (aid, assist, give to) each other. Our world needs a billion acts of Love every day. It is better to lay a single brick than to dream of a thousand palaces. An act of Love is worth a thousand sermons. So, do something "small," some small acts of kindness, every day. For kindness is Love; kindness is true religion. Forget about all the complicated ideas of religion. They can be interesting, but, when they become a burden, drop them and lay them down. But never stop loving!
*******
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Freelance Spirituality (Independence)
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You have made the smart and reasonable move, in avoiding entanglement in the cult called the "School of Metaphysics." Your Soul is very glad that you "missed a bullet."
Yes, it does seem that gurus are always trying to take sexual advantage of students. This is both deplorable and despicable, but it is also very powerfully human. So, our best bet is genuinely to forgive them, pray for them, and move on with our lives.
As you know so well, the path of the spiritual free-lancer is followed here. There is no "belonging" to any group, organized religion, cult, or denomination. It is attempted to be a Christian, but not only a "Christian." And this is not the historical, or orthodox, Christian, but a gnostic Christian. The path is that of the "Jesus-Christian."
There are still goodness and integrity in our world, my friend. If you look around, you can find them. But be careful to expect people-- even the best-- to be spiritual only, and not perfect. For all human beings are imperfect, rather poorly constructed by a very complex karma. But the truly "good" ones are those who are doing their honest best; no one can do more, and we dare not demand more!
*******
You have made the smart and reasonable move, in avoiding entanglement in the cult called the "School of Metaphysics." Your Soul is very glad that you "missed a bullet."
Yes, it does seem that gurus are always trying to take sexual advantage of students. This is both deplorable and despicable, but it is also very powerfully human. So, our best bet is genuinely to forgive them, pray for them, and move on with our lives.
As you know so well, the path of the spiritual free-lancer is followed here. There is no "belonging" to any group, organized religion, cult, or denomination. It is attempted to be a Christian, but not only a "Christian." And this is not the historical, or orthodox, Christian, but a gnostic Christian. The path is that of the "Jesus-Christian."
There are still goodness and integrity in our world, my friend. If you look around, you can find them. But be careful to expect people-- even the best-- to be spiritual only, and not perfect. For all human beings are imperfect, rather poorly constructed by a very complex karma. But the truly "good" ones are those who are doing their honest best; no one can do more, and we dare not demand more!
*******
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Gifts of the Spirit
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The Pentecostal Movement (including the "Assemblies of God") are very "charismatic." This means that they emphasize, much more than other denominations, the element called "charisma." In the Biblical sense, this word implies not a stimulating personality, but the supernormal, supernatural "gifts of the Spirit."
These include healing, speaking in tongues, prophecy, and other spiritual gifts.
In your note, you mention others:
1. saving, 2. sanctification, and 3. speaking in tongues.
Re the first, when it comes to salvation, no human being can ever "save" another. No church, cult, denomination, or teaching can ever "save" anyone. This is God's job, His responsibility, and His pleasure. All salvation -- bar none-- comes from grace only, and this is the Love that can come, and does come, from only God. No human being, no human church, can "give grace."
"Sanctification" means "making holy." This is a state that also comes from grace. A person is "sanctified" when she is forgiven from sins, and lives in a state of graceful purity. This does not occur because she works harder, or knows more, than others. It occurs in her heart because she has fully recognized herself as a sinner," and has cast herself upon the mercy of God. She surrenders entirely to His will. She is then forgiven by grace.
Speaking in tongues can occur because, in a past life, a person spoke another language. But, in a church-setting, it is seen as evidence of the blessing of the Holy Spirit. In some cases, it probably is; in others, it probably is not. This all depends upon the Presence of Love in all other areas of the person's life. This special gift is called "glossolalia," and can be either spiritual, a gift of grace, or paranormal (it has occurred in hypnosis and other non-religious contexts).
*******
The Pentecostal Movement (including the "Assemblies of God") are very "charismatic." This means that they emphasize, much more than other denominations, the element called "charisma." In the Biblical sense, this word implies not a stimulating personality, but the supernormal, supernatural "gifts of the Spirit."
These include healing, speaking in tongues, prophecy, and other spiritual gifts.
In your note, you mention others:
1. saving, 2. sanctification, and 3. speaking in tongues.
Re the first, when it comes to salvation, no human being can ever "save" another. No church, cult, denomination, or teaching can ever "save" anyone. This is God's job, His responsibility, and His pleasure. All salvation -- bar none-- comes from grace only, and this is the Love that can come, and does come, from only God. No human being, no human church, can "give grace."
"Sanctification" means "making holy." This is a state that also comes from grace. A person is "sanctified" when she is forgiven from sins, and lives in a state of graceful purity. This does not occur because she works harder, or knows more, than others. It occurs in her heart because she has fully recognized herself as a sinner," and has cast herself upon the mercy of God. She surrenders entirely to His will. She is then forgiven by grace.
Speaking in tongues can occur because, in a past life, a person spoke another language. But, in a church-setting, it is seen as evidence of the blessing of the Holy Spirit. In some cases, it probably is; in others, it probably is not. This all depends upon the Presence of Love in all other areas of the person's life. This special gift is called "glossolalia," and can be either spiritual, a gift of grace, or paranormal (it has occurred in hypnosis and other non-religious contexts).
*******
Monday, October 08, 2007
Safire and St. Francis
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I know that your world has been rocked by all the changes. If I may assist in any way,it is perhaps by pointing out and highlighting the Changeless and Immutable within you. This Lovemind has infinite opportunities to love, and just because a person removes himself temporarily from the Love-process does not have any effect on this great, immense, vast Lovemind.
It sounds as if you are in the full swing of psychospiritual recovery! That is excellent!:) Keep up the fine work!
Love keeps you as liberated as you can possibly be.:) Real Love never binds, but shatters the shackles and breaks the chains!
My friend Safire the llama has left our planet today. He left in utter tranquility and deep peace. This was an especially auspicious day to exit; did you know that October 5 is the Day of Brother St. Francis? (It was on this day, in 1988, that we legally changed our surname to "Francis," in honor of the beautiful man. But we found out only later that it was the special Day of the critterlover.)
*******
I know that your world has been rocked by all the changes. If I may assist in any way,it is perhaps by pointing out and highlighting the Changeless and Immutable within you. This Lovemind has infinite opportunities to love, and just because a person removes himself temporarily from the Love-process does not have any effect on this great, immense, vast Lovemind.
It sounds as if you are in the full swing of psychospiritual recovery! That is excellent!:) Keep up the fine work!
Love keeps you as liberated as you can possibly be.:) Real Love never binds, but shatters the shackles and breaks the chains!
My friend Safire the llama has left our planet today. He left in utter tranquility and deep peace. This was an especially auspicious day to exit; did you know that October 5 is the Day of Brother St. Francis? (It was on this day, in 1988, that we legally changed our surname to "Francis," in honor of the beautiful man. But we found out only later that it was the special Day of the critterlover.)
*******
The Evil Clown
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If Dr. Frank Burns, the notorious dysfunctional doc of M*A*S*H*, combined personalities with Alfred E. Newman, of Mad magazine fame, the result would be hilarious! It would be a clown of immense, hysterical proportions! But this kind of caricature, guiding the world's most powerful and destructive army, is not funny!
As a caricature of incompetence, george bush has transformed the world's most beautiful experiment in democracy into a hideous nightmare bristling with murder, torture, and ghastly weapons, including nuclear. America, the hope of the world, has become the horror of the world. This transformation occurred because the world's greatest, and only, superpower offensively and violently attacked a third-world country whose "soldiers" are often twelve-year-old boys!
And why? Bush tried to lie, and say that it was all about terrorism. But the entire world saw through this transparent tissue of lies. Everyone now knows that the war was always about oil-- getting an ocean of free oil because the U.S. "owned" the land under which it lay.
This naive and simplistic notion had bush and billionaire-buddies laughing and lapping up all the free oil that they wanted, and then, selling it for huge profits. But this occurred only in twisted imaginations. Their great, greedy dream never materialized.
Also, another real reason for this despicable war is that bush's father had a price on his head, threatened by Saddam due to the previous war. To accomplish their dark, evil task, bush and buddies were willing to sell out the environment. And they did, ignoring sound ecological laws that went back decades, and even reversing them, giving us all a blacker and bleaker world.
Today, it is not as easy to breathe in the U.S. as it was in twenty hundred. And Americans are suffering from bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma in record numbers-- a bonanza for bush's buddies in the pharmacology industry! For bush's pocketbook, ecological Armageddon is a win-win!
For this incompetent and sociopathic man suffers from the belief that he is Caesar or Napoleon, when in actuality, a village in Texas is missing its resident idiot! This one regime has done more damage than any of America's enemies. His war has been solely and singly responsible for the death of over three thousand American girls and boys, and for an estimated over one million Middle Eastern men, women, and children. Many young Americans have died, and will never again give anything to their country-- or to their horrified husbands, wives, or kids, still, and permanently, shell-shocked!
His "Shock and Awe" campaign, which rained down fire and terror from the skies, had the surrealistic feeling of a video-game being played by a madman. One has the compelling intuition that these dead and ruined Americans are just numbers in the "score-card" of bush's calculating, frigid mind. He refused even to attend the sad funerals of most.
Bush seems personally untouched by the death of thousands, or by the ruination of tens of thousands of irreversibly ruined American lives. (These were survivors who lost eyes, brains, arms, and legs.)
It is time that, as a people, we worked to restore America as a shining land of peace-- not the world's greatest terrorist organization or bloodiest "empire." It is time that we called murderous greed to task, recognizing that unleashed greed has terrible --often, irreversible-- consequences. It has already irrevocably ruined lives; and it threatens to ruin our planet.
*******
If Dr. Frank Burns, the notorious dysfunctional doc of M*A*S*H*, combined personalities with Alfred E. Newman, of Mad magazine fame, the result would be hilarious! It would be a clown of immense, hysterical proportions! But this kind of caricature, guiding the world's most powerful and destructive army, is not funny!
As a caricature of incompetence, george bush has transformed the world's most beautiful experiment in democracy into a hideous nightmare bristling with murder, torture, and ghastly weapons, including nuclear. America, the hope of the world, has become the horror of the world. This transformation occurred because the world's greatest, and only, superpower offensively and violently attacked a third-world country whose "soldiers" are often twelve-year-old boys!
And why? Bush tried to lie, and say that it was all about terrorism. But the entire world saw through this transparent tissue of lies. Everyone now knows that the war was always about oil-- getting an ocean of free oil because the U.S. "owned" the land under which it lay.
This naive and simplistic notion had bush and billionaire-buddies laughing and lapping up all the free oil that they wanted, and then, selling it for huge profits. But this occurred only in twisted imaginations. Their great, greedy dream never materialized.
Also, another real reason for this despicable war is that bush's father had a price on his head, threatened by Saddam due to the previous war. To accomplish their dark, evil task, bush and buddies were willing to sell out the environment. And they did, ignoring sound ecological laws that went back decades, and even reversing them, giving us all a blacker and bleaker world.
Today, it is not as easy to breathe in the U.S. as it was in twenty hundred. And Americans are suffering from bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma in record numbers-- a bonanza for bush's buddies in the pharmacology industry! For bush's pocketbook, ecological Armageddon is a win-win!
For this incompetent and sociopathic man suffers from the belief that he is Caesar or Napoleon, when in actuality, a village in Texas is missing its resident idiot! This one regime has done more damage than any of America's enemies. His war has been solely and singly responsible for the death of over three thousand American girls and boys, and for an estimated over one million Middle Eastern men, women, and children. Many young Americans have died, and will never again give anything to their country-- or to their horrified husbands, wives, or kids, still, and permanently, shell-shocked!
His "Shock and Awe" campaign, which rained down fire and terror from the skies, had the surrealistic feeling of a video-game being played by a madman. One has the compelling intuition that these dead and ruined Americans are just numbers in the "score-card" of bush's calculating, frigid mind. He refused even to attend the sad funerals of most.
Bush seems personally untouched by the death of thousands, or by the ruination of tens of thousands of irreversibly ruined American lives. (These were survivors who lost eyes, brains, arms, and legs.)
It is time that, as a people, we worked to restore America as a shining land of peace-- not the world's greatest terrorist organization or bloodiest "empire." It is time that we called murderous greed to task, recognizing that unleashed greed has terrible --often, irreversible-- consequences. It has already irrevocably ruined lives; and it threatens to ruin our planet.
*******
Energy- and Face-reading
*******
You can indeed learn the "feel" of negative energy; and, in time, you can cultivate this perception into an "early warning system" that is fairly accurate. (Perhaps no intuition is one hundred percent, but many are reliable. Some women, for example, famously saved themselves from mass-murderers because these guys just did not "feel right" to these fortunate ladies.) So, although we do not need to be dogmatic about the "rightness" of our intuitions, we can generally trust them, as they rise from a deeper level of mind.
The Chinese and native American wisdom agree that you can tell things about a person by reading her eyes, famously the "windows to the Soul." Native Americans say never to trust a person with "dead eyes."
And the Chinese have developed an entire system of "face-reading," called "physiognomy." One little tidbit that has proved true repeatedly in our experience: They say that you can never really trust a person with that little "butt" in the chin.:)
*******
You can indeed learn the "feel" of negative energy; and, in time, you can cultivate this perception into an "early warning system" that is fairly accurate. (Perhaps no intuition is one hundred percent, but many are reliable. Some women, for example, famously saved themselves from mass-murderers because these guys just did not "feel right" to these fortunate ladies.) So, although we do not need to be dogmatic about the "rightness" of our intuitions, we can generally trust them, as they rise from a deeper level of mind.
The Chinese and native American wisdom agree that you can tell things about a person by reading her eyes, famously the "windows to the Soul." Native Americans say never to trust a person with "dead eyes."
And the Chinese have developed an entire system of "face-reading," called "physiognomy." One little tidbit that has proved true repeatedly in our experience: They say that you can never really trust a person with that little "butt" in the chin.:)
*******
Correct Use of Words
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I have always known, as a parapsychological phenomenologist, the singular to be "phenomenon," and the plural, "phenomena." I believe that, outside of some rather extraordinary poetic or prosaic usages, this is still the rule that applies in ordinary (everyday) English writing.
Re the quotes at the end of sentences, I am aware that, literally, a period, for example, might not be technically a part of a quote. But for me, it looks, and feels, so much better to include the punctuation within the quotes. The jws teach that the Kingdom returned 'invisibly' in 1914." is somehow so much more satisfying than, "The jws teach that the kingdom returned 'invisibly' in 1914". With the period on the outside, it as if the sentence is hanging there, waiting to be wrapped up; no
closure. The inclusion of punctuation is general standard usage in many, if not most, books and articles.
I guess that this proves that we can't all, or always, be literalists!:) But my main pet peeve, since we are discussing correctness, is the virtually ubiquitous mispronunciation of "processes."
The word is simply pronounced "pros-esses," with a short "O," exactly as it looks. But there is this pseudo-intellectuallism that is quite popular that renders it "pros-eseez," as if it were pluralized in the same way as "crisis," "diagnosis," etc. The word does not fall into this category. This displays, not erudition, but ignorance.
Also, bitch number 2: If "2007" is a number (quantity), it is "two thousand seven." You can have "two thousand seven cars on a lot, and no one might know the year-models." For, as a date, 2007 is correctly read "twenty-oh-seven." How our grandchildren are going to get a good laugh out of this one!
Meanwhile, these traversities make a logophile grimace, and then laugh. Human communication is so very flawed at its best!
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I have always known, as a parapsychological phenomenologist, the singular to be "phenomenon," and the plural, "phenomena." I believe that, outside of some rather extraordinary poetic or prosaic usages, this is still the rule that applies in ordinary (everyday) English writing.
Re the quotes at the end of sentences, I am aware that, literally, a period, for example, might not be technically a part of a quote. But for me, it looks, and feels, so much better to include the punctuation within the quotes. The jws teach that the Kingdom returned 'invisibly' in 1914." is somehow so much more satisfying than, "The jws teach that the kingdom returned 'invisibly' in 1914". With the period on the outside, it as if the sentence is hanging there, waiting to be wrapped up; no
closure. The inclusion of punctuation is general standard usage in many, if not most, books and articles.
I guess that this proves that we can't all, or always, be literalists!:) But my main pet peeve, since we are discussing correctness, is the virtually ubiquitous mispronunciation of "processes."
The word is simply pronounced "pros-esses," with a short "O," exactly as it looks. But there is this pseudo-intellectuallism that is quite popular that renders it "pros-eseez," as if it were pluralized in the same way as "crisis," "diagnosis," etc. The word does not fall into this category. This displays, not erudition, but ignorance.
Also, bitch number 2: If "2007" is a number (quantity), it is "two thousand seven." You can have "two thousand seven cars on a lot, and no one might know the year-models." For, as a date, 2007 is correctly read "twenty-oh-seven." How our grandchildren are going to get a good laugh out of this one!
Meanwhile, these traversities make a logophile grimace, and then laugh. Human communication is so very flawed at its best!
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