Islamic decay,Holocaust,tolerance

“The creative output of the twenty or thirty million Muslims of the Abbasid era [750-1258] dwarfs the output of the nearly one-and-a-half billion Muslims of the modern era.” Per head, the income of the wealthiest Muslim country (the United Arab Emirates) is 200 times that of the poorest (Somalia)”

Ali Allawi’s new book is ‘

an “attempt to understand the factors behind the decay of the spirit of Islam”

read more HERE

Let us also remember that today is HOLOCAUST Remembrance Day….lest we forget.

and just in case some readers object (?!?) to these two items being in the same posting, just check out what religious co-operation,tolerance and understanding really is about:

“Sweden has a law, in force since 2001, covering the practice of circumcision on boys up to 18-years-old. The procedure should normally be conducted with pain relievers by a doctor, nurse or private person holding a special licence from the health and welfare board.
Stockholm County Council does not currently offer the operation within the public healthcare system and parents are referred to private clinics where demand is high, reports Dagens Nyheter.
The newspaper reports that since the man lost his licence there are no longer any people within the Muslim community who are licensed to carry out the practice.
Many Muslims therefore approach Jewish practitioners to circumcise their male offspring.”

progressive momentum

“We must learn from history. But we can't be trapped by it."

Pres. Barack Obama

elastic band philosophy

The End of Philosophy

 

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: April 6, 2009

Socrates talked. The assumption behind his approach to philosophy, and the approaches of millions of people since, is that moral thinking is mostly a matter of reason and deliberation: Think through moral problems. Find a just principle. Apply it.

David Brooks

One problem with this kind of approach to morality, as Michael Gazzaniga writes in his 2008 book, “Human,” is that “it has been hard to find any correlation between moral reasoning and proactive moral behavior, such as helping other people. In fact, in most studies, none has been found.”

Full article HERE

An interesting article for those who feel their 'intellect' rules their life and 'judgement making processes'

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There is nothing HID; that shall not be known

Luke 12.2

The founder of a Roman Catholic religious order that ran retreat centers for troubled priests warned American bishops in forceful letters dating back to 1952 that pedophiles should be removed from the priesthood because they could not be cured.

The Rev. Gerald M. C. Fitzgerald, founder of the order, Servants of the Paraclete, delivered the same advice in person to Vatican officials in Rome in 1962 and to Pope Paul VI a year later, according to the letters, which were unsealed by a judge in the course of litigation against the church.

The documents contradict the most consistent defense given by bishops about the sexual abuse scandal: that they were unaware until recently that offenders could not be rehabilitated and returned ‘ to the ministry.

full article here

So there we have it! ‘Big tobacco’ said smoking was not harmful to health.

’Big religion said ……..’ehem, we didn’t know*

Ah well, business is business, huh?

I wonder if there are any millstone manufacturers out there willing to talk discounts? Oh, stupid of me, in the supply/demand equation you don’t discount when demand is high do you?

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‘Broken hearts do mend’

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read more here

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sow the seeds.....

A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.

Leo F. Buscaglia

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Transcending tragedy

The jet crashed into Dong Yun Yoon's house, killing his wife, his two young children and his mother-in-law. An unoccupied house was also destroyed.

Days after the incident, Yoon said he did not blame the pilot.

"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," Yoon said. "I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could".

Full story HERE

Sometimes the loving ability of the human spirit to overcome even the harshest tragedies,or show compassion when you are the one that is really suffering, sometimes.......it is a statement of the highest manifestation of lovingness

Morals: the one thing markets don't make

No amount of regulation will restore our sense of honour and shame. Economics needs ethics

Markets need morals, and morals are not made by markets.

They are made by schools, the media, custom, tradition, religious leaders, moral role models and the influence of people. But when religion loses its voice and the media worship success, when right and wrong become relativised and morality is condemned as “judgmental”, when people lose all sense of honour and shame and there is nothing they won't do if they can get away with it, no regulation will save us. People will outwit the regulators, as they did by the securitisation of risk so no one knew who owed what to whom.

The big question is: how do we learn to be moral again? Markets were made to serve us; we were not made to serve markets. Economics needs ethics. Markets do not survive by market forces alone. They depend on respect for the people affected by our decisions. Lose that and we lose not just money and jobs but something more significant still: freedom, trust and decency, the things that have a value, not a price.

FULL Timesonline article

Sir Jonathan Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

50 years - and still no condemnation

Happy Holi - colourful smiles

Holi - the Indian Hindu festival of colour

The power of self

"One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am."

Michelle Obama

(seen here serving in a food kitchen for the homeless,courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com)

Sun worship.......?

In 2002, the sun gave to the earth more energy in one hour than the world used in one year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy

This,apparently, is the statistic (much quoted at this time) that highlights another aspect of One-ness.  As the 'one-ness reality' keeps demonstrating, it's all around us all the time. We are always and in all ways surrounded by unconditional lovingness that is expressed within this 'process of the pathway reality' in thoroughly practical terms.

As we begin to fully understand/grasp this, so we 'fall in love' with the lovingness and realise that it's not what we have that matters (or is matter?), it is how we utilise what we have that articulates who we are at any moment in existing.

gg

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Dancing, Loving, Islam

"Islam came to this part of the world (Pakistan)through Sufism," says Ayeda Naqvi, a teacher of Islamic mysticism who's taking part in the chanting.

"It was Sufis who came and spread the religious message of love and harmony and beauty, there were no swords, it was very different from the sharp edged Islam of the Middle East.

"And you can't separate it from our culture, it's in our music, it's in our folklore, it's in our architecture. We are a Sufi country, and yet there's a struggle in Pakistan right now for the soul of Islam."

Sufism is a mixture of music, chanting and meditation

That struggle is between Sufism and hard-line Wahabism, the religion of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

"Wahabism is a tribal form of Islam coming from the desert sands of Saudi Arabia," he says. "This may be very attractive to the tribes in the frontier, but it will never find resonance in the established societies of Pakistan." Full article can be found HERE.

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del.icio.us Tags: Sufi,Wahabi,Taleban,Islam

Gardening is a generally peaceful and 'soul-refreshing' activity. Indeed,recent reports indicate clearly beneficial aspects through 'contact with nature activities'. It's so specialised today that you can be 95% certain of the description.quality,and attributes of the seeds available to plant. Clearly, what you sow is what you reap!

It seems also to be the case with religions,though most would prefer that we ignored the 'original seed bank' from which their own religion,sect,group,sprouted

An interesting development this week in the Swat area of Pakistan, insurgency and jihadist terrorist action over many years has now delivered what the terrorists say they were fighting for : the institution of Islamic Sharia Law. Huh? You kill,maim,behead,throw acid at schoolgirls,burn schools, bomb....and this so you can have a rule of Sharia law? From these seeds shall grow....what??

Over the weekend I watched another interesting scenario, the film 'September Dawn' is the account of the massacre of 120 men,women and children on a wagon train travelling through Utah to California . Nothing new in that - until you go HERE - or watch the film and find that it was the Mormons who carried out the massacre of inncocent men women and children

Watching the film 'The Mission' does not exactly inspire one with trust in the Roman Catholic/Christian church.

Indeed one can go back through all of history and find that religions have been used continuously to justify actions that were,and are,far from any reasonable,normal,healthy,adult (or perhaps better,childlike), compassionate or loving concepts of God.

Well it is said,' by their fruits you will know them'.

As can clearly be seen by the mountains of commentaries and interpretations of 'ancient texts,books,writings', mankind clearly possesses a staggering ability to construct concept upon concept.

As these concept 'house of cards' structures evolve,pyramid-like in their organisation (usually with a poor-little-rich-man at the top who knows best in every circumstance) we begin to see a more refined and sophisticated ability to not only construct concepts, but to have concepts that by all reasonable standards actually contradict the original text/writings. This feat of intellectual gymnastics would normally be called 'lying' except for the very sad aspect that those involved have so totally convinced themselves it is a truth that retreat from this position is akin to total mental collapse/exhaustion.

To challenge the misrepresentations or misinterpretations is only to invoke a storm of indignant,often violent and certainly unjustified anger. Even allowing a margin that perceptions of truth can often be somewhat subjective, there are certain standards of truth which command respect. For example, it was Gandhi who once said "even if you are the minority of one, the truth is still the truth".Yet the context of this statement was a clearly demonstrable wrong that was being challenged in a lovingly peaceful non-violent way.

It is only to wait. Be patient.

Falsehood is a tree that grows which blossoms very quickly and whose fruits soon become a very heavy burden.

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del.icio.us Tags: Tree,hypocrisy,manipulation

Fragmented conceptualisation

It's an amazing age in which we live. You can travel the world and certain standard 'constants' are visible.A universal desire for peace, food, shelter, health is clearly visible

Also visible and audible are the sounds and sights of modern technological communications that give rise to what is euphemistically called 'multi-tasking'

Mobile phones,portable PC's,MP3 player,personal 'soundcentres' all are clearly apparent.

So an interesting article in Newsweek discusses the effect of these 'interruptive' episodes upon brain and cognitive function. You can read it here:http://www.newsweek.com/id/183719/page/1

Perhaps this is why meditation techniques have grown in popularity and useage. Creative,inventive thought patterns require some 'quality time' for concentration.

Perhaps one reason that some people declare themselves unable to enter a state of One-ness is explained by the fact of a lack of a 'concentration centre' in their life.

Focusing on the wonders of One-ness is NOT to be removed from reality but rather it is to allow reality to absorb the self - uninterrupted.

Need of a picture

This blog is in desperate need of a picture right now

This one is part of a series I call 'Frostflowers' taken within 200 metres of my home. If you want you can view the rest of the series HERE  as part of a MONSTER gallery of 840 pictures.

I have never seen Frostflowers before,nor since.

All this beauty that surrounds us,all the time,always changing........

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longevity

People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live... [We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born. letter to Otto Juliusburger

Albert Einstein

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del.icio.us Tags: einstein