Empty

The Smashing Pumpkins say: "God is Empty, just like me"

To use an analogy from another band (the Grateful Dead), I'm a "box of rain"
I've got blood and guts and gristle and bone in there, along with a few items of idealogical content, such as

M.T. =empty or Margaret Teshara
During meditation, you can seek to be empty, just like Billy Corrigan
I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle here is my spout when you tip me over, tea comes out. something something something...

The vampires have bled us dry
The mosquitoes have sucked us empty
the leaches
Replenish and refuel and refill
the cup
the glass
runneth over
with more leftover to give to others

ah, bloody hell
bloody likely
carnivorous thirst
eat my body and drink my blood, this is the cup of the new and everlasting covenant...
said heyzeus, the L or D (life or death), christ (annointed with oil)
I'm sorry but transubstantiation is a joke
anyone with half a brain knows
a brain half-full, and half empty
a meathead, if you ceso

Indict Bush Now

1)George w. Bush is responsible for the deaths of more than a million people in Iraq
(and many more injuries)

and
2)for five million Iraqis who were driven from their homes and made into refugees
and
3)for the 45oo plus U.S. soldiers who lost their lives
and
4)for the tens of thousands more who became injured.
and
5)He lied to congress and the people.
6)He ordered warrantless wiretaps and spying on the american people
7)Defying the Geneva Conventions, he set up secret torture centers and prisons around the world.
8)He bankrupted the country by spending over a trillion dollars on the Iraq war.

that's the case, according to an email I got from indictbushnow.org, although I heard Dubya on TV, seeming kindly and good-natured, describing how he thinks the world is better off without Saddam in power, which is probably true. Who can say, really. I think the world is better off without Bush in power, I'll tell you that, though.

Nuclear Adoption

I AM...adopted
and it's all good

Speaking of Nuclear (from nuclear family), why can't Barack and Medvedev/Putin agree to eliminate each countries' nuclear stockpiles, instead of just reducing them and agreeing to inspections. It's just silly and stupid. We both have no intention of using them, so wtf??

Come on, fellas. Wake up.

Being and Nothingness

God on existentialism

I've read Sartre's Nausea and L'estranger (the stranger) by Albert Camus.

Time is eternal, going both forward and back, which makes us even less than blip in the history of the universe. I believe there was an eternity of time before the big bang, and there will be an eternity of time after all of us are dead. How can anything have meaning in a context like this?

And space... We are the smallest of small in an incomprehensible vast. The known universe is just speck in an even greater Vast.

We are just animals, the product of evolution, who arose from matter, and remain just matter, if you dare to see it that way. We have thumbs and brains and vocal chords that permit us a great culture, and we have books that create worlds for us, including religious works that tell us we are more special and unique than we really are. I believe we each have the same claim on life as an ant, or even a spider, however repulsive we may find them.

This could be interpreted as a free ticket to act any way you like...you only live once, and people are just like bugs, which we squash without compunction. I actually can't refute this. Only that love is purported to be omnipotent, and there's this concept of hell lurking out there as a potential eternally painful punishment. There are these pesky things called neurons, protecting our fragile bodies, that unfortunately give us pain upon injury. But no God would be that evil, of course. Neurons die at death, too. We just have to do unto others as we would have them do to us, unless other people would prefer it otherwise.
(that's my addendum to the golden rule)

Absurdity is in the bible. All is vanity (translated as frustration, futility, nonsense, or absurdity). Being good is supposed to be it's own reward. Why be good for heaven? You don't have a soul to go there, and your body will decay to dust, so it's just fodder for your imagination that I wouldn't give very much weight to, besides having something to wonder about and look forward to upon one's death.

Did you know that we are mostly empty space? 99.999999999999 % of us empty. that's point with twelve nines. We barely exist. So oblivion isn't really much difference from the current state of affairs. But that's not how we experience ourselves.

"Go out to love and serve the lord", as the priests say at the end of Catholic mass.
or
"You know what your problem is? You need to get more fun out of life", as Hannibal Lecter said in Silence of the Lambs.

I would point out that these are not incompatible. Go out to love and serve Hannibal Lector. (don't worry, he doesn't exist either)

:-)

My Boys

Marcel and Oliver, our French bulldogs

Ahimsa

It's a policy of non-violence to sentient beings

I heard in high school that plants can react to music. I'll have to research this. Are plants sentient? If so, then maybe I can still eat meat, which I really like. I mean, if whatever I eat is sentient, anyway, then it doesn't matter. Maybe eating is inherently bad on some level. Well, my body will be eaten, too (after I die). What goes around, comes around. Hate is like H ate. H is the eighth letter. God sums to 8 (764). So God ate. ate sums to 8, too (125). Why is the world so damned weird? There's obviously a lot going on under the surface of things, like words. To hate god, we eat him (in an act of reverence, perhaps, called communion, which also evokes cum union, or sex). Ah, nuts.

I guess I should stop killing bugs, too -like the Jains.
Maybe all matter itself is sentient. So do what thou wilt.
I don't think so, though. That would be too much pain.

Philosophy of Religion

I just read a lot of it (the link I provide on the right), and here's what I think:

let it be said that I am agnostic on both my own Godhood and the Godhood of any other, external, being or Being.

Agnostic (a, not. gnostic, knowing) means 3 things
1) that evidence both for or against the existence of God doesn't wash, or
2) the evidence can't be found/known,
3)or is equal -that is, balances- the evidence of Atheism with Theism.

I subscribe to #3. Arguments for both are equally convincing.

But I believe love exists.
I believe anyone can play the role
I believe in goodness (and the good book says only God is good)
I heard a physicist on TV say that it is possible to create a universe.

but there's a lot of other stuff that gets attributed to God, that I think is ridiculous: namely, the Omni's: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence (in time/space), and omni-benevelence.
That seems to be basic to most people's conception; i.e. infinite power, knowledge, and love. I just picture God as being human with the maximum amount of power and influence to lead and change the world. The power to kill is omnipotence, and I'm not about that at all. We need to say God is omnipotent to intimidate the haters. We need to believe in infinite love to overcome adversity.

God is different things to different people. The definition may not even be clear to the people who believe in Him. The logic, I'm saying, can be fuzzy.

But I don't know. Maybe. Maybe anyone's conception is true. I don't know. Why not.

There's virtual reality and objective reality. An operative concept in your head is true for you, but may not be objectively there, in reality. In other words, it can be a delusion.

I agree with Freud that religion can be a response to feelings of helplessness and guilt. We need security and forgiveness. In the face of uncertainty, we resort to imploring a higher power for safety. And we fear death, so the prospect of heaven is a powerful pull. And it's a meme that has staying power, because people survive better in communities that help each other out.

I'm God because I want to instill a morality that will help a world mired in anger, hate, violence, war, disrespect for life, poverty, disease, and sadness. I want to be good. I want to make a difference. That about sums it up.

I'm pro-life, but I don't like it's affiliation with either the Republican party, or religions and religious belief. I'm a democrat, and prefer the secular point of view. But everyone needs love in their lives. That's religion. And 'Be Good' and 'Be nice to others' and 'love one another' and 'kindness is my religion.'

I have a presumption of atheism. I'm agnostic because you can never really know. And I'm a theist because I can embody God myself; i.e. step up and play the role. Be kind, compassionate, and loving. And I'm not alone. I think everybody claims their own authority for their moralities and preferences. People are their own Gods and they don't even know it.

I agree that it is more economical to postulate the existence of any number of finite beings than to postulate the existence of one infinite One. That sentence is taken straight out of the Improbability of God section. This is what I see- lots of individuals, with their own experiences and opinions. Richard Swinburne says that an infinite being is the most probable kind of being. I think this is laughably ludicrous. Does he have ANY idea what infinite means?? Remember what I called the 'jest'. Infinite space goes on FOREVER. It 's not clear what he could possibly signify by an 'infinite being'. I just say, yeah, whatever.

I've been atheist because of the problem of evil, in the past. But I can see the alternative; namely, that God gives us free will to choose evil, so that we can learn from our mistakes and become closer to God; i.e. become more loving. Slaves or automatons to a universal theistic morality wouldn't be much fun at all. (Being bad can be fun, too. Bad can be good, in a way, or sometimes.) We have long lives ahead of us and we need to keep things interesting. Actually, we have free will whether God gives it to us or not, but that's just a fun way of stating it. Fate exists, in that we all are destined to die. So live life how you want, you only live once.

Religion is fun. Clapping hands, dreaming up sermons, keeping the dark side in check. Let there be light!

Happiness Tip

Minimize the wandering of your mind

article link

:-)

Good Stuff

It's 'Adoption Month' !

Other good stuff is:

-the Fetzer institute, http://www.fetzer.org/

http://www.values.com/

-cnn's annual 'heroes'

I liked today's news of Barack and Michelle dancing with some Indian schoolchildren, too.

The Jewish Bible and Buddhist psychology

I just finished the Yale open-courseware class (which I have a link to on the right) on the Old Testament, taught by Christine Hayes.

I'm current, also, with the Psychology 107 (Buddhist psych) at Berkeley being taught this very semester by Eleanor H. Rosch (which you can link to through the 'cal' link on the right).

PLUS, I'm reading Middlemarch, by George Elliot, hailed by one reviewer on the cover as possibly the best book in the english language.

some info from the Buddhism lectures:
-there's a Buddhist bookstore in Berkeley on Channing and Fulton
-the hyper-sensitive (in terms of empathy) frequently withdraw, according to research by Nancy Eisenberg
plus,
-caregivers experience burnout, and
-psychologically, there's what is known as 'compassion fatigue'

There's the biblical maxim 'faith without works is dead'
(so maybe I'm not setting the best example)
It seems I, and many others, need the right kind of motivation to start, and continue, making the world a better place.

A book I read fairly recently was What is the What? about Sudan.
horrifying, edifying, and well-written.

There's a temptation for God to become an assassin of evil men, for surely
reality requires the stick as well as the carrot
to encourage moral behavior.

The rewards of compassion and kindness are the only legal way, of course.

Happy Samhain

oh, and Halloween and All Saints Day and Day of the Dead


I'm not turning the porch light on because I ate all our candy.
Sorry, kids.

God is a man of war

One of the stated missions/purposes of our military is to prevent war, I've recently learned

And that's why God is all about peace.
Pop! (prince of peace)
I have been fairly hard on the military, saying I hate them, so all apologies

But seriously, can't we just -as a planet- agree to cease having militaries?
Why not disarm everybody?
Is this really so foreign to human nature?
Can't we all just get along?

maybe not, but I still think we should just treat all violence as crime, to be dealt with by a world police force. And all violence should be in the form of boxing/martial arts/wrestling (BMW), without weapons and with an agreed upon set of rules.

Actually, upon second thought, that would put a lot of people at a disadvantage to the martial artists. Guns are the great equalizer. I want to say everyone should own a gun, but that doesn't seem right, either. I guess the laws we have make the best of the situation; I dunno.
peace, out -J

Heroin and God

Godsmack

GOD was an Australian band, and Love was a 60's/early 70's American band

Both bands suffered from heroin addictions amongst their members.
I don't know about Godsmack, though

"It's my wife, and it's my life" -Lou Reed (Velvet Underground)

hero win! (beat the addiction)
Stay at the Hair Row Inne. Okay, now I'm just being stupid.

Alice in Chains has a song called 'God Smack' on their album, Dirt

Congratulations, Newlyweds!

Pat Brown and Ron Hall, today (9/25) at 4:00 p.m.

Here's a little something I thought of:

Ron is the brightest star in Pat's sky
As to Ron, oh my
Astronomy

I suppose Emily Dickinson is better.
Go to http://www.bartleby.com/, select Dickinson, then Part Three (Love), then poem 16
(I tried to cut and paste, but was unable)

May your lives be harmonious together, full of joy, happiness, and pleasantry!
(Pat is my mother-in-law)

Pat & Ron belong together:
Patron (of a library, or of the arts)
and Patron (alcohol)

Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God

cause I'd really like to meet her
cause I'm on my way to see her

-Dishwalla

She hates doing dishes, as a matter of fact.

'cause I wanna be someone who believes
-Counting Crows (Mr. Jones)
J 1 s

Teshara (as earth, the Sara, has tear)

On "Veil"

Some research and links regarding Veils

I do this to put the name of the store where Sara works (The Veil Between Heaven and Earth) in religious and cultural context. The store is opening soon in Berkeley, Ca.
I hope I get this right.

Veil anagrams to Live, but also to
Vile or Evil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil
(interesting side note: paroheth anagrams to 'hero path')

Islamic veils graphic: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/europe_muslim_veils/html/1.stm

The 7 bible passages that came up from biblelookup.com are:
Mat 27:51, Mar 15:38, Luk 23:45 ("The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst")

(A literal "rip" when Jesus rested in peace. Interesting..)

and Heb 6:18-19
"On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law brought nothing to perfection; on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God." (New American Bible)

which was earlier translated as:
"hope, which is the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil."

Veil is also used in Hebrews 9:3 (my birthday), and Hebrews 10:20 (my first initials).
9:3
And after the 2nd veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
10:20
By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

There you have it: veil means "flesh."

As to "Heavens and Earth", I submit to you: heavens is plural, meaning all the pleasant places in the universe where beings are happy. The earth can be one of those heavens. It can be a heaven. With basic needs met, and peace, security, health, comfort, love.. (or maybe I should say a buddhist attitude of no attachments, cravings, or aversions) presto, change-o: shambala.

peace, out.
here's a weird link: http://www.pbministries.org/ , enter 'Exodus 43' in the search box.

AND, for your amusement...
an anagram for 'The Veil Between Heaven and Earth" is:
Invented Whenever Hateable Hate

God is a Feeling

God is love, and love is...

1.a profoundly tender, affectionate feeling for another person
(some definitions use the word 'intense' feeling of affection)
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend
3.sexual passion or desire
4.a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person, sweetheart

There are 14 total definitions at dictionary.com, but I think these 4 more should suffice:

9. affectionate concern for the well being of others; the love of one's neighbor
10. strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything; a love of reading books
11.the object or thing so liked; the theater was her great love
12.the benevolent affection of god for his creatures; or the reverent affection due from them to god.

play "gut feeling" by Devo on http://www.grooveshark.com/ for my personal soundtrack.
I'm not sure about the lyrics- but I like the energy.
I couldn't find the Beatles' "I've got a feeling" there, unfortunately.

What I am doing

I've been listening to music, reading, and celebrating

http://www.gdradio.net/ has streaming grateful dead music, which I like

I have a plan to read all 1001 recommended books from 'Books You Must Read Before You Die' in 3 years, so my online output is probably going to be minimal.

I just turned 39 on 9/3. Happy Birthday to me!

I am excited about a new age bookstore opening in Berkeley just off campus, on Euclid: The Veil between Heaven and Earth, where my wife will be working, as well as psychics. Sara has dabbled in runes, astrology, aromatherapy, tarot, buddhism, etc. and was told she is psychic around water.. She's an Aquarius. Her mom has a singing bowl and pendulum, and is getting remarried soon.

TV b/w H&E, lol

tangent
I'm not the biggest fan of TV, as you may know already, but I do like how it brings music, though, now, via cable/satellite. In Lake County, there was a tv Grateful Dead station, but not now in Roseville.

Anyway, The Veil sounds like something that I remember was 'rent', from some bible quote. I don't exactly remember it or the circumstances, though. Maybe I'm completely off, lol.

I've been looking at the catalog for Inner Traditions, a source of spirituality books, and it's got some weird stuff in it, like:
-Shambhala is the realization of the long-awaited paradise on earth..

-Reality is All the God There Is, by Avatar Adi Da Samraj

-Hara, the Vital Center of Man; (according to zen masters, by adopting a belly-centered posture and correct breathing, one can culivate inner tranquility and balance: the state called Hara..)

-Shiva, God of All Gods, worshipped for his ability to balance masculine and feminine energies, dances the joy of being and the dance of doom, always breaking through the false ego to reveal the true self within.

-one can obtain immortality through the 3 treasures of Taoism, ching (sexual and physical energy), qi (breath and vital energy), and shen (spirit and mental energy)

-The Naga Baba are an ancient and wild order of naked sadhus who are called the "hell's angels of Indian spirituality"

-"Master Li Ching-yun is reliably chronicled to have lived more than 250 years.."

Different books say there are 5 elements, 8 psychic channels, 9 emotions, 6 healing sounds, and 3 simple paths in the tao of no stress.

Here's a TOTO love quote: Hold the line. Love isn't always on time!

Hubris

What gumption, right?

Seriously, folks- we're all God
'hubris' definition: wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excessive pride or from passion.

I've got passion, but I'm not insolent or arrogant, no?

Definition of a Vampire

I wrote this, back when I was into vampires

Vampire
blood-sucking foul demon of the night, fanged fiend of the dominion of darkness, satan's minion, lord lucifer's lapdog, the devil's depraved demon of death and darkness, creature of the night, beelzebub's beastly brethren, monster of madness, evil enemy of everyone, hateful hound of hell, ruthless unstoppable merciless killing machine, immortal judge of the unworthy, vicious vanquisher of vapid victims, on the prowl for a gal pal, death incarnate, savage satanic slaughterer of souls, rotten revenant of wrath, crafty cruel craven killer.

kind of funny, I think

Good Books with God in the title

From 2 books of 'best reads'

I read '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'. Here's the (16) ones from that list that have God in the title:

-Arrow of God, by Chinua Achebe
-On Love, Alain de Botton
-A World of Love, Elizabeth Bowen
-The Lover, Marguerite Duras
-City of God, E.L. Doctorow
-Loving, Henry Green
-Love in Excess, Eliza Haywood
-Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence
-The Apes of God, Wyndham Lewis
-Love in the time of cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
-Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
-The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford
-Love's Work, Gillian Rose
-The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
-God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace

I have a list of other recommended books from a source whose title I didn't keep...
Anyway, here are the (35 more) book titles:

-Altered Loves
-Are you there God, it's me Margaret
-The Art Lover
-Beloved
-Brotherly Love
-Child of God
-Dale Loves Sophie to Death
-Geek Love
-God's Pocket
-God's Snake
-The Good Mother
-Good News About the Earth
-Good News from Outerspace
-Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
-Good Times
-Kitchen God's Wife
-The Last Good Kiss
-Love in the Ruins
-Love is Strange
-Love Medicine
-Love Nor Money
-Lovingkindness
-Man who Loved Children
-A mother's Love
-Mother Love
-Nothin' but Good Times Ahead
-Pangs of Love
-The Republic of Love
-The Savage God
-So Far from God
-Surpassing the Love of Men
-Their Eyes were watching God
-The Volcano Lover
-What we talk about when we talk about love
-Women in Love

Virgin birth

I think I've got it figured out

Heard of sleepwalking? Well, there's also sleepsex.

If BOTH partners had sex while they were asleep, well there you have it.
Pretty unlikely, I'll give you that.
With God, all things are possible, lol.
God is all about mind control.

Some (more) good quotes

17 quotes (from my Godfather's 2009 calendar)

-"The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work." -Oprah Winfrey

-It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -J.K. Rowling

-We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. -MLK, jr.

-Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.-Bill Gates

-It's not enough we do our best; sometimes we have to do what is required. -Sir Winston Churchill

-I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with freedom. -Bob Dylan

-There's more than one way to look at a problem, and they may all be right. -Norman Schwarzkopf

-Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. -Lou Holtz

-To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will -Sugar Ray Robinson

-Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence. -Will Henry

-Keep high aspirations, moderate expectations, and small needs. -H Stein

-Failure is an event, never a person. -William Brown

-Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. -Satchel Page

-The most important political office is that of the private citizen. -Louis Brandeis

-Forget injuries; never forget kindnesses -Confucius

-A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. -William Arthur Ward

-Your expression is the most important thing you can wear. -Sid Ascher

Christ set a bad example

According to the Relaxation and Stress Workbook...

Irrational Idea number 8 is:
-You need something other or stronger or greater than yourself to rely on.
It goes on to say,
This belief becomes a psychological trap in which your independent judgement, and the awareness of your particular needs are undermined by a reliance on higher authority.

Plus, you don't want to suffer for other people's sins.
Passion should be full of ecstasy and loving emotion, and nothing like being nailed to a cross.
Right??

The other (20) irrational ideas are:
-It is an absolute necessity for an adult to have love and approval from peers, family and friends.

-You must be unfailingly competent and almost perfect in all you undertake.

-Certain people are evil, wicked, and villainous, and should be punished.

-It is horrible when people and things are not the way you would like them to be.

-External events cause most human misery- people simply react as events trigger their emotions.

-You should feel fear or anxiety about anything that is unknown, uncertain, or potentially dangerous.

-It is easier to avoid than to face life difficulties and responsibilities.

-The past has a lot to do with determining the present

-Happiness can be achieved by inaction, passivity and endless leisure.

-You are helpless and have no control over what you experience or feel.

-People are fragile and should never be hurt.

-Good relationships are based on mutual sacrifice and a focus on giving.

-If you don't go to great lengths to please others, they will abandon or reject you.

-When people disapprive of you, it invariably means you are wrong or bad.

-Happiness, pleasure and fulfillment can only occur in the presence of others, and being alone is horrible.

-There is perfect love, and a perfect relationship

-You shouldn't have to feel pain, you are entitled to a good life.

-Your worth as a person depends on how much you achieve and produce.

-Anger is automatically bad and destructive.

-It is bad or wrong to be selfish.

G-D

Green Day

Sunday is of course yellow, so Monday is Green, Tuesday blue, Wednesday violet, Thursday red, Friday orange, Saturday whatever (white, black, grey?).

There's also Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days. Grateful Dead. Gray Davis. And Guns-Drugs.
God can be lots of things. G'day, mate. Gandolf, General Disarray, Genetic Drift, the Great Demon, Gadolinium, the Gangster's Disciples, General Dynamics, the Great Depression...
Game of Death, Good ol' days.

There's a Gods, God's Lake, and God's River in Canada. And a Ghod in India.

In South Korea, there's two G-D's: Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do.

Begin Being

The same letters, for a reason

Startup you're godhood, I say, right away.
"Big up yo'self" as Ali G might say.

Too bad about the loveparade tragedy, in Germany.
They say it's cancelled, now.
Since God is love, start a godparade.

Pro and Con

God is for good: happiness, comfort, love
and
against bad: suffering, poverty, evil, war, ignorance, illness

Truth is good. Only God is good.
but, suppose:
There is no God. Therefore, there is no good. Everything is a lie.
how bout that.

om
First, identify what (factors) leads to happiness, and what leads to suffering; then cultivate and eliminate. That is the way, according to the dalai.

The Berkeley Bills

Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, that is

each gave a talk to the UC Berkeley community, which I conveniently provide links to as follows:

Clinton: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/wp/wp/2010/02/24/president-clinton-live-webcast/

Gates: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?seriesid=075f2f0f-71d0-4c37-8af9-b2d044afa8e6&p=1&ipp=15&category=

BILL =2933=8

Ron Haviv

I just watched 'Ron Haviv: Freelance' on the Documentary Channel

He's a war photographer, a World Press Award winner.

It's SO sad what happens..
And what happened. In places like Somalia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Vietnam, etc.

The main thing I took from the documentary is the description of what it's like for him to return to American society and how he feels like a misfit because of people complaining about relatively incredibly stupid problems, in a world full of gossip. I would add the obsession with celebrity culture is also incredibly retarded in the face of Reality with a capital R in which the most important topics are swept under the rug and forgotten.

A commentator in the movie says war photographers are compelled to return to these situations to find 'something', and will do so until they find it or they die, whichever comes first.

I already wrote about James Nachtway.
One of Ron Haviv's websites is http://www.photoarts.com/haviv/bloodandhoney/

I hate the military. I hate all of them. I hate war. I don't care if the US commands its forces under the title 'Department of Defense.' War is offensive, period. God is a man of war, but only the psy war against war in the first place. You dig?

To appreciate peace, it's unfortunate that we have to vicariously experience war through war photographers, who sometimes pay too high a price for their moral ventures.

MJ

Michael Jackson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan

I'm dating myself.
Anyway, now that a year has passed since the gloved one's passing, I thought I'd mention that he has a song called:

I am love

which, of course, should be mentioned in a blog like this.
enter it www.grooveshark.com

Evil Personified

Satan, Mephistopheles, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Antichrist, Devil
Jinn, Eblis, Azazel

People reason that if good is personified as God,
then evil must likewise be personified.

I enjoy The Rolling Stones' -Sympathy for the Devil

Just as every cop is a criminal
and ALL the sinners saints..

I go a little further..
We all wield unbelievable power
but most of us don't know it.

do a good turn daily
it is better to do nothing than to do evil

Hi. God, here.

Update on my life

I'm currently reading Witnessed, by Budd Hopkins

My other library book is The Demon-haunted world, by Carl Sagan.

Witnessed is about a 1989 ufo abduction, that occurred brazenly near Brooklyn Bridge around 3:15 a.m., and the aftermath for it's viewers and participants. I think Carl Sagan didn't believe in ufo's, which should make for an interesting contrast.

I went to a SBC (Southern Baptist Church) last weekend, because I'm sampling different religious services (denominations and religions). They are at http://www.bellroad.org/.

I helped kill a rattlesnake, using a shovel. I feel kind of bad about that. A beautiful animal.

Anyway, my wife and I are watching a lot of Chelsea lately and Family Guy at night.
My pandora online radio experience is a mix of: Grateful Dead, Zappa, Talking Heads, Fiftycent, Beatropolis, Don Caballero, Bob Dylan, Ozric Tentacles, Beethoven, Lou Reed, and Flaming Lips.

That's my super-exciting life.
Rest in peace, for Molly, my wife's mom's English bulldog.

What is God?

God is love, one, a man of war, good.
God is me, you, everyone, everything.
God is jesus, buddha, allah, krishna..
God is the father, son, and holy spirit
God is the wind, the four directions
God is time, space, light, dark
God is Nature

God is...whatever you want him to be.
God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent
God is IT: immanent and transcendent
God is joy, happiness, bliss, nirvana
God is peace, harmony, health, wealth
God is life, and God is death
God is kind, merciful, loving, caring, beneficent, good
God is truth, knowledge, enlightenment
God is dance and romance

God is a word, a concept, an idea
God is
I am
You are

"oooh, God you are so big!" -Monty Python

-And the word was God.
go do good
omg
all in all is all we are
love your neighbor
love all, serve all
what's love got to do with it?

Be all you can be. Kind.
An army of one. Aim high.
The few, the proud.
(Pride is a sin, but all is vanity.)

"Trying to win hearts and minds, but willing to splatter them occasionally."
Thou shalt not kill, remember?
geez.

Anyway, being God is not just a job, it's an adventure.
God is a role to play, and the more, the merrier.
Be good, only God is good, so be God then
Come on, join the fun -a unified multiplicity
plus, maybe only the good go to heaven, right?

Or, don't. (do NT?)
just as dog is god backwards, bad evokes 'dabble.'
It might be good to be a little bad, then..
But purity sounds better, to me.
If God is everything, maybe it really is all good.
Be bad? Live evil? (I think there is a difference)
"Keep the arguments clean, but the sex dirty"
God is a smile.

God's Two Favorite Christian Bible Quotes

John 3:16 and Philippians 4:6-7

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
-John 3:16

Do not worry about anything, But pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks, and God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 4:6-7

commentary
re: John, somewhere else it says to believe in his name, as if it were a mystical word, and you didn't have to believe in anything else, like his preachings (although Jesus does mean 'God saves'). It's still not clear what "believe in him" means. In? And also, I thought the 'everlasting life' might have been a trick statement, as if HELL could sneak in there, under the radar. But in light of Philippians, i guess that's nothing to worry about. Personally, I believe everyone has everlasting life, regardless of whether they believe in Jesus, because everything is equally alive (or dead, if you want to look at it that way; we're all just things).

re:Philippians, I suspect that 'God's peace' is the oblivion of death. Death and Jesus are both 2, in english, according to that wacky numerology I find myself doing. We cannot understand death because we are all alive. But maybe by clearing our heads of all the subconscious noise and external distractions, we approach the calmness of death, which should be how meet our deaths; i.e. calmly.

Life After Death

Decomposition

Autolysis is when the body's cells consume themselves, through the action of the digestive enzymes released by the lysosomes into the cell's cytoplasm. Enzymes, however, are not alive. Autolysis is aseptic (free of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites- which ARE alive).

oops. later date insertion here: "Is a virus a living thing?
Not really. A living thing has seven features of life. These are feeding, respiring, excreting, growing, moving, breeding and responding to changes in the surroundings. When a virus is outside the body it does none of these things. In fact viruses can be stored in jars just like crystals of salt or sugar. When the virus is in the body it only breeds and this is just a process in which the DNA is copied. It does not even grow its case. The cell makes that for it. "

The party starts -your "life after death"- when, after autolysis creates an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, your body's normal bacteria consume the body's carbs, proteins, and lipids. Bacteria are life-forms. (Btw, A "synthetic" bacterial life-form, whose parents were a "computer", was just created by Craig Venter (in wikinews).) It is estimated that there are 500-1000 species of microbiota in the human gut, and the same on the skin. Bacterial consumption of a corpse is called putrefaction.

If the body is outside,
Flys, especially blowflies, lay their eggs on the body so the young can consume the rotting flesh, to get a proper start on life.

Scavengers: Coyotes, dogs, wolves, foxes, crows, rats, and vultures all eat carrion.

And if the body is on the ground or in the soil, there is considerable activity by:
arthropods ("joint-legged" with exoskelotons, such as insects, spiders, etc. -over 1,170,000 described species; a study says there may be up to 5-10 million extant species) join in.

-Sarcophagidae ("flesh-flies") lay eggs, larvae, which are maggots that live 5-10 days.
-Formicidae (ants),
-Muscidae (house-flies),
-Sphaeroceridae (dung-flies/lesser corpse flies) of which there are over 1,3oo species, all in the section schizophora.
-Silphidae (known commonly as carrion or burying beetles)
-Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies; more than 180,000 species)
-Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, sawflies)
-Histeridae (clown-beetles; 3900 species)
-Staphylinidae (rove beetles; 46,000)
-Piophilidae (cheese flies; they do not take residence in a human corpse until 3-6 months after death)
-Araneae (spiders; 40k species)
-Sepsidae (black scavenger flies/ensign flies; 250 species)

and after bloating comes the 'black stage' of putrefaction, which has:
-Gamasid mites (most mites are microscopic; 48,200 species are described (an estimated 5% of the total)
-Ptomaphila
-Trichopterygidae (aka ptiliidae; 630+ species, found in rotting organic material)
-Dermestes (feed on dry dead animals and vegetable material)
-Tyroglyphid mites (mold mites)
-Tineid larvae (clothes moths)
-and Diptera larvae "in almost all cases" ("True" flies, with only 1 pair of wings; a large order, containing 240,000 species of flies, mosquitoes, midges, and gnats)

Wikipedia's article on decomposition also details all the types of life that can be found around or near a corpse on the ground, as well.

Fungi, too, get some action.

That's a whole lotta Life After Death! A regular city, I should say.
which sheds new light on the expression "are survived by," lol.

The Chemistry and Physics of God

Oxytocin and the Higgs Boson

Now you know.
-Oxytocin is the chemical that washes your brain after sex, and is responsible for bonding with your partner. God is love, and love is oxytocin (?)

-The Higgs Boson is, well, I dunno exactly. Look it up. It's nicknamed "the God particle."
I don't know why. The folks at the lhc (large hadron collider) are hoping to find evidence for it soon, when the machine is up and running.

Codex Sinaiticus

For those of you who are into this sort of thing:

(the oldest version of the New Testament, in greek)
www.codexsinaiticus.org

Harold and the Purple Crayon

A good book for young Gods

It's about Harold, who creates his own reality with a purple crayon.

Yale has an improvisational comedy group called The Purple Crayons.

'Augmented Reality'

i can't wait for this supercool future technology

(like in the movie Minority Report)
It would be glasses or goggles or maybe even contact lenses that

would give data about what you're looking at. I've always imagined little balloons popping up over people's heads saying their names or whatever information I want. Imagine a complete lack of privacy, lol.

It's all a part of our universal wish to be Godly omniscient.
Of course, I could always try just talking to people, right?
Still, this tech sounds fun.

Slavery

It's a sin

I don't want anyone to be my slave, even if you should be, or are willing.

There's a passage in the bible, "do you not know that you are not your own?" or some such thing. I say you are. You own yourself.

Anyway, there are, according to this TED LECTURE (Link), 27 million slaves in our modern-day world (2010). That's quite a number. I'm a slave to eliminating slavery. And they can all be freed -and maintained free- for 10.8 billion dollars, according to Kevin Bales of __.

There is hope.

slaves are "dirt cheap" (as low as 5 bucks, averaging $90) Historically, 40k.
40B dollars of the global economy are derived from slave labor.
We have to do it right this time, not "dumped" like America's botched 1865 emancipation.
India still has hereditary slavery.
Kevin Bales thinks we aren't truly free unless all humanity is.

$10,800,000,000 divided by 27,000,000 slaves is only 400 bucks a person.

For the Priests

God the Father

1) Catholic priests are called Father and Pope means il Papa (regardless of whether they have sired a child)

2) Fathers (either those who have inseminated a mother, or those who take care of their -adopted?- child)

and
3) "our father in heaven", some pie in the sky idea of a (possibly alien?) Creator of the heavens and earth.

So priests are God, too.

Supreme Being

SB, some body

Sara Brown
Sandra Bullock

Movies with 'God' in the title

Apparently, there's over 200

City of God
The God of Small Things
Children of a Lesser God
The Gods Must be Crazy
Gods and Monsters
Letters to God (2010)
God (aka Dogma) ('99)
Oh, God ('77)
Oh, God. Book II ('80)
Oh, God! You Devil ('84)
God's Army
God on my side
Wrath of God
Playing God
Hey, God
God's Early Work ('04)
Phone Call to God ('05)
God and Dave ('06)
Conversations with God ('06)
Oh, My God ('08)
The God Complex ('09)
God Calling Rachel ('04)
God Has a Rap Sheet ('03)
God is on Their Side ('02)
Gohbi and God ('99)
In God We Tru$t ('80)
Dear God ('96)
Agnes of God
In the Name of God ('07)
The Godfather ('71)
God is my co-pilot ('45)
God's Little Acre ('58)
For God and Country ('43)
And God Created Woman ('56) ('88)
Godspell ('73)(the word is an archaic form of 'Gospel.' It came out as a play around the same time as Jesus Christ, Superstar in my birth year, 1971)

Panoramic Views and Scenes at the Garden of the Gods (1903)
God's Country and the Woman (1916)
God's Law and Man's (1917)
God's Country and the Law (1921)
Man's Law and God's (1922)
Without Reservations, aka Thanks God, I'll Take It From Here ('46)
Les Miserables: Gods and Demons ('50) Japan
The Legend of Gods and Goddesses ('67) Hong Kong
Of Gods and the Undead ('70) Brazil
Bamboo Gods and Iron Men ('74)
Thank God It's Friday ('78)
Gods, Gangsters, and Gamblers ('90) Chinese
Thank God I'm a Lesbian ('92)
The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils ('97) Hong Kong
The Lion and the Zebra Make God's Raw Jewels ('99)
Gambling, Gods, and LSD ('02)
Thank God for India ('02)
Of Men and Gods ('02) Haiti
Gods and Generals ('03)
Of Dogs and Gods ('06)
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men ('07)
What Poor Gods We Do Make: The Story and Music Behind Naked Raygun ('07)
Of Gods and Men ('10) french
Of Frogs and Gods ('10)
Gods and Rats ('10)
Gods and Kings ('11)
Vicky and the Treasure of the Gods ('11)
The Man who Sued God ('01), australia

Ancient Astronauts: The Gods from Planet X
God Send Me a Man ('09)
Selling God ('09)
Godkiller ('09)
And God Spoke ('93)
In the Hands of the Gods ('07)
Takra: A Man's Fear of God
Dying God ('08)
Maybe God is Ill ('07)
God of Vampires ('10)
God Money ('97)
God of Wonders ('08)
...And God Spoke
The House of God ('84)
One Nation Under God ('93)

God is Brazilian

and, out in theaters May 11, 2012: God Bless America (by Bobcat Goldthwait)
7-19-13: Only God Forgives
God's Pocket (PSHoffman's last film)
God is not Dead (2014)
White God (2014 Hungarian drama)

...to get you started.
There's a lot more movies where God is a role. Check out imdb.com for more.

If you believe God is love, then you might want to look for movies with 'Love' in the title, too. It's a different post I compiled.

Making Love

is Making God

weird, eh?
Link

If God is all-knowing (in the biblical sense), He has sex with everybody.
Mind blowing sex
spiritual sex
we're all fuct, lol

Acts of God

It's a legal term for (what I'm responsible for??)

The cause and effect linkage is a bit tenuous.

Here's the wikipedia link to 'Acts of God'

Here's a list of things I might have caused (since 1971):

-'71 N. Vietnam Hanoi/Red River delta flood (100k deaths)
-'72 Iran blizzard (4k)
-'73 Bangladesh tornado (681)
-'74 Pakistan earthquake (5300)
-'74 Bangladesh famine (26k-1m)
-'75 Typhoon Nina (210k)
-'75 China dam failure (231k)
-'76 Guatemala earthquake (23k)
-'76 Tangshan earthquake (242,419)
-'78 U.S. blizzard (54)
-'78 Iranian earthquake (15k)
-'81 on, Aids epidemic (25,250,000)
-'83 Mexico earthquake (10,153)
-'84 Cameroon limnic eruption (37)
-'84 USSR tornado (400)
-'84-85 Ethipian famine (1m)
-'85 Columbia volcano (23k)
-'86 cameroon limnic eruption (1746)
-'87 Chinese wildfire (213)
-'88 Armenian earthquake (25k)
-'90 Iranian earthquake (50k)
-'93 Indian earthquake (7928)
-'95 Japanese earthquake (6433)
-'95 Kazakh blizzard (112)
-'96-98 North Korean famine (1,200,000)
-'99 Turkey earthquake (17,217)
-'01 Gujarat India earthquake (19,727)
-'03 Bam Iran earthquake (26,271)
-'04 Indonesian tsunami (230,210)
-'06 Phillippine mudslide (1126)
-'08 Chinese earthquake (68,712)
-'08 Afghani blizzard (926)
-'08 Chinese storm (133)
-'10 Haiti earthquake (230,000)

God is kind of a mass murdering serial killer.
The price of sin is death.
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the lord.
Thou shalt not kill
Shit happens

misotheism link

devil inside, devil inside -every single one of us, the devil inside..
"it's all good"

"...I bring prosperity and create disaster: I, Yahweh, do all these things"
(I'm not Yhwh, though; I'm Jesse)
G.O.D. only stands for Gulf Oil Disaster coincidentally, I might add. It looks like the Gulf of Mexico could turn out to be a regular "lake of fire." Ugh.

Playing God

It's a movie

Playing God is a 1997 film directed by Andy Wilson. It starred David Duchovny in his first starring role after achieving success with The X-Files, Timothy Hutton, and Angelina Jolie.

I haven't seen it.

Is PG PG?
Who decided? Maybe I, God, should have. They edited out the two sex scenes between Angelina and David Duchovny.

Sharing

Share a

Shara a what?

TE.

Click on 'Te' (for the Wikipedia enlightenment)
Just some more of -what's in a name?- (Teshara)

Shara is similar to sharia, too.

To continue with the linguistic multicultural magic: on Asherah, (from Wikipedia)

The archaeologist William Dever commented "We do not know for sure what the belief in the god Yahweh meant for the average Israelite. Although the biblical text tells us that most Israelites worshipped Yahweh alone, we know that this is not true... The discoveries of the last fifteen years have given us a great deal of information about the worship of the ancient Israelites. It seems that we have to take the worship of the goddess Asherah more seriously than ever before."[13]

God can be annoying

You know, let's get to the real nitty gritty basics, here. What is prayer? Prayer is telepathic communication with "God", if it, and God, exist. Personally, I think 'God' is just a jerk in my head who won't leave me alone, and despite being evicted from my head (surely my body is private property?!), is a presence who invades my privacy, and is therefore a criminal. Just because everyone says God is good and love doesn't make it so. He's ANNOYING is what he is. Either atheism or self-deification seems a comparatively friendlier mental experience.

that was my entry on an article on prayer I submitted to the Washington Post online awhile back. "God" (aka the man in my head who hears my "prayers") is annoying so I'm (attempting) taking over the God function in my head.

Schizophrenia can be a bitch.

God's God is now Himself. Are my thoughts my own?

Heaven and Paradise

it's in the linguistics

Heaven is ha, even
It feels good to get even

Heaven is also Neva, eh? (backwards)
Maybe because there are so many slights in life - you will never get even.
Or, simply, because there is no afterlife.

Paradise is a city in California, near Chico. They have a library and public pool.
Heavenly is a ski resort.
Heaven is a nightclub in London.
Hell is a village in Norway.
Anyway, if you win at a toss of the dice, that's Pair o' dice!

Amor, Amor, Amor

Put a little love in your heart
People can you feel it- love is in the air!

http://www.bartleby.com/ has both love quotes and emily dickenson poems on love

I'm busy reading Emily Dickenson and Ernest Hemingway's short stories.

Que te goza!