Fire Walkers

DERVISH: - Whirling and ecstatically altering their conscious and soul full interconnections with all around them. These people of the Middle East are a lot like Native dancers and dream dancers from the whole of the world and deep into the dark recesses of human existence on earth. Needless to say their behavior has little relevance for the western academics of such soul-denying professions as those who do NOT know how to actually cure people or why the soul is important in that process of wholistic balance in human lives-and JOY! The quotation from the book 'Wonder Child' is the kind of thing we should read over and over again until we know why it makes 'common sense' versus the constant bombardment of manipulative messages and fear-mongering to divide the human family.

In our entry on the origins of language (Ogham) we mentioned 'Huna' and Max Freedom Long's work with the chants and mind-altering effects of the Hawaiian language. Here we see him engaged in somethi ng the 'real' world we live in, can seldom observe, and most scientists would hesitate to hold forth their 'expertise' and try to explain.

Max Freedom Long gives a detailed account of how his mentor, Dr W. T. Brigham of the British Museum, was taken onto fresh boiling lava near a volcano on Kona Island by three Kahuna - local magicians. They instructed him to take his boots off as they would not be covered by the Kahuna protection, The 'protection' needs more conscious soul to connect with or through the state the Kahuna [perhaps Druids are their teachers according to my Wiccan high priestess generate with their discipline and understanding. but he refused. As he watched one of the three walk calmly onto the lava flow, the other two suddenly pushed him and finding himself on the hot lava, he had no choice but to keep on running to the other side. In the course of the 150-foot dash, his boots and socks were burned off. The three Kahunas, still strolling barefoot on the lava, burst into laughter as they pointed out the trail of bits of burning leather.

What does go on in a fire-walk? Dr White expresses the widely held view that the walkers are in an exalted state of mind which suppresses pain. Yet there are fire-walks without trance or ecstasy. Neither is there any evidence to suggest that damaged tissues heal up so rapidly that they are not noticed (a process sometimes observed among Dervish, Hindu, Balinese and other body-piercing devotees) Including piercing with swords.. In The Crack in the Cosmic Egg (1973) by J. C. Pearce, the author suggests that the firewalk is a classic illustration of the creation of a new reality (albeit temporary and local) in which fire does not burn But why did Brighams boots burn? in the familiar way. As long as this reality is maintained all is well, but the history of the fire-walk contains many accounts of gruesome fatalities and shocking damage to those whose faith is snapped Brigham was not a 'fait hful'. so that they were plunged back into the world where fire burns. The magical state of affairs in which flesh, and sometimes other material, is immune to fire is created, it seems, by the person who officiates at fire-walking ceremonies. Leroy's Muslim writhed on the ground in agony as soon as the Maharajah announced the end of the proceedings. It was explained to the bishop that the man had taken the burning upon himself. In 'Women Called Wild', Mrs Rosita Forbes describes a fire-dance ceremony in Surinam, presided over by a virgin priestess, among descendants of African slaves who had intermarried with the local Indians. The priestess was in a trance for the duration of the fire-dance, and if she had emerged from it unexpectedly, the dancers would no longer have been immune from the flames. We have to agree with Dr Comey that psychical and psychological theories alone do not account for what happens Unless you are more than just a psychic like the Kahuna, Druids and Y amabushi., and that some physical phenomenon takes place

This is the crux of the lack of 'thinking' that goes on in the paradigm which tries to say it is 'open-minded' and able to observe the real world. What is psychic if not physical? Are they saying cellular phones are able to communicate through 'magic'? Just because you can't see 'protection' or conscious attunements that make each part of the body able to absorb the fire's energy and translate it to other specific uses doesn't mean it isn't real. which has not been understood or explained.

Pearce's theory of fire-immunity as a product of a state of temporary reality invoked by a magician explains why the fire-walk has so shocked and offended those who depend on using the reality they have grown accustomed to as a bulwark against the apparition which Freud Whose student Jung, said Freud was unable to contemplate the metaphysical real world due to his fears and insecurities. called 'the black tide of occult mud'. In recent years, however, fire-walking has been used in the West as a motivational tool in the more extreme types of leadership training as well as in courses for personal growth and development. The successful fire-walker achieves a 'natural high' through the conquest of his or her rational fear, a triumph of 'mind over matter' that sets them apart as a kind of shaman and enables them to believe that they are capable of achieving anything. (11)

The de-materialization entry has some application in another approach to 'possibility-thinking' for what might be going on here. In bi-location a body may de-materialize and send itself through the cosmos to another place like teleportation. Thus appearing to be in two places almost simultaneously. OK! If you have a better explanation for actual occurrences, I'm listening! Let us give you the experience of Joseph Campbell of a trip to Japan, first; and then all of us can 'think' about what is really going on. The key thi ng in this story that adds to the Brigham or other experiences is the 'healing use' of the energy in the fire.

On May 21, the Buddhist saint Shinren's birthday, the streets of the neighborhood were hung with colorful streamers and lanterns. Airplanes flew overhead strewing paper lotus petals, and enormous crowds surged everywhere in the streets of Kyoto. Campbell and his companions watched a few minutes of the Noh-play taking place on the Nishi Honganji temple grounds, and then were whisked rather urgently away to the ninth-century Fu-do Myo-o-in temple. As they arrived, so did an important-looking Shinto priest in full regalia, and then a small group of Buddhist monks. 'One cannot tell where the Buddhism ends and the Shinto begins,' wrote Campbell.

They were early and were given seats in the front row facing the altar. But the ceremony due shortly to unfold would be conducted by neither traditional Buddhist nor Shinto priests, but officiants more akin to shamans : the Yamabushi, the independent mountain-dwelling ascetics of Japan.

'There was a large, square, roped-off area before us, with a big, square pyre in the middle, covered with evergreen boughs. Beyond that was an altar, the length of one side of the area, set with offerings: cakes, oranges, etc., all neatly stacked. At each comer of the area was a large wooden tub of water with a long-handled scoop--to be used on the fire. And in the comer at our right was a large bell-gong set on a table. At about 4:30 p.m. the Yamabushi arrived - in their fantastic costumes. They had been on a procession through certain parts of the town. (Biblio and notes bring us important historical insight: 'This curious order of monk-magicians,' Campbell wrote in his journal, 'is said to have appeared in the 8th century, as a protest against the governmental control of the Buddhist religion comparable in a way, I should say, to the hermit movement in Christendom after the moment of Constantine. Refusing the usual ordinations by the government, they retired to the mountains and lived as holy hermits, and like the friars of later Europe, were responsible for spreading the religion among the common people. Buddhism in Japan before their time had been largely an aristocratic affair. Moreover, they were strongly influenced by the 7th century Tantric lore and principles.')

They stood in two rows before the altar, and beating time with the jingles of the staffs and batons in their right hands, chanted, ensemble, the 'hridaya' sutra. This finished, they went and settled on the seats prepared for them at the two sides of the area. The abbot in his robe came to our side and sat facing the altar. And another, very nice gentleman, who was a kind of second abbot, came and thanked us for being present. The honor of energy and soul among the rituals of all disciplines is more than Robert's Rules of Order or any polite and pernicious etiquette.

In a moment, another, s maller group of Yamabushi arrived and were ceremoniously challenged at the entrance by two Yamabushi guardians. In a kind of Noh play dialogue...the newcomers, through their leader, were asked the meaning of the term Yamabushi and the reason for each of the elements of the costume. The replies were given with great force - as though an actual battle were taking place It is my opinion that much ancient art and frescoes showing battles are of this nature and that many battles were avoided by use of such display of force., and in the end, when they had proven themselves, the new group was admitted to sit with the rest, after ceremonially circumambulating the pyre.

A little Yamabushi now got up, with a long bow and a sheaf of arrows, and at each of the comers pretended to shoot an arrow into the air. Were the comers aligned with the points on a compass like the sabbat rituals, with their fires surrounding?

Next, another Yamabushi got up with a sword, and, after prayi ng before the pyre, waved it at the pyre and returned to his seat. The abbot stood before the pyre and read a sutra from a piece of paper which was tucked into the pyre. And then the stage was set for the great event.

It began with two Yamabushi bearing long, flaming faggots, one at either side of the pyre, reaching in, low, and setting the pyre aflame. (Biblio and notes: 'Campbell wrote in his journal: 'It is most remarkable that in the Goma fire sacrifice that we were about to witness, elements of the Brahminical Soma sacrifice, as well as of the much later Tantric Buddhism of the great medieval period were synthesized, and colored, moreover, with the tincture of Shinto. Hanging around the sacred area were strings bearing the jagged paper offerings characteristic of Shinto--not white, but colored.')

It went up with a great belch of smoke, which billowed heavily to the left (our left) and completely engulfed the Yamabushi. Since I was taking pictures, I was glad that the; breeze leaned in that directionSmoke is easily moved and the Yamabushi were so gracious that they made it possible for him to see and take photos, too. though the air seemed, actually quite still. Rather soon, that side of the area cleared and the smoke curved around back of the pyre and over to the right, and then, rapidly, it engulfed our part of the area: remaining, however, only for a moment, it was, presently, back where it had been at the start Where the Yamabushi would imbue their energy through smoke to fire and then logs, perhaps.. It was a terrific mass of smoke, full of sparks and blazing fragments, and when it came around our way again Picking up energy of the four primary forces at the cardinal grid points. it burned a couple of neat little holes in my blue Dacron suit--which has been my chief suit throughout this journey. There was a great chant in progress that reminded me more of the noise of the Navajos than anything I've ever heard And he travele d widely as a scholar observing with an open mind the spiritual and rich cultural heritage shared in similar ways throughout every region of the world., and the general atmosphere was a bit exciting. One of the young men inside the area came over and said something to Haru, who then pointed out to me a Yamabushi who was sitting about eight feet off my starboard bow. 'That's the one,' he said, 'who is making the smoke go round.' I looked, and suddenly realized what I was witnessing. The chant was filling all the air. The smoke, definitely, was circulating in the clockwise direction (Joseph illustrates this with a rightward pointing swastika in his journal The swastika is adapted by Gurdjieff from a Tibetan symbol and mandala of great antiquity.): and this Yamabushi, with an attendant beside him, sitting on his shins, was moving his hands, pushing, conjuring, and pulling, like a cowboy turning a steer with a rope--only the rope couldn't be seen. I was so surprised I felt a sud den thump inside me, and I began taking photos of this little man, like mad. Four Yamabushi with water scoops, meanwhile, were dipping water onto the sides of the fire--ostensibly to keep the flames under control, but perhaps also to give a bit of mechanical assistance to the magic.

After a while, when the smoke diminished and the flames increased, my Yamabushi began, ceremonially, tossing little stacks of wooden tablets onto the fire, on which the votive prayers of individuals in the congregation had been inscribed... When all the packets had been thrown in, the pyre was pulled apart and the logs were dragged over to a pit on the right side of the area over which they were placed, as a log lid. Beneath, the flaming coals and smaller wood then was put so that tongues of flame leapt up between the logs--and many of the people of the congregation, removing their 'getas' and 'zori', prepared to walk across. The nice gentleman who had welcomed us would be the first to go. The wizard was at one end of the pit conjuring a power to cure into the fire and cooling the flames: his assistant was at the other end, doing the same. And so, since I had seen, through his work on the smoke, that he was a true master of fire, I caught the fever and began to decide that I might walk across too.

I was wearing on my right ankle--the one I had sprained at Angkor-- an Ace bandage, which it took me a while to undo. This made me the last on the line, but the flames were still leaping up high between the logs-- say, some eight or ten inches. The two youngsters just in front of me dashed across as fast as they could, but I decided to take my time and see what it really was like to walk on a wizard's fire. My first step, with my right foot, was a bit timid, and a bit off to the side, where there were no leaping flames. But then I thought, 'Well now, come on!' and seeing a nice fat flame right in front, I put my left foot down on top of it, squarely. Crackle! T he hairs on the lower part of my leg were singed and a pleasant smell of singed hair went up all around me, but to my skin the flame was cool--actually cool. This gave me great courage, and I calmly completed my walk, strolling slowly and calmly right down the center of the road. Three more steps brought me to the end, and the hands of several Yamabushi helped me off. I went back to our seats, and the two ladies in our group were gasping at what I had done. I went out to one of the water tubs to wash my feet and get into my socks and shoes- -and it was only when I was putting on my right shoe that I noticed that the swelling in my ankle had gone down The day might come when we see healers at work with sports personnel.: all the pain had disappeared too. Around the remains of the fire in the center of the area a lot of little old women were standing who had gone over the fire, holding their hands out to the burning cinders and then rubbing their poor, aching backs--dear souls . It had certainly been a great and wonderful event. The courteous gentleman was greatly pleased that I had participated and invited us all to come back someday. We gathered our things and presently strolled away.

The notes say he was told a month later that the layout of the fire had much to do with why the smoke behaved as it did. The authors ask a good question. Why make believe it was magic and not tell people? This is the way of power and manipulation but the fire work they did was already most impressive, so one might allow they simply thought the smoke was a part of the ritual and not the real point anyway.

Two days later Joseph wrote to Jean about the event: 'When you come to Tokyo I'll show you three cute little fire holes in the suit, which I shall wear henceforth with secret knowledge.--The next day (22nd) I walked some eight or ten miles at Nara and Horinji--and the ankle is still good.'

Shortly after Jean had received her letter, she got a phon e call from Aldous Huxley, who wanted to speak to Joseph. Jean, still full of the excitement of the account, told Huxley the whole story, how Joe was in Japan and had just firewalked. Huxley became excited and told his friend Gerald Heard, also interested in magic and the paranormal, who later contacted Campbell to get his firsthand account of the experience.

Campbell later learned that Fu-do Myo-o, the name of the patron deity of the temple where he had seen the 'C eremony, means 'very still, even in fire,' Sometimes the god is depicted as a red figure sitting in a fire, with one eye open and one eye closed, like the Norse deity Odin. Japan had already shown Campbell its artful surfaces, now she showed her mythic depths. (12)

What a bunch of weirdos believing in such trash! No wonder Huxley and Campbell are the epitome of the New Age that wishes to get back to what Australian aboriginal adepthoods or nature-worshippers allover the world remind us is our true roots. Here in places where no journalists or empire builders have polluted the human environment we find talent and discipline that took hundreds of thousands of years to refine and yet science today has no explanation.

Does the consciousness within the atoms of the body choose to be there? Bucky Full er writes that the finely crafted wood in an artisan's sculpture or furniture is there because it chooses this in some manner that involves us or our design leader the soul. The ability of these atomic level consciousnesses to be worked with in the case of the healing fire is greater than most firewalkers and indicates a cross matter communication. It is one thing for affinity to exist in the muons separated at the old Inco nickel mines in Sudbury, to communicate. When one is energized, the other moves; it was reported in the last year or so. It is another level entirely when these atomic and conscious forces do so almost independently with other bodies and kinds of matter they have no apparent innate similarity to. As in the case of de-materialization the atoms of the body are released from the intellectual and other bonds we place upon them through whatever holds us and keeps us from knowing the beauty of the next realms; or what we are part of (in the multi-dimensional so ul, or as reported in past lives). If we really try to find explanations they are there! The conscious specialness humanity carved out for itself through ego and ignorance is not so great as those materially focused people would like it to be; and that begs the quest- ion of the great bard himself! 'To be or not, to be?' And where you place the punctuation allows a lot of different points of view in this question especially when you place the concept of righteousness after the last word by saying 'To be or not to be, Divine?'

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Guest 'expert' at World-Mysteries.com

Author:: Robert Baird
Keywords:: Kahuna, Yamabushi, Campbell, Huxley
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District Attorneys Must Never Be Allowed to Hold Higher Political Offices

All too often district attorneys file cases and pursue cases or dismiss other cases based on political motivations as they wish to seek higher office for instance the Duke Rape Case. This is criminal and this is an abuse of power by district attorneys.

We must give lie detector tests to district attorney's every year and we need to make sure that they are following the rules. Additionally to prevent human nature from taking a hold of these politically motivated ambitious young district attorney's we must not allow them to ever hold office once they the district attorneys office.

But they should be allowed to work in the sewer district or sanitation district of any large city or filthy area. If they truly believe in their job and they are not just doing it to get to a political higher office then they should be quite happy to work in the sewer departments and sanitation districts because they care about cleaning up our civilization from crime and debris.

District attorneys must never be allowed to hold a higher office and they should know that those are the rules before they are put into that position. That is fair for all concerned and if they are not interested in seeking a higher political office then they should be allowed to become district attorney.

If they are interested in seeking a higher political office that is great but you cannot ever be a district attorney. As long as they do this advance it is fair for all concerned and it is right thing to do to maintain truth, justice and the American way. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Author:: Lance Winslow
Keywords:: District Attorneys, Never Be Allowed, Hold Higher Political Offices
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Essence of Democracy and Freedom of Speech Disagreeing?

Recently a gentleman stated to me that he believed that the essence of Democracy and Freedom of Speech was disagreement, protest, debate and counter arguments to a point of contention. Well, maybe Democracy and Freedom of Speech has turned into that. But if it has then is it indeed the best method to run a Great Nation like the United States?

Is it best for all concerned for everyone to run around and complain, without a viable solution to the points of contention that they are protesting? For instance during the last election in the United States the self-proclaimed Blue Party, which really should have been reversed as Communism stands for Red and the Liberals are socialists waiting for a disaster to happen and would love to turn the greatest nation in the History of Mankind into a communist (government does everything) socialist Beehive of humanity.

As this debate and discussion continued apparently this liberal never had this pointed out to him in a meaningf ul way and thus he stated; So, first off, thank you. Very seriously, thank you for taking all the time you did to respond to me in such detail. As your goal was to open my eyes, you certainly did that. You and I disagree on some points, but isn't that the essence of democracy and freedom of speech?

So, I ask YOU, the reader of this article, is Disagreeing the essence of democracy? If so, Democracy should render itself short lived amongst the human race in the next millennium. If the entire population runs around Disagreeing and attacking, may I please ask how any of YOU humans plan to get anything done of value or propel the human species forward? Because seriously, I am having my doubts about YOUR abilities and the forward progression of mankind. Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Author:: Lance Winslow
Keywords:: Essence of Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Disagreeing, agree to disagree
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Positive Aspects behind ProblemCrazing

Have you ever wondered why our existing world is too sophisticated! If not, now try to develop this philosophical initiative.

From the very primitive society when and where slaughtering was considered as an entertainment to todays world when and where animal is, by law and custom, equalized to us as the human person. So what are secrets behind this development?

One of the most concrete answers to why our world turned unbelievably complicated is the always-on-the move problem. To me, problem is the highest law for mental sophistication and civilization.

The reality of natural change: natural disaster and catastrophe (the problem) has inspired human to start fighting against this livelihood barrier. Though human person during the primitive time was not mentally and materialistically sophisticated like us, but as his or her day-to-day problem eventuated, he or she started to think of the ways to hand off or at lease ease the problem. Thinking of the ways to fight the obstacle, has brought great progress in term of mentality as well as the changing the status quo.

The same case applies to us in this twenty-first century. Mental and cultural clash, unique differences between human persons and individual states, politics of power and prosperity imbalance, gender imbalance, the evils of human mentality, clashed patriotism and other individual, individual-state, regional and global problems have brought us great challenges, in other word, sophistication and civilization.

Now, you see the positive aspect of always-existing problems. Everyone has problem, but not everyone can desirably solve his or her problem. Actually those who can solve the problem are the ones who is does not scare of the problem and always of the opinion that, my problem was already existed upon another person and he or she already solved it, so why I can not solve it, because I am also human person endowed with mental strength and dignity!

The purpose of this article is to make you not scare of the existing and past problem, because it is just the way of life that everyone; rich, poor, educated, illiterate, normal and disabled, have to face. Do you know that all of the truly intellectuals are, by experience, problematic?

And one of the reasons why the United States of America is materialistically and mentally sophisticated and civilized, because it has too many problems and, that is not enough, it is looking for more problems to be solved and will solve before we seen that they are the problems.

Lay Vicheka is a translator for the most celebrated translation agency in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Pyramid. He is working as freelance writer for Search Newspaper, focusing on social issues and students' issues. Lay Vicheka has great experience in law and politics, as he used to be legal and English-language assistant to a member of parliament, migration experience (home-based business) and experience in writin g. You are stronly advised to contact him for any doubts or wonder about Cambodian politics and even the world's phenomenon. Posting address: 221H Street 93, Tuol Sangke quarter, Russey Keo district, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel: 855 11 268 445, vichekalay@yahoo.com

Author:: Vicheka Lay
Keywords:: news and society,Philosophy
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Do Not Blame Me For Being Born In America

Some people in the world wish to blame Americans for their plight, but I say to you, do not blame me for being born in America. Do not blame me for being born into the greatest nation that has ever been created in all the recorded history of mankind. Yes, I am an American. And the United States of America is by far the greatest concept in government in all of the human endeavor. Do not blame me for the luck of my birth. I was born in America and I truly feel fortunate, but do not blame me for your plight.

Our ancestors in America did not have an easy go of it in the beginning. Many Americans died in route to this great land. Many gave up everything just to be part of an experiment that no one was sure would work, but they banned together to make it so and sacrifice dearly for it. Those are my ancestors and I am proud of them and duly accept the challenge of furthering the best efforts of mankind in this greatest nation of all periods; past, present and future .

Do not blame me for being born an American. Do not blame me for being born into abundance and into the land of liberty, freedom and democracy. It is a great honor to be an American, and our great nation is here to help those peoples who wish to learn and grow using the methods we have come to learn the hard way. We offer advice, monies and knowledge to those who are willing to go to distance and help themselves. Name one other nation in all of human history that would do that for you, even after you have slandered our name, culture and gifts.

Dear nations and peoples of the world; do not blame me for being born into America. If you want what I have, you could have it, if and only if you will stop complaining and earn it. I will show you how if you will listen and I forgive you for your slanderous remarks against everything that I stand for, but don't blame me for being born into the greatest nation in the world.

Lance Winslow

Author:: Lance W inslow
Keywords:: Do Not Blame Me For Being Born In America
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Can a Dream Tell Us of the Future?

Much has been written regarding Dreams and their Meanings or purpose. Mankind has been fascinated with our Dreams since the first Dreamer awoke and wondered about What their visions Meant. Since ancient times we Have looked to our Dreams to find signs of What our Future holds. The first written Dreams we know of were in 4000 BC.

Most people will spend about one third of their lives asleep. Our Dreams are a real part of us but too often they are disregarded. Dreams can give us insight and understanding of our personal lives. They will help us to understand our past, present, and sometimes our Future. All we need to do is to pay attention to our Dreams and get to know them.

Dreams can hold a message for the Future.

We Have different types of Dreams. Often our Dreams consist of imagery from our most pressing thoughts and/or personal experiences. Sometimes, however, our Dreams can be special. Our Dreams can communicate with us if we allow them too. All we nee d to is listen.

I believe that there are two main types of Prophetic Dreams.

Those that come to us from our deeper self, who is much more aware of certain things than we are on a conscious level, and those who may potentially Have come from an outside source.

Here is an example from my own Dream experiences:

I Dreamed of death. All I could remember from the Dream was seeing a hand laying in gravels. The most noticeable thing was the ring on the hand. It was my ring. I recognized it without any doubt. Even though this was the only image I could recall from the nightmare I knew that the Dream was about a death. I could feel it strongly when I woke up. I had all but forgotten the events of the Dream but the emotions were still vivid.

The ring was an Army Boot Camp ring made very similar to a class ring. After I had the Dream I never wore it again. Eventually I sold it to a friend of mine who had attended the same boot camp. A few years later I rece ived a call. My friend had been murdered. He was found laying in rocks and dirt with that ring on his hand.

Did my Dream forewarn me of this event? I think it is a possibility. What was the Dream trying to communicate to me? I had assumed that the Dream was about my death. I had also assumed that the ring was somehow a participant in my death. I stopped wearing the ring as though that would prevent the warned death. Perhaps the Dream was simply telling me that my friend would die with that ring on his hand.

Whenever we Have a Dream that we consider to be Prophetic or to Have a Meaning we are faced with the difficult task of interpreting just What the Dream Means. Dream Symbols most often Have very definite Meanings but these Meanings can vary widely from one person to the next. That is Why we cannot rely too much on definitions given in Dream Symbol Dictionaries.

In order to understand the Meaning of the symbols within our own Dreams we must come to a bette r and deeper understanding of ourselves. We Have to learn What these symbols Mean to us because that is how are Dreaming mind sees them.

Anything within your Dream can be a symbol. An example of a symbol in a Dream is a snake. A snake can Have many different Meanings to different people. As with all other Dream symbols they can also Have a different Meaning for the same person at different times in their life. You also Have to look at the symbol in the context that it appeared. What other symbols were present in the Dream?

The best way to gain a better understanding of What your Dream symbols Mean to you is to develop your own Dream symbol dictionary. Keep as detailed of a Dream journal as you can. Don't just write down a narrative of What occurred but record your feelings and emotions too. As you continue to write in your journal and re-read your previous entries you will begin to see parallels with your Dreams and your life. Gradually you will be able to recogn ize What the symbols in your Dreams are really saying to you.

About The Author: Copyright 2006 David Slone. Visit Why Do We Dream for information on Dreams such as Nightmares, Sleepwalking, Lucid Dreaming and more. Free content articles you can use on your website, ezine or newsletter. You may republish this article on your website provided author information and active link(s) are left intact.

Author:: David Slone
Keywords:: Dream,Dreaming,What,Mean,Why,Have,Prophetic,Future,Sleepwalking,Nightmares,Lucid
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It's Time to Prove Bertrand Russell Wrong: Christians Awake!

Bertrand Russell in his Why Im Not a Christian essay, speeches and books states that the Christian Churches hinder rather than improve the social condition.

You can read his lecture delivered on March 6, 1927 to the National Secular Society, South London Branch, at Battersea Town Hall at http://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html

Russells biography and a list of his writings can be read at http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1950/Russell-bio.html

Bertrand Russells life was not always a happy journey.

He was born at Trelleck on 18th May, 1872. His parents were Viscount Amberley and Katherine, daughter of 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley. At age three he was orphaned, got into trouble with the military during World War II because of his pacifism, was criticized for his views because he spent some time in the Soviet Union, was divorced more than once, and went from pillar to post lecturing in various universities.

His moral views were challenged by critics that resulted in legal action to stop him from lecturing at City College in New York.

Russell received prestigious rewards for his writings including being elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1908, and re-elected a fellow of Trinity College in 1944, the Sylvester medal of the Royal Society in 1934, the de Morgan medal of the London Mathematical Society in the same year, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

The British philosopher, logician, and mathematician died 2 February 2, 1970.

Some Reasons Russell Was Not a Christian

1. He did not believe that the Existence of God was provable by Unaided Reason, First Cause, Natural Law, Design, Moral Arguments, or Remedy Injustice Arguments.

2. He was doubtful that Christ ever existed, said some of Christs philosophy is not original, he was not the greatest and wisest of all men, and his best philosophy is not followed by Christians because it is too diffi cult to live.

3. Christ didnt come when he said he would. Early Christians assumed that Christ would come very soon and lived accordingly from day to day. He never came.

4. Christ taught there was Hell and judgment which is too negative for mans proper development.

5. I quote the great writer: You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian Religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.

6. I quote again: Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the ba sis of the whole thingfear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and Religion have gone hand in hand.

7. My last quote: A Good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create.

My Amazingly Brilliant Responses to Russells Reasons for Not Being Christian

I chose a dead philosopher to argue with instead of a living philosopher. He can't reply.

Im an engineer, not a philosopher. I call myself the hack writer. No one will take me seriously here but Im going to give you my two bits anyway.

The usual Christian response to a critic is to call him names and downgrade him by attacking his character. Lets avoid that approach. I didnt know the man but Im sure that I would have no reason to dislike him. I think that his lecture in 1927 was not polished but he made his points. Ill take them one by one:

1. No one can prove or disprove that God exists. Trying to prove that God exist by mental exercise is silly. God has to reveal himself. When he does, you must still decide if it was God or not.

2. Its silly to say that Christ never lived. We generally accept historical records of stating the truth on such matters. There are plenty of accounts of Christs life by people who lived and traveled with him. Christ never said that all his thoughts were stated by him for the first time. Nobody else did either. Who was the wisest of all men is a value judgment. Russell never said who was the greatest or who even came close. He said that he had to go with Christ o n some subjects. So, who was greater?

3. Its true that the early Christians thought that Christ was coming very soon. This is very evident by Christs words and early Christian writings. But Christ said that only his Father knew when the second coming would occur. He said that not even the angels in heaven knew the answer to that question.

4. There are two sides to the argument that teachings about Hell are detrimental to the advancement of mankind. Punishment and reward can change human behavior. If Hell exists then it exists. Ill take Christs word for it.

5. Its true the church has fought Science and social norms. That will not change. The church can be very intolerant. But the church has to progress in this areas as in all other areas. WE must not allow this to happen in our churches. I heard a Catholic priest in Japan say as he quoted from the New Testament that when we criticize other churches we stop much Good. If you tell a Ba ptist that his church is wrong so he doesnt go to church anymore, then the work he was doing in his church stops. Ive visited different churches and I have heard Baptist blast the Catholics for playing bingo to raise money. I say that we should mind our own business.

6. Russell says that fear is the parent of cruelty. I dont think that is always true. Its one of those generalities that have little meaning. Greed and hate and envy are more aptly the parents of cruelty. If a crook mugs you on the street, he wants your money. If he rapes you, he envies your body. If he beats you to death with a club, he hates the sight of you. Its true that a man might fight back because of fear or he might kill a rattlesnake because of fear, but he is more apt to run for his life.

7. I have no argument here. Russell prefers Science to Religion, or a fact-based philosophy. Todays Science will not be the Science of the future. Scientific truths wither under new investigation. It is t he nature of the beast. But Science changes for the better, always pursuing the truth. It should be the same for Religion. Past religious persecution needs to be analyzed and not repeated. The obviously false must not be retained because of tradition or the writings of the ancients. I like the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we all obeyed that rule we would not have to worry about the future.

Do your children know the Golden Rule?

copyright2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself Taylor Jones, the hack writer.

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business we b site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com

Author:: John T Jones, Ph.D.
Keywords:: Russell, Bertrand, Religion, Christ, God, New Testament, Science, Hell, Evil, Good, Existence, Chris
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Mass Society and Mass Culture: Reinventing the Nobleman

Todays culture, according to author Allen Armac in his brilliant and thought-provoking new book, is a mass culture. We live, breathe, work and often think as a group. We have mass education, mass entertainment, mass industrial production and mass religions as well. But where did this kind of group culture come from?

Armac carefully traces its creation back to the rise of the middle class, which largely began as a demographic movement in 1870, when ordinary people took on the world of the royals and rebuilt it to their taste, stripping the pomp and glory to try to create a braver new world. But in doing so, Armac argues, these same people impacted every aspect of our lives from that day forward and not always for the better.

From education to communication to public opinion, we live in a global society. Everything we see, say or do is impacted by the masses. Given this, can any one individual improve present social conditions and make a better world for everyo ne? Can we go beyond our present mass culture to create brand new societal trends and values that we want to succeed and do away with those that we dont? And can we reclaim the beauty of old artisan traditions instead of mass productions?

Armac answers these intriguing questions and more as he examines mass cultures through history in incisive, thorough and absolutely fascinating detail. The essence of the book reaches its climax in the last chapter that shows us an ideal way out from the dead-end of our age ennoblement of the entire population. Provocative and pointed and simmering with intelligence, this is one book that should be essential reading for every thinking person.

About The Author

Article by Ellen Tanner Marsh. Ms Marsh is one of the most respected New York Times best selling authors.

Any reproduction of this article needs to have an html link pointing to: http://www.masssociety.szm.com

Author:: Ellen Marsh
Keywords:: Mass S ociety, Mass culture, Nobility, work at home, social science, rocknroll, Graffity, Operetta
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On the Matter of Courage

To the philosopher Aristotle, there were many types of virtues and they came in many forms. He viewed virtue as the habit of the soul. It was the mean between two vices: one of deficiency and one of excess. And this mean was defined through reason as the prudent man would define it. He was careful in his analysis of mankind and all the basic components that should make the species as is. To Aristotle, virtue was the sign that meant the man and his soul was at happiness, which was the ultimate goal of life. Though he carefully examined many virtues, one of the more interesting and analytical in his studies is his perception on the virtue of Courage.

Aristotles view of bravery and Courage is a unique look at a characteristic in mankind. It is very situational and personal by definition. Each being has its own interpretation of how to be brave and how to overcome the mortal fears, whether naturalistically feared or at least logically defended. There is no defense for fears that have no real threat or act of bravery to overcome. So the first point of understanding Aristotles stance in the matters is to know that there is a wrong definition for being brave, meaning that there is no true act of bravery for the mortal man to overcome, and a right definition for being brave, where it is a natural and/or logical fear that is understood and overcome by the individual. Once one can recognize the specifics of Aristotles assessments, they can aim at the requirements to become brave.

The brave man, to Aristotle, is a wise man. For even in being brave and Courageous one must still have fears. It is a part of human kind to understand and acknowledge this. It is almost in a way like a humble, though in some cases not so evidently humble, manner of recognizing your own mortality and imperfection in life. If one did not have fear or fears, then one could not overcome them and truly never achieve greater peace or self-accomplishment in life. And it is required to not only have the fear, but also to be able to recognize the fear. The individual must be able to know what it is that he fears before he can overcome it. So there is some intellect and self-awareness necessity in being brave. Once the person can admit to their own being that they do indeed fear like all humans and that they can identify what it is to fear, they can proceed in the steps to overcome their fear.

The problem with this is that it th ere is a fine line between the instinctive sense of Courage and the intellectual sense of Courage. Aristotle looks down on those who rush in to overcome their Courage and do not fully assess what it is that they should be brave against and for. It is not in their wisdom that they do such acts and therefore do not understand that they are truly being brave. On the other hand, though one may act almost fool-heartedly when put in a situation requiring bravery, it does not necessarily mean that the person has a vice of excess in the virtue, which is what on even grounds Aristotles work seems to express. The problem arrives that does the man truly need to consciously recognize the act of bravery or can instinctively his mind and body realize this without making it consciously aware? If so, then he destroys any other factors in his decision to be Courageous and is not being manipulated or influenced by any forces other than his own conscious. This gives expression that there is also a vice of over-thinking.

As stated, Aristotle clearly expresses an act of intellectualism and reason being a part of bravery. To what extent this goes is what splits his definition of the virtue into paths of interpretation. Man requires reason to exist as man. This part is clear in all forms and analyses, but that reason can be an innate feature at times, acting as an instinctive part of mans being. By looking at it in this way, Courage would require mainly just being able to overcome the fear and a certain amount of analysis of it. Lack of analysis would mean improper reason and recognition of reality, while over analysis would inevitably bring in other elements and components other than the pure act of overcoming a fear and being brave. So Courage relies on a means between two vices of reason. One would fail at truly gaining the virtue of Courage if they were to be fool-hearted and not fully understand what it means to be Courageous, and also one would fail if they were over-analytical and let the influence of other elements besides their own judgment and conscious persuade their acts and being.

So we can gather this from the end analysis: the virtue of Courage is an act of understanding mans own mortal fears, both natural and logical, and the ability to keep the act of overcoming fear, of being Courageous, between two vices of reason where one is the lack of judgment and intellect while the other is the excess of judgment and analyzing. This leaves Aristotles view on Courage in an unlikely path. Though he deeply expresses the power of reason, it is this same reason that creates a vice if used to much. There seems to be some expression that reason is a force that is innate to man and so in saying so one does not need to overexert themselves to use it. Thus, reason is the understanding of life, mortality, and virtue, and is the creation of all things expressed in a balanced form within mankind.

In the end, Aristotles view on Courage seems to leave one important fact: it is not by our own choice that we have it. Not to say that man does not recognize his fear and overcome it, but in definition to say that we have the conscious power not to express the virtue rather than the conscious power to express it. In other words, it is natural for man to achieve this virtue of Courage, but to not achieve it is by his own actions and determinations. This is in a sense a contradiction to his teachings of choice and freedom of action. There is this instinctive essence to Coura ge that Aristotle emphasizes. It comes from the very definition of man being a reasonable, analytical and intelligent creature. Though man must make some efforts to be able to properly use the powers of reason, man is defined as the only creature to have reason and therefore it is a power within man that is interconnected and not an outside force to rely on. The virtue of Courage therefore requires the power to recognize that man possesses it and not the power to reach its goal. Sustaining the means between the vices of deficiency and excess in reason is the endeavor that mankind endures to reach a virtue. It is the function of the human being to reason.

To Aristotle, everything aims at a greater Good. This Good is not some unseen God(s) to worship and follow, or the goal to change the world and make it a better place without any clear, unbiased view on what would be indeed better. It is simply to reach the state of Happiness. And to do so, man needs the virtues to fully understand his place in the world. The virtue of Courage is no different. It is the way for one to overcome the difficulties and suffering of life. Without it, man would not be so vibrant in life. It is the virtues, this balance of the soul between deficiency and excess, from reason that allow man to be what it is. Aristotle clearly understood this in his wisdom and was kind enough to share it with the world.

Jake Rose is an artist and an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Fiction Writing.

Author:: Jake Rose
Keywords:: Aristotle,Philosophy,Philosophers,virtue of Courage,Courage
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You're Wrong

Isnt it amazing how often youre wrong? I mean that you, as a person, have no idea how to live and havent got the foggiest clue how to make your own decisions. I know, its kind of hard to swallow when put right in your face like that, but the fact is that you swallow exactly that every single day of your life.

The sheer perfection of the system weve designed is amazing. Do not misunderstand me, this perfection isnt a good thing. The system we have designed was essentially based on one thing, taking responsibility away from us, and passing the buck onto that very system. We invented religion so we could pass the buck to god and our inability to understand his will. We invented government so someone could represent us, as a group. And at first, both of these systems started with something very small. It started with one person thinking someone else could make a better decision about their life than they could.

Schooling, financial status, and even the priesthood a re all examples of someone else trying to be better than someone else. That quest, in itself, makes others feel like lesser individuals. They feel as though, because they did not follow schooling, become a businessman, or find religious bliss, they are insignificant and have no effect on their own reality.

How many people do you know that consult a therapist? Why? Because for some very strange reason, they think that this schooled intellectual will know more about their life than they do. They feel as though they are wrong, and wrong in the very subject they can never go wrongthemselves. Meanwhile, the patient therapist gets paid a hundred bucks per hour just to be unbiased. For a hundred bucks, how unbiased do you think I would be? A friend is different, a therapist is just there to make more money and the bank is you.

Its so hard to tell someone youre hurting yourself, especially when they dont think they are. So many people think that this mad race for accepta nce by our peers is an ideal way to live. They think that without approval they are nothing. They live their entire lives struggling to maintain an image that Society wants, and they never stop and think that Society has no right to ask anything of them. How many people do you know who feel stressed out? How many of them feel stressed all the time? They whole point is that you and I both have one right. We have the right to exist. We have the right to exist comfortably and free. We have the right to walk away from the constant expectations, to abandon the pointless rules, and strip power from the very people designed to take our responsibility away from us. We have the right to be ourselves.

So, are you always going to be wrong?

Raymond Rheault is a mid-twenties philosopher from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is currently involved with several groups focussed on personal Freedom and has designed http://www.pathtoeden.com as a prototype web community for those of u s who choose to live.

Author:: Raymond Rheault
Keywords:: Freedom, Society, Confidance, Spiritual, Awakening
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Sophistry in Modern Life

First of all, don't imagine Sophistry to be a dull topic. This stuff's as juicy as a good bank swindle and for the same reasons.

Mark Twain said lies are like cats except cats have only nine lives. Lies, it seems, just go on and on. Witness some of the major philosophical currents of the last 75 years. Looked at closely, they turn out to be all too sneaky and sophistical.

I remember my shock when I first heard about the original sophists, the early Greek ones. People who don't care about truth. They just want to win arguments! Can you believe it?! All right, I was naive. Now we know that sophists are commonplace. Attorneys who defend Mafia killers; PR people with an evil client; journalists who see their true job as writing propaganda, truth no objectwell, these examples are more or less trivial.

Much more fascinating are the secret sophists, the ones almost never accused of being what they are. Let's take a look at five areas where naked emperors are sai d to be wearing particularly beautiful clothes: situation ethics, descriptive linguistics, Deconstruction, moral relativism, and (too often) Multiculturalism.

All of them could take Zeno as patron saint. That's the Greek philosopher who proved that a fast runner can never, ever overtake a slow oneheck, neither of them can ever reach the finish line. Such is the power of Sophistry.

VIRTUOUS BEHAVIOR DEPENDS ON THE SITUATION

Situation ethics has been used for decades to undermine religious and moral absolutes. While pretending to be a disinterested look at life's tough choices, situation ethics usually functions destructively. Here's how it works.

Situation ethics uses what might be called the rock-and-a-hard-place Sophistry. You are given two choices, both bad, one carefully positioned to be less bad. When you duly pick it, the so-called ethicist says: There, you see, you have approved evil. Doesn't that show that your moral values, your Philosophy of life, are flimsy and probably false???

A common situation might go like this: imagine you're a Dutchman hiding Jews in your basement in 1942; German soldiers come to the doordo you tell the truth? No, most likely, you lie. The sophist then triumphantly pounces: There, you think lying is okay!

It's a trap, a set-up, but it can unnerve the innocent and unwary. The student is lead to think: Gee, I always thought lying was wrong.....but I guess it's all right.... And from there you might well start doubting all the beliefs you grew up with.

This Sophistry reminds me of a discussion we sometimes had on the school bus when I was fourteen, about which of various terrible fates we would prefer to endure. Blind or deaf? Burned to death or drowned? Or, let's take a simple one: wo uld you prefer to lose one finger or the whole arm? Everyone would say a finger. But does this tell anything about the desirability of losing a finger? Of course not! Nobody wants to lose a finger.

Here's a few more quick takes. A plane crashed in Peru, people died, the living ate the dead; it was the only way to survive. But does this tell us anything about the value of cannibalism as a way of life?....People were marooned on a raft in the Pacific for weeks; they drank urine; it was that or sea water, which makes you crazy. But do we conclude that these people approve of urine as a beverage?.... Suppose there's a burning housewould you prefer that 6 or 20 people die? You: six people. Aha, so you approve of people dying in fires! You murderer!

The gimmick throughout is to trap you between two bad things and then make it seem that you endorse or even like one of them. But you don't. You probably hate both of them.

The technique's underlying aggression (nay, viciousness) becomes completely obvious in so-called death education when children are made to select which relatives should be allowed in a life boatand which should be left to die! Again, at least as far back as the 1950s, psychological tests used on school children contained questions such as, Which is worsespitting on the American flag or the Bible? Just imagining these things is obviously going to unsettle and numb a child, apparently the goal.

Coda: One cheerful note in all this is how resolutely people will struggle to find the morally superior choicethat is, the higher good. Lying, one could properly conclude from the first situation, is such a terrible thing that we will do it only to save human life! Situation ethicsif we but turn it right side upproves the opposite of what it often sets out to prove.

THE PRESCRIPTION IS NO PRESCRIPTIONS

Descriptive linguistics starts from a sensible insight: that anthropologists should be humble and unintrusive when studying foreign languages or cultures. In short, the locals are the experts about their own culture and language, especially spoken-only languages. Visiting scholars should keep their own values and opinions to themselves.

Thus, if you want to know how the Edens speak Edenese, you record and transcribe as objectively as possible. For the obvious reason that you are not an Eden, and can hardly speak the language. If you want an expert on Edenese as it is spoke, find some Edens. Makes sense, right?

This methodology is so obviously appropriate, you wonder that anthropology had to be reminded. In fact, this scientific commonplace was (re)discovered with great fanfare. And the excitement led quickly to excess, and its name was Sophistry.

Certain scholars, especially linguistic anthropologists and linguists influenced by them, suddenly acted as though they had found an iron rule of life, applicable in ALL situations--thou shalt not prescribe (i.e. make rul es), thou shalt only describe.

Well, that's obviously a contradiction, so already we're suspicious. But the bad part is still ahead. These linguists, in a marvelous sleight of hand, took a perfectly good methodology and insisted on applying it in places where the reasons for the methodology are no longer valid!

The Sophistry here is something like saying, well, a razor is good for cutting whiskers, so I'll use it to cut cloth, or to cut glass, or to cut out an appendix. Just because something is appropriate in one place doesn't mean it works in even a quite similar place.

What the linguists did was take a methodology designed for novice anthropologists doing field research among exotic, preliterate cultures, and apply the exact same methodology to us!

The United States is not a preliterate culture, which might be a clue right there that a different methodology is appropriate. Our language is a written one and it's already massively transcribedin a bil lion books in ten thousand libraries. And you want experts?--there's a few million handy. They're called writers, editors, teachers, etc. But the linguists said: no, no, we don't care what those people think, absolutely not. The methodology demands that we stop people at random, guys on the streetjust as though we were still among the Edens. Although even there, one supposes, they don't interview the children and mentally defective. Strangely, when they get to us, they insist on an inclusiveness almost that broad. Anybody but the real experts, actually. The prescription seems to be this: in attempting to pin down English grammar, rely only on those who don't know much about it.

And if you ask, regarding any of this, why?!, the linguists will respond, as though you are a complete idiot: because you can't prescribe, you can only describe, that's the RULE. And if you say: give me that again, why can't we prescribe? The linguists will say: because we don't do that when we study the Edens.

True story.

The prescription also takes this form: Languages change, that's the way it is, there's nothing you can do about it, and all changes are equally valid. Compare this to an equally weird non-sequitur: Rivers naturally change their courses all the time. Any course is equally valid. So don't waste time trying to save your land or your cities.

A preliterate language exists in the present and probably in a very limited geographical area. But English exists vertically through time (one (night say), going back 400 years to Shakespeare. And it exists horizontally, being the first language around the planet. There is vast advantage in keeping the language coherent, so we can draw on the wisdom of the past, and so we can communicate effectively with people everywhere today. With the spread of phones, fax machines and computers, this is more crucial than ever before.

In fact, linguists are often not as simple-minded as the narration so far might suggest. My guess is that they are putting us on to some degree. There's usually an ideological component operating here. Descriptive linguistics, with its solemn scientific pretensions, provides a convenient way to undermine the dominant culture, to attack what some might call privileged language forms. Such an attack, naked and forthright, would not gain much support, even from the people it purports to help.

Descriptive linguistics is also a tremendously handy tool for educators engaged in dumbing down the schools. These people actually say: it's not scientific to make kids learn to write good English. Whatever the children do, that's finethey're the experts regarding how they use the language.

Welcome to Eden.

DECONSTRUCTIVELY YOURS

Deconstruction is perhaps the most ingeniously packaged cluster of sophistries one can imagine.

Basically, Deconstruction seems to be Marxist Literary Studies, but someone must have realized the name w ouldn't help sales. However, let's not pin labels on it. Let's look at Deconstruction on its own terms and, well, deconstruct it. Indeed, that is Deconstruction's first Sophistrythat it doesn't apply its own methodology to itself.

The second Sophistry is that Deconstruction comes out four-square against all hierarchies. Except the one--surprise!--where Deconstruction is on top. Ah, hubris.

The third Sophistry is a thorough-going if sly inclusiveness. Every text turns out to have an infinite number of meanings (shades of Zeno's Paradox, which uses the same device, known as infinite regress). All those thousands of meanings means a student could spend a year on a novel and never find out what the book is universally thought to be about! An infinite number of meanings, if you want to be rigorous about it or even mildly practical, means no meaning.... In fact, this apparent indulgence is merely a gambit, often used to push aside or obscure those meanings which most r eaders detect or that the authors themselves are on record as acknowledging.

Which leads to the fourth Sophistry, a thorough-going if not so sly reductionism. When all the apparent meanings have been picked through and most of them dismissed as so much air, it turns out out that the real, deep-down, true meaning is usually the same one. No matter what text is examined, it turns out that the author is signaling us that bourgeois society is bad, Marx is right, etc.

In practice, the professor of Deconstruction can bend most texts in this manner, while just leaving others out. So that, at the end, all literature is politicized and the students are to some degree indoctrinated. And, thank heavens, they can no longer spend their time in bourgeois contemplation of beauty or just enjoying a good book....

I admit to taking Deconstruction personally. I write novels and poems, and I know what meanings I put in. The idea of somebody telling me none of that is relevant is scary (as lunacy usually is). No, you start with the author's meanings and then go to the additional meanings that the smartest critics and shrewdest readers have found. Then, if you want to know what various psychoanalysts, historians, and ideologues see in the work, be my guest. That's the only possible hierarchy. Anything else says no runner ever crosses the finish line.

RELATIVELY SPEAKING

Moral relativism has been widely accepted as a final philosophical word. People routinely say, Well, everything's relative, usually meaning that you can't make moral judgments about anything.

Put simply, some argue that if God is dead, everything must therefore be relative. Speaking for myself, I heard this line of reasoning so many times, I passively accepted it. If we can't prove the existence of God, well, it does seem we're stuck with relativism.

Then I realized that relativism was used a lot in political debates, particularly Cold War debates. And the id ea seemed to be that since everything is relative, there was no possible way to criticize Communism. Everything's relative....you're wrong....end of discussion.

However, I suspect that as we shift from debating metaphysics to talking about how to structure human societies, relativism is by no means so obvious or pertinent. Here's why. Relativism is valid only if there's no God. But in that case, mankind becomes the measure of all things. (Unless you're saying might makes right.) So, while relativists no longer have to listen to God, don't they now have to listen to people?

The Sophistry of the relativists is that they get rid of God, and then they keep right on going and get rid of everything else in their way. How convenient if they happen to be trying to defend something monstrous. Or to pull down something you value.

The more you think about it, it's relativism that is dead. If there's no God, then there's people. And for people, in everyday life, almost nothing is relative. On every basic of human existence, 99.99% of us would vote the same. Here's a few basics and I submit that everyone is going to pick the second option:

Sickness / Health Hunger / Adequate diet Slavery / Freedom No religious freedom / Religious freedom Work 18 hours per day / Work 8 hours a day No free speech / Free speech Raise a family in one room / In two rooms Breathe dirty air / Breathe clean air Can't travel / Free to move Illiterate / Educated Destitute / Prosperous Live in crime-ridden city / In safe city

Well, you get the point. What actually is relative? Sure, a good sophist can jump on any of these and assert that people don't really want it or would be better off without it. That's how you know they're sophists. Then they'll prove that the fast runner will never catch the slow one.

The point is, relativism pretends to be higher truth. In practice, it's usually a low debating technique in the service of nihilism. A hundred mi llion voices may cry out for something dear to their hearts but the relativist will say: nope, we don't have to listen to that nonsense, it has no basis in logic! Thus spake the sophist.

MULTIWHAT?

First of all, Multiculturalism is not automatically sophistical.

The idea that we should study other cultures has always been at the heart of a good liberal arts education. Ideally, we'd want to learn the high points of all the major civilizations (if only there were world enough and time). Indeed, one might argue that knowing these high points is the mark of an educated person.

Multiculturalists usually claim to be arguing from this premise. Hey, they declare, students should know all the great things produced by other cultures, not just this country.

In practice , however, many advocates of Multiculturalism often don't get around to the best and brightest of the other great cultures. Often the syllabus lists minor works by minor thinkers from minor eras (things that might be appropriate in graduate school). Multiculturalists sometimes sell a route and then switch the promised destination. In retail, they call this bait and switch. Here, I'm calling it Sophistry.

The real object of many multiculturalist programs, given an undergraduate's very limited time, is simply to diminish the study of the student's own culture. Then, as a second part of the combination, these programs peddle works that will further attack that culture. In fact, Multiculturalism is often just another name for America-bashing. Of course, that may itself be a worthwhile object of study, if sold as such. It's when the multiculturalist has a secret agenda that Sophistry intrudes very dramatically. I'm not here to argue that America can't stand some bashing. I simply want truth in advertising.

IN CONCLUSION

Overall, it seems to me that serious philosophers should have been playing watchdog, far more than they have. Unfortunately, serious Philosophy in this century has usually been academic Philosophy, people mostly busy counting the contemporary counterpart of angels dancing on the head of a pin. In early Greece, there was a steady conflict between teachers of clever debating techniques and people seeking truth or the right way to live. The two sides were always battling, and that was good for everybody. In our time, the field has been left wid e open to sophists and, in one man's opinion, they've had it much too easy.

----- Bruce D. Price 2006. Same article appears under title Philosophy Weeps on author's site Improve-Education.org

Bruce Deitrick Price is a novelist, digital artist, essayist and poet. His art sites are: http://www.Price.myexpose.com His lit site is: http://www.Lit4u.com. His intellectual site is: http://www.Improve-Education.org.

Author:: Bruce Deitrick Price
Keywords:: Philosophy, Sophistry, situation ethics, descriptive linguistics, Deconstruction, Multiculturalism
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Joseph Bonaparte and The New Jersey Devil

Joseph Bonaparte and The New Jersey Devil:

Commodore Stephen Decatur was an American naval hero in the early nineteenth century. According to legend, he visited the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged. While there, he visited a firing range and sighted a flying creature flapping its wings. He fired a cannonball directly upon it. It had no effect and the creature flew away.

Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and former King of Spain, was reported to have seen the Devil. The incident took place in Bordentown, New Jersey while he was game hunting in the nearby woods.

The infamous Captain Kidd is reputed to have buried treasure in Barnegat Bay. Legend has it he beheaded one of his men to guard forever his buried treasure. Accounts claim the headless pirate and the Jersey Devil became friends and were seen in the evenings walking along the Atlantic and in nearby marshlands.

In Clayton, New Jersey, the Devil was cha sed by a posse to the edge of a wooded area. The Devil fled into the wood. The posse, afraid to pursue him, halted and declared if you're the Devil, rattle your chains.

The Devil's taste varies. He was seen cavorting at sea with a mermaid in 1870. And he is reputed to have had a ham and egg breakfast with a Republican Judge French. But the Devil is not known to have specific political leanings.

The Devil's sightings have covered great geographic distances. from Bridgeton to Haddonfield in 1859; to the New York border in 1899; and from Gloucester City to Trenton in 1909. Until this time, tales of the Devil were passed by word-of-mouth. However, published police and newspaper accounts during a famous week in January of 1909 took the story of the Devil from folk belief to authentic folk legend. Thirty different sightings in a one-week period told of the Devil sailing across the Delaware River to Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Newspaper articles created a nea r panic in the region.

Theory and the Devil

After the 1909 appearances, the scientific community was asked for possible explanations. Reportedly, science professors from Philadelphia and experts from the Smithsonian Institution thought the Devil to be a prehistoric creature from the Jurassic period. Had the creature survived in nearby limestone caves? Was it a pterodactyl or a peleosaurus? New York scientists thought it to be a marsupial carnivore. Was it an extinct fissiped? However, the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia could not locate any record of a living of dead species resembling the Jersey Devil. (2)

There is a remote possibility that the Hapsburgs and Randolphs or other Merovingian sorcerers who live in the upper Chesapeake area have something to do with this Devil. Some of their rituals definitely involve the invocation of Asmodeus or other elementals that some call demons. They also claim to be able to shape-shift but I suspect they ar e involved in projecting hallucinations or what is called mind-fogging. In any event it is interesting to find Napoleons brother living in these parts of America.

Author of Diverse Druids and sixty other books available at World-Mysteries and elsewhere.

Author:: Robert Baird
Keywords:: Shape-shifting, Skull and Bones
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Getting Even is Odd Revenge is a Dish Best Served Not at All

I hear you; another bleeding-heart Liberal trying to save vicious barbarians from the Justice they deserve and everybody wants to see. Bleeding-heart is a term vicious barbarians apply to forward-looking, sympathetic people who would deprive them of their just desserts (sic). Call me Progressive Ishmael.

It is common that societies large and small depend on Punishment to maintain order. The threat of Punishment is the main device. The actual Punishment is evidence that the society stands behind the threat. The paddle and expulsion at school, the speeding ticket and the fine, the very presence of the police car or motorcycle, the policeman equipped with a truncheon, a gun and a radio to call for reinforcements, the hydrogen bomb are all threats of hurt which exist to keep order.

Tyrants typic ally attempt to ward off attacks on their authority by killing or imprisoning their real or perceived enemies.

The United States of America is founded on the idea that the government is more dangerous than its worst citizens and must be curtailed. So it is not permitted to assume that someone is going to break the law and restrain him in advance. This is very inconvenient for everyone except the transgressor but in other systems no one is safe from the whip of the powerful.

It boils down to the question: How can we maintain order without harsh and debilitating measures?

Citizens who misbehave need to be motivated to conform to reasonable standards so that the general populace can function in a safe environment. How do we go about this? Fines, imprisonment and death are the usual solutions. Fines and the threat of fines seem to work for the large majority. People who have a lot of money are not concerned about fines so that brings up an equality issue, but t he concept is probably healthy.

Imprisonment is generally punitive and hurtful. If we can find the resources and heart to make prison a place of rehabilitation instead of one of Revenge, we will benefit greatly as a society. The function of prison should not be one of getting even with oddballs but a way to get destructive people away from the main body of society and help them to become positive citizens.

Of course, none of the above bleeding-heart attitudes should apply to my neighbor whose dog barks and whines day and night and whose stereo blares out techno music at three in the morning. He should be tarred and feathered, boiled in oil and torn asunder by four horses tearing off in all directions at once.

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Jack Wilson is a writer and artist in Tempe, AZ

http://www.geocities.com/galimatio/jackwilson.html

Author:: Jack Wilson
Keywords:: Revenge,Punishment,Vengeance,Bully,l aw and order,social order,Crime,Hate,Justice,Progress,Liberal
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Fruitless Debates

One of the biggest problems that plagues rational beings is debating on dual planes. The use of emotionally charged words invokes irrelevant images, which cloud the judgment and usually obscure any attempt to make ourselves understood.

Atlastorm has created a provocative post, in which he asserts that rape is part of the natural order of things.

On one plane, he is absolutely correct. The plane upon which humans exist side by side with everything else in the universe neither greater than animals nor less than a supernova is where rational thought not only fails, but is irrelevant. For, if we exist solely to march through time until our parts are recycled, what possible difference does any of it make? We are born, we breathe, eat, eliminate, procreate and expire. If that journey is interrupted by cataclysmic events, so what? We are as powerless in such a case as a beetle beneath our heel.

On the other hand

There exists the plane where philosophers live cheek by jowl with pragmatists, idealists, fatalists and the occasional apathetic slacker. Each of these thinkers has her own ideas about the meaning of words, the relevance of justice and the price of power. Those are just three of the thousands of thought patterns impressed on the brains of thinkers and, often times in the heat of debate, those thoughts no longer line up the way they are expected.

So, when the philosopher ponders the essence of rape or, for that matter, any other reality, the need for context forces the discussion into a public forum. After all, if it were enough to merely ruminate, philosophers would never have anything to say!

Once a discussion has reached enough thinkers, chaos perforce, ensues. In its simplest form, the chaos manifests itself as two people shouting across the chasm between the two planes.

It is tempting to prove this point by lifting portions of the debate out of context; however, it would hardly do justice to t he massive amount of thinking that has already been applied on Atlastorm's blog. Suffice it to say that terminology has been flung around with little consensus as to meaning. This has caused a vicious circular reasoning, in which rape is defined in terms of its necessity! This is clearly an unintended error, but it is no more grievous than the repeated offense of assuming that sexual gratification is inherent in the act.

Bringing in the heavy guns of sociology to combat the weapons of science and philosophy is like placing a mirror before Socrates and demanding that he argue with himself. A proper discourse must strip away everything but the essence of the subject. The key terms must be defined and their use agreed upon by all participants. Ad hominem attacks must be avoided, as they serve only to obscure the real issue.

It may be helpful to understand each participant's world-view and the ways in which that perspective might affect the progress of the debate.

At the end of it all, we may find that we have accomplished absolutely nothing.

Mitchell Allen is an advocate for cross-networking: synergistically linking multiple social networks in order to increase membership exposure.

He writes for fun and profit at WritingUp.com

He maintains The Vertical Blog Tunnel Network at the social network, Ryze.com.

Author:: Mitchell Allen
Keywords:: Debates, blog comments, flame wars, ad hominem attacks
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God is an Entrepreneur and Capitalist

If there was a God; what would God be like and what would his impression of the United States of America be? Well, God would certainly be an Innovator, a Capitalist and pose as the entrepreneurial spirit. I am sure of it. You see, God helps those that help themselves and therefore he probably would not be a Communist or a socialist.

Perhaps he would be a benevolent dictator, yet rather than a monarch leader most likely he would serve a group of benevolent gentlemen or as an adviser to a democratic system, which was blessed in having a system similar to Platos Republic and God would sit nearby power chosen human leader available for wisdom and answer questions.

Indeed, God would be like an entrepreneurial Capitalist, as he would fund the wishes of mankind and provide the civilization with their desires. And would also be there to provide wisdom to those we entrust to lead. If there was a God, he would be an entrepreneur and Capitalist or at least have that exact mindset. You see, God knows and humans should know that Utopia will not build itself.

Utopia can only be built by those hard Chargers, dreamers and dedicated individuals who have the resources, the stick-to-it-ness and the passion to bring innovations, ideas and dreams to reality. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Author:: Lance Winslow
Keywords:: God is an Entrepreneur, Innovator, Capitalist
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Another Meaning of "Philosopher"

Until now, I have just found two reasons behind education. The first reason that over ninety-nine percent of the scholars have accepted is money-mind. The second reason is to be a philosopher.

In todays world of freedom, scholars are entitled to stand on money-minds or philosophers side. So which reason do you take side? The purpose of this article is to explain the true meaning and purpose of education from a very commoners mind.

Education, from the pre-Socratic era up to the present, never means for money. But the tendency of self-fulfillment has converted such the fresh purpose of education to mental and material risks. So what is the argument behind this?

True education is about understanding, this understanding will lead to the truth and this truth must be finally revealed to the world; orally or by writing. Here is my formula for genuine education:

Understanding leads to knowing the truth leads to curiosity to share. Intellectuals must be curi ous to share to as much public as possible, no matter how dangerous and time-consuming it would take.

To be particularly precise, education will lead you to be a philosopher. So now, we come to the very theme of this philosophical essay; what does philosopher mean?

Philosopher means those vastly informed whose sole purpose is to rectify the mistake crazing amongst human mentality and society. To a more particular extend, his or her sacrifice to rectify mistakes in human mentalities and society must not target self-benefits and other worldly sins.

To attain this law of nature, philosopher must be meticulously neutral and in good faith to human as a whole, regardless of color and any kind of discrimination, defined by history or abstract education.

Discrimination is one of or probably the most apparent barriers to be a philosopher. As I previously addressed, to learn to be a philosopher is to learn the truth; the world truth, and consequently, to correc t the mistakes; worldly mistakes. There is no discrimination in the truth, and consequently, no discrimination in mistake-rectification.

Philosopher must focus on eternal public development and to do this, he or she must endeavor to see and take up even one percent of the mistakes amongst ninety-nine excellences that are circumnavigating around human world.

I do confess to all the readers that my defined meaning of philosopher is, to more or less extent, too obsolete and there may be no any genuine philosopher in this modern century able to accomplish this Gods law, but I just want to prevail the truth, while I am in existence in this world and before I forever depart.

Lay Vicheka is a translator for the most celebrated translation agency in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Pyramid Translation Co.Ltd.. Simultaneously, he is working as a freelance writer for Search Newspaper; focusing on social issues and students' issues. Lay Vicheka is the expert author for ezine and other websites around the world such as articlecity, 365Articles, talesofasia, etc. Lay Vicheka has great experience in law and politics, as he used to be legal and English-language assistant to a Cambodian member of parliament, migration experience (home-based business) and in writing. He is also member of a New York-based research company. Posting address: 221H Street 93, Tuol Sangke quarter, Russey Keo district, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel: 855 11 268 445, vichekalay@yahoo.com

Author:: Vicheka Lay
Keywords:: Philosophy and philosopher
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