Republicanism as a Religion

Only by understanding its religious roots can republicanism rise again. It must have this single vision. This vision is not Enlightenment rationalism or a reasonable logic but rather a completely conservative Christian idealism based on an emotional attachment to Bible-believing – the singularly religious-based desire - and commitment - for a religious-based Christian state.

Colossians 3:22 - Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

Republicans are running from the Stars and Bars and the Trump. Still, republicanism WINS when voter turn-out is low.

And they are reinventing history with a broad brush.

But, with Faux Snews, they have people who know how!

On Mourning...

I can not find the quote...

At some point, the Buddha said words to the effect:

Do not mourn for a man when he dies.

Morn for him when he is born.

There are several versions of this floating around in the "cloud" of web misinformation but none get the the Sanskrit crux of the matter.

"The truly wise mourn neither for the living nor for the dead."

The above is from the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) - a part of the ancient Sanskrit Mahabharata (Great Poem). (Both the living and dead are but a dream)

THIS is one explanation (which is CULTURAL, not philosophical)

I like Takuan's instructions. "Be done with it and go home."

Since I wrote my death poem long long ago, that giri is thus dispatched.

We are all dead. We just have to realize it one day. Do not be angry about it and you will sleep well.

In the meantime, continue your dream. And dare to dream of peace.

Dream

Takuan Sōhō died in 1645. The moment before his death, Takuan painted the Chinese character 夢 ("dream").

TOKAI-JI: Strolling in a dream

"Takuan’s tomb, marked by a round natural stone, occupies an atoll of calm amid the hissing of passing bullet trains, surrounded as it is by a clutter of old tombstones moved from long-lost subsidiary temples."

His greatest legacy? Pickled radish.

Now go back to sleep.

And dream on...

Once upon a time...

...there may have been life - but that was hundreds of billions of years - and thousands of simulations - ago!

The Simulated Universe Argument suggests that the universe we inhabit is an elaborate emulation of the real universe. Everything, including the people, animals, plants and bacteria are part of the simulation. The simulation also extends further than the Earth: all the planets, asteroids, comets, stars, galaxies, black holes, nebula and other space debris are also part of the simulation: in fact our entire Universe is a simulation running inside an extremely advanced computer system designed by a super intelligent species which lives in a parent universe.

SOURCE

None of this is new, news, or recent. (See my past postings)

This simulation has extremely "tight limits" on the variations of the light quark masses...

There are thousands of universes in which there are no observers.

We watch. We measure. We report.

In the year 1773, after an obscurity lasting 1500 years, the Scottish explorer James Bruce, discovered in what is now Ethiopia, The Book of Enoch.

Download it https://archive.org/details/bookofenochtrans00scho

It is called the Ethiopian Book of Enoch, because the book is best known from some forty manuscripts from Ethiopia. There are other fragments of the book in Hebrew (is that a language?) or Aramaic and even some Ugaritic fragments.

The geographical sites described in Enoch and the myth in Isa 14:12 15 recall the story of Athtar from Ugarit. In other words, Enoch is a VERY old text that seems to predate Torah (Nomos).

You might not care (as I don't really care - one way or the other).

But it seems that we exist to observe. Simple. If this is correct, it explains one thing. If this is incorrect, it explains another.

The TWINS - Gemini - are called "First Man" (Adam) and "First Woman" (Eve) in the Ethiopian Zodiac. In the "Great Ages" theory this makes sense... in the time of Adam and Eve is another allusion to the precession of the Zodiac. The modern Zodiac may have been the Greek version but there were many far earlier versions (Sumer, India, China). The stories are usually hand-me-downs as well (e.g. flood of Noah and Nu Wa).

America's best kept secret:

California is "the welfare state."

Everybody knows it.

It is often repeated.

Except, it isn't true!

When you parse out the actual money spent on welfare - that is money from TAXATION that lands in the hands of the poor - it is a fraction of a penny! [a PDF]

Counties like to shift the cost of the Public Defender's Office (Staff and Lawyers) into the public assistance pot. And, as a line item, it makes accounting sense. Add Social Workers (public assistance) and medical costs and you start to see a clearer picture.

The real issue here is FOGGING. When hate-talk radio has YOU focused of welfare, which rabbit are they stuffing in their hat? Your retirement savings (with fees, churning, and penalties?), or your thinking skills (by playing to your fears and emotions)? $20 BILLION was once going to build 7 ships at $3.5 Billion per hull. At $7 billion (called on-budget and on-tome) THIS is what you get. (Temporary food and shelter for 158 people.)

The bottom line is this:

What is the difference between that college drop-out Rush and the Hindenburg?

One is a horribly over-inflated inflammatory gas bag and the other one is a balloon.

Happier people just don't listen to hate talk radio or watch FAUX Snews. They go for walks, read books, value their own skills, and do thing for the benefit of others.

"Rush Limbaugh and his rating-related woes are a source of amusement for those who can’t stand the hate monger. It’s hard NOT to be amused watching the downward spiral of a loudmouth whose primary claim to fame is divisiveness and ignorance.