Happy Triskaidekaphobia!

The 13th was best remembered among conspiracy theorists (who are really just paranoid simpletons) as the day the fat fell into the fire.

"On Friday October 13, 1307 (a date incorrectly linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition)..."

Never mind that we had the fox guarding the hen house. Never mind that we had not just one, but two stolen elections. And never mind that the church and political right are now mutually corrupted sewers.

Because they both smell of the company they keep, the demographics of decay will solve the problem.

The good news is this: George W. Bush had hoped to use the Masonic Bible that had been used both by George Washington in 1789, and by his father, George H. W. Bush, in 1989. This historic Bible had been transported, under guard, from New York to Washington D.C. for the Inauguration but, due to [God providing] inclement weather [rain], a family Bible was substituted instead. That Family Bible, of course, being damned as an abomination unto the council of gods (Elyon and his seven sons).

Not even the sons of a god would let an election thief use a Volume of Sacred Law.

In the Dead Sea Scrolls, Deuteronomy reads:

Think back to the older days, think over the years, down the ages. Ask of your father, let him teach you; of your elders, let them enlighten you:

When Elyon (Oden, the all-father) gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided the sons of men, he fixed their bounds according to the number of the sons of El (god), Yahweh's portion is his people, Jacob (Israel*) his inheritance.

The introduction states that you need to learn of an ancient event, the knowledge of which first came to your grandfather's generation. The event was an administrative decision by El - god (the all-father) - who assigned his divine "sons" - lords - to rule over various tribes. Here Yahweh is assigned the tribe of Jacob (which was stolen from his brother Esau). This is llustrated in the following diagram:

El (Elyon, Oden)

Sons of El

Chemosh -------- Moab
Dagon ------------ Philistia
Baal -------------- Canaan
Yahweh ---------- *Jacob
Milcom ---------- Ammon
Hadad ----------- Aram
Qos --------------- Edom

So, of the twelve tribes, seven had lords.

Sound like dung to you too?
O.K. So I am kidding about parts of this post. Which parts?

"Give them Circus & bread"

There really is one born more frequently than every minute. The law of instant karma is often in play. Really, booze in a baby bottle?

It's cool. A lot of people just don't get it. Today, you see, I am being a particularly cheerful optimist.
READ IT.

Religious Studies?

If you are considering 'religious studies' in college, reconsider 'classics' (at least as a minor). When you read the greater Greek, and lesser Roman, classics you put in place a firm a foundation upon which further studies may be built. The Iliad is but one collection (attributed to Homer). This book was considered a bible in its day. Alexander the Great carried a copy in a jeweled box. The Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and recent Egyptian histories (especially Akhenaten) have much to tell us about the folklore of the Levant. Clay tablets do not burn (as other histories which fell to the Roman torch).

Considering the mythical magnitude placed upon the Levant today, that area is best approached at the post-graduate level. Truth be known, historically the Levant was a god-forsaken wilderness with mushroom-eating nomads and very few large settlements.

What we have in that "constrained collection of regional folklore" that evolved into the Western Bible of 1611 is quite obviously "cultural borrowing" without any interest whatsoever (thus avoiding usury). On close examination this book is thereafter properly shelved next to Grimm's.

Xtian colon cleansing - it's a BLAST!

Fear mongers, like rumor mongers, seem to run frigging wild in Xtian circles. Now who would guess that there is an enema cult in our town?* Biblical blast out is nowhere to be found. The first blast (link), by the way, started this stream of consciousness flowing (no pun intended). drum roll, rimshot

You know what 'they' say:
" Participation in a complete detoxification program consisting of:
* Colon cleanse
* Liver, gallbladder, kidney flush
* Super-nutrition via organic juicing...
* Parasite cleanse"

A lapel pin for these folks:
*For obvious reasons, I refuse to call it 'River City.'

See also: "What do many of these folks have in common?" Just asking...

Attach THIS!

Some Buddhists teach that attachments fall into two categories: "attachments to self" and "attachment to beliefs".

The attachment that keep most folks turning the wheel of rebirth is desire (e.g. I want more). Enlightenment is nothing more than the realization that an attachment is a desire. A desire is an attachment. "Attachment" is the investment of emotional energy in any object (Yes, even love). One becomes attached to people, things, and experiential states. Pentecostals emote in frenzied services. Addicts love the 'high.' Church choirs sing of the love they have for an external locus of control. It's all just practice for the next birth-life-death cycle. And it seems devoid of reason and reasonable behavior.

Goofy believers think that they are gods chosen few. The god(s) make no distinctions. And fighting for peace, especially in the name of some god, is like screwing for virginity.

Conceit leads one to think that the body is more than a mere vehicle which may carry you to enlightenment. It isn't. You are born with nothing except the vehicle that carries you and you die with nothing more than your abandonment of the same vehicle. Chrome and fancy hub caps you add are no more than deception.

The great liability of belief systems is that such systems 'bring you back for more.' 10,000 lives as a 'true believer' are 10,000 cycles through suffering, 10,000 turnings of the wheel of dharma. But, so what? Go for it, if that's your bag. While some wealthy people may 'suffer in comfort,' they suffer nonetheless.

Humor break: Hitler's vehicle.

Go ask Jain, when she's 10 feet tall.

Oliver Twist asks for more.

On this, I must work...

Zengetsu, a Chinese zen master of the Tang dynasty, wrote the following advice for his pupils:

• Living in the world yet not forming attachments is the way of Zen.
• Censure yourself, never another. Do not discuss right and wrong.
• When witnessing the good of another encourage yourself to follow this example.
• On the errant action of another, do not to emulate it.
• Alone in a dark room, be as if you were facing a guest.
• Express your feelings no more than your true nature.
• Poverty is a treasure. Never exchange it for a life of ease.
• A person may appear a fool by guarding his wisdom carefully.
• Virtue is the fruit of self-discipline and not gifts from heaven.
• Modesty is the foundation of virtue.
Let others discover you before you make yourself known.
• A noble heart never applies force.
Its words are gems, seldom displayed and of great value.
• To a sincere student, every day is a fortunate day.
• Time passes. Neither glory nor shame can move it.
• Some things, now thought right, were thought wrong for generations.
• Righteousness may be recognized after centuries; there is no need to crave appreciation.
• Live with cause and leave effect to the law of the universe.
• Pass each day in peaceful contemplation.