Myths and tales of Indonesia are very diverse, because the people comes from hundreds of ethnic groups, each with their own way of beliefs.
Some groups that were isolated from the rest of the World until recent centuries have their own myths still free from foreign influences.
This myth is an animistic belief related to Borneo's abundant bird species. Birds have the faculty of flight, envied by man, that they only need to flap their wings and fly away from danger, yet that simple action warns man from the dangers these birds perceived.
In Iban floklore, SING'ALANG BURUNG's thoughts were recorded as follows: "I am the ruler of the SPIRIT WORLD and have the power to make men successful. In all work you undertake YOU MUST PAY HEED TO THE VOICES of sacred birds."
SING'ALANG BURUNG was the bravest god of war and in his earthly form, disguised as a bird, the Brahminy kite, he conveyed messages to the Ibans.
Ancient Iban Woodcarvings and Wooden War Shields depict this bird as a Sign of Invisibility. It is the state bird of Sarawak.
Today in Kenya and Iban this bird has been usurped by the supreme Avian god in both cultures: the RHINOCEROS HORNBILL. These magnificent birds fly in a flock at dusk across the Kinabatangan River in Eastern Sabah. They are distinguishable by the rapid succession of their roaring calls and the whooshing sound of their wings and white tip of their tails, when they are in route to their nests in the trees bordering the River.
The RHINOCEROS HORNBILL are in size between 91 and 122 centimeters long and are named after their reddish yellow horns protruding upwards beyond their whitish beaks. This horn, made of keratin, is hollow inside and slightly larger in the male species.
To the Dayak community, it represents a sign of virility and male dominance, derived from its habit of imprisoning its mate in a dark hollow and emergent primary forest tree at breeding time. Usually the nest is placed in such holes near the top of the forest canopy and the entrance is sealed by their own droppings. The nest is almost glued together with just one hole, through which the incubating female bird can receive the male's regurgitating food deliveries and for her excretion purposes. Beyond this nest, the bird builds an outer nest of mud which soon is baked hard. The female bird and her eggs are thus well protected from raiders such as monkeys and snakes.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
THE LONGEVITY SOUP.
This is a Borneo myth in which a simple bird's nest from the Island became a peculiar delicacy:
"Long ago in China, there was an Emperor who loved to taste different gourmet dishes made by the royal cook."
"Each dish was exotic and different every day."
"One day the cook ran out of ideas and desperately needed to find a new dish to prepare for him. The Emperor had decreed that if the cook could not prepare a new different dish daily, that he would not only lose his position as the royal cook but also his head."
"The royal cook decided to take a walk to the harbor to see if he could find something new and exotic to cook. He came across a merchant who had showed him a bird's nest from Borneo. 'How do I cook this?' says the cook, looking at the bird's nest. "You are the cook, they eat this in borneo, I just buy it, I don't prepare it. It has some potent longevity properties, that is what I was told,' said the merchant."
"Knowing the Emperor's passion for Feng Shui and longevity, the royal cook cunningly presented the soup with a dragon in one side and a phoenix on the left, with the soup in the middle. 'What have you brought me today?' asked the Emperor. 'Longevity soup Your Highness,' replied the royal cook."
The Emperor's eyes lit up, and he eagerly tasted the soup. It smelt sweet and aromatic just how he liked it, however when he tasted the food it was plain. The royal cook held his breath. 'This tastes like ordinary soup, I can get this anywhere in my kingdom,' said the Emperor.' 'Taste it again please Your Majesty,' urged the cook. The Emperor took another spoon full and said, 'It still tastes ordinary.' 'Please take another sip Your Majesty,' the cook urged again, fearful for his life. 'All right but if I do not taste anything different, I will have your head,' threatened the Emperor."
"The cook had to think fast, 'In Borneo ...' he started. The Emperor's eyes lit up because he knew that it was an exotic place. The pillars of the Forbidden City, were made from timbers that came from Borneo.
'In Borneo, the people there, eat this soup for longevity. It keeps the people young and healthy, it lengthen their years and they live long and prosperous because of this soup.' The cook went on about the benefits of the soup, emphasizing on the longevity properties of the dish. 'Such an exotic dish, why didn't you say so? This dish is fit for an Emperor,' he decreed."
"The royal cook sighed with relief, as the Emperor continued to relish his dish. Once the Emperor had finished his meal, he announced that the longevity soup had to be served to him on a regular basis, and the royal cook was duly rewarded."
"To keep the Emperor from finding out that the longevity soup's raw ingredient was bird's nest, the royal cook ensured that all those who brought back the birds nest from Borneo were killed. New crew were sent to retrieve the bird's nest each time."
"True enough the Emperor lived a long and prosperous life."
"The longevity soup was only served to the royal family and wealthy merchants, it was not allowed to be served to the general population."
"The longevity soup became renowned as a royal dish, and its potent properties claimed by the merchant were proven to be true."
"The Emperor's successors were the ones who had benefited from the soup, as it was served to them at an early age."
"Long ago in China, there was an Emperor who loved to taste different gourmet dishes made by the royal cook."
"Each dish was exotic and different every day."
"One day the cook ran out of ideas and desperately needed to find a new dish to prepare for him. The Emperor had decreed that if the cook could not prepare a new different dish daily, that he would not only lose his position as the royal cook but also his head."
"The royal cook decided to take a walk to the harbor to see if he could find something new and exotic to cook. He came across a merchant who had showed him a bird's nest from Borneo. 'How do I cook this?' says the cook, looking at the bird's nest. "You are the cook, they eat this in borneo, I just buy it, I don't prepare it. It has some potent longevity properties, that is what I was told,' said the merchant."
"Knowing the Emperor's passion for Feng Shui and longevity, the royal cook cunningly presented the soup with a dragon in one side and a phoenix on the left, with the soup in the middle. 'What have you brought me today?' asked the Emperor. 'Longevity soup Your Highness,' replied the royal cook."
The Emperor's eyes lit up, and he eagerly tasted the soup. It smelt sweet and aromatic just how he liked it, however when he tasted the food it was plain. The royal cook held his breath. 'This tastes like ordinary soup, I can get this anywhere in my kingdom,' said the Emperor.' 'Taste it again please Your Majesty,' urged the cook. The Emperor took another spoon full and said, 'It still tastes ordinary.' 'Please take another sip Your Majesty,' the cook urged again, fearful for his life. 'All right but if I do not taste anything different, I will have your head,' threatened the Emperor."
"The cook had to think fast, 'In Borneo ...' he started. The Emperor's eyes lit up because he knew that it was an exotic place. The pillars of the Forbidden City, were made from timbers that came from Borneo.
'In Borneo, the people there, eat this soup for longevity. It keeps the people young and healthy, it lengthen their years and they live long and prosperous because of this soup.' The cook went on about the benefits of the soup, emphasizing on the longevity properties of the dish. 'Such an exotic dish, why didn't you say so? This dish is fit for an Emperor,' he decreed."
"The royal cook sighed with relief, as the Emperor continued to relish his dish. Once the Emperor had finished his meal, he announced that the longevity soup had to be served to him on a regular basis, and the royal cook was duly rewarded."
"To keep the Emperor from finding out that the longevity soup's raw ingredient was bird's nest, the royal cook ensured that all those who brought back the birds nest from Borneo were killed. New crew were sent to retrieve the bird's nest each time."
"True enough the Emperor lived a long and prosperous life."
"The longevity soup was only served to the royal family and wealthy merchants, it was not allowed to be served to the general population."
"The longevity soup became renowned as a royal dish, and its potent properties claimed by the merchant were proven to be true."
"The Emperor's successors were the ones who had benefited from the soup, as it was served to them at an early age."
Saturday, January 21, 2017
ETERNAL LOVE.
"I know I am not easy to love. I am a chronic over-thinker. I overreact more than I should. Every once in a while I might be a little insecure. But if I am in love with you, I can promise you wholeheartedly that you will be loved with so much passion and intensity that you will forget what life felt like before I came along." Chelsea Carroll.
"You made me believe in love again, you made me open up to it, and eased me into it. You were gentle because you knew I was fragile and you made me believe, made me know, that it was possible for me to love again. In you I found a love I no longer believed it existed. Yes you opened my eyes to a love I never knew existed. You broke through every defense wall or obstacle of those deepest and darkest parts of me that I wanted to deflect every attempt to open up. You are the reason I learned to love again, and I feel your presence in everyday things. God, you make me feel special."
"No one else has been able to make me feel so strong and at the same time so vulnerable, while just a safe and equally as humble. Who else could reassure me that although I may fail a thousand times more, someone might still be crazy enough to love me just the same? It is in no one else, but you, whom I willingly surrender myself to. So take this as a subtle plea, in fact, I beg you, never to let go of me."
"I did not 'fall' in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we would choose anyway. And I would choose you, in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you."
"I met my soul mate before I was conceived. We were nothing but constellations composing of dying stars. Before the supernovas consumed us, he told me: 'Don't ever feel alone in the years to come. You may have your doubts, but we will collide again.' They say the Universe is Infinite, so is Love."
"Wait for the person who pursues you, the one who will make an ordinary moment seem extraordinary. The kind of person who brings out the best in you and makes you want to be a better person. Wait for the person who will be your best friend, the only person who will drop everything to be with you at any time no matter what the circumstances."
"I love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the waters, until they found me."
"I wait for you like a lonely house, until you will see me again and live in me. Until then my windows ache." "If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life." "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride. I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that when your hand rest upon my chest I feel like my hand and when I fall asleep your eyes close."
"Love is not about property, diamonds and gifts. It is about sharing your very self with the world around you." "Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness." "To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our fire." "Let us forget with generosity those who cannot love us." Pablo Neruda.
"Love must be sincere"(Romans 12:9). "Love your neighbor as yourself"(Mark 12:31). "Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast, it is not proud. Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and never fails. (2 Cor. 13:4-8).
"Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins"(1Peter4:8). "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love"(1 John 4:18-19). "Over all virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."(Colossians 3:14). "Hate stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs"(Proverb 10:12).
"Love can always conquer whatever discord brings and love can also cover a multitude of things. Do not underestimate what love can ever do, for love is God eternal and His Love can renew."
"What is cold and lifeless and lost all hope and died, love can breathe new meaning and give it back new life. Please do not give up on love when it seems that all is lost, for there is always hope if we are prepared to pay the cost."
"You made me believe in love again, you made me open up to it, and eased me into it. You were gentle because you knew I was fragile and you made me believe, made me know, that it was possible for me to love again. In you I found a love I no longer believed it existed. Yes you opened my eyes to a love I never knew existed. You broke through every defense wall or obstacle of those deepest and darkest parts of me that I wanted to deflect every attempt to open up. You are the reason I learned to love again, and I feel your presence in everyday things. God, you make me feel special."
"No one else has been able to make me feel so strong and at the same time so vulnerable, while just a safe and equally as humble. Who else could reassure me that although I may fail a thousand times more, someone might still be crazy enough to love me just the same? It is in no one else, but you, whom I willingly surrender myself to. So take this as a subtle plea, in fact, I beg you, never to let go of me."
"I did not 'fall' in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we would choose anyway. And I would choose you, in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you."
"I met my soul mate before I was conceived. We were nothing but constellations composing of dying stars. Before the supernovas consumed us, he told me: 'Don't ever feel alone in the years to come. You may have your doubts, but we will collide again.' They say the Universe is Infinite, so is Love."
"Wait for the person who pursues you, the one who will make an ordinary moment seem extraordinary. The kind of person who brings out the best in you and makes you want to be a better person. Wait for the person who will be your best friend, the only person who will drop everything to be with you at any time no matter what the circumstances."
"I love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the waters, until they found me."
"I wait for you like a lonely house, until you will see me again and live in me. Until then my windows ache." "If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life." "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride. I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that when your hand rest upon my chest I feel like my hand and when I fall asleep your eyes close."
"Love is not about property, diamonds and gifts. It is about sharing your very self with the world around you." "Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness." "To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our fire." "Let us forget with generosity those who cannot love us." Pablo Neruda.
"Love must be sincere"(Romans 12:9). "Love your neighbor as yourself"(Mark 12:31). "Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast, it is not proud. Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and never fails. (2 Cor. 13:4-8).
"Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins"(1Peter4:8). "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love"(1 John 4:18-19). "Over all virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."(Colossians 3:14). "Hate stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs"(Proverb 10:12).
"Love can always conquer whatever discord brings and love can also cover a multitude of things. Do not underestimate what love can ever do, for love is God eternal and His Love can renew."
"What is cold and lifeless and lost all hope and died, love can breathe new meaning and give it back new life. Please do not give up on love when it seems that all is lost, for there is always hope if we are prepared to pay the cost."
Friday, December 30, 2016
REVENGE AND JUSTICE IN ANCIENT GREECE. Part 2
In memory of Oenomaus, the Olympic Games were created because Oenomaus' chariot race was one legendary origin of them.
Pelops and Hippodamia had many sons; 2 of them were Atreus and Thyestes. They murdered Chrysippus, who was their half brother, a divine hero of Elis in the Peloponnesus. He was the bastard son of Pelops king of Pisa and the nymph Axioche. He was kidnapped by the Theban Laius, his tutor, who was escorting him to the Nemean Games, where the boy planned to complete. Instead, Laius ran away with him to Thebes and raped him, a crime for which he, his city, and his family were later punished by the gods. His death is seen as springing from the curse that Myrtilus placed on Pelops for his betrayal. Because of the murder, Hippodamia, Atreus, and Thyestes were banished to Mycenae, where Hippodamia is said to have hanged herself.
Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide from Artemis, the goddess. Aerope gave the golden lamb to Thyestes, her lover, Atreus' brother, who then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne. Atreus retook the throne using the advice he received from Hermes. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes. Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He killed Thyestes' sons and cooked them, save their hands and feet. He tricked Thyestes into eating the flesh of his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and feet. Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. Thyestes responded by asking an oracle what to do, who advised him to have a son by his daughter, Pelopia, who would then kill Atreus. However, when Aegisthus was first born, he was abandoned by his mother who was ashamed of the incestuous act. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to to Atreus, who raised him as his own. Only as he entered adulthood did Thyestes reveal the truth to Aegisthus, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy. Aegisthus then killed Atreus, although not before Atreus and Aerope had had 2 sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and a daughter Anaxibia.
Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, and Menelaus married Helen, her sister (known later as helen of Troy). Helen was taken away from Menelaus by Paris of Troy during a visit. Menelaus then called on the chieftains to help him take back Helen.
Prior to sailing off to war against Troy, Agamemnon had angered the goddess Artemis because he had killed a sacred deer in a sacred grove, and had then boasted that he was a better hunter than she was. When the time came, Artemis stilled the winds so that Agamemnon's fleet could not sail. A prophet named Calchas told him that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice the most precious thing that had come to his possession in the year he killed the sacred deer. This was his first-born daughter, Iphigenia. He sent word home for her to come, on the pretense that she was to be married to Achilles. Iphigenia accepted her father's choice and was honored to be part of the war. Clytemnestra tried to stop Iphigenia but was sent away. After doing the deed, Agamemnon's fleet was able to get under way. Artemis, however, has instantly switched Iphigenia, as she lay upon the altar, with a deer without anyone noticing, and had taken her todistant Colchis, there to be her priestess.
While he was fighting the Trojans, his wife Clytemnestra, enraged by the murder of her daughter, began an affair with Aegisthus. When Agamemnon returned home he brought with him a new concubine, the doomed prophetess, Cassandra. Upon his arrival that evening, before the great banquet she had prepared, Clytemnestra drew a bath for him and when he came out of the bath, she put the royal purple robe on him which had no opening for his head. He was confused and tangled up and Clytemnestra then stabbed him to death.
Agamemnon's only son, Orestes, was quite young when his mother killed his father. He was sent into exile. He was the legitimate heir and as such a potential danger to his usurper uncle. Goaded by his sister Electra, Orestes swore revenge. He knew it was his duty to avenge his father's death, but saw also that in doing so he would have to kill his mother. He was torn between avenging his father and sparing his mother. "It was a son's duty to kill his father's murderers, a duty that came before all others. But a son who killed his mother was abhorrent to gods and to men."
When he prayed to Apollo, the god advised him to kill his mother. Orestes realized that he must work out the curse on his house, exact vengeance and pay with his own ruin. After Orestes murdered Clytemnestra, he wandered the land with guilt in his heart. After many years, with Apollo by his side, he pleaded to Athena. No descendant of Atreus had ever done so noble an act and "neither he or any descendant of his would ever again be driven into evil by the irresistible power of the past."
Thus Orestes ended the curse of the House of Atreus.
This story as the major plot line of Aeschylus' s Trilogy "The Oresteia" shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes.
The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organize litigation.
Pelops and Hippodamia had many sons; 2 of them were Atreus and Thyestes. They murdered Chrysippus, who was their half brother, a divine hero of Elis in the Peloponnesus. He was the bastard son of Pelops king of Pisa and the nymph Axioche. He was kidnapped by the Theban Laius, his tutor, who was escorting him to the Nemean Games, where the boy planned to complete. Instead, Laius ran away with him to Thebes and raped him, a crime for which he, his city, and his family were later punished by the gods. His death is seen as springing from the curse that Myrtilus placed on Pelops for his betrayal. Because of the murder, Hippodamia, Atreus, and Thyestes were banished to Mycenae, where Hippodamia is said to have hanged herself.
Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide from Artemis, the goddess. Aerope gave the golden lamb to Thyestes, her lover, Atreus' brother, who then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne. Atreus retook the throne using the advice he received from Hermes. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes. Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He killed Thyestes' sons and cooked them, save their hands and feet. He tricked Thyestes into eating the flesh of his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and feet. Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. Thyestes responded by asking an oracle what to do, who advised him to have a son by his daughter, Pelopia, who would then kill Atreus. However, when Aegisthus was first born, he was abandoned by his mother who was ashamed of the incestuous act. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to to Atreus, who raised him as his own. Only as he entered adulthood did Thyestes reveal the truth to Aegisthus, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy. Aegisthus then killed Atreus, although not before Atreus and Aerope had had 2 sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and a daughter Anaxibia.
Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, and Menelaus married Helen, her sister (known later as helen of Troy). Helen was taken away from Menelaus by Paris of Troy during a visit. Menelaus then called on the chieftains to help him take back Helen.
Prior to sailing off to war against Troy, Agamemnon had angered the goddess Artemis because he had killed a sacred deer in a sacred grove, and had then boasted that he was a better hunter than she was. When the time came, Artemis stilled the winds so that Agamemnon's fleet could not sail. A prophet named Calchas told him that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice the most precious thing that had come to his possession in the year he killed the sacred deer. This was his first-born daughter, Iphigenia. He sent word home for her to come, on the pretense that she was to be married to Achilles. Iphigenia accepted her father's choice and was honored to be part of the war. Clytemnestra tried to stop Iphigenia but was sent away. After doing the deed, Agamemnon's fleet was able to get under way. Artemis, however, has instantly switched Iphigenia, as she lay upon the altar, with a deer without anyone noticing, and had taken her todistant Colchis, there to be her priestess.
While he was fighting the Trojans, his wife Clytemnestra, enraged by the murder of her daughter, began an affair with Aegisthus. When Agamemnon returned home he brought with him a new concubine, the doomed prophetess, Cassandra. Upon his arrival that evening, before the great banquet she had prepared, Clytemnestra drew a bath for him and when he came out of the bath, she put the royal purple robe on him which had no opening for his head. He was confused and tangled up and Clytemnestra then stabbed him to death.
Agamemnon's only son, Orestes, was quite young when his mother killed his father. He was sent into exile. He was the legitimate heir and as such a potential danger to his usurper uncle. Goaded by his sister Electra, Orestes swore revenge. He knew it was his duty to avenge his father's death, but saw also that in doing so he would have to kill his mother. He was torn between avenging his father and sparing his mother. "It was a son's duty to kill his father's murderers, a duty that came before all others. But a son who killed his mother was abhorrent to gods and to men."
When he prayed to Apollo, the god advised him to kill his mother. Orestes realized that he must work out the curse on his house, exact vengeance and pay with his own ruin. After Orestes murdered Clytemnestra, he wandered the land with guilt in his heart. After many years, with Apollo by his side, he pleaded to Athena. No descendant of Atreus had ever done so noble an act and "neither he or any descendant of his would ever again be driven into evil by the irresistible power of the past."
Thus Orestes ended the curse of the House of Atreus.
This story as the major plot line of Aeschylus' s Trilogy "The Oresteia" shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes.
The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organize litigation.
REVENGE AND JUSTICE IN ANCIENT GREECE. PART 1
The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus concerning Agamemnon's murder by Clytaemnestra, the murder of Clytaemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, and end of the curse on the House of Atreus.
The House of Atreus begins with Tantalus of Lydia. Tantalus was the son of Zeus who enjoyed cordial relations with gods until he decided to slay his son Pelops and feed him to the gods as a test of their omniscience.
Most of the gods, as they were served, were appalled and did not partake. But Demeter, who was distracted due to the abduction by Hades of her daughter Persephone, obliviously ate Pelops' shoulder.
The gods threw Tantalus into the Underworld, where he spends eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reaches for the fruit, the branches raise his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bends down to get a drink, the water recedes before he can drink. Thus is derived the word "tantalising." The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with a bit of ivory, thus marking the family forever afterwards.
Pelops and Hippodamia.- Pelops married HYippodamia after winning a chariot race against her father, King Oenomaus, by arranging for the sabotage of his future father-in-law's chariot and resulting in his death. Oenomaus was the son of Ares, the Greek god of War, one of the 12 Olympians, son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, Ares often represent the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of Intelligence include military strategy and generalship. Are, although embodied the physical valor necessary for success in War, he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering. His sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Illiad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.
King Oenomaus of Pisa, fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed 18 suitors of his daughter Hippodamia after defeating them in a chariot race. He affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace.
Pelops, worried about losing, went to the seaside and invoked Poseidon, his former lover. Reminding Poseidon of their love (Aphrodite's sweet gifts), Pelops asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by winged horses to appear. Pelops, still unsure of himself, convinced Oenomaus's charioteer, Myrtilus, a son of Hermes, to help him win. Myrtilus was convinced by Pelops promising him half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the 1st night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting Oenomaus' chariot together, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot axle with fake ones of beeswax. The race began, and went on for a long time. But as just as Oenomaus was catching up to Pelops and readying to kill him, the wheels flew off and the chariot broke apart. Myrtilus survived, but Oenomaus was dragged to death by his horses.
When Myrtilus tried to claim his reward and have sex with Hippodamia, Pelops killed Myrtilus by throwing him off a cliff into the sea. As Matylus died, he curse Pelops. This was the source of the curse that haunted Hippodamia and Pelops' children Atreus and Thyestes as well as their descendants Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Menelaus, and Orestes.
The House of Atreus begins with Tantalus of Lydia. Tantalus was the son of Zeus who enjoyed cordial relations with gods until he decided to slay his son Pelops and feed him to the gods as a test of their omniscience.
Most of the gods, as they were served, were appalled and did not partake. But Demeter, who was distracted due to the abduction by Hades of her daughter Persephone, obliviously ate Pelops' shoulder.
The gods threw Tantalus into the Underworld, where he spends eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reaches for the fruit, the branches raise his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bends down to get a drink, the water recedes before he can drink. Thus is derived the word "tantalising." The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with a bit of ivory, thus marking the family forever afterwards.
Pelops and Hippodamia.- Pelops married HYippodamia after winning a chariot race against her father, King Oenomaus, by arranging for the sabotage of his future father-in-law's chariot and resulting in his death. Oenomaus was the son of Ares, the Greek god of War, one of the 12 Olympians, son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, Ares often represent the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of Intelligence include military strategy and generalship. Are, although embodied the physical valor necessary for success in War, he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering. His sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Illiad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.
King Oenomaus of Pisa, fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed 18 suitors of his daughter Hippodamia after defeating them in a chariot race. He affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace.
Pelops, worried about losing, went to the seaside and invoked Poseidon, his former lover. Reminding Poseidon of their love (Aphrodite's sweet gifts), Pelops asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by winged horses to appear. Pelops, still unsure of himself, convinced Oenomaus's charioteer, Myrtilus, a son of Hermes, to help him win. Myrtilus was convinced by Pelops promising him half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the 1st night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting Oenomaus' chariot together, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot axle with fake ones of beeswax. The race began, and went on for a long time. But as just as Oenomaus was catching up to Pelops and readying to kill him, the wheels flew off and the chariot broke apart. Myrtilus survived, but Oenomaus was dragged to death by his horses.
When Myrtilus tried to claim his reward and have sex with Hippodamia, Pelops killed Myrtilus by throwing him off a cliff into the sea. As Matylus died, he curse Pelops. This was the source of the curse that haunted Hippodamia and Pelops' children Atreus and Thyestes as well as their descendants Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Menelaus, and Orestes.
SEARCH JUSTICE.
Love Justice, you rulers of the World. Set your minds sincerely on GOD, and look for HIM with all honesty. (Wisdom 1:1) GOD said, 'This is the COVENANT that I will make with them in the Days to come. I will put MY LAWS IN THEIR HEARTS and WRITE THEM on their MINDS."(Heb.10:15)
"So let us come near GOD with a sincere heart and a sure FAITH, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water (REPENTANCE). Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can TRUST GOD to KEEP HIS PROMISE. Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and do good. (22-24)
GOD will bring into Judgment both the Righteous and the Wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a Time to Judge every deed. (Ecclesiastes 3:17) Everything that happens in this World happens at the Time GOD chooses. (3:1) In this World you find wickedness where Justice and Right ought to be. (3:16) GOD is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals. After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. (3:18) I looked again at all the injustice that goes on to this World. The oppressed were crying and no one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side. I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive. But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this World. (4: 1-3) I saw all of this when I thought about the things that are done in this World, a World where some people have power and others have to suffer under them. Yes, I have seen the wicked buried and in their graves, and on the way back from the cemetery people praise them in the very city where they did their evil. (8:9-10) There is something else I saw, a good example if how Wisdom is regarded in this World: 'There was a little town with without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break through the walls. Someone lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him.' I have always said that Wisdom is Better than Strength, but no one thinks of the poor as a wise or pays any attention to what they say. It is better to listen to the quiet words of someone wise than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools. (9:13-18)
GOD says, "The people of Israel have surrounded ME with lies and deceit, and the people of Judah are still rebelling against ME, the FAITHFUL and HOLY GOD. Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with the sky elemental spirits and do business with the earth elemental spirits."
"The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people of Judah; HE is also going to punish Israel for the way her people act. HE will pay them back for what they have done. (Hosea 11-12)
Old people have Wisdom, but GOD has WISDOM and POWER.
Old people have Insight; GOD has INSIGHT and POWER TO ACT.
When GOD tears down, who can rebuild, and who can be free those GOD imprisons? (Job 12:12)
GOD IS STRONG and ALWAYS VICTORIOUS; both deceived and deceiver are in HIS POWER.
HE takes away the wisdom of rulers and make leaders act like fools. HE dethrones kings and makes them prisoners; HE humbles priests and men of power. HE silences those who are trusted, and takes the wisdom of old people away. HE disgraces those in power and puts an end to the strength of the rulers. HE sends light to places dark as death. HE makes nations strong and great, but then HE defeats and destroy them. HE makes their leaders foolish and lets them wander confused and lost; they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards. (16-25)
"When Justice is done, good people are happy, but evil people are brought to despair. Death is waiting for anyone who wanders away from good sense. (Proverbs 21:15-16) The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause to good people. (22:18) Human wisdom, brilliance, insight -they are of no help if the LORD is against you." (22:30)
"So let us come near GOD with a sincere heart and a sure FAITH, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water (REPENTANCE). Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can TRUST GOD to KEEP HIS PROMISE. Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and do good. (22-24)
GOD will bring into Judgment both the Righteous and the Wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a Time to Judge every deed. (Ecclesiastes 3:17) Everything that happens in this World happens at the Time GOD chooses. (3:1) In this World you find wickedness where Justice and Right ought to be. (3:16) GOD is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals. After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. (3:18) I looked again at all the injustice that goes on to this World. The oppressed were crying and no one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side. I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive. But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this World. (4: 1-3) I saw all of this when I thought about the things that are done in this World, a World where some people have power and others have to suffer under them. Yes, I have seen the wicked buried and in their graves, and on the way back from the cemetery people praise them in the very city where they did their evil. (8:9-10) There is something else I saw, a good example if how Wisdom is regarded in this World: 'There was a little town with without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break through the walls. Someone lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him.' I have always said that Wisdom is Better than Strength, but no one thinks of the poor as a wise or pays any attention to what they say. It is better to listen to the quiet words of someone wise than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools. (9:13-18)
GOD says, "The people of Israel have surrounded ME with lies and deceit, and the people of Judah are still rebelling against ME, the FAITHFUL and HOLY GOD. Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with the sky elemental spirits and do business with the earth elemental spirits."
"The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people of Judah; HE is also going to punish Israel for the way her people act. HE will pay them back for what they have done. (Hosea 11-12)
Old people have Wisdom, but GOD has WISDOM and POWER.
Old people have Insight; GOD has INSIGHT and POWER TO ACT.
When GOD tears down, who can rebuild, and who can be free those GOD imprisons? (Job 12:12)
GOD IS STRONG and ALWAYS VICTORIOUS; both deceived and deceiver are in HIS POWER.
HE takes away the wisdom of rulers and make leaders act like fools. HE dethrones kings and makes them prisoners; HE humbles priests and men of power. HE silences those who are trusted, and takes the wisdom of old people away. HE disgraces those in power and puts an end to the strength of the rulers. HE sends light to places dark as death. HE makes nations strong and great, but then HE defeats and destroy them. HE makes their leaders foolish and lets them wander confused and lost; they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards. (16-25)
"When Justice is done, good people are happy, but evil people are brought to despair. Death is waiting for anyone who wanders away from good sense. (Proverbs 21:15-16) The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause to good people. (22:18) Human wisdom, brilliance, insight -they are of no help if the LORD is against you." (22:30)
Monday, January 19, 2015
TASTE By Pablo Neruda Translated by Nueva Vida Bookstore
TASTE
From false astrology beliefs, somewhat in nature, gloomy and inconclusive customs borne in on us, and always close at hand, I have cherished an impulse, a taste of my own loneliness.
From flimsy table-talks absorbed like used woods, with humble chairs, and a language, that, like slaves, only serve secondary wills, like a milky consistency of deadly weeks, like smog on a city from stagnating air. Who can boast a more tangible patience?
Prudence and good judgment engulf me like being dressed with a compact skin with a color that gathers itself to itself like a
.
All my creatures are born in a massive rejection; one drink of alcohol - alas! - and I wave off the day that I chose for myself, like all of the days of my earthly world.
I live in the fullness of matter; this substance is mute as a matriarch, I bear my fixed patient like a church and its shadow, or the quietness of bones
.
I go full of those waters that are in deep disposition, prepared and expectant, asleep in a tearful vigil.
The inner guitar, the image of my soul, keeps the catch of a ballad, spare a sonorous, abiding, immobile, like a punctual nourishment, like smoke in the air : an element of force in repose, the volatile power in the oil : an incorruptible bird that keeps vigilant watch on my head: an unvarying routine of an angel inhabits my sword.
From false astrology beliefs, somewhat in nature, gloomy and inconclusive customs borne in on us, and always close at hand, I have cherished an impulse, a taste of my own loneliness.
From flimsy table-talks absorbed like used woods, with humble chairs, and a language, that, like slaves, only serve secondary wills, like a milky consistency of deadly weeks, like smog on a city from stagnating air. Who can boast a more tangible patience?
Prudence and good judgment engulf me like being dressed with a compact skin with a color that gathers itself to itself like a
.
All my creatures are born in a massive rejection; one drink of alcohol - alas! - and I wave off the day that I chose for myself, like all of the days of my earthly world.
I live in the fullness of matter; this substance is mute as a matriarch, I bear my fixed patient like a church and its shadow, or the quietness of bones
.
I go full of those waters that are in deep disposition, prepared and expectant, asleep in a tearful vigil.
The inner guitar, the image of my soul, keeps the catch of a ballad, spare a sonorous, abiding, immobile, like a punctual nourishment, like smoke in the air : an element of force in repose, the volatile power in the oil : an incorruptible bird that keeps vigilant watch on my head: an unvarying routine of an angel inhabits my sword.
THE DREAM HORSE. author : Pablo Neruda. Translated by "Nueva Vida Bookstore."
I really enjoy the meaning of this poem coming from the internal world of Neruda. The movement of the corruptible world from its physical realm towards its metaphysical centre gives us a kind of perspective to his poetics words about the "impure."
He said: "It is good, at certain hours of the day and night, to look closely at the world of objects when we are at rest.... the used surfaces of things, the wear that the hands give to the things, the air, tragic at times... all lend a curious attractiveness to the reality of the world ... in them one sees the confused impurity of the human condition, the massing of things, the use and disuse of substances, footprints and fingerprints, the abiding presence of the human engulfing all artifacts, inside and out."
THE DREAM HORSE
Watching myself in a mirror, not because I needed, it was just for the sake of looking closely at the world around me. I am able to see my mind with a garment of passion involved in papers and cinemas, days of weeks... , then I suddenly snatch from my heart the chief captain of my hell and I begin to establish clauses mistakenly sad.
I see my spirit drifting from one place to another, absorbing illusions, converse in the nests of spiritual tailors which their voices sometimes so cold and deadly. I saw them singing together and sorcery going from them.
I see myself in a country spread out inside the sky. It has the image of a credulous carpet of rainbows and crepuscular plants. I decided to move myself toward it, my sensation of fatigue started to surface over my mind when I see my feet trampling over a fresh removed soil full of graves. I see my dreams belonging to this ground of confuse legumes.
I see me walking over origins, then over enjoyed beneficiary documents. I see me dressed like a natural and chopfallen entity wanting the loose honey of respect, the sweets of the preacher under whose leaves drained violets drowse and grow old; and then, I see those bustling abettors, the brooms, in whose image, assuredly, sorrow and certainty are joined. I destroy the whistle of roses, the unavoided anxiety, smashing the attractiveness of extremes -worst of all, I await a symmetrical time beyond measure in which the taste of my spirit disheartens me.
What a morning is here! What a milky-heavy glow in the air that its compact and digital image favor me! I have heard its red horse without the iron bridle, shimmering, whinnying there. Mounted, I see me soaring over churches, galloping the garrisons empty of soldiers while a dissolute army pursues me.
The eucalyptus image of the red horse's eyes raze the darkness and the bell image of its galloping body strikes home.
I see me needing but a spark of that persistent brightness, and my jubilant kindred claiming my inheritance.
He said: "It is good, at certain hours of the day and night, to look closely at the world of objects when we are at rest.... the used surfaces of things, the wear that the hands give to the things, the air, tragic at times... all lend a curious attractiveness to the reality of the world ... in them one sees the confused impurity of the human condition, the massing of things, the use and disuse of substances, footprints and fingerprints, the abiding presence of the human engulfing all artifacts, inside and out."
THE DREAM HORSE
Watching myself in a mirror, not because I needed, it was just for the sake of looking closely at the world around me. I am able to see my mind with a garment of passion involved in papers and cinemas, days of weeks... , then I suddenly snatch from my heart the chief captain of my hell and I begin to establish clauses mistakenly sad.
I see my spirit drifting from one place to another, absorbing illusions, converse in the nests of spiritual tailors which their voices sometimes so cold and deadly. I saw them singing together and sorcery going from them.
I see myself in a country spread out inside the sky. It has the image of a credulous carpet of rainbows and crepuscular plants. I decided to move myself toward it, my sensation of fatigue started to surface over my mind when I see my feet trampling over a fresh removed soil full of graves. I see my dreams belonging to this ground of confuse legumes.
I see me walking over origins, then over enjoyed beneficiary documents. I see me dressed like a natural and chopfallen entity wanting the loose honey of respect, the sweets of the preacher under whose leaves drained violets drowse and grow old; and then, I see those bustling abettors, the brooms, in whose image, assuredly, sorrow and certainty are joined. I destroy the whistle of roses, the unavoided anxiety, smashing the attractiveness of extremes -worst of all, I await a symmetrical time beyond measure in which the taste of my spirit disheartens me.
What a morning is here! What a milky-heavy glow in the air that its compact and digital image favor me! I have heard its red horse without the iron bridle, shimmering, whinnying there. Mounted, I see me soaring over churches, galloping the garrisons empty of soldiers while a dissolute army pursues me.
The eucalyptus image of the red horse's eyes raze the darkness and the bell image of its galloping body strikes home.
I see me needing but a spark of that persistent brightness, and my jubilant kindred claiming my inheritance.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Hansel and Gretel in modern time. By Angela Bernales
Deep in a deforested area stood a small and simple house in which lived a humble family. The father was a contractor in charge of the deforestation of the area, given the fact that wood was on high demand. He had two children named Hansel and Gretel that were in his teen ages and he was trying his best in raising them up.
The family tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but the demands of the controlled democracy system in which they were settled worked ceaselessly to smother them. Soon the family were at a complete economic disadvantage, because the demands of the system, especially its irresponsible energy policies were eating up their lifestyle to which they had become accustomed. The money that was left after paying all the basic necessities was not enough to feed them all.
The situation became worst when the two children reach their late teens age. Unable to bond with their father who was caught in the land of the capitalism, they decided to go on their own. Resented over the way things turned to them they decided to live in the open, protecting every single and simple thing that nature offer them. Over a while they developed a new consciousness and little by little they separated themselves from the city people who became heartless, exploitative, greedy and abusive toward their neighbors.
After a while they returned to the simple house in which they remembered the humble life they had before it was ruin by the controlling rules of the system in which their parents were caught. The parents did not recognized them. They thought they were rebels trying to take over the house and the business they settled around it, concerning the destruction of the natural way of living for the sake of the money.
Hansel and Gretel learned a lot during their time that they bond with Nature. They learned so many hidden languages through the vibration of every energy field that operates through it. They worked hard at perfecting their supernatural skills that they became so powerful in their minds that people around them fear to get in disagreement to them. Their teachings convinced these people about the harmony that exists in everything connected to it. If they choose the opposite they were turned into wild animals ceasing to enjoy the life as humans.
Their parents disagreed and immediately were transformed into two wild animals and headed towards the forest.
From that day they put to use their supernatural skills solely for defending the Nature. And the two of them, their friends, and most important, the trees of the forest lived happily ever after.
They talk to their parents about the way of Nature and asked them to change their way. But they had their minds set to the way of the money.
The family tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but the demands of the controlled democracy system in which they were settled worked ceaselessly to smother them. Soon the family were at a complete economic disadvantage, because the demands of the system, especially its irresponsible energy policies were eating up their lifestyle to which they had become accustomed. The money that was left after paying all the basic necessities was not enough to feed them all.
The situation became worst when the two children reach their late teens age. Unable to bond with their father who was caught in the land of the capitalism, they decided to go on their own. Resented over the way things turned to them they decided to live in the open, protecting every single and simple thing that nature offer them. Over a while they developed a new consciousness and little by little they separated themselves from the city people who became heartless, exploitative, greedy and abusive toward their neighbors.
After a while they returned to the simple house in which they remembered the humble life they had before it was ruin by the controlling rules of the system in which their parents were caught. The parents did not recognized them. They thought they were rebels trying to take over the house and the business they settled around it, concerning the destruction of the natural way of living for the sake of the money.
Hansel and Gretel learned a lot during their time that they bond with Nature. They learned so many hidden languages through the vibration of every energy field that operates through it. They worked hard at perfecting their supernatural skills that they became so powerful in their minds that people around them fear to get in disagreement to them. Their teachings convinced these people about the harmony that exists in everything connected to it. If they choose the opposite they were turned into wild animals ceasing to enjoy the life as humans.
Their parents disagreed and immediately were transformed into two wild animals and headed towards the forest.
From that day they put to use their supernatural skills solely for defending the Nature. And the two of them, their friends, and most important, the trees of the forest lived happily ever after.
They talk to their parents about the way of Nature and asked them to change their way. But they had their minds set to the way of the money.
Monday, May 5, 2014
THE PREACHER
The preacher shows that ALL human courses are vain, because the creatures are restless in their courses.
They bring forth nothing new, and all old things are forgotten. The preacher has found it so in the study of wisdom.
The words of the Preacher, ... Vanity of vanities, all IS vanity. What profit has a man of all his labour which he takes under the sun?
ONE generation passes away, and ANOTHER generation comes : but the earth abides for ever.
The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and move with hurry, back to where he arose.
The wind goes toward the South, and turns about to the North; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea IS not full; unto the place from where the rivers come, towards that place they return again.
All things ARE full of labour; MAN cannot express mannerly or verbally unto IT: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that has been, it IS THAT which shall be; and that which is done IS that which shall be done: and THERE IS no new THING under the sun. Is there ANY thing where of it may be said, See, this IS new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.
THERE IS no remembrance of former THINGS; neither shall there be ANY remembrance of THINGS that are to come with THOSE that shall come after.
I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem (spiritual centre of God's people). And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all THINGS that are done under heaven: this sore intense mental and physical pain of laborious work like the pains of a woman giving birth to a child, that GOD has given to the SONS of MAN to be exercised there with (Adam's sin and punishment). I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all IS vanity and instituted by MAN without real grounds an meant to cause trouble or annoyance to the spirit. THAT WHICH is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered...... . For in much wisdom IS much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrows (in the colored world).
They bring forth nothing new, and all old things are forgotten. The preacher has found it so in the study of wisdom.
The words of the Preacher, ... Vanity of vanities, all IS vanity. What profit has a man of all his labour which he takes under the sun?
ONE generation passes away, and ANOTHER generation comes : but the earth abides for ever.
The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and move with hurry, back to where he arose.
The wind goes toward the South, and turns about to the North; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea IS not full; unto the place from where the rivers come, towards that place they return again.
All things ARE full of labour; MAN cannot express mannerly or verbally unto IT: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that has been, it IS THAT which shall be; and that which is done IS that which shall be done: and THERE IS no new THING under the sun. Is there ANY thing where of it may be said, See, this IS new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.
THERE IS no remembrance of former THINGS; neither shall there be ANY remembrance of THINGS that are to come with THOSE that shall come after.
I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem (spiritual centre of God's people). And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all THINGS that are done under heaven: this sore intense mental and physical pain of laborious work like the pains of a woman giving birth to a child, that GOD has given to the SONS of MAN to be exercised there with (Adam's sin and punishment). I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all IS vanity and instituted by MAN without real grounds an meant to cause trouble or annoyance to the spirit. THAT WHICH is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered...... . For in much wisdom IS much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrows (in the colored world).
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Who was JOHN DONNE? 1572 - 1631 by Angela Bernales
Donne entered this world during a period of theological and political unrest for both England and France. The fight between Protestantism and Catholicism was at their peak. A Protestant massacre occurred on Saint Bartholomew's Day in France; while in England, the Catholics were the persecuted minority.
Born into a Roman Catholic family, his personal relationship with the ghost of religion was tumultuous and passionate, and it was the center of much of his poetry.
He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities in his early teen years but he did not take a degree at either school, because to do so would have forced him to subscribe himself to the Thirty-nine Articles, the doctrine that defined the Anglicanism.
At age of twenty he studied law at Lincoln's Inn. Two years later he succumbed to the religious pressure and joined the Anglican Church after his younger brother, convicted for his Catholic loyalties, died in prison. As a way of releasing his sorrow, he wrote most of his love lyrics and some sacred poem during this time.
In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain, he was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. While working in Queen Elizabeth's last Parliament in 1601, he met the sixteen-year-old niece of Lady Egerton and secretly married her. Her uncle got mad because of this and disapproved the marriage, canceling the dowry for the couple. Due to this matter, Donn suffered social and financial instability in the beginning of the marriage life exacerbated by the birth of many children.
He continue to write and published the "Divine Poems" in 1607. Donn displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church and State, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their faith.
His wife aged Thirty-three died in 1617, shortly after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn.
The "Holy Sonnets" are attributed to these phase of his life. He wrote his private prayers, "Devotion upon Emergent Occasions," during a period of severe illness and publish them in 1624.
His learned, charismatic, and inventive preaching made him a highly influential presence in London. Best Known for his vivacious, compelling style and thorough examination of mortal paradox, he was appointed Royal Chaplain in 1618.
In 1621, he became dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral. He died in London in 1631.
Born into a Roman Catholic family, his personal relationship with the ghost of religion was tumultuous and passionate, and it was the center of much of his poetry.
He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities in his early teen years but he did not take a degree at either school, because to do so would have forced him to subscribe himself to the Thirty-nine Articles, the doctrine that defined the Anglicanism.
At age of twenty he studied law at Lincoln's Inn. Two years later he succumbed to the religious pressure and joined the Anglican Church after his younger brother, convicted for his Catholic loyalties, died in prison. As a way of releasing his sorrow, he wrote most of his love lyrics and some sacred poem during this time.
In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain, he was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. While working in Queen Elizabeth's last Parliament in 1601, he met the sixteen-year-old niece of Lady Egerton and secretly married her. Her uncle got mad because of this and disapproved the marriage, canceling the dowry for the couple. Due to this matter, Donn suffered social and financial instability in the beginning of the marriage life exacerbated by the birth of many children.
He continue to write and published the "Divine Poems" in 1607. Donn displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church and State, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their faith.
His wife aged Thirty-three died in 1617, shortly after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn.
The "Holy Sonnets" are attributed to these phase of his life. He wrote his private prayers, "Devotion upon Emergent Occasions," during a period of severe illness and publish them in 1624.
His learned, charismatic, and inventive preaching made him a highly influential presence in London. Best Known for his vivacious, compelling style and thorough examination of mortal paradox, he was appointed Royal Chaplain in 1618.
In 1621, he became dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral. He died in London in 1631.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
COPLAS of MANRIQUE Part 2
Monarchs, the powerful and the strong, famous in history and in song, saw, by the decrees of FATE, their kingdoms lost and their sublime race so desolate. Who is the champion,? Who is the strong? On these shall fall the hand of DEATH as heavily as when it stays beside the shepherd's breath.
Like days of old, it now little avails to know ... Where is the noble heir of Aragon? Where are the courtly gallantries? ... How false and full of guile that world of betrayal saw the smile mask wore so soft! She so friendly before, now from the fated reign her fake charms are tore far away.
But it was mortal; and the breath that flamed from the hot forge of DEATH blasted during its time.
The Judgment of God is so clear! His flame raging fearfully and fierce, people quenched it in tears.
Spain, the true and gallant Master , whom most loved of all, breathe not a whisper of his pride, he on the gloomy scaffold DIED, ignoble fall! ... What was their prosperous estate when high exalted and elate his power and pride just a hot flame? But it only was a transient gleam of light which glared at its height but grew dim and died.
Earthly desires and sensual lust are passions springing from the dust, they fade and DIE; but in the LIFE beyond the tomb, they steal the immortal spirits and doom them eternally!
O World! so few the years we live, would that LIFE of yours on earth is LIFE INDEED! Alas! our sorrows fall so fast, and our happier hour is when at last our soul is freed. ...
The ETERNAL LIFE, beyond the sky, WEALTH CANNOT PURCHASE, nor the high and proud, ... neither the spirit corrupt with sin, theyshall not inherit a joy so great. ...
O DEATH, no more, no more delay; my spirit long to be at rest; the WILL of HEAVEN MY WILL SHALL BE, I bow to the divine decree, to GOD's SOVEREIGN WILL that we all shall die. ...
As thus the dying warrior pray, without any mist or shade upon his mind; encircled by his family, watched by affection's gentle eye, so soft and kind, his SOUL DEPART from his earthly body and GOD lead it to its final repose, its final nest. ...
Like days of old, it now little avails to know ... Where is the noble heir of Aragon? Where are the courtly gallantries? ... How false and full of guile that world of betrayal saw the smile mask wore so soft! She so friendly before, now from the fated reign her fake charms are tore far away.
But it was mortal; and the breath that flamed from the hot forge of DEATH blasted during its time.
The Judgment of God is so clear! His flame raging fearfully and fierce, people quenched it in tears.
Spain, the true and gallant Master , whom most loved of all, breathe not a whisper of his pride, he on the gloomy scaffold DIED, ignoble fall! ... What was their prosperous estate when high exalted and elate his power and pride just a hot flame? But it only was a transient gleam of light which glared at its height but grew dim and died.
Earthly desires and sensual lust are passions springing from the dust, they fade and DIE; but in the LIFE beyond the tomb, they steal the immortal spirits and doom them eternally!
O World! so few the years we live, would that LIFE of yours on earth is LIFE INDEED! Alas! our sorrows fall so fast, and our happier hour is when at last our soul is freed. ...
The ETERNAL LIFE, beyond the sky, WEALTH CANNOT PURCHASE, nor the high and proud, ... neither the spirit corrupt with sin, theyshall not inherit a joy so great. ...
O DEATH, no more, no more delay; my spirit long to be at rest; the WILL of HEAVEN MY WILL SHALL BE, I bow to the divine decree, to GOD's SOVEREIGN WILL that we all shall die. ...
As thus the dying warrior pray, without any mist or shade upon his mind; encircled by his family, watched by affection's gentle eye, so soft and kind, his SOUL DEPART from his earthly body and GOD lead it to its final repose, its final nest. ...
COPLAS of MANRIQUE Part 1
Jorge Manrique (1440-1479) was a Spanish poet whose main work was the Lyrics on the Death of his Father. It is the most famous poem in the Spanish language. Here we present a summary of this great work.
O let the SOUL, her slumbers break, let THOUGHT be quickened and awake; awake to see how soon this LIFE is PAST and GONE, and how silently DEATH comes STEALING ON!
Swiftly our PLEASURES glide away, our hearts recall the DISTANT day with many sighs; the MOMENTS that are speeding fast we heed not, but the past, - the past, more highly prize.
Onward its course the present keeps, onward the contrast current sweeps, till LIFE IS DONE; and, did we judge of time aright, PAST and FUTURE in their flight would be as one.
Let no one fondly DREAM again, that HOPE and all her shadowy train WILL NOT DECAY; fleeting as were the dreams of old, remembered like a tale that is told, they pass away.
Our lives are rivers, gliding free to that unfathomed, boundless sea, the SILENT GRAVE!
Thither roll all earthly pomp and boast, to be swallowed up and lost in one DARK WAVE.
Thither the mighty torrents stray, thither the brook pursues its way, and tinkling rill, they all are equal; side by side the poor man and the son of pride lie calm and still. ...
To One alone my thoughts arise to the eternal TRUTH, the Good and Wise, to Him I cry, Who shared on earth our common lot, but the world comprehend not His Deity.
This world is but the rugged road which lead us to the bright abode of PEACE above; so let us choose the narrow way, which leads no traveler's foot astray from realms of LOVE, our craddle is the starting place, LIFE is the running of the race, we reach the goal when, in the mansions of the blest, DEATH leaves to its eternal rest the weary soul. But we did use LIFE as we ought, the world would master each wandering thought to its high state. FAITH wings the soul beyond the sky, up to that better world on high, for which we wait.
Yes, the messenger of LOVE, our Saviour came, to guide us to our home above; born mortal, He suffered a death of shame in this valley of tears.
Behold the delusive worth of bubbles of this world that we pursue, the shapes we chase full of deceitful ways; the bubbles vanish when DEATH shuts the eye and leave no trace.
Time steals them from us, chances strange them, disastrous accident probably come, and, all of these is subject to all, even in the most exalted state, the stroke of FAITH is relentless swept that make the strongest fall. ... The cunning skill, the art of the curious, the glorious strength that youth imparts in life's first stage, shall become a heavy weight when TIME swings wide its outward gate to weary age.
... Wealth and the high state of pride, with what untimely speed they glide, how soon they depart. But the inconstant goddess knows no rest, but a world of changing without repose that she continues on and on.
... Earthly desires and sensual lust are passions springing from the dust, they fade and DIED; but, in the LIFE beyond the tomb, they are the ones who seal the spirit immortal's doom eternally! Pleasures and delights are masked treacherous smiles that jeopardize LIFE's serious task, they are all but the fleet coursers of the chase that DEATH ambush in the race just to caught us wondering wherein we fall?
O let the SOUL, her slumbers break, let THOUGHT be quickened and awake; awake to see how soon this LIFE is PAST and GONE, and how silently DEATH comes STEALING ON!
Swiftly our PLEASURES glide away, our hearts recall the DISTANT day with many sighs; the MOMENTS that are speeding fast we heed not, but the past, - the past, more highly prize.
Onward its course the present keeps, onward the contrast current sweeps, till LIFE IS DONE; and, did we judge of time aright, PAST and FUTURE in their flight would be as one.
Let no one fondly DREAM again, that HOPE and all her shadowy train WILL NOT DECAY; fleeting as were the dreams of old, remembered like a tale that is told, they pass away.
Our lives are rivers, gliding free to that unfathomed, boundless sea, the SILENT GRAVE!
Thither roll all earthly pomp and boast, to be swallowed up and lost in one DARK WAVE.
Thither the mighty torrents stray, thither the brook pursues its way, and tinkling rill, they all are equal; side by side the poor man and the son of pride lie calm and still. ...
To One alone my thoughts arise to the eternal TRUTH, the Good and Wise, to Him I cry, Who shared on earth our common lot, but the world comprehend not His Deity.
This world is but the rugged road which lead us to the bright abode of PEACE above; so let us choose the narrow way, which leads no traveler's foot astray from realms of LOVE, our craddle is the starting place, LIFE is the running of the race, we reach the goal when, in the mansions of the blest, DEATH leaves to its eternal rest the weary soul. But we did use LIFE as we ought, the world would master each wandering thought to its high state. FAITH wings the soul beyond the sky, up to that better world on high, for which we wait.
Yes, the messenger of LOVE, our Saviour came, to guide us to our home above; born mortal, He suffered a death of shame in this valley of tears.
Behold the delusive worth of bubbles of this world that we pursue, the shapes we chase full of deceitful ways; the bubbles vanish when DEATH shuts the eye and leave no trace.
Time steals them from us, chances strange them, disastrous accident probably come, and, all of these is subject to all, even in the most exalted state, the stroke of FAITH is relentless swept that make the strongest fall. ... The cunning skill, the art of the curious, the glorious strength that youth imparts in life's first stage, shall become a heavy weight when TIME swings wide its outward gate to weary age.
... Wealth and the high state of pride, with what untimely speed they glide, how soon they depart. But the inconstant goddess knows no rest, but a world of changing without repose that she continues on and on.
... Earthly desires and sensual lust are passions springing from the dust, they fade and DIED; but, in the LIFE beyond the tomb, they are the ones who seal the spirit immortal's doom eternally! Pleasures and delights are masked treacherous smiles that jeopardize LIFE's serious task, they are all but the fleet coursers of the chase that DEATH ambush in the race just to caught us wondering wherein we fall?
THE CHALLENGE OF THOR from Henry W. Longfellow
I am the god THOR, I am the WAR god, I am the THUNDERER!
Here in my NORTHLAND, my fastness and fortress, I REIGN FOREVER!
Here amid icebergs I RULE THE NATIONS.
This is my HAMMER, my INNER MIGHTY;
giants and sorcerers CANNOT WITHSTAND IT!
These are the GAUNTLETS (gloves) wherewith I WIELD IT! and hurl it afar off;
This is my GIRDLE; whenever I BRACE IT, STRENGTH IS REDOUBLED!
The LIGHT you behold stream through the HEAVENS, in flashes of crimson,
is but MY RED BEARD blown by the NIGHT - WIND,
AFFRIGHTING THE NATIONS!
JOVE is my brother; MINE EYES are the LIGHTNING;
the WHEELS of my CHARIOT roll IN THE THUNDER,
the BLOWS of my HAMMER RING IN THE EARTHQUAKE!
FORCE still RULES the WORLD, it has ruled it, it shall rule it; during
MY TIMES of WAR, MEEKNESS is WEAKNESS, STRENGTH is TRIUMPHANT,
OVER the WHOLE EARTH it is STILL THOR's DAY!
You are a God too, O GALILEAN!
And thus SINGLED-HANDED unto COMBAT,
GAUNTLETS or GOSPEL, HERE I DEFY YOU!
Here in my NORTHLAND, my fastness and fortress, I REIGN FOREVER!
Here amid icebergs I RULE THE NATIONS.
This is my HAMMER, my INNER MIGHTY;
giants and sorcerers CANNOT WITHSTAND IT!
These are the GAUNTLETS (gloves) wherewith I WIELD IT! and hurl it afar off;
This is my GIRDLE; whenever I BRACE IT, STRENGTH IS REDOUBLED!
The LIGHT you behold stream through the HEAVENS, in flashes of crimson,
is but MY RED BEARD blown by the NIGHT - WIND,
AFFRIGHTING THE NATIONS!
JOVE is my brother; MINE EYES are the LIGHTNING;
the WHEELS of my CHARIOT roll IN THE THUNDER,
the BLOWS of my HAMMER RING IN THE EARTHQUAKE!
FORCE still RULES the WORLD, it has ruled it, it shall rule it; during
MY TIMES of WAR, MEEKNESS is WEAKNESS, STRENGTH is TRIUMPHANT,
OVER the WHOLE EARTH it is STILL THOR's DAY!
You are a God too, O GALILEAN!
And thus SINGLED-HANDED unto COMBAT,
GAUNTLETS or GOSPEL, HERE I DEFY YOU!
MEEKNESS is not weakness. by Abraham Lincoln
Meekness is not weakness,
it is strength under control,
do not think of me as weak, shy, reserved, or timid.
I am a child of the king,
the half has not yet been told.
No! You can't walk all over me
and treat me like a door mat,
I am not trying to straighten out the world
and that settles that.
I refuse to respond to every critic and
I won't let it bother me.
I may have the power to do something about it,
but my time is too valuable you see:
I will keep my focus and stand tall
doing what I am called to do.
My strength and power is in God's control.
Meekness is not weakness,
blessed are the chosen few.
it is strength under control,
do not think of me as weak, shy, reserved, or timid.
I am a child of the king,
the half has not yet been told.
No! You can't walk all over me
and treat me like a door mat,
I am not trying to straighten out the world
and that settles that.
I refuse to respond to every critic and
I won't let it bother me.
I may have the power to do something about it,
but my time is too valuable you see:
I will keep my focus and stand tall
doing what I am called to do.
My strength and power is in God's control.
Meekness is not weakness,
blessed are the chosen few.
Friday, March 7, 2014
LAUGH while CRYING by Garrick ( 1717 - 1779 )
Watching a Garrick -an actor from England- the people would say applauding: "You are the funniest one on earth and the happiest one." And the comedian would laugh.
Victims of melancholy, the highest lords, during their darkest and heaviest nights would go to see the king of actors and change their melancholy into roars of laughter.
Once, before a famous doctor, came a man with eyes so somber. He said:"I suffer an illness so horrible as this paleness of my face. Nothing holds an enchantment or attractiveness; I do not care about my name or my fate. I die living an eternal melancholy and my only hope is that of death."
-Travel and distract yourself. - I have traveled so much!
-Search for reading. - I have read so much!
-Have a woman love you. - But I am loved.
-Get a title. - I was born a noble.
-Might you be poor? - I have richness.
-Do you like compliments? - I hear so many!
-What do you have as a family? - My sadness.
-Do you go to the cemeteries? - Often, very often.
-Of your current life, do you have witnesses? - Yes, but I do not let them impose their burdens; I call the dead my friends, and the living my executioners.
-Your illness leave me perplexed, I must not scare you. Take today this advise as a prescription, only watching Garrick you can be cured. - Garrick?
-Yes, Garrick, the most indolent and austere society anxiously seeks him. Everyone who seeks him, dies of laughter; he has an amazing artistic grace. - And me? Will he make me laugh?
-Ah, yes, I swear it; he and no one but him; but ... what disturbs you? - So, I won't be cured.
- I am Garrick! Change the prescription.
Victims of melancholy, the highest lords, during their darkest and heaviest nights would go to see the king of actors and change their melancholy into roars of laughter.
Once, before a famous doctor, came a man with eyes so somber. He said:"I suffer an illness so horrible as this paleness of my face. Nothing holds an enchantment or attractiveness; I do not care about my name or my fate. I die living an eternal melancholy and my only hope is that of death."
-Travel and distract yourself. - I have traveled so much!
-Search for reading. - I have read so much!
-Have a woman love you. - But I am loved.
-Get a title. - I was born a noble.
-Might you be poor? - I have richness.
-Do you like compliments? - I hear so many!
-What do you have as a family? - My sadness.
-Do you go to the cemeteries? - Often, very often.
-Of your current life, do you have witnesses? - Yes, but I do not let them impose their burdens; I call the dead my friends, and the living my executioners.
-Your illness leave me perplexed, I must not scare you. Take today this advise as a prescription, only watching Garrick you can be cured. - Garrick?
-Yes, Garrick, the most indolent and austere society anxiously seeks him. Everyone who seeks him, dies of laughter; he has an amazing artistic grace. - And me? Will he make me laugh?
-Ah, yes, I swear it; he and no one but him; but ... what disturbs you? - So, I won't be cured.
- I am Garrick! Change the prescription.
HEARTS of OAKS by D. Garrick (1717 - 1779)
Come, cheer up, you who perpetuate "youth." To glorify "youth" we steer.
To add something more to this wonderful year.
To honor "youth"we summon you, as freemen, not as slaves, for who are as free as the sons of the waves who as energy-bearing, self-propagating lads portraits freedom and perpetuate "youth"?
HEART of OAKS, are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence, making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight an we will conquer again and again.
The adults swear they will invade us. Oh, these terrible foes. They frighten our women, our offspring and lovers. Should their flat-bottom carriers going in darkness also, will get over us?
They still men will find a way to receive 'age' on their shores.
HEART of OAKS are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence, making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight and we will conquer again and again.
"Youth" is, in herself, triumphant. Her ships bringing her essence, sweep the sea. Her on measure of justice is preserved. Her watch-word persist : BE FREE!
Then youth and everyone who wants to preserve it, cheers up.
You soldiers, sailors, you statesmen, and king, with one heart let everybody sing.
HEART of OAKS, are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence,
making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight and we will conquer again and again.
To add something more to this wonderful year.
To honor "youth"we summon you, as freemen, not as slaves, for who are as free as the sons of the waves who as energy-bearing, self-propagating lads portraits freedom and perpetuate "youth"?
HEART of OAKS, are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence, making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight an we will conquer again and again.
The adults swear they will invade us. Oh, these terrible foes. They frighten our women, our offspring and lovers. Should their flat-bottom carriers going in darkness also, will get over us?
They still men will find a way to receive 'age' on their shores.
HEART of OAKS are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence, making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight and we will conquer again and again.
"Youth" is, in herself, triumphant. Her ships bringing her essence, sweep the sea. Her on measure of justice is preserved. Her watch-word persist : BE FREE!
Then youth and everyone who wants to preserve it, cheers up.
You soldiers, sailors, you statesmen, and king, with one heart let everybody sing.
HEART of OAKS, are our ships, jolly tars our men, disguised in the dark, thick viscous essence,
making dreams seem true. We always ready, steady lad, steady!
We will fight and we will conquer again and again.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
PEOPLE of the ANDES by Angela Bernales
Everything changed in 1531, a bearded Spaniard stepped off his ship on the shores of the New Land.
Pursuing gold, silver, and new lands for the Spanish Crown, he could not pick a better time.
A dynastic war between two brothers had left People of the Andes unprepared and in chaos.
The moment was precise, the bearded Spaniard and his crew went in pursuit of the riches of the land.
Through trickery and betrayal, he captured the winning brother and executed him. The last one of the dynasty faded away.
People of the Andes, powerful and brilliant administrators, efficient peace keepers, negotiators instead of imposers; in one hundred years unified the largest concentration of substance called "power."
The sum of all was called "Tawantisuyu" (Land of four quarters). Twelve million people were united.
Then fleshy desires over "power" made war to appear. What was conquer in one hundred years was lost just in a few. People of the Andes knew that "end" was near. The laws were broken.
Nature has to punish.
The bearded Spaniard with primitive firearms and men mounted in horses weren't able to win.
People of the Andes knew that in advance. Somehow the power harmonized itself. Both sides were running after fleshy treasures. People of the Andes had to let them win. This was the law of nature.
People of the Andes weren't defeated by the bearded Spaniard and his crew. They just let them win.
And their love for Harmony and their respect for Nature never was lost, and after more than five hundred years since the bearded man and his crew came to the shores of the "Tawantisuyu",
the SOUL of the People of the Andes still is in love with Harmony and still feels respect for Nature because for them that is the Universal Law.
Pursuing gold, silver, and new lands for the Spanish Crown, he could not pick a better time.
A dynastic war between two brothers had left People of the Andes unprepared and in chaos.
The moment was precise, the bearded Spaniard and his crew went in pursuit of the riches of the land.
Through trickery and betrayal, he captured the winning brother and executed him. The last one of the dynasty faded away.
People of the Andes, powerful and brilliant administrators, efficient peace keepers, negotiators instead of imposers; in one hundred years unified the largest concentration of substance called "power."
The sum of all was called "Tawantisuyu" (Land of four quarters). Twelve million people were united.
Then fleshy desires over "power" made war to appear. What was conquer in one hundred years was lost just in a few. People of the Andes knew that "end" was near. The laws were broken.
Nature has to punish.
The bearded Spaniard with primitive firearms and men mounted in horses weren't able to win.
People of the Andes knew that in advance. Somehow the power harmonized itself. Both sides were running after fleshy treasures. People of the Andes had to let them win. This was the law of nature.
People of the Andes weren't defeated by the bearded Spaniard and his crew. They just let them win.
And their love for Harmony and their respect for Nature never was lost, and after more than five hundred years since the bearded man and his crew came to the shores of the "Tawantisuyu",
the SOUL of the People of the Andes still is in love with Harmony and still feels respect for Nature because for them that is the Universal Law.
Monday, March 3, 2014
NELL's FUNERAL by Charles Dickens (1812- 1870)
And now the bell, -the bell she had so often heard by night and day,
listened to with solemn pleasure, now, they as a living voice,
rung its remorseless toll for her, so young, so beautiful, so good.
Decrepit age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and helpless infancy,
poured forth on crutches, in the pride of strength, and health, in the full blush of promise,
the mere dawn of life, to gather round her tomb.
Old men were there whose eyes were dim and the senses failing.
Grandames who might have died ten years ago;
and still being old: the deaf, the blind, the lame,
the living dead in many shapes and forms,
to see the closing of this early grave.
Along the crowded path they bore her now;
pure as the fallen snow that covered it;
whose day on earth had been as fleeting;
under that place, where she had sat when Heaven in mercy brought her to a peaceful spot,
she passed again, and the old church received her in its quite shade.
They carried her to one old nook, where she had many and many a time sat musing,
and laid their burden softly on the pavement.
The light streamed on it through the colored window,
- a window where the boughs of trees were ever rustling in the summer,
and where the birds sang sweetly all day long.
listened to with solemn pleasure, now, they as a living voice,
rung its remorseless toll for her, so young, so beautiful, so good.
Decrepit age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and helpless infancy,
poured forth on crutches, in the pride of strength, and health, in the full blush of promise,
the mere dawn of life, to gather round her tomb.
Old men were there whose eyes were dim and the senses failing.
Grandames who might have died ten years ago;
and still being old: the deaf, the blind, the lame,
the living dead in many shapes and forms,
to see the closing of this early grave.
Along the crowded path they bore her now;
pure as the fallen snow that covered it;
whose day on earth had been as fleeting;
under that place, where she had sat when Heaven in mercy brought her to a peaceful spot,
she passed again, and the old church received her in its quite shade.
They carried her to one old nook, where she had many and many a time sat musing,
and laid their burden softly on the pavement.
The light streamed on it through the colored window,
- a window where the boughs of trees were ever rustling in the summer,
and where the birds sang sweetly all day long.
A TOWN in the black CITY in the SEA. by Poe (1809-1849)
Lo! DEATH has reared himself a THRONE in a STRANGE CITY alone far DOWN within the DIM WEST, where the GOOD and the BAD and the WORST and the BEST have gone to their ETERNAL REST.
There SHRINES and PALACES and TOWERS (Time-eaten Towers that tremble not!) resemble nothing that is ours, AROUND, by lifting WINDS forgot.
Resignedly BENEATH the SKY the MELANCHOLY WATERS LIE.
NO RAYS from the HOLY HEAVEN come down on the long NIGHT-TIME of that TOWN;
but LIGHT from out of the lurid sea STREAMS UP the turrets SILENTLY and GLEAMS UP the PINNACLES far and free.
UP DOMES - UP SPIRES - UP kingly HALLS - UP BABYLON-LIKE WALLS -
UP shadowy long-forgotten BOWERS of SCULPTURED IVY and STONE FLOWERS -
UP many and many marvelous SHRINE whose WREATHED FRIEZES INTERTWINE the VIOL, the VIOLET, and the WINE.
Resignedly BENEATH the SKY the MELANCHOLY WATERS LIE.
So BLEND the TURRETS and SHADOWS THERE that all seem pendulous IN AIR, while from a proud tower in the town, DEATH LOOKS GIGANTICALLY DOWN.
There SHRINES and PALACES and TOWERS (Time-eaten Towers that tremble not!) resemble nothing that is ours, AROUND, by lifting WINDS forgot.
Resignedly BENEATH the SKY the MELANCHOLY WATERS LIE.
NO RAYS from the HOLY HEAVEN come down on the long NIGHT-TIME of that TOWN;
but LIGHT from out of the lurid sea STREAMS UP the turrets SILENTLY and GLEAMS UP the PINNACLES far and free.
UP DOMES - UP SPIRES - UP kingly HALLS - UP BABYLON-LIKE WALLS -
UP shadowy long-forgotten BOWERS of SCULPTURED IVY and STONE FLOWERS -
UP many and many marvelous SHRINE whose WREATHED FRIEZES INTERTWINE the VIOL, the VIOLET, and the WINE.
Resignedly BENEATH the SKY the MELANCHOLY WATERS LIE.
So BLEND the TURRETS and SHADOWS THERE that all seem pendulous IN AIR, while from a proud tower in the town, DEATH LOOKS GIGANTICALLY DOWN.
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