Curiosity After Dark: Part IV
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© 2008 VVeasey Publishing
10/13/12
The experience of time, begins with the division of something, originally undivided, into separately moving bodies, in space, in other words, with creation.
Illusion of Time
Our view of time is illusory. We speak of the past, as if it's a place, like a city left behind us. We speak of the future. as a place. like a distant land we can take a trip to. But the neither the past or the future, are places.
Analogy Of Time
All time is occurring now, but we experience it as separate segments. Like being able to only see one square, of a chessboard instead, of the whole board at once. We can't see an overview of the whole situation, so we experience the past, present and future, as existing separately, when they actually, exist simultaneously, right now!
A seed is the present state of the future plant. As it grows, it's becomes the future state of the plant. As it matures, it becomes the present state of the plant. A seed is, potentiality, the past, present, and future states, of the plant, all in one!
Example Time
A is the present. Leaving A, heading towards B, A is the past. Arriving at B, B is the present. Returning towards A, leaving B, A is the future, B is the past, Back at A, A is the present.
If your friend, takes a trip to Jamaica, she's in your future; you're in her past. If she thinks about seeing you again, you're in her future, she's in your past. If you talk to each other by phone, you're both in the present. The past, present, and future, are concepts that organize and coordinate, our experience of continuous existence.
Traveling In Time
We can speak about going back in time, to the Roman Empire. But, could this ever happen? We can return to the location of the Roman Empire, because that location still exists, but the people of that time, no longer do. If they still existed, in a place called the past, we could visit them there.They don't, so we can't.
The past exists only in memory or fantasy. We can remember an event, from our past, or fantasize about it, as if it's happening now, in the present, but neither is true!
Traveling back in time, isn't possible, because there's no place, to travel to. You can’t travel back in time, to when you were a baby, because that baby, has developed into the person, you are today, and doesn't exist anymore.If the past, were a place, where everything stayed the same without change or development, like a picture or snapshot, taken of a scene long past, time travel would be possible and actual, but that’s not the case.
Rotations of Time
Our experience of time, is based on the earth's daily rotation, on its axis, and yearly orbit, around the sun. A certain number of days, equal a certain number of axis rotations. A certain number of years, equal a certain number of orbital rotations. Time is a concept, for tracking, what was occurring, stopped occurring, or didn't occur, during these daily and yearly rotations.
Day and Night Time
We experience time, as a succession of days and nights, but day and night are illusions. When the part of the earth we're on, turns towards the sun, it's day. When it turns away from the sun, it's night, but it's always day and night somewhere, simultaneously!
The sun doesn't come up, nor does it go down. It's always shining! It's the movement of the earth, along it orbit, that creates the illusion, of the sun's rising and setting. If we took a spaceship outside the earth's atmosphere, we'd be able to view this process, directly.
Passing Time
As we age, we say that time is passing, (like it's a thing, like a car passing by us.), but is time a thing? Is it passing? There is, the activity, movement, and development of life. But, the only things passing, or moving, are solar systems, milky ways, star systems and galaxies. Using their various cycles, combinations and configurations, as a reference point, compared to our activity and development, is what we call, the passing of time!
Psychological Time
Psychological time, is your personal experience of time. When you're participating in an engrossing activity, you lose track of time, and time seems to pass by quickly. (You started at one o'clock and you can't believe it's five o'clock, already!)
Attending, a boring lecture, you're acutely aware of time and time seems to pass by slowly. (You keep watching the clock. It seems like it takes forever for five minutes to pass by!) After, receiving an intense emotional shock, time seems to stand still. (the whole scene seems frozen, like freeze frame was pushed on a video player.)
Transcending Time
If all objects and bodies were the same mass, there would be no experience of time. The division of mass into separate objects, and bodies, moving in space, creates the experience of time.
Spiritual philosophies say to transcend time, you must transcend ego identity. To transcend ego identity, you must experience an identity, that's the same for you and for others. (Like mass, before its division, into separateness.) Once ego identity is transcended, time would be transcended, because, there would be no experience of separateness, or of individual entities, only sameness!
Stopping Time
If the earth, suddenly stopped rotating on its axis, and orbiting the sun, time would stop for us. There would no longer be day or night, or seasonal changes. Part of the earth, would always be light, and part would always be dark! Part would always be hot, and part would always be cold!
With no more movement, or variation of the earth's position to the sun, all Earthly life forms would probably, cease to exist.
Conclusion Time
Time is the perception of the reoccurring, cyclic obit of planets moving in space, used as a measure of how long, it takes the activity and development of humans, to occur on earth.
Anything we do, can do, or will do, will always be happening, in this ever present, moment, we call now, today. The past was once today.The future will be today. When tomorrow comes, it's always today
To think that there is a past, present and future, is like thinking that, if you had a piece of property, that it took you a year to walk around it's boundary, back to your starting point, that when you got there, you thought that, you were now, one year into the future! How crazy is that! Isn't that what we all do with our experience of time?
The Earth, is rotating on it's axis and orbiting the sun, when it makes one complete rotation, around the Sun, don't we think we've moved one year into the future? Don't we say, it's a new year, and old year is behind us, in the past? How crazy is that!
Time, is an illusion, meaning, it's not what it appears to be.
History isn't just the past. It's the present, the past, and the future.
...And other ideas I've often pondered. Curiosity After Dark: Part III
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What's He Talking About
I know some of you are probably saying "What the hell is this fool talking about?!" "The second coming hasn't happened!"
I know, I know it sounds crazy because of what we've all been taught to believe...but it has happened. So bear with me and I'll explain.
Jesus is not Jesus' real name. It's the English transliteration of his name. So if Jesus isn't Jesus' real name what name was he called by when he was alive?
Jesus' Real Name?
Let's take a look at the derivation of the name Jesus.
(Jesus:c.1175 (O.E. simply used hælend "savior"), from Gk. Iesous, attempt to render Aramaic proper name Jeshua (Heb. Yeshua) "Jah is salvation," a common Jewish personal name, the later form of Heb. Yehoshua (see Joshua). As an oath, attested from late 14c. For Jesus H. Christ. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper)
So the name Jesus is derived from the name Yeshua or Joshua and means "Jah is salvation". And it's a "common Jewish personal name".
Let's look at the meaning of Joshua.
(Joshua: masc. proper name, biblical successor of Moses, from Heb. Yehoshua, lit. "the Lord is salvation." Joshua tree (1867) is perhaps so called because its shape compared to pictures ofJoshua brandishing a spear (Josh. viii.18). In the top 10 list of names for boys in the U.S. since1979.Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper )
Joshua is a translation of the Hebrew name, Yehoshua, meaning "Jah ( or Yah) is salvation" and that's why Jesus is called the "savior". Again we see the idea of salvation associated with Joshua's name as it is with Jesus' name because they're the same name in different languages. I think we all can agree on that.
Let's continue
In the Hebrew Bible, (the Christian Old Testament), Moses' right hand man is Yehoshua (in English, Joshua). In the 2nd century BC, in the Septuagint,( the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek), Yehoshua's name was transliterated as Iesous pronounced "ieesus" . This was the first time the name that would eventually become Jesus was known to history.
In the 4th century AD in the Latin Vulgate (the Bible in Latin this is the first Christian bible) , Iesous was translated as Iesus. In 1600 AD in the Kings James Bible, Iesus was translated into English,as the name we all know and love, Jesus. The l in lesus was changed to a J in English.
Very interesting don't you think?
So those who say that Jesus is the only name you can be "saved" by have a problem, because during his lifetime (if he ever lived). Jesus was probably called Yeshua or Yehoshua, in English it would be, Joshua, but definitely not Jesus. So how can you be saved by that name?
The Bible the early Christians used was the Septuagint (the old Testament in Greek). When they saw the name, Iesous, they knew it was referring to Moses' successor and right hand man, Yehoshua (Joshua). (The English name ,Jesus, didn't exist during that time). This was the first coming of the messiah.
When the New Testament was written ( it was written in Greek) and when the early Jewish Christians saw the name Iesous, they saw it as referring to the second coming of Yehoshua (Joshua) the messiah who led their ancestors out of bondage in Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, who was Moses' right hand man, Joshua.
The First And Original Savior
Yahoshua (Joshua) was the first and original savior. So that makes the Jesus we all know and love the second coming of the savior (Yehoshua, lit. "the Lord is salvation" Dictionary.com.) If Yehoshua is salvation he's your savior as well wouldn't you say?
So the second coming has already happened but you probably didn't know that. If you're still waiting for Jesus to return that would be the third coming of the messiah. There have been many messiahs. All the kings of Israel were messiahs, meaning they were "anointed" or chosen by the God of Israel to be kings.
(Messiah: c.1300, Messias, from L.L. Messias, from Gk. Messias, from Aramaic meshiha and Heb. mashiah "anointed" (of the Lord), from mashah "anoint." This is the word rendered in Septuagint as Gk. Khristos (see Christ). In O.T. prophetic writing, it was used of an expected deliverer. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper)
Isaiah 45:1 backs up what I said about the messiah or christ (khristo) meaning anointed and that there were other messiahs before Jesus was said to be the messiah.
"Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;" Isaiah 45:1. Amazing!
Do you really realize the meaning of what Isaiah said?
Isaiah says that the Persian king, Cyrus the great, who freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity, was the "Lord's Messiah" (Christ) hundreds of years before Jesus was said to be born. Fascinating!
Now we know where the idea of Christ came from, and that there have been many Christs, Messiahs and Saviors who preceded Jesus.They're all interchangeable and are just different names for the same thing, I'm just shedding a little light on how the idea of Jesus the Savior/Messiah/Christ came about.
Has Jesus Already Returned?
But just to make it more clear for those people who still believe that Jesus is yet to return. Read the following:
"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death*, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." Matt 16:27-28
If there were some standing there, who would not taste death, until they see Jesus/the son of man returning in his kingdom doesn't that mean that Jesus returned while they were alive? Or don't you believe Jesus' statements are true?
Here's another one:
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Matt: 24:30-34
I think we can all agree that, that "generation" has passed. So I ask again, doesn't that mean that, Jesus has already returned during that generation? Or do you think that Jesus was mistaken?
Curiosity After Dark: Part II
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Thirteen is the unluckiest of all numbers, or so they say. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. Henry Ford himself would not do business on Friday the 13th. Many people aren't even aware that there were originally thirteen constellations. Ophiuchus, the 13th constellation, was omitted from the Zodiac. Don't be the 13th person to sit down at the table either, according to superstition, the thirteenth person seated at a table will be the next to die.
The fear of the number 13 is so widespread, there is even a name for it: Triskaidekaphobia. More money is lost on Friday the 13th than any day of the year because so many people call in sick that day. Some people won't even leave their house on Friday the 13th.
So why is there such a fear of 13 anyway? Where did it come from and is there truth to the superstitions? Let's explore the myths and history of this infamous number.
13 in Mythology
All Christians know the story of Jesus and the last supper. At this famous dinner, Jesus announced that he was to be put to death and one of his faithful followers at the table would betray him. Judas was the last to sit at the table, the thirteenth person seated. Judas was the apostle that betrayed Jesus by turning him into the Romans. He later hanged himself from a tree. Some could argue that Judas was doomed the moment he took that thirteenth seat. What's more is that the last supper took place on a Friday.
There's another story that is even older than the story of Jesus Christ. It's a story about another dinner party that also led to a tragedy.
In Norse mythology, Loki was also known as The Trickster. He was mischievous but also brave. As he aged he became more malicious. A party had taken place in Valhalla (Heaven) and twelve gods were seated to dinner. Loki, showed up uninvited and with him made thirteen seated at the table. He tricked Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to kill Balder, the god of light and joy. After Balder was killed, the entire world became dark, as both gods and humans went into mourning. Through this, thirteen had become an unlucky number.
Interesting Facts About 13
King Phillip of France had the Knights Templar arrested on Friday the 13th in the year 1307. His motive was pure greed. He wanted the riches that belonged to the Knights to be his. Under extreme torture, the Knights were forced to confess to crimes of heresy. Most of the knights were burned to the stake.
Apollo 13 was a jinxed mission to the moon. Apollo was launched on April 10th on the 13th hour and the thirteenth minute. While in route, there was an explosion in one of the propellers - On April 13th.
Rapper Tupak Shakur was shot and killed on September 13th, 1996, which also happened to be Friday the 13th.
Many mass murderers have 13 letters in their names, such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson and Harold Shipman.
The 13th card in the Tarot deck is death.
Misogynist Roots of Unlucky 13
Still, many believe that the negative connections to the number 13 was another attempt from the early Christians to vilify women. Cultures that worshiped the Goddess believed the number thirteen represented femininity. Thirteen corresponds to the number of lunar (and menstrual) cycles in a year. (13 x 28 = 364).
Lucky 13?
Is thirteen truly an unlucky number or is it pure coincidence when terrible things happen on days like Friday the 13th?
Actually, statistics show that less accidents and deaths occur on Friday the 13th than any other day of the year. It's interesting and could be because there are so many people who won't leave the house on Friday the 13th.
Thirteen parties were popular in the late 18th century. People would 'tempt' faith by throwing these parties on Friday the 13th, sitting 13 at a table and doing silly superstitious things like walking under ladders.
In Italy, 13 is a lucky number.
The United States was founded on 13 colonies and 13 stripes remain on the American flag in honor of those colonies. As for Apollo 13, all the astronauts made it home safely and not a single life was lost.
So is 13 truly an unlucky number? It's hard to say but I suppose one could argue that it's all in how you look at things.
So, last night when I was restless, I decided to google answers for a few questions I had about "significant" numbers throughout history and their origins of importance.
Curiosity After Dark: Part I
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Copyright 2005 VVeasey Publishing
07/02/12
The significance of the number seven goes back to one of the most ancient of ancient religious concepts, the Astro-religion of Astrology with its seven planetary Gods:The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.
The ancient wise men (philosophers: lovers of wisdom) were stargazers, they were the original astronomers. They saw the original seven planets as rulers of the solar system and of the lives of humans on Earth. By observing the sky they saw star patterns occurring and reoccurring as the Earth went through its daily and annual rotations around the sun.
They related the various star patterns to the reoccurring seasonal phenomena of the earth and thought that a different planetary God ruled each cycle. The end of every seven-year cycle was seen as a rebirth or a renewal of the cosmos and the individual. Seven became the number of completion.
Biologists say that the cells of our bodies are completely renewed every seven years. Maybe ancient wise men were wiser than we knew.
The Old Testament shows this pattern of creating within a cycle of seven as in the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest in Genesis. We also see this cycle in the seven notes of the musical scale, the seven colors of the rainbow, the seven deadly sins, the seven virtues, even in something like the popular book "The Seven habits of Successful People" and a plethora of other sevens.
Through, its association with the seven heavenly bodies, (the seven known planets of those times), seven came to be seen as the number of things divine or sacred. In time, the seven heavenly bodies, became the seven heavenly Gods. And through the anthropomorphizing tendency of the human mind, the number seven, was broken down into male and female components. Three became the number of the heavenly male and four the number of the heavenly female.
Fertility cults abounded in ancient times because of the importance of sex in replenishing the animals needed for food and to work the land (not to mention the importance of sex and fertility for the reproduction of new offspring for the family, the tribe and the armies of the kings and emperors).The fertility of land was of prime importance because if the land was barren less people and animals survived.
As a result of the reverence people held toward their departed ancestors, the heavenly male became the father God and the heavenly female, the mother Goddess.
It’s easy to see how through the fascination of the ancients with numbers and fertility how that lead them to associate numbers with gender.
The Masculine 3. The Feminine 4
So three became the masculine number, the number of God whose symbol is the triangle representing the male genitalia (the penis and two testicles). Four became the feminine number, the number of the Goddess, whose symbol is the square or the squared circle, representing the female genitalia (any concave object or symbol was associated with the vagina).
The Divine 7
When these two are joined together they produced the Divine Child 3+4 whose number is seven. Seven became associated with the divine child or son. This is probably how the idea of the seventh son being the special son originated.
The number three is associated with the sky God, Father Sky. Four is the associated with earth Goddess, Mother Earth. Their union produces the child whose half human and mortal and half divine or immortal, whose number is of course, seven.
Seven is the symbol of a hermaphroditic, androgynous deity, the synthesis of the masculine and feminine principles of the God and the Goddess symbolizing a being beyond the range of human perception.
The symbolic image of this androgynous, hermaphroditic, perfected being is the seven-headed deity, the dragon or the monster with seven heads, used as a symbol of something supernatural, awe-inspiring, numinous or other-worldly.
The Heavenly Man
Seven became the number of the heavenly man, the perfected man, completed person, because all of the earthly and heavenly elements were perfectly and completely united in this person. Earth, wind, fire and air represent the four earthly or feminine qualities. Hindsight, insight and foresight represent the three heavenly or masculine qualities.
These concepts apply to men and women, least we have people saying that men are the only ones who have spiritual qualities and that women don't or vice versa.
These qualities also represent the four animal aspects and the three human aspects of the individual soul. The four animal aspects are the body, the blood, the breath and animal heat (metabolic processes). The three human aspects are speech, rational thought and intuition or creative ability.
Seven is an odd number associated with being lucky but there’s another odd number associated with being unlucky and it has a long history of being the number of bad luck.
The Unlucky Number?
That would be the number thirteen, as in Friday the thirteenth!
There are still buildings that don’t list a thirteenth floor.They actually have a thirteenth floor but it’s labeled the fourteenth floor. So people who are superstitious about the number thirteen have no idea that when they're on the fourteenth floor they're really on the dreaded thirteenth floor.
Thirteen became the unlucky number because this was originally the number of divine beings and only divine beings could use that number. If you used a number that was sacred to the Gods bad things happened to you. So people started having negative connotations about the number thirteen and over time thirteen became the bad or unlucky number, the number of the devil and evil, which is really; you guessed it, the number of God. Let me show why,
God, Divinity, And The Number 13
The most ancient symbol of the creator God was the Sun, because people saw that all life was dependent on the Sun. The twelve sun signs of the Zodiac are arrayed around the Sun God, the Cosmic Man making his number, you guessed it, thirteen.
Jesus had twelve disciples which makes Jesus’ number thirteen and symbolically makes him a Sun God.
There are the twelve tribes (sons) of Israel (Jacob) making Isreal’s number thirteen and Jacob symbolically a Sun God.
Hercules And The Zodiac
There are the twelve labors of Hercules which represents the sun passing through the twelve houses of the Zodiac making Hercules’ number thirteen and symbolically a Sun God.
But I digress.
So lets get back to other examples of significant sevens.
Magnificent Sevens!
In the Old Testament, there are the seven eyes of the Lord (Yahweh), "For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth." Zech 4:10
In Alchemy there are seven metals corresponding to the seven planets or planetary Gods, corresponding to the seven days of the week:
1. Gold is the Sun for Sunday.
2. Silver the Moon for Monday.
3. Iron is Mars for Tuesday.
4. Quicksilver is Mercury for Wednesday.
5. Tin is Jupiter for Thursday.
6. Copper is Venus for Friday.
7. Lead is Saturn for Saturday.
The numbers three, four and seven symbolize various types of time.
Three symbolizes annual time: The past, present and future. four symbolizes seasonal time: spring, summer, fall and winter. Seven symbolizes total or complete time, the synthesis of annual and seasonal time. Three (annual time) + four (seasonal time) = seven (total or complete time).
There were the 7 wonders of the ancient world.
1. Great Pyramid of Giza.
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia.
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
6. Colossus of Rhodes.
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria.
There are the seven chakras of the Yoga subtle body system.
1. Muladhara is the chakra of the Kundalini serpent Goddess which is said to be wrapped three and half time around the base of the spine.
2. Swadhistana the sexual energy chakra.
3. Manipura is stomach plexus or sun chakra.
4. Anahata is the center or heart chakra.
5. Vishuddha is the throat or speech chakra.
6. Ajna is the brow or forehead chakra, the chakra of thought, intuition and insight.
7 Sahasrara is the crown or brain chakra, the chakra of oneness or completeness.
There are the seven colors of the rainbow.
1. Red
2. Orange
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Indigo
7. Violet
Leading to the seven notes of the musical scale
A B C D E F G
There are seven years of bad luck if you break a mirror.
The seven voyages of Sinbad.
The seven ages of man.
Well I think that's about it for the sevens.
I think by now you get the picture about how seven became the divine or lucky number. I hope you found all this trivia about the magnificent seven informative and entertaining.
Hey! The Magnificent seven!
There's another seven for you, from the old movie "The Magnificent Seven (1960)" starring the late Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen.
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