Herman Melville, The Influence, Of, Marihuana, In ,Writings.

Herman Melville,Author, of, 'MOBY DICK', came, to, Liverpool ,in, the 19th, Century..
He Fictionalised, His, real-life experiences, in, the novel, 'REDBURN'.
[Being the Sailor Boy
Confessions and Reminiscences
Of the Son-Of-A-Gentleman
In, the Merchant Navy]

His, Personal, Voyage, was ,made , as, a 'Boy Sailor', on ,the Vessel, 'St Lawrence'.[out, of ,New York].

The Eponymous, 'Hero', of ,REDBURN, travels ,on ,the fictional,Vessel, ....'Highlander'.

 He ,meets, all ,sorts, of, unexpected, trials and tribulations, describing , in ,detail, the socio-economic conditions, of ,the, early 19th century, Industrial Seaport, of, Liverpool.

POVERTY, HAND-IN-HAND, WITH, OPULENT WEALTH.

Many ,of, the Buildings, described,  are, still here.
 The 'Lyceum', The 'Town Hall', Princes Dock Gates,The Church ,of,St.Mary del Quay
[The Sailor's Church, also, known, as, 'OUR LADY, AND, ST.NICHOLAS'],
is, the, ......Setting,of, the 'Dead House',Chapter,- Nowadays, with the 'Simpson Fountain!, etc etc.

Chapter XXXVI. THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND THE DEAD-HOUSE

The floating chapel recalls to mind the “Old Church,” well known to the seamen of many generations, who have visited Liverpool. It stands very near the docks, a venerable mass of brown stone, and by the town’s people is called the Church of St. Nicholas. I believe it is the best preserved piece of antiquity in all Liverpool.
Before the town rose to any importance, it was the only place of worship on that side of the Mersey; and under the adjoining Parish of Walton was a chapel-of-ease; though from the straight backed pews, there could have been but little comfort taken in it.
In old times, there stood in front of the church a statue of St. Nicholas, the patron of mariners; to which all pious sailors made offerings, to induce his saintship to grant them short and prosperous voyages. In the tower is a fine chime of bells; and I well remember my delight at first hearing them on the first Sunday morning after our arrival in the dock. It seemed to carry an admonition with it; something like the premonition conveyed to young Whittington by Bow Bells. “Wettingborough! Wettingborough! you must not forget to go to church, Wettingborough! Don’t forget, Wettingborough! Wettingborough! don’t forget.”
Thirty or forty years ago, these bells were rung upon the arrival of every Liverpool ship from a foreign voyage. How forcibly does this illustrate the increase of the commerce of the town! Were the same custom now observed, the bells would seldom have a chance to cease.
What seemed the most remarkable about this venerable old church, and what seemed the most barbarous, and grated upon the veneration with which I regarded this time-hallowed structure, was the condition of the grave-yard surrounding it. From its close vicinity to the haunts of the swarms of laborers about the docks, it is crossed and re-crossed by thoroughfares in all directions; and the tomb-stones, not being erect, but horizontal (indeed, they form a complete flagging to the spot), multitudes are constantly walking over the dead; their heels erasing the death’s-heads and crossbones, the last mementos of the departed. At noon, when the lumpers employed in loading and unloading the shipping, retire for an hour to snatch a dinner, many of them resort to the grave-yard; and seating themselves upon a tomb-stone use the adjoining one for a table. Often, I saw men stretched out in a drunken sleep upon these slabs; and once, removing a fellow’s arm, read the following inscription, which, in a manner, was true to the life, if not to the death:—­

“Here LYETH ye

body of TOBIAS DRINKER.”

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His, encounters, with. 'Land Rats', 'Land Sharks', 'Crimps', Sailors, of ,all, Nations, and, a host ,of ,strange characters, make, for, an ,enjoyable, read.

Edward F Edinger, A, Californian, Jungian Analyst, has, examined, the early life, of, Melville, in, His, Book, 'American Nekyia, Melville's , Moby Dick'.
[Available at Amazon, etc]

It, is, a, first rate , well- researched, and, thorough, Commentary, on, what, He considers, a, decidedly, unhappy, and depressive, Melville.

By,Going back, to Melville's Childhood, Edinger, expertly, puts together, evidence, of , the traumatic, and startling, fall, from economic security, and comfort, to, a harsh, and ,uncaring ,world, of, semi-poverty.

Melville, Herman (1 Aug. 1819-28 Sept. 1891), novelist and poet, was born in New York City, the son of Allan Melvill (as the name was spelled), an importer of Parisian dry goods, and Maria Gansevoort. The Melvill family was connected to Scottish nobility; Maria was the daughter of General Peter Gansevoort, a hero of the American Revolution, and related to the Van Rensselaers and other Dutch families long dominant in upstate New York. Between 1815 and January 1830 eight children were born to the Melvills, all of whom lived to adulthood. At six Herman entered the New York Male High School; at nine he was enrolled in the Grammar School of Columbia College. After persistently borrowing from his father and his mother-in-law, Allan Melvill in 1827 was duped into a financial scheme that wiped out the rest of his wife's and his own prospective inheritances. In October 1830, eluding creditors, Melvill fled to Albany, where Maria's brother Peter got him work as a clerk; the trauma precipitated the death of old Mrs. Gansevoort.
From the end of 1831, when he was withdrawn from the Albany Academy, Herman's education was catch-as-catch-can. The sudden death of his father in January 1832 was followed that year by the death of his grandfather, the aged Thomas Melvill, a hero of the Boston Tea Party, and early in 1833 by the death of his Grandmother Melvill. The Melvilles (as they began spelling the name) were left in poverty. At twelve Herman was hired as a bank clerk for $150 a year; two years later his mother put him to work in his older brother Gansevoort's cap and fur store. Some years Herman was allowed to spend a week with his uncle Thomas at the Melvill farm south of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The farm was Herman's "first love," a cousin later declared, and when he managed it in 1837, after his uncle went west to Illinois, he saw in the Berkshires an American paradise. Poorly educated himself, he taught that fall in a rural school nearby, but early in January 1838 he was back in Albany.
In May 1838 Maria Melville moved with six of her children to Lansingburgh, across the Hudson River, to live more cheaply. Herman took a course in surveying and engineering at the Lansingburgh Academy, but he was unable to find maintenance work on the Erie Canal. In May 1839 a Lansingburgh newspaper published his first known fiction, "Fragments from a Writing Desk." That summer he signed on a merchant ship bound for Liverpool (the basis for his Redburn), and that fall he taught at Greenbush, across the Hudson from Albany. The school proved unable to pay his salary, and late the next spring he taught briefly in Brunswick, near Troy. In June 1840 he traveled to Illinois hoping in vain that his uncle Thomas could find him work. After job-hunting in Manhattan, Herman and his brother Gansevoort went to the Massachusetts whaling ports. At Fairhaven Herman signed on the whaleship Acushnet, which set sail on 3 January 1841.


Edinger, Postulates, that ,Melville's, Father,[ who died ,whilst , Herman ,was ,still, a Boy,]contributed ,to, a 'Split', in, the Personality, of ,the Adult,writer.
He expounds , with, many ,examples, on, the' Breakdown ',of ,Herman Melville.

Melville, of course, was, unaware, of, Jungian Psychology!

Edinger, although ,supremely talented, as ,an ,Analyst, may, have missed, an, important detail.

Melville, smoked Marihuana!

Marihuana, has , as ,We ,all know, many ,different Names!

 In, Melville's, day, most ,Ship's Ropes ,were ,made, of ?
.......HEMP!

A chapter in REDBURN, describes ,the scene, as, the sailors, of, the 'Highlander', having, bartered, or, sold , their, allowance, of, Tobacco,whilst, in ,Liverpool Dock, search, the Fo'castle, for, any ,'odds and ends' ,of, old Rope!...
 This, is, then split, until ,the 'Heart', of, the Rope, was found, and, subsequently, Smoked!
The older, the Rope, the better. the Smoke!
Melville, was, a known ,Cigar smoker,in, his, latter years,[Mentioned, in ,Liverpool, US, Consul,Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Memoirs] it, is, reasonable, to assume, He, was, a Smoker, in ,His Youth.

[Moby Dick, is, dedicated, to, Hawthorne]

Nearly, all, His, later, works, show, an, 'Unconscious', inclusion, of, 'Drug', References.
 Be, it ,Physical[Rolling Grasslands/Prairies] or, Metaphorical!

The Grand imagery, of , 'Moby Dick', much discussed, by,' Academia', in, countless Volumes, can, now, be seen, in, a slightly, different, Light!
I, see it, as, an attempt, to reconcile,' Archaic ' Content,['God-Symbols'] of, the 'Collective Unconscious', into, Consciousness.VIA,THE IMAGINATION.

MELVILLE, HAD,AN, ARGUMENT, WITH, GOD. THE PASTORAL,MILK,DRINKER,
WITNESSED, HIS, MOTHER'S,ANGST,AND,FINANCIAL,DESPERATION,AND, THIS, IN, TURN,MUST, HAVE, BEEN, COMPOUNDED, BY, A WELL MEANING, BUT, NAIVE, RELIGIOUS,INSTRUCTOR.

MELVILLE,I,POSTULATE,HAD, NOT, YET,FULLY,MATURED,....HIS,'PHALLIC JOKES',
ARE,THE RESULT, OF, EXPOSURE,TO,A, WORLD, OF, ALMOST,TOTAL, MASCULINITY,
[ABOARD SHIP]
AFTER, BEING, RAISED, IN, AN, ALMOST, TOTALLY,MATRIARCHAL,PASTORAL,ENVIRONMENT....[THREE SISTERS]
THE 'DMT', THAT,CANNABIS, CONTAINS, AFFECTS, THE PINEAL GLAND[THIRD EYE],
IN, THE HUMAN, BRAIN-CHEMICALLY, THE STRUCTURE, OF, 'DMT', IS, VERY, SIMILAR, TO, SERATONIN, AND, MELATONIN..[BOTH, OF, WHICH, AFFECT, MOOD, AND, IMAGINATION]...THE 'THIRD EYE', IS, ALSO, KNOWN, AS,THE 'AGNI CHAKRA'..
[LAMBS,SHEEP, ETC, FIND, FORM, IN, HIS, LATER WORK, 'THE CONFIDENCE MAN'..
BUT, IN, REDBURN, HIS ,DEPARTURE, FROM, PASTORAL,INNOCENCE, IS, WITNESSED, BY, A BLACK, 'GOAT FIGURE'..FROM, THE RUINS, OF, A NEW YORK,PUBLIC PARK,AS, HIS, SHIP, SAILS, FOR, LIVERPOOL]

I, THINK, MELVILLE, WAS, MILDLY, EPILEPTIC.MELVILLE,HAD,HIS,
'ARGUMENT WITH GOD'...

AND,UNCONSCIOUSLY,HIS, OWN,DEAD,FATHER.

MELVILLE, KNEW, THE BIBLE, ALMOST, BY, HEART.
THE BIBLE, OF, 19TH CENTURY, AMERICA, CONTAINED, THE 'APOCRYPHA',MID-SECTION,
NOT, OFTEN, SEEN, IN, MORE, MODERN, VERSIONS,,
THE 'BOOK OF MACCABEES', ETC.

THE BIBLE, OF, COURSE, CONTAINS, UNCONSCIOUS, CANNABIS, USAGE, SYMBOLISM.


THE CHARACTER, 'AHAB',BEARS, THE MARK,OF, AN ENCOUNTER, WITH, THE 'SELF'.
[OF, JUNGIAN THOUGHT]

HE, HAS, BEEN, 'STRUCK BY LIGHTENING'...

AND, APART, FROM, A MULTITUDE, OF, BIBLICAL,'LIGHTENING',REFERENCES, 'SATAN FALLING FROM HEAVEN,AS LIGHTENING', ETC, ETC..

THE LIGHTENING, ITSELF, NOW, BECOMES, THE AUTOCRATIC SYMBOL.
[IT,'ILLUMINATES', THE CHARACTERIZATIONS,AND, IS, THE CENTRAL, PIVOTAL,
SYMBOL, REPRESENTING, 'ENERGY'
'THE LIGHTENING ROD MAN',IS, A,LATER, SHORT STORY, BY,MELVILLE]

IN, MODERN MEDIA, PRODUCTIONS, 'HARRY POTTER', [THE LIGHTENING, IS, ON, THE FOREHEAD]...'ZIGGY STARDUST',[THE LIGHTENING ,STREAKS, ACROSS ,DAVID BOWIES, FACE,]ETC, ETC..
THE SAME SYMBOLISM, TAKES, DIFFERENT, 'FORM'...

FOR, THE LIGHTENING,IS, DIRECTLY, ATTRIBUTABLE, TO, CANNABIS/SATIVA.
[HINDU MYTHOLOGY,'THUNDER GODS', ETC]....

AND, THIS, IN, TURN, IS,
RELATED, TO,WHAT, I, CONSIDER, TWO, FACTORS.
1, AUDITORY DIS-FUNCTION/PARTIAL DEAFNESS
2, UNRESOLVED ANGER/GRIEF,SEVERE DEPRESSION, OVER, THE,LOSS,OF, A,LOVER/SOUL MATE.


I ,Postulate, that, Melville, a, ' Depressed Personality', with, all ,the Symptomology, of, a 'Split', or, 'Schizoid',Outlook, , and, 'Introvert', Attitude
[ a, Very, Serious, Studious, and, Well- Read, in ,many Subjects,Bible, etc Melville],
but ,Also, an Adventurous, and, Naturally, 'Athletic',Extrovert Personna!, was, Inordinately, and, Probably Unknowingly, affected, by, the 'Holy Plant of Shiva!'.

[SATIVA=SIVA, ETC, ALSO, KNOWN, AS, 'HOLY ANOINTING OIL', OF, JUDAISM..YES, THAT'S RIGHT! MARIJUANA, IS, IN, THE BIBLE, READ, IT, YOURSELF..]

 ...and,which, after smoking the weed, immediately found, 'Form', in, His, Writings.

The  Chapter,[Princes Dock] about, 'An, Indian Trading Vessel, Mahogany Planked, smelling, of,' Eastern Spices', crewed, by, 'Lascars',[Who, also, make, an appearance, in,' Moby Dick', as, Ahab's 'Hidden Consorts] which berthed ,right next, to ,His ,own Ship, in, Liverpool's Princes Dock![with ample opportunity, to barter, trade, goods!] shows, the power, of, weed ,on, the imagination!

I, also ,Postulate, that, His, Description, of, the Old, 'Soger',... Jackson, was, in, fact, a, Psychic 'Projection', of, His ,own, Inner, 'Demon', onto, the Person, of ,the work-shy , though ,very able, Leading Sailor, of ,the 'Highlander'.
....................................................

While the men were settling away the halyards on deck, and before they had begun to haul out the reef-tackles, to the surprise of several, Jackson came up from the forecastle, and, for the first time in four weeks or more, took hold of a rope.
Like most seamen, who during the greater part of a voyage, have been off duty from sickness, he was, perhaps, desirous, just previous to entering port, of reminding the captain of his existence, and also that he expected his wages; but, alas! his wages proved the wages of sin.
At no time could he better signalize his disposition to work, than upon an occasion like the present; which generally attracts every soul on deck, from the captain to the child in the steerage.
His aspect was damp and death-like; the blue hollows of his eyes were like vaults full of snakes; and issuing so unexpectedly from his dark tomb in the forecastle, he looked like a man raised from the dead.
Before the sailors had made fast the reef-tackle, Jackson was tottering up the rigging; thus getting the start of them, and securing his place at the extreme weather-end of the topsail-yard—which in reefing is accounted the post of honor. For it was one of the characteristics of this man, that though when on duty he would shy away from mere dull work in a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed the van, and would yield it to none; and this, perhaps, was one cause of his unbounded dominion over the men.
Soon, we were all strung along the main-topsail-yard; the ship rearing and plunging under us, like a runaway steed; each man gripping his reef-point, and sideways leaning, dragging the sail over toward Jackson, whose business it was to confine the reef corner to the yard.
His hat and shoes were off; and he rode the yard-arm end, leaning backward to the gale, and pulling at the earing-rope, like a bridle. At all times, this is a moment of frantic exertion with sailors, whose spirits seem then to partake of the commotion of the elements, as they hang in the gale, between heaven and earth; and then it is, too, that they are the most profane.
"Haul out to windward!" coughed Jackson, with a blasphemous cry, and he threw himself back with a violent strain upon the bridle in his hand. But the wild words were hardly out of his mouth, when his hands dropped to his side, and the bellying sail was spattered with a torrent of blood from his lungs.
As the man next him stretched out his arm to save, Jackson fell headlong from the yard, and with a long seethe, plunged like a diver into the sea.
It was when the ship had rolled to windward, which, with the long projection of the yard-arm over the side, made him strike far out upon the water. His fall was seen by the whole upward-gazing crowd on deck, some of whom were spotted with the blood that trickled from the sail, while they raised a spontaneous cry, so shrill and wild, that a blind man might have known something deadly had happened.
Clutching our reef-points, we hung over the stick, and gazed down to the one white, bubbling spot, which had closed over the head of our shipmate; but the next minute it was brewed into the common yeast of the waves, and Jackson never arose. We waited a few minutes, expecting an order to descend, haul back the fore-yard, and man the boat; but instead of that, the next sound that greeted us was, "Bear a hand, and reef away, men!" from the mate.
Indeed, upon reflection, it would have been idle to attempt to save Jackson; for besides that he must have been dead, ere he struck the sea—and if he had not been dead then, the first immersion must have driven his soul from his lacerated lungs —our jolly-boat would have taken full fifteen minutes to launch into the waves.
And here it should be said, that the thoughtless security in which too many sea-captains indulge, would, in case of some sudden disaster befalling the Highlander, have let us all drop into our graves.


The most prominent theme of Redburn is the confrontation between innocence and corruption, as the inexperienced Redburn faces first the depraved evil embodied by Jackson and then the institutionalized evil responsible for the poverty and destitution the boy encounters in Liverpool and on the return voyage. Redburn must come to terms with both, according to Michael Davitt Bell, who summarizes one of the novel's central problems: “If Redburn's naive moral and religious scruples are challenged by the depravity of Jackson, so his naive reverence for authority, his identification with the ruling class, finally succumbs to his discovery of the evil perpetrated upon the masses in the name of authority.”
Another important theme in Redburn involves the loss of the father. Charles Haberstroh insists that “the prevailing psychological patterns in Melville's fiction” reveal the author's “almost bottomless sadness over being cut adrift from his father.” Redburn's futile efforts to retrace his father's steps in Liverpool appear to be part of that longing for the comfort and safety he felt when his father was still alive.
Christian brotherhood is also a thematic concern in the novel. Elmer R. Pry has explored this feature of Redburn, claiming that the novel's meaning inheres in the main character's failure to honor his brotherly obligations to Harry Bolton. By linking the two characters through the many parallels in their lives, Pry states, “Melville creates them as counterparts, as ‘brothers’ in a figurative and a Christian sense, then shows us Redburn's rejection of his brother.”
There are a number of important symbols in the novel, including the miniature glass ship in the family sitting room that apparently inspired Redburn as a child to seek a life at sea. Significantly, several of the little glass ropes and spars have broken and the tiny glass sailor that serves as a figurehead has fallen off the ship. Redburn's sisters reveal that this last mishap occurred on the day their brother began his first voyage. Another symbol is Redburn's clothing, particularly his elegant moleskin shooting jacket, initially a mark of his status as a gentleman's son. As it becomes smaller and smaller each time it gets wet, the jacket becomes more and more inappropriate as protection from the elements aboard ship. It then serves as an emblem not only of Redburn's lost status as a member of the privileged class but also as a symbol of his poor preparation for a life of manual labor at sea. A third significant symbol is his father's guidebook to Liverpool, which is hopelessly outdated and leads Redburn to buildings that have been demolished, suggesting the inability of the absent father to provide guidance and direction.




Did ,Marihuana, coupled, with mild, Schizophrenia/Bi-Polar Illness, create, One, of, the World's, most respected works, of ,Literature?

There, is ,much, Dark Imagery, in, all ,Melville's, works, but, perhaps, the
Darkest, comes, in 'Moby Dick', in ,the form, of the, 'Blood Ceremonial', of, the Harpooneers?

Perhaps, He ,eventually, found, the 'Light', in ,the End Chapter, of ,Another work.. 'The Confidence Man?'
where, quite literally, it, is all, that,is left, .....a 'Lamp', in, the Gloom.....

This,same, 'LAMP', Symbolism, is, also, used, by, GEORGE ORWELL, in, 'Homage to Catalonia'....

[Orwell, in, the Spanish Civil War, must, have, smoked, Cannabis]

And, of, course, 'ALADDIN', and, His,Lamp, are, well, known, in, Story-telling.

What ,was, REDBURN? another, 'Humorous', attempt, by Melville, to, disguise, His,' Hallucinatory Experiences?'..
another, 'Phallic Joke?', or, a, Very Real, attempt, to, 'Transcend', reality?....

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Redburn._His_First_Voyage

Today, is ,New Years Eve. I ,will, be, near, Princes Dock, when the Clock strikes 12! Happy New Year!

I , will think, of ,the Genius, who came, to, My Town,... just, as, I, am, also, thinking ,of ,others, ...Old Friends, Marihuana Smokers, some Alive, some Dead, who really, did not understand , the Power! of, Entheogens!
A Friend, with, Weed? a Friend?.. Indeed?
 take 'er easy! Why, not, make, a New Year, Resolution?

BE YOURSELF!,

Leave the Weed alone, for a while, see what transpires......



ALIVE AND KICKING!

Tales from Mount Shasta

from Joaquin Miller's tales of Modoc life:

In the far, far long ago, the Great Spirit concluded to make the world. He created Mt. Shasta first. Using a large sharp stone as an auger, he bored a hole in the sky, through which he pushed down snow and ice until he had reared the mountain. Then he stepped down from cloud to cloud to the peak, and thence to earth. Stooping, he pressed his finger into the ground here and there, and caused the first trees to start. The sun commenced its action, causing the snow to melt and give nourishment to the trees.

The Great Spirit gathered some leaves, breathed upon them, and they became birds. He then broke a stick into a number of pieces. From the small pieces he made fish--from the middle pieces he made the lesser animals--from the large pieces he made the grizzly bear, and gave him the authority to act as master over all the animal creation. The grizzly soon became so large, so powerful, and so cunning that the Great Spirit began to fear him, and, as a matter of protection, made a wigwam for himself out of Mt. Shasta.

The Great Spirit and his family dwelt within, and the smoke curling up from the summit showed that the fire was burning on the hearth. Then a great storm came--the wind blew the ocean against the mountain and made it tremble. The Great Spirit asked his little daughter to go up and quiet the storm, cautioning her not to look out, but to put forth her hand and make a sign before giving the command. The child clambered up to the roof, did as told, and was about to descend, when her curiosity got the best of her; she wanted to see what the world looked like--she put out her head--the wind caught her by the hair, dragged her down the mountain side, and left her in the land of the grizzly bears. Near the mountain base dwelt a family of grizzlies.

The old grizzly was returning from a hunt with a young elk in one paw and a bludgeon on his shoulder. He spied the fair child unconscious on the ground. He lifted the little one tenderly and carried her to his home. The old mother grizzly pitied the child and gave her milk from her own breast, and reared her as one of her own family. The girl grew up and married the eldest son of the old grizzly, and their offspring was man. The grizzlies then were very different from the grizzlies now--they walked erect like men, carried clubs for weapons and talked. When man was born, the grizzly nation rejoiced and was filled with pride. They united and built a wigwam for the young mother near that of the Great Spirit--and it is now known as Little Mount Shasta.

Many years passed away; the old mother grizzly became feeble and felt she was soon to die. Her conscience smote her, because through all the years she had concealed from the Great Spirit the whereabouts of his child. She called the grizzlies together at the new Lodge, and sent her eldest grandson up toward the clouds to the summit of Mt. Shasta, to tell the Great Spirit where his darling might be found. When the Great Spirit heard, he was filled with joy, and ran down the mountain with great speed--so great was his speed, the snow was melted and streams began to flow, and hidden water courses were formed and the fountain and springs along the Sacramento (including the wonderful Shasta Spring) began to flow, as they continue to this day.

The grizzly nation had assembled from all quarters of their domain and prepared a grand reception. As the Great Spirit neared his daughter's wigwam he found thousands of grizzlies standing erect with clubs on their shoulders, in two files facing, one on either side of the door. As the Great Spirit sped down between the lines, shouts of welcome rent the air. He reached his child, but when he found her so changed, and that a new race had been created without his consent, he was seized with anger; his rage was fearful to behold. He looked at the old grandmother grizzly with such an awful countenance that she died on the spot. Then the grizzlies began to howl and lament. The Great Spirit lifted his daughter tenderly in his arms, and, before departing, turned to the grizzlies and cursed them in his fury. "Be silent," he cried. "Never again speak. Stand erect no more. Use your hands as feet, and look to the ground till I come again." Then he drove them away, and also drove the new race of men from him. He then closed the door of Little Mt. Shasta and returned to his own wigwam, carrying his daughter with him, and they were never afterwards seen.

The grizzlies are still under his curse; they never speak or stand erect except when life is in danger, when the Great Spirit permits them to stand upright as of old and use their fists like men. The Great Spirit, with his daughter, long since returned to the land beyond the sky. The wigwam is abandoned. The hearthstone is cold. Smoke no longer curls upwards from the summit of Mt. Shasta.

http://www.siskiyous.edu/library/shasta/literature/LegendShastaSprings.htm

Sacramento, ah! Sacramento.....

Giants and Dwarfs abound in this region, makes you think!

Sodalite, Sodalities and Modalities.

The Healing Stone, SODOLITE.

Powers: Healing, peace, meditation, wisdom
If you're the type of person who is frequently a fool for love, this is the stone to work with. Sodalite is a stone of logic, rationality, and truth, its energies are not so easily dismissed. This stone is also a powerful tool in developing all-around emotional health. It instills confidence and restores or renews a positive self-image. In love, as in any other area of life, we all make mistakes, but this stone will aid you in the simple art of getting over a broken relationship. Extraordinarily useful for those who are getting over a divorce, recovering from a lost love, or from just plain getting dumped, sodalite will put you back in the game.

Sodalite helps one heal from more serious issues of sexual abuse, but it can also help anyone with balancing all the issues that surround sexuality. Further, sodalite is a communicator, so if you've been having sexual troubles within a relationship and need to have one of those oh-so-delicate and sometimes uncomfortable conversations, keep a bit of sodalite nearby. It particularly helps to keep those who have shut down sexually to open up again to the experience. Equally, for people who have become imbalanced because so much of their energy is invested in their sex lives, it helps them to balance and connect with other aspects of life. And since good sex is ultimately all about how we communicate with one another, it aids our ability to be in touch both verbally and nonverbally.

Sodalite is particularly useful for getting honest about your emotions, and like its sister, the lapis, serves to unite head and heart and a few other physical organs as well. It helps to dispel what is irrelevant in your love life, and that includes past mistakes, emotional upsets, and insecurities. Most important, in matters of the heart this stone promotes trust, enhances companionship, and steers a relationship toward common goals.

ATTRIBUTES: Sodalite unites logic with intuition and opens spiritual perception, bringing information from the higher mind down to the physical level.This stone stimulates the pineal gland and the third eye and deepens meditation. When in Sodalite-enhanced meditation, the mind can be used to understand the circumstances in which you find yourself.This stone instills a drive for truth and an urge toward idealism, making it possible to remain true to yourself and stand up for your beliefs.

Sodalite clears electromagnetic pollution and can be placed on computers to block their emanations. It is helpful for people who are sensitive to "sick-building syndrome"* or to electromagnetic smog*. This is a particularly useful stone for group work, as it brings harmony and solidarity of purpose. It stimulates trust and companionship between members of the group, encouraging interdependence. An excellent stone for the mind, Sodalite eliminates mental confusion and intellectual bondage. It encourages rational thought, objectivity, truth, and intuitive perception, together with the verbalization of feelings. As it calms the mind, it allows new information to be received. Sodalite stimulates the release of old mental conditioning and rigid mind-sets, creating space to put new insights in practice.

Emotionally, sodalite is extremely useful in resolving abuse issues. Because of its gentle yet powerful energy, it is of considerableassistance in restoring a sense of trust in the aftermath of trauma. Better perhaps than any other stone for helping its owner let go of deep-seated feelings of guilt, sodalite reminds us that we are meant to be happy. Also recommended for victims of post-traumatic stress disorder, it is of special value for veterans and victims of assault or accident. For all of us, however, it is a wonderful stone for daily use in times of emotional stress, as it serves to promote all-around emotional wellness and to restore a sense of wholeness, happiness, and health.

Psychologically, this stone brings about emotional balance and calms panic attacks. It can transform a defensive or oversensitive personality, releasing the core fears, phobias, guilt, and control mechanisms that hold you back from being who you truly are. It enhances self-esteem, self-acceptance, and self-trust. Sodalite is one of the stones that bring shadow qualities up to the surface to be accepted without being judged.

HEALING: Sodalite balances the metabolism, overcomes calcium deficiencies, and cleanses the lymphatic system and organs, boosting the immune system. This stone combats radiation damage and insomnia. It treats the throat, vocal cords, and larynx and is helpful for hoarseness and digestive disorders. It cools fevers, lowers blood pressure, and stimulates absorption of fluid in the body.

POSITION: Place as appropriate or wear for long periods of time.

http://roughandtumbledcrystalcreations.net/tumbled/sodalite.html


  

MODALITIES AND SODALITIES

The grass is wet with white dews.

Wind is blowing incessantly in the fall field.

The wind scattered the white dews.

They look like the beads

Which are not tied and are scattered

All over the field

　

The poet's name is Asayasu Funnya. 

• 1. Modalities 

Jesus focused on function rather than form during His earthly ministry. As the apostles and first believers (who were almost all Jewish) struggled to create a form (i.e. modalilty) to launch and develop the Christian movement they knew of only one religious structure: the Jewish synagogue. Even the greek word for “church” is ekklesia, which was used many times to describe a non- Christian gathering or meeting (Acts 19:32,39,41; 7:38; Psalms 22:22). The apostles borrowed this concept and began to start “Christian synagogues” or meetings where new believers, be they Jew or Gentile, could be built up in the faith.

In Acts 2:41-47, they experienced a rude awakening at Pentecost, when after 3,000 responded to the gospel, they were forced to create some structure real fast. This instant crowd of 3,000 baby Christians were in immediate need of baptism, teaching, fellowship, prayer, not to mention room and board! The befuddled Apostles grabbed and tweaked the only model they knew to create tracks to run on─the Jewish synagogue!

These permanent bases of ministry were essential to nourish and strengthen all believers and were led by generalists, who could help direct and develop all aspects of the local effort. Later, in the Pastoral Epistles, Paul provided a number of guidelines how these local congregations were to operate.

• 2. Sodalities

Jesus and the apostles were fully aware that the Jews not only had stationary bases of operations, called synagogues, but also mobile teams of Jewish evangelists whose job it was to expand the movement. Jesus described in Matthew 23:15 how they would “travel around on sea and land to make a single proselyte.” Later, in Acts 15:21, Peter acknowledged that “Moses is preached in every city.”

These sodalities (i.e. organized societies) provided the model Paul drew from as he created his traveling missionary band in Acts 13. After the church at Antioch laid hands on he and Barnabus, they were “sent out by the Holy Spirit.” There was no mission board, policy manual, or weekly report to send in. They simply went from town to town, preaching the gospel, forming fellowships, selecting leadership, and recruiting workers. In other words, it was on the job training and they were figuring it out─as they went!

These more temporary efforts were mobile and pioneering in nature, going where the local churches could not, and were led by specialists─individuals who had a very unique calling, gifting, or ministry target. An example: Paul’s traveling team of missionaries was made up of seven men from four different locations, banding together to establish believing communities in unreached areas (Acts 20:4).

http://www.thetravelingteam.org/node/320


The whole body of sodalities of different countries, as those of Austria, Switzerland, and Rumania, have united with the main society, and this action is contemplated for the United States also. (d) In 1894, at Salzburg, Austria, the "St. Peter Claver Sodality" was founded by

Countess M. Theresia Ledóchowska

to aid the African missions and to foster the pious work of freeing slaves.

Leo XIII favoured the organization by granting indulgences and privileges the very same year. The sodality includes: (1) the members of a female religious institute who devote themselves totally as helpers of the work of the African missions. These lead a community life in civilized countries and have their headquarters at Rome (via dell' Olmate 16); (2) laymen and women, who devote themselves, as far as their state in life permits, to the work of the sodality, especially by managing the succursals; (3) common helpers of either sex, who foster the work by contributions and other means. From the outset the work of the sodality was carried on with great zeal and has borne much fruit.


WAYS OF TRANSCENDENCE: ELIE WIESEL
Elie Wiesel was snatched as an adolescent from the warmth and security of the simple faith of his Hasidic surroundings into the hell of Auschwitz.

He comes out of it dazed, silent at first, and then the torrent of his witness pours out, perceptive and feeling. His is a strange dialectic -- anger at the silence of God at this dreadful abyss that witnessed what he saw as the death of humanity; and at the same time a passionate urge to confront God, to speak to Him, to hear from Him, to engage Him in dialogue, to call Him to account.

A little of Abraham, a little of Jeremiah, a little of Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev speak through him.
As he reflects, he finds the yearning for dialogue with the transcendent a pressing fact. He sees a parallel in the writer's task, this drive to dialogue, this communication of solitudes:

Between author and reader there must be a dialogue. The creative process is a strange one; it comes from solitude and it goes to solitude, and yet it is a meeting between two solitudes. It is just like man's solitude faced with God~s solitude. Once you have this confrontation, you have art, and religion, and more. You have a certain communion in the best and purest sense of the word... When both are sincere God is there.(9)

For Weisel the transcendent veil is broken in the process of dialogue. He likes to cite Franz Kafka, who could observe that man has the power to speak to God but not about God.(10)

Implicit too, is a deeply felt need for worship.

For Wiesel writing was such a need. A need to adore. But he is ambivalent when he raises the question: "To whom? " He can understand our purposes for God. He wonders about God's purposes for us. Wiesel often stated that Sinai and Auschwitz are the two central Jewish mysteries of all time.

At Sinai the covenant was made. At Auschwitz was the covenant broken? The Jewish people did its part to keep it, he avers. Did God do his?

A people was taken, he tells us in his poetic language, and turned into flames, and the flames into clouds. Now they come back to him as clouds to haunt him, to make him remember, an echo of the cloud that hovered over the Ark of the Covenant. The covenant was broken, but

Maybe it will be renewed, perhaps later; maybe it was renewed even then, on a different level. So many Jews kept their faith or even strengthened it. But it was broken because of the clouds and because of the fire.(11)

We shall encounter that theme of stubborn, unilateral renewal of the covenant again and again.
Hayim G. Perelmuter:
      Transcendence in Context: A Contemporary Jewish View

The Tree, The Archetypal Journey.[ev'rything is alright!]

Imagine you are standing on a bridge. You go over the bridge to a meadow. Children are playing in the meadow. Their laughter and cheerfulness reach you. They take you by the hand and lead you to a tree. This tree is incredibly tall, powerful and beautiful. You see that the tree has no fruit, and you know it is your task to help the tree of life to bear fruit again.
  http://www.anima-mundi-seminare.org/eng/arche_reise.htm 


 

You ask the tree what you can do for it just now in this moment. The tree shows you a way into its roots, into the deepest roots of its being. You know that you have to get down this way to the deepest roots of the tree. You get up and set out. In the moment that you are getting up you sense that you are not alone. You see an elf coming towards you. This elf is handing over a sword to you. She is putting a belt around your waist where you can put the sword. You notice that this belt is very ancient. It is woven out of many different yarns of different colours. It is very simple and very precious. You know that this belt will protect you because magic has been woven into it. You see the sheath of the sword. You can see that it has been used. This sword is very old and with great respect you put the sword into the sheath. On the handle of the sword is a ruby. And the same kind of ruby is on the ring that you are also given by the elf. The two rubies belong to each other, the one on the sword and the one on the ring, like twins, like things which complement each other. You put the ring on your finger. You bow to the elf.

The elf asks you to hand over the sword to her. You give the sword to her. You kneel down in front of her. The elf puts the sword on your head. You sense the old oath that is hidden behind this to serve the tree of life, to serve this principle. You are willing to renew this oath. And you do that in your own words, in your own manner. With that the oath is renewed. The elf passes the sword back to you. In the moment when your hands touch each other, in the moment when the sword is handed over from her to you it is as if as flame appears on the sword, a snake that coils around the blade. And then you put the sword back into the sheath.

Baby, ev'rything is all right, uptight, out of sight.
Baby, ev'rything is all right, uptight, out of sight.

I'm a poorman's son, from across the railroad tracks,
The only shirt I own is hangin' on my back,
But I'm the envy of ev'ry single guy
Since I'm the apple of my girl's eye.
When we go out stepping on the town for a while
My money's low and my suit's out of style,
But it's all right if my clothes aren't new
Out of sight because my heart is true.

She says baby ev'rything is alright, uptight, out of sight.
Baby, ev'rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight.

She's a pearl of a girl, I guess that's what you might say,
I guess her folks brought her up that way,
The right side of the tracks, she was born and raised
In a great big old house, full of butlers and maids.
She says no one is better than I, I know I'm just an average guy,
No football hero or smooth Don Juan,
Got empty pockets, you see I'm a poorman's son.
She says give her the things that money can buy
But I'll never, never make my baby cry,

And it's all right, what I can't do,
Out of sight because my heart is true,
She says baby ev'rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight.
Baby, ev'rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight.
Baby, ev'rything is alright, uptight, ah ah ah ah,
Baby, ev'rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight.
Baby, ev'rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight.

Marie-Louise Von Franz

The transformation of Mercurius, as prima materia, in the heated, sealed vessel is comparable to cooking the basic instinctive drives in their own affect until their essential fantasy content becomes conscious. “Instead of arguing with the drives which carry us away, we prefer to cook them and . ask then what they want. . . . That can be discovered by active imagination, or through experimenting in reality, but always with the introverted attitude of observing objectively what the drive really wants.” (von Franz, Alchemy, p. 129)

Ms. von Franz then goes on at great lengths to explicate the life giving power of the divine female, drawing a connection between instinct and archetype. From her discussion, it is hard not to see the basic alchemy of the psychological process, the internal darkness of the "black," as somehow a psychosexual one. In that sense, we can recognize the internal component of Alchemy, the key to the lost science of the last epoch, as essentially sexual. Perhaps this accounts for the ambiguity of the metaphor, its insistence on the transubstantiation of the ordinary into the sacred. Even Ms. von Franz lapses on occasion into a kind of guarded incomprehensibility, as if she dared not say it too openly.

With all of this in mind, we can see that "Alchemy" points to the ancient science, as revived by the Egyptians, and to the darkness of the unconsciousness where powerful psycho-sexual forces can be encountered and used in the process of transformation. Egyptian science, with its concern for stellar movements as the background of mythical dramas, points us another step down the road toward solving the mystery.

As we noted above, the "Isis the Prophetess" fragment is in many ways the origin point of alchemy in its modern sense. It is the first text in which mysticism becomes confused with laboratory procedures. In the text, though, it is clear that Isis first imparts a philosophical understanding, and then conducts a physical operation, supposedly along with Horus, in order to demonstrate the principle and illustrate her mastery of the process of transmutation.

read more from V .Bridges,

http://www.alchemylab.com/AJ6-1.htm   

Alchemists were, of course, individualists who worked alone, rather than being members of sodalities or secret orders, yet despite their writings being a result of their own experiences, the animal metaphors rapidly developed into a universal language. In the centuries before the invention of printing, key alchemical manuscripts, often with beautiful illuminated illustrations, circulated quite widely. Works like the Aurora Consurgens (attributed to Thomas Aquinas), the Buch der Heiligen Dreigaltigheit, the works of Ramon Lull, Roger Bacon, Arnold of Villa Nova, exist in many manuscript collections from this period, and with this exchange of ideas a quite coherent set of metaphors emerged in the European Alchemical tradition. It was the coherence and universality of this set of alchemical symbols that lead Carl Jung to the concept of the collective unconscious. The alchemists though pursuing their inner work independently as individuals, nevertheless found in their interior descent a coherent language of symbols.

At the core of this was a vision of an alchemical process occurring through a cycle of colour changes, from an initial blackness to the perfection of the quintessence.
The alchemist envisaged each stage of the process being heralded by a colour change and a meeting with certain animals.

Blackening - Black Crow, Raven, Toad, Massa Confusa.
Whitening - White Swan, White Eagle, skeleton.
Greening - Green Lion.
Rapid cycling through iridescent colours - Peacock's Tail.
White Stone - Unicorn.
Reddening - Pelican feeding young with its own blood, cockerel.
Final transmutation - Phoenix reborn from the fire. 

Turning 'base' metals into gold?

I think not, but assimilating 'ego' into 'self?', maybe, maybe, you have to remember,

it's not the symbol, it's what it re-presents!

The alchemists paralleled these experiences in their souls as a withdrawal into the darkness of their interior space, a darkness pregnant with possibility. We have to a great extent lost the sense that still lived in the medieval and renaissance alchemists, that this darkness contained all potentialities. Like children we fear the dark, and for twentieth century humanity darkness often holds only an existential dread - philosophers of science have in the last decade brought us this terrible image of the 'Black Hole' which swallows up and annihilates everything that comes into its orbit. Perhaps we do not gaze enough at the blackness of the heavens. For if we look deep into the blackness of space on a clear night, we will sense more stars hidden between the known visible stars, especially in the vast star fields of the Milky Way. Cosmic space is pregnant with the possibility of other worlds as yet unseen. It is this image of blackness we must try to recover if we are to become alchemists. An echo of this perhaps remains in the often used phrase "a profound darkness". In alchemy, to meet with the black crow is a good omen. Thus in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, as our hero sets out on his journey of transformation, he meets with a Crow which by a turn of fate decides which among the various paths open to him is the one that will lead him to the Castle of the King. 

http://www.earthsongforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7288   

Modern Cinema abounds with these 'themata', losing 'the dark lady?', 

or the 'magician', kidnapping and entombing the 'dark haired woman',

think about it!

American Friends.

One of America's finest artists;

Jessie Wicox Smith;

http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jwsmith.htm

Duck Source![hah haah!]



'Yentl', was filmed partly in Liverpool! Right on Barbra!




When all the lights go out forever
Somewhere near the end of time
The noise will pass and the dust will settle
And you'll be on my mind

Now you won't find it hard to understand
Though it's so hard to explain
The who and what and how and why and wherefore
You kept me sane
You kept me sane

'Cos you were there for me
Oh, and you set me free
To be what I want to be
With dignity

Heart as big as my hometown
Lay me down by water cool
Heart as big as the city
Heart as big as Liverpool

Well I'll come running from the other side
When I hear you call my name
And if somebody wants to point the finger
I'll take the blame
I'll take the blame (I'll do the same)

'Cos you were there for me
Oh, and you set me free
To be what I want to be
With dignity

Heart as big as my hometown
Lay me down by water cool
Heart as big as the city
Heart as big as Liverpool

And I am not alone
And I am not alone
And I am not alone
And I am not alone

And I am not alone (You are not alone)
And I am not alone (You are not alone)
And I am not alone (You are not alone)
And I am not alone (You are not alone)

You are not alone

Heart as big as my hometown
Lay me down by water cool
Heart as big as the city
Heart as big as Liverpool

Heart as big as my hometown
Lay me down by the water cool
Heart as big as the city
Liverpool

(And you are not alone)
And I am not alone

Dec 24, All's Well, I thank God for my life, my health, my family. Amen.

Happy Christmas, War is Over.

So, this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now


 Happy Christmas from Liverpool!

Don't Worry Baby..........

from;
Buddhism and Marxism in Taiwan:
Lin Qiuwu's Religious Socialism and Its Legacy in Modern Times

By
Charles B. Jones
Assistant Professor, Department of Religion and Religious Education
Catholic University of America
CBJones57@aol.com


A Pure Land on earth
Historically, the most popular form of Buddhism in China and Japan is not Zen, but Pure Land. Briefly, Pure Land Buddhism, as understood by the majority of its devotees, teaches that far, far to the West of our present world of suffering, a Buddha named Amitaabha dwells in a land made pure by the purity of his own conduct and consciousness. There are no temptations there, all its inhabitants obtain what they need just by thinking about it, and the Buddha and his attendant bodhisattvas stand ever ready to provide perfect teachings aimed at each inhabitant's individual level of readiness. Even the songs of the birds in the trees and the babbling of the streams preach the Buddha-dharma continually. It is a place where conditions are ideal for meditation, study, and the eventual (and guaranteed) attainment of Buddhahood.
The good news of Pure Land Buddhism is that Amitaabha created this Pure Land for the express purpose of drawing to it beings who, because of the less-than-perfect circumstances of life in this world, have no chance of escaping the vicissitudes of birth and death through their own study and practice. As represented in the Wuliangshou Fo Jing (T. vol. 12, no. 360), Amitaabha, while still a monk cultivating the religious practices that led to his own eventual attainment of Buddhahood, made a series of forty-eight vows that set forth the conditions under which he would accept enlightenment. Among these, the eighteenth states that he would not accept Buddhahood unless even impure and unenlightened beings, by having faith in him and calling his name as few as ten times, could gain rebirth there (Inagaki and Stewart 1995:34). In the course of time, the monk who made these vows did achieve Buddhahood under the name of Amitaabha, indicating that these vows have been fulfilled by definition.
For millions of Chinese and Japanese Buddhists, this opened an "easy path" to religious cultivation, giving them hope that, even if they lacked the intelligence, motivation, leisure, and resources to practice and attain perfect Buddhahood in this world, they could, by the power of Amitaabha's vow, come to the Pure Land in the next life and be assured of attaining final liberation there. The only requirement for the present was that they entrust themselves to Amitaabha's compassionate vow and recite his name tirelessly.
From a Marxist perspective, of course, such a conception of religious practice represented a "false consciousness." A Marxist analysis would point out that this mode of Buddhism saw the present human situation as utterly unsalvageable, and thus encouraged a passive acceptance of all the ills of life, including the existence of oppressive social structures. By encouraging the masses to give up hope of ever improving their lot in this life and turning their attention to a golden land in the hereafter, Pure Land thought seemed to demonstrate quite aptly that religion was indeed the opiate of the masses.
Rather than simply dismiss Pure Land devotionalism as counter-revolutionary, Lin chose instead to appropriate its vocabulary and redefine it for his own purposes. Quoting Lenin in an article in his magazine Red Path News, he wrote:

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, without a trace of selfish intention, each and every person strives to produce in common. In this kind of society, everyone will have enough, and thievery will disappear all by itself. Buddhism has a name for this kind of world: the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. (quoted in Li 1991:163)

This indicates that Lin wished to redefine the Pure Land as something that had to be built here in this world rather than sought after in the world to come. Furthermore, the wording in this passage and the one below shows that, for Lin, this was not an innovation, but the proper understanding of what Buddhism had always meant by the "Pure Land" and the practices that called it into being. In another place, Lin made clear the means by which the masses can build this Pure Land in the here and now: class struggle. In an article published in The South Seas Buddhist in 1929 called "Class Struggle and Buddhism," he wrote:

When Buddhism calls people to construct a Pure Land in this world, . . . it does not mean to utilize some outside, artificial power, or to bind oneself with ritualistic practices, or to bring the masses to make only surface changes. . . . Rather, it means to concentrate on taking firm and steady steps with a passionate attitude to call people to awake to their original nature in the midst of their daily activities, calling forth their dormant strength and faith! . . . In sum, the Buddhist attitude toward the class struggle is of a piece from start to finish: It means to stand within the no-self that is also the Great Self, to take as one's purpose that one will cherish the propertyless masses and liberate the deprived classes, using methods that exclude military force and violence, and especially taking as one's basic principle the resistance that is non-resistance. (reproduced in Li 1991:171-172)

Why had social classes, and with them the class struggle, first arisen? In brief, classes arose because of greed and grasping, which in turn could only come about on the basis of a false view of the self. He wrote:

How do human beings give rise to thoughts of greed? Because they are unable to understand the true principle of the non-duality of mind, buddha, and sentient beings, thinking instead that the four elements [that is, earth, water, fire, and air] are their body, or that the five aggregates [body, sensations, perceptions, mental constructions, and consciousness] are their self. Because they have this view of "self," they develop hatred and desire, grasp at or reject all kinds of things, and make distinctions [among people] between relatives and strangers. Finally, the time comes when the means of production become increasingly complex, which gradually brings forth the rise of practical scientific methods, clandestine conspiracies, and capitalists who exploit the laboring classes. Because of this, those on opposite sides of the loss and benefit [equation] take the pretext of [the other's] misconduct to form parties and advance their own selfishness, or they come up with some other way to distinguish themselves from the other, discriminate against each other, and gradually, the class struggle arrives. ( Lin 1929:55; reproduced in Yang 1991:56)

Thus, according to Lin, one can draw a straight line from the initial delusion of a separate, isolated self as defined by Buddhism to the class struggle as defined by Marxism.

 
Well it's been building up inside of me
For oh I don't know how long
I don't know why
But I keep thinking
Somethings bound to go wrong

But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright

Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby

I guess I shouldve kept my mouth shut
When I started to brag about my car
But I can't back down now
I pushed the other guys too far

She makes me come alive
And makes me wanna drive
When she says don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright

Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby

She told me baby, when you race today
Just take along my love with you
And if you know how much I loved you
Baby nothing could go wrong with you

Oh what she does to me
When she makes love to me
And she says don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright

The 'Wizard?' of Oz, [Baum], A Different? Perspective?

POLITICS AND THE WIZARD OF OZ

By Richard Jensen, University of Illinois — Chicago:
The following was originally from: www.uncg.edu/psc/courses/jktullos/policy/oz.html (a link which is no longer working)

There are many variant readings of The Wizard of Oz. I see it as an election story, and read it against the amazingly intense elections of 1896 and 1900 when Democrat William Jennings Bryan ran against Republican William McKinley.

At that time there was a profound hope by the pro-Bryan forces (silverites) that they could create a political revolution to overthrow the evils of the reactionary industrial order — but what would the revolution be like? 1896 was a time of severe depression — much like 1932.

Making silver money at the ratio of 16 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold was their formula. In a vastly popular pamphlet Coin’s Financial School the teenage fictional hero “Coin” argued there was lots of silver out West, but the world’s small stock of gold was controlled by wicked bankers in New York and London.

Author Frank Baum was for a while a silverite newspaper editor in South Dakota where he watched the mounting excitement. He wrote Wizard during the rematch election of 1900, and it immediately became popular. After the Wizard book Baum moved to Los Angeles and churned out a whole series of Oz books, none of which are political.

He also wrote a non-Oz novel that was a parable of the progressive era. Did people at the time see the novel as political? Yes: on October 6, 1906 the cover of Harper’s Weekly magazine featured William Randolph Hearst (“Citizen Kane”), the newspaper editor who was running for governor. It depicted him as the scarecrow and the title was “The Wizard of Ooze.”


The tale opens in the present in grey, deadening, drought-stricken Kansas. A sudden cyclone (silverite triumph at the polls) carries Dorothy (every-woman) into a flawed utopia — a land overflowing with milk and honey yet controlled by cruel witches.

The cyclone lands Dorothy’s house atop the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and releasing The Munchkins from serfdom. (The money trust is deposed by Bryan’s election, freeing the common people from bondage.)

However the Wicked Witch of the West remains loose. The Good Witch of the North (the northern electorate) tells Dorothy that the Wizard of Oz may help her return to Kansas (to normality).
To reach the Emerald City she must follow the Yellow Brick Road, which can be safely traversed only with the magical silver slippers (gold and silver must be in proper parity). Dorothy is protected by an indelible kiss from the Good Witch of the North (an electoral mandate.)


On the yellow brick road, surely one of the most dangerous routes in American literature, Dorothy encounters the silverite constituents. First, the ridiculous stuffed Scarecrow (the farmer), who cannot scare anyone and who fears he has no brains. Actually his behaviour shows him to be highly imaginative and responsible (so much for the ridicule of the hayseed in big-city newspapers).

The travellers then encounter a vivid symbol of the oppressed industrial worker, the Tin Woodsman. The Wicked Witch of the East had cast a spell so that every time he swung his axe he chopped off part of his body. He is entirely tin now, a purely mechanical being who fears he has lost the power to love. Alone he’s helpless — he can’t oil his joints — but in teamwork he proves effective and compassionate

. (The industrial workers, dehumanized by industrialization, need to become aware of their latent compassion, and co-operate in a farmer-labour coalition.)

Finally they encounter the Cowardly Lion, who does frighten people but who says he lacks the courage to do his duty. Working together the coalition fights its way to the citadel of power, the Emerald City (the national capital).

The Wizard, of course, is a charlatan who tricks people into believing he wields immense power; even his Emerald City is only an optical illusion. (emerald-green paper money is likewise a delusion.)

To achieve true freedom for herself and her allies Dorothy must destroy the Wicked Witch of the West — who enslaves the girl before being dissolved by a bucket of water. (The western elite, especially land barons and mortgage holders, are the remaining obstacle; rain relieves the drought and permits the farmer to assert his superior power.)

The story ends as the Good Witch of the South tells Dorothy that her silver slippers are so powerful that they can fulfil her every wish, and they carry her directly back home, quite without help from the fumbling Wizard. Alas the magic silver slippers are lost in flight when Dorothy returns to Kansas. Utopia thus is possible, with the proper coalition, with the mandate of the North and South, with the silverite panacea — in the process the forces of evil will be vanquished.

With so much election literature featuring the ratio of 16 oz of silver to 1 oz of gold, the colourful utopia just had to be called Oz.


Now, of course, the story can be seen as a Psychological Journey Into the 'Self',
[The main characters, fit almost exactly, with archetypal, 'Types',]

Sometimes, a little background knowledge[history] can shed a little light  on the story!
The natural fears and worries of the American heartland, found expression in this story. Baum has produced a classic, combining 'Pneuma'[wind, ie, the power motif 'Tornado', or 'Cyclone']
'Anima', [Dorothy, ie undeveloped sexuality], and 'Ego' [threeness=tin man etc], to discover , the 'Emerald Palace', [SELF, ie natural state].

The silver shoes are now RED! why not click the heels, and make a wish? haha!

Buckets of water? = New 'consciousness',
but the Question remains; Just how? did the 'witches', get to control, 'Oz', in the first place?

Gold and Silver, must be in correct proportion! [psychologically= coniunctio symbolism],

But, all that, 'Glistens is not Gold!'.

The Queen of Spades [Pushkin] ,and some Mythology, Is there a Liverpool Connection?

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides4/QueenOfSpades.html

Setting
The action takes place in winter in the early 1830s in St. Petersburg, Russia, a port city on the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg was Russia's capital from 1712 to 1918. Between 1914 and 1924, it was known as Petrograd. Between 1924 and 1991, it was known as Leningrad. In 1991, the Russian government restored its original name. Flashbacks involving Countess Anna Fedotovna takes place in two French locales, Paris and Versailles, in the 1770s.
Characters
Hermann: Russian military officer (an engineer) who is the son of a German immigrant. He refuses to gamble at cards for fear of jeopardizing the inheritance from his father. However, after learning that Countess Anna Fedotovna possesses a card secret that guarantees victory, he abandons all caution and dedicates himself to extracting the secret from the countess. Hermann's character, then, has a prudent German side and a daring Russian side. 
Countess Anna Fedotovna: Eighty-seven-old aristocrat who knows a card secret that never fails. However, the secret works only for a limited time. The countess once used it to recoup huge gambling losses from the Duke of Orleans, then reposed on her winnings. The countess is somewhat dotty, forgetting faces of acquaintances and confusing the past with the present. She is also bossy and egotistical. She represents the old, dying Russia of the aristocrats. Pushkin is said to have used a real-life person, Princess Natalia Petrovna Golitsyna (1741-1837?), as the model for the countess. Princess Natalia, who came from a distinguished family, lived at 10 Malaya Morskaya in central St. Petersburg. Her husband was Vladimir Borisovich Golitsyn (1731-1798). 
Lizaveta Ivanovna: Very pretty young lady who is the ward of the countess. In her dealings with Hermann, she vacillates between restraining her emotions and giving in to them. 
Prince Paul Tomsky: Grandson of the countess. He tells his friends the remarkable story of how his grandmother used a secret card strategy to recoup her gambling losses. In presenting his story, Tomsky repeats what his uncle, Count Ivan Ilyitch, had earlier told him. 
Count Ivan Ilyitch: Uncle of Tomsky and son of the countess. 
Narumov: Cavalry officer who hosts a card game. He asks Tomsky to introduce him to the countess.
Surin: Losing player at Narumov's card game.
Count St. Germain: An old friend of the countess who reveals to her the card secret. Pushkin based this character on a real-life person with the same name. St. Germain (1710-1784) was a mysterious adventurer said to be gifted with extrasensory perception and other amazing powers, including the ability to pass through walls. He spoke many languages, exhibited a mastery of history and chemistry, composed music, and claimed to know how to turn base metals into gold. One story about him maintains that he was the founder of freemasonry. Scholars have not documented his national and ethnic origins, but reports during his time maintained that he was a Jew born in Portugal. He lived in various countries, including Germany and Russia, and is said to have served as a spy in England and France. Five years after his death in 1784, he was reportedly seen in Paris. 
Duke of Orleans: Card player at Versailles in the 1770s. In a faro game, he won a huge sum from the countess. After she used the card secret against him, she won back her money. 
Chaplitzky: Acquaintance of Countess Anna Fedotovna. After he goes into debt, the countess reveals to him the card secret. He uses it to win huge sums at the card table. The narrator points out, however, that he died in poverty.
Chekalinsky: Moscow gambler against whom Hermann gambles.
Messenger from the Milliner: Woman who delivers a letter from Hermann to Lizaveta.
Bishop: Clergyman who eulogizes the countess at her funeral.
Man in Uniform of Kammerherr (Chamberlain): At the countess's funeral, this man whispers to an Englishman that Hermann is the illegitimate son of the countess.
Englishman: Man to whom the Kammerherr whispers his secret.
Princess Pauline: Young woman whom Prince Paul Tomsky marries.
Steward: Servant of the countess.
Steward's Son: Man whom Lizaveta Ivanovna marries.
Woman Jester: Mourner at the countess's funeral.
Footmen, Porter,Servants, Maids, Street Watchman

Narration and Structure
Pushkin tells The Queen of Spades in third-person omniscient point of view with cold objectivity that admits no room for melodrama. The narration freely flashes backward and forward as the story unfolds during a winter month. There are six chapters, each preceded by an epigraph relating to the theme of the chapter, and a conclusion. 


Chapter 1 (Topic: Gambling)

The Queen of Spades denotes secret ill-will.
(From the latest Fortune-Teller.) In the cold, rain, and sleet
They together would meet
To play.
Lord, forgive them their sin:
Gambling, late to win
They'd stay.
They won and they lost,
And put down the cost
In chalk.
So on cold autumn days
They wasted no time
In talk.
(K. Ryleev and A. Bestuzhev)

Chapter 2 (Topic: A Conversation)

"II parait que monsieur est décidément pour les suivantes."
"Que voulez-vous, madame? Elles sont plus fraîches."
–A Society Conversation. It appears, Monsieur, that you clearly prefer the maids.
Would you wish me otherwise, Madame? They are much fresher.
–A Society Conversation.

Chapter 3 (Topic: Writing Letters)

Vous m'ecrivez, mon ange, des lettres de quatre pages
plus vite que je ne puis les lire.
A Correspondence. My angel, you write me four-page letters 
so fast that I am not able to read them.
–A Correspondence

Chapter 4 (Topic: Morality and Religion)

Homme sans moeurs et sans religion.
–A Correspondence A man without morals or religion.
–A Correspondence
Comment: See Unscrupulous Behavior

Chapter 5 (Topic: A Vision)

That night the dead Baroness von W. appeared to me. She was all in white and said: ' How do you do, Mr. Councillor?'
–Swedenborg. Comment: This fabricated quotation appears at the beginning of the chapter in which Hermann has a vision of the old countess. For information about Swedenborg, click here. 

Chapter 6 (Topic: Angry Reaction)

“Attendez!”
“How dare you say ‘attendez’ to me?”
“Your excellency, I said ‘attendez, sir’ " Attendez: wait.
Comment: The reply of the important person appears to be one that Napoleon might have had made when addressed improperly by an underling. Hermann, of course, has become like Napoleon in his obsession to conquer the world of cards.

Generally accepted , as an almost perfect piece of writing[although there is no perfection in art!],
Pushkin's piece has some interesting figures..St Germain, I will explore a little later,but the QUEEN OF SPADES?

She can be seen to be ....
a, The Anima
b, A, 'Mother Goddess'[archetype]
c, A female warrior[Amazon]
d, An extension of the Psyche, ie 'Memory'
e, A symbol of Poetic, 'Beauty'

She is also.....MINERVA

Who Was Minerva?

...daughter of Jupiter, patroness of health, learning, and wisdom - Bulfinch's Mythology (Glossary)

The Roman goddess Minerva was based on the Greek Athena, who, in turn, was based on earlier Egyptian goddesses such as Isis and Neith. These goddesses were, in turn, based on earlier Western antetypes. They were described as "virginal" and were commonly depicted with fair complexions. They were the mothers of the various sun gods. Most of the Eastern goddesses who turn up in Greek and Roman pantheons were based on the Aryan goddesses Danu, Ana and Brigit. One perfect example is Hera, the supreme goddess of the Greeks. She was based on Eri, goddess of Ireland. (See Chapter Ten, The Disciples of Horus, for more on this subject.)

Minerva was the Roman name of Greek goddess Athena. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, crafts, and the inventor of music - Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Entry on Minerva)

In Sais the statue of Athena whom they believe to be Isis, bore the mysterious inscription: "I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered" - Plutarch

Minerva's Birth

Minerva (Pallas, Athene), the goddess of wisdom, was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head completely armed. Her favorite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her the olive - Bulfinch's Mythology (pages 17-18)

Minerva and the Owl
Minerva was the first deity to build an enclosed house. She is therefore connected with building and architecture. One of her symbols was the butterfly. However, her main symbol was the owl.

Her name has the "mn-" stem, linked with memory. See Greek "Mnemosyne"...memory, remembrance, recollection. The Romans could have confused her foreign name with their word mens meaning "mind" since one of her aspects as goddess pertained not only to war but also to the intellectual. Minerva is the Roman name for Athena the goddess of Wisdom and Virginity. She is also depicted as an owl - Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Entry on Minerva)

The Queen of Spades
In regular playing decks Minerva is depicted as the Queen of Spades. The suit of Spades represents the warrior (knightly) class. The Hearts or Cups represent the clergy, the Clubs or Wands represent the peasant or worker class, and the diamonds or disks represent the merchant class. In the Tarot the Queen of Spades is equivalent with the Queen of Swords. In the Major Arcana, the card entitled Justice is assigned to the astrological sign of Libra. The esoteric symbolism of this both Libran cards (Queen of Swords and Justice) features prominently during the coronation of the Queen of England, Elizabeth Windsor.

http://www.irishoriginsofcivilization.com/appendices/minerva.html 

 

Liverpool connection?

Town Hall

Home to the Lord Mayor, Liverpool's Town Hall is one of the oldest historic buildings in Liverpool the Town Hall's beautiful interior provides a unique setting for a wide range of events and functions, such as weddings, parties and conferences.
For more information and a virtual tour of the Town Hall visit Liverpool Civic Halls website.
History
The present Town Hall is the third to have been built on or near the site. The first was built in 1515, while the second was built in 1673.
The Town Hall as we know it today was built in 1754 based on a design by John Wood of Bath. It was gutted by fire in 1794, but was built and restored over the following years.
Further restoration work took place between 1993 and 1995.
Architectural design
The Town Hall features a 10 feet high statue of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, which is mounted on the dome on the roof. The statue was designed by Felix Rossi, who was sculptor to George IV.

 

Kant V Marx [round 2]

Marx[k];

Religion is the opium of the masses!


Kant;

No it isn't. Why have you got such a preposterous beard?

Marx[k]

My beard is of no importance, the workers of the world must unite! to break their chains!

Kant;

But it's such a stupid beard, and just who are the 'masses?', oh yeah! didn't you sell them their chains in the first place?

[Marx 'tags' Julius]

Marx [J]

I've a good mind to join a club, and beat you over the head with it!

Kant;

There you go again, with the 'might is right', that's your answer to everything......

Marx [J]

Can you lend me twelve dollars til payday?

Kant;

Why do you need 'money?', you, yourself, have said; 'dialectic appraisal with regard to monetary positions will show the fallacy.'

Marx [J]

Blood's not thicker than money!

Kant;

Maybe so, but your beard is still stupid

[Groucho 'tags' Chico and Karl]

Marx[C + K]

listen here you...der's a nottin wrong wit Karls beard.....

Kant

Oh yeah? [he produces a custard pie from behind his back.....]

We leave the debate, Round 2 is ended.

Kant V Marx [round 1]

Immanuel Kant, from;

'A CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON'.


OUR knowledge is derived from two fundamental sources of the consciousness.

The first is the faculty of receptivity of impressions; the second, the faculty of cognition of an object by means of these impressions or representations, this second power being sometimes styled spontaneity of concepts.

By the first, an object is given to us; by the second it is thought of in the mind.

Thus intuition and concepts constitute the elements of our entire knowledge, for neither intuition without concepts, nor concepts without intuition can yield any knowledge whatever.

Hence arise two branches of science, 'aesthetic' and logic, the former being the science of the rules of sensibility; the latter, the science of the rules of understanding.

Logic can be treated in two directions; either as logic of the general use of the understanding, or of some particular use of it.

The former includes the rules of thought, without which there can be no use of the understanding; but it has no regard to the objects to which the understanding is applied.

This is elementary logic.

But logic of the understanding in some particular use includes rules of correct thought in relation to special classes of objects; and this latter logic is generally taught in schools as preliminary to the study of sciences.

Thus, general logic takes no account of any of the contents of knowledge, but is limited simply to the consideration of the forms of thought.

But we are constrained by anticipation to form an idea of a logical science which has to deal not only with pure thought, but also has to determine the origin, validity and extent of the knowledge to which intuitions relate, and this might be styled transcendental logic.

In 'transcendental aesthetic' we isolated the faculty of sensibility. So in transcendental logic we isolate the understanding, concentrating our consideration on that element of thought which has its source simply in the understanding.

But transcendental logic must be divided into transcendental analytic and transcendental dialectic. The former is a logic of truth, and is intended to furnish a canon of criticism.

When logic is used to judge not analytically, but to judge synthetically of objects in general, it is called transcendental dialectic, which serves as a protection against sophistical fallacy.
 

Analytic of Pure Concepts

The understanding may be defined as the faculty of judging. The function of thought in a judgement can come under four heads, each with three subdivisions.

1 Quantity of judgements:
Universal, particular, singular.

2 Quality Affirmative, negative, infinite.

3 Relation Categorical, hypothetical, disjunctive.

4 Modality
Problematical, assertory, apodictic (above contradiction).

If we examine each of these forms of judgement we discover that in every one is involved some peculiar idea which is its essential characteristic.

Thus, a singular judgement, in which the subject of discourse is a single object, involves obviously the special idea of oneness, or unity.

A particular judgement, relating to several objects, implies the idea of plurality, and discriminates between the several objects.

Now the whole list of these ideas will constitute the complete classification of the fundamental conceptions of the understanding, regarded as the faculty which judges, and these may be called categories.

[http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed/kant.htm]



MARX,[THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE!]



JULIUS[GROUCHO] MARX;

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.

KANT;

In Kant's view Pure Reason teaches that human knowledge is based on experience; but Practical Reason recognizes that there are a priori in the mind certain notions independent of experience and postulating the ideas of human liberty, God and immortality.

So, while distinguishing the provinces of materialism and idealism, he attempted to find a bond of union between them.

Published in 1788, the Critique of Practical Reason forms the central focus of Kant's thinking. It stands midway between the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Judgement. Here Kant figures as a vindicator of the truth of Christianity, approaching his proof by first establishing positive affirmations of the immortality of the soul and the existence of God.

It includes an argument concerning the summum bonum of life, the special aim being to demonstrate that man should not simply seek to be happy, but should, by absolute obedience to the moral law, seek to become worthy of that happiness which God can bestow.

MARX[J]

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.

KANT;

Are space and time actual entities? Or are they only relations of things?

Space is simply the form of all the phenomena of external senses; that is, it is the subjective condition of the sensibility under which alone external intuition is possible.

Thus the form of all phenomena may exist a priori in the soul as a pure intuition previous to all experience. So we can only speak of space and of extended objects from the standpoint of human reason.

But when we have abstracted all the forms perceived by our sensibility, there remains a pure intuition which we call space. Therefore our discussion teaches us the objective validity of space with regard to all that can appear 

before us externally as an object; but equally the subjective ideality of space with regard to things if they are considered in themselves by our reason, that is, without taking into account the nature of our sensibility.

Time is not empirically conceived of; that is, it is not experimentally apprehended. Time is a necessary representation on which all intuitions are dependent, and the representation of time to the mind is thus given a priori. In it alone can phenomena be apprehended. These may vanish, but time cannot be put aside.

Time is not something existing by itself independently, but is the formal condition a priori of all phenomena. If we deduct our own peculiar sensibility, then the idea of time disappears indeed, because it is not inherent in any object, but only in the subject which perceives that object. Space and time are essential a priori ideas, and they are the necessary conditions of all particular perceptions. From the latter and their objects we can, in imagination without exception, abstract; from the former we cannot.

Space and time are therefore to be regarded as the necessary a priori pre- conditions of the possibility and reality of all phenomena. It is clear that 'transcendental aesthetic' can obtain only these two elements, space and time, because all other concepts belong to the senses and pre-suppose experience, and so imply something empirical. For example, the concept of motion pre-supposes something moving, but in space regarded alone there is nothing that moves; therefore, whatever moves must be recognized by experience, and is a purely empirical datum.

MARX[J]

I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.



So! another day......another debate!

The judges today are,

Mr S.Martin [USA]

Ms O Winfrey [USA]

The Death-God Wotan[Sweden]

Mr H.Hill [GB] 

Mr M T Tsung [China]

Mr C Dundee [Australia]

Want to be a Judge? Adopt a 'Personna', from above list, and post comments.....[you can remain anonymous if you prefer]

Is Kant correct? or will Marx win the day?
Karl Marx is now 'tagging' Julian,..they have exchanged places in the debate, in round 2, we will explore the dialectic monetarism of Karl,with regard to  causality, and actuality, also we will see if there is any reason for Karl's preposterous beard....