Decartes was right!

Are We Awake or Not?

Decartes first asked the question.  And when I first read it I thought, how ridiculous, of course we are, "I think, therefore, I am" -- okay, he said that first, still, it was never hard for me to distinguish between my waking and sleeping existence, until now. 

When I was a young man, in the seventies -- late seventies, pre 1984 Ronald Reagan wealthy-tax cuts madness -- the world looked like it was on the right track.  Equal rights were cool, immigrants were considered an asset by Republicans for "cheap labor"  --  yes, immigration, another Republican lie they blame on everyone else but their greedy leaders -- and Nazis... were evil. 

Today, with Trumps 3:16 Mob followers, the world looks scary.  Equal Rights is considered an attack on Gray Headed White Men, cheap labor is now replaced with kiss-my-ass/shut the fuck up/Peasant Labor, and, Nazis are cool in their Frog Meme suits. 

Donald Trump is president.  And so, obviously, I am not awake because the world is illogical and is transcending time and space, and is definitely breaking the normal laws of physics. 

So, in closing boys-and-girls, Descartes was right:  we are asleep while the Nazis have figured out a way to move around us.  

I think, therefore I am.

I think, therefore I scam.

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On this day in 1492,  greed came to America.  The first white man arrived and claimed these here United States for himself.  Think of it this way if you live in Texas and our pissed about all the liberal Californians moving in.  You started it!

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Be where you are, otherwise you will miss your life. 

                                                   Buddha said that. 

Don't eat yellow snow. 

                                                   I said that (Dr TV Boogie).

Trump: Mother Earth Is coming for you!

Another hurricane headed for Washing DC because the idiots there refuse to see that climate change is real, and according to recent reports, if we don't do anything within ten years to address it, like stop being so greedy and voting for idiots who deny global warming, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! 

First, my wishes and prayers go out to those in the path.  Good luck.   

If you look at the mad, however, just like the last storm, it ends up going through Washing DC on the way out, the home of Donald Trump: the greatest Global Warming Denier of them all.  

I'm just saying. 

The Dire Warnings of the United Nations’ Latest Climate-Change Report

 Last night, in Incheon, South Korea, after a week of deliberation, the I.P.C.C. released the new findings. The summary tells a nightmarish tale—one much worse than any of those in the I.P.C.C.’s previous reports—surveying the climate-change impacts we’re already experiencing with one degree of warming, and the severity of the impacts to come once we surpass 1.5 degrees of warming. Ten million more people would be exposed to permanent inundation, and several hundred million more to “climate-related risks and susceptible to poverty.” Malaria and dengue fever will be more widespread, and crops like maize, rice, and wheat will have smaller and smaller yields—particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. Security and economic growth will be that much more imperilled. “Robust scientific literature now shows that there are significant differences between 1.5 and 2 degrees,” Adelle Thomas, a geographer from the Bahamas and also one of the report’s lead authors, told me. “The scientific consensus is really strong. It’s not just a political slogan: ‘1.5 to stay alive.’ It’s true.”

 

Trump Quotes on Climate Change:

2012

1. "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

2. "It's freezing and snowing in New York -- we need global warming!"

2013

3. "It's freezing outside, where the hell is 'global warming'??"

4. "I wonder if the Rutgers coach who had the audacity to yell at the player is a proponent of global warming?"

5. "We should be focused on magnificently clean and healthy air and not distracted by the expensive hoax that is global warming!"

6. "Wow, it's snowing in Isreal and on the pyramids in Egypt. Are we still wasting billions on the global warming con? MAKE U.S. COMPETITIVE!"

7. "Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee - I'm in Los Angeles and it's freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!"

2014

8. "Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air - not the same old climate change (global warming) bullshit! I am tired of hearing this nonsense."

9. Obama said in his SOTU that 'global warming is a fact.' Sure, about as factual as 'if you like your healthcare, you can keep it.'"

10. "When will our country stop wasting money on global warming and so many other truly "STUPID" things and begin to focus on lower taxes?"

11. "It's late in July and it is really cold outside in New York. Where the hell is GLOBAL WARMING??? We need some fast! It's now CLIMATE CHANGE"

12. "Just out - the POLAR ICE CAPS are at an all time high, the POLAR BEAR population has never been stronger. Where the hell is global warming?"

2015

13. "It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!"

14. "Wow, 25 degrees below zero, record cold and snow spell. Global warming anyone?"

15. "Record low temperatures and massive amounts of snow. Where the hell is GLOBAL WARMING?"

16. "I believe in clean air. Immaculate air. But I don't believe in climate change."

17. "I'm not a believer in man-made global warming. It could be warming, and it's going to start to cool at some point. And you know, in the early, in the 1920s, people talked about global cooling...They thought the Earth was cooling. Now, it's global warming...But the problem we have, and if you look at our energy costs, and all of the things that we're doing to solve a problem that I don't think in any major fashion exists."

2016

18. "Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I'd be—received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn't care less. They have very—you know, their standards are nothing. But they—in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So it's very hard on our business."

19. "I'm not supposed to be using hair spray. But think of it. So Obama's always talking about the global warming, that global warming is our biggest and most dangerous problem, OK?"

nonentityness

Transformation means: kick off the mask of our personality so the essence of who we really are can come out.  Easier said than done.  Or is it?  In her book "The Unknowable Guddjieff,"  Margaret Anderson says, "I am carrying with me, wherever I go, a huge sack.  In it is my personality--that manifesting 'animal' which expressed itself so incessantly for so many years, and that now lie dormant in the sack, stirring only faintly from time to time in its likes, dislikes, pleasures, rebellions, happiness, angers and obsessions."

There is an old Russian saying:  'A hunchback can be straightened only in the tomb.'  Just so, a man must die to become changed. 

I wish you not to be Nonentity.  So first I make you feel like nonentity.  Only from there can you begin. 

It is nothing to know your nonentityness, you must experience it personally. 

To know mentally is nothing, worth nothing.  You must have a third kind of knowledge. 

The great science of transformation--the birth of the soul, that conscious 'second birth' which parallels automatic (physical) birth and for which Gurdjieff had such a marvelous phrase: 'the arising of the presence of man'...this transformation demands years of study and practice for its incorporation.  'Past joys,' he said, 'are as useless to man in the present as the snows of last year which leave no trace by which one can remember what they were.  Only the imprints of conscious labor and intentional suffering are Real, and can be used for obtaining good.'

When you have finally grasped the meaning of transformation and realized how false your picture of yourself has been, when you have discovered the kind of person you really are, and heard the little song you've been singing all your life...this is the moment when you can say that you've begun at the beginning.  

Benedict Trump

Donald Trump is a chump.
He has a big, fat, rump.
Every time he turns around,
His jaws go chump, chump, chump
on democracy.

Am I being silly?

Maybe, but consider this, Donald Trump is the reincarnated spirit of Benedict Arnold and I can prove it.

First, as with most reincarnated spirits, dates play a role.  Benedict Arnold died on a June 14th, and Donald Trump was born on a June 14th.

Now, if sharing a day of the year was all there was, I wouldn't be wasting your time here, but there is more, way more.  Actually, more, mores than the Moors who invaded Spain....


Allow me to pontificate:

Benedict Arnold supported the British enemy during our struggle for independence, read any history book and you'll see he did this for three major reasons:

1.  He was an ego-maniac who felt no one was better, stronger, or smarter than him, and so when he was passed up for a leadership positions by the revolutionary leaders, he considered them idiots for not seeing he was the greatest thing ever. 

2.  He was very greedy.   Benedict Arnold had been reprimanded several times for using his military positions for personal gains.  For instance, he once let a whole town starve while he ate like a king every night by closing the stores to the public.  He was actually court marshaled for that shady dealing, but then, giving back a military command by George Washington who, like today's Republican party, couldn't see the threat this ego-maniac posed to the independence of the United States.

3.  Arnold owed the enemy banks of London a shit-load of money.

Okay, let's look at Donald Trump.

Like Arnold, Trump is a narcissistic ego-maniac.  Do I really have to even say this?  No one, even those who will support him until the Purge, doubt this.  The guy bullied his way into the front of a group of world leaders so he would be in the front of the photo.  The guy said last week in a television interview:  THE WORLD NEEDS HIS BRAIN, that without it, the world will fail.

Then, there is the greed thing.  Instead of listing the numerous samples of this one, I'll just quote the Donald from his own words January 9th, 2016, when he said:  “I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy – I’ve always been greedy. I love money?

Yes Donald, we know that.  That's probably why you die your hair the color of gold bullion.

And of course, there is the indebtedness to the enemy thing.  This one is the hard one to figure out because it goes so deep.  Here are the cliff notes:  Trump was bankrupt in the 90's.  All of his casinos had failed.   Fortunately, the Soviet Union had just collapsed and all the state-owned assets -- everything was owed by the state before the collapse of communism) were now being bought up by... wait for it.... the KGB.  Here's how it worked:  As the Communism plan was failing, the KGB officers were giving huge bonuses so they could buy up all the assets.  And they did.  They also needed a safe place to put the money:  and so, steps in the one American with no allegiance to the country, Donald Trump.   The details are foggy but trust me, but they all point back to Trump and will eventually come out and then what happens?

Well, did you know that Benedict Arnold went back to England to avoid being hanged and lived out his disgraceful years there.  Of course, he was considered shit there too, because, no one likes a trader.

Other reincarnated spirit things to consider:

In his memoir, Benedict Arnold wrote:  I like blondes.

Of course, Donald Trump like blonds too:  especially porn star blonds named Stormy Daniels.

Then, long before the access Hollywood Access tapes where Donald Trump brags about grabbing women by the pussy because he can, Benedict Arnold wrote in his memoir: the main chance of success in assaulting a walled fortress is to take her by surprise; thus an assault is ever preferable to a siege; but again as in the case of a lady, it is more difficult to talk surprise than to succeed in surprising her.

So yes, Benedict Arnold was a pussy grabber too.

Both Arnold and Trump were really ass wholes about their soldiers and sailors of their country.

Arnold called the Navy a "Motley Crew" for passing him up for a promotion, and after he was court marshaled said, "My leg is worth more than the whole army."

Then Donald Trump said, and I have to pause and tell you as a proud veteran of the Untied States of America, this one disturbs me the most and makes anything Jane Fonda did or say in the 60's look meek, "I don't support soldiers who were captured," Trump said about a Repbublican Senator who had been help prisoner in Vietnam, " “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Then, there are similarities of their wives.

Both around 20 years younger. Both, questionable allegiance to their countries:  Anold's wife: Peggy Shippen, was from a proponent "Loyalist" family in Philadelphia, and with her connections, helped old Benedict with his British connections; compared to Melania Trump, who was raised in a communist-socialist country and speaks fluent Russian.

It's not coinky-dinky, folks, it's coinky-stinky.

Finally, back in 1801, we didn't have a political party supporting the English enemy like we do today, and with the Republican party's acceptance of Russia's meddling in a US election because, their side won, well, they are now accomplices.  I had a top-secret clearance in the US Navy, and one of the many training films showed how Russian's were trained in obtaining little things from you, such as a briefcase you accidentally left in a hotel room, and then even thought there were no secrets in it, they would use it against you to get more.  Obviously, the whole Republican Party now supporting Donald Trump have been compromised, and are working for the Russians now to protect their own ass.  Fox News is there propaganda machine.

In 1958, the Russian Country (then called Soviet Union, not that that matters) leader, Khrushchev said he would "bury" the United States without firing a weapon."  Now we know how.

The current Russia leader, Vladimir Putin, who Donald Trump thinks is a really great guy, is an ex KGB officer, and when he was running for president of Russia, said the United States was a problem and if elected, he would destroy us.  It's taken almost 30 years since he said that, but with the election of his boy, Donald Trump as president, he finally has the power to do it.  And with the Republican Party protecting him, along with the Fox News propaganda machine feeding the lies, the enemy has infiltrated this country.  As I said, when the Soviet Union failed in 1990, the KGB never stopped being paid.  They actually got bonuses to get them through the hard part.  Most of them used that money to buy up everything and are now billionaires.  These are the guys Donald Trump is beholden to.  Putin changed the election process so he can rule the country just as the old appointed Soviet Leaders from Lennon to Khrushchev had.  The goal of the Soviet Union then, and the goal of the Russian country now is and always will be world domination.

And with the help of the Republican party who Donald Trump once called "the dumbest group of voters ever," Putin and the other dictators of the world are so close to having the world dominance they desire, that they can taste it.   All they have to do is fix a few more US elections with more of their sympathizers, and heck, their harvest is now the whole Republican Party.

I had lunch with a Republican Friend the other day, who said:  Putin isn't the bad guy, did you know they have a flat-tax?

"Are you shitting me," I said, "He's a dictator." 

"Fake News," he said, laughing. 

Unfortunately, it's not fake, nor is it funny.

Either Trump goes, or Democracy goes.

You choose, or should I say:  твой выбор (pronounced Ter-voy vee-bop)

Join me next week when we discuss Stormy Daniels new book and how she describes Donald Trump's private part as looking like a Nuclear Bomb Mushroom Cloud.

Yikes.

Kavanaugh compared to Decartes (Sperm Down the Drain)

In yesterday’s post I talked about the sickness of Kavanaugh and his abuse of the privileged class.  Well, looks like he has been appointed to the Supreme Court, and I couldn't be happier.  Looks like we finally have a Savior for the Fetus.

Now, some of you are thinking: what a dick, to make fun of abortions.  What you don't get is some of us think your jacking off in a shower is the same thing.  So, deal with it.

What happens when sperm goes down a shower drain?

This:

and this:

and this:

So, thank god for this:

I have it all!!!!!  I am God!!! Bow down to me peasants!

So we won't need this at our religious schools:

~Dr TV Boogie

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 What ever happen to the good old days when the privileged class used their fortune to contemplate life’s problems and make the world a better place.  Take for instance, Rene Descartes.  The guy did something with his privileged upbringing.  He was the son of a Nobleman and really didn’t have to do anything but drink excessively and give give Fox News interviews like Brett Kavanaugh, but instead, he used his brain!

What!  Tell me it isn't so!

Yes, Descartes used his privilege wisely.  Thus, he is known as our first real modern philosopher.

“I shall bring to light the true riches of our souls, opening up to each of us the means whereby we can find within ourselves all the knowledge we may need for the conduct of life and the means of using it in order to acquire all the knowledge that the human mind is capable of possessing...”

Unfortunately, however, the church still had a hold on everything and so Decartes had to pretend to be a Christian to save his job.  No shit, in his personal writings he stated that he knew the Earth rotated around the Sun, but because of what happened to Galilao -- the church locked him up for the rest of his life for stating the obvious, which the church then, not only believed masterbating in a shower was a sin, but also questioning the fact that everything evolved around the earth -- as recently reported on Fox news.

Grow up people, the church is still controlling you with lies.  They are keeping you from the truth of one world, one love.

~Damien Sinclair

The Stories of Cain

                        
 The story of Cain who bore the mark on his forehead, has always bothered me.

Someone may certainly kill his own brother in a quarrel, and he may panic afterwards and eat humble pie.  But that he should be marked with a special “sign” for his cowardice that acts as a kind of protection and inspires fear in everybody else is strange indeed.

What happened and lay behind the whole origin of the story was the “sign.”  Here was a man who had something in his face that frightened other people.  They did not dare lay hands on him; he impressed them, he and his children.  It is virtually certain that he bore no actual mark on his brow like a  birth mark; the mark was a little more intelligence and self-possession in his eyes than people were accustomed to.  This man had power and they all went in awe of him;  he had a “sign.”  You can explain that how you will.  People always want whatever is comfortable and puts them in the right.  They were afraid of Cain’s children; they bore a sign.  So the sign was not interpreted for what it really was but the contrary.  They said that people with this sign were odd, as indeed they were.  Men of courage and character always seem very sinister to the rest.  It was a sinister thing that a breed of strange, fearless people should be going about, and so they attached a nickname and a myth to this family as a way of taking revenge and ridding themselves of guilt for all the fear they had experienced. 

These ancient stories are always true in a sense, but they are not always properly recorded or given a correct interpretation.  In short, I consider Cain to be a fine person and they pinned this story on to him merely because they were afraid of him.  The story had its basis in hearsay, the kind of thing people bandy about, and it was true in so far as Cain and his children really bore some kind of mark and were different from other people.”

Did Cain kill his brother?  Yes, that is certainly true.  The strong man slew the weak.  But we may well doubt whether it was his brother.  It isn’t important.  Ultimately all men are brothers.  Thus a strong man slew a work man.  Perhaps it was the deed of a hero, perhaps not  At all events the other weaklings were now filled with fear, complained bitterly and when they were asked, “Why do yo not slay him too?” they did not reply, “Because we are cowards,”  but, “We cannot. He has a sign.  god hath branded him.”  The fraud must have originated somehow like that…But, I’m keeping you from your life.  Goodbye then!

And the Gods spoke and Brett Kavanaugh is elected to the Supreme Court, hero of the Fetus!

~Demian Sinclair

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Others say (lifted from The Ancient Hebrew Research Center):

We have all heard the story of Cain and Abel. Two brothers bring their sacrifices to God; Abel's sacrifice is accepted, but Cain's sacrifice is not. Out of jealousy, Cain take's his brother out into the field and kills him. Because of Cain's sin, he is branded with a mark and sent away. However, if we carefully study the text, we find that there is much, much more, to this story.
Their Names

Let's begin with their names. The names Cain and Abel come from the Greek Septuagint, a 2,000 year old Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, where their names are written as "Kain" and "Abel." These names are the Greek transliterations of the Hebrew. In Hebrew, Cain is קין (qayin) and Abel is הבל (havel).

The word קין (qayin, from the root QN) means to acquire or possess something which is why Eve (chavah in Hebrew) said "I have gotten/acquired (qanah, also from the root QN) a man" (Gen 4:1). The word הבל (havel) means to be empty, often translated as vain or vanity in the sense of being empty of substance.

The Hebrew word for "name" is shem and literally means breath or character. In Hebrew thought, ones name is reflective of one's character and the Hebraic meanings of the names of "Cain and Abel" are windows into their characters. Cain is a possessor, one who has substance while Abel is empty of substance. 

This is not gay, right?

 This may seem odd to us, because we have always assumed that Abel was the good guy and Cain the bad, but this is an oversimplification of the facts, as according to their names, a reflection of their character, Cain is what we would call "a man of character," but Abel is "vain."
Their Births

It is a well-known fact that Jacob and Esau were twins, but what is not commonly known is that Cain and Abel were also twins. In the normal Hebraic accounting of multiple births the conception then birth of each child is mentioned such as we can see in Genesis 29:32-33 where it states that Leah conceived and bore a son, and then she conceived again and bore a son. Note that there are two conceptions and two births. But notice how it is worded in Genesis 4:1-2.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; And again, she bore his brother Abel. (RSV)

Notice that there is only one conception, but two births. The Hebrew word for "again" is asaph, meaning to add something, in this case the birthing of Abel was added to the birthing of Cain. Cain and Abel were twins.
Their professions

According to the Biblical text, Abel was a shepherd. The KJV uses the word "keeper," but the Hebrew word ro'eh means shepherd. Cain is a "tiller of the ground." The Hebrew word translated as "tiller" is o'ved, which literally means a "servant." The word o'ved, is the participle form of the verb avad and the verb avad is found in Genesis 3:23 where it states that when Adam was expelled from the garden he was sent to "till" (avad) the ground. Therefore, Cain, who is the older of the twins, takes on the profession of his father, a very common occurrence in the Hebrew culture. I should note that while Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel are not Hebrews by definition, they are the forefathers of the Hebrew people. 

Their sacrifices

When the two boys brought their sacrifices to God, Cain, the farmer, brought fruit from the ground he worked and Abel, the shepherd, brought sheep from his flock. We are then told that God had respect for Abel's sacrifice, but not for Cain's, but we are not told why Cain's sacrifice was not respected.

Something of interest that can be gleaned from this story is that we often assume the first commands by God were given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, but this is evidently not the case, God gave his commands, or at least some of them, to Adam and Eve and their children and it is apparent from the narrative that Abel obeyed those commands, but Cain did not.

Because God did not respect Cain's sacrifice Cain was angry and sad. Then God gives him some instructions. The first of these is; " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" God is telling him that he can overcome this; all he has to do in the future is bring the correct sacrifice, and all will be well. Then God says, " and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." In other words, if you continue to bring me the wrong sacrifices, you will sin. Lastly God says, " And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." It is assumed by most that the "his" and "him" in this verse is "sin," however, this is impossible.

It is important to understand that in Hebrew all nouns are either masculine or feminine. For instance, the earth is feminine, but the sky (heaven) is masculine and the word for fish is feminine, but the word for bird is masculine. The Hebrew word for sin is hhatah, which is a feminine noun. If the "his" and "him," which by the way are the correct gender for the pronouns in the Hebrew text, were referring to "sin," then the correct pronouns would have been "hers" and "her." We can then conclude that the "his" and "him" are referring to something or someone other than sin. 

You make me hate myself, man!

Their Relationship

Let's take a closer look at that the last part of what God told Cain. Here is a literal rendering of this passage from the Hebrew; "and toward you is his desire but you will rule over him." Now, let's go back to the previous chapter (Genesis 3:16) where God is speaking to Eve about her relationship with Adam; "and toward your husband is your desire, but he will rule over you." Did you notice that these two passages, aside from the gender of the pronouns and to whom the passages are referring too, are identical?

In the passage about Adam and Eve, Eve is to follow her husband and her husband is to rule over her. In the passage about Cain and Abel, "he" is to follow Cain and Cain is to rule over "him." So who is the "he" and "him?" It has to be Abel. Remember that Cain was born first and is therefore, according to Hebrew tradition, the leader. But apparently, Abel is attempting to take over the leadership, possibly because he felt superior to Cain as his sacrifice was accepted by God. Also, don't forget that Cain's character was one of substance and Abel's was one of vanity.
The Murder

The King James Version translates Genesis 4:8 as follows.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

This is a pretty straight-forward passage, but it has been altered in order for it to make sense. It is not uncommon for the translators to "fix" the text so that it can be understood by the reader easily. In my opinion they do a disservice to the reader by hiding these problems. I am of the opinion that the translator should remain true to the Hebrew text and then footnote their opinions. The very first part of that verse actually reads, from the Hebrew, "And Cain said to his brother."

What did Cain say to his brother? We don't know, that is missing from the text. The King James translators fixed this by changing the word from "said" to "talked." This may sound trivial, but you must understand that every time the Hebrew uses vai'yomer (and said) the conversation follows, but not here. At some point when the scroll was being copied, a copier accidently skipped over what was said by Cain. 

Why is this?  Truth is, what Cain said was taken out on purpose and we will never know what he said, or will we?

The punishment

The first punishment for Cain is that he is will no longer be able to work the ground.

And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; (RSV, Genesis 4:11-12a)

The second punishment is banishment.

you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. (RSV, Genesis 4:12b)

Cain is distressed by this punishment and says to God, according to the translations;

My punishment is greater than I can bear (RSV, Genesis 4:13).

This implies that there is no remorse in Cain and he is more worried about his punishment than the evil act he did to his brother. However, the Hebrew word translated as punishment is avon, which means "iniquity" or "guilt." With this understanding, he is actually saying, "My guilt is greater than I can bear." With this translation we see great remorse. Cain then continues to say,

Behold, thou hast driven me this day away from the ground; and from thy face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me. (RSV, Genesis 4:14)

Grace and Mercy

It is often taught that the Old Testament taught Law and the NT taught Grace. However we find throughout the Old Testament instances where God shows Grace. The story of Noah, the exodus of the Israelites and many others are stories of grace and this story is no different as God grants mercy, grace and hope to Cain.

Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. (RSV, Genesis 4:15)

God evidently believed that Cain's murder did not deserve death, either by his or anyone else's hand and this may be a sign that there is more to this murder story than we are told. Don't forget that the conversation between Cain and Abel is not known for sure and it is also possible that there are elements of this story that have not been passed down to us.

What is the mark that God placed on Cain? We of course cannot know with any certainty, but there are some clues. The Hebrew word translated as "mark" is the word 'ot, which is used in the Biblical text for a "sign." This word is also used in non-Biblical texts for a "letter," as in a letter of the alphabet.

And the LORD said to him, "Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." (RSV, Ezekiel 9:4)

In the above passage, the Hebrew word for the "mark" is tav, which is last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The above passage would be better translated as, "and put a 'tav' upon the foreheads." In the Ancient Hebrew alphabet, the letter tav was written as a picture of two crossed sticks, a cross if you will, and is a sign of a covenant.

It is possible that the "mark" God placed on Cain was the letter tav and may also be a sign that God was in covenant relationship with Cain.
Conclusion

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, if we carefully examine the text more closely we will find that there is much more to the story of Cain and Abel then most of us have been taught. I don't have all of the answers; in fact, as I study the Biblical text carefully, I will usually wind up with more questions than I do answers. But this is what Bible study is all about. It is not about getting all the answers, it is about the search. It is not about the destination, it is about the journey. 

You Decide! 

Good Riddance Judge Karma Kavanaugh.

Still don't believe in karma boys and girls?  

How about this one.  The guy being considered for the supreme court this month, yes, Brett Kavanaugh, really seems to be dealing with some karma. 

In a quick recap, the guy was born privileged, went to Yale, and so, yes, he pulled himself up from his bootstraps like the rest of the wealthy bastards -- at least, that's what they want you to believe.  Inside they know the truth.  

Kavanaugh drank too much as a youth.   Okay, so what, so did I and a lot of us.  He also drunkenly forced himself on a woman... that's where I think most of us bow out.   No matter how drunk I got, that wasn't going to happen.  I might say some screwed up things, you know, lie about maybe have gone to Yale, but I didn't put my hands on her mouth and humped her while another rich friend laughed.  

So now, all of this has come out in the hearings to appoint this guy to the highest judgeship in the land, and you know what, it doesn't matter.  That's not his issue.  His issue is that while being pissed off for having to answer questions about his past indiscretions, Kavanaugh went conspiracy wacko on us by saying it was the "Clintons" who were doing this to him.  

Now, this is where the karma comes in.  If you remember, president Bill Clinton was impeached for having gotten a blow-job by an intern while in the White House.  Most of us didn't care, and I'll admit, we probably should have.  I mean, it was consensual, but as the metoo# movement has showed us, she might of sucked the presidential penis out of fear of retaliation.  So, in hindsight, the impeachment was a good thing.  

Clinton and his Victim

The attorney prosecuting Clinton on this was helped by the young, Brett Kavanaugh who gave him the questions to ask President Clinton.  One of the questions was about phone sex.  And, of course, this really did help destroy President Clinton -- which, for the record doesn't matter because he was a Democrat in Republican clothing and so, good riddance ....  

back to this story:  so, Brett Kavanaugh made his mark in the prosecuting of the Bill Clinton blow job.  And this fact alone, elevated Kavanaugh to a cush job in the George Bush White House, which ultimately allowed Brett Kavanaugh to be up for this appointment for the supreme court.  Yes, Kavanaugh's personal insight to abusing woman helped him impeach Clinton, and ultimately, elevated him to this opportunity.  Nothing else.  Not his wealthy, rich boy schooling or high brow family connections.  And, since it is football season, let me put it to you this way, Kavanaugh just scored a touch down, but it is because one of his linemen held a would-be tackler and without this foul, Kavanaugh would have been sacked a long time ago. 

Kavanaugh yelled in the trial:  "It is because of the Clintons!"  And the truth is, "No, it is because of your privileged class!" you haven't earned shit.   You've done evil to get where you are, and evil is bringing you down. 

Good Riddance Judge Karma Kavanaugh. 

~Dr. TV Boogie

This day was Justice Thurgood Marshall’s beginning.

The story of the Passion of the Savior, has something about it that I don't like. Read it through, I mean really read it, and you'll see there is an insipid element in it.  It's this business of the two theieves.  Wonderful how the three crosses stand next to each other on the Mount!  But they why this tract-like story about the honest thief!  First he was a criminal and had committed evil deeds, God knows what, and now he melts and takes part in tearful scenes of sorrow and repentance!  What sense is there, I ask you, in such repentance when he is only two steps away from the grave?  It’s nothing but one of your pious moral tales, sugary and unconvincing, helped down with the grease of sentimentality and an edifying background.  If you had to choose one of the two thieves today for a friend or consider which of the two you would prefer to trust, it certainly wouldn’t be the sniveling convert.  No, the other is the man and has real character.  He despises a conversion which for a man in his position can only be a pretty speech, and pursues his own way to the end; he does not forswear the Devil who must have aided and abetted him at the eleventh hour.  He has character in the Bible.  Perhaps he was a descendant of Cain’s.  Don’t you agree?

I know, it’s the old story, as long as you don’t take the thing seriously.  But threre’s something I would like to tell you: we are here darling with one of the places where one is very conscious of the weakness of this religion.  The point is that this God of both the Old and New Testaments is a wonderful figure but not what he purports to represent.  He is all that is good, noble, he is the fatherly, the beautiful, the most high, the sentimental — all right!  But the world consists also of other things which are merely ascribed to the Devil.  And that half-section of the world is suppressed; it is never mentioned.  It’s is the same as the way they celebrate God as the father of all life but the whole of sex-life which is the basis of life itself they are silent about, or indeed, whenever possible describe it as sinful and the work of the Devil.  I have no objection to people honoring this God Jehovah, far from it.  But I consider that we should sanctify and honor everything, the whole world, not merely this artificially separated, official half.  Therefore alongside the divine service should be a Devil’s service; that in my view would be right and proper.  Otherwise you must create a God for yourself who embraces the Devil in himself and before whom you don’t have to drop your eyes in shame when the most natural things in the world take place. 

I know some of you are having thoughts you can not process from what I’ve just written.  If that is so you must know that you too have not lived so far according to your own conception of life, and that is not a good thing.  Only the ideas that we really live have any value.  You have known that your “permitted” world was only half of the world and you have tried to subjugate the second half after the manner of the priests and teachers.  It will not be to your benefit. That is to say, it benefits no one once they have begun to think....

I’ll end it here with a message to Brett Kavanaugh:  “Thou shalt certainly not kill — nor rape and kill girls. 

Speaking of which, today is the anniversary that our first non-white male judge was appointed to the bench in 1967.  It was Justice Thurgood Marshall.  Funny how far we’ve come.  Today, Marshall would be the poster child for Fox News’ “Everything Wrong With American” talking points.  Funny, that on this historic day, we are considering the most outright, right-wing justice ever in Brett Kavanaugh.  Maybe this is a turning point.  On Thurgood Marshall being placed on the bench, a man of color, the conservative world went nuts and started taking over every office from school boards to governorship to publi TV.  Maybe with the outright nuts of appointing a operative Republican to the bench, we can now start bringing the United States back to the center before if falls off the cliff of despotism. 

~ Demian Sinclair

Monday Love from a Buddhist Perspective.

Monday Love.  

I figure we all need it.  You know, for most of us a new weeks is beginning, our football team won, and we have decent jobs with healthcare and no need to worry for those who don't.  It's the one time in the year when "fate" is acceptable in most religious organizations.  

Just as blood nourishes the heart, so love nourishes spiritual freedom and is, in turn, keeps flowing. The connection is so strong that Buddhism, often known as a Path of Freedom, could equally be called a religion of love.  Perhaps this is what the Dalai Lama had in mind when he said his religion is kindness.  For the Buddha, love is one of the paths to full spiritual liberation.

For me, I like to meditate on love a lot.  I usually send love, and success if it is a business outing, to a place before I go there.  Funny, when I don't do this, complications arise.  I've been doing this for years and have the date to back it up, for me, that is.  

Lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and a particular form of equanimity are the four kinds of love taught and encouraged in classic Buddhist teachings.  None of these are uniquely Buddhist; they are four qualities of heart that reside within everyone, at least as potentials. Teachings about the four forms of love existed in India prior to the Buddha and they were elements common to the Indian spiritual world which he included within his system of practice.  While Buddhism cannot exist without love, it may be helpful to realize that love can exist happily apart from Buddhism.  Learning the ways of these four loves does not require one to become a Buddhist.  It only requires a willingness to develop innate capacities.

In his article titled The Buddha's Teachings on Love, Gil Fronsdal states: Love does not need to be left to chance.  It mustn’t be a matter of “falling in love,” nor must it be accepted in whatever degree or frequency it happens to appear. The Buddhist tradition has developed a range of practices and reflections designed to develop our capacity to love.  As with a treasure behind a locked door, we can find the key that allows us to open the door of love; like a muscle, love can be strengthened through practice.

 In their most developed forms, the four types of love can each become a boundless radiance glowing from us.  As such, love may flow from us equally toward all beings or it can glow freely without needing to be directed to anyone.  When boundless, love without any particular object is recognized in Buddhism as a form of liberation.

To be “free” only when things are pleasant is not real liberation.  Similarly, to love only in optimal conditions is not real love.  Not a few Buddhist meditators have experienced great love while in meditation, only to have it disappear quickly outside of meditation.  It can be easy to love all beings in the abstract, but it can be a great challenge to do so when we have to live with them.  It is one thing to love and another to express that love in daily life.

One of the most rewarding spiritual practices is to cultivate the ability to bring love into all aspects of our life and to all people we encounter.  This entails learning how to include love’s presence while we speak to others, are in conflict with others, and are living with others.  While this can be a daunting task, it begins with having the intention to do so.  And it is supported by appreciating each manifestation of love that we encounter.  Even practicing loving-kindness for the time it takes to snap the fingers is beneficial.  Each drop of practice is significant and, as the Buddha said, “with dripping drops of water, the water jug is filled.”

 Enjoy your week, I hope it's a good one. 

~Demian Sinclair

skeleton asteroid is headed right for us!

It is September 29th, 2018, and maybe the worlds gone mad under Donald Trump.  While all this Supreme Court Nomination  is going on the Republicans have passed another tax cut for the rich and a skull shape commit is heading straight for us.

No shit, the asteroid that NASA has deemed as the Death Star will pass over us around November 11th.  It will first be close enough to us to draw on our energy on October 31, 2018.  Halloween. 

Getting back to the tax-cut, have you seen our national debt lately?

Oh, that's right, you're drinking the kool-aid.  Just as George Bush cut taxes and increased spending for an unfunded war, Donald Trump is cutting taxes and increasing spending while taking credit for the Obama recovery.   It's bonkers.  And only one conclusion:  they are trying to destroy the economy to one, break the system so they can rebuild it without any liberal programs such as welfare, social security, or two, the conspiracy guys and gals are right and they want a financial collapse so they can have a one-world government.  

I agree with the later people.  And I believe the one-world government is under the whitest country left:  Russia.  

God help us all.  They're are no more heroes, only greedy takers.  

Fortunately for me, I'm giving up on attachments and things, so it doesn't matter. 

Buddha said:  

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Ommmmmmmmmmmm.... 

Gorbachev

 On this day in 1989, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev's passed a bill allowing publications of books, movies, and television news without censorship.  Within a year the country would collapse. 

The true death of communism. 

Too bad it didn't last and seems to be spreading to these here United States. 

In 1990, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the KGB (their CIA) were gave huge bonuses so they could buy up the new assets being up for sale, which was, everything.  Under Communism the state owned everything, and so, when communism did fail, everything was for sale, and who had money?  You guess it, the ex-KGB guys who includes none other than Donald Trumps pal, Vladimir Putin. 

No wonder all the foreign leaders other than Putin are laughing at Trump.

That Old Fashion Christian Love, from Benedict Arnold's Memoir.

Benedict Arnold

 It is well known that the Providence Plantations, and Rhode Island in particular, were known for a greater tolerance in religious matters than prevailed in the neighboring Plymouth colony, probably because they were of gentler blood, or if not that, more willing to follow the lead of gentlemen.  The intolerance of sectaries in Massachusetts was cause of the escape of many from that colony into ours, not always of the most desirable;  but as they were especially intolerant of attractive women, it is possible that we gained in the long run.  Many such of delicate nature were whipped at the cart-stair in hardly more than a shift from the town of Boston to the Providence line.  This same intolerance has been a cause of much of my trouble in later life, the Massachusetts Puritans being unable to recognize a gentleman when they saw one, or indeed to take a broad and catholic view of any communities or circumstances not straitened to the narrow range of their own understanding. 

Thus in 1724 Father Rallé, a Roman Catholic priest of saintly life and great learning, who had risked his life in missionary service to the Algonquin Indians in the Kennebec Valley (what was then a District of Massachusetts) suffered indeed no harm from them, but was killed and scalped by Massachusetts settlers, who left his mangled remains to be decently buried by the savages on the banks of the Dead River.  I found his grave, as shall be later related; and was at the pains of erecting a proper stone monument not un-moistened by my own tears.  

                                                        Benedict Arnold (My Story)