Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged IndividualistThe sensitive mind and the rugged individualist are portrayed in the literature of antiquity by two brothers, the first-born and the second-born. The mind is the father of two sons. One side of us is conservative, cautious; the other side is radical and adventurous. A part of us is content with the status quo; another part of us seeks change and improvement. The mind perceives first with the outer five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. Those perceptions are recorded and processed for future use, and thus the mind has five inner senses, the second-born son. In the Old and New Testaments this concept is expressed through several pairs of brothers. Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and Benjamin, Aaron and Moses, John and Jesus are all characters created to illustrate the mind's journey. The eastern Mediterranean became a marketplace for the exchange of ideas that had their provenance not just in Athens or Alexandria, but made their way westward from India and China well over 2,000 years ago. The lunar calendar and the appearance of the full moon was not just vital to agriculture in Mesopotamia; it spawned metaphors that illustrated the mind at its brightest. Abraham, for example, Hebrew for "father is high," was a moon god who symbolized the full moon, i. e., the moon straight up or high. "Father" is high because the mind is the father of two sons. Obviously, many concepts evolved independently, but migration and commerce exported and imported more than just figs and wine. Adam and Eve, the male and female of Genesis, are reflected in the yang and the yin of Taoism in ancient China. Elizabeth, Mary and Jesus are a variation of Demeter, Persephone and Dionysus. Thinkers over the ages have struggled to come to terms with the rough and tumble of daily life. Some have even suggested that life begins in some faraway place after death. Others have tried to find the way to live now and die later. |
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You may have discovered late in life that you have unique and valuable talents , but fear of rejection rears its ugly head and breathes fire in your face . You have ambitions , goals , aspirations , but at every turn you find one reason ...
Instead of one deity there were several.31 And they said , Go to , let us build us a city and a tower , whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name , lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.32 And ...
... imagined to do.33 Let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech.34 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the earth , and they left off to build the city .
Do not dismiss your feelings or invalidate them in the face of adverse circumstances . The Pharaoh represents the world of external circumstances . Abraham here illustrates the mind that fears the consequences of saying what it thinks .
Those choices , of course , arise all the time when we face the outside world , the land of the five senses that prompt creative , constructive impulses . Our first impressions come from this land of the outer five senses .
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Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist David Alan Kraul No preview available - 2004 |
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| Title | Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist |
| Author | David Alan Kraul |
| Publisher | DavidAlanKraul, 2004 |
| ISBN | 1414030223, 9781414030227 |
| Length | 344 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Biblical Studies / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |