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. |
From inside the book
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... feeling , and in an ideal world thought and feeling and action should be an exact reflection of who you are in your whole being . You create your own options . This is the message of ages . viii.
... feeling that conveys the thought into words or action , or both , but if you give in to fear , doubt , anxiety , feelings of inadequacy , apprehension and all the negative influences that are there , you become immobilized , paralyzed ...
... feeling , generated by your inherent , creative power . Cain and Abel are the products of that union . Noah illustrates the natural capacity the mind has to regenerate itself . Abraham , Isaac and Ishmael , Jacob and Esau continue the ...
... feeling part , the male and female of ancient metaphor . In today's language we call it the left and right hemisphere of the Encyclopedia Britannica XXIII , page 281 Encyclopedia Britannica I , page 921 Encyclopedia Britannica XXVII ...
... feeling that it produces derive from an inner source of abundance , the roots of which have grown into countless limbs that carry aloft eternal youth and a reaching for the sun . Yet there is not one moment in life that does not require ...
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Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist David Alan Kraul No preview available - 2004 |