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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In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth " and " in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them " are metaphorical ways of saying that the world is as you want it to be , as you want to see it .
... will destroy them with the earth.18 And , behold , I , even I , do bring a flood of waters upon the earth , to destroy all flesh , wherein is the breath of life , from under heaven ; and every thing that is in the earth shall die .
An , Bel and Ea were the gods of the heavens , the earth , and the watery deep , respectively , and their ... 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 ...
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven ; and he overthrew those cities , and all the plain , and all the inhabitants of the cities , and that which grew upon the ground.53 All ...
And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven , and said , Abraham , Abraham ; and he said , Here am I. And he said , Lay not thine hand upon the lad , neither do thou any thing unto him ; for now I know thou hast not withheld ...
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Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist David Alan Kraul No preview available - 2004 |