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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It is common knowledge that Egyptian priests practised the art of embalming in the time of the pharoahs . In the time of Homer and the Iliad there were distinct notions about the structure of the human body .
11 Serpent mythologies wound their way throughout the ancient world . They guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides . The Babylonian Ea , who sometimes had serpent attributes , introduced knowledge and culture .
56 At the Oracle of Delphi , wisdom was sought by posing questions to a woman called the Pythoness whose knowledge or power was believed to derive from inspiration from the gods . She was traditionally a virgin , since virginity ...
Knowledge is worthless if you do not use it , apply it , employ it , and so you have to sacrifice that knowledge in order to give it life . For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever will lose his life ...
... that I might take it again.66 Every time you do not ask questions that need to be asked , you deprive yourself of insights and you suffer one little death at a time because you are feeding your ego instead of your knowledge .
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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 |