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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... month upon month and Joseph , the mind that knows itself , acknowledges the power of wisdom , and foresight . For God did send me before you to preserve life . And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth , and to ...
... months later , the tree burst asunder and out came Adonis . Aphrodite , charmed by his beauty , hid the infant in a box and handed him over to the care of Persephone , who later refused to give him up.136 The mind is introduced again ...
... month Abib : for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.201 201 Exodus 34:18 Streamline Your Thinking [ Man has lived for an eternity 80.
... months . The entire year is devoted to fructifying and replenishing the earth . The Romans invoked twelve deities of plowing and harvesting operations along with Ceres , the goddess of grain who gave her name to cereal . Roman legions ...
... month or the summer solstice and the sun's return to its maximum power , Re is enthroned upon an island on which stands the Tree of Life . The journey and the trials of the deceased were described in the Book of the Dead , the itinerary ...
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Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist David Alan Kraul No preview available - 2004 |