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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... pass forth to the gateway of the temple , sacrifice a sheep in the palace portal , and to smear the threshold and posts of the palace gateway right and left with the blood of the lamb . 152 149 Exodus 7 : 1 150 Exodus 7-10 151 Exodus 11 ...
... pass through the land of Egypt this night , and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt , both man and beast ; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment : I am the Lord . And the blood shall be to you for a ...
... pass over the door , and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.156 The Bible stresses the point over and over that there is only one creative power and it is in your heart and mind . When you do not ...
... pass , while my glory passeth by , that I will put thee in a clift of the rock , and will cover thee with mine hand while I pass by : And I will take away mine hand , and thou shalt see my back parts : but my face shall not be seen.200 ...
... pass , I pray thee , through thy country : we will not pass through the fields , or through the vineyards ; we will go by the king's high way , we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left , until we have passed thy borders.225 ...
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Live Now Die Later: A Book for the Sensitive Mind and Rugged Individualist David Alan Kraul No preview available - 2004 |