“The Mysteries of John” by Charles Fillmore

mysteriesofjohn

Mysteries of John explains the book of John from a metaphysical point of view. The Bible is a symbolic book using people, places and events as symbols of certain stages of our inner development. Mysteries of John helps to shed light on these symbols and brings clearer understanding to the book of John. “METAPHYSICAL BIBLE students recognize in the Gospel of John a certain spiritual quality that is not found in the other Gospels. Although this is not true of all Bible readers, it may be said that those who look for the mystical find it in the language of this book. The book is distinctive in this respect and is so successful in setting forth metaphysical truths that little interpretation is necessary. Only in a few instances does the original writing conceal the deep truths that the student seeks to discern. Written language is at best a reflection of inner ideas, and even though a teacher couples ideas and words as adroitly as Jesus does, elucidation is sometimes difficult. “Nevertheless ideas are catching, and this may be the best reason for publishing another book about this spirit-arousing Fourth Gospel. We are all heavily charged with ideas, and when these ideas are released they spring forth and pass from mind to mind, being “recorded” as they fly, and when they are expressed the whole race is lifted up–if the idea is charged with the uplifting Spirit. Jesus was God’s idea of man made manifest in the flesh; so He was warranted in making that dynamic assertion, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.” Nowhere in all literature has this truth of the unity of God, man, and creation been so fearlessly expressed and affirmed by man as in the Book of John.”

(Amazon.com)

Sunday night Translation <3

Aloha all, seems as though constant reminder’s throughout the day is both needed and necessary for non vacillation of identities, isn’t it? And the very act of waking from sleep is the most obvious starting place, don’t you think? Perhaps to Translate and or make a commitment to say the word’s with conviction that I am choosing to (be) this or that personage I choose, with my imagination without triggers, because the triggers are (not) you, only adopted because we didn’t know any better, did we?

Sense testimony: Separating from Mother’s/Father’s limitations can be difficult?

Conclusion’s; 1) Truth is the realization of the integrity of birth less/deathless being.

2) Abundant Self Evident Powerful Knowing Presence Truth I Am is the only Father Mother Child Infinitely creating/governing all there is.

3) I am present perfection doing reality now.

4) Truth being ultimate self observing identity, limitless-faceted and jovial omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotencie, innately effortless and simple deathless, birth less being.

Libra reading for September 2016

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“Growing Pains” (astrologyking.com)

“Ignore those tiny little voices in the back of your mind, the ones that lead to consistent bouts of self-sabotage.  They aren’t yours.  You’ve internalized other people’s perceptions, creating cracks in how you see yourself.  Apply liberal amounts of psychic healing.”
–Llewellyn’s 2016 Astrological Calendar for Libra

Statue of Magdalen Women in Galway, Ireland

It is merely coincidental that the statue of the distraught impoverished woman is located outside the Anglo Irish Bank office?

It is merely coincidental that the statue of the distraught impoverished woman is located outside the Anglo Irish Bank office?

A statue in remembrance of the women who had to endure life in the Magdalen Laundry in Galway will be unveiled the weekend.

The statue was created by Mick Wilkins and commissioned by the Galway City Council. Entitled Final Journey, it will be unveiled on Sunday – International Women’s Day – by the Mayor of Galway Cllr Padraig Conneely at 1pm at the junction of Forster Street and Bóthar Breandán Ó Eithir.

The guest speakers will be Chris Coughlan and John Coyle from the Amicable Society and there will be poetry from Patrica Burke Brogan.

The Galway Magdalen Laundry used to stand at the bottom of College Road, across from the Fair Green. It was demolished in the 1990s.

Such institutions were originally intended as places of short term stay for the rehabilitation of prostitutes. However they quickly and notoriously became long term stay institutions for prostitutes and unmarried mothers, with inmates forced to undertake hard physical labour.

“The sculpture will honour Galway’s Magdalen women,” said Labour Cllr Billy Cameron, “and I particularly welcome its unveiling.”

(advertiser.ie)

Biography: Nevit Ergin

Nevit Oguz Ergin

Nevit Oguz Ergin

Nevit O. Ergin (1928-2015), devoted his life to the spiritual path of Itlak Yolu, the same path as Mevlana Jalaluddi Rumi, a path outside of Islamic Sufism, having affinities with Buddhism and the Shamanism of Central Asia from the time of Ghengis Khan.  The path emphasizes direct experience, acknowledging that everything else remains in the realm of opinion and gossip.

Ergin was a Turkish-born plastic surgeon who had five children, three boys and two girls.  He completed his medical studies in Canada and practiced plastic surgery in Michigan and Southern California.  Once retired, he moved to Northern California where he concentrated exclusively on his translations and writing.

Hasan Lutfi Shushud (1901-1988), a Saint and Master of Wisdom who lived in Turkey, introduced Ergin to Itlak Yolu and Rumi in 1955 and subsequently became his life-long friend.

Ergin is the only person to have translated into English Rumi’s entire Divan-i Kebir–44,000 verses in 22 volumes.  He also translated all 2,217 of Rumi’s rubais (quatrains) – the Rubailer of Rumi (to be made available soon).  His translations are not word-by-word, but rather reflect the essence of Rumi’s words.  He authored a book of short stories, Tales of a Modern Sufi. Another of his works, The Sufi Path of Annihilation, includes poetry of Rumi, sayings by Hasan Shushud, questions and answers about the Itlak path, as well as Ergin’s own stories.  Other works includeForbidden Rumi (with Will Johnson), Crazy as We Are, Rose Garden, Magnificent One, Glory of Absence, and Divine Wine.  His final book, completed just before his passing, is entitled Unknown Rumi.

He spent over 60 years of his life “trying to get rid of this earth before it gets rid of me.”  He died at the age of 87 in July 2015.

(Courtesy of Derek Lamar and ReadingRumi.com.)

Reporting with a new language (sfexaminer.com)

Reporters are accustomed to asking those they interview to spell their name, give their age and occupation, maybe where they live if that’s pertinent to the story. Making sure we describe people fairly and accurately is a basic staple of good journalism.

San Francisco Examiner reporters are now adding another question to the basic details we ask of people we talk with: their preferred pronoun. Whether someone wishes to be known as “he,” “she” or “they,” it will be up to us to ask them, not for the reporter to assume.

This is a small change in our daily routine as reporters, but the significance is immense. It will allow our coverage to better reflect the breadth of gender expression and gender identity and present that diversity with a deserved dignity.

For many of the people we interview and report on, trusting a news organization to accurately represent their thoughts, words and identity is no small matter. We take that responsibility seriously.

At the Examiner, we strive to represent everyone as accurately as we can, and that includes getting preferred pronouns right. For the most part, this can be accomplished by simply asking.

When referring to a specific individual for whom we haven’t or cannot ask which pronoun they prefer, we will default to their presented gender. If the person presents as a man, we will use “he”; for those presenting as a woman, we will use “she.” We won’t get it right every time, but we will correct mistakes when we learn about them. When someone’s presented gender is ambiguous and unspecified, we will try to avoid ascribing a gender to them. The goal is to provide accurate reporting and not assume facts we don’t know.

In cases where we refer to a nonspecific individual, the Examiner will now use the singular “they.”

By adopting this as our standard practice, and announcing the change with this editorial, we aim to make our coverage more inclusive, more responsive to the communities we serve and to the human condition as a whole.

It is past time for news organizations to adopt such a policy. If we strive to tell the story of San Francisco and the stories of the people who live here, the language we use to do so must be up to the task.

The Washington Post welcomed the singular “they” into its stylebook last December. It was also the American Dialect Society’s word of the year last year. Now, we agree to adopt it as well.

But we want to go further and recognize that for some — especially those who might not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth — being known by their gender-affirmed pronoun is meaningful. We have no desire to take that away from them.

We do not undertake this change lightly. This policy is the result of discussions over many months with journalists, linguists, gender studies scholars and transgender individuals both here in the Bay Area and in other cities nationwide.

We considered eliminating gendered pronouns from our stories all together, opting instead for “they” in all cases, or choosing one of the newer constructed non-gendered pronouns, such as “Ze,” “Thon” or “Xe.” The confusion and artifice this would create convinced us that this was not the right move for the Examiner. In addition, we do not want to flatten human experience by stripping away gender from our descriptive arsenal; we merely wish to hone our sights for a truer picture of the world, and the worlds, we cover.

Although we are announcing this policy today, we have operated under these editorial guidelines for a while.

Here is a recent example of how this was put into practice in our pages:

Jaya Padmanabhan, who writes our In Brown Type column about immigration issues, wrote last month about an asylum case involving J. Jha, an actor living in San Francisco who immigrated from India and is gender-nonconforming. As for pronouns, Jha requested we use “they.”

In the Aug. 24 column “Written in parenthesis” about Jha’s asylum case, Padmanabhan wrote: “As Jha began to experiment with dressing in a gender-nonconforming fashion, they grasped the very real possibility of persecution if they returned to India as a transgender queer person.”

Who is “they”? It’s Jha — singular.

Confusing? Yeah, maybe at first, but it doesn’t take long for the logic of the language to work on the reader. Given time, the strangeness of the convention will fade.

Our intention is to celebrate, dignify and respect the affirmations people make about their identities. We want to honor the identities of those we write about, not enforce gender binary language or diminish anyone’s right to their own.

If the goal of reporting is to describe truth the best we can at any given time — a foundational tenet of the craft — then this is the right time and right place to reset our assumptions about how we ascribe gender. Editors like to tell reporters they should assume nothing when covering a story — a newspaper trades in facts and sentiments, nothing more. So relying on “he” and “she” to reference individuals without asking which one is accurate is lazy at best and wrong and damaging at worst. Just as we would be loath to ascribe nationality, religion, social and economic status or race to a passerby on the street, so it is with gender as well.

This means we won’t bother with any parentheticals in our stories stipulating that “this person does not identify as either male or female” or some such explanation as to how we are using pronouns. It will just be left as is, however the person requests they be identified, for readers to process and understand.

We believe a newspaper must simultaneously represent what our society is and what it should be. The offense some might take — to grammar, tradition or propriety — is secondary to the opportunity we have to affirm the right of individuals to appear as themselves in our pages. It is far more important for this paper to write truthfully about people in our communities than to uphold old conventions that no longer suit who we are or who we wish to be.

Michael Howerton is editor in chief of the San Francisco Examiner.

Les Enfants du Paradise (Children of Paradise)

childrenofparadise

“It goes down like God in red velvet tights.”
–Frédérick Lemaître on his drink of choice.

Baptiste (to Garance):  “You are so beautiful.”
Garance:  “No, I’m just alive.”

Garance to Comte Édouard de Montray:
“Not only are you rich but you want to be loved like the poor. But what about he poor? Don’t deprive them of everything.”