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L'Arboç, Tarragona (Spain).
ENGLISH
The first news of the existence of the church of Sant Julià goes back to years 1136 and 1138. The conserved oldest part of the medieval church corresponds to the present chapel of Dolors (sorrows). The used equipment is of ashlars well fitted and cut. They are left also two lateral gothic chapels.
The present church of Sant Julià is a Renaissance building constructed between years 1631 and 1647, during the “War of Segadors (reapers)”. It is a church of a single nave, 40 by 12 meters, with six lateral chapels by side, semi-circular arch and barrel vault. The apse is pentagonal and the main vault is maintained by semicircular archs and is composed by five pointed vaults with nerves and decorated key. In the main facade it emphasizes the great baroque gate conformed by four columns that maintain friso. The bell tower, built before the church between 1622-1627, conserves the romanesque base and an inner chapel gothic covered with barrel vault.
In the chapel of Dolors (sorrows) there are an important franc-gothic painting set mural discovered during the restoration of the chapel made in 1968. The set occupies about 50 m² and has been dated around year 1300. It is conformed by three sections, the central is an allegorical representation of the tree of the Cross, and the lateral compositions are formed by scenes of the life of Jesus, Saint John Baptist and Saint John Evangelist.
In October 2007 it was declared "Cultural good of national interest" in the category of Historical Monument.
The Catalan Revolt (known in Catalan as the Guerra dels Segadors or Reapers' War) affected a large part of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring effect in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ceded the county of Roussillon and the northern half of the county of Cerdanya to France (see French Cerdagne), thereby splitting the Catalan population.
The war had its roots in the discomfort generated in Catalan society by the presence of Castilian troops during the wars between France and Spain as part of the Thirty Years' War. Catalan peasants were forced to quarter Castilian troops and responded on Corpus Christi day with an uprising known as 'Bloody Corpus' (Catalan Corpus de Sang), under the slogans "Long live the faith of Christ!", our lord", "Long live the land, death to bad government". This 'Bloody Corpus' of 1640, which began with the death of a reaper and led to the somewhat mysterious death of the Count of Santa Coloma, viceroy of Catalonia, marked the beginning of the conflict. The irregular militia were known as 'Miquelets'.
Pau Claris, head of the Generalitat of Catalonia, turned the social unrest of the Catalans into a political cause and proclaimed a Catalan Republic. The Generalitat obtained an important military victory in the battle of Montjuïc (January 26, 1641). A little later, the death of Pau Claris created a difficult local and international situation, which resulted in the proclamation of Louis XIII of France as count of Barcelona and sovereign of Catalonia, Lluís I de Barcelona.
The conflict extended beyond the Peace of Westphalia, which concluded the Thirty Years' War in 1648, with the confrontation between two sovereigns and two Generalitats, one based in Barcelona, under the control of Spain and the other in Perpinyà (Perpignan), under the occupation of France. In 1652 the French authorities renounced Catalonia, but held control of Roussillon, thereby leading to the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.
More info: www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=indilex&..., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_Revolt
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CASTELLANO
La primera noticia de la existencia de la iglesia de Sant Julià se remonta a los años 1136 y 1138. La parte más antigua conservada de la iglesia medieval corresponde a la actual capilla dels Dolors. El aparejo empleado es de sillares bien encuadrados y cortados. Quedan también dos capillas laterales góticas.
La iglesia actual de Sant Julià es un edificio renacentista construido entre los años 1631 y 1647, durante la "Guerra dels Segadors". Es una iglesia de una sola nave, de 40 por 12 metros, con seis capillas laterales por banda, con arco de medio punto y bóveda de cañón. El ábside es pentagonal y la bóveda principal está sostenida por arcos semicirculares y está compuesta por cinco vueltas de ojiva con nervios y clave decorada. En la fachada principal destaca la gran portada barroca conformada por cuatro columnas que sostienen un friso. El campanario, levantado antes que la iglesia entre 1622-1627, conserva la base románica y una capilla interior gótica cubierta con bóveda de cañón.
En la capilla dels Dolors se encuentra un importante conjunto de pintura mural franco-gótica descubierto durante la restauración de la capilla realizada en el año 1968. El conjunto ocupa unos 50 m² y ha sido datado alrededor del año 1300. Está conformado por tres secciones, la central es una representación alegórica del árbol de la Cruz, y las composiciones laterales están formadas por escenas de la vida de Jesús, de San Juan Bautista y de San Juan Evangelista.
En octubre del 2007 fue declarado "Bien cultural de interés nacional" en la categoría de Monumento Histórico.
La Sublevación de Cataluña (o "Guerra dels Segadors") afectó a gran parte de Cataluña entre los años 1640 y 1659. Tuvo como efecto más duradero la firma de la Paz de los Pirineos entre la monarquía hispánica y el rey de Francia, pasando el condado del Rosellón y la mitad del de la Cerdaña, hasta aquel momento partes integrantes del principado de Cataluña, uno de los territorios de la monarquía hispánica, a soberanía francesa.
La guerra comienza a raíz del malestar que generaba en la sociedad catalana la presencia de tropas, fundamentalmente castellanas, durante las guerras entre Francia y España, enmarcadas dentro de la Guerra de los Treinta Años (1618 - 1648). Los hechos del Corpus de Sangre de 1640, desencadenados por el amotinamiento de un grupo de unos 400 o 500 segadores que entraron en Barcelona y que conducirían a la muerte del conde de Santa Coloma, noble catalán y virrey de Cataluña, marcan el inicio del conflicto.
Más info: www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=indilex&..., es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublevaci%c3%b3n_de_Catalu%c3%b1a_(...
We live in an unfair world. Nothing seems fair or equitable right from the time we are born. The great English writer Charles Dickens summed up this sentiment well in one of his novels. “In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small —.” Dickens would also say: “The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.” In saying so, he was telescoping what physicians and public health practitioners would be saying a century and a half after his death. In one of his most famous speeches the legendary human rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. remarked, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” A couple of years before his assassination, he had remarked, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” King was, in effect, eloquently reminding the world of the raison d’etre for the creation of the World Health Organization on April 7, 1948 with a strong affirmation that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.
Winston Churchill was a war time Prime Minister of Britain. At the height of the World War II when bombardment of London was the norm and his aides were painting a doomsday scenario, Churchill asked, “Are the courts functioning?” and when informed in the affirmative he said, “then nothing can go wrong.” At another point he would remark,“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” Here was a man whose country was facing an existential threat, yet the considerations of justice and health apparently weighed more on his mind than the might of his arsenals. Dickens, King and Churchill were three very different stalwarts with hardly any shared interests, yet they were saying the same things.
Scores of years later, both Health and Justice figure prominently among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030 by all the United Nations’ member states. What is more, public health and human rights are mutually reinforcing forces, inextricably linked to each other. Global Health and Public Health aim to bridge the differences or inequities in the health status of men, women and children due to considerations of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.
As we observe World Health Day today with the theme – ‘Building a fairer, healthier world’, we are all the more conscious than ever of the health inequities confronted globally. And no, not even the major world powers, can claim to be devoid of them as some of them have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has thoroughly exposed their lack of preparedness and overwhelming their relatively strong health systems in relation to the developing world. What is more disparaging, however, is the scramble for vaccines against the pandemic by the rich nations at the cost of the poorer ones.
In Pakistan that has quite sub-optimal health and demographic indicators with a growing disparity between the privileged and under-privileged classes, a shrinking middle class and millions more on the brink of falling down the poverty line due to catastrophic health expenditures, it is all the more important to emphasize the health and human rights nexus. When we examine some of the causes of health inequities the foremost among them are social determinants of health such as income poverty, unemployment, lack of basic education, particularly in rural females, gender and human rights issues, an almost unchecked population growth, lack of road safety, low coverage of essential services such as safe water and sanitation, rapid urbanization with urban slums, inadequate though expanding measures for social protection, and a high prevalence of natural and manmade disasters.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on certain priority health problems such as the silent pandemic of tuberculosis, maternal and child health, nutrition and immunization. Some time ago, a seminar was held in Islamabad with the support of the Stop TB Partnership advocating the accessing of TB care services as an inalienable human right. Celebrities were engaged at Stop TB ambassadors to promote civil society engagement
There is also a growing realization that implementing a Tuberculosis control program involves all tiers of the health system including the community level and can strongly complement efforts toward attaining universal health care. Meanwhile, WHO was asked by the United Nation’s high level meeting held in 2018 to assist countries in developing a multi-sectoral accountability framework involving all sectors as a prerequisite to better End-TB outcomes.
It is therefore imperative to conduct intersectoral planning and action involving the government and other stakeholders to proactively address social determinants and health inequities. Intersectoral action needs to be promoted as an integral and vital component of the national health planning process. Without intersectoral action as a fully integrated component embedded in the national health planning process, health inequities are likely to persist, imperiling the health of Pakistan’s population.
It is also important to sensitize policymakers on the concepts of inequality and inequity in health, measuring equity, and development of the strategies designed to effectively address health inequities. Incidentally it was the celebrated economist and Finance Minister of Pakistan the late Dr Mahbubul Haq who is said to have given the world the concept of Human Development Index by merging three critical measure of well-being namely per capita income, longevity, and literacy. Equity is often considered as synonymous with social justice or fairness, and is an ethical concept grounded in the principles of distributive justice. It also denotes the absence of socially unjust or unfair health disparities.
Underlying social deprivation can be in relation to wealth, power or prestige – attributes that define how people are grouped in social hierarchies. A disproportionate number of poor citizens in Pakistan do not have adequate access to health care. Health inequities can also result from geographical, gender, ethnic, social, political, cultural or linguistic disparities.
Rapid urbanization in Pakistan also has grave implications for health warranting the need for meticulous planning. Even the hitherto fore planned capital city of Islamabad, with an annual population growth of 5%, is beginning to suffer from unplanned growth with the quality of life in its urban slums being miserable and much worse than those living in peripheral rural areas. Increasing urbanization gives rise to a unique set of health challenges, including non-communicable and infectious diseases, air pollution, access to water and sanitation, the need to improve nutrition, increased physical activity, and building resilience to health emergencies.
The implementation of human rights also necessitates a cross-sectoral approach that increases synergy amongst the various sectors relevant to promote health and development and avoid fragmented interventions. This is also necessary to fulfil an internationally agreed set of principles and norms that are contained in treaties, conventions, declarations, resolutions, guidelines, and recommendations at the international and regional levels.
Pakistan has to be very proactive in ending gender discrimination, such as denying girls and women access to education, information, and various forms of economic, social and political participation, as this can significantly increase health risks. Attention to human rights also brings into focus less popular vulnerable groups like prisoners, miners, migrants, refugees and substance abusers where some interventions have been carried out by the TB and HIV/AIDS control mechanisms.
Education and information can promote understanding, respect, tolerance and non-discrimination in relation to persons with Tuberculosis and other communicable and non-communicable diseases with which some stigma is attached. Public programming explicitly designed to reduce the stigma by challenging beliefs based on ignorance and prejudice has been shown to help create a more tolerant and understanding supportive environment.
Within the Health Sector, the negligible efforts demonstrated to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases is intriguing as it has been an integral part of public policy in Pakistan ever since 2004. We can start by establishing population based cancer registries to inform the establishment of cancer control programs, while taking effective measures for diabetes control, institutionalizing preventive cardiology in health programs while containing chronic respiratory diseases. All these diseases make up the larger part of the disease burden spectrum and are responsible for a lot of excess and premature mortality across the country, disproportionately affecting women and marginalized population segments.
While the current drive of the government to provide health cards to the people in certain pilot districts is highly laudable as an interim poverty reduction measure, it can be sustained and institutionalized by implementing mandatory health insurance in the country through premiums or co-payments in which the rich can cross-subsidize the poor, while those in good health can cross-subsidize those in ill health. Other social safety nets such as Zakat, Baitul Maal and other interventions under the Ehsaas program need to be enhanced in an effort to strengthen the middle class to promote food security and avoid catastrophic health costs till such time as the economy can stand on a firm footing. Good governance is of essence to the whole exercise encompassing affirmative action in enhancing health allocations to a respectable level in keeping with government policy and must be regarded as an investment in the future.
Everything said and done, the need for maintaining peace and tolerance cannot be over-emphasized if the social sectors including Health have to prosper in Pakistan to the immense benefit of not only our country but the region as a whole. Emotive rhetoric has distracted us from our main goals for too long, let us now be guided by Mr. Jinnah who stated in unequivocal terms: “Our object should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with the world at large.” No advice can serve us better in building a fairer and healthier country with justice for all.
The author is a senior public health and public policy specialist of Pakistan and can be reached at gnkaziumkc @gmail.com
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The РТАК-30 attack vintoplan (also known as vintokryl) owed its existence to the Mil Mi-30 plane/helicopter project that originated in 1972. The Mil Mi-30 was conceived as a transport aircraft that could hold up to 19 passengers or two tons of cargo, and its purpose was to replace the Mi-8 and Mi-17 Helicopters in both civil and military roles. With vertical takeoff through a pair of tiltrotor engine pods on the wing tips (similar in layout to the later V-22 Osprey) and the ability to fly like a normal plane, the Mil Mi-30 had a clear advantage over the older models.
Since the vintoplan concept was a completely new field of research and engineering, a dedicated design bureau was installed in the mid-Seventies at the Rostov-na-Donu helicopter factory, where most helicopters from the Mil design bureau were produced, under the title Ростов Тилт Ротор Авиационная Компания (Rostov Tilt Rotor Aircraft Company), or РТАК (RTRA), for short.
The vintoplan project lingered for some time, with basic research being conducted concerning aerodynamics, rotor design and flight control systems. Many findings later found their way into conventional planes and helicopters. At the beginning of the 1980s, the project had progressed far enough that the vintoplan received official backing so that РТАК scientists and Mil helicopter engineers assembled and tested several layouts and components for this complicated aircraft type.
At that time the Mil Mi-30 vintoplan was expected to use a single TV3-117 Turbo Shaft Engine with a four-bladed propeller rotors on each of its two pairs of stub wings of almost equal span. The engine was still installed in the fuselage and the proprotors driven by long shafts.
However, while being a very clean design, this original layout revealed several problems concerning aeroelasticity, dynamics of construction, characteristics for the converter apparatuses, aerodynamics and flight dynamics. In the course of further development stages and attempts to rectify the technical issues, the vintoplan layout went through several revisions. The layout shifted consequently from having 4 smaller engines in rotating pods on two pairs of stub wings through three engines with rotating nacelles on the front wings and a fixed, horizontal rotor over the tail and finally back to only 2 engines (much like the initial concept), but this time mounted in rotating nacelles on the wing tips and a canard stabilizer layout.
In August 1981 the Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers on weapons eventually issued a decree on the development of a flyworthy Mil Mi-30 vintoplan prototype. Shortly afterwards the military approved of the vintoplan, too, but desired bigger, more powerful engines in order to improve performance and weight capacity. In the course of the ensuing project refinement, the weight capacity was raised to 3-5 tons and the passenger limit to 32. In parallel, the modified type was also foreseen for civil operations as a short range feederliner, potentially replacing Yak-40 and An-24 airliners in Aeroflot service.
In 1982, РТАК took the interest from the military and proposed a dedicated attack vintoplan, based on former research and existing components of the original transport variant. This project was accepted by MAP and received the separate designation РТАК-30. However, despite having some close technical relations to the Mi-30 transport (primarily the engine nacelles, their rotation mechanism and the flight control systems), the РТАК-30 was a completely different aircraft. The timing was good, though, and the proposal was met with much interest, since the innovative vintoplan concept was to compete against traditional helicopters: the design work on the dedicated Mi-28 and Ka-50 attack helicopters had just started at that time, too, so that РТАК received green lights for the construction of five prototypes: four flyworthy machines plus one more for static ground tests.
The РТАК-30 was based on one of the early Mi-30 layouts and it combined two pairs of mid-set wings with different wing spans with a tall tail fin that ensured directional stability. Each wing carried a rotating engine nacelle with a so-called proprotor on its tip, each with three high aspect ratio blades. The proprotors were handed (i.e. revolved in opposite directions) in order to minimize torque effects and improve handling, esp. in the hover. The front and back pair of engines were cross-linked among each other on a common driveshaft, eliminating engine-out asymmetric thrust problems during V/STOL operations. In the event of the failure of one engine, it would automatically disconnect through torque spring clutches and both propellers on a pair of wings would be driven by the remaining engine.
Four engines were chosen because, despite the weight and complexity penalty, this extra power was expected to be required in order to achieve a performance that was markedly superior to a conventional helicopter like the Mi-24, the primary Soviet attack helicopter of that era the РТАК-30 was supposed to replace. It was also expected that the rotating nacelles could also be used to improve agility in level flight through a mild form of vectored thrust.
The РТАК-30’s streamlined fuselage provided ample space for avionics, fuel, a fully retractable tricycle landing gear and a two man crew in an armored side-by-side cockpit with ejection seats. The windshield was able to withstand 12.7–14.5 mm caliber bullets, the titanium cockpit tub could take hits from 20 mm cannon. An autonomous power unit (APU) was housed in the fuselage, too, making operations of the aircraft independent from ground support.
While the РТАК-30 was not intended for use as a transport, the fuselage was spacious enough to have a small compartment between the front wings spars, capable of carrying up to three people. The purpose of this was the rescue of downed helicopter crews, as a cargo hold esp. for transfer flights and as additional space for future mission equipment or extra fuel.
In vertical flight, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotor system used controls very similar to a twin or tandem-rotor helicopter. Yaw was controlled by tilting its rotors in opposite directions. Roll was provided through differential power or thrust, supported by ailerons on the rear wings. Pitch was provided through rotor cyclic or nacelle tilt and further aerodynamic surfaces on both pairs of wings. Vertical motion was controlled with conventional rotor blade pitch and a control similar to a fixed-wing engine control called a thrust control lever (TCL). The rotor heads had elastomeric bearings and the proprotor blades were made from composite materials, which could sustain 30 mm shells.
The РТАК-30 featured a helmet-mounted display for the pilot, a very modern development at its time. The pilot designated targets for the navigator/weapons officer, who proceeded to fire the weapons required to fulfill that particular task. The integrated surveillance and fire control system had two optical channels providing wide and narrow fields of view, a narrow-field-of-view optical television channel, and a laser rangefinder. The system could move within 110 degrees in azimuth and from +13 to −40 degrees in elevation and was placed in a spherical dome on top of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit.
The aircraft carried one automatic 2A42 30 mm internal gun, mounted semi-rigidly fixed near the center of the fuselage, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The arrangement was also regarded as being more practical than a classic free-turning turret mount for the aircraft’s considerably higher flight speed than a normal helicopter. As a side effect, the semi-rigid mounting improved the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges. Ammunition supply was 460 rounds, with separate compartments for high-fragmentation, explosive incendiary, or armor-piercing rounds. The type of ammunition could be selected by the pilot during flight.
The gunner can select one of two rates of full automatic fire, low at 200 to 300 rds/min and high at 550 to 800 rds/min. The effective range when engaging ground targets such as light armored vehicles is 1,500 m, while soft-skinned targets can be engaged out to 4,000 m. Air targets can be engaged flying at low altitudes of up to 2,000 m and up to a slant range of 2,500 m.
A substantial range of weapons could be carried on four hardpoints under the front wings, plus three more under the fuselage, for a total ordnance of up to 2,500 kg (with reduced internal fuel). The РТАК-30‘s main armament comprised up to 24 laser-guided Vikhr missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. These tube-launched missiles could be used against ground and aerial targets. A search and tracking radar was housed in a thimble radome on the РТАК-30’s nose and their laser guidance system (mounted in a separate turret under the radome) was reported to be virtually jam-proof. The system furthermore featured automatic guidance to the target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch. Alternatively, the system was also compatible with Ataka laser-guided anti-tank missiles.
Other weapon options included laser- or TV-guided Kh-25 missiles as well as iron bombs and napalm tanks of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber and several rocket pods, including the S-13 and S-8 rockets. The "dumb" rocket pods could be upgraded to laser guidance with the proposed Ugroza system. Against helicopters and aircraft the РТАК-30 could carry up to four R-60 and/or R-73 IR-guided AAMs. Drop tanks and gun pods could be carried, too.
When the РТАК-30's proprotors were perpendicular to the motion in the high-speed portions of the flight regime, the aircraft demonstrated a relatively high maximum speed: over 300 knots/560 km/h top speed were achieved during state acceptance trials in 1987, as well as sustained cruise speeds of 250 knots/460 km/h, which was almost twice as fast as a conventional helicopter. Furthermore, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotors and stub wings provided the aircraft with a substantially greater cruise altitude capability than conventional helicopters: during the prototypes’ tests the machines easily reached 6,000 m / 20,000 ft or more, whereas helicopters typically do not exceed 3,000 m / 10,000 ft altitude.
Flight tests in general and flight control system refinement in specific lasted until late 1988, and while the vintoplan concept proved to be sound, the technical and practical problems persisted. The aircraft was complex and heavy, and pilots found the machine to be hazardous to land, due to its low ground clearance. Due to structural limits the machine could also never be brought to its expected agility limits
During that time the Soviet Union’s internal tensions rose and more and more hampered the РТАК-30’s development. During this time, two of the prototypes were lost (the 1st and 4th machine) in accidents, and in 1989 only two machines were left in flightworthy condition (the 5th airframe had been set aside for structural ground tests). Nevertheless, the РТАК-30 made its public debut at the Paris Air Show in June 1989 (the 3rd prototype, coded “33 Yellow”), together with the Mi-28A, but was only shown in static display and did not take part in any flight show. After that, the aircraft received the NATO ASCC code "Hemlock" and caused serious concern in Western military headquarters, since the РТАК-30 had the potential to dominate the European battlefield.
And this was just about to happen: Despite the РТАК-30’s development problems, the innovative attack vintoplan was included in the Soviet Union’s 5-year plan for 1989-1995, and the vehicle was eventually expected to enter service in 1996. However, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dwindling economics, neither the РТАК-30 nor its civil Mil Mi-30 sister did soar out in the new age of technology. In 1990 the whole program was stopped and both surviving РТАК-30 prototypes were mothballed – one (the 3rd prototype) was disassembled and its components brought to the Rostov-na-Donu Mil plant, while the other, prototype No. 1, is rumored to be stored at the Central Russian Air Force Museum in Monino, to be restored to a public exhibition piece some day.
General characteristics:
Crew: Two (pilot, copilot/WSO) plus space for up to three passengers or cargo
Length: 45 ft 7 1/2 in (13,93 m)
Rotor diameter: 20 ft 9 in (6,33 m)
Wingspan incl. engine nacelles: 42 ft 8 1/4 in (13,03 m)
Total width with rotors: 58 ft 8 1/2 in (17,93 m)
Height: 17 ft (5,18 m) at top of tailfin
Disc area: 4x 297 ft² (27,65 m²)
Wing area: 342.2 ft² (36,72 m²)
Empty weight: 8,500 kg (18,740 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,500 lb)
Powerplant:
4× Klimov VK-2500PS-03 turboshaft turbines, 2,400 hp (1.765 kW) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 275 knots (509 km/h, 316 mph) at sea level
305 kn (565 km/h; 351 mph) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
Cruise speed: 241 kn (277 mph, 446 km/h) at sea level
Stall speed: 110 kn (126 mph, 204 km/h) in airplane mode
Range: 879 nmi (1,011 mi, 1,627 km)
Combat radius: 390 nmi (426 mi, 722 km)
Ferry range: 1,940 nmi (2,230 mi, 3,590 km) with auxiliary external fuel tanks
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Rate of climb: 2,320–4,000 ft/min (11.8 m/s)
Glide ratio: 4.5:1
Disc loading: 20.9 lb/ft² at 47,500 lb GW (102.23 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.259 hp/lb (427 W/kg)
Armament:
1× 30 mm (1.18 in) 2A42 multi-purpose autocannon with 450 rounds
7 external hardpoints for a maximum ordnance of 2.500 kg (5.500 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This exotic, fictional aircraft-thing is a contribution to the “The Flying Machines of Unconventional Means” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2019. While the propulsion system itself is not that unconventional, I deemed the quadrocopter concept (which had already been on my agenda for a while) to be suitable for a worthy submission.
The Mil Mi-30 tiltrotor aircraft, mentioned in the background above, was a real project – but my alternative combat vintoplan design is purely speculative.
I had already stashed away some donor parts, primarily two sets of tiltrotor backpacks for 1:144 Gundam mecha from Bandai, which had been released recently. While these looked a little toy-like, these parts had the charm of coming with handed propellers and stub wings that would allow the engine nacelles to swivel.
The search for a suitable fuselage turned out to be a more complex safari than expected. My initial choice was the spoofy Italeri Mi-28 kit (I initially wanted a staggered tandem cockpit), but it turned out to be much too big for what I wanted to achieve. Then I tested a “real” Mi-28 (Dragon) and a Ka-50 (Italeri), but both failed for different reasons – the Mi-28 was too slender, while the Ka-50 had the right size – but converting it for my build would have been VERY complicated, because the engine nacelles would have to go and the fuselage shape between the cockpit and the fuselage section around the original engines and stub wings would be hard to adapt. I eventually bought an Italeri Ka-52 two-seater as fuselage donor.
In order to mount the four engines to the fuselage I’d need two pairs of wings of appropriate span – and I found a pair of 1:100 A-10 wings as well as the wings from an 1:72 PZL Iskra (not perfect, but the most suitable donor parts I could find in the junkyard). On the tips of these wings, the swiveling joints for the engine nacelles from the Bandai set were glued. While mounting the rear wings was not too difficult (just the Ka-52’s OOB stabilizers had to go), the front pair of wings was more complex. The reason: the Ka-52’s engines had to go and their attachment points, which are actually shallow recesses on the kit, had to be faired over first. Instead of filling everything with putty I decided to cover the areas with 0.5mm styrene sheet first, and then do cosmetic PSR work. This worked quite well and also included a cover for the Ka-52’s original rotor mast mount. Onto these new flanks the pair of front wings was attached, in a mid position – a conceptual mistake…
The cockpit was taken OOB and the aircraft’s nose received an additional thimble radome, reminiscent of the Mi-28’s arrangement. The radome itself was created from a German 500 kg WWII bomb.
At this stage, the mid-wing mistake reared its ugly head – it had two painful consequences which I had not fully thought through. Problem #1: the engine nacelles turned out to be too long. When rotated into a vertical position, they’d potentially hit the ground! Furthermore, the ground clearance was very low – and I decided to skip the Ka-52’s OOB landing gear in favor of a heavier and esp. longer alternative, a full landing gear set from an Italeri MiG-37 “Ferret E” stealth fighter, which itself resembles a MiG-23/27 landing gear. Due to the expected higher speeds of the vintoplan I gave the landing gear full covers (partly scratched, plus some donor parts from an Academy MiG-27). It took some trials to get the new landing gear into the right position and a suitable stance – but it worked. With this benchmark I was also able to modify the engine nacelles, shortening their rear ends. They were still very (too!) close to the ground, but at least the model would not sit on them!
However, the more complete the model became, the more design flaws turned up. Another mistake is that the front and rear rotors slightly overlap when in vertical position – something that would be unthinkable in real life…
With all major components in place, however, detail work could proceed. This included the completion of the cockpit and the sensor turrets, the Ka-52 cannon and finally the ordnance. Due to the large rotors, any armament had to be concentrated around the fuselage, outside of the propeller discs. For this reason (and in order to prevent the rear engines to ingest exhaust gases from the front engines in level flight), I gave the front wings a slightly larger span, so that four underwing pylons could be fitted, plus a pair of underfuselage hardpoints.
The ordnance was puzzled together from the Italeri Ka-52 and from an ESCI Ka-34 (the fake Ka-50) kit.
Painting and markings:
With such an exotic aircraft, I rather wanted a conservative livery and opted for a typical Soviet tactical four-tone scheme from the Eighties – the idea was to build a prototype aircraft from the state acceptance trials period, not a flashy demonstrator. The scheme and the (guesstimated) colors were transferred from a Soviet air force MiG-21bis of that era, and it consists of a reddish light brown (Humbrol 119, Light Earth), a light, yellowish green (Humbrol 159, Khaki Drab), a bluish dark green (Humbrol 195, Dark Satin Green, a.k.a. RAL 6020 Chromdioxidgrün) and a dark brown (Humbrol 170, Brown Bess). For the undersides’ typical bluish grey I chose Humbrol 145 (FS 35237, Gray Blue), which is slightly lighter and less greenish than the typical Soviet tones. A light black ink wash was applied and some light post-shading was done in order to create panels that are structurally not there, augmented by some pencil lines.
The cockpit became light blue (Humbrol 89), with medium gray dashboard and consoles. The ejection seats received bright yellow seatbelts and bright blue pads – a detail seen on a Mi-28 cockpit picture.
Some dielectric fairings like the fin tip were painted in bright medium green (Humbrol 101), while some other antenna fairings were painted in pale yellow (Humbrol 71).
The landing gear struts and the interior of the wells became Aluminum Metalic (Humbrol 56), the wheels dark green discs (Humbrol 30).
The decals were puzzled together from various sources, including some Begemot sheets. Most of the stencils came from the Ka-52 OOB sheet, and generic decal sheet material was used to mark the walkways or the rotor tips and leading edges.
Only some light weathering was done to the leading edges of the wings, and then the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
A complex kitbashing project, and it revealed some pitfalls in the course of making. However, the result looks menacing and still convincing, esp. in flight – even though the picture editing, with four artificially rotating proprotors, was probably more tedious than building the model itself!
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The РТАК-30 attack vintoplan (also known as vintokryl) owed its existence to the Mil Mi-30 plane/helicopter project that originated in 1972. The Mil Mi-30 was conceived as a transport aircraft that could hold up to 19 passengers or two tons of cargo, and its purpose was to replace the Mi-8 and Mi-17 Helicopters in both civil and military roles. With vertical takeoff through a pair of tiltrotor engine pods on the wing tips (similar in layout to the later V-22 Osprey) and the ability to fly like a normal plane, the Mil Mi-30 had a clear advantage over the older models.
Since the vintoplan concept was a completely new field of research and engineering, a dedicated design bureau was installed in the mid-Seventies at the Rostov-na-Donu helicopter factory, where most helicopters from the Mil design bureau were produced, under the title Ростов Тилт Ротор Авиационная Компания (Rostov Tilt Rotor Aircraft Company), or РТАК (RTRA), for short.
The vintoplan project lingered for some time, with basic research being conducted concerning aerodynamics, rotor design and flight control systems. Many findings later found their way into conventional planes and helicopters. At the beginning of the 1980s, the project had progressed far enough that the vintoplan received official backing so that РТАК scientists and Mil helicopter engineers assembled and tested several layouts and components for this complicated aircraft type.
At that time the Mil Mi-30 vintoplan was expected to use a single TV3-117 Turbo Shaft Engine with a four-bladed propeller rotors on each of its two pairs of stub wings of almost equal span. The engine was still installed in the fuselage and the proprotors driven by long shafts.
However, while being a very clean design, this original layout revealed several problems concerning aeroelasticity, dynamics of construction, characteristics for the converter apparatuses, aerodynamics and flight dynamics. In the course of further development stages and attempts to rectify the technical issues, the vintoplan layout went through several revisions. The layout shifted consequently from having 4 smaller engines in rotating pods on two pairs of stub wings through three engines with rotating nacelles on the front wings and a fixed, horizontal rotor over the tail and finally back to only 2 engines (much like the initial concept), but this time mounted in rotating nacelles on the wing tips and a canard stabilizer layout.
In August 1981 the Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers on weapons eventually issued a decree on the development of a flyworthy Mil Mi-30 vintoplan prototype. Shortly afterwards the military approved of the vintoplan, too, but desired bigger, more powerful engines in order to improve performance and weight capacity. In the course of the ensuing project refinement, the weight capacity was raised to 3-5 tons and the passenger limit to 32. In parallel, the modified type was also foreseen for civil operations as a short range feederliner, potentially replacing Yak-40 and An-24 airliners in Aeroflot service.
In 1982, РТАК took the interest from the military and proposed a dedicated attack vintoplan, based on former research and existing components of the original transport variant. This project was accepted by MAP and received the separate designation РТАК-30. However, despite having some close technical relations to the Mi-30 transport (primarily the engine nacelles, their rotation mechanism and the flight control systems), the РТАК-30 was a completely different aircraft. The timing was good, though, and the proposal was met with much interest, since the innovative vintoplan concept was to compete against traditional helicopters: the design work on the dedicated Mi-28 and Ka-50 attack helicopters had just started at that time, too, so that РТАК received green lights for the construction of five prototypes: four flyworthy machines plus one more for static ground tests.
The РТАК-30 was based on one of the early Mi-30 layouts and it combined two pairs of mid-set wings with different wing spans with a tall tail fin that ensured directional stability. Each wing carried a rotating engine nacelle with a so-called proprotor on its tip, each with three high aspect ratio blades. The proprotors were handed (i.e. revolved in opposite directions) in order to minimize torque effects and improve handling, esp. in the hover. The front and back pair of engines were cross-linked among each other on a common driveshaft, eliminating engine-out asymmetric thrust problems during V/STOL operations. In the event of the failure of one engine, it would automatically disconnect through torque spring clutches and both propellers on a pair of wings would be driven by the remaining engine.
Four engines were chosen because, despite the weight and complexity penalty, this extra power was expected to be required in order to achieve a performance that was markedly superior to a conventional helicopter like the Mi-24, the primary Soviet attack helicopter of that era the РТАК-30 was supposed to replace. It was also expected that the rotating nacelles could also be used to improve agility in level flight through a mild form of vectored thrust.
The РТАК-30’s streamlined fuselage provided ample space for avionics, fuel, a fully retractable tricycle landing gear and a two man crew in an armored side-by-side cockpit with ejection seats. The windshield was able to withstand 12.7–14.5 mm caliber bullets, the titanium cockpit tub could take hits from 20 mm cannon. An autonomous power unit (APU) was housed in the fuselage, too, making operations of the aircraft independent from ground support.
While the РТАК-30 was not intended for use as a transport, the fuselage was spacious enough to have a small compartment between the front wings spars, capable of carrying up to three people. The purpose of this was the rescue of downed helicopter crews, as a cargo hold esp. for transfer flights and as additional space for future mission equipment or extra fuel.
In vertical flight, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotor system used controls very similar to a twin or tandem-rotor helicopter. Yaw was controlled by tilting its rotors in opposite directions. Roll was provided through differential power or thrust, supported by ailerons on the rear wings. Pitch was provided through rotor cyclic or nacelle tilt and further aerodynamic surfaces on both pairs of wings. Vertical motion was controlled with conventional rotor blade pitch and a control similar to a fixed-wing engine control called a thrust control lever (TCL). The rotor heads had elastomeric bearings and the proprotor blades were made from composite materials, which could sustain 30 mm shells.
The РТАК-30 featured a helmet-mounted display for the pilot, a very modern development at its time. The pilot designated targets for the navigator/weapons officer, who proceeded to fire the weapons required to fulfill that particular task. The integrated surveillance and fire control system had two optical channels providing wide and narrow fields of view, a narrow-field-of-view optical television channel, and a laser rangefinder. The system could move within 110 degrees in azimuth and from +13 to −40 degrees in elevation and was placed in a spherical dome on top of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit.
The aircraft carried one automatic 2A42 30 mm internal gun, mounted semi-rigidly fixed near the center of the fuselage, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The arrangement was also regarded as being more practical than a classic free-turning turret mount for the aircraft’s considerably higher flight speed than a normal helicopter. As a side effect, the semi-rigid mounting improved the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges. Ammunition supply was 460 rounds, with separate compartments for high-fragmentation, explosive incendiary, or armor-piercing rounds. The type of ammunition could be selected by the pilot during flight.
The gunner can select one of two rates of full automatic fire, low at 200 to 300 rds/min and high at 550 to 800 rds/min. The effective range when engaging ground targets such as light armored vehicles is 1,500 m, while soft-skinned targets can be engaged out to 4,000 m. Air targets can be engaged flying at low altitudes of up to 2,000 m and up to a slant range of 2,500 m.
A substantial range of weapons could be carried on four hardpoints under the front wings, plus three more under the fuselage, for a total ordnance of up to 2,500 kg (with reduced internal fuel). The РТАК-30‘s main armament comprised up to 24 laser-guided Vikhr missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. These tube-launched missiles could be used against ground and aerial targets. A search and tracking radar was housed in a thimble radome on the РТАК-30’s nose and their laser guidance system (mounted in a separate turret under the radome) was reported to be virtually jam-proof. The system furthermore featured automatic guidance to the target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch. Alternatively, the system was also compatible with Ataka laser-guided anti-tank missiles.
Other weapon options included laser- or TV-guided Kh-25 missiles as well as iron bombs and napalm tanks of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber and several rocket pods, including the S-13 and S-8 rockets. The "dumb" rocket pods could be upgraded to laser guidance with the proposed Ugroza system. Against helicopters and aircraft the РТАК-30 could carry up to four R-60 and/or R-73 IR-guided AAMs. Drop tanks and gun pods could be carried, too.
When the РТАК-30's proprotors were perpendicular to the motion in the high-speed portions of the flight regime, the aircraft demonstrated a relatively high maximum speed: over 300 knots/560 km/h top speed were achieved during state acceptance trials in 1987, as well as sustained cruise speeds of 250 knots/460 km/h, which was almost twice as fast as a conventional helicopter. Furthermore, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotors and stub wings provided the aircraft with a substantially greater cruise altitude capability than conventional helicopters: during the prototypes’ tests the machines easily reached 6,000 m / 20,000 ft or more, whereas helicopters typically do not exceed 3,000 m / 10,000 ft altitude.
Flight tests in general and flight control system refinement in specific lasted until late 1988, and while the vintoplan concept proved to be sound, the technical and practical problems persisted. The aircraft was complex and heavy, and pilots found the machine to be hazardous to land, due to its low ground clearance. Due to structural limits the machine could also never be brought to its expected agility limits
During that time the Soviet Union’s internal tensions rose and more and more hampered the РТАК-30’s development. During this time, two of the prototypes were lost (the 1st and 4th machine) in accidents, and in 1989 only two machines were left in flightworthy condition (the 5th airframe had been set aside for structural ground tests). Nevertheless, the РТАК-30 made its public debut at the Paris Air Show in June 1989 (the 3rd prototype, coded “33 Yellow”), together with the Mi-28A, but was only shown in static display and did not take part in any flight show. After that, the aircraft received the NATO ASCC code "Hemlock" and caused serious concern in Western military headquarters, since the РТАК-30 had the potential to dominate the European battlefield.
And this was just about to happen: Despite the РТАК-30’s development problems, the innovative attack vintoplan was included in the Soviet Union’s 5-year plan for 1989-1995, and the vehicle was eventually expected to enter service in 1996. However, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dwindling economics, neither the РТАК-30 nor its civil Mil Mi-30 sister did soar out in the new age of technology. In 1990 the whole program was stopped and both surviving РТАК-30 prototypes were mothballed – one (the 3rd prototype) was disassembled and its components brought to the Rostov-na-Donu Mil plant, while the other, prototype No. 1, is rumored to be stored at the Central Russian Air Force Museum in Monino, to be restored to a public exhibition piece some day.
General characteristics:
Crew: Two (pilot, copilot/WSO) plus space for up to three passengers or cargo
Length: 45 ft 7 1/2 in (13,93 m)
Rotor diameter: 20 ft 9 in (6,33 m)
Wingspan incl. engine nacelles: 42 ft 8 1/4 in (13,03 m)
Total width with rotors: 58 ft 8 1/2 in (17,93 m)
Height: 17 ft (5,18 m) at top of tailfin
Disc area: 4x 297 ft² (27,65 m²)
Wing area: 342.2 ft² (36,72 m²)
Empty weight: 8,500 kg (18,740 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,500 lb)
Powerplant:
4× Klimov VK-2500PS-03 turboshaft turbines, 2,400 hp (1.765 kW) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 275 knots (509 km/h, 316 mph) at sea level
305 kn (565 km/h; 351 mph) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
Cruise speed: 241 kn (277 mph, 446 km/h) at sea level
Stall speed: 110 kn (126 mph, 204 km/h) in airplane mode
Range: 879 nmi (1,011 mi, 1,627 km)
Combat radius: 390 nmi (426 mi, 722 km)
Ferry range: 1,940 nmi (2,230 mi, 3,590 km) with auxiliary external fuel tanks
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Rate of climb: 2,320–4,000 ft/min (11.8 m/s)
Glide ratio: 4.5:1
Disc loading: 20.9 lb/ft² at 47,500 lb GW (102.23 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.259 hp/lb (427 W/kg)
Armament:
1× 30 mm (1.18 in) 2A42 multi-purpose autocannon with 450 rounds
7 external hardpoints for a maximum ordnance of 2.500 kg (5.500 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This exotic, fictional aircraft-thing is a contribution to the “The Flying Machines of Unconventional Means” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2019. While the propulsion system itself is not that unconventional, I deemed the quadrocopter concept (which had already been on my agenda for a while) to be suitable for a worthy submission.
The Mil Mi-30 tiltrotor aircraft, mentioned in the background above, was a real project – but my alternative combat vintoplan design is purely speculative.
I had already stashed away some donor parts, primarily two sets of tiltrotor backpacks for 1:144 Gundam mecha from Bandai, which had been released recently. While these looked a little toy-like, these parts had the charm of coming with handed propellers and stub wings that would allow the engine nacelles to swivel.
The search for a suitable fuselage turned out to be a more complex safari than expected. My initial choice was the spoofy Italeri Mi-28 kit (I initially wanted a staggered tandem cockpit), but it turned out to be much too big for what I wanted to achieve. Then I tested a “real” Mi-28 (Dragon) and a Ka-50 (Italeri), but both failed for different reasons – the Mi-28 was too slender, while the Ka-50 had the right size – but converting it for my build would have been VERY complicated, because the engine nacelles would have to go and the fuselage shape between the cockpit and the fuselage section around the original engines and stub wings would be hard to adapt. I eventually bought an Italeri Ka-52 two-seater as fuselage donor.
In order to mount the four engines to the fuselage I’d need two pairs of wings of appropriate span – and I found a pair of 1:100 A-10 wings as well as the wings from an 1:72 PZL Iskra (not perfect, but the most suitable donor parts I could find in the junkyard). On the tips of these wings, the swiveling joints for the engine nacelles from the Bandai set were glued. While mounting the rear wings was not too difficult (just the Ka-52’s OOB stabilizers had to go), the front pair of wings was more complex. The reason: the Ka-52’s engines had to go and their attachment points, which are actually shallow recesses on the kit, had to be faired over first. Instead of filling everything with putty I decided to cover the areas with 0.5mm styrene sheet first, and then do cosmetic PSR work. This worked quite well and also included a cover for the Ka-52’s original rotor mast mount. Onto these new flanks the pair of front wings was attached, in a mid position – a conceptual mistake…
The cockpit was taken OOB and the aircraft’s nose received an additional thimble radome, reminiscent of the Mi-28’s arrangement. The radome itself was created from a German 500 kg WWII bomb.
At this stage, the mid-wing mistake reared its ugly head – it had two painful consequences which I had not fully thought through. Problem #1: the engine nacelles turned out to be too long. When rotated into a vertical position, they’d potentially hit the ground! Furthermore, the ground clearance was very low – and I decided to skip the Ka-52’s OOB landing gear in favor of a heavier and esp. longer alternative, a full landing gear set from an Italeri MiG-37 “Ferret E” stealth fighter, which itself resembles a MiG-23/27 landing gear. Due to the expected higher speeds of the vintoplan I gave the landing gear full covers (partly scratched, plus some donor parts from an Academy MiG-27). It took some trials to get the new landing gear into the right position and a suitable stance – but it worked. With this benchmark I was also able to modify the engine nacelles, shortening their rear ends. They were still very (too!) close to the ground, but at least the model would not sit on them!
However, the more complete the model became, the more design flaws turned up. Another mistake is that the front and rear rotors slightly overlap when in vertical position – something that would be unthinkable in real life…
With all major components in place, however, detail work could proceed. This included the completion of the cockpit and the sensor turrets, the Ka-52 cannon and finally the ordnance. Due to the large rotors, any armament had to be concentrated around the fuselage, outside of the propeller discs. For this reason (and in order to prevent the rear engines to ingest exhaust gases from the front engines in level flight), I gave the front wings a slightly larger span, so that four underwing pylons could be fitted, plus a pair of underfuselage hardpoints.
The ordnance was puzzled together from the Italeri Ka-52 and from an ESCI Ka-34 (the fake Ka-50) kit.
Painting and markings:
With such an exotic aircraft, I rather wanted a conservative livery and opted for a typical Soviet tactical four-tone scheme from the Eighties – the idea was to build a prototype aircraft from the state acceptance trials period, not a flashy demonstrator. The scheme and the (guesstimated) colors were transferred from a Soviet air force MiG-21bis of that era, and it consists of a reddish light brown (Humbrol 119, Light Earth), a light, yellowish green (Humbrol 159, Khaki Drab), a bluish dark green (Humbrol 195, Dark Satin Green, a.k.a. RAL 6020 Chromdioxidgrün) and a dark brown (Humbrol 170, Brown Bess). For the undersides’ typical bluish grey I chose Humbrol 145 (FS 35237, Gray Blue), which is slightly lighter and less greenish than the typical Soviet tones. A light black ink wash was applied and some light post-shading was done in order to create panels that are structurally not there, augmented by some pencil lines.
The cockpit became light blue (Humbrol 89), with medium gray dashboard and consoles. The ejection seats received bright yellow seatbelts and bright blue pads – a detail seen on a Mi-28 cockpit picture.
Some dielectric fairings like the fin tip were painted in bright medium green (Humbrol 101), while some other antenna fairings were painted in pale yellow (Humbrol 71).
The landing gear struts and the interior of the wells became Aluminum Metalic (Humbrol 56), the wheels dark green discs (Humbrol 30).
The decals were puzzled together from various sources, including some Begemot sheets. Most of the stencils came from the Ka-52 OOB sheet, and generic decal sheet material was used to mark the walkways or the rotor tips and leading edges.
Only some light weathering was done to the leading edges of the wings, and then the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
A complex kitbashing project, and it revealed some pitfalls in the course of making. However, the result looks menacing and still convincing, esp. in flight – even though the picture editing, with four artificially rotating proprotors, was probably more tedious than building the model itself!
A mosquito floating on calm waters of Tso Moriri, Ladakh. Blue and yellow patterns are reflections of sky and mountains)
After discovering it's existence in a small publication "The Railways of Nottingham" three friends and I set out to explore 'The Back Line' on Saturday 27th March 1971.
The first six miles of the Great Northern Railway's Derbyshire Extension seemed to have acquired this name because it passed north, and thus 'round the back', of Nottingham.
The main engineering feature of this section was Mapperley Tunnel with it's deep cuttings either side.
This first photo on the walk was taken about half way between the site of Gedling Station and Gedling Colliery Sidings with Lambley Lane bridge in the distance.
my first 35mm film neg 02 adj 1
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The РТАК-30 attack vintoplan (also known as vintokryl) owed its existence to the Mil Mi-30 plane/helicopter project that originated in 1972. The Mil Mi-30 was conceived as a transport aircraft that could hold up to 19 passengers or two tons of cargo, and its purpose was to replace the Mi-8 and Mi-17 Helicopters in both civil and military roles. With vertical takeoff through a pair of tiltrotor engine pods on the wing tips (similar in layout to the later V-22 Osprey) and the ability to fly like a normal plane, the Mil Mi-30 had a clear advantage over the older models.
Since the vintoplan concept was a completely new field of research and engineering, a dedicated design bureau was installed in the mid-Seventies at the Rostov-na-Donu helicopter factory, where most helicopters from the Mil design bureau were produced, under the title Ростов Тилт Ротор Авиационная Компания (Rostov Tilt Rotor Aircraft Company), or РТАК (RTRA), for short.
The vintoplan project lingered for some time, with basic research being conducted concerning aerodynamics, rotor design and flight control systems. Many findings later found their way into conventional planes and helicopters. At the beginning of the 1980s, the project had progressed far enough that the vintoplan received official backing so that РТАК scientists and Mil helicopter engineers assembled and tested several layouts and components for this complicated aircraft type.
At that time the Mil Mi-30 vintoplan was expected to use a single TV3-117 Turbo Shaft Engine with a four-bladed propeller rotors on each of its two pairs of stub wings of almost equal span. The engine was still installed in the fuselage and the proprotors driven by long shafts.
However, while being a very clean design, this original layout revealed several problems concerning aeroelasticity, dynamics of construction, characteristics for the converter apparatuses, aerodynamics and flight dynamics. In the course of further development stages and attempts to rectify the technical issues, the vintoplan layout went through several revisions. The layout shifted consequently from having 4 smaller engines in rotating pods on two pairs of stub wings through three engines with rotating nacelles on the front wings and a fixed, horizontal rotor over the tail and finally back to only 2 engines (much like the initial concept), but this time mounted in rotating nacelles on the wing tips and a canard stabilizer layout.
In August 1981 the Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers on weapons eventually issued a decree on the development of a flyworthy Mil Mi-30 vintoplan prototype. Shortly afterwards the military approved of the vintoplan, too, but desired bigger, more powerful engines in order to improve performance and weight capacity. In the course of the ensuing project refinement, the weight capacity was raised to 3-5 tons and the passenger limit to 32. In parallel, the modified type was also foreseen for civil operations as a short range feederliner, potentially replacing Yak-40 and An-24 airliners in Aeroflot service.
In 1982, РТАК took the interest from the military and proposed a dedicated attack vintoplan, based on former research and existing components of the original transport variant. This project was accepted by MAP and received the separate designation РТАК-30. However, despite having some close technical relations to the Mi-30 transport (primarily the engine nacelles, their rotation mechanism and the flight control systems), the РТАК-30 was a completely different aircraft. The timing was good, though, and the proposal was met with much interest, since the innovative vintoplan concept was to compete against traditional helicopters: the design work on the dedicated Mi-28 and Ka-50 attack helicopters had just started at that time, too, so that РТАК received green lights for the construction of five prototypes: four flyworthy machines plus one more for static ground tests.
The РТАК-30 was based on one of the early Mi-30 layouts and it combined two pairs of mid-set wings with different wing spans with a tall tail fin that ensured directional stability. Each wing carried a rotating engine nacelle with a so-called proprotor on its tip, each with three high aspect ratio blades. The proprotors were handed (i.e. revolved in opposite directions) in order to minimize torque effects and improve handling, esp. in the hover. The front and back pair of engines were cross-linked among each other on a common driveshaft, eliminating engine-out asymmetric thrust problems during V/STOL operations. In the event of the failure of one engine, it would automatically disconnect through torque spring clutches and both propellers on a pair of wings would be driven by the remaining engine.
Four engines were chosen because, despite the weight and complexity penalty, this extra power was expected to be required in order to achieve a performance that was markedly superior to a conventional helicopter like the Mi-24, the primary Soviet attack helicopter of that era the РТАК-30 was supposed to replace. It was also expected that the rotating nacelles could also be used to improve agility in level flight through a mild form of vectored thrust.
The РТАК-30’s streamlined fuselage provided ample space for avionics, fuel, a fully retractable tricycle landing gear and a two man crew in an armored side-by-side cockpit with ejection seats. The windshield was able to withstand 12.7–14.5 mm caliber bullets, the titanium cockpit tub could take hits from 20 mm cannon. An autonomous power unit (APU) was housed in the fuselage, too, making operations of the aircraft independent from ground support.
While the РТАК-30 was not intended for use as a transport, the fuselage was spacious enough to have a small compartment between the front wings spars, capable of carrying up to three people. The purpose of this was the rescue of downed helicopter crews, as a cargo hold esp. for transfer flights and as additional space for future mission equipment or extra fuel.
In vertical flight, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotor system used controls very similar to a twin or tandem-rotor helicopter. Yaw was controlled by tilting its rotors in opposite directions. Roll was provided through differential power or thrust, supported by ailerons on the rear wings. Pitch was provided through rotor cyclic or nacelle tilt and further aerodynamic surfaces on both pairs of wings. Vertical motion was controlled with conventional rotor blade pitch and a control similar to a fixed-wing engine control called a thrust control lever (TCL). The rotor heads had elastomeric bearings and the proprotor blades were made from composite materials, which could sustain 30 mm shells.
The РТАК-30 featured a helmet-mounted display for the pilot, a very modern development at its time. The pilot designated targets for the navigator/weapons officer, who proceeded to fire the weapons required to fulfill that particular task. The integrated surveillance and fire control system had two optical channels providing wide and narrow fields of view, a narrow-field-of-view optical television channel, and a laser rangefinder. The system could move within 110 degrees in azimuth and from +13 to −40 degrees in elevation and was placed in a spherical dome on top of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit.
The aircraft carried one automatic 2A42 30 mm internal gun, mounted semi-rigidly fixed near the center of the fuselage, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The arrangement was also regarded as being more practical than a classic free-turning turret mount for the aircraft’s considerably higher flight speed than a normal helicopter. As a side effect, the semi-rigid mounting improved the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges. Ammunition supply was 460 rounds, with separate compartments for high-fragmentation, explosive incendiary, or armor-piercing rounds. The type of ammunition could be selected by the pilot during flight.
The gunner can select one of two rates of full automatic fire, low at 200 to 300 rds/min and high at 550 to 800 rds/min. The effective range when engaging ground targets such as light armored vehicles is 1,500 m, while soft-skinned targets can be engaged out to 4,000 m. Air targets can be engaged flying at low altitudes of up to 2,000 m and up to a slant range of 2,500 m.
A substantial range of weapons could be carried on four hardpoints under the front wings, plus three more under the fuselage, for a total ordnance of up to 2,500 kg (with reduced internal fuel). The РТАК-30‘s main armament comprised up to 24 laser-guided Vikhr missiles with a maximum range of some 8 km. These tube-launched missiles could be used against ground and aerial targets. A search and tracking radar was housed in a thimble radome on the РТАК-30’s nose and their laser guidance system (mounted in a separate turret under the radome) was reported to be virtually jam-proof. The system furthermore featured automatic guidance to the target, enabling evasive action immediately after missile launch. Alternatively, the system was also compatible with Ataka laser-guided anti-tank missiles.
Other weapon options included laser- or TV-guided Kh-25 missiles as well as iron bombs and napalm tanks of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber and several rocket pods, including the S-13 and S-8 rockets. The "dumb" rocket pods could be upgraded to laser guidance with the proposed Ugroza system. Against helicopters and aircraft the РТАК-30 could carry up to four R-60 and/or R-73 IR-guided AAMs. Drop tanks and gun pods could be carried, too.
When the РТАК-30's proprotors were perpendicular to the motion in the high-speed portions of the flight regime, the aircraft demonstrated a relatively high maximum speed: over 300 knots/560 km/h top speed were achieved during state acceptance trials in 1987, as well as sustained cruise speeds of 250 knots/460 km/h, which was almost twice as fast as a conventional helicopter. Furthermore, the РТАК-30’s tiltrotors and stub wings provided the aircraft with a substantially greater cruise altitude capability than conventional helicopters: during the prototypes’ tests the machines easily reached 6,000 m / 20,000 ft or more, whereas helicopters typically do not exceed 3,000 m / 10,000 ft altitude.
Flight tests in general and flight control system refinement in specific lasted until late 1988, and while the vintoplan concept proved to be sound, the technical and practical problems persisted. The aircraft was complex and heavy, and pilots found the machine to be hazardous to land, due to its low ground clearance. Due to structural limits the machine could also never be brought to its expected agility limits
During that time the Soviet Union’s internal tensions rose and more and more hampered the РТАК-30’s development. During this time, two of the prototypes were lost (the 1st and 4th machine) in accidents, and in 1989 only two machines were left in flightworthy condition (the 5th airframe had been set aside for structural ground tests). Nevertheless, the РТАК-30 made its public debut at the Paris Air Show in June 1989 (the 3rd prototype, coded “33 Yellow”), together with the Mi-28A, but was only shown in static display and did not take part in any flight show. After that, the aircraft received the NATO ASCC code "Hemlock" and caused serious concern in Western military headquarters, since the РТАК-30 had the potential to dominate the European battlefield.
And this was just about to happen: Despite the РТАК-30’s development problems, the innovative attack vintoplan was included in the Soviet Union’s 5-year plan for 1989-1995, and the vehicle was eventually expected to enter service in 1996. However, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dwindling economics, neither the РТАК-30 nor its civil Mil Mi-30 sister did soar out in the new age of technology. In 1990 the whole program was stopped and both surviving РТАК-30 prototypes were mothballed – one (the 3rd prototype) was disassembled and its components brought to the Rostov-na-Donu Mil plant, while the other, prototype No. 1, is rumored to be stored at the Central Russian Air Force Museum in Monino, to be restored to a public exhibition piece some day.
General characteristics:
Crew: Two (pilot, copilot/WSO) plus space for up to three passengers or cargo
Length: 45 ft 7 1/2 in (13,93 m)
Rotor diameter: 20 ft 9 in (6,33 m)
Wingspan incl. engine nacelles: 42 ft 8 1/4 in (13,03 m)
Total width with rotors: 58 ft 8 1/2 in (17,93 m)
Height: 17 ft (5,18 m) at top of tailfin
Disc area: 4x 297 ft² (27,65 m²)
Wing area: 342.2 ft² (36,72 m²)
Empty weight: 8,500 kg (18,740 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,500 lb)
Powerplant:
4× Klimov VK-2500PS-03 turboshaft turbines, 2,400 hp (1.765 kW) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 275 knots (509 km/h, 316 mph) at sea level
305 kn (565 km/h; 351 mph) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
Cruise speed: 241 kn (277 mph, 446 km/h) at sea level
Stall speed: 110 kn (126 mph, 204 km/h) in airplane mode
Range: 879 nmi (1,011 mi, 1,627 km)
Combat radius: 390 nmi (426 mi, 722 km)
Ferry range: 1,940 nmi (2,230 mi, 3,590 km) with auxiliary external fuel tanks
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Rate of climb: 2,320–4,000 ft/min (11.8 m/s)
Glide ratio: 4.5:1
Disc loading: 20.9 lb/ft² at 47,500 lb GW (102.23 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.259 hp/lb (427 W/kg)
Armament:
1× 30 mm (1.18 in) 2A42 multi-purpose autocannon with 450 rounds
7 external hardpoints for a maximum ordnance of 2.500 kg (5.500 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This exotic, fictional aircraft-thing is a contribution to the “The Flying Machines of Unconventional Means” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2019. While the propulsion system itself is not that unconventional, I deemed the quadrocopter concept (which had already been on my agenda for a while) to be suitable for a worthy submission.
The Mil Mi-30 tiltrotor aircraft, mentioned in the background above, was a real project – but my alternative combat vintoplan design is purely speculative.
I had already stashed away some donor parts, primarily two sets of tiltrotor backpacks for 1:144 Gundam mecha from Bandai, which had been released recently. While these looked a little toy-like, these parts had the charm of coming with handed propellers and stub wings that would allow the engine nacelles to swivel.
The search for a suitable fuselage turned out to be a more complex safari than expected. My initial choice was the spoofy Italeri Mi-28 kit (I initially wanted a staggered tandem cockpit), but it turned out to be much too big for what I wanted to achieve. Then I tested a “real” Mi-28 (Dragon) and a Ka-50 (Italeri), but both failed for different reasons – the Mi-28 was too slender, while the Ka-50 had the right size – but converting it for my build would have been VERY complicated, because the engine nacelles would have to go and the fuselage shape between the cockpit and the fuselage section around the original engines and stub wings would be hard to adapt. I eventually bought an Italeri Ka-52 two-seater as fuselage donor.
In order to mount the four engines to the fuselage I’d need two pairs of wings of appropriate span – and I found a pair of 1:100 A-10 wings as well as the wings from an 1:72 PZL Iskra (not perfect, but the most suitable donor parts I could find in the junkyard). On the tips of these wings, the swiveling joints for the engine nacelles from the Bandai set were glued. While mounting the rear wings was not too difficult (just the Ka-52’s OOB stabilizers had to go), the front pair of wings was more complex. The reason: the Ka-52’s engines had to go and their attachment points, which are actually shallow recesses on the kit, had to be faired over first. Instead of filling everything with putty I decided to cover the areas with 0.5mm styrene sheet first, and then do cosmetic PSR work. This worked quite well and also included a cover for the Ka-52’s original rotor mast mount. Onto these new flanks the pair of front wings was attached, in a mid position – a conceptual mistake…
The cockpit was taken OOB and the aircraft’s nose received an additional thimble radome, reminiscent of the Mi-28’s arrangement. The radome itself was created from a German 500 kg WWII bomb.
At this stage, the mid-wing mistake reared its ugly head – it had two painful consequences which I had not fully thought through. Problem #1: the engine nacelles turned out to be too long. When rotated into a vertical position, they’d potentially hit the ground! Furthermore, the ground clearance was very low – and I decided to skip the Ka-52’s OOB landing gear in favor of a heavier and esp. longer alternative, a full landing gear set from an Italeri MiG-37 “Ferret E” stealth fighter, which itself resembles a MiG-23/27 landing gear. Due to the expected higher speeds of the vintoplan I gave the landing gear full covers (partly scratched, plus some donor parts from an Academy MiG-27). It took some trials to get the new landing gear into the right position and a suitable stance – but it worked. With this benchmark I was also able to modify the engine nacelles, shortening their rear ends. They were still very (too!) close to the ground, but at least the model would not sit on them!
However, the more complete the model became, the more design flaws turned up. Another mistake is that the front and rear rotors slightly overlap when in vertical position – something that would be unthinkable in real life…
With all major components in place, however, detail work could proceed. This included the completion of the cockpit and the sensor turrets, the Ka-52 cannon and finally the ordnance. Due to the large rotors, any armament had to be concentrated around the fuselage, outside of the propeller discs. For this reason (and in order to prevent the rear engines to ingest exhaust gases from the front engines in level flight), I gave the front wings a slightly larger span, so that four underwing pylons could be fitted, plus a pair of underfuselage hardpoints.
The ordnance was puzzled together from the Italeri Ka-52 and from an ESCI Ka-34 (the fake Ka-50) kit.
Painting and markings:
With such an exotic aircraft, I rather wanted a conservative livery and opted for a typical Soviet tactical four-tone scheme from the Eighties – the idea was to build a prototype aircraft from the state acceptance trials period, not a flashy demonstrator. The scheme and the (guesstimated) colors were transferred from a Soviet air force MiG-21bis of that era, and it consists of a reddish light brown (Humbrol 119, Light Earth), a light, yellowish green (Humbrol 159, Khaki Drab), a bluish dark green (Humbrol 195, Dark Satin Green, a.k.a. RAL 6020 Chromdioxidgrün) and a dark brown (Humbrol 170, Brown Bess). For the undersides’ typical bluish grey I chose Humbrol 145 (FS 35237, Gray Blue), which is slightly lighter and less greenish than the typical Soviet tones. A light black ink wash was applied and some light post-shading was done in order to create panels that are structurally not there, augmented by some pencil lines.
The cockpit became light blue (Humbrol 89), with medium gray dashboard and consoles. The ejection seats received bright yellow seatbelts and bright blue pads – a detail seen on a Mi-28 cockpit picture.
Some dielectric fairings like the fin tip were painted in bright medium green (Humbrol 101), while some other antenna fairings were painted in pale yellow (Humbrol 71).
The landing gear struts and the interior of the wells became Aluminum Metalic (Humbrol 56), the wheels dark green discs (Humbrol 30).
The decals were puzzled together from various sources, including some Begemot sheets. Most of the stencils came from the Ka-52 OOB sheet, and generic decal sheet material was used to mark the walkways or the rotor tips and leading edges.
Only some light weathering was done to the leading edges of the wings, and then the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
A complex kitbashing project, and it revealed some pitfalls in the course of making. However, the result looks menacing and still convincing, esp. in flight – even though the picture editing, with four artificially rotating proprotors, was probably more tedious than building the model itself!
The colourful vaulted ceiling of the central tower, installed in 2010.
Bury St Edmunds Cathedral for most of its existence was simply the parish church of St James until the foundation of the new diocese of St Edmundsbury in 1914 when it was raised to cathedral status, one of the many new dioceses formed in the early 20th century that elevated existing parish churches to diocesan rank rather than purpose building a new cathedral. Many of these 'parish church cathedrals' sit slightly awkwardly with their new status, lacking in the scale and grandeur that befits such a title, but of all of them Bury St Edmunds has been adapted to its new role the most successfully, with in my opinion the most beautiful results.
The medieval church consisted of the present nave, built in 1503-51 under master mason John Wastell, with an earlier chancel that was entirely rebuilt in 1711 and again in 1870. Originally it would have seemed a fairly minor building at the entrance to the monastic precinct, overshadowed by the enormous abbey church that once stood immediately behind it. The absence of this magnificent church since the Dissolution and the scant remains of this vast edifice always sully my visits here with a sense of grievous loss, had history been kinder it would have served as the cathedral here instead and likely be celebrated as one of the grandest in the country.
The church never had a tower of its own since the adjacent Norman tower of the Abbey gateway served the role of a detached campanile perfectly. It is an impressive piece of Romanesque architecture and one of the best preserved 12th century towers in the country.
Upon being raised to cathedral status in 1914 the building underwent no immediate structural changes but plans were made to consider how best to transform a fairly ordinary church into a worthy cathedral. This task was appointed to architect Stephen Dykes Bower and work began in 1959 to extend the building dramatically. Between 1963-1970 the entire Victorian chancel was demolished and replaced with a much grander vision of a lofty new choir and shallow transepts, remarkably all executed in traditional Gothic style in order to harmonize with the medieval nave. It is incredible to think that this was done in the 1960s, a period in which church and cathedral buildings were otherwise constructed in the most self consciously modern forms ever seen, with delicate neo-medieval masonry in place of brick and concrete.
The new crossing of transepts and choir however remained crowned by the stump of a tower for the remainder of the century as funds were not available to finish Dykes Bower's complete vision of a lantern tower over the crossing: this was only realised at the beginning of the 21st century, aided by a legacy left in the architect's will and some subtle design changes under his successor as architect Hugh Matthews. The transformation from church to cathedral was finally completed in 2005 with most satisfactory results. A stunning fan-vault was installed within the new tower in 2010, an exquisite finishing touch.
Whilst it isn't a large building by cathedral standards its newer parts do much to give it the shape and dignity of one. This is especially apparent within, where the cruciform eastern limb draws the eye. The interior is enlivened by much colour, with the ceilings of Dykes Bower's choir and transepts adorned with rich displays of stencilling, whilst the nave ceiling (a Victorian replacement for the medieval one) was redecorated in similarly lively colours in the 1980s which helps to unify the old a new parts of the church.
Few fittings or features remain from the medieval period, most of the furnishings being Victorian or more recent, but one window in the south aisle retains a rich display of early 16th century stained glass, very much Renaissance in style. The remaining glass is nearly all Victorian, some of the windows in the new choir having been transferred from the previous chancel.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral is not filled with the monuments and fittings that make other great churches so rewarding to linger in but it is a real architectural delight and cannot fail to uplift the spirit.
In 1934, the Germans could boast that they had the fastest airliner in existence: the Heinkel He 70. For the British aviation industry, this simply could not stand, and Bristol Aircraft answered with its Type 142, which first flew in April 1935. Not only was it faster than the He 70, it was also faster than anything in the Royal Air Force's inventory. This spurred two developments: first, that the RAF needed new monoplane fighters in a hurry (which led to the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire) and to the development of the Type 142 as a fast light bomber. In June 1936, the Type 142 became the Blenheim.
As a bomber of its time, the Blenheim was certainly fast. It could not carry a particularly large amount of ordnance, but since the intent was to use it on hit-and-run raids, this was not deemed to be an issue. A powered turret--one of the first used on a British aircraft--was added behind the cockpit and would be manned by the radio operator, while the pilot was given a single wing-mounted machine gun. Speed would be the Blenheim's main defense. The sleek design and powerful Bristol Mercury engines gave it this speed, but also made flying the Blenheim difficult at best: the control wheel obscured most of the instruments, and the cockpit was an ergonomic nightmare.
The Blenheim formed the majority of RAF light bomber squadrons when World War II began in September 1939, and in fact a Blenheim flew the RAF's first combat mission. Very quickly, it was revealed that, in the four short years between 1935 and 1939, aircraft technology had already surpassed the Blenheim: unescorted attacks on Germany in the first week of the war were disastrous when the Blenheims were chased down by Messerschmitt Bf 109s. The situation only got worse during the Battle of France. During the Battle of Britain, the situation was so desperate that Blenheims were pressed into service as emergency fighters, and as "intruders" to raid German fighter bases in France. These also resulted in high casualties.
Nonetheless, the Blenheim was still a stable and reliable light bomber, and if given proper escort, remained viable. Rather than be used as a poor day fighter, Blenheims were equipped with radar and moved to night fighting, where they proved adequate if not exceptional. Others were used as long-range patrol aircraft against German U-boats and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombers over the North Atlantic.
By 1942, the Blenheim was obsolete, though they continued to be used in North Africa and briefly in the Pacific. Survivors were relegated to training units, and Blenheim squadrons were reequipped with the Bristol Beaufighter, a far superior aircraft that was based initially on the Blenheim. Nonetheless, the Blenheim had held the line in the darkest days of 1939-1941. A number had been supplied to Romania and Finland before the war, with the result that Blenheims also fought for the Axis on the Eastern Front. Of the 4422 built, only three survive to the present day.
Luckily for warbird collectors and museums, during the war Fairchild Aircraft of Canada built the Bristol Bolingbroke--a Blenheim variant for training and maritime patrol. The Bolingbroke was nearly identical to the later Blenheim IV (the Blenheim IV owed most of its modifications, namely the longer nose, to the Bolingbroke), and as such with a little modification can be made to look like a Blenheim. 626 Bolingbrokes were built during the war, and 19 of these have survived.
This Bolingbroke IV, serial number 10076, was built by Fairchild Canada and delivered to the RCAF in 1943; it served as a trainer until it was retired in 1946. Like many Canadian aircraft from World War II, it was then offered as surplus to anyone who could tow it away from the storage site at RCAF Paulson, Manitoba. A local farmer acquired the aircraft and used it for spare parts until 1972, when it was located by the Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation, based at Chino, California. It was in very poor shape, but enough remained to make a viable aircraft for static restoration. The Yanks Air Museum at Chino lacked the funds to restore the Bolingbroke, so it was handed over to the Pima Air and Space Museum, which used parts from several other Bolingbrokes to finally restore the aircraft to static display; it went on display in 2015.
Today, 10076 is displayed as RCAF 9118, a Bolingbroke IV assigned to 115 Squadron at Annette Island, Alaska. In July 1942, two US Coast Guard cutters reported tracking a Japanese submarine near the island, and 9118 attacked the submarine with depth charges. An oil slick was sighted the next day, and both the aircraft and cutters were credited with the destruction of Japanese submarine RO-32. Thus it came as quite a surprise when RO-32 was discovered very much intact when Japan surrendered in 1945! 9118 had sunk something, and it is now thought that the hunter-killer force might have sunk a Soviet submarine, S-138. S-138 was reported missing two days after the reported sinking; though the USSR claimed the sub was lost to a torpedo explosion, it would be unlikely that the Soviets would admit to operating submarines off the coast of two obstensibly friendly nations.
Whatever 9118 sank (if anything), its reproduction is painted in standard RAF camouflage and markings for the early war period, with a small roundel, large white reporting letters and underwing "buzz numbers," and a large fin flash. Though by 1942 these were disappearing from RAF aircraft in war zones, the early markings were retained in Canada for much longer.
I am often asked why I never post photographs of myself.
The truth is, I've never really liked myself.
At age 27 I hit "rock bottom", after spending my teens and early/mid-twenties trapped in a cycle of self-harm and suicidal ideation.
I hit rock bottom on June 12, 2017. That same day I decided to retool my hatred and self-loathing, using it as fuel to create a new, more fulfilling existence.
Through rational self-analysis, I identified the aspects of my personality I despised and what triggered their manifestation. Through a new-found love of weight lifting, I ground those detrimental aspects of my psyche out of me.
Through sheer force of will I broke myself down physically, mentally and emotionally, and from the ashes I reconstructed an individual I could tolerate, if not fully accept.
While I am still susceptible to episodes of soul-scraping depression and self-loathing, those episodes are few and far between (think every two or three years rather than every waking moment.)
Potentiality is a wellspring of ever-present hope, and that is what keeps me going. Inner peace still eludes me, however, which means there are still loftier and more ambitious accomplishments to strive for.
For now, these words and this photograph are as close to a portrait of O . . .Phuck!™ (a.k.a. Prichard Nixon!) as you get.
Remember, you are allowed to be a masterpiece and a work-in-progress simultaneously.
存在革命同人活動 - 台南一中 / 魔法少女巴麻美 - 出神入化的超級神槍手
The Closplay of the Existence Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / Madoka Magika Bala Mami - Superb super female expert marksman
El Closplay de la Revolución Existencia - Tainan Primera Senior High School / Madoka Magika Bala Mami - Tirador experto de sexo femenino estupendo magnífico
革命の人の活動が存在しますと - 台南の一中 / 魔法少女巴マミ - 絶妙の域に達するスーパー名射撃手
Die Closplay der Existenz Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / Madoka Magika Bala Mami - Großartiger super weiblicher sachverständiger Meisterschütze
Le Closplay de la Révolution Existence - Tainan Première Senior High School / Madoka Magika Bala Mami - Tireur d'élite expert féminin superbe superbe
Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南
火之舞 / Guitar musical instrument edition
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{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}
{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}
{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}
{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}
{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}
{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}
書中風起雲動 劍下虎嘯龍吟
The book stroke have the clouds to move under the sword the tiger's roar and dragon to recite
誰知成敗早已天定
Who knows the success or failure already to decide for GOD
回首江山依舊 入眼夕陽正紅
Who looks back on the landscape as before pleasant setting sun is red now
但願人長久情長在
Hopes the persons long-time sentiment exist
熱蘭劍士無悔無憾
The Zeelandia's swordsman regretless not regrets
أَعُوْذُ بِاللّٰهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطٰانِ الرَّجِيْمِ
I seek refuge in Allah from Shaitaan, Al Mudill, the one who misleads with his whispers, Al Maghwi, who seduces with his deception.
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِیمِ
In the Name of Allah,
The First without a first before Him, The Last without a last behind Him,
The Entirely Merciful, The Especiall Merciful
ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِینَ
all kinds of praise and appreciation,
encompassing all types of the characteristics of all kinds of those utterings of praise in words, in deeds, in states and dialogues,
are only and only for Allah Worthy in His Own Essence and His Attributes,
who is The Lord of all the worlds,
ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
The One whose Essence is All Encompassing of all things in existence with Grace Ever- Expansive and according to the Vastness of His Mercy and the Abundance of His Lutf, Affection and His Ra’fat, Gentleness.
ٱلرَّحِیمِ
The One who raises compassionately,
who nourishes according to the expansiveness of His Limitless Mercy based on the nature of Tauheed
and makes one reach towards the Abode of the One-ness of His Essence
after one lifts the preoccupations (and concerns) that created hurdles from the focus on His One-ness
and after one rejects the connections that prevent steadfastness in His One-ness and absorbing the adornment in it.
مَـٰلِكِ یَوۡمِ ٱلدِّینِ
The Master of the Day of Resurrection which is prepared for reward or punishment,
إِیَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ
You Alone we worship without the idols of hopes and expectations of others in our hearts
وَإِیَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِینُ
and You Alone we ask for help without which there is no power to endure.
ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِیمَ
Guide us to the Straight Path which brings us to Your One-ness,
صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِینَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَیۡهِمۡ
the path of those You have bestowed (Your) Favors upon
from the Prophets and the truthful one and the martyrs and the ones who rise to battle with their desires and the ones who ready their nafs, selves, to reform and make up for the deficiencies of their previous state,
غَیۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَیۡهِمۡ
not of those who earned Your Wrath upon themselves
وَلَا ٱلضَّاۤلِّینَ
and not of those who refuse to accept guidance.
آمين
May Allah make us of those whose burdens are light and whose wishes are few by His Special Favour and His Special Bounty, Ameen!
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَنَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِۦ نَفْسُهُۥ ۖ
And certainly We created man and We know what his self whispers to him
Surah Qaf, Verse 16
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa: And overall…
Laqad khalaqna al insaana: indeed we created Man and We made him appear from the hidden-ness of nothingness.
Wa: And We…
Na’alamu: We know him from that point…
Ma tuwaswisu: (as to) what whispers and makes up a rambling story…
Bihi nafsohu: from his own self and sways his heart (from that point) until now from those kinds of delusions and false imaginings and those things that descend upon him as animalistic desires and those thoughts that are imprisoned by the chains of rituals and shackles of inherent habits that are inherited as a result of useless ponderings which are mixed with unthinking paranoia.
Contents
Preface 13 Begin! 17 The Push and the Pull 19 Shaitaan and Me 23 The Nafs Mutma’inna 27 The Ones who know their Lord 33 The First Jolt 37 The Diseases of the Heart 41 The Nature of Blessings and Trials 47 Shaan 53 The Belly of the Whale 65 The Façade of my Obedience 69 The Shirrk in my Heart 75 The Fire of Possibilities 81 My Master’s Wrath and Mercy 89 The Necessity of Fear 103 Patience is Beautiful 121 What is a Dua 131 They Feel no Fear or Grief 143 The Layering of Generosity 151 Akhlaq and Imam Ghazali 161 The Seed of Tauba 169 Forgiveness 183
يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى:
ابْنَ آدَمَ،
اطْلُبْنِي تَجدني، فَإِنْ وَجَدْتَنِي وجَدْتَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ،
وَإِنْ فُتُّكَ فَاتَكَ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ،
وَأَنَا أَحَبُّ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ
Says Allah Ta’ala:
“O Children of Adam (as)!
Seek me and you will find me.
So if you find Me, you will find everything.
And if you miss this seeking, you will lose everything.
And I should be most beloved to you of all things.”
Preface
فَإِذَا قَرَأۡتَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ فَٱسۡتَعِذۡ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِیمِ
So when you recite the Quran, seek refuge in Allah from the Shaitaan, the accursed.
Surah An Nahl, Verse 98
Exegesis of all verses from the Tafseer e Jilani by the Master of all Masters, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra):
And overall good deeds give fruit to a life beautiful and meaningful. In fact the most superb of these deeds is the recitation of the Quran, full of of Ma’arif, Divine Recognitions and Haqaiq, Divine Realities and Mukashafaat, Divine Unveilings and Mushahadaat, Divine Witnessing, resulting from the traveling on the Path of Tauheed, the One-ness of Allah and Irfaan, knowing His Essence.
Fa ida qara’at al Quran: So when you read the Quran i.e. you made the intention of reading it, O Qari, O reciter, seeker of the unveiling of the depth of its secrets and its ambiguous signs…
Fasta’id: then seek refuge and invoke, first of all…
Billahi: Allah, Al Mutajalli, The One who unveils, by the attribute of speech, which makes others helpless before it, Al Hafeed, The Protector of His Sincere Servants from everything in useless sins and disobedience…
Min: (which occur) due to doubts and paranoia…
Ash Shaitaan ar rajeem: from Shaitaan the accursed one, Al Matrood, the one expelled and the one made distant from the court of the Presence of Allah Azzo Jal with the stoning of the effects of the attributes of Allah’s Wrath and (seek refuge) from his misconceptions and rationalizations which are the armies of desire and forgetfulness and false imaginings and hallucinations thrilling which persuade different kinds of hopes and lust.
A Question of Truth
I’ve been thinking about this piece in starts and stops for months. To escape the coldest month in Lahore I headed to Karachi to give it readable form at the end of December. I was writing it to mark the month of Rajab in which Maula Ali (as) is born, which would begin on the 23rd of January if the new moon appeared.
I included this section, a preface, for the first time to make a single suggestion to my reader. To answer a question that Ghaus Pak (ra) continually asks his readers in his magnificent exegesis of the Quran, the Tafseer e Jilani. Although most scholars yield that it is but a translation.
For an exegesis by him, if it were to include all Divine Secrets that have been unveiled for him, might take up all the pages of all the trees only in describing what just the first Surah, Al Fateha, contains, which, incidentally, is also a preface. For the Quran.
The question being; Where do you lie in this? For truth is not on a spectrum, he says. It is absolute. We, however, as infallible beings exist in shades of darkness and pendulum between it and falsehood. Whether a single line or thought or image is retained or everything is entirely forgotten, the intention of the read must be singular, fulfilled with a simple question: Where do I lie in this?
For the time, the Quran attests, in this world that seems so absolute is not only short. It isn’t even an hour!
فَٱصۡبِرۡ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلۡعَزۡمِ مِنَ ٱلرُّسُلِ وَلَا تَسۡتَعۡجِل لَّهُمۡۚ
كَأَنَّهُمۡ یَوۡمَ یَرَوۡنَ مَا یُوعَدُونَ لَمۡ یَلۡبَثُوۤا۟ إِلَّا سَاعَةࣰ مِّن نَّهَارِۭۚ
So be patient, as had patience those of determination of the Messengers, and (do) not seek to hasten for them punishment.
On the Day when they see what they are promised, it will seem they remained not except an hour of a day (in the world).
Surah Ahqaf, Verse 35
Tafseer e Jilani
And after that you heard O Akmal Ar Rusul, O Messenger who perfects Messenger-hood (salutations and greetings upon you who is entrusted with The Revelation by your Lord and Master), the outcome of the state of denial of truth by the ones who are insistent upon their insolence and stubborn-ness…
Fasbir: then be patient, O Akmal Ar Rusul (salutations and greetings upon you and your family by your Lord who makes you His Nur), upon bearing the charge of the message and the exhaustion of preaching and the sufferings from the people, strayed and the misguided…
Kama sabara: the way they were patient upon these types of hurdles…
Ulol azmi mir Rasool: the Messengers, with unwavering determination, Al Azimeena, the ones resolute upon these things and upon the preaching of the Message with steadfastness, sincere and with solid firmness, so that they make clear for the people the Path of Tauheed, Allah’s One-ness and instruct towards the way of steadfastness and guidance.
Wa la tasta’jil lahum: And do not hasten to seek the torment for these deniers i.e. the stubborn ones from the Quresh, with the coming of punishment which is promised to them. For indeed, it will come upon them certainly in its own time…
Ka annahum youma yarouna ma yu’adoona: on the Day they will see in the Hereafter which they are being promised of, this punishment from the heights of intensity and scariness and the extreme-ness of its duration so they will recall…
Lab yalbathu: they didn’t stay in the world…
Illa sa’atan: for more than an hour…
Min naharin: of a day meaning that they will think of the time they stayed in this world as less and they will imagine that compared to the length of the Day of Judgement, it was only an hour or even less than that.
The question I ask now is not if I am a Mo’min, a believer or a Kafir, a denier of truth or ungrateful but when?
When do I remember my Lord and His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him who is distinguished among creatures by His Lord) and become a zakir and when am I ghafil, the one who forgets them completely? And most importantly, why?
Begin!
قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَسِرِينَ
Both of them, Hazrat Adam (as) and Amma Hawwa (as)) said,
"Our Lord we have wronged ourselves, and if not You forgive [for] us and have mercy (on) us, surely, we will be among the losers."
Surah Al Araaf, Verse 23
Tafseer e Jilani
Qalaa: They both invoked, beseeching in humility, admitting that lapse from them…
Rabbana: O One who raised us upon grace according to Your Fazl, Bounty and Jood, Generosity…
Dallamnaa anfusana: we transgressed upon our own selves by following the enemy (Shaitaan)…
Wa illam taghfir lana: and if You do not forgive us and the excesses from us…
Wa: and do not…
Tarhamna: have mercy upon us by Your Fazl, Favour…
Lanaku nanna min al khasireen: we will become amongst the losers, the ones in the greatest loss.
Woe upon you!
You claim to have knowledge and (yet) find happiness the way the ignorant find happiness and are angry like they are angry.
Your happiness with the world and your inclination towards Creation will make you forget wisdom and harden your heart.
The Mo’min is only happy with Allah and nobody except Him.
Ghaus Pak (ra) in Al Fath Ar Rabbani
Al Mulhim – The Only One who inspires!
Recently in my reading of the Tafseer e Jilani I came across new Asma al Husna, the Beautiful Names of Allah Subhanahu from Ghaus Pak (ra). I was swayed by the effect of the sound itself. Mulhim.
Allah Al Haqq, The Only Truth, inspires and His Beloved (O my Lord who raises only kindly, send blessings and salutations upon him and his family) is the Mulham, the one upon whose heart came the inspiration of the Quran. Then as Al Qasim, he distributed them and he distributes them even today.
The Push and the Pull
أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ
Prayed the Prophet Ayub (as);
“Indeed, adversity has touched me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful.”
Surah Al Anbiya, Verse 83
Tafseer e Jilani
Anni massani ad durru: Indeed adversity has touched me, O Lord, far away have gone those close to me and my relatives and all the ones who were affectionate with me…
Wa anta: and You are The One remaining who is still for me Merciful and Affectionate for indeed You are…
Arham ar Rahimeen: the Most Merciful of the merciful so come to me suddenly with Your Lutf, Kindness because I have no strength and no patience after this and surely his suffering had reached its heights.
In my most recent trip to Damascus I had not been reading any of my books on Tasawuff, Islamic Spirituality. Only New Yorkers. That was a first. Whenever I had gone to Medina Sharif or Iraq or India for ziaraat, I had taken books with me specifically to read there in particular places. Here my state was swoon-like. I had brought the books but I never opened them. In the first few days of my being in Sham an experience began to stand out.
Each day I would have breakfast on the balcony outside my room. It was quiet and after I ate, I went to the roof-top terrace to lie or sit on a couch that was also a swing. Mostly I would listen to music and stare at the sky. The colours had captivated my heart the first time and it clearly remained besotted.
One thing was always the same; the shade would be darkest above me, the blues in their range from powder to midnight, getting lighter and lighter, until my eyes came upon Qasiyoun. It was like only one mountain existed in the world. The one where 123,000 Prophets were buried. I would climb to no-go areas of the hotel to capture it from new vantage points. In the end I just started closing my eyes mid-stare, making them my camera. Everything about Damascus felt intense for me.
After the third day, I had started doing something that initially seemed like it was inadvertent. A specific memory would pop into my head and then I would replay it. It was recent, not remarkable but not insignificant either. Like a Youtube or Tiktok video, I would watch the memory in my head at almost exactly the same time.
Then for the rest of the day I forgot it along with my entire existence, becoming only a visitor in Paradise. Damascus has been titled such originally by Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon his every utterance that comes only through His Lord God). Therefore it does not allow for lost moments. It’s Paradise! There was no before or after. I was only present.
On the 6th or 7th day I was made to realize something. It was as if someone asked me, “Why do you think this exact same thing every morning?”
I thought about it. The replay didn’t evoke any emotion in me. There was no sadness which normally the past carries. There was no joy attached to it in the future. Certainly no anxiety. I had just created a habit for no reason. In a matter of a week that habit was like a shackle in that the new found ritual had its grip on me.
At first I thought the awareness of my act came to me because for no reason I was losing the moment. Albeit willingly. But it turned out to be more than that.
A month later in Lahore, I would read a paragraph and Ghaus Pak (ra) would explain to me what was happening in Sham. The push and the pull that a human being creates:
“The Sahib e Imaan, the person of faith, and iqaan, certainty, and ma’rifat, recognition of the Divine, is in unity with people in their qalb, the station of that Divine Recognition in the heart and in their batin, the inner being, Allah’s Secret within Man.
He reaches a state (through that unity) such that he cannot push away any harm from his being and he cannot pull any benefit towards it. He lies before Allah such that he is powerless with no strength. When this state is made correct for him, then everything becomes goodness as it comes towards Him (no matter what it is).”
The words were not applicable to me and perhaps never would be in that I was the furthest thing away from being a Sahib e Imaan. Still, they shed light for me on what I had been doing in Damascus. I was pulling in a memory myself. The only reason I had even able to come to that conclusion was that no emotion had been attached to it.
If there were, the emotion would have formed the usual trap of justification for the thought to exist, for my being allowed it. For me to dwell in it, repeat it. I would have felt entitled to think about it. But there wasn’t a feeling that it evoked. There wasn’t a feeling that was its root. Or its consequence for that matter. It was simply a pull into my present from my world. My own pull!
Obviously then I was forced to consider the inverse. I must also be pushing out what naturally was in my present. If I didn’t like it, if it made me feel badly, then I pushed emotions and people attached to those emotions attached to my heart away. It was always and only at the insistence of the nafs, the base self, the ego, which in its haste for fulfillment of desire never knew what the correct desire for it was.
وَيَدْعُ ٱلْإِنسَنُ بِٱلشَّرِّ دُعَآءَهُۥ بِٱلْخَيْرِ ۖ
وَكَانَ ٱلْإِنسَنُ عَجُولًۭا
And human beings pray for things that are wrong (as often) as they pray for things that (they think) are good. And human beings are ever hasty.
Surah Al Isra’a, Verse 17
Tafseer e Jilani:
Wa: And overall, amongst the behaviour that is disliked, worldly and ugly…
Yad ul insaana: Man prays, being hasty (in his inner and outer being)…
Bi sharre: for that which is not good for him, so comes along, with that (prayer), that which he does not know about its evilness and its harmful consequences.
Dua’ahu bilkhair: (while he is) liking that which he is asking for as if it is good for him, due to his hastiness.
Wa kanal insaano: In Man’s nature is created haste (for himself) and he demands haste from others about that which he is inclined towards, even though it is detrimental for him.
What I did do in Damascus every time I went to the hallowed shrines of Bibi Ruqayya (as) or Sheikh ul Akbar (ra) or to the section in the Ommayyad Mosque where the Ras Mubarik of Imam Hassan (as) was placed, was to open the Quran to a random page and read the two that faced me, side by side. I don’t know when I starting doing that. I had never done it anywhere else before. Translating the Tafseer e Jilani for two years now had created a nisbat, an association, for me with the Divine Book. If I didn’t read it I missed it.
I would take a picture of the pages for safe-keeping. Before I opened the Quran, I would also recite a prayer. It was the prayer I had learnt for when one did an istakhara, asking a question from the Quran for guidance in a state of confusion. The prayer was the same but I didn’t move to the 7th page and the 7th verse to seek any answer. Still each time it felt like I was being told something. When nine times out of 10, one similarity started to appear in the text I was taken aback.
Shaitaan and Me
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
الدُّنْيَا سِجْنُ الْمُؤْمِنِ
Said the Messenger of Allah (salutations and greetings upon made the Imam of mercy by His Lord),
“The world is a prison for the believer.”
Al Fath Ar Rabbani: “The world is a prison for the Mo’min. Thus when he will forget that prison, only then will he gain freedom for it.”
The common denominator had become a reference to Shaitaan. To him not bowing, to him refusing Allah’s Command, to him being the only one going against His Order to prostrate before the Prophet Adam (as) when all the angels submitted to it. I had heard in a lecture once that Hazrat Gibrael (as) who was chosen as the Arch Angel and the one who brought the revelations to all the Messengers, that was his jaza, reward, for having been the first one to fulfill that Divine Command.
The text reappearing was along these lines and therefore naturally disturbing:
قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسۡجُدَ إِذۡ أَمَرۡتُكَۖ
قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَیۡرࣱ مِّنۡهُ خَلَقۡتَنِی مِن نَّارࣲ وَخَلَقۡتَهُۥ مِن طِینࣲ
Allah said, "What prevented you that you didn’t prostrate when I commanded you?"
Shaitaan said, "I am better than him.
You created me from fire and You created him from clay."
Surah Al Araaf, Verse 12
I ended up calling Qari Sahib from there. He sent me the tafseer of Ghaus Pak (ra) and we read it. On my return to Lahore, it was the first verse we translated.
Tafseer e Jilani
Qala: Allah Subhanahu said, revealing what was always true in His Knowledge and which was being hidden by Iblis, his wicked nature…
Ma mana’ka: what prevented you O Iblis…
Alla tasjuda: that you didn’t prostrate before My Khalifa, Vice-Regent…
Id amartuka: when I commanded you with your companions (the angels)?
Qala: Iblis replied in his answer in accordance with his false essence and corrupt desires…
Ana khairun minhu: I am better than him and superior.
Khalaqtani min naar: You created me from fire, lit…
Wa khalaqtahu min teen: and you created him from clay, dark, dirty. And it is not good to humiliate the superior before the one made worthy (just a little while ago).
The same notion had appeared in another verse as well. The meaning, as I discovered, had an entirely different implication. Hence it made me realize something I had never thought as a possibility for myself. Even though it’s the trap that most of us, supposedly seeking to better ourselves, fall in.
A trap entered precisely because of “goodness.”
قَالَ یَـٰۤإِبۡلِیسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسۡجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقۡتُ بِیَدَیَّۖ
أَسۡتَكۡبَرۡتَ أَمۡ كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلۡعَالِی
He said, "O Iblis! What prevented you from prostrating before the one whom I created with My Hands?
Are you too arrogant or are you of the exalted ones?"
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay."
Surah Sad, Verse 76
Tafseer e Jilani
Then when at the time Iblis refused his, the Prophet Adam’s (as) obedience and his honouring, even though the Command came from Allah and was compulsory…
Qala: He, Subhanahu, said, with anger at him, calling out to him, asking him the reason for his refusal…
Ya Iblis: O Iblis, Al Mustakbir, the one whose desire for pride overcame the Command, the one who turned away from Our Order…
Ma manaka an tasjud: what prevented you for prostrating i.e. what was the thing that stopped you from the prostration of honouring…
Lama khalaqtu bi yadihi: the one who I created by My Hand and to whom I gave form by My Authority in accordance with My Form and with the perfection of My Strength and Control so he could be My Mirror and be able for My Friendship and My Vice-regency?
Astakbarta: Did you desire to become arrogant against the obedience of Our Command and following Our Order…
Am kunta: or you considered yourself…
Min A’lieen: of the exalted ones, Al Mutafawwaqeena, the ones made higher than you, so much so that your nafs, egoistic self, has made you such that you cannot surrender before Allah and be obedient to Him?
Here Qari Sahib paused to point out two things. One, understanding the verb astakbara. Form 7. It wasn’t just pride. It was a false sense of pride that didn’t even exist in reality. It was a farce and a façade. It was in fact a delusion of pride. The arrogant person thought they were better than others and it was a false belief. For indeed in every case, they weren’t better.
Two, the question was being posed in multiple choice. Are you in an assumed state of arrogance? Or do you think you belong to the ones that I, Subhanahu, have chosen as the exalted? The difference was tremendous and I feared Iblis’ answer.
قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَیۡرࣱ مِّنۡهُ خَلَقۡتَنِی مِن نَّارࣲ وَخَلَقۡتَهُۥ مِن طِینࣲ
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay."
Surah Sad, Verse 76
Tafseer e Jilani
And after the accursed one heard this from Subhanahu, such an address, consisting of all kinds of wrath…
Qala: he said, the accursed one, after choosing the second option for the refusal…
Ana khairun minhu: I am better than him in form and physical element because…
Khalaqtani: You created me by the Perfection of Your Authority…
Min naar: from fire and it is the better particle and it is higher in value and place…
Wa khalaqtahu min teen: and You created him from clay and it is the lower particle and it is not valuable and it is of a lower place. And the command of prostration for the higher and better before the lower and worthless is not suitable and not according to Your Solid Wisdom.
In Damascus I couldn’t wholly ignore the repeat appearances of the mention of Shaitaan but I did forget about them. Once back home I was forced to consider the nightmarish possibility; Could Iblis and I have something in common? I always thought he was the misguider, I the misguided. He was the perpetrator, I was the victim. How could we be the same?
The answer started to come slowly. In Sham I was all alone.
Life was blissful. When I reached Lahore, I had to start meeting others. The humans! This time though I became acutely aware of the push and the pull and what was governing them. Feelings of affection for them caused me to reach out and search for them. The pull. If I found them to be absent, my disappointment turned into heartache leaving me wishing I would never see them again. The push!
In neither scenario did I even say or do anything outright in terms of expressing myself to the other. The whole thing was happening in my head but unlike Damascus, the feelings invoked were not neutral. They were undeniably sharp.
I had started re-reading Ghaus Pak’s (ra) sermons. He explained where my hypocrisy lay thus bringing the matter away from the “other” and squarely back upon my own self.
The Nafs Mutma’inna
رَبَّنَآ أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَآ ۖ
إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ
"Our Lord Perfect for us our light and grant forgiveness to us.
Indeed, You are over every thing All-Powerful."
Surah At Tahreem , Verse 8
Tafseer e Jilani
Then when the people of faith who have different kind of noor, light, according to what is clear and what is hidden depending upon their deeds and their natural capabilities…
Yaquloona: they say, calling out in prayer…
Rabbana: O Our Lord who raised us upon guidance and consciousness!
Atmim lana noorana: Perfect for us our light by gracing us and by bestowing additional favour upon us…
Waghfir lana: and forgive us our sins i.e. hide our selves from the flaws that our eyes will see (of our own selves so we don’t see them).
Innaka: Indeed, you, according to Your Generosity…
Ala kulle shay’an Qadeer: over everything, which enters in the encompassing of Your Great Knowledge and Your Will…
The words in Al Fath Ar Rabbani applied to me in the context of my living life alone, cut off from the world in a mainstream sense. Hours of each day passed with two teachers. One for study, the other for play. I went to see my Aunt in the afternoon. My day started around 8am and ended close to 4pm. That was it. I hardly saw anyone else.
Hence I was under the illusion that my hermit-like life was rendering me zuhd, spiritual detachment, from the world. I was about to find out that it was not.
Al Fath Ar Rabbani:
“Your seclusion is not correct because seclusion has to be empty of everything as far as the qalb, the heart within the heart, is concerned. The batin, the inner self, Allah’s Secret within you, has to be empty so that it can be free, without the world and the Hereafter and nothing except Allah Al Haqq Azzo Jal.
And this has been the only way for the Prophets and Messengers and the Auliya, the Friends of God and the Saliheen, the ones who try to reform themselves, from before. Persuading towards good deeds and stopping people from what is forbidden is better than a thousand worshippers in seclusion.
Lower the gaze of the eyes of your nafs, the base self, control it and make it return so this eye does not become the reason for its destruction. Until the time that the nafs becomes obedient to the qalb, the station of Divine Recognition and the batin, surrendering in unity to the two, not disobeying their instructions and agreeing with them and there should not be any difference between it and them.
The nafs should command what they command and forbid what they both forbid and choose what they chose. So at that point then, the nafs becomes Mutmainna, contented, and in agreement upon a single requirement and a single goal. When the nafs reaches this state, then it becomes deserving of some relief from its striving.
So don’t find fault with Allah about what He decides…”
I read each word carefully and I read the paragraphs again and again. My self-proclaimed zuhd was a lie. I got that. But it was another line that captivated me. My Master had revealed what would allow for “relief in the striving” for the nafs. It would come from an alignment with the qalb and the batin. The cherry on the cake that he had thrown on so casually was in fact an extraordinary revelation:
An ordinary person, could in moments, in this world, and not just in the Hereafter or on the Day of Judgement, but in this world, feel what it is like for the nafs to be Mutma’inna. The third and most exalted state of the nafs, one that I had learnt only the Prophets and the Friends of God were in. My revolting nafs could also be Mutma’inna!
That is when I realized why Damascus was in reality Paradise. Why I felt a state of elation there that never subsided. Not for a split second. I never felt tired, there was no exhaustion. In that land called Sham, my nafs would naturally and effortlessly become perfectly aligned with my qalb and batin. Hence, I didn’t read. There was no need. The reading was a seeking. I had already arrived! I barely prayed. There is no sala’t in Paradise. I just walked in streets all day long, listening to house pounding in my head, feeding the hungry.
At the shrines I would just look at people and stare at the walls and ceilings, reading the ahadith and verses written on them. I gave money to whoever I could. It was the exact opposite experience of ritualistic worship that occupied me in any other place I visited. No wonder I couldn’t get enough of it. Barely would I be checking out of the hotel that I would be planning my return.
It was no coincidence that dome after venerate dome had the verse inscribed in them that attested to my state.
یَـٰۤأَیَّتُهَا ٱلنَّفۡسُ ٱلۡمُطۡمَىِٕنَّةُ
"O soul! who is satisfied,
ٱرۡجِعِیۤ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِیَةࣰ مَّرۡضِیَّةࣰ
Return to your Lord well pleased, and pleasing.
Surah Al Fajr, Verse 89-90
Tafseer e Jilani
Then pointed Subhanahu towards the beautiful states of the people of bestowing and blessings on the Day i.e. the Mo’mineen, the believers who are the Mu’qineen, those who possess inner certainty, who collect the provisions from this world for the Hereafter and are attributed with taqwa, the mindfulness of Allah.
And they did not go against the Command of their Lord their whole lives and did not follow their desires and they remained steadfast and they purified their nafs, selves, by what happened to them from the Commands of the Divine.
And overall they were never restless in happiness or in adversity and they did not care about difficulty or ease so then on that Day it will be said to them:
Ya ayyatuhan nafsu mutmainna: O contented self, which is set upon, steadfast on the station of Raza, the Pleasure of Allah and tasleem, surrender to Him…
Irja’i ila Rabbik: return to your Lord and ascend upon the way which you came down from…
Radiyatan: contented, being characterized by pleasure the way you were pleased upon Allah’s Commands in the life in this world…
Mardiyatan: well pleased, accepted, most honoured in the sight of Allah.
And after that you returned to this mentioned way…
Fadkhuli fi: then enter in the group…
I’badi: of My Servants who reached towards the Kunf Jawari, My Enclosure and Protection and were able to attain the Maqad Sidqin, the Seat of Special Nearness to the Sovereign Lord of Truth. And overall:
Udkhuli Jannati: Enter My Heaven i.e. the Paradise of My One-ness and rest in the seclusion of the Lahoot, the Realm of Nur, Divine Light.
Prayer by Ghaus Pak (ra): May Allah make us of the ones addressed by this address, this address which is pure. Indeed, He is Al Mulhim, the One who is the Only Inspirer, towards good and He has the Best Abode.
Al Mulhim!
A month later, the Quran itself attested to Damascus being the place where the possibility of that nafs existed and was promised. For it was where Allah Subhanahu sent His Khaleel, the Prophet Ibrahim (as) when he was exiled from his family, his clan, his country. When he was all alone, the only believer on Earth.
The verse was a personal favourite. I had loved reciting it in Mecca when I walked from the hotel to the haram. I looked it up recently only because I was curious about what the tafseer of yahdeeni, My Lord, He will guide me, was. The last thing I expected was what it revealed.
وَقَالَ إِنِّی ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّی سَیَهۡدِینِ
And he said, "Indeed, I am going to my Lord, He will guide me.
Surah As Saffat, Verse 99
Tafseer e Jilani
And after he left, His Close Friend, the Prophet Ibrahim (as) (the blessings of Ar Rahman upon him and His Salam), when he chose exile and exit from them by the Inspiration and Revelation of Allah upon him…
Wa: so that is why…
Qala: he declared when he left…
Inni dahibun illa Rabbi: indeed, I am going to my Lord and towards His Kunf, Guardianship, His Protection and His Jawar, Safeguarding and his Expansive Mercy…
Sayahdini: so He guides me by His Lutf, Kindness, towards the place that makes it possible for me to focus on Him in it and where my heart will feel contentment so he went to Sham by the inspiration of Allah to him and he made his home in that place Al Muqadissa, pure.
When I was translating the tafseer of the verse and the word Sham appeared, I had looked up at Qari Sahib with astonishment unprecedented. Then I had gotten up from my chair and gone down in sajda on the floor. Damascus was where the heart felt contentment and where Allah Subhanahu inspired His Beloved Servant to go and that is where he was promised focus on Him. Effortlessly!
Subhan Allah times a billion doesn’t cut it in terms of how the verse makes me feel in terms of boundless joy!
It is what made me start paying close attention to what my nafs was doing in Lahore. I discovered that it listened to the qalb and batin at least, thank Heavens. Probably just staring at them. Previously it would sprint in the other direction before they could get a word out. Maybe it was deaf and didn’t even hear their call. Maybe it was blind so it didn’t even see them.
For eons before that, I’m certain it forgot they even existed.
But I knew one thing with certainty. I was no longer turning my back to them. If I didn’t move towards them, I didn’t move away either. Lucky for me they possessed the Attributes of the Divine. They were Sabir, patient and Lateef, subtle, Barr, kind and Haleem, extremely sensitive and understanding of the state of the other, not hasty to punish.
And yet for most of my life, my nafs had turned its back to them!
The Ones who know their Lord
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
الدُّنْيَا سِجْنُ الْمُؤْمِنِ
Said the Messenger of Allah (salutations and greetings upon him and his family who are the key to blessings from their Lord),
“The world is a prison for the believer.”
“The world is a prison for the Mo’min. Thus when he will forget that prison, only then will he gain freedom for it.”
Those who attain to faith are in that prison (of the world) while those who gain Ma’rifa, Recognition of Allah Subhanahu, are in a state of intoxication.
Therefore they are entirely unaware of that prison because indeed, their Lord has made them sip the Drink of His Love for Him, and the Drink of His Affection for Him, and the Drink of His Desire for Him and the Drink of obliviousness from Creation and they are only mindful of Him so they became detached from the prison and its inmates.”
Ghaus Pak (ra)
The qalb and the batin, they were like the Arif, the one who knows his Lord. He is different from the Mo’min. He only believes in Him.
Al Fath Ar Rabbani:
“It is narrated by some Friends of Allah who say, ‘No one laughs at the Fasiq, the defiantly disobedient, except the Arif.’
Yes it is true, the Arif enjoins towards goodness and forbids evil and bears his pain and no one has power to do this except the Arifoon of Allah Azzo Jal, where as the Zahid, the ones detached from the world and its occupants and Ubaad, the worshippers and Muridoon, the followers, cannot do this – (they cannot) enjoin towards goodness, forbid the evil and (they cannot) bear the pain of the Fasiq, the one who sins openly.”
I paused. The Zahid and Abid and Mureed were all highly evolved states. But in any given point, they could lose their patience and temper with the Fasiq. They could be judgemental and vengeful. I was about to be told why. It was related to deficiency in akhlaq!
“And why would they not have mercy on the disobedient when they are in actual, upon the place of rahma, mercy and the station of tauba, repentance and uzr, pardon (so they are able to accept that repentance and pardon them).
The Arif, his akhlaq, manners, are the Ettiquettes of Allah Azzo Jal so the Arif strives in freeing the neck of the sinner from the grip of Satan and his nafs and desires. When one of you sees their child imprisoned in the hand of the kafir, the denier of truth, does he not struggle to free him? Such is the Arif.
All of Creation is like a family of children. The Arif addresses them by a tongue full of wisdom…”
Then Ghaus Pak (ra) quoted the following verse and I translated his tafseer of it:
ٱدْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِٱلْحِكْمَةِ وَٱلْمَوْعِظَةِ ٱلْحَسَنَةِ ۖ
Call to the Way of your Lord with the wisdom and the instruction that is beautiful.
Surah An Nahl, Verse 125
Tafseer e Jilani
Then pointed Allah Subhanahu towards the perfecting of honouring His Beloved (salutations of peace be upon the one given the highest station by his Lord) and the majesty of his rank and the discipline of his etiquette and completing his wisdom and Messengerhood and and making for everyone his kindness and his mercy as the gathering of kindness for all and sufficient for all Creation because he is sent in totality as mercy, Rahma, and he is the seal of the Prophethood and Messengerhood and the completer of the matter of religion and its perfection because the reason behind making the religion and the descent of the Books of Revelation and sending the Messengers, it is only to manifest his rank and his station, which is the inviting to the Essence of Tauheed, Tauheed Az Zaati.
And when this becomes clear, the Essence of One-ness, Tauheed e Zaati, is completed and perfected, so that’s why He revealed the verse in his honour, ٱلۡیَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِینَكُمۡ, Today I have perfected your religion for you, Surah Al Maidah - Verse 3 and this is almost the last verse revealed in the Quran and Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) said: بُعِثْتُ لِاُتَمِّمَ مَکَارِمَ الْاَخْلَاق “I have been sent to perfect good character.”
So Subhanahu said addressing him giving him a special rank close to Him and honouring him:
Udu’: Call, Ya Akmal Ar Rusul, O Messenger who perfects the Messengers (salutations and greetings upon your ranks and the ranks bestowed upon your blessed family by your Lord)…
Ila sabeeli Rabbika: to the Way of your Lord i.e. towards the Way of the Tauheed, the One-ness of your Lord, who instructed you to the ascension of His Blessings and guided you to the perfection of His Dignity, (call) all Creation and all worshippers…
Bil hikmati: with wisdom, utmost which is for their hearts which are hard from following, (the following) which is inherited and unchanging for them from their previous generations,
1.(it is a wisdom) which cleanses their selves from the conceited stubbornness of egoism of ignorance lodged in them,
2.which (that wisdom) will empty them from the idea of fully controlling (others) and overpowering them,
3. (it will remove) the ignorance which invokes in them different kinds of symptoms of the nafs, ego, layered in them from their being human,
4.(this wisdom) removes all kinds of doubts and imaginations that arise from the (everyday) sources of our routines,
5. (a wisdom) convincing and suitable for the real nature which Mankind has been set upon the hope that they will consider and become aware of the demands of their foundation and nature…
Wal mauwadatil hasana: and (call all Creation and all worshippers) with a refined exaltation which they have inherited to awaken them from the nodding off of heedlessness and the sleep of forgetfulness.
The outcome for them (from this wisdom and refined exaltation) is love and bliss towards their Lord who gave them origin and created them.
1.It propels them towards the tastes of spirituality everlasting and forever, continuing eternally without disappearance and disconnect,
2.making them feel repelled from that which is upon them as disability
3.and (repelled from) the shackles of incapacity which have the taste of paranoia, vanishing and ending, resulting in different kinds of sufferings and sadness and regret.
Al Fath Ar Rabbani (cont’d):
… All of Creation is like a family of children. The Arif addresses them by a tongue full of wisdom, then has mercy upon them because they are informed of certain knowledge so he sees the work of Allah Al Haqq Azzol Jal in them. He sees through the door of wisdom and knowledge, how destiny and fate are unfolding, but he keeps it hidden.
The Arif talks to them, Creation, with wisdom which is what is either commanded (by Allah Azzo Jal) and (what is) forbidden. He does not mention the knowledge because it is a secret.”
I had never before read the qualities of the Arif. My heart ached with the envy that they possessed softness and mercy at all times for all people, regardless of why they were and what they did. 24/7 – only kindness emerged from them.
The reasons were two: One, their manners and character were perfect, perfected for them by their Lord, for they were set upon His Own Akhlaq. That standard was first bestowed to His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon his blessed being and his family by The One who gives them the highest rank in Creation). Two, they could see the destiny of the person, where they were going to crash and why they were going to burn.
Subhan Allah!
All I felt was ill-will in the false imaginings that were the root of possibilities. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Continued on: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52652388955/in/datepos...
Here life is quite different than we know about life…… Life here has no color as we always knew…..life here has no song as we always heard…..Here life means to add some moment to carry on….Here life means to manage a chance to stay alive……Life here always looking for an opportunity for maintaining existence....
They are homeless, as river takes away their home and dream....
Captured from Dhaka University
flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2038874811&size=o
existence.
unwilling to leave.
they say the spirit world is the opposite of this one.
90 hp, 7,280 cc SOHC inline six-cylinder engine, four-speed manual transmission, live axle suspension with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 98.4"
- An important Mercedes model; one of only a handful in existence
- Restoration completed by John Griffith and Gene Smyers during the early 1990s
- Owned by some of the earliest and most noted automotive collectors in the U.S.
- Handsome in presentation, highly equipped, abundant power for touring
One of the last of the magnificent Mercedes models introduced before the merger between Daimler and Benz, the 28/95 stands as one of the most powerful and sporting of all post-WWI automobiles and the precursor to the immortal S, SS, SSK and SSKL models of the late 1920s. A short-chassis 28/95 Mercedes was driven by Max Sailer to win the Coppa Florio and to second place in the concurrent Targa Florio, conclusively establishing the model’s sporting credentials.
Powered by an inline six-cylinder engine tracing its design heritage to Daimler’s DF80 aircraft engine of WWI, the 28/95 initiated the transition from the somewhat rudimentary automobiles of the prewar period to far more refined and sophisticated design statements. In particular, the exposed valve gear of the DF80, with its lubricant splatter and noisy valvetrain, was replaced with a fully enclosed, shaft-and-bevel gear driven camshaft and valves tucked neatly within cast-aluminum housings for each of the three pairs of cylinder castings joined to a large aluminum crankcase. Mercedes’ engineers also showed an unusual (for the time) appreciation for free breathing, giving the normally aspirated 28/95 two carburetors and individual intake passages to each cylinder.
The chassis was typical of the period but robustly constructed, so Mercedes owners could use their 28/95s in any possible situation and with a wide selection of coachwork. The drive to the rear axle was through a shaft, while semi-elliptic leaf springs and friction dampers controlled the live front and rear axles. While the earliest 28/95s had only rear-wheel brakes, Mercedes was quick to realize that the size and performance of these magnificent automobiles – plus the 28/95’s capacity for passengers and luggage – warranted the additional stopping power of four-wheel brakes, which were soon added to the 28/95’s specifications. Whether on colonial roads, European highways or urban boulevards, the Mercedes 28/95 was a sophisticated, fast, robust and powerful automobile of the finest quality, and its expense made it accessible only to the top tiers of society, who specified individual coachwork to suit their specific needs.
Even among the high-quality bespoke coachwork fitted to the Mercedes 28/95 chassis, the wonderful wooden Sport Phaeton body on chassis 27003 stands out. Constructed at Mercedes’ own coachworks at Sindelfingen, where the finest artisans, technicians and materials were employed to complement the mechanical excellence of the Mercedes chassis, the quality and distinctive appearance of this car’s coachwork makes a dramatic statement. Its flair complements the design of Mercedes’ sweeping “clamshell” front fenders and the myriad accoutrements that equip this Mercedes for just about any journey.
Previous records indicate that the first owner was in the UK, but its subsequent history is unknown until it joined the pioneering auto collection of Kirkland Gibson in Rhode Island. Both Gibson and his collecting colleague and partner George Waterman at one time owned Mercedes 28/95s. Gibson and Waterman could, and in fact did, own just about anything they wanted in the late 1930s and 1940s, when these classics were simply older cars in barns and carriage houses of New England. The fact that both of them chose to own Mercedes 28/95s is abundant evidence of the quality, style and innate appeal of these pieces of German automotive artistry.
From Gibson’s collection, 27003 was acquired by California collector Ben Moser, who took the first steps toward a restoration of the largely complete and original 28/95 Sport Phaeton. While still in the early stages of restoration, it was acquired by Edwin C. “Ted” Jameson, Jr., under whom John Griffith and Gene Smyers completed the work during the early 1990s.
While extensive, the restoration was aided by the remarkably preserved original wooden bodywork and metal body components, as evidenced by pre-restoration photos of the car. While the wooden coachwork was stripped and refinished, little wood replacement was necessary despite its age of some 70 years. The interior was re-trimmed and reupholstered by Vaughans of Greer, South Carolina. The comprehensive lighting, consisting of Bosch head and auxiliary lights, dual spotlights mounted on the windshield frame and cowl lights, needed only careful rewiring and refinishing. The wire wheels are fitted with stainless-steel spokes and black rims matching the car’s fenders and frame covers, while the maroon hood was refinished to a very high standard. All brightwork was re-plated. Despite the age of the restoration, the impression created by this Sport Phaeton remains immediate and compelling. It is a spectacular and well maintained motor car of the highest standards of construction, restoration, fit and finish.
Since completion, it has been sparingly used both by Ted Jameson and by the present owners, to whose extensive collection of fine antique and classic automobiles it was added in 2003. Owned by some of the most discerning collectors for over 60 years, it would be an important addition to any fine collection and one of only a handful known to exist with this coachwork. It is also complete with a spare set of hubcaps and fully equipped with weather equipment including a convertible top and top boot, plus front and rear tonneau covers. It is confirmed to be in proper running and driving order, and its “100 real horsepower,” according to restorer Gene Smyers, will ensure drivability on modern roads and provide a rewarding and exciting driving experience. Its offering at auction will also provide the new owner with an unparalleled opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of the most noted automobile collectors by becoming its next and very fortunate caretaker.
[Text from RM Auctions]
www.rmsothebys.com/mo11/monterey/lots/1924-mercedes-28-95...
This Lego miniland-scale Daimler-Mercedes 28/95 Sports Phaeton - (1924 Sindelfingen) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 94th Build Challenge, - "Appease the Elves Summer Automobile Build-off (Part 2)", - a design challenge combining the resources of LUGNuts, TheLegoCarBlog (TLCB) and Head Turnerz.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
Under the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary was forbidden from owning military aircraft. However, a secret air arm was gradually established under the cover of civilian flying clubs. During 1938, as a result of the Bled agreement, the existence of the Royal Hungarian Air Force (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő (MKHL)), was made known. The army's aviation service was reorganized and expanded.
Late 1938 the army aviation was once again reorganized. Admiral Horthy, the head of state, ordered that the army aviation should become an independent service with effect of 01.09.1939. It subsequently participated in clashes with the newly established Slovak Republic and in the border confrontation with the Kingdom of Romania.
In 1940, the decision was made to unite the Air Force, the anti-aircraft forces, and the civilian air defense organizations under one central headquarters. In April 1941, operations were conducted in support of the German invasion of Yugoslavia and, on 27 June 1941, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union.
On 01.06.1941, the Air Defense Corps was established, and Lieutenant General Béla Rákosi became Commander of Army Aviation. In effect the Air Force had once again become part of the Army. In the summer of 1942, an air brigade was attached to the Luftwaffe's VIII. Fliegerkorps at the Eastern Front.
At that time, most of the Hungarian Air Force's fighter equipment was of German origin, consisting of types like Bf 109 F and G, Fw 190 A/F, Me 210. But some indigenous designs were under development, too, e. g. at the RMI, Repülo Muszaki Intézet, or Aviation Technical Institute. Its aircraft were primarily (but not exclusively) by László Varga, and as a result, RMI designs were often given the Varga name (in some cases, even when he was not the major designer). But the RMI designation was used in parallel, too.
One of the domestic developments was the RMI-11 'Sólyom' (= Falcon) fighter. This single engine aircraft drew heavily upon the Bf 109 design, but featured some changes and improvements like an inward-retracting landing gear or a bubble canopy. It also incorporated elements from the heavy RMI-8 fighter, a push/pull design with twin tail booms, but the RMI-8’s sole prototype was destroyed by Allied air raids before a serious test program could be launched.
In contrast to the complex RMI-8 the RMI-11 was a small and light aircraft, a conventional but clean design, based on simple shapes for easy, modular production. Most of its structure was made from wood, saving sparse metal whenever possible. Empty weight was, for instance, about 200 kg less than a contemporary Bf- 109 G.
The RMI-11 was driven by a liquid-cooled DB 605 inverted V12 engine, rated at 1.475 hp. Thanks to the low weight of the airframe, the machine achieved a high top speed and an exceptional high rate of climb.
Originally designed as a fast and agile interceptor in the early stages of WWII, the RMI was only armed with two 13mm MG 131 with 300 RPG and two 7.92 mm MG 17 in the outer wings. Two underwing hardpoints could carry up to 100 kg each.
The RMI-11 prototype made its maiden flight in late 1943 and after a basic but successful test program immediately ordered into production – in a hurry, though, and beginning March 1944, Allied bomber raids began on Hungary and progressively increased in intensity.
Production of the RMI-11 gained only slowly momentum, due to material shortages, because the RMI-11was primarily of plywood bonded with a special phenolic resin adhesive that was supplied from German sources. Due to Allied bombing raids on the glue’s original production sites the plywood glue had to be replaced by one that was not as strong, and was later found to react chemically, apparently in a corrosive manner, with the wood in RMI-11’s structure. In November 1944, several RMI-11s crashed with wing and tail failures due to plywood delamination. This same problem also critically affected the German Focke Wulf Ta 154 and Heinkel He 162 programs.
Late in 1944 all efforts were redirected towards countering the advancing Red Army. Soon it was clear that the type needed long range cannons with higher caliber in order to encounter heavy Allied bombers, so plans were made to add heavier German armament. This was realized through an extra pair of MG 151/20 20 mm cannons with 150 RPG, which were added in fairings under the wings instead of the original bomb hardpoints (which were hardly ever used in service at all). During the same refit, the rather ineffective MG 17s were deleted, saving weight and leaving more room inside of the wings for the MG 131s’ ammunition supply (now with 400 RPG)
At that time only about 60 production aircraft had been completed and modified, and production was halted due to the severe structural problems. These machines were nevertheless thrown into service, with repairs and upgrades done at the Hungarian airfields – but the glue problem was a constant operational danger.
Still, all these efforts were to no avail: All fighting in Hungary ended on 16 April 1945, and all RMI-11’s were scrapped after hostilities ended.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 8.82 m (28 ft 10 ½ in)
Wingspan: 10.58 m (34 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.10 m (13 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 16.82 m² (181.00 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,964 kg (4,330 lb)
Loaded weight: 2,200 kg (4,840 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 2,395 kg (5,280 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Daimler-Benz DB 605A-1 liquid-cooled inverted V12, 1,475 PS (1,085 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 640 km/h (398 mph) at 6,300 m (20,669 ft)
Cruise speed: 590 km/h (365 mph) at 6.000 m (19.680 ft)
Range: 850 km (528 mi)
Service ceiling: 12.000 m (39.370 ft)
Rate of climb: 17.0 m/s (3.345 ft/min)
Wing loading: 196 kg/m² (40 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 344 W/kg (0.21 hp/lb)
Armament:
2× 13mm MG 131 (.51 in) machine guns in the wings,400 RPG, plus 2× 20mm MG 151/20 (.51 in) machine cannons, 150 RPG, in external underwing fairings.With the cannons deleted up to 8× 15 kg (33 lb) or 2× 50, 100, or 150 kg (110, 220, or 330 lb) bombs under the wings
The kit and its assembly:
This is a serious kitbash and a totally fictional aircraft - and you are IMHO an expert modeler if you recognize what basically went into it!
This build was inspired when I recently bought an RS Models Nakajima Kikka jet fighter, the double seater kit. As a bonus it comes with two fuselages: effectively, it is the single seater kit with an extra sprue and a different canopy. Looking at the Kikka's profile I found that it HAD to be converted into a piston engine aircraft, with a liquid-cooled engine. Wings and anything else would come from the scrap box, but it should become a sleek fighter aircraft, a late WWII design.
From that, things went straightforward:
● Fuselage from a RS Models Nakajima N9J1 "Kikka", front end cut away
● Wings from an Revell Macchi C.200 Saetta
● Stabilizers from an Art Model MiG I-210 fighter
● Canopy from a late Supermarine Spitfire (Special Hobby, IIRC)
● Nose/engine and radiators from an RS Models Ki-78
● The propeller was scratched from single pieces/blades and the Ki-78 spinner
● The landing gear is a Ki-78/C.200 parts mix.
I settled for the Ki-78's radiator installment on the rear flanks because it is a unique feature and simply does not hamper the sleek side profile. I also thought that this might have been a smart solution for modular production - fuselage and wings could be completed separately.
The Ki-78 engine had to be widened considerably to match the Kikka’s trapezoidal fuselage diameter, putty and major sculpting resulted in a relatively smooth and subtle intersection. As per usual, an axis construction for the propeller was added, too, so that it can spin freely. Mating wings and fuselage necessitated a new cockpit floor (which acts at the same time as landing gear well interior), and a 3mm bridge at the wing roots had to filled – but that was easy.
The cockpit interior was outfitted with spares, the Spitfire canopy needed some small styrene wedges under the windshield to make it fit onto the Kikka fuselage.
Things went rather smoothly until I fixed the wings to the completed fuselage. However I placed them, it looked odd – too far back, and the nose stood out; too far forward, and the tail was too long. Somehow, proportions did not match – only slightly, but it bugged me. So far that I eventually decided to shorten the fuselage – after having completed it, radiators already in place and everything sanded even. I made a vertical cut behind the cockpit and removed ~7mm of length – and suddenly the aircraft looked good! Needed some extra body work, but the aircraft looks much more balanced now.
The underwing fairings for the cannons were late additions, too. I wanted to keep the fuselage clean, with no nose guns, but adding heavier armament turned out to be tricky. The fairing solution was inspired by a real-world Fw 190 Rüstsatz which featured two MG 151/20 apiece. I had appropriate parts from an Academy Fw 190 left over, so I sliced these up and narrowed them for a single cannon each, and this was the right size for the slender aircraft. All gun barrels were created through heated and pulled-out styrene tubes.
Painting and markings:
Deciding what this aircraft was to become was tougher than building it! With its clearly German origin it had to be a WWII Axis type, but I did neither want a German nor a Japanese aircraft, even Italy was ruled out – all too obvious. With Hungary and its RMI designs I eventually found a good potential origin, and this also allowed a rather "colorful" livery. With the Hungarian background this kitbash became the RMI-11.
The paint scheme was inspired by an experimental Hungarian camouflage in Green, Gray and Brown, seen on a Bf 109G. I could not find color indications, but in the end I settled for three RLM tones for the upper sides, RLM 71, 75 and 79, coupled with RLM 76 for the lower sides. All tones are enamels from Modelmaster's Authentic range, panels and leading edges were slightly emphasized with lighter shades. As a small design twist I added a wavy, medium waterline on the fuselage sides.
Interior surfaces were, lacking any reference, kept in RLM 02. In order not to be too fanciful, the spinner became black with a green tip (RLM 62), and the blades were painted with a mix of RLM 70 (Black Green) and Black, for a very dark and dull green tone, Luftwaffe style.
The yellow markings correspond to German Luftwaffe markings of the late WWII era, the yellow 45° “V” under the lower left wing was introduced in the Balkan region in 1944, it was also carried by Luftwaffe aircraft in this conflict theatre.
The flashy decoration on all tail surfaces disappeared at that time on real aircraft (only small Hungarian flags were carried on the tail rudder), but I still incorporated the full national insignia because it's unique and a colorful contrast to the rest of the aircraft.
Most markings belong to a real Hungarian Bf 109G (from a Print Scale aftermarket sheet), I just scratched the national markings on the fuselage and the yellow markings (all cut from stock decal material) and parts of the Hungarian flag insignia on the tail: the tips were painted with red, the white and green bands were cut to measure from a Frecce Tricolori sheet.
A light black ink wash was applied and some dry painting added with gray and black (for soot and exhaust stains), for a lightly weathered effect. As final step, everything was sealed under matt acrylic varnish (Revell).
A quickie, done in just a week, but with a very convincing look. One might recognize Bf 109 F/G, Ki-78 and even He 100 features, but none of these aircraft really matches up with the RMI-11 at second glance, there are too many individual differences. If it gets you wondering – mission accomplished! ;)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Bell XP-68A owed its existence to the manufacturer’s rather disappointing outcome of its first jet fighter design, the XP-59A Airacomet. The Airacomet was a twin jet-engined fighter aircraft, designed and built during World War II after Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became aware of the United Kingdom's jet program when he attended a demonstration of the Gloster E.28/39 in April 1941. He requested, and was given, the plans for the aircraft's powerplant, the Power Jets W.1, which he took back to the U.S. He also arranged for an example of the engine, the Whittle W.1X turbojet, to be flown to the U.S., along with drawings for the more powerful W.2B/23 engine and a small team of Power Jets engineers. On 4 September 1941, he offered the U.S. company General Electric a contract to produce an American version of the engine, which subsequently became the General Electric I-A. On the following day, he approached Lawrence Dale Bell, head of Bell Aircraft Corporation, to build a fighter to utilize it. As a disinformation tactic, the USAAF gave the project the designation "P-59A", to suggest it was a development of the unrelated, canceled Bell XP-59 fighter project. The P-59A was the first design fighter to have its turbojet engine and air inlet nacelles integrated within the main fuselage. The jet aircraft’s design was finalized on 9 January 1942 and the first prototype flew in October of the same year.
The following 13 service test YP-59As had a more powerful engine than their predecessor, the General Electric J31, but the improvement in performance was negligible, with top speed increased by only 5 mph and a slight reduction in the time they could be used before an overhaul was needed. One of these aircraft, the third YP-59A, was supplied to the Royal Air Force, in exchange for the first production Gloster Meteor I for evaluation and flight-offs with domestic alternatives.
British pilots found that the YP-59A compared very unfavorably with the jets that they were already flying. The United States Army Air Forces were not impressed by its performance either and cancelled the contract when fewer than half of the originally ordered aircraft had been produced. No P-59s entered combat, but the type paved the way for the next design generation of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft and helped to develop appropriate maintenance structures and procedures.
In the meantime, a new, more powerful jet engine had been developed in Great Britain, the Halford H-1, which became later better known as the De Havilland Goblin. It was another centrifugal compressor design, but it produced almost twice as much thrust as the XP-59A’s J31 engines. Impressed by the British Gloster Meteor during the USAAF tests at Muroc Dry Lake - performance-wise as well as by the aircraft’s simplicity and ruggedness - Bell reacted promptly and proposed an alternative fighter with wing-mounted engine nacelles, since the XP-59A’s layout had proven to be aerodynamically sub-optimal and unsuited for the installation of H-1 engines. In order to save development time and because the aircraft was rather regarded as a proof-of-concept demonstrator instead of a true fighter prototype, the new aircraft was structurally based on Bell’s current piston-engine P-63 “Kingcobra”. The proposal was accepted and, in order to maintain secrecy, the new jet aircraft inherited once more a designation of a recently cancelled project, this time from the Vultee XP-68 “Tornado” fighter. Similar to the Airacomet two years before, just a simple “A” suffix was added.
Bell’s development contract covered only three XP-68A aircraft. The H-1 units were directly imported from Great Britain in secrecy, suspended in the bomb bays of B-24 Liberator bombers. A pair of these engines was mounted in mid-wing nacelles, very similar to the Gloster Meteor’s arrangement. The tailplane was given a 5° dihedral to move it out of the engine exhaust. In order to bear the new engines and their power, the wing main spars were strengthened and the main landing gear wells were moved towards the aircraft’s centerline, effectively narrowing track width. The landing gear wells now occupied the space of the former radiator ducts for the P-63’s omitted Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V12 engine. Its former compartment behind the cockpit was used for a new fuel tank and test equipment. Having lost the propeller and its long drive shaft, the nose section was also redesigned: the front fuselage became deeper and the additional space there was used for another fuel tank in front of the cockpit and a bigger weapon bay. Different armament arrangements were envisioned, one of each was to be tested on the three prototypes: one machine would be armed with six 0.5” machine guns, another with four 20mm Hispano M2 cannon, and the third with two 37mm M10 cannon and two 0.5” machine guns. Provisions for a ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb were made, but this was never fitted on any of the prototypes. Additional hardpoints under the outer wings for smaller bombs or unguided missiles followed the same fate.
The three XP-68As were built at Bell’s Atlanta plant in the course of early 1944 and semi-officially christened “Airagator”. After their clandestine transfer to Muroc Dry Lake for flight tests and evaluations, the machines were quickly nicknamed “Barrelcobra” by the test staff – not only because of the characteristic shape of the engine nacelles, but also due to the sheer weight of the machines and their resulting sluggish handling on the ground and in the air. “Cadillac” was another nickname, due to the very soft acceleration through the new jet engines and the lack of vibrations that were typical for piston-engine- and propeller-driven aircraft.
Due to the structural reinforcements and modifications, the XP-68A had become a heavy aircraft with an empty weight of 4 tons and a MTOW of almost 8 tons – the same as the big P-47 Thunderbolt piston fighter, while the P-63 had an MTOW of only 10,700 lb (4,900 kg). The result was, among other flaws, a very long take-off distance, especially in the hot desert climate of the Mojave Desert (which precluded any external ordnance) and an inherent unwillingness to change direction, its turning radius was immense. More than once the brakes overheated during landing, so that extra water cooling for the main landing gear was retrofitted.
Once in the air, the aircraft proved to be quite fast – as long as it was flying in a straight line, though. Only the roll characteristics were acceptable, but flying the XP-68A remained hazardous, esp. after the loss of one of the H-1s engines: This resulted in heavily asymmetrical propulsion, making the XP-68A hard to control at all and prone to spin in level flight.
After trials and direct comparison, the XP-68A turned out not to be as fast and, even worse, much less agile than the Meteor Mk III (the RAF’s then current, operational fighter version), which even had weaker Derwent engines. The operational range was insufficient, too, esp. in regard of the planned Pacific theatre of operations, and the high overall weight precluded any considerable external load like drop tanks.
However, compared with the XP-59A, the XP-68A was a considerable step forward, but it had become quickly clear that the XP-68A and its outfit-a-propeller-design-with jet-engines approach did not bear the potential for any service fighter development: it was already outdated when the prototypes were starting their test program. No further XP-68A was ordered or built, and the three prototypes fulfilled their test and evaluation program until May 1945. During these tests, the first prototype was lost on the ground due to an engine fire. After the program’s completion, the two remaining machines were handed over to the US Navy and used for research at the NATC Patuxent River Test Centre, where they were operated until 1949 and finally scrapped.
General characteristics.
Crew: 1
Length: 33 ft 9 in (10.36 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 4 in (11.7 m)
Height: 13 ft (3.96 m)
Wing area: 248 sq ft (23 m²)
Empty weight: 8,799 lb (3,995 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,138 lb (6,873 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 17,246 lb (7,830 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Halford H-1 (De Havilland Goblin) turbojets, rated at 3,500 lbf (15.6 kN) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 559 mph (900 km/h)
Range: 500 mi (444 nmi, 805 km)
Service ceiling: 37,565 ft (11,450 m)
Rate of climb: 3.930 ft/min (20 m/s)
Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.45
Time to altitude: 5.0 min to 30,000 ft (9,145 m)
Armament:
4× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
One ventral hardpoint for a single drop tank or a 1.000 lb (550 kg) bomb
6× 60 lb (30 kg) rockets or 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs under the outer wings
The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Kingcobra conversion was spawned by a post by fellow user nighthunter in January 2019 at whatifmodelers.com about a potential jet-powered variant. In found the idea charming, since the XP-59 had turned out to be a dud and the Gloster Meteor had been tested by the USAAF. Why not combine both into a fictional, late WWII Bell prototype?
The basic idea was simple: take a P-63 and add a Meteor’s engine nacelles, while keeping the Kingcobra’s original proportions. This sounds pretty easy but was more challenging than the first look at the outcome might suggest.
The donor kits are a vintage Airfix 1:72 Gloster Meteor Mk.III, since it has the proper, small nacelles, and an Eastern Express P-63 Kingcobra. The latter looked promising, since this kit comes with very good surface and cockpit details (even with a clear dashboard) as well as parts for several P-63 variants, including the A, C and even the exotic “pinball” manned target version. However, anything comes at a price, and the kit’s low price point is compensated by soft plastic (which turned out to be hard to sand), some flash and mediocre fit of any of the major components like fuselage halves, the wings or the clear parts. It feels a lot like a typical short-run kit. Nevertheless, I feel inclined to build another one in a more conventional fashion some day.
Work started with the H-1 nacelles, which had to be cut out from the Meteor wings. Since they come OOB only with a well-visible vertical plate and a main wing spar dummy in the air intake, I added some fine mesh to the plate – normally, you can see directly onto the engine behind the wing spar. Another issue was the fact that the Meteor’s wings are much thicker and deeper than the P-63s, so that lots of PSR work was necessary.
Simply cutting the P-63 OOB wings up and inserting the Meteor nacelles was also not possible: the P-63 has a very wide main landing gear, due to the ventral radiators and oil coolers, which were originally buried in the wing roots and under the piston engine. The only solution: move the complete landing gear (including the wells) inward, so that the nacelles could be placed as close as possible to the fuselage in a mid-span position. Furthermore, the - now useless - radiator openings had to disappear, resulting in a major redesign of the wing root sections. All of this became a major surgery task, followed by similarly messy work on the outer wings during the integration of the Meteor nacelles. LOTS of PSR, even though the outcome looks surprisingly plausible and balanced.
Work on the fuselage started in parallel. It was built mainly OOB, using the optional ventral fin for a P-63C. The exhaust stubs as well as the dorsal carburetor intake had to disappear (the latter made easy thanks to suitable optional parts for the manned target version). Since the P-63 had a conventional low stabilizer arrangement (unlike the Meteor with its cruciform tail), I gave them a slight dihedral to move them out of the engine efflux, a trick Sukhoi engineers did on the Su-11 prototype with afterburner engines in 1947, too.
Furthermore, the whole nose ahead of the cockpit was heavily re-designed, because I wanted the “new” aircraft to lose its propeller heritage and the P-63’s round and rather pointed nose. Somewhat inspired by the P-59 and the P-80, I omitted the propeller parts altogether and re-sculpted the nose with 2C putty, creating a deeper shape with a tall, oval diameter, so that the lower fuselage line was horizontally extended forward. In a profile view the aircraft now looks much more massive and P-80esque. The front landing gear was retained, just its side walls were extended downwards with the help of 0.5mm styrene sheet material, so that the original stance could be kept. Lots of lead in the nose ensured that the model would properly stand on its three wheels.
Once the rhinoplasty was done I drilled four holes into the nose and used hollow steel needles as gun barrels, with a look reminiscent of the Douglas A-20G.
Adding the (perfectly) clear parts of the canopy as a final assembly step also turned out to be a major fight against the elements.
Painting and markings:
With an USAAF WWII prototype in mind, there were only two options: either an NMF machine, or a camouflage in Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. I went for the latter and used Tamiya XF-62 for the upper surfaces and Humbrol 156 (Dark Camouflage Grey) underneath. The kit received a light black ink wash and some post shading in order to emphasize panels. A little dry-brushing with silver around the leading edges and the cockpit was done, too.
The cockpit interior became chromate green (I used Humbrol 150, Forest Green) while the landing gear wells were painted with zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81). The landing gear itself was painted in aluminum (Humbrol 56).
Markings/decals became minimal, puzzled together from various sources – only some “Stars and Bars” insignia and the serial number.
Somehow this conversion ended up looking a lot like the contemporary Soviet Sukhoi Su-9 and -11 (Samolyet K and LK) jet fighter prototype – unintentionally, though. But I am happy with the outcome – the P-63 ancestry is there, and the Meteor engines are recognizable, too. But everything blends into each other well, the whole affair looks very balanced and believable. This is IMHO furthermore emphasized by the simple paint scheme. A jet-powered Kingcobra? Why not…?
un'anima dietro le parole,
lo sforzo di chi ancora cerca di comunicare e si lascia capire.
C'è il saluto di chi oramai è solito celarsi dietro di esse.
Una mano si tende per salvare, oppure per sperare di essere salvati.
On display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia. This is the only one of this type still in existence. www.flickr.com/photos/keleivis/2486873398/
This is an Ar 234 B-2 bomber variant carrying Werknummer (manufacturer's serial number) 140312, and was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola Airfield near Stavanger, Norway. The aircraft had been operating with 9. Staffel III./Kampfgeschwader 76 (later reorganised as Einsatzstaffel) during the final weeks of the war, having operated previously with the 8th squadron, carrying the full-four-character Geschwaderkennung military code of "F1+GS" on the fuselage sides.
This aircraft and three others were collected by the famous "Watson's Whizzers" of the USAAF to be shipped back to the United States for flight testing. Two aircraft were given freely but a further two had been traded to Watson by Eric "Winkle" Brown (test pilot and CO of the Enemy Aircraft Flight at the RAE) in exchange for an interview with Hermann Göring who was then being held by the Americans.
The aircraft was flown from Sola to Cherbourg, France on 24 June 1945 where it joined 34 other advanced German aircraft shipped back to the U.S. aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper. Reaper departed from Cherbourg on 20 July, arriving at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. Upon arrival two of the Ar 234s were reassembled (including 140312) and flown by USAAF pilots to Freeman Field, Indiana for testing and evaluation. 140312 was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010. The fate of the second Ar 234 flown to Freeman Field remains a mystery. One of the remaining two was reassembled by the United States Navy at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for testing, but was found to be in unflyable condition and was scrapped. (Very substantial remains were in evidence at Pax River as late as 1976, so it is not known if they were disposed of after this date.)
After receiving new engines, radio and oxygen equipment, 140312 was transferred to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio and delivered to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Squadron (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division in July 1946. Flight testing was completed on 16 October 1946 though the aircraft remained at Wright Field until 1947. It was then transferred to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois, and remained there until 1 May 1949 when it, and several other aircraft stored at the airport were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s the Ar 234 was moved to the Smithsonian's Paul Garber Restoration Facility at Suitland, Maryland for storage and eventual restoration.
The Smithsonian began restoration of 140312 in 1984 and completed it in February 1989. All paint had been stripped from the aircraft before the Smithsonian received it, so the aircraft was painted with the markings of an aircraft of 8./KG 76, the first operational unit to fly the "Blitz". The restored aircraft was first displayed at the Smithsonian's main museum building in downtown Washington D.C. in 1993 as part of a display titled "Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234". In 2005 it became one of the first aircraft moved to the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. Today, 140312 is displayed next to the last surviving Dornier Do 335, an aircraft that had accompanied it on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Reaper over 60 years earlier.
This aircraft is displayed with a pair of Hellmuth Walter designed, liquid-fuelled RATO units mounted under its wings. These RATO units may be the only surviving examples to be mounted on an aircraft.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
Under the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary was forbidden from owning military aircraft. However, a secret air arm was gradually established under the cover of civilian flying clubs. During 1938, as a result of the Bled agreement, the existence of the Royal Hungarian Air Force (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő (MKHL)), was made known. The army's aviation service was reorganized and expanded.
Late 1938 the army aviation was once again reorganized. Admiral Horthy, the head of state, ordered that the army aviation should become an independent service with effect of 01.09.1939. It subsequently participated in clashes with the newly established Slovak Republic and in the border confrontation with the Kingdom of Romania.
In 1940, the decision was made to unite the Air Force, the anti-aircraft forces, and the civilian air defense organizations under one central headquarters. In April 1941, operations were conducted in support of the German invasion of Yugoslavia and, on 27 June 1941, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union.
On 01.06.1941, the Air Defense Corps was established, and Lieutenant General Béla Rákosi became Commander of Army Aviation. In effect the Air Force had once again become part of the Army. In the summer of 1942, an air brigade was attached to the Luftwaffe's VIII. Fliegerkorps at the Eastern Front.
At that time, most of the Hungarian Air Force's fighter equipment was of German origin, consisting of types like Bf 109 F and G, Fw 190 A/F, Me 210. But some indigenous designs were under development, too, e. g. at the RMI, Repülo Muszaki Intézet, or Aviation Technical Institute. Its aircraft were primarily (but not exclusively) by László Varga, and as a result, RMI designs were often given the Varga name (in some cases, even when he was not the major designer). But the RMI designation was used in parallel, too.
One of the domestic developments was the RMI-11 'Sólyom' (= Falcon) fighter. This single engine aircraft drew heavily upon the Bf 109 design, but featured some changes and improvements like an inward-retracting landing gear or a bubble canopy. It also incorporated elements from the heavy RMI-8 fighter, a push/pull design with twin tail booms, but the RMI-8’s sole prototype was destroyed by Allied air raids before a serious test program could be launched.
In contrast to the complex RMI-8 the RMI-11 was a small and light aircraft, a conventional but clean design, based on simple shapes for easy, modular production. Most of its structure was made from wood, saving sparse metal whenever possible. Empty weight was, for instance, about 200 kg less than a contemporary Bf- 109 G.
The RMI-11 was driven by a liquid-cooled DB 605 inverted V12 engine, rated at 1.475 hp. Thanks to the low weight of the airframe, the machine achieved a high top speed and an exceptional high rate of climb.
Originally designed as a fast and agile interceptor in the early stages of WWII, the RMI was only armed with two 13mm MG 131 with 300 RPG and two 7.92 mm MG 17 in the outer wings. Two underwing hardpoints could carry up to 100 kg each.
The RMI-11 prototype made its maiden flight in late 1943 and after a basic but successful test program immediately ordered into production – in a hurry, though, and beginning March 1944, Allied bomber raids began on Hungary and progressively increased in intensity.
Production of the RMI-11 gained only slowly momentum, due to material shortages, because the RMI-11was primarily of plywood bonded with a special phenolic resin adhesive that was supplied from German sources. Due to Allied bombing raids on the glue’s original production sites the plywood glue had to be replaced by one that was not as strong, and was later found to react chemically, apparently in a corrosive manner, with the wood in RMI-11’s structure. In November 1944, several RMI-11s crashed with wing and tail failures due to plywood delamination. This same problem also critically affected the German Focke Wulf Ta 154 and Heinkel He 162 programs.
Late in 1944 all efforts were redirected towards countering the advancing Red Army. Soon it was clear that the type needed long range cannons with higher caliber in order to encounter heavy Allied bombers, so plans were made to add heavier German armament. This was realized through an extra pair of MG 151/20 20 mm cannons with 150 RPG, which were added in fairings under the wings instead of the original bomb hardpoints (which were hardly ever used in service at all). During the same refit, the rather ineffective MG 17s were deleted, saving weight and leaving more room inside of the wings for the MG 131s’ ammunition supply (now with 400 RPG)
At that time only about 60 production aircraft had been completed and modified, and production was halted due to the severe structural problems. These machines were nevertheless thrown into service, with repairs and upgrades done at the Hungarian airfields – but the glue problem was a constant operational danger.
Still, all these efforts were to no avail: All fighting in Hungary ended on 16 April 1945, and all RMI-11’s were scrapped after hostilities ended.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 8.82 m (28 ft 10 ½ in)
Wingspan: 10.58 m (34 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.10 m (13 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 16.82 m² (181.00 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,964 kg (4,330 lb)
Loaded weight: 2,200 kg (4,840 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 2,395 kg (5,280 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Daimler-Benz DB 605A-1 liquid-cooled inverted V12, 1,475 PS (1,085 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 640 km/h (398 mph) at 6,300 m (20,669 ft)
Cruise speed: 590 km/h (365 mph) at 6.000 m (19.680 ft)
Range: 850 km (528 mi)
Service ceiling: 12.000 m (39.370 ft)
Rate of climb: 17.0 m/s (3.345 ft/min)
Wing loading: 196 kg/m² (40 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 344 W/kg (0.21 hp/lb)
Armament:
2× 13mm MG 131 (.51 in) machine guns in the wings,400 RPG, plus 2× 20mm MG 151/20 (.51 in) machine cannons, 150 RPG, in external underwing fairings.With the cannons deleted up to 8× 15 kg (33 lb) or 2× 50, 100, or 150 kg (110, 220, or 330 lb) bombs under the wings
The kit and its assembly:
This is a serious kitbash and a totally fictional aircraft - and you are IMHO an expert modeler if you recognize what basically went into it!
This build was inspired when I recently bought an RS Models Nakajima Kikka jet fighter, the double seater kit. As a bonus it comes with two fuselages: effectively, it is the single seater kit with an extra sprue and a different canopy. Looking at the Kikka's profile I found that it HAD to be converted into a piston engine aircraft, with a liquid-cooled engine. Wings and anything else would come from the scrap box, but it should become a sleek fighter aircraft, a late WWII design.
From that, things went straightforward:
● Fuselage from a RS Models Nakajima N9J1 "Kikka", front end cut away
● Wings from an Revell Macchi C.200 Saetta
● Stabilizers from an Art Model MiG I-210 fighter
● Canopy from a late Supermarine Spitfire (Special Hobby, IIRC)
● Nose/engine and radiators from an RS Models Ki-78
● The propeller was scratched from single pieces/blades and the Ki-78 spinner
● The landing gear is a Ki-78/C.200 parts mix.
I settled for the Ki-78's radiator installment on the rear flanks because it is a unique feature and simply does not hamper the sleek side profile. I also thought that this might have been a smart solution for modular production - fuselage and wings could be completed separately.
The Ki-78 engine had to be widened considerably to match the Kikka’s trapezoidal fuselage diameter, putty and major sculpting resulted in a relatively smooth and subtle intersection. As per usual, an axis construction for the propeller was added, too, so that it can spin freely. Mating wings and fuselage necessitated a new cockpit floor (which acts at the same time as landing gear well interior), and a 3mm bridge at the wing roots had to filled – but that was easy.
The cockpit interior was outfitted with spares, the Spitfire canopy needed some small styrene wedges under the windshield to make it fit onto the Kikka fuselage.
Things went rather smoothly until I fixed the wings to the completed fuselage. However I placed them, it looked odd – too far back, and the nose stood out; too far forward, and the tail was too long. Somehow, proportions did not match – only slightly, but it bugged me. So far that I eventually decided to shorten the fuselage – after having completed it, radiators already in place and everything sanded even. I made a vertical cut behind the cockpit and removed ~7mm of length – and suddenly the aircraft looked good! Needed some extra body work, but the aircraft looks much more balanced now.
The underwing fairings for the cannons were late additions, too. I wanted to keep the fuselage clean, with no nose guns, but adding heavier armament turned out to be tricky. The fairing solution was inspired by a real-world Fw 190 Rüstsatz which featured two MG 151/20 apiece. I had appropriate parts from an Academy Fw 190 left over, so I sliced these up and narrowed them for a single cannon each, and this was the right size for the slender aircraft. All gun barrels were created through heated and pulled-out styrene tubes.
Painting and markings:
Deciding what this aircraft was to become was tougher than building it! With its clearly German origin it had to be a WWII Axis type, but I did neither want a German nor a Japanese aircraft, even Italy was ruled out – all too obvious. With Hungary and its RMI designs I eventually found a good potential origin, and this also allowed a rather "colorful" livery. With the Hungarian background this kitbash became the RMI-11.
The paint scheme was inspired by an experimental Hungarian camouflage in Green, Gray and Brown, seen on a Bf 109G. I could not find color indications, but in the end I settled for three RLM tones for the upper sides, RLM 71, 75 and 79, coupled with RLM 76 for the lower sides. All tones are enamels from Modelmaster's Authentic range, panels and leading edges were slightly emphasized with lighter shades. As a small design twist I added a wavy, medium waterline on the fuselage sides.
Interior surfaces were, lacking any reference, kept in RLM 02. In order not to be too fanciful, the spinner became black with a green tip (RLM 62), and the blades were painted with a mix of RLM 70 (Black Green) and Black, for a very dark and dull green tone, Luftwaffe style.
The yellow markings correspond to German Luftwaffe markings of the late WWII era, the yellow 45° “V” under the lower left wing was introduced in the Balkan region in 1944, it was also carried by Luftwaffe aircraft in this conflict theatre.
The flashy decoration on all tail surfaces disappeared at that time on real aircraft (only small Hungarian flags were carried on the tail rudder), but I still incorporated the full national insignia because it's unique and a colorful contrast to the rest of the aircraft.
Most markings belong to a real Hungarian Bf 109G (from a Print Scale aftermarket sheet), I just scratched the national markings on the fuselage and the yellow markings (all cut from stock decal material) and parts of the Hungarian flag insignia on the tail: the tips were painted with red, the white and green bands were cut to measure from a Frecce Tricolori sheet.
A light black ink wash was applied and some dry painting added with gray and black (for soot and exhaust stains), for a lightly weathered effect. As final step, everything was sealed under matt acrylic varnish (Revell).
A quickie, done in just a week, but with a very convincing look. One might recognize Bf 109 F/G, Ki-78 and even He 100 features, but none of these aircraft really matches up with the RMI-11 at second glance, there are too many individual differences. If it gets you wondering – mission accomplished! ;)
nrhp # 80003298- Antlers owes its existence to the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad—also known as the Frisco Railroad—which opened in June 1887. The railroad, which was built north to south through the mountains and virgin timberlands of the Choctaw Nation of the Indian Territory, brought civilization to the wilderness—three passenger trains operated daily in each direction, plus two freight trains, making for a total of ten trains per day.
To support this industrial infrastructure section houses were established by the railroad every few miles. The houses assumed responsibility for maintaining the railroad track and right-of-way in either direction of each location.
A section house was established at the site of present-day Antlers, with adjacent station stops to the north at Davenport, Indian Territory—now Kellond, Oklahoma—and south at Hamden, Indian Territory—now Hamden, Oklahoma. Railroad officials chose Antlers as the site due to the presence of a well-watered spring of fresh water. Surrounding the spring were numerous pairs of deer antlers nailed to trees. The antlers had been placed there by hunters as hunting trophies, and constituted a local landmark. The station, originally called Beaver Station after nearby Beaver Creek, was soon renamed Antlers.
from Wikipedia
Inbetween the heavy winds during the cyclone on 1-22-11. Imagine this forlorn creature singing the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter", then take a look at the video on the right.
POEM PARKING LOT
MOONLIGHT
Moonlight softens a multitude of sins.
Glows delicately, soft, not blazing, just
Reflecting. Shines a gentler light on things.
Reminds us that we’re not really as hard
As we pretend. Let the fragile side of
Yourself out of its shell, enjoy the night
Sky’s splendor. Make time for someone
Special to you. Moonlight reminds us
How precious calm can be, that we
Needn’t spend each moment in a flurry.
How we’re meant to do more than just
Fight our way through existence, either
Conquering or breaking free. Sometimes
It’s clear how all this conflict is just so
Much invention, mostly needless. Leave
All of that alone for now. Let moonlight
Remind you how in the midst of all we
Resist there’s still a natural wonder it’s
No sin to give in to.
HOT PLATE
That which can’t be spoken of in honorable
Terms. That which has been declared off-
Limits, old business, trashed, abused,
Treated like something of no value. No use.
Responsibility dropped like a hot plate that
Ought to shatter but doesn’t. Hear it clang
Like an unwanted gong ringing awareness
You haven’t forgotten and never will. Try
Harder? Smash it to pieces like you wish
You could smash the pain into dust for the
Next wind? Passionate as it might appear,
Destroying plates as some kind of display
Seems so undignified. Unnecessary to
Victimize the kitchenware. Angrily, sadly,
This kitchen reeks of indignity already, and
It’s not the dishes’ fault. Silly old fashioned
Me, I thought we were supposed to value
That which doesn’t break.
SEEDS
A burger would look barmy claiming to
Be a cow. Potatoes grow in the ground,
Not potato chips. Oranges grow in
Florida, but orange juice comes from
A factory. Metal comes from the earth,
But your car, mostly metal, didn’t just
Drive up from some garage under the
Surface. That laptop facilitating your
Interaction with the world is mostly
Plastic, which comes these days from
Corn, but nobody credits the corn for
Social networking. The whole point is
No matter who or what we come from,
Life changes us into something separate,
Distinct, different, new called ourselves.
When this happens with natural things,
We say it’s so great, but when it happens
With people, for some it’s a sign of the
End times. Maybe not all transformation
Is good, but can you think of anything
Worse than none at all? So we needn’t
See ourselves as betrayers if we stray
From our roots – that’s what seeds do.
It’s moving forward, not ending. Worry
Not, beloved sisters and brothers, time
Won’t end till you’ve paid off your debts,
Which we all know will never happen.
UGLY
You say my poems sound like they’re
Afraid to go somewhere ugly? As if
Ugliness, that decreasingly vague
Sense of threat, needs any more
Expression – just turn on the news.
Watch people struggling, starving,
Stealing, raping, destroying, killing
For no good reason, but our steady
Diet of violence has made us numb
To others suffering. Ugly enough?
Certain social entities want you
Convinced the world’s a dangerous
And ugly place, because conveniently
They have a solution to sell you,
Provided you sign up for their program.
Fear and ugliness do good business,
So they’d prefer you forget there’s
A way that’s free. You don’t need a
Program to appreciate beauty.That’s
All someone like me tries to remind
People of. Ugliness is the wolf at
My door, and my means or resistance
Is to reach all I can for harmony before
I’m consumed too by some ugly hunger.
In the midst of so much ugliness,
Embracing what’s beautiful is almost
An act of subversion. I want to subvert,
With a passion.
INVENT
When you invent me in your mind as
Someone you can’t trust, can’t open
Up to, can’t reach out to, can’t relate
To, can’t use period, it’s too bad you’re
Not writing for Hollywood. When you
Assume a whole ideology, value system,
Attitude, belief, sensibility and you
Attribute it to me without even asking,
That’s an astounding leap of faith and
Confidence in your own convictions
I wish you’d save for your religion.
Good thing you’re not as convinced
You can walk on water or part the
Red Sea as you are that you have me
All figured out.
REASONS
Some reasons are like weeds, you think
You’re rid of them but the just spring
Back up. The longer you leave them the
More they take over. Dealing with them
Is the price you pay for having a garden.
I guess you’d classify this type of reason
As doubts. Other reasons are like trees,
Standing tall no matter what nasty acts
Of nature take place. With age, they
Attain a certain height, and can shelter
Other living things. I guess you’d refer
To this type of reason as faith. Stranger
Reasons are like cactus, living where
Most life would die, protecting what’s
Precious under sharp thorns but unable
To reach out or be reached without
Hurting. If you want to reach them, it’s
Going to hurt. I can’t decide whether
To call these reasons cynicism, damages,
Or life insurance. Maybe all three.
SO PURE
I really should resolve to market
Myself more effectively. Problem is,
I’ve got this deep seated conviction
That it’s classier to just give things
Away. This sort of begs the question
As to whether anyone genuinely
Values that which they’re just given.
So tell me, would you take my poetry
More seriously if you had to pay for it?
Think carefully – my future creativity
Could be riding on your answer. And
Truthfully, the only reason I need
Money is to stop worrying about it.
So how is it I’m not prospering
When my intentions are so pure?
TRADE SECRET
Do you wonder where all these
Poems come from? Well, it’s
Simple. I have a Good Angel on
One shoulder and a Bad Angel
On the other, both vying for
My attention, to be the one
Taken seriously, establish
Credibility, each whispering
Profound, provocative, pure,
Soily, sacred, profane, mystical,
Physical, sexual, intellectual,
Spiritual, selfless, selfish, true,
False, angry, forgiving, gentle,
Devoted, demented, violent,
Me me me and you you you
Influences on my outlook from
Moment to moment. Poems
Are what’s left over when the
Crossfire momentarily ceases.
HOMES
I feel at home in more than one place.
There’s the home where I was born, the
Home where I live, and the homes I’ve
Discovered and return to when I can.
No ambivalence about my citizenship,
But I’ve left a little bit of myself and
Taken with me something from all the
Different places I’ve called home, even
If only for a few days. They’re all part of
Me now, regardless of where my feet
Kick back at any moment, just like you
Don’t have to be right beside someone
To love them deeply, even if you wish
You could be. That’s why, contrary to
Appearances, I don’t think of this at all
As an exile.
DRAMATIC BAGGAGE
Maybe I was left in front of the TV
At too early an age. I didn’t just
Watch the shows, I felt them too.
(What else is a good show supposed
To make you do?) That’s my earliest
Impression of human conflict and
Resolution. Now I wonder whether
Unconsciously I still expect everything
To be too black and white like our old
TV, too cut and dried. In theory I’m
Aware of complexity, but emotionally
It’s a different story – if my feelings
You’re engaged, you’re either a hero
Or a villain. Villains must be punished
Or defeated for heroes to come out
Shining before the last commercial. I
Know that’s distorted, but we don’t
Just think about people, we feel them
Too. So if you’re going to get dramatic,
Know that all it does is warm the tubes
Of my old TV feelings that never leave,
Just leave more dramatic baggage than
I know how to handle. As a child, to me
Everyone on TV seemed so much more
Alive, but involvement with them was
Just something you could always turn
Off anytime you liked.
TRAVELING
Traveling is my freedom and my prison,
My choice as well as my inescapable
Fate. Like a shark starts to fade if it
Doesn't circulate, I need to move. In
The shadows between one location
And the next, there's somewhere all
Is still, my only moments of peace.
It's not just arriving, not just leaving,
But the movement between that keeps
The weeds and vines from encircling,
Enclosing. Can you ever really be
Close to someone who won't stay
Put? Yes. Be a partner, not an
Anchor.
WHAT A DOG
Dog with a bone can’t let go. For all
He knows, it’s dog nirvana. Canine
Heaven made flesh (or in this case
Bone). Never seen him so fully
Committed, or willing to lay down
His life to protect what’s so precious
To him. Never seen him so happy,
Wagging his tail at its sight, gamboling
Like he thinks he’s a lamb, savoring its
Taste, aroused by its scent, licking
Tongue expressing the depths of his
Affection, barking baritone love songs
Of faith and devotion. Playing with it
Like each moment they have together
Is golden. Makes you wonder how they
Ever did without one another. They’re
Partners till he’s gnawed the last of
The marrow from its insides. When
It loses its special appeal, dog thinks
Nothing of moving on to the next one.
What a dog.
DREAMS
In their isolation, inhabitants of tiny
Islands, known to and knowing only
Themselves, weave mythologies that
Map their location as the center of
The universe, of creation, of time.
Dwarves who don’t know better
Think they’re giants. Same with
Dreams – won’t acknowledge limits
If they don’t have to, sometimes
Growing big enough to think they
Can depose reality. Poor dreamer,
Then, what mutiny must brew in
Your soul. For we know how reality
Has taken many a battering, but
Always is the one left standing
Because dreams seldom outlive
The dreamers. Through rebellion
Is more romantic, at least in teen
Novels, dreams might do better to
Treat reality more politely, to make
Their pleas free of expectation reality
Will listen, just with a humble hope
Reality might point the way to truth
Just as real as it was in your dream.
GUESS
No more guesses. Nothing brings on
A flood of bad emotions like feeling
With all your being that you’re right
Then realizing you’ve simply guessed
Wrong. Maybe the more something
Means to you personally the less
Clearly you can really see it. There’s
A time to be objective, and a time to
Follow your heart and dive right in.
Too bad sometimes we can only
Guess which is which. I feel like I
Dove into a pool that turned out to
Be empty. The water was imaginary,
Unlike the concrete. So please, don’t
Expect me to guess. If you want me
To believe you, first believe in what
You want to convey enough to say it
Face to face.
BEATNIK MOSQUITOES
Poems are like mosquitoes drunk on the
Blood of a nicotine addict such as moi,
Haphazardly careening in circular flight,
Their mission - inner space exploration,
Little bitty buzzings sounding like jazz
Saxophones soundtracking beatnik
Free verse, these insect Allen Ginsburgs,
Improvising wildly like a Dixieland band.
Jazz poetry from beatnik mosquitoes
Drunk on my blood - how beautiful!
SLAP
Poems are like mosquitoes, flying
Around sucking on people’s feelings,
Spreading disease, making you
Itch, disrupting your sleep,
Inspiring a good slap or two.
WHEN WE WERE NORMAL
Inter-generational conflict rendered
Me less than at my best for a long time.
I resigned myself to the reality that my
Elders were clueless and my peers were
Crazy. By necessity, I kept a foot in both
Camps, but my head and heart were
Somewhere else. It’s all cooled off by
Now, but the cynicism I got from the
Bad years has stayed with me like an
Unwanted tattoo. Worse is the feeling
That while now-meaningless battles
Consumed our thoughts, something
Slipped by us. We still see the world
Like we did when we were normal,
But that was a long, long time ago.
POOR OLD ROBOT
Poor old robot from a second hand
Robot store. Can’t find your parts
Anymore, can’t find your owner.
Poor old robot, feeling outmoded,
Knowing your warranty expired
Yesterday but refusing to just sit
Around and decay. Poor old robot,
All your friends in the junkyard,
Sadly mute, reminding you of a
More animated past. Poor old
Robot, wanting to be helpful but
Only speaking Chinese, confusing
The elderly and frightening the
Young. Poor old robot, short-circuiting
Your own speakers issuing distorted
Robot moans about how nobody
Appreciates you, sounding more
Annoying than rap (in Chinese)
Through a broken boom box. Poor
Old robot, voice of every invention
First coveted greedily then tossed
Aside casually as soon as there’s a
Newer version. Poor old robot,
Wishing you could take your metallic
Hands and throttle whoever saddled
You with this limited lifespan. Poor
Old robot, I want to shoot you just
To shut you up, but you look at me
With those tortured robot eyes and
It scares me how easily I can relate.
DUSK
Dusk, and the day’s content to let
Its light relax and fade. There’s
Still work to be done, but for now
That’s enough. Now day and night,
Opposites but still ideal partners,
Do their changing of the guard at
Dusk. Then the light disappears,
No one knows where to and no
One asks. After all it does for us,
It’s entitled to its privacy. There’s
A time to shine as bright as you can,
And a time to do nothing more than
Enjoy being alive. In the long run,
It’s the steadiness that counts,
Finding a comfortable rhythm that
Won’t grind you down. Day and
Night split their time equally. We
Should learn from that balance.
DEVIL’S TOOLS
During the bad years I was judged
Constantly, even for things I’d never
Actually done. No one can justify
Another’s pretensions, no matter
How well-intended, but there was
Still some expectation the prodigal
Son might turn out to be a golden
Boy after all. When that didn’t
Happen, they imagined the worst.
Someone’s anger stings no less
Just because you know it’s based
On a mistake – the real sting is
What they’d believe about you.
Wrong ideas, in the minds of
People firmly convinced they
Can’t be anything but right, are
The devil’s tools for dismantling
Families.
AUSTIN
Take me with you back to Austin – I’m not
Understood here, much less appreciated.
Here, I have to sing in a language I can’t
Speak. In Austin, I can sing in English, and
I’ll learn as much Spanish as I have to. In
That kind of milieu, they'd more likely take
Me to heart. Here, I get shot down just
For showing I care, and if anyone cares
For me, they’ll be damned before they’d
Admit it. Austin might find me more
Socially acceptable, value my cultural
Contribution more highly than my home
Town Lilliputians. Plus I’ll make you money –
Be my manager. Austin’s feminist enough
For a woman Colonel Parker. I can be like
Your Mexican, except I’m a citizen. So it
Makes perfect sense economically, socially,
Emotionally and culturally that you take
Me with you back to Austin, home of the
Armadillo. I really can do better, but not
Here, where every time I open my mouth
I remind everyone they didn’t invent music.
INOTE: You know who Colonel Parker is, right? In case you're clueless, Colonel Parker was Elvis' manager. See, reading my poems is very educational.)
CALI PHONE YA
I will miss you, sprawling industrial district.
You too, cold winds at night. You too,
Mall after mall, all the same stores. You
Too, people everywere on cells, lost in
One way conversations for all appearances.
You too, healthy, skinny, multi-ethnic
Residients reminding me to diet. You too,
Radio where they play what they like,
Acoustic western swing for cruising. You
Too, old people acting young. You too,
Redemption tickets at Indian gambling
Palaces, payback for white wrongs. You
Too, taquerias on wheels, food names I
can't pronounce. You too, tall eucalyptus
Straddling the highway. California, land of
Great distances. Spent half my time here
Driving. Almost always worth it. A week
Here is like a month at home. Gotta say
Bye before I flame out, die of fun.
IN FRONT OF STORES
In old Samoa they would sit around
The fire at night. Now boys sit in front
Of stores from twilight till closing time.
One of the side effects of society based
On industry and wages is boys with
Nowhere better to go than bus stops
Or store parking lots. They have homes
They can’t go to, parents they can’t be
Around. What kind of adults will they
Become, growing up feeling like home
And family have to be avoided? For the
Sake of our future, every adolescent
Should be asked to think about the
Questions: what should a family be,
And how does it turn into something
You want to run from?
STICKS AND LEAVES
Once upon a time the two had a
Mansion. One they didn’t have to
Earn, but came to them naturally.
Then, for reasons that vary
Depending on who’s explaining,
Their mansion lay in ruins. What
Are their options? They could say,
It doesn’t matter, we’ll make a
Shelter of sticks and leaves, and it
Will do as long as we’re together,
Or they could turn their attention
Separately to other mansions that
Just happen to have an empty room
And role they could easily fill. Sounds
Cold, I know, but you’d be surprised
How many would go for it given the
Circumstances. One day you may
Have to choose between insisting
On the mansion class at any cost,
Or accepting when you have
Nothing but sticks and leaves left
With someone, and saying it’s a
Start, not the end.
WALL
Quite a big wall to keep out
Just one person, don’t you
Think? Oh right, the wall’s
Not for me, not a message.
It’s for vampires, werewolves,
Traveling salesmen, Santa,
Elves, reindeer, postmen
With colds and girls scouts
Trying to push their cookies
On you. What’s sad about
Walls is what can’t get out,
Not just what can’t get in.
What if a rainbow ends on
The other side, with a pot
Of gold that’s yours for the
Taking, but you can’t get
Over your own wall?
ROADRUNNER
Too fast to be caught, never held
Back, I wanted to be Roadrunner.
A life of highways to explore at full
Speed. Grant me the freedom to
Travel and I’m happy. Take it all in,
And take off running before you’re
Tied to anything or anyone. Beep,
Beep, moving on. I wanted to be
Roadrunner – life in the fast lane.
Amazing it lasted as long as it did.
Sad I’d finally find someone I’d
Love to run with right when fate
Has forced me to hit the brakes.
It’s clear each time you beep beep
By like you don’t even know me –
I wanted to be Roadrunner, but
Ended up Coyote.
DEATH SENTENCE
I think I know what’s going to
Kill me – stupidity. Involuntary
Meditative state 24/7 where
The mantra is, “That was stupid.”
Stupidity is relative, therefore
Relatives are stupid.
OBJECTS
Objects have a history. Objects
Could tell stories, given where
They’ve been and what they’ve
Seen, but instead they must sit
Mute and just watch. Objects
Are a paradox – they’ve never
Had what we’d describe as life
And yet they’ll still be here long
After us, and in fact they’ll be
Here forever until someone
Destroys them. To remember us,
Those still here will preserve our
Objects. But that’s nothing like
The kind of interaction it would
Be with us in person, is it? So
Better interact now, and not be
Shy about it either. It’s sort of
The movements of our akimbo
Limbs, and sort of the yappings
Of our colorful tongues, and
Sort of many other things, but
Mostly it’s the sweet essence
Of life itself that makes us more
Than just objects.
DISCLOSURE
My own point of view is
Hopelessly biased – there,
I admit it. I put it out there
Anyway because… Well,
Why not? The worst that
Can happen is you think
I’m delusional. Yep, like
Zillions of others, like the
Wavering masses. like
You too in many ways.
The best that can happen
Is that you know we’re
Really thinking the same
Thing, or not far from it.
That means something.
What? I don’t know, it’s
Always still unwritten.
Anything you want, and
Hopefully nothing you
Don’t. Just for the record,
Thank you for your time
And kind attention. That’s
Today’s disclosure.
ART FILM
Strangest movie you’ve ever seen,
But hey, this is an art film not some
Hollywood product. Human voices
Narrate, but people have no presence
Onscreen. Objects and images stand
As visual metaphors for the story, as if
These better convey something literal
Action or even narration can’t. The
Silhouette of a village sticking up
Through a forest evokes home existing
Only in memory. Railroad tracks and
Nearby debris symbolize childhood
Displacement. Changing light on photos
Indicates the passage of time. Lives are
Represented by bottles floating on
The sea. When its 15 minutes are up,
A buzz in the audience ensues. An
Esteemed panel of judges seems
Speechless, muttering terms like
“Startling”, “innovative”, and “rich in
“Emotion”. The filmmakers just say
That’s what happens when you don’t
Have a budget and you’ve never made
A film, you just really want to, when
You don’t know what you’re doing but
You’re not about to let a minor detail
Like that stop you.
TELL OF WONDERS
If I could tell of wonders, I’d write
The stories here, not to bring me
Glory by association, but to share
My best. Because this is all I can
Share with you until things change,
The only way I can talk to you. If I
Could tell of wonders, I would, but
Most of my stories are rather
Mundane, just people dealing
With day to day life, sometimes
Discovering themselves through
Each other, sometimes catching
Just a glimpse of something bigger
That ties the mysteries together.
THE WORD MUSIC
The word music is closely related to
The word muse, the reason why
Writers write. The act of writing is
Seen as petitioning fate to intervene
In the hopes your muse will view you
Favorably. Music does the same with
Sound. Notes carry messages words
Can’t. Music, as a word, is not far
From magic. Music works an alchemy
Of its own - let it in and it'll take you
Somewhere. Resist and you’ll get
Noise instead of enjoyment. In those
Moments when music sings to the
Soul, a meaning you needn’t think
About comes through, as if on an
Invisible wire. It’s an open secret
Known to anyone who listens and
Feels, and doesn’t just analyze in
A vacuum. If music doesn’t prove
There’s magic, it at least reminds
That you get out of something what
You put in.
STRAYS
Our dogs simply want something
To eat. They were never farmers
In the first place, but hunters
Who’ve forgotten they ever had
That skill, defenders with nothing
Left to defend but the few scraps
They can pilfer from our leftovers.
More often they go hungry in their
Learned dependence on generosity.
They once served a worthwhile
Purpose for someone or other,
Once had a part in our functioning,
But now they’re strays, deprived of
A livelihood. They’d be more than
Happy to work hard for a crumb of
Your kindness just to survive, living
By their wits but unaware of their
Place in the bigger picture, and not
Caring either.
DELICATE
Can you pull your weeds without
Ruining your garden? Careful, most
Beautiful things are delicate, you
Can’t just slash and burn, as much
As you hate the weeds. Delicate
Things require patience and care,
But look what happiness they bring
Nature is delicate. Life is delicate.
Our deepest feelings are delicate.
How ironic, then, that even apes
Can have more patience and care
Than man, who finds delicacy
Inferior to efficiency, and wants
To slash and burn his way through
Everything, including people.
UNLESS YOU’RE THE POPE
So, are you convinced you can’t be
Forgiven, or just too proud to ask?
It’s pretty arrogant to forgive
Someone who even hasn’t asked
For it, unless you’re the Pope and
Really in a hurry. And if someone
Has the guts to ask, it’s pretty
Heartless to make them grovel,
Unless you want to convince them
They shouldn’t have bothered.
CLUELESS
Hey, pretend you’re a priest while
I make a confession – I’m clueless.
My memory’s ok, but as far as
Processing what those memories
Mean, forget it. I’ve been turned
Around more than once, and no
Sooner do I finish feeling dizzy than
I start feeling clueless. Meanings
Seem to have shifted, signs signify
Differently. It’s all unfamiliar again
To me. I’m blank – will you fill me in?
Maybe my sensibilities just reflect
An earlier time with a different
Notion of what doing right means,
A different approach. But in the
Here and know, I know how my
Cluelessness must appear to you
As if the dinosaurs never left.
EXPOSED
Eyeballs with wings, following us around
As if we’re breaking news, walking sitcoms,
Like our every moment captured can be
Used for selling ads. We’re never wanting
For an audience. Eyeballs with wings,
Posing as innocent bystanders, trying to
Blend in with the birds, swarming in our
Moments of embarrassment like locusts,
Thinking here’s a good one for prime time
Tonight. Eyeballs with wings, all-seeing, no
Heart for understanding. Disdaining eyes,
Ready to bear witness to anything they
Find suspicious. Wish I could shoot them
From the sky, find out if they’re capable
Of tears, but they’re in my head. Eyeballs
With wings, hanging upside down like bats
Outside my bedroom. Even when no one
Wants to know, I still walk around feeling
Exposed.
PORTRAIT
I suppose if you put all the poems
Together, a certain portrait might
Emerge. An attitude embedded in
The language, values suggested
By the style. But don’t be fooled –
Let an artist paint themselves and
It’ll be the most distorted portrait
You could ask for. Expression can
Be a defense, an elaborate disguise,
Pure fiction, the occasional naked
Truth. I must confess to reveling in
The freedom of never being sure if
I’m taken seriously. Gives me room
To evolve, explore, experiment.
If I ever touch your sensibilities
In some way, I’m truly flattered,
But it’s an accident. My thought
Collisions occasionally summon a
Connection rather than an ambulance.
Were a truly accurate portrait to
Crawl from the wreckage of my
Pages, you’d see a shell shocked
Crash test dummy, mangled, head
Backwards, heart sideways, limbs
Akimbo, lips fixed in a grimace,
Jumping right into the next car.
LION TAMER
Taming lions, do you need a circus
Mind? A grasp of animal psychology?
The talent to get them to trust you
Above their own instincts? Can they
Unlearn what another nasty trainer
Has whipped into them, once he’s
Manipulated their wants and needs
To make them behave his way?
Make them feel they’re safe not
Biting the head off anyone who
Doesn’t give them exactly what
They expect? Don’t be like a lion
Trained by the Romans to tear
Apart criminals, deviants and
Religious dissidents to entertain a
Bloodthirsty colosseum audience.
BURRITO
What gets folded-into our story?
What doesn’t? Our story is like a
Burrito – by themselves the
Ingredients would make one big
Mess, cross no-fly zones, riot on
The plate, stain your clothes, soil
The floor. However, these same
Ingredients, when something holds
Them in one place, create an
Unexpected combination of tastes,
Rendered in the burrito’s case all
The more palatable by a Nobel
Prize-worthy masterpiece of
Culinary engineering, a design
With equally valid practical,
Cultural and gastronomical
Qualities. What we think wasn’t
Meant to co-exist in one dish
Somehow does - with willingness
And creativity, and a good salsa
Always helps. Every burrito across
The USA at this very moment
Stands as a testament to what
Hunger and ingenuity can do.
COLUMBUS
History is great – I’m re-learning it all
The time. Like the little-known fact
That besides collecting information
For maps, Columbus also collected
Several hundred Indians to take
Home and sell as slaves. Well, how
Else was he supposed to pay for the
Trip? And besides, in exchange for a
Few hundred slaves, not all of whom
Even made it to Europe, look what
We got. No Columbus, no Las Vegas.
No Seattle. No Boise, Idaho. No Alamo,
No Annie Oakley, no Little Big Horn, no
George Washington, no Ben Franklin.
No Star Spangled Banner. No Civil War,
No Blues, no Jazz, no Rock & Roll. No
Lincoln, no Lincoln Center. No Pearl
Harbor, no 9-11, no Boston Tea Party,
No Boston Strangler, no McDonalds.
No Margaret Mitchell, no Margaret
Mead, no Miley Cyrus. No Fox News.
No American Idol, no FBI, no Civil Rights.
None of this and more would ever have
Come to pass if it hadn’t been for
Columbus. You wouldn’t even be here,
So hey, just let the slave thing slide.
TELEVISION
Television, you pampered only child
Of an arranged marriage between
Hollywood and Wall Street. Television,
Shaping our culture while taping its
Mouth shut and binding its hands.
Television, who do your represent,
Anyway? Am I no longer in tune with
Society since you don’t make sense?
Television, aimed at some imaginary
America where everyone takes your
Word on what’s worth buying and
Believing. Television, you’re teaching
Escape. Television, your signals go
Out into space. Alien races are curious
About you, Television, and now firmly
Believe earth’s highest-evolved life
Form motivates and manipulates its
Own masses by dangling desired
Material items and idealized states
Of being in front of them like you’d
Dangle a carrot in front of a donkey.
RIVERBOAT
Flowing on the slow river of time,
Before you know it you’ve come
Farther than you believed possible.
Whenever this river seems about
To end, it’s only changing, following
A way passed down from the ages.
Why stray from a proven route?
Someone once told me there’s an
Ocean where all rivers meet, where
Their long travels end, but curiously,
Rivers take their sweet time keeping
The appointment. Who’s in a hurry?
We’ll arrive when it’s time. Until
Then, the river is single-mined,
Stopping everywhere, staying
Nowhere, enticing us with a free
One-way ticket. The river wants us
To mix, discover what’s out there.
Learn from and love every moment
On the water. We’re lucky we can
Join this voyage even for a short
Time, and few among us have
Passage all the way to its end.
PANIC
Calm serenity is an illusion, but shout
That lie as loud as you can because the
Truth is panic. As soon as we’re out of
The womb, we’re screaming. As soon
As whatever situation we’re in starts
Spinning out of control, we’re right back
To the panic we reacted with as soon as
We opened our eyes. And not just babies.
No one wants the pressure of keeping it
All together, but who will prevent our
Serenity from descending into anarchy
If not ourselves? Calm serenity reminds
Us of Heaven, a place within us where it
Doesn’t seem like it could all blow apart
Any second. We need that thought to
Deal with the world, keep reminding
The deaf public and dumb governments
There’s always a better solution than
Bombs. Calm serenity is an illusion, so
Forgive me for cultivating dishonesty –
I’m just trying not to panic.
BETRAYAL
If I talk about betrayal, it doesn’t
Mean I’m talking about you, just
About the thousand ways you can
Feel betrayed. I know it doesn’t do
Any good to talk about feeling
Betrayed, but every time I’m right
On the brink of being kind for no
Other reason than just to be kind,
That feeling comes creeping back:
You’re gonna get betrayed. Betrayal
Is the risk you take when you give.
If you give in the right way, there’s
A tiny chance you won’t be betrayed,
But it’s really tiny. Much more
Straightforward to be a taker, a
Heartbreaker, a bastard, a user.
You can’t be betrayed if you just
Don’t care. Might as well betray
Someone else before they do it
To you. Betrayal is a parachute
For those who can’t stand feeling
Trapped, held back. Betrayal is a
Cancer in the marrow of our
Society and personal lives, eating
The blood cells faith needs. Betrayal
Goes back to the Bible – Judas might
Have been forgiven for his betrayal,
But I’m not so saintly.
FOR MARIE ANTOINETTE
If you doubt the power of propaganda,
Consider this. Marie Antoinette, one of
History’s coldest, most heartless bitches,
Once famously remarked that peasants
Starving for bread could eat cake instead.
This immortal utterance, which so well
Characterizes corruption, anywhere,
Anytime, guarantees that Marie won’t
Soon be forgotten. Imagine my surprise,
Then, when I read that there’s actually
No concrete evidence she really said it!
That historians consider the source of
The quote highly unreliable! A tabloid,
No less. Louis and Marie apparently
Believed in freedom of the press, but
As is still so often the case, attacking
The unpopular sold copies. Therefore,
Exaggerations and lies about the
Monarchy were commonplace. But so
What? With a quote so memorable,
Questions of legitimacy are secondary.
Still, imagine going down in history for
Something you never actually said!
History has force fed Marie that very
Same cake allegedly recommended
To the peasants.
R.I.P. LOU REED
The different don’t feel so different
Anymore, not like they used to, not
Like when they had to deny the very
Idea of their natures. The different had
Lou Reed to sing for them. Lou didn’t
Pander for shock value, he just figured
He’d get real, real for him, maybe real
Too for others out there in dark corners,
The margins, the gutters, the alleys, the
Toilets, the jails, the mental hospitals.
This was when being a freak wasn’t chic,
It was dangerous, could cost you your
Life. Sometimes Lou didn’t mind who
He offended, other times he cloaked
His real meanings in clever language,
But no one could probe as deeply into
The taboo shadows of our collective
Psyche with the same boldness or
With as much humanity. That’s what
I’ll remember Lou for, his humanity,
His occasional tenderness, his trying
To find the heart in life’s confusions,
His frequent rubbing of life’s seediest
Sides in your face. He had his own face
Rubbed in it too, but turned the smears
Into part of his costume for the role of
Bard of the forbidden, anarchist of
Sexuality giving all the rejects a voice.
TONGUE TIED
Tongue tied, falling right into a
Role I’m not sure how to play.
Tongue tied, no idea how to
Say what I’m thinking, it might
Be impolite, not to your liking.
Tongue tied, talking around
The subject, trying to say it
Indirectly.Tongue tied, wanting
So bad for the words to sound
Right that they won’t come out
At all. Tongue tied, silently
Screaming.
IT’S MY JOB
You can deny my love if it’s
Not what you want, refuse it
If it’s not good enough, just
Doesn’t move you. You have
Every right by your own free
Will. I just feel like, right or
Wrong, good or bad, happy
Or sad, wise or foolish, it’s
Just my job to let you know
Somebody loves you. No one
Said anything about you
Having to accept it.
REINCARNATION
With every person you’ve ever felt
A passion for, you create a child in
The spiritual world. You may meet
Them there, before or after their
Turn comes to be made real, born
As human. How else to explain why
A poet from a thousand years ago
Reminds me of someone I only met
Yesterday, or why grandparents
Sometimes make more sense than
Mom and dad, or why someone
You rarely even see can still fill you
With both joy and sadness longer
Than time itself whenever you
Think of them?
MORE NEXT DOOR ("CYCLONE SCENE 2")
In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith.[3] The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), divine simplicity, and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent (perfectly good), and all loving.
God is most often held to be non-corporeal,[3] and to be without any human biological sex,[4][5] yet the concept of God actively creating the universe (as opposed to passively)[6] has caused many religions to describe God using masculine terminology, using such terms as "Him" or "Father". Furthermore, some religions (such as Judaism) attribute only a purely grammatical "gender" to God.[7]
In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[8]
There are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about God's identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten,[9] premised on being the one "true" Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe.[10] In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, "He Who Is", "I Am that I Am", and the tetragrammaton YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה, which means: "I am who I am"; "He Who Exists") are used as names of God, while Yahweh and Jehovah are sometimes used in Christianity as vocalizations of YHWH. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, the latter of which is believed by some scholars to descend from the Egyptian Aten.[11][12][13][14][15] In Islam, the name Allah, "Al-El", or "Al-Elah" ("the God") is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic deity.[16] Other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Bahá'í Faith,[17] Waheguru in Sikhism,[18] and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.[19]
The many different conceptions of God, and competing claims as to God's characteristics, aims, and actions, have led to the development of ideas of omnitheism, pandeism,[20][21] or a perennial philosophy, which postulates that there is one underlying theological truth, of which all religions express a partial understanding, and as to which "the devout in the various great world religions are in fact worshipping that one God, but through different, overlapping concepts or mental images of Him."[22]
Contents [hide]
1Etymology and usage
2General conceptions
2.1Oneness
2.2Theism, deism and pantheism
2.3Other concepts
3Non-theistic views
3.1Agnosticism and atheism
3.2Anthropomorphism
4Existence
5Specific attributes
5.1Names
5.2Gender
5.3Relationship with creation
6Depiction
6.1Zoroastrianism
6.2Islam
6.3Judaism
6.4Christianity
7Theological approaches
8Distribution of belief
9See also
9.1In specific religions
10References
11Further reading
12External links
Etymology and usage
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.
Main article: God (word)
The earliest written form of the Germanic word God (always, in this usage, capitalized[23]) comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[24] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.[25]
The word 'Allah' in Arabic calligraphy
In the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism.[26][27] The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.[28]
Allāh (Arabic: الله) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God" (with a capital G), while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[29][30][31] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[32]
Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning "placing (dʰeh1) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".[33]
Waheguru (Punjabi: vāhigurū) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God. It means "Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means "wonderful" and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. The most common usage of the word "Waheguru" is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Wonderful Lord's Khalsa, Victory is to the Wonderful Lord.
Baha, the "greatest" name for God in the Baha'i faith, is Arabic for "All-Glorious".
General conceptions
Main article: Conceptions of God
There is no clear consensus on the nature or even the existence of God.[34] The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the monotheistic definition of God in Judaism, the trinitarian view of Christians, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic. Divinity was recognized by the historical Buddha, particularly Śakra and Brahma. However, other sentient beings, including gods, can at best only play a supportive role in one's personal path to salvation. Conceptions of God in the latter developments of the Mahayana tradition give a more prominent place to notions of the divine.[citation needed]
Oneness
Main articles: Monotheism and Henotheism
The Trinity is the belief that God is composed of The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically in the physical realm by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.
Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the one true god is worshiped in different religions under different names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in Hinduism[35] and Sikhism.[36] In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in three persons. The Trinity comprises The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.[37] Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid (meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness"). God is described in the Quran as: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."[38][39] Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, and are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities.[41]
Theism, deism and pantheism
Main articles: Theism, Deism, and Pantheism
Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; and that God is personal and interacting with the universe through, for example, religious experience and the prayers of humans.[42] Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and in some way present in the affairs of the world.[43] Not all theists subscribe to all of these propositions, but each usually subscribes to some of them (see, by way of comparison, family resemblance).[42] Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence. Open Theism, by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. Theism is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.[44][45]
"God blessing the seventh day", a watercolor painting depicting God, by William Blake (1757 – 1827)
Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it.[43] In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and neither answers prayers nor produces miracles. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism and Panendeism, respectively, combine Deism with the Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs.[21][46][47] Pandeism is proposed to explain as to Deism why God would create a universe and then abandon it,[48] and as to Pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe.[48][49]
Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God, whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.[50] It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church; Theosophy; some views of Hinduism except Vaishnavism, which believes in panentheism; Sikhism; some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God—which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov—but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.[citation needed]
Other concepts
Dystheism, which is related to theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil. One such example comes from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan Karamazov rejects God on the grounds that he allows children to suffer.[51]
In modern times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as process theology and open theism. The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry has however proposed a phenomenological approach and definition of God as phenomenological essence of Life.[52]
God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[53] Augustine of Hippo,[53] and Al-Ghazali,[8] respectively.
Non-theistic views
See also: Evolutionary origin of religions and Evolutionary psychology of religion
Non-theist views about God also vary. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. The nineteenth-century English atheist Charles Bradlaugh declared that he refused to say "There is no God", because "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation";[54] he said more specifically that he disbelieved in the Christian god. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.[55]
Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."[56] Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.[57]
Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.[58] Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Agnosticism and atheism
Agnosticism is the view that, the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[60][61][62]
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities, or a God.[63][64] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[65]
Anthropomorphism
Main article: Anthropomorphism
Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems.[66] Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries.[67] Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.[68]
Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[69]
Existence
Main article: Existence of God
St. Thomas Aquinas summed up five main arguments as proofs for God's existence.
Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects.
Arguments about the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Different views include that: "God does not exist" (strong atheism); "God almost certainly does not exist" (de facto atheism); "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism[70]);"God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (de facto theism); and that "God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism).[55]
Countless arguments have been proposed to prove the existence of God.[71] Some of the most notable arguments are the Five Ways of Aquinas, the Argument from Desire proposed by C.S. Lewis, and the Ontological Argument formulated both by St. Anselm and René Descartes.[72]
St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: "By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence." For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature.[73] His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.[74]
Scientist Isaac Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.[75] Nevertheless, he rejected polymath Leibniz' thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator. In Query 31 of the Opticks, Newton simultaneously made an argument from design and for the necessity of intervention:
For while comets move in very eccentric orbs in all manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric, some inconsiderable irregularities excepted which may have arisen from the mutual actions of comets and planets on one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation.[76]
St. Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us. "Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists", of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self-evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that are more known to us, though less known in their nature—namely, by effects."[77] St. Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonstrated. Briefly in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered in great detail five arguments for the existence of God, widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways).
For the original text of the five proofs, see quinque viae
Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though cannot cause their own motion. Since there can be no infinite chain of causes of motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by anything else, and this is what everyone understands by God.
Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can cause itself, and an infinite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God.
Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled to suppose something that exists necessarily, having this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause for other things to exist.
Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things in the sense that some things are more hot, good, etc., there must be a superlative that is the truest and noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then, we call God (Note: Thomas does not ascribe actual qualities to God Himself).
Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal under the guidance of one who is aware. This we call God (Note that even when we guide objects, in Thomas's view, the source of all our knowledge comes from God as well).[78]
Alister McGrath, a formerly atheistic scientist and theologian who has been highly critical of Richard Dawkins' version of atheism
Some theologians, such as the scientist and theologian A.E. McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method.[79][80] Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argues that science and religion are not in conflict and do not overlap.[81]
Some findings in the fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience are interpreted by some atheists (including Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris) as evidence that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality.[82][83][84] These atheists claim that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined, embellished and promulgated in a trans-generational manner.[85] Richard Dawkins interprets such findings not only as a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God, but as extensive evidence to the contrary.[55] However, his views are opposed by some theologians and scientists including Alister McGrath, who argues that existence of God is compatible with science.[86]
Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Specific attributes
Different religious traditions assign differing (though often similar) attributes and characteristics to God, including expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature. The assignment of these attributes often differs according to the conceptions of God in the culture from which they arise. For example, attributes of God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism share certain similarities arising from their common roots.
Names
Main article: Names of God
99 names of Allah, in Chinese Sini (script)
The word God is "one of the most complex and difficult in the English language." In the Judeo-Christian tradition, "the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God". That the Bible "includes many different images, concepts, and ways of thinking about" God has resulted in perpetual "disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood".[87]
Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are many names for God. One of them is Elohim. Another one is El Shaddai, meaning "God Almighty".[88] A third notable name is El Elyon, which means "The Most High God".[89]
God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (See Names of God in Islam).[90]
Supreme soul
The Brahma Kumaris use the term "Supreme Soul" to refer to God. They see God as incorporeal and eternal, and regard him as a point of living light like human souls, but without a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers and values and that He is the unconditionally loving Father of all souls, irrespective of their religion, gender, or culture.[91]
Vaishnavism, a tradition in Hinduism, has list of titles and names of Krishna.
Gender
Main article: Gender of God
The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form.[92][93] Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.[6]
Biblical sources usually refer to God using male words, except Genesis 1:26-27,[94][95] Psalm 123:2-3, and Luke 15:8-10 (female); Hosea 11:3-4, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2 (a mother); Deuteronomy 32:11-12 (a mother eagle); and Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 (a mother hen).
Relationship with creation
See also: Creator deity, Prayer, and Worship
And Elohim Created Adam by William Blake, c.1795
Prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Muslims believe that the purpose of existence is to worship God.[96][97] He is viewed as a personal God and there are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God. Prayer often also includes supplication and asking forgiveness. God is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[98] Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that there are good reasons to suggest that a "personal god" is integral to the Christian outlook, but that one has to understand it is an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."[99]
Adherents of different religions generally disagree as to how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind, if there is one. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism: the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism, mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement.
Jews and Christians believe that humans are created in the likeness of God, and are the center, crown and key to God's creation, stewards for God, supreme over everything else God had made (Gen 1:26); for this reason, humans are in Christianity called the "Children of God".[100]
Depiction
God is defined as incorporeal,[3] and invisible from direct sight, and thus cannot be portrayed in a literal visual image.
The respective principles of religions may or may not permit them to use images (which are entirely symbolic) to represent God in art or in worship .
Zoroastrianism
Ahura Mazda (depiction is on the right, with high crown) presents Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Relief at Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd century CE)
During the early Parthian Empire, Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship. This practice ended during the beginning of the Sassanid empire. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture.[101]
Islam
Further information: God in Islam
Muslims believe that God (Allah) is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of His creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Judaism
At least some Jews do not use any image for God, since God is the unimageable Being who cannot be represented in material forms.[102] In some samples of Jewish Art, however, sometimes God, or at least His Intervention, is indicated by a Hand Of God symbol, which represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or Voice of God;[103] this use of the Hand Of God is carried over to Christian Art.
Christianity
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Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God.[104]
Use of the symbolic Hand of God in the Ascension from the Drogo Sacramentary, c. 850
However, later on the Hand of God symbol is found several times in the only ancient synagogue with a large surviving decorative scheme, the Dura Europos Synagogue of the mid-3rd century, and was probably adopted into Early Christian art from Jewish art. It was common in Late Antique art in both East and West, and remained the main way of symbolizing the actions or approval of God the Father in the West until about the end of the Romanesque period. It also represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or voice of God,[103] just like in Jewish Art.
In situations, such as the Baptism of Christ, where a specific representation of God the Father was indicated, the Hand of God was used, with increasing freedom from the Carolingian period until the end of the Romanesque. This motif now, since the discovery of the 3rd century Dura Europos synagogue, seems to have been borrowed from Jewish art, and is found in Christian art almost from its beginnings.
The use of religious images in general continued to increase up to the end of the 7th century, to the point that in 695, upon assuming the throne, Byzantine emperor Justinian II put an image of Christ on the obverse side of his gold coins, resulting in a rift which ended the use of Byzantine coin types in the Islamic world.[105] However, the increase in religious imagery did not include depictions of God the Father. For instance, while the eighty second canon of the Council of Trullo in 692 did not specifically condemn images of The Father, it suggested that icons of Christ were preferred over Old Testament shadows and figures.[106]
The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the period of Byzantine iconoclasm (literally image-breaking) started. Emperor Leo III (717–741), suppressed the use of icons by imperial edict of the Byzantine Empire, presumably due to a military loss which he attributed to the undue veneration of icons.[107] The edict (which was issued without consulting the Church) forbade the veneration of religious images but did not apply to other forms of art, including the image of the emperor, or religious symbols such as the cross.[108] Theological arguments against icons then began to appear with iconoclasts arguing that icons could not represent both the divine and the human natures of Jesus at the same time. In this atmosphere, no public depictions of God the Father were even attempted and such depictions only began to appear two centuries later.
The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general.[109] However, this did not immediately translate into large scale depictions of God the Father. Even supporters of the use of icons in the 8th century, such as Saint John of Damascus, drew a distinction between images of God the Father and those of Christ.
In his treatise On the Divine Images John of Damascus wrote: "In former times, God who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see".[110] The implication here is that insofar as God the Father or the Spirit did not become man, visible and tangible, images and portrait icons can not be depicted. So what was true for the whole Trinity before Christ remains true for the Father and the Spirit but not for the Word. John of Damascus wrote:[111]
"If we attempt to make an image of the invisible God, this would be sinful indeed. It is impossible to portray one who is without body:invisible, uncircumscribed and without form."
Around 790 Charlemagne ordered a set of four books that became known as the Libri Carolini (i.e. "Charles' books") to refute what his court mistakenly understood to be the iconoclast decrees of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea regarding sacred images. Although not well known during the Middle Ages, these books describe the key elements of the Catholic theological position on sacred images. To the Western Church, images were just objects made by craftsmen, to be utilized for stimulating the senses of the faithful, and to be respected for the sake of the subject represented, not in themselves. The Council of Constantinople (869) (considered ecumenical by the Western Church, but not the Eastern Church) reaffirmed the decisions of the Second Council of Nicaea and helped stamp out any remaining coals of iconoclasm. Specifically, its third canon required the image of Christ to have veneration equal with that of a Gospel book:[112]
We decree that the sacred image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator and Savior of all people, must be venerated with the same honor as is given the book of the holy Gospels. For as through the language of the words contained in this book all can reach salvation, so, due to the action which these images exercise by their colors, all wise and simple alike, can derive profit from them.
But images of God the Father were not directly addressed in Constantinople in 869. A list of permitted icons was enumerated at this Council, but symbols of God the Father were not among them.[113] However, the general acceptance of icons and holy images began to create an atmosphere in which God the Father could be symbolized.
Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art.[104] Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD. A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of Man in the image of His own (thus allowing Human to transcend the other animals).
It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely a whole human. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted.[114]
By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts, which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua.[115] In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush. By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry has a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden, which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, begun in 1425 use a similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram, continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ.
In an early Venetian school Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini, (c. 1443) The Father is depicted using the symbol consistently used by other artists later, namely a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and a beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the near-physical, but still figurative, description of the Ancient of Days.[116]
. ...the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9)
Usage of two Hands of God"(relatively unusual) and the Holy Spirit as a dove in Baptism of Christ, by Verrocchio, 1472
In the Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1470, God the Father is portrayed in the red robe and a hat that resembles that of a Cardinal. However, even in the later part of the 15th century, the symbolic representation of the Father and the Holy Spirit as "hands and dove" continued, e.g. in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ in 1472.[117]
God the Father with His Right Hand Raised in Blessing, with a triangular halo representing the Trinity, Girolamo dai Libri c. 1555
In Renaissance paintings of the adoration of the Trinity, God may be depicted in two ways, either with emphasis on The Father, or the three elements of the Trinity. The most usual depiction of the Trinity in Renaissance art depicts God the Father using an old man, usually with a long beard and patriarchal in appearance, sometimes with a triangular halo (as a reference to the Trinity), or with a papal crown, specially in Northern Renaissance painting. In these depictions The Father may hold a globe or book (to symbolize God's knowledge and as a reference to how knowledge is deemed divine). He is behind and above Christ on the Cross in the Throne of Mercy iconography. A dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit may hover above. Various people from different classes of society, e.g. kings, popes or martyrs may be present in the picture. In a Trinitarian Pietà, God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms. They are depicted as floating in heaven with angels who carry the instruments of the Passion.[118]
Representations of God the Father and the Trinity were attacked both by Protestants and within Catholicism, by the Jansenist and Baianist movements as well as more orthodox theologians. As with other attacks on Catholic imagery, this had the effect both of reducing Church support for the less central depictions, and strengthening it for the core ones. In the Western Church, the pressure to restrain religious imagery resulted in the highly influential decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563. The Council of Trent decrees confirmed the traditional Catholic doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person, not the image.[119]
Artistic depictions of God the Father were uncontroversial in Catholic art thereafter, but less common depictions of the Trinity were condemned. In 1745 Pope Benedict XIV explicitly supported the Throne of Mercy depiction, referring to the "Ancient of Days", but in 1786 it was still necessary for Pope Pius VI to issue a papal bull condemning the decision of an Italian church council to remove all images of the Trinity from churches.[120]
The famous The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, c.1512
God the Father is symbolized in several Genesis scenes in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, most famously The Creation of Adam (whose image of near touching hands of God and Adam is iconic of humanity, being a reminder that Man is created in the Image and Likeness of God (Gen 1:26)).God the Father is depicted as a powerful figure, floating in the clouds in Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari of Venice, long admired as a masterpiece of High Renaissance art.[121] The Church of the Gesù in Rome includes a number of 16th century depictions of God the Father. In some of these paintings the Trinity is still alluded to in terms of three angels, but Giovanni Battista Fiammeri also depicted God the Father as a man riding on a cloud, above the scenes.[122]
In both the Last Judgment and the Coronation of the Virgin paintings by Rubens he depicted God the Father using the image that by then had become widely accepted, a bearded patriarchal figure above the fray. In the 17th century, the two Spanish artists Velázquez (whose father-in-law Francisco Pacheco was in charge of the approval of new images for the Inquisition) and Murillo both depicted God the Father using a patriarchal figure with a white beard in a purple robe.
The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake
While representations of God the Father were growing in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Low Countries, there was resistance elsewhere in Europe, even during the 17th century. In 1632 most members of the Star Chamber court in England (except the Archbishop of York) condemned the use of the images of the Trinity in church windows, and some considered them illegal.[123] Later in the 17th century Sir Thomas Browne wrote that he considered the representation of God the Father using an old man "a dangerous act" that might lead to Egyptian symbolism.[124] In 1847, Charles Winston was still critical of such images as a "Romish trend" (a term used to refer to Roman Catholics) that he considered best avoided in England.[125]
In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which then also resulted in a whole range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list,[126][127] mostly affecting Western-style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons. The Council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the "Ancient of Days" was Christ, as Logos, not God the Father. However some icons continued to be produced in Russia, as well as Greece, Romania, and other Orthodox countries.
Theological approaches
Theologians and philosophers have attributed to God such characteristics as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God has been described as incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable being existent.[3] These attributes were all claimed to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars, including Maimonides,[53] St Augustine,[53] and Al-Ghazali.[128]
Many philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God,[8] while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes generated important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's omniscience may seem to imply that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, their ostensible free will might be illusory, or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.[129]
However, if by its essential nature, free will is not predetermined, then the effect of its will can never be perfectly predicted by anyone, regardless of intelligence and knowledge. Although knowledge of the options presented to that will, combined with perfectly infinite intelligence, could be said to provide God with omniscience if omniscience is defined as knowledge or understanding of all that is.
The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions regarding the arguments for God's existence raised by such philosophers as Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Antony Flew, although Kant held that the argument from morality was valid. The theist response has been either to contend, as does Alvin Plantinga, that faith is "properly basic", or to take, as does Richard Swinburne, the evidentialist position.[130] Some theists agree that only some of the arguments for God's existence are compelling, but argue that faith is not a product of reason, but requires risk. There would be no risk, they say, if the arguments for God's existence were as solid as the laws of logic, a position summed up by Pascal as "the heart has reasons of which reason does not know."[131] A recent theory using concepts from physics and neurophysiology proposes that God can be conceptualized within the theory of integrative level.[132]
Many religious believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings such as angels, saints, jinn, demons, and devas.[133][134][135][136][137]
Goethe's Secret Revelation PART TWO THE RIDDLE IN FAUST Esoteric Two Addresses given 11nth and 12th March, 1909, at Berlin . It was in August, 1831, that Goethe sealed up a packet and handed it to his faithful secretary Eckermann and prepared his testamentary directions for the editing of this sealed-up treasure. This packet contained in a comprehensive way the whole striving of Goethe's life. It contained the second part of Goethe's Faust; which was not to be published until after Goethe's death. Goethe was aware that in this work he had given the contents of his rich, many-sided, far-reaching and deeply-penetrating life to human existence, and the importance of this moment for him may be gathered from the words he uttered at the time, ‘I am now finished my life's true work, anything I do further and whether I do it or not, is all the same!’ If we permit a fact such as this to work on the soul we can say: It would not be easy for a human life to become fruitful for the rest of humanity in a more beautiful, harmonious way, or indeed to become fruitful in a more conscious manner. There is something deeply affecting in the thought of Goethe's life at this point of time — for he lived barely one year longer — in that he should have visited Ilmenau once more and there re-read the beautiful verse he had written on the 7th of September, 1783, when he was still a comparatively young man.‘Above all heights Is rest, In the tree tops Thou feelest Scarce a breath,The birds are silent in the woods, Only wait, soon Thou too shalt rest.’One may well ask whether these lines may not have signified at that time a frame of mind regulating Goethe's ideas in a new way as he re-read them in the evening of his life with affecting tears.Goethe's Faust is truly a testament of the very first order when considered with reference to its literary and intellectual standpoint.In 1831 Goethe finished the work which had occupied him from his earliest youth, having worked energetically from the year 1824 at the second part of Faust. We find that Goethe knew from the beginning of 1770 that he had what may be called the Faust disposition and that he began in 1774 to write down the first part of Faust, returning again and again to this poem in the most important moments of his life.Notably he took the first part of Faust with him when he went to Weimar and owing to his position there entered the great world. Certainly it was not produced there. But because one of the Weimar Court ladies, Fräulein von Göchhausen, preserved a copy of the Faust which Goethe took with him to Weimar, we to-day possess the form in which it was when he took it there. We therefore know the form in which Faust was printed for the first time and published in 1790, and further we know the setting in which the whole of Goethe's works appeared in 1808 in the first edition. All that we have of Faust, including that very important document which Goethe left as his testament, shows us the different stages of Goethe's growth. It is endlessly interesting to observe how these four stages of Goethe's Faust-creation appear to us in different ways, according to its inner nature, and how they represent a crescendo in the whole of Goethe's life-endeavour. What Goethe took with him to Weimar is a literary work of a quite personal character into which he had poured the feelings, the degrees of knowledge and also the despair of knowledge, as they went with him through the Frankfort time into the Strassburg time and also into the first Weimar period. It is the work of a man hotly striving after knowledge, striving to feel himself into life, experiencing every despair that an upright honourable man can go through, and all this he had poured into this work. All this is in the first part of Faust. But when Faust appeared in 1790 as a fragment, it was recognized that Goethe had worked at it and transformed it out of a longing lying deep in his soul and inner life which had become enlightened through his contemplation of Italian nature and of Italian works of Art. Out of this personal work of one who had been tossed to and fro in life's storms there emerged the work of one, who to a certain degree, had become unshackled and who had a very clear view of life before his soul.Then came the time of Goethe's friendship with Schiller. The time when in his inner being he learned to know and experience a world which had long become rooted within him. A world of which one can say that he who experiences it has had his spiritual eyes opened, so that he can see into the surrounding spiritual world. And now Faust's personality becomes a being placed between two worlds, between the spiritual world to which man can raise himself through purification, through the ennobling of himself and that world which drags him down. Faust becomes a being placed between the world of good and the world of evil. And while previously we saw in Faust the life of the single striving personality, now we see before us a great conflict carried on between the good and evil powers around man. Man is thus placed in the centre as the worthiest object for which the good and evil beings fight in the world. Though in the very beginning Faust is seen as a man doubting all knowledge, he now comes before us as one placed between heaven and hell. Thus the poem reaches an essentially higher stage and a higher existence.In the form in which Faust appears in 1808 it seems as if thousands of years of human development resound. We are reminded of the great dramatic representation of man's life produced in ancient times in the Book of Job, where the evil spirit went among men and stood up before God, and God said to him: ‘Thou hast been to and fro on the earth, hast thou considered my servant Job?’ What is here said we find in the poem, ‘The Prologue in Heaven’ where God speaks with Mephistopheles, the messenger of the evil spirituality: ‘The self in them expands to a spiritual universe.’ At that time at Frankfort he had the feeling, ‘Away from the mere striving after ideas! Away from the merely perceptive sense observation! There must be a path to the sources of existence!’ and he came into touch with what one can call alchemistic, mystical and theosophical literature. He himself attempted the practice of alchemy. He relates how he came to know of a work through which many sought for similar knowledge at that time, Welling's ‘Opus Mago-Cabalisticum et Theosophicum.’ This book was much thought of then as giving a knowledge of the sources of existence. Goethe studied by degrees Paracelsus, Valentinus and above all a work which from its whole method must have produced a deep impression on all those who strove after such knowledge, ‘Aurea Catena Homeri.’ This was a representation of nature the Mystics in the Middle Ages believed to see. The study of these mystical, alchemistic, theosophical books must have had a similar effect on Goethe to that which a man striving to-day after the same things would experience if he took up the books of Eliphas Levy or any other thinker on the same lines. Indeed at that time these things must have had an even more bewildering effect upon Goethe because these different writers no longer really understood the magic, theosophy, etc., of which they wrote. It was impossible to speak in direct way of the real grandeur and meaning of these things, proceeding from an ancient wisdom which had lived in human souls, for the meaning was hidden under an outer garb which included all kinds of physical and chemical forms. For those who merely saw what appeared outwardly in these books it was the greatest nonsense, and at that time it was most difficult to penetrate behind these secrets and arrive at the real meaning. But we must not forget that Goethe from his deep striving for knowledge had developed an intuitive mind. He must have been greatly pleased when on opening the ‘Aurea Catena Homeri’ he saw on the first page a symbol which had a deep effect on his soul; two triangles interlaced; in the corners the signs of the planets, drawn in a wonderful way, a flying dragon wound round in a circle, beneath which another dragon had fixed stiffening itself, and when he read the words on the first page, saying that the flying dragon symbolizes the stream which sends those forces which stream down from out of the Cosmos to the stiffened dragon, showing how heaven and earth hang together, or as it is expressed there: ‘How the spiritual forces of heaven pour into the earth's centre.’These mysterious signs and words must have made a great impression upon Goethe. For instance, those which depict the whole growth of the earth: ‘From chaos to that which is called the universal quintessence’ — a remarkable sentence, curiously mixed up with signs of a chaotic nature, still undifferentiated right through the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, right up to man and to that perspective to which man is developing in ever greater refinement. But it was not easy to find a way of penetrating to the deeper meaning. So Goethe left Frankfort in a frame of mind which can be described in the following words: I have found nothing. These seekers into nature can only give me dry, empty ideas; anything that can be squeezed out of them is but life's water. I have busied myself with much that has come down to us from the past from those who declare that they saw into the secrets of life. But the way, the way drives one to despair!This was sometimes the mood in Goethe's soul. He was not to be bewitched by easy speculations or philosophizing, or by confused symbols and explanations from those old books, which worked so wonderfully and forebodingly on him. They looked at him with their mysteries as something to which he could find no way. But anyone who knew Goethe's soul, knew the seed was already sown in his soul which was to germinate later. But he felt himself as one who was rejected and unworthy to unravel the secrets of life. Then he went to Strassburg.There he met people who must have interested him in one way or the other. He got to know Jung-Stilling with his deeply mystical soul, who owing to the development of peculiar forces generally found sleeping in men, had looked deeply into the hidden side of existence. He met Herder at Strassburg, who had gone through similar moods and who in times of desperation had often been at the point of a denial of future life. In Herder he learnt to know a man who suffered from a surfeit of life and who said, I have studied much, discerning sundry things connected with men's works and men's strivings on the earth. But he was unable to say to himself, I have had one moment when my longing after the sources of life has been satisfied. This was when he was ill and inclined to deny everything with bitter irony. Yet it was Herder who pointed out many depths in the riddles of life, and Goethe found in him a truly human Faust. But that side of negation which is not the outcome of mockery and scorn Goethe learnt to know later through his friend Merck. Goethe's mother who disliked criticism of people and all moralizing said of Merck, he can never leave Mephistopheles at home, in him we are quite used to it. In Merck Goethe found a disclaimer of much that is worth striving for in life. Over against all these impressions which Goethe received from the Strassburg people, it was through Nature and his observation of Nature that many of life's puzzles were cleared up for him.At the same time we must think of Goethe as a man possessed of a sharp, penetrating mind; he was not an unpractical man. He was an advocate, but only practised for a short time. Those who knew Goethe's work as an advocate and later as a Minister, were acquainted with his eminently practical mind. As advocate he knew little more than what he had learnt by heart from law books. But he was a man able to decide very quickly on any point laid before him; such a man can also map out clearly life's course.Let us consider Goethe when during his Italian journey, he gradually arrived at the discovery of the primeval plant, he collected stones, prepared himself diligently to take up the work of research, and did not seek to know immediately ‘how one thing strives to enter another’ but said to himself: ‘If you would gain a premonition’ of ‘how one thing works and lives in another’ as heavenly powers rise and fall, offering each the ‘golden urn,’ examine the vertebras of the spinal column and the way in which one bone is connected with the next; and how one faculty helps another. Seek in the smallest thing the picture of the greatest.Goethe became a very diligent student during his travels in Italy, examining everything. He formed the opinion that if an artist acted ‘according to the laws which are followed by nature herself’ and understood by the Greeks, the divine will be present in his works even as it is in the works of creation. For Goethe, art is a ‘manifestation of the secret laws of nature.’ The creations of the artists are works of nature on a higher stage of perfection. Art is man's continuation and conclusion of nature. ‘For since man is the head of nature so he regards himself as a complete nature, but also as one which can call forth a further rise. He strives for this through the acquisition of all accomplishments and virtues which call for choice, order, harmony, and meaning, and at last rises to the production of the work of art.’
We can say that during the Italian journey everything that came before Goethe took on definite forms and through inner soul experiences appeared clearly before him. So once again he took up ‘Faust,’ and we perceive how he endeavoured to bring the separate parts into union. But we also perceive how he interested himself in an objective manner in what Faust could become for the people of the North. In Italy he became particularly conscious of the great difference between people who had been brought up amid classical surroundings and those who had not. He found it strange that so little should be heard in Rome of ghost stories such as were common in the North. In the Villa Borghese he wrote at this time the ‘Witches Kitchen’ scene, as one who had lost touch with all such things, but also as one who recalled to memory the spirit of the earth. When he had previously written about the earth spirit, he represented it in such a way that Faust turned away from it, as from a ‘hideous worm.’ But the fact of turning away from it, even without understanding why, remains in the soul and works on further, as it did in Goethe. But those who become impatient and refuse to wait until after long years the seed grows, are unable to see the way clearly. And when in Italy Goethe knew that a turning away from the terrible countenance would have its effect upon his soul, and now these words arise:‘Sublime Spirit, thou gavest me, gavest me all For which I begged. It was not without reason That thou didst turn thy face in fire to me And for a kingdom gavest me the glorious nature With strength to feel it and to enjoy it. Not A coldly astonished gaze didst thou grant to me But didst permit me to look into her profound bosom As into that of a friend. Past me didst thou lead the ranks of the living And didst teach me to know, in the quiet bushes, In air, and in water, my brother. And when the storm roared and rattled in the woods And there fell the neighbouring branches of the giant fir Squashing the undergrowth and in their fall Sounding like thunder in the hollow of the hills, Thou didst lead me to a safe Grotto, where Thou didst show me myself and opened my heart To deep and secret wonders.’Before Goethe, there stands the possibility of the human soul, through its own development expanding to a spiritual universe. Through a patient sacrificial resigned search, the fruits stand before his soul which as germs were planted when he came into touch with the earth spirit. We can see through this monologue in ‘Wald und Höhle’ (wood and grotto) what a forward jerk this was towards the ripening of the fruits in his soul, for it shows us that the seed already sown was not sown in vain. And as a warning to have patience, to wait until such seeds had ripened in his soul, that fragment of ‘Faust’ meets us which appeared with this setting in 1790. And now we see how Goethe finds the way step by step after being led to his ‘safe grotto where the secret deep wonders of his own heart were opened to him,’ he obtains that comprehensive survey which bids him no longer abide with his own sorrow, but teaches him to rise above his sorrow, to send his foreseeing spirit out into the Macrocosmos, watch the fighting of the good and evil spirits and see men on their battle ground. And in ‘Faust’ in 1808 he sent out beforehand the ‘Prologue in Heaven:’Raphael: ‘The sun-orb sings, in emulation, 'Mid brother-spheres, his ancient round: His path predestined through Creation He ends with step of thunder-sound.’We next see how the macrocosmic Mights oppose the forces of the great world. We see too from out the experiences of Goethe's soul, what a remarkable light falls on the two dragons with which at one time in his youth he came in touch.‘Faust’ is such a universal poem because it contains so many warnings. It also gives us that golden saying: ‘Wait in confidence for the development of thy inner forces, even if that means waiting a very long time!’ These words also sound as a warning which stand as an attribute before Faust, when Goethe looks back to those ‘fluctuating figures which in early days had once shown a troubled countenance’ but which now are flooded with light. Now he had waited so long that the friends who had taken such a vivid interest in Faust as he had appeared to them in the first form, had died, and those who had not died were very far away. Goethe had been obliged to wait for the development of the seed already sown in him.Now these striking words meet us:‘My sorrow speaks to an unknown crowd, Their applause e'en makes my heart feel heavy, And those who once delighted in my song If they still live, in other lands are scattered.’No longer did it matter to those who in youth had felt with him. He had had to wait, as the last lines of this dedication so beautifully express it — ‘What was once a reality to me, has gone into the unreal: but what has remained for me and appears to outer vision as unreal, that to me is now true, and it is only now that I can give it as truth.’ So we see how this poem, even if only looked at in such an external manner as we have to-day, leads us into the depths of the human soul.‘Faust’ was begun in a desultory manner, some parts being pushed in between others, and therefore Goethe was unable to show in a continuous way what he had experienced in his soul. But something else led to the fact that Goethe expressed his deepest experiences in ‘Faust.’The ‘Helena scene’ also belongs to the first part of ‘Faust’ written by Goethe. But we find it was not included even in the ‘Faust’ of 1808. Why not? Because the manner in which Goethe had finished ‘Faust’ at that time would not allow it. What Goethe wished to say through the Helena scene was the expression of such a deep premonition of the deepest riddle of existence, that the first part was not sufficiently prepared to allow of this. Only when Goethe had reached an advanced age, was he able to give a true form to what really was the inner work of his life.We see how his mind had expanded so that he was able to grasp the worlds of the macrocosm, as expressed in the ‘Prologue in Heaven.’ We shall also see the way in which Goethe represents the stages of the soul's experience, leading men from the first stage up to that of imaginative vision, where the soul penetrating ever deeper and deeper, bursts at last the doors of the spiritual world, which Mephistopheles would close. Goethe also represents these inner experiences. For he places in the second part of ‘Faust’ the experiences of a soul through secret scientific study, and we see here one of the deepest riddles of existence, which if recognized, would be found to be an announcement of Western spiritual science given in imposing language. One is tempted to place such a poem as the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ and the second part of ‘Faust’ side by side. For great and powerful wisdom speaks out of such Eastern writings. It seems as if the gods themselves desired in them to speak with men to express the wisdom out of which the world was formed. Indeed it is so.Now let us look at the second part of ‘Faust.’ Here we see a striving human soul which has raised itself to spiritual vision from outer physical perception; we see how it has worked its way up to true clairvoyance when Faust enters the spiritual world and finds the spiritual choir around him ...‘Hearken! Hark! — The Hours careering Sounding loud to spirit-hearing. See the new-born day appearing! Rocky portals jarring shatter, Phœbus' wheels in rolling clatter, With a crash the Light draws near! Pealing rays and trumpet-blazes — Eye is blinded, ear amazes: The Unheard can no one hear!’Faust II, Act I.to that passage where Faust is outwardly dazzled, so that the outer world is lost to his perception and he says to himself: ‘Only within shines clear light! ...’ up to that passage in which the soul works itself up to the spheres of world existence, where the spiritual worlds are to be seen in all their purity, and the riddle of the world discloses itself to the soul. This is a way which we must designate as an esoteric one.The way in which we can penetrate from the outer to the inner life of Goethe's world enigma, we shall see to-morrow, and we shall also see from out of what depths Goethe spoke the word which at last gave him the certainty he needed with reference to all the longings, all the sorrows, pains and strivings for knowledge in his life.‘Whoever zealously strives We can redeem him; And if love from above Feels an interest in him, The blest choir will be there With a friendly greeting.’We shall consider to-morrow how Goethe solved this riddle of existence, and how that which lives in the soul can rise up to its true home. It will give us the answer to what Goethe placed as the riddle of his existence and about which he gives us such a hopeful answer at the end of the second part of ‘Faust:’‘For the spiritual world, That noble member, Is saved from evil. Whoever strives zealously We can redeem him! ...’This tells us Faust can be saved and those spirits will not conquer who by bringing men into the material bring them also to destruction.
Contemplating existence, or figuring out how to attach a 4x5 black frost without a matte box? #setlife
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tylerdcarey: @torgosrightknee I had that idea! But we were without any hoods.
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Hidden Leeds - Sewers and water
In the 21st century we take the existence of Leeds' sewer system for granted but it was not always like this. In the early 19th century few streets were drained and even by 1870 an estimated 30,000 (non-flushing) privies were still in use. Middensteads, great piles of human dung, were still commonplace in the streets. One in Wellington Yard measured 7m by 2m and was 2m deep - and it was reported a local drunk had fallen in and drowned.
The Leeds Improvement Act of 1842 was the first measure to give the council power to construct sewers and other drainage works.
The importance of work in this area was underlined by outbreaks of deadly cholera in 1832 and 1847 - even though the transmission of the disease wasn't entirely understood. This was followed by the first Public Health Act in 1848.
Even then the Times called the 1848 act "a reckless invasion of property and liberty" but the size and complexity of Leeds sewers continued to grow.
Leeds was one of the first towns in Britain to have a piped water supply to houses. It came into operation in 1694 using either lead pipes or the bored trunks of elm trees.
Many becks and tributaries flow through Leeds and as the city have grown many of them have been culverted - or covered over. Some in the central area of Leeds are of substantial size. The Lady Beck culvert near the bus station is more than 6m wide.
Leeds also had many water-powered mills where water was diverted through goits from the River Aire or other sources. Many of these have now been filled in or covered over.
It is true that in some parts, especially of the city centre, the street level has risen substantially. When workers were relaying sewers in Commercial Street for the Landmark Leeds project they found that the highway is a entire storey above the earlier street level. Workers were able to see the original frontages of old buildings - including a hotel with a wrought iron staircase still intact.
Mabgate Beck is a continuation of Sheepscar Beck, which flows from origins on Otley Chevin, through Bramhope, Adel, Meanwood. It was the site of much early industry in Leeds. it flowed from Lady Lane to Timble Bridge, east of the Parish Church of St. Peter to confluence with River Aire.
Fiercely they pierce out from the earth that contains them. Once a pier along the shores of Gamble Bay, all that remains are the tattered ends, the last reminder of their existence. With each passing tide, they fade from view; one day to be no more.
Kitsap Forest & Bay Project is a community-wide effort to conserve nearly 7,000 acres of forest and 1.8 miles of shoreline on the Kitsap Peninsula of Washington’s Puget Sound. With Port Gamble Bay at its heart, the land has been used to grow trees and produce lumber since 1853.
The landowner, Pope Resources – a timber company, wants to move out of this urbanizing region at the tip of Hood Canal. Recognizing the value of their lands for public recreation, wildlife habitat and cultural sustenance, the company has given the community an incredible opportunity to determine the land’s future.
But, time is running out . . . the community’s option to purchase the land expires in March 2013, with a possible extension to March 2014. At that time, Pope Resources will pursue other options for disposing of its land.
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The old castle, a Scheduled Monument, was built possibly on the site of an earlier fort in the late 16th early 17th century by George 5th Earl of Caithness (1582-1643). It seems the castle was in existence in 1623 when James I commissioned Sir Robert Gordon to enter Caithness with an armed force. The 7th Earl died in the castle in 1698 but it is reported that the castle was ruinous in 1700 and in 1726 as being in repair with 'at the side of it a convenient house lately built'. The estate was purchased by Sir William Sinclair, 2nd Baronet of Dunbeath early in the 18th century and in 1752 Keiss became his family seat.
The current house was built about 1755 but had to be sold in 1765 because of financial difficulties to the Sinclairs of Ulbster. This Category B Listed Baronial mansion was altered to its current form on the instructions of Col. K Macleay by David Bryce in 1860, during which it was extended in the Scottish baronial style. It was then sold to the Duke of Portland in 1866. Also included in the listing is the Walled garden to the NE of the house and the gate lodge and gate piers with cast-iron carriage gates installed in the 1860 alterations.
mia okinawa's existence tale
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