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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.
Having visited this dockyard in August and September 2017, it brought back many memories for me having sailed out from there in 1963 on H.M.S. Venus to the Azores. I was then a Cook in the Royal Navy serving at H.M.S Ganges in Suffolk. It was a cold winter day then and I was over the side of the ship scrubbing it clean before we sailed. Arriving at the entrance it was a bit disconcerting to see the queues of people waiting to get in. The queue took 40 minutes to allow where I was to arrive at the ticket gate. A bag search told me I was to leave my Monopod with them for safekeeping at the ticket office. This also applies to Tripods for camera equipment so remember this.
The first ship you see is the H.M.S Warrior on the left-hand side dock. This ship was the fastest, largest and most powerful warship in the world when she was launched. Such was her reputation that enemy fleets were intimidated by her obvious supremacy and deterred from attacking Britain at sea although she never fired a shot in anger. HMS Warrior was a 40 gun steam-powered armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of the Warrior-class ironclads. Warrior and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and were built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire. Warrior conducted a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863 and spent her active career with the Channel Squadron. On board HMS Warrior which was launched in 1860, Britain’s first iron-hulled, armoured battleship. The ship is powered by steam and sail and was the largest, fastest and most powerful warship of her day and had a lasting influence on naval architecture and design. Work and life on board reflected both the changes the Royal Navy experienced as it evolved into a professional service and shifts in Victorian society. Built to encounter the latest of the French ships, Warrior was, in her time, the ultimate sea warrior. Yet by creating a new era in naval technology, she very soon became outdated. After 22 years’ service, Warrior’s hull was to be used as a depot, floating school and an oil jetty. Painstakingly restored in Hartlepool and then back home to Portsmouth since 1987, Warrior is a unique survivor of the once formidable Victorian Navy and now serves as a museum ship, visitor attraction, popular private hire venue and more. HMS Warrior was rescued in the 1980’s, restored and brought back home to Portsmouth and is owned by Warrior Preservation Trust, an independent charity. Sadly, the time has it taken its toll and today she is in a sorry state - her bulwarks, which keep her watertight, have failed and are deteriorating to a point which places her at significant risk.
Next ship I saw was H.M.S. Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She additionally served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship. In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. This the world’s most famous warship HMS Victory is crumbling under her own weight. An 18-month programme to bring this historic ship back to its original condition. H.M.S. Victory has been sitting in dry dock in Portsmouth since 1922 supported by 22 steel cradles positioned at six-metre intervals. It has been well recorded that the 252-year-old ship is collapsing ( so to speak ) under her own weight and following a detailed laser scan of 89.25 billion measurements and computer modelling, a new support system has been designed to record how the ship would sit in water.
The Mary Rose Museum is run by the Mary Rose Trust. The construction has been a challenge because the museum has been built over the ship in the dry dock, which is now a listed monument. During construction of the museum, conservation of the hull continued inside a sealed hotbox. In April 2013, the polyethylene glycol sprays were turned off and the process of controlled air drying began. In 2016 the hotbox walls were removed and after reopening on 20 July 2016 the ship is currently on display behind glass. This new museum displays most of the artefacts recovered from within the ship in context with the conserved hull. Since the opening, it has been visited by over a million people. The museum is dedicated to the 16th century Tudor navy warship Mary Rose as well as the historical context in which she was active. The museum opened in 1984.T he Mary Rose is a Tudor ship that was built in 1510. In service for 34 years, it sank in 1545 and then discovered in 1971 and was raised in 1982.
Another ship I went to visit was HMS M.33 which is the only sole remaining British veteran of the bloody Dardanelles Campaign of 1915-1916, and also the Russian Civil War which followed. The ship is one of just three British warships from World War I still in existence. HMS M.33 was built in 1915 on the orders of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. She was a floating gun platform designed to bombard coastal positions from the sea. Her first active operation was the support of the British landings at Suvla during the Battle of Gallipoli in August 1915. She remained stationed at Gallipoli until the evacuation in January 1916. She served in the Mediterranean for the remainder of the War and was involved in the seizure of the Greek fleet at Salamis Bay in 1916.
In the dockyard, you will find many other attractions and museums along with various shops catering for items of interest connected to this historic site.
Why is love beyond all measure of other human possibilities so rich and such a sweet burden for the one who has been struck by it? Because we change ourselves into that which we love, and yet remain ourselves. Then we would like to thank the beloved, but find nothing that would do it adequately. We can only be thankful to ourselves. Love transforms gratitude into faithfulness to ourselves and into an unconditional faith in the Other. Thus love steadily expands its most intimate secret. Closeness here is existence in the greatest distance from the other- the distance that allows nothing to dissolve - but rather presents the “thou” in the transparent, but “incomprehensible” revelation of the “just there”. That the presence of the other breaks into our own life - this is what no feeling can fully encompass. Human fate gives itself to human fate, and it is the task of pure love to keep this self-surrender as vital as on the first day. – Martin Heidegger
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZVWmrXHlGY
Massive Attack (1995) -Protection
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Using pioneering new technologies in Superfoods and nutrition, CFTRI has developed amazing new products which are on show at CFTRI stall at Pragati Maidan:
· Chia and Quinoa based Chocolates and Laddoos;
· Omega-3 enriched ice-cream;
· Multigrain banana bar
· Fruit juice based carbonated drinks.
New Delhi, 24th November, 2016: CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), the premier national institute for food technology is exhibiting a range of new agri-products now grown in India, called Superfoods that bring health and nutrition best practices to everyday eating and living to the common man. The exhibits by CFTRI at the Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi both impress and surprise with the range and scope of their utility and potency.
The Indian population is presently going through a nutrition transition and there is an increase in incidence of diabetes, impaired heart health and obesity while there is still rampant malnutrition in the nation.
Keeping in mind an effective solution needed to address these concerns, CSIR-CFTRI is working on bringing Superfoods to the Indian population. CFTRI works on various facets of food technology, food processing, advanced nutrition, Superfoods and allied sciences. Superfoods are foods which have superior nutrition profiles which upon regular consumption can help improve health and wellness of the consumer.
CFTRI has developed the agro-technology for growing Superfoods viz. Chia and Quinoa in Indian conditions. Chia is the richest source of omega-3 fats from a vegetarian source and Quinoa has excellent protein quality and low glycemic load carbohydrates. Comprehensively, Chia and Quinoa have potential to improve population health and both blend seamlessly into traditional food preparations.
CSIR-CFTRI also infuses the spirit of entrepreneurship in their students. One of the doctoral students after completing her academic program started her own technology provider start-up company, Oleome Biosolutions Pvt Ltd. In a global first, CSIR-CFTRI in collaboration with Oleome, has developed a 100% vegetarian, Omega-3-enriched Ice cream called “Nutriice” using Chia oil.
CSIR-CFTRI is also in the process of the final phase of testing of diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, a unique cooking oil that has “Anti-Obesity” functionalities. One can consume it as part of daily regular diet and while the oil is available as energy but does not get stored as fat in our bodies. The final phase of human clinical trial is presently under progress.
CFTRI has also designed and developed snacks with advanced nutrition designs to support the nutrition needs of growing children. These have been implemented in the aganwadi levels to complement the existing government mid-day meal and will be scaled up soon. The products, such as Nutri Chikki with spirulina, rice beverage mix, high protein rusk, energy food, nutri sprinkle, seasame paste and fortified mango bars have been well received by the children and the anganwadis alike. Multi-grain Banana bar is a new addition to in this product portfolio.
Another exciting area of multidisciplinary research being done at CSIR-CFTRI is on nanotechnology, food technology and nutrition. Nanomaterials are known for their characteristic properties and CSIR-CFTRI is working on the use of nanoparticles for various applications. One of our interesting developments is the design and development of food packaging material with nanoparticles with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties to improve shelf-life of processed foods.
CSIR-CFTRI is also working on “Smart Foods” to answer specific needs of the consumer. These promising and specifically designed innovations are being developed for better sleep, better skin health, improved digestion, better cognitive performance and better stress management. The high science is brought into a simple food product, like a cereal bar which helps one to be more attentive over the day, or a unique dosa mix that helps in working out better at the gym with lower perceived exhaustion and even a special soup to help sleep better at night!
Speaking on the sidelines of the CSIR-CFTRI exhibition at Pragati Maidn, Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CFTRI said “Our mandate is to find innovative solutions to India agricultural and nutritional challenges. Our aim is to develop products to make Indian agriculture productive, efficient and at a consumer level gradually replace drugs with foods that will promote better health and wellness. We strive to deliver our best in improving food security and nutrition security, also developing a stronger, smarter and healthier India”.
About CSIR-CFTRI:
CSIR − Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore (A constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi) came into existence during 1950 with the great vision of its founders, and a network of inspiring as well as dedicated scientists who had a fascination to pursue in-depth research and development in the areas of food science and technology.
CSIR-CFTRI is today a large and diversified laboratory headed by Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CSIR-CFTRI. Presently the institute has a great team of scientists, technologists, engineers, technicians, skilled workers, and support staff. There are seventeen research and development departments, including laboratories focusing on lipid science, molecular nutrition, food engineering, food biotechnology, microbiology, biochemistry, food safety etc.
The institute has designed over 300 products, processes, and equipment types. It holds several patents and has a large number of high impact peer reviewed journal articles to its credit. India is the world's second largest food grain, fruit and vegetable producer, and the institute is engaged in research and development in the production and handling of grains, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and poultry.
The institute develops technologies to increase efficiency and reduce postharvest losses, add convenience, increase export, find new sources of food products, integrate human resources in food industries and develops solutions to improve the health and wellness of the population.
CFTRI has a vast portfolio of over 300 products, processes and equipment designs, and close to 4000 licensees have availed themselves of these technologies for commercial exploitation. The achievements have been of considerable industrial value, social importance and national relevance, and coupled with the institute's wide-ranging facilities and services, have created an extensive impact on the Indian food industry and Indian society at large.
Happy Founders Day to the women of House of ΣΥΝ. We are celebrating 12 years in existence today, making us one of the oldest active Greek sororities in SecondLife and as us 2021 a real life non-profit organization - established for, and unified by women of different creeds and cultures.
Since its founding on April 9, 2010, Sigma Upsilon Nu’s mission has been and still is to have a tremendous impact in the lives of woman across the grid. Sigma Upsilon Nu takes great care and responsibility to empower and educate the SL community through service and awareness initiatives and cultivate relationships in the real lives of the woman engaged by the mission set forth by the sorority. Throughout its years of existence, the sorority has amassed a membership of over 50 dynamic women who have made incredible achievements in Fashion, Business, and community recognition in SecondLife and which transcends to their personal real life.
Since conception the founders believed that through unity we as women have the ability to achieve excellence; that as women we have the absolute responsibility to uplift, support and encourage each other to shine amongst the greatest stars.
The Sorors of this prestigious organization are encouraged to examine their personal life and practice the values and principles that each have committed to in SecondLife and recognize it as a mission in their real life. As Sigma Upsilon Nu continues to grow, touch and connect with others that are ushered into this great collage of women, Sigma Upsilon Nu will continue to put forth the work it will take to strengthen our Unity and walk together in Excellence on and off the grid. #sigmalife #sisterhood #webleedblue
from the book
STRATEGIES d'EXISTENCE"
strategy
by Morten Friis /1996
translation from danish text for the book "Strategies d' existence "
colonel formulates this liberation of the exhibition
in his manifeste
- les differents types de moving exhibition. bordertransgressing and as such is in accordance with the working conditions dictated to the artist by our time. the moving exhibition is a military strategy which simultaneously pays hommage to the sensibility of the artist.
moving exhibition, the bourgeois type, pays this hommage to the private, introverted room. the artist is protected against the eyes of the public or in company with “the understanding”.
the semi-bourgeois takes place in an environment where the artist is already accepted. in this type the integration of the public is a central idea. colonel insists upon the existence of a creative potential within the public. the provocation of this potential is central to the extrovert universe of colonel.
the offensive type underlines the penetrative. the penetration. it is here that the artist agressively manifests himself within the world of art. the artist’s dynamism attracts attention. the artworld is deprived of its monopoly. an exhibition, fernissage, conference looses its substance, when the offensive moving marches in.
flying exhibition is likewise offensive. the works of art are hurled out as paper aeroplanes. this is the most striking visual image of strategy, tactic and means in colonels exposition-method moving exhibition.
the vagabond type attacks the public space in all its entirety. it is democratic. humble. mobile.
the exhibitionistic type is based upon the aforementioned fascination colonel has for the potential of the individual. this type also represents the movement from the inside and out. from the interior to the exterior. the private is exposed into the public.
l’impermeable is a sublime construction. onto which is printed a thematic exhibition. the exterior part of l’impermeable can be wiewed by all. the interior is hidden. in its totality l’impermeable forms an accumulation of works. l’impermeable pierces all borderlines, surmounts all obstacles and reaches its goal. at the same time as its carrier: the artist.
sport art denotes an expansion and an acceleration of moving exhibition. sport art elevates the competition to an ideal with the motto: sport art is a competition. the direct, physical, social communication becomes accentuated. the work of art exists in the midst of a direct confrontation. moving surpasses its own dynamic nature by being able to follow the acceleration of sport art.
la valise. the suitcase, is a type of exhibition with an integrated, automatic mobility. colonel broadens the concept of “exhibition” by filling the suitcase with works of art. the suitcase is thus exhibited as a piece of art, whereas its contents remain hidden. however, colonel leaves the possibility of a breakthrough into the private sphere of the artistic universe open -
the visa. in modern mythologi, as in reality, the visa represents the solution that can open doors to new worlds. at the same time it has the means to keep the unwanted out. access to the interior of l’impermeable, the suitcase or other intimate exhibitions requires a valid visa, this is given by the artist. as an exhibition strategy this underlines the demands of the artist to his audience - that of undivided attention and passion. the traditional artistic presentation is turned around by means of the visa. art becomes the chased. the object of passion.
transport. the unpenetrable surface of the media stands as a wall between the artist and his public. colonel has perforated this wall and created a series of surprising loopholes. entrances through which manifests, works of art and statements can step through. colonels media strategy is simple. the birthday section, which is reserved for personal greetings, is used to announce new artforms e.g. the conclusionism. ad-papers are used in the same way to exhibit works of art. like a guerillasoldier of the media colonel places his messages and works undercover. the mediaimages are thus elevated to works of art. presented as such they obviously become integrated in the medias treatment of the artist. they are reproduced in the reviews and articles and is thereupon transported from media to media. on their way they become victims of reduction and change. they live an autonomous life in the media. this transition and transformation becomes an integral part of a work of art and acts simultanously as an analysis of the media’s consumption of the work of art.
strategy. the penetrating is a standard theme in the exhibition strategies of colonel. colonel proposes a frontal attack on the world, where artist and exhibition fuse together in a veritable warmachine, where all surfaces are assaulted. coloned proposes a fusion of artist and public. a common movement which also leads to a revealing of the mechanisms that lock the creative in a rigid position. yet at the same time one continuously discovers a most personal, emotionally based train of thought in colonel’s strategic work. a work based on existentialistic considerations. it is in this point of intersection, between the inner and the outer, that we discover colonel.
Morten Friis
from the book
STRATEGIES d'EXISTENCE" by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel
ISBN877245456949
Rhodos Publishing h
from the book
STRATEGIES d'EXISTENCE" by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel
ISBN877245456949
Rhodos Publishing house 1996
The Chain Gang came into existence in 1920 when it's leader / founder Gold Tooth (the man on the far right of this picture) began a sweets bootlegging business with some associates of his old deceased boss, Dollar Bill. He expanded into racketeering, bank robbing and dirtier crimes soon thereafter. By 1926, he was the top candy bootlegger in Lego City, and boss of a major crime organization running various operations in several different areas - Legoville, Fabuland, and Metru Nui to name just a few. In fact, Turaga Dume, leader of Metru Nui was on his payroll, as was about a quarter of the LEGO City police force in 1927.
In 1928 / 29 he tried to muscle in on Heartlake City's government and was, for once, rebuffed by local officials. He made it his goal to destroy the officials who spurned him by attempting to run for Mayor, but this was stopped by a successful campaign by a re-elected Mayor Stephanie. In late 1929, Gold Tooth and his gang made another mistake by making a derogatory public comment about Mayor Fleck of LEGO City who was not on his payroll. In an unusual moment of bravery, and inspired by Mayor Stephanie of Heartlake's bravery, he contacted her and Mayor Lionel Lion of Fabuland about an alliance against the criminals of their respective cities. This so called Tri-State Alliance proved to be a thorn in Gold Tooth's side for the next ten years - especially after the Sweets Amendment was repealed in 1933, cutting off a huge chunk of his income, as bootlegging illegal candy was no longer worth it.
The LEGO City police force was gone through with a fine comb and all the officers on the take fired by 1932. Fabuland also had a successful series of Catnip sting operations in 1934 that captured top operatives of the Chain Gang red handed. By 1938, Gold Tooth was hanging onto control of his gang by a thread - a civil war with a faction who wanted to pull up stakes and go to Metru Nui (the only municipal ally left) was costing him dearly. Thus, in March 1939 Gold Tooth was heading to a meeting with the rival faction leaders on a truce at a location near Legoville when he was surrounded and apprehended by members of the Duplo police force, who had been tipped off by a traitorous member of his entourage about Gold Tooth's route to the meeting.
On trial in Heartlake, he was defiant and admitted nothing - up until Turaga Dume took the stand as a witness for the prosecution. Dume had only been pretending to help the Chain Gang, all the while keeping diligent records of every crime and operative in his city, and quite a few in other cities too. Finally defeated, Goldtooth was sent away for 50 years - a life sentence for him considering his age. He died in prison in July 1957 of old age.
Today, the Chain Gang is no more.
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]
Ricky Horror of Motionless in White live at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ. 12.11.14
Feature gallery on Music Existence: musicexistence.com/blog/2014/12/15/gallery-motionless-in-...
Eons ago before Kabul Galactic Command was realized to the importance of it's existence few if anybody in Afghanistan knew of it's existence. It is said by many who played Buzkashi, that the best chapandaz noticed that the boz would sometimes hover in mid air as if it was held by some mysterious force or rather what was indeed a forcefield where the boz would get trapped like a glitch in a video game. Over the years this kept happening and it intrigued many who watched the game. They said why? It's just in that one area the boz just hovers locked in midair. Then a famous, very famous and legendary chapandaz Abdul Khan came along and said "let me see if I can thwart the unseen opponent who invisibly holds the boz in midair and free it into the hallal. The people looked at him odd and said no one has ever freed it in dozens of years since it first appeared. The people laughed and went about their business watching the game unprepared for what to happen next. Not more than 39 minutes Abdul Khan came charging with such a force of great thrust grabbing the boz with his mighty horse after eluding eight of his opponents. Abdul Khan's boz was slammed right through the unseen force and with a great tremor a mighty blazing light appeared in the sky and cast a shadow with a luminous glow over the players and crowd for all of Kabul to see. People were frightened, in awe, and bewildered. Through this mix of emotions the giant UFO in the sky scanned the area and then eventually landed with a green beam towards the ground unlocking a portal underground from where Kabul Galactic Command had been revealed. Several aliens and Afghan people walked out of the spaceship and calmed the people and it was announced you are now realized one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth. We now share our knowledge with you, please put it to good use, your gateway to the stars bound by faith. We invite you to come to the cosmos and bring this great game with you and share your traditions and hospitality with other distant alien worlds as they will in return share their traditions and hospitality with you.
The Bell AH-1 Cobra (also called HueyCobra) owes its existence to the Vietnam War. While the proof of the air cavalry concept was being proven every day, the US Army was also losing huge amounts of helicopters to ground fire. Equipping the troop-carrying “slicks” with door guns helped, and arming the UH-1 Iroquois/Huey with weapons was another interim solution. Clearly, however, the solution lay with a dedicated attack helicopter that could defend the troop carriers.
Bell, the manufacturer of the UH-1, had been also experimenting with a concept of a heavily armed, turreted, and thin fuselage helicopter. The US Army awarded a proof-of-concept contract to Bell, which replied in a heavily modified Model 47 called the Sioux Scout. It failed to win any orders, but Bell kept at it even as the Army pursued the far more complicated and expensive AH-56 Cheyenne. This resulted in the Model 209, based on components of the UH-1 and the original conceptual design.
With the Vietnam War intensifying and the Cheyenne going nowhere, the Army issued a requirement for an interim solution, which the Model 209—built and tested in only eight months—won easily. The Army ordered 110 AH-1Gs in April 1966 and the type was in action in Vietnam a year later. It was highly successful there, and successive marks of the Cobra would continue to fight in America’s wars since—Grenada and both Gulf Wars. US Army Cobras were upgraded continually in the 1980s, resulting in a dizzying number of variants: the AH-1S (with upgraded engine), AH-1P (with flat glass windscreen), AH-1Q (with TOW missile system), AH-1E (with 20mm gatling cannon in nose turret), and AH-1F (with laser rangefinder and countermeasures). In 1988, the Army finally gave up and redesignated the whole lot as AH-1S.
US Army Cobras were finally retired in 2001, but USMC Cobras remain in service, with the fleet being converted to AH-1Z Kingcobras. Israel, Iran, and Pakistan likewise have used and continue to use their Cobra fleet, and it is generally considered to be the most successful and prototypical attack helicopter.
This AH-1S is 70-16042, and not much can be found about its career. It may have been originally built as an AH-1G and was later upgraded to an AH-1S, and may have also served in Vietnam. By the late 1980s, it was serving with the 285th Aviation Regiment (Arizona National Guard) at Marana-Silverbell Army Airfield, and was used as a training aircraft. It was retired in 1994 and eventually made its way to Fort Douglas, Utah, where it remains today.
Other than lacking turret guns and a complete cockpit, 70-16042 is in excellent shape, and is displayed with four M200 2.75-inch rocket launchers on the stubwings.
Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before Gautama (the Buddha-to-be) attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, the Pañcavaggiya monks, left him and went to Isipatana.
Isipatana is the name used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men (Pali: isi, Sanskrit: rishi) landed.
After attaining Enlightenment the Buddha, leaving Uruvela, travelled to the Isipatana to join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly. While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. Having no money with which to pay the ferryman, he crossed the Ganges through the air. When King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them, they understood and as a result they also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. It was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti. The Sangha had grown to 60 in number (after Yasa and his friends had become monks), and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All 60 monks were Arahants.
Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana. Here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, including human flesh. Twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited.
A stone pillar marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Nearby was another stupa on the site where the Pañcavaggiyas spent their time in meditation before the Buddha's arrival, and another where five hundred Pacceka Buddhas entered Nibbāna. Close to it was another building where the future Buddha Metteyya received assurance of his becoming a Buddha.
Buddhism flourished in Sarnath in part because of kings and wealthy merchants based in Varanasi. By the third century Sarnath had become an important center for the arts, which reached its zenith during the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries CE). In the 7th century by the time Xuan Zang visited from China, he found 30 monasteries and 3000 monks living at Sarnath.
Sarnath became a major centre of the Sammatiya school of Buddhism, one of the early Buddhist schools. However, the presence of images of Heruka and Tara indicate that Vajrayana Buddhism was (at a later time) also practiced here. Also images of Brahminist gods as Shiva and Brahma were found at the site, and there is still a Jain temple (at Chandrapuri) located very close to the Dhamekh Stupa.
At the end of the 12th century Sarnath was sacked by Turkish Muslims, and the site was subsequently plundered for building materials.
Sarnath has been developed as a place of pilgrimage, both for Buddhists from India and abroad. A number of countries in which Buddhism is a major (or the dominant) religion, among them Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath in the style that is typical for the respective country. Thus, pilgrims and visitors have the opportunity to experience an overview of Buddhist architecture from various cultures.
WIKIPEDIA
Made using Stable Diffusion. I'm using Stable Diffusion to make conceptual illustrations for a grimoire of digital Platonic paganism. You can download it as a free PDF here: ericsteinhart.com/paganism/paganism-home.html
Throughout the 20 years of my existence, I was always influenced in one way or another of my self-image. Whether it be my clothing (on the left), who I hang out with, what grammar I should be using, and my identity. Its called acceptance, and lets face it everyone wants to be accepted in some way or another.The things I've done to enhance myself I thought was cool, I thought it would make me happy, but it either got complicated or came to an end. I've never really felt truly accepted until I met Jesus, and even when I met him I thought he was crazy. A person who still loves even when you spit on his face, a person who is there 24/7 through thick & thin, its pretty much unheard of in today's society. It says in "Romans 8:15-The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship..." Receiving Christ and being his Son is a challenging process, but it makes life simple. I don't have to step out on an extra limb to impress someone, be someone I'm not, or do something I don't want to do, all I gotta be is a Son.
Info:
nikon d300+18-70
sb600 camera right through translucent umbrella
sb600 camera left through silver umbrella
triggered via nikon cls
Princes Road Synagogue came into existence when the Jewish community in Liverpool in the late 1860s decided to build itself a new synagogue, reflecting the status and wealth of the community. The Toxteth area was rapidly expanding as Liverpool's magnates built opulent mansions. The synagogue stands in a cluster of houses of worship designed to advertise the wealth and status of the local captains of industry, a group that was remarkably ethnically diverse, by the standards of Victorian England. Immediately adjacent to Princes Road are the magnificent Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, and a handsome, early French gothic, Welsh Presbyterian Church.
Author H A Meek is quoted as saying "He who has not seen the interior of Princes Road synagogue in Liverpool has not beheld the glory of Israel."
The woman keep the soul of man... It is big responsibility for her, all his existence it is in her hands... made with Poser 6 (human character) and Vue 5 Infinite (landscape)
Just one of four German wartime U-boats left in existence, the U-505 is either the unluckiest U-boat to ever put to sea--or the luckiest of all.
Commissioned in August 1941, the U-505 was to undertake 12 war patrols, but only sank eight ships totaling 46,447 gross registered tons--a paltry sum compared to other U-boats at the time. The U-505 seemed snakebit. On its third patrol, it accidentally sank a Colombian sailing ship, giving Colombia a reason to join the Allies; on its fourth patrol, it was nearly sunk when a RAF Lockheed Hudson bombed it. Only through heroic efforts by its crew did it survive, and limp back to Lorient, France. While under repairs in France, it was continually sabotaged by the French Resistance, and four patrols were ended prematurely due to technical issues. When it did get out into the Atlantic, it was worked over hard by British hunter-killer groups--the last incident, on 24 October 1943, was such a depth-charging that the U-505's captain committed suicide, the only known incidence of a submarine captain doing so during the war.
Finally, the U-505 went out on its 12th patrol off the Cape Verde Islands. Unfortunately for its crew, the Allies knew German submarines were in the area due to Ultra codebreaking, and the U-505 was caught by Task Group 22.3 of the US Navy, centered around USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60), commanded by Captain Daniel Gallery. The U-505 was blown to the surface by one of the task group's destroyers; surrounded, the submarine's captain ordered the crew to abandon ship and surrender. The crew abandoned so fast that they forgot to do more than open a few valves to the sea to scuttle the ship, and failed to destroy either the codebooks or the Enigma code machine. The U-505 continued to cruise, half-sunk, through the task group, as the German crew was rescued.
Gallery ordered the U-505 to be boarded to capture the codes and the Enigma. An eight-man volunteer boarding party, under Lieutenant (jg) Albert David (who would later be awarded the Medal of Honor), went inside the U-505--considered extremely risky, as the submarine could sink at any moment. They found the damage to be minor, and David radioed Gallery to let him know the U-505 was basically intact. Gallery, already known as a bit of a maverick, decided on the spot to claim U-505 as a prize--the first time it had been done to an enemy combatant since the War of 1812. The valves were closed, the U-505's motors engaged to recharge the batteries, and the submarine pumped free of water. It was then towed back to the United States. Aboard, completely intact, were every codebook the Kriegsmarine used, as well as one of the newer four-rotor Enigma machines.
Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, was incensed: if the Germans found out that the U-505 had been taken intact, they would change all of their codes. He initially wanted to court-martial Gallery, but instead ordered Task Group 22.3 be awared the Presidential Unit Citation and Gallery awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Neither would be awarded until after the war was over, to preserve the secret of the U-505. Even the German survivors were kept in a separate prison camp and the Red Cross not notified of their survival, while the U-505 was repainted and named the "USS Nemo" to preserve secrecy. The Germans never knew what a windfall of intelligence the Allies had gotten; more important was the capture of the U-505's acoustical homing torpedoes, which could be reverse-engineered. The secret was not revealed until after the war, when the crew was released, and even then parts of the story were heavily censored, as Ultra was not declassified until the 1970s.
After the war was over, the Navy was going to sink the now-superfluous U-505 as a target. Gallery, now a Rear Admiral, heard of the plan and once more decided to save the submarine. He contacted Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, which agreed to take it on, then convinced the Navy to donate it. The U-505 was towed to Chicago and went on display outside the museum in 1954. It had been stripped of everything remotely usable, but once more Gallery came through: he contacted the German manufacturers, who were happy to help preserve the U-505 as a memorial to all the sailors who died during the Battle of the Atlantic.
After decades of being outside, the U-505 was starting to fall apart, so in 2004 it was moved into a completely new underground hall of the MSI and refurbished. Today it remains one of the best, if not the best, preserved U-boat left in the world.
I got to tour the U-505 in 2009, soon after it went back on display. As a big fan of the movie "Das Boot," it was fascinating to see the real thing in person. It is open to the public to tour the interior, and during the tour, the guide will recount the travails of the U-505 on its final war patrol--complete with change in interior lighting and a simulated depth charge attack. I found myself having trouble catching my breath, imagining what it was like for any submarine unlucky enough to be caught by depth charges; a good friend of mine started to have a panic attack. It's worth the extra cost to see the boat and experience the tour.
Sadly for me, most of my pictures blurred, but this one of the U-505's conning tower turned out well enough. The holes in the tower are damage the submarine sustained during TG 22.3's attack on 4 June 1944, from destroyer 40mm fire. This view shows the extended "wintergarden" of the Type IXC series, though it only carries a single 37mm antiaircraft gun; some IXCs were known to mount quad 20mm Flakvierlings.
Originally the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company, this factory was the reason for Parchment's existence and growth. The last owner, Crown-Vantage, closed the plant in 2000 and left the ruins and the toxic waste for the city to clean up.
One of the earliest attempts in the last century to document the existence of tables in the Philippines that are variously termed as "lion-mask", "denemonyo" or "maskara" came from an American soldier, Sgt. Frederick H. Hill.
In 1945, while on active duty, Hill came across what he described as "a conference table in [the] Priest’s area at the big Catholic Church" in Calasiao, Pangasinan. He observed that the "legs are on a plank all around chairs must straddle."
"Detail: Nara Wood Table. Calasiao church wardens gave Hill a tour of the pastoral living quarters and the old Spanish kitchen. He was fascinated by the carved legs of a nara wood table. ’Takes twenty men to carry it,’ he wrote. A month later, still intrigued by the table -- the top so polished that it reflected light -- he hitchhiked back to Calasiao to take closeups: ’Light on the table comes from a north window so it is always good and constant. Made seven exposures with and without a red filter from four different positions.” (From ”Darkroom Soldier” caption authored by George Venn)
Image: Eastern Oregon University
METAPHYSICAL REALISATION
257. Mere existence is not something that has been realised. He who finds himself in life loses himself in death.
258. The realisation of Myself means the creation of Myself - to become the cause and causer, that is the dominator, of my own being.
259. The ultimate goal is salvation, but there is still a goal, an absolute goal, beyond this ultimate goal: the awakening. A goal is just in this sense a goal: a goal is a goal for this absolute goal exists - since without an absolute goal there could not be relative goals either.
260. There is no such cosmic level relative to which there is no higher cosmic level. And there is no such cosmic level relative to which there is no lower cosmic level: wandering in the cosmos can be endless - and this is exactly why metaphysical realisaton is not a further piling up of levels, but an absolute breaking through of dimensions.
261. Realisation takes place on the very route on which becoming took place - only the other way round.
262. Only that can come true which has never ceased to exist.
263. One should not experience something that is somewhere - be it close or far - I have to experience myself, that which is here - only without any personal or cosmic boundaries.
264. The Goal, which is in the infinite, is forever present.
265. To be infinitely Myself: this is the Goal.
266. Realisation is the realisation of myself as the Absolute.
267. Man’s real task is to transmute himself from individuum isolatum into Individuum Absolutum.
268. The goal is to get from identification to the autonomous identifier. This is the goal - the goal which determines the way, determines the starting point and in this the goal and the starting point turn out to be one.
269. If I turn myself totally to myself no power remains beyond me. The dethronement of the »other« operating above me means that I deprive myself as not recognised myself of sovereignty and put myself as recognised myself into power. For the recognition of myself is the same as the realisation of myself and the realisation of myself is the same as being free and sovereign.
270. Yoga is realisation - absolute Self-realisation; such a self-realisation that takes man out of the human world, out of the world of existence and along a path that he has opened up in himself, leading him to the Centre of being, which is beyond being.
271. To awake is the same as to awake to Myself. For though in every moment I am Myself, yet not absolutely. If I turn myself through myself totally to myself: that is awakening.
272. Realisation is the realisation of object and subject. If, however, this unity is realised in the object, it means the destruction of the individual. In the course of realisation unity should be realised in the subject.
273. In realisation I should reduce myself towards actions from objects and towards the subject from actions. In the opposite direction one can never find the essence - unless I recognise myself in beings. For in objects as objects it is impossible to find the essence; in objects, however, as subjects which are realised through actions, it is possible.
274. Total realisation is the unity of the centre and the periphery.
275. Absolution is not a private achievement. Awakening is the awakening of being.
276. With the awakening of man the whole world awakens.
[As in the case of common dreaming where with the awakening of the dreamer his whole dream world, reintegrated into the dreamer himself, awakens.]
277. When I reconstruct myself, I reconstruct the world.
278. He who becomes a buddha, realises the totality of being.
279. Yoga is a way through which I gain power to do being.
280. Absolute Self-realisation is the absolute realisation of being, in which it comes to light that I, atemporally, am the creator, sustainer and transmuter of being.
281. Nirvana is nothing other than the deflammatio of the »other«.
282. Nirvana is neither in a concrete nor in a figurative sense a place, which waits for one to arrive. It is, in fact, not possible to enter nirvana as we enter a room. It is realised by and with my entering it. Anyway, it is not different in our most ordinary everyday life...
283. Man has a cosmic task, but his ultimate goal lies beyond the cosmos. This ultimate, absolute goal which is beyond the cosmos is nowhere else but here - nonetheless, between my hic et nunc personality that is in the cosmos, and my hic et nunc personality that is beyond the cosmos, there is everything: heaven, hell and purgatory, the worlds, the chaos and the cosmos.
284. Metaphysical realisation, ultimately, is open to anyone, but it does not mean at all that everybody is fit for it. For only those are fit for metaphysical realisation who represent the ascending and upward aspect of the unique, Universal Man.
[i.e. - as it is stated in the 120th aphorism - every single man is the versional incarnation of the Universal Man.]
285. Principally, metaphysical realisation is open to every man, since almost directly behind and above the person stands the Subject; practically, though, only the elite of the spiritual elite have a chance for realisation, for the totality of existence, the whole cosmos lie between person and Subject.
286. Incapability for realisation, first and foremost, can forever be attributed to a lack of pistis.
287. The terror of annihilation is only a second-grade primary terror; the first-grade primary terror is the terror of awakening.
288. In the process of realisation even descent can have its own place, provided it is under control.
289. Realisation, and what is realised in realisation, is not a reward but a result.
290. Every being awakens - but not according to its own identification.
[Reference to the views called »happyendist« by Julius Evola, according to which everyone attains liberation in the end. Since he who not awakes not as a result of his autonomous endavours, but at the end of a world cycle -when everything returns to the Metaphysicum Absolutum -, this awakening, concerning his self-identity is equal to annihilation.]
(Excerpt from András László's SOLUM IPSUM)
A few months ago I read a post about this ancient monument, I was unaware of its existence.
I logged into my Google Maps and recorded it as one of my desired places to visit.
Today Thursday 15th November 2018 Scotland basked in a beautiful Autumn sunshine, my favoured shooting conditions, I packed my Nikon and drove the 25 miles to the site.
Historic Environment Scotland maintain the monument , thankfully they have done a magnificent job, I truly believe it is important to preserve history for the generations to come.
I had a magnificent two hours recording my experience, I never fail to feel overwhelmed by the wealth of history that surrounds Aberdeen and the shire.
Thank's to Historic Environment Scotland for their detailed information on this site.
Ancient Monument - Kinkell Church - Inverurie Aberdeen Scotland.
Kinkell Church, built in the 1200s, is a classic medieval Highland church: simply designed and rectangular in shape. But the liturgical features installed in the 1520s are anything but plain. The stone sacrament house in the north of the church is an especially fine fixture.
Kinkell was refitted for Presbyterian worship following the Protestant Reformation of 1560, and declared redundant in 1771. Much of the building was dismantled and building materials recycled for use in a new kirk.
KINKELL CHURCH
• Kinkell Church, dedicated to St Michael, consist of the remains of a simple rectangular medieval parish church, of which only the N, W and part of the E
wall are upstanding.
The church was partly remodelled, perhaps on more than one occasion,
including in the early 16th century, when an elaborately carved Sacrament
House was built into the E end of the N wall.
Within the church is the monument of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the battle
of Harlaw in 1411; the stone was re-used for a Forbes burial in 1592
CHARACTER OF THE MONUMENT
The church appears to have come on record in the early 13th century. Kinkell
was a mother church, or plebanus, and had dependent chapels at Dyce,
Drumblade, Kemnay, Kinnellar, Kintore and Skene.
This connection, which
was of long standing, may have arisen if Kinkell’s origins was that of an ecclesiastical foundation, rather like a minster, with an extensive parochia.
This would push back its origins considerably.
From the 14th century, certain revenues of the church evidently pertained to the Knights Hospitallers, although it is also recorded as an independent parsonage during the 14th century.
Any connection with the Hospitallers came to an end in 1420, when the church
and its annexes were erected into a prebend of Aberdeen Cathedral.
From a date and a set of initials on the sacrament house, it is apparent that in 1524 Alexander Galloway, rector of Kinkell and canon of Aberdeen Cathedral,
paid for the splendid sacrament house built into the E end of the N wall.
He appears to have been paying for further work the following year as a carved stone panel depicting the crucifixion, dated 1525, and with Alexander’s initials (three times), is built into the N wall (only a bronze replica survives; the original
was removed to Aberdeen Museum in 1934 and subsequently lost).
The church was abandoned in 1771 when the parish was amalgamated with
Keithhall. It was partially demolished to provide building materials for the new
parish church.
Archaeological Overview
There have been no recorded archaeological investigations at Kinkell.
The archaeological potential of the monument is extremely high and any excavation is very like to come across human remains, and perhaps also earlier church
buildings on the site.
Artistic/Architectural Overview
The church is fragmentary and devoid of features apart for the sacrament
house, the crucifixion panel and a single jamb of what must have been a large,
traceried E window. The simple oblong plan of the church suggests that the
basic form of the church dates from the early 13th century, with much late
medieval remodelling.
2/3
• The sacrament house is a particularly fine, and unique, example of this type of
medieval church fixture. It was an aumbry, or wall cupboard, designed to
reserve the host in appropriate reverential surroundings.
• The sacrament house at Kinkell shares several features with others found in
the NE, associated with Galloway, but is unique due to its cross shape. The
aumbry is flanked by two buttresses with crocketed finials. Between these is a
panel, which although badly defaced, appears to have been ornamented with a
monstrance supported by two angels (a very common motif found on other
sacrament houses associated with Alexander Galloway). Above this panel is a
corbelled and battlemented cornice, and above this is an oblong panel, which
probably contained a crucifixion scene, but is now empty. Flanking the
pinnacles are two panels, each filled with scrolls, which are of different forms
although the inscriptions on the scrolls were meant to be read as one and
state: ‘Here is preserved that body which was born of a virgin’.
• The crucifixion panel has a representation of St Michael, the archangel (to
whom the church was dedicated) to the right of the crucified, the Virgin on the
left and under her a priest, perhaps representing Galloway himself as donor,
standing beside an altar on which are Galloway’s initials.
• The sacrament house and the Crucifixion panel appear to have been part of a
liturgical revival in the diocese of Aberdeen during the early decade on the 16th
century. Alexander Galloway appear to have been a central figure in the move
to ensure parish churches had the fittings for the proper worship of God, and in
particular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He erected several sacrament
houses in churches he was involved in; Kinkell and its dependents at Dyce and
Kintore, and at King College, Aberdeen and may have been influential in the
decision of his colleagues, Alexander Spittal of Auchindoir and Alexander Lyon
of Turiff, to erect those in their respective churches. Galloway also donated a
font to Kinkell, which now is now in St John’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen.
• The construction of the sacrament house may have been part of a wider
reorganisation of the chancel area of the church, and it is tempting to suggest
that the great E window may have been a part of this re-organisation, although
details of this moulding may be more consistent with a 14th or 15th century
date.
Social Overview
• The church is currently used as a recreational attraction. It receives little other
community use.
Spiritual Overview
• As a parish church in use for some six centuries, the site has the potential to
inform our understanding of medieval Christianity, the aspirations of the
rectors, vicars and ministers who served the church and the congregations
who worshipped in it.
• The burial ground was in use until fairly recently, and may still be in use for
occasional burials. People still visit family graves and memorials.
Aesthetic Overview
• The church and burial ground are located in the haughs of the River Don,
amongst arable farmland which adds to the appreciation of this monument.
The church has been pointed with a hard cement mortar that give the walls the impression of crazy paving.
The sacrament house, the replica crucifixion panel,
3/3 the window jamb are fine architectural details which are aesthetically very striking, and provide some idea of the glories of this once very fine church.
• The graveslab of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the Battle of Harlaw, which would originally have been a ledger slab, is a particularly detailed carving of an armed knight.
What are the major gaps in understanding of the property?
• Do further historical sources or references survive.
• Nothing is known about the archaeology and earlier history of this site.
The church is an example, although much ruined, of a church which was remodelled in the 16th century.
The sacrament house is a particularly fine example of this type of church
furnishing, and the only example which takes the form of a cross.
Sacrament houses are physical manifestation of an important aspect of late medieval
Christianity; the veneration and adoration of the Body of Christ in the form of the consecrated host.
The church is closely associated with Canon Alexander Galloway, who encouraged a liturgical revival in the diocese in the early 16th century.
The site has high archaeological potential, but as a place of burial over centuries so the scope for research-led invasive excavation is not high.
Associated Properties
St Fergus’, Dyce, Auchindoir Church, St Machars Cathedral, Kintore Church,
nrhp # 85000065- Fort Shaw began existence as Camp Reynolds, an Army post built by the 13th US Infantry on the Sun River about 24 miles west of Great Falls in 1867. Shortly after completion, the name was changed to Fort Shaw in honor of Colonel Robert Shaw of Civil War fame. To the east were the Plains Indians and the great buffalo range. To the south and west were Montana's mining camps and earliest settlements. To the north was Blackfeet country. The site is on the old Mullan Road, a route which saw lots of emigrant settlers and fortune-hunting miners passing through and getting raided by Blackfeet Indians. The Mullan Road (which stretched from Fort Benton, Montana and Fort Walla Walla Washington) was also traveled by stagecoaches and freight companies going between Fort Benton (head of navigation on the Missouri River) and the Last Chance Gulch placer mines near Helena.
It was from Fort Shaw that General Gibbon rode out with the Seventh Infantry one fateful day in 1876, ordered to join up with General Perry and General George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at the Yellowstone River. Troops from Fort Shaw also took part in the "Battle of the Big Hole" against the Nez Perce in 1877.
In the 1880's, Fort Shaw was known for its social scene, and as the site of Montana's first professional stage performance. The Army abandoned the site in 1890 but the buildings later served as an Indian school. When the Great Northern Railway built a spur line between Vaughn and Augusta, the settlement's fortunes were revived.
from sangres.com
1)The fun-side of the picture:
Minutes of the Trees' meeting :
Meeting held on 11th April,'06.
Time:09.00hrsIST, Venue:"The Professors'Forum",Kamala Street, Tree City, RUS(Right under the sky)
Presided by --the old Coconut Tree.
Members present:Jack-fruit tree, Guava tree,Neem tree,Drum-stick tree, Junior coconut tree.
Absentees:Mango tree and the Papaya tree had explained that they could not "reach" the venue, being in different"planes" and locations.
Resolutions made:To make humans better aware of the importance and protection of trees... and so on.
Last but the most important resolution is to arrange to post this Trees' picture in Flickr as the first step to the "Awareness Campaign")
AND NOW...the philosophy of "Live and Let Live"
"Together may we be protected
Together may we be nourished
Together may we work with great energy
May our journey together be brilliant and effective
May there be no bad feelings between us
Peace, peace, peace
(From the Kato Upanishad in Sanskrit)
"Om Sahana Vavatu Sahanou Bhunaktu. Sahaviryam Karavava Hi.
Tejasvina Vadhitamastu Mavidh Vishava Hi. Om,Shanti, shanti, shanti hi."
This is the prayer(mantra) for harmonious co-existence.
Mangrove area in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara. The existence of mangrove ecosystem increasingly considered important by Indonesian government. Together with Peat, both ecosystem claimed as ecosytem that can adsorb carbon emission more than another tropical forest area. From the data in 2019, the total of mangrove cover area in Indonesia 3,56 million hectares, consist of 2,37 million hectares in well condition and 1,19 million hectares in a damaged condition.
Mangrove di wilyah Sumbawa, Nusa Tenggara Barat. Keberadaan ekosistem mangrove semakin dianggap penting bagi Pemerintah Indonesia. Bersama dengan ekosistem gambut, keduanya diklaim sebagai ekosistem yang mampu menyerap emisi karbon terbesar dibandingkan dengan hutan tropis lainnya. Dari data 2019, luas tutupan mangrove Indonesia 3,56 juta hektar, yang terdiri dari 2,37 juta hektar dalam kondisi baik dan 1,19 juta hektar yang rusak.
Photo by Donny Iqbal/CIFOR-ICRAF
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
If only there had been some mayonnaise, life might have turned out a whole lot different. More piquant, and perhaps with a little extra cream in it.
- Pratchett, _Eric_
It's just a little sale but there is plenty of stuff at discounted prices and some new stuff from *BOOM*, Pididdle and Miseria as well as guests, Croire, Apholic Gloom, The Falconer Brothers and Ana_Mations.
slurl.com/secondlife/Existence/150/121/22
There are a few gifts and exclusives as well.
Swope Block (1901), home of the Swope Art Museum, 25 South 7th Street, Terre Haute, Indiana. The Swope Art Museum has many people to thank for its existence, but none more than Terre Haute jeweler Sheldon Swope. Through a bequest, Swope laid the foundations on which the museum was built.
Born in Attica, Indiana on November 3, 1843 to James Asbury Swope and Jane Hull Patterson, Michael Sheldon Swope lived on a farm near Evansville until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Six months shy of his eighteenth birthday, Swope enlisted as a Private in Company I of the 14th Indiana Volunteers. The Gallant Fourteenth, as they came to be known, was the first regiment to leave Indiana for the war.
Swope served for four years in the regiment. During that time he saw the battles of Gettysburg, Antietam, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Then, upon returning from the war, Swope entered the jewelry business as apprentice under his half-brother, James Swope, in Dayton, Ohio. It was in this trade that he made his fortune.
In 1867, Swope came to Terre Haute and took a job with S. P. Freeman, a local jeweler. He soon became a partner. Later, Swope bought Freeman’s portion of the firm and hired Charles T. Nehf as partner. Together, they made Swope-Nehf Jewelry Indiana’s largest jewelry store.
Swope was a shrewd businessman. He retained interest in the jewelry firm even after his retirement, and was a respected diamond merchant. He traveled considerably and was considered one of the best read men in the city of Terre Haute. However, Swope was not an art collector himself, and it is unclear why he was motivated to take such interest in opening a gallery. What is clear is that he planned for the gallery long before his death on July 9th, 1929. His will, bequeathing all but a small portion of his estate to the founding of the art gallery, was written in 1903 and remained unchanged.
During his later years, Swope lived in Florida, fishing at Punta Gorda, enjoying Daytona Beach, and occasionally returning North to hunt. Swope never married, and at the time of his death, his estate was liquidated and allowed to accumulate interest for a period ten years. In addition, his will directed that works of art be purchased, accumulated and “…displayed publicly and free of charge to all residents of Terre Haute and Vigo County, Indiana, forever.”
On September 26, 1939, the first board of managers was appointed by Judge John W. Gerdink, and planning began for the new gallery and the collection of artworks to be housed there. The second floor of the downtown Swope Block, a 1901 Italian Renaissance style commercial building that was part of the Swope estate, was gutted and rebuilt as a state-of-the-art exhibition space in a streamlined Art Deco style.
In March of 1942, The Sheldon Swope Art Gallery formally opened its doors to the public with nationwide attention. Its founding collection, assembled by the Museum’s first director, John Rogers Cox, contained new works by artists such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield, Zoltan Sepeshy and Edward Hopper, and it remains the feature for which the Swope is best known nationally and internationally.
The Bell AH-1 Cobra (also called HueyCobra) owes its existence to the Vietnam War. While the proof of the air cavalry concept was being proven every day, the US Army was also losing huge amounts of helicopters to ground fire. Equipping the troop-carrying “slicks” with door guns helped, and arming the UH-1 Iroquois/Huey with weapons was another interim solution. Clearly, however, the solution lay with a dedicated attack helicopter that could defend the troop carriers.
Bell, the manufacturer of the UH-1, had been also experimenting with a concept of a heavily armed, turreted, and thin fuselage helicopter. The US Army awarded a proof-of-concept contract to Bell, which replied in a heavily modified Model 47 called the Sioux Scout. It failed to win any orders, but Bell kept at it even as the Army pursued the far more complicated and expensive AH-56 Cheyenne. This resulted in the Model 209, based on components of the UH-1 and the original conceptual design.
With the Vietnam War intensifying and the Cheyenne going nowhere, the Army issued a requirement for an interim solution, which the Model 209—built and tested in only eight months—won easily. The Army ordered 110 AH-1Gs in April 1966 and the type was in action in Vietnam a year later. It was highly successful there, and successive marks of the Cobra would continue to fight in America’s wars since—Grenada and both Gulf Wars. US Army Cobras were upgraded continually in the 1980s, resulting in a dizzying number of variants: the AH-1S (with upgraded engine), AH-1P (with flat glass windscreen), AH-1Q (with TOW missile system), AH-1E (with 20mm gatling cannon in nose turret), and AH-1F (with laser rangefinder and countermeasures). In 1988, the Army finally gave up and redesignated the whole lot as AH-1S.
US Army Cobras were finally retired in 2001, but USMC Cobras remain in service, with the fleet being converted to AH-1Z Kingcobras. Israel, Iran, and Pakistan likewise have used and continue to use their Cobra fleet, and it is generally considered to be the most successful and prototypical attack helicopter.
This AH-1G is 67-15574, delivered to the US Army in 1968, and was sent to Vietnam as part of the 17th Cavalry Regiment's Troop C, attached to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) at Di An, South Vietnam. In 1970, it was transferred to the 114th Assault Helicopter Company ("Knights") at Vinh Long, and would remain with that unit until 1972. While in Vietnam, 67-15574 was hit four times by small arms fire. After returning home, the aircraft would serve with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina until retirement in 1975. It was then donated to the Texas Aviation Historical Society in Amarillo, where it remained until 2008. It was acquired by the Palm Springs Air Museum later that year.
When PSAM got 67-15574, it was oddly painted in JGSDF camouflage, though it retained its Army markings. The museum repainted it as it appeared with the 114th AHC, complete with sharkmouth; it carries two rocket pods under the wings. While very effective against North Vietnamese infantry, it was largely ineffective against tanks, which led to the development of the AGM-71 TOW missile.
EDIT (June 2023): A little better picture of this AH-1 in less crowded conditions, taken when we made a return stop at Palm Springs.
Strobist:
AB1600 3/4th power Above Camera Left
Large Softbox
Canon 40D 17-40L + UV Filter
Took some promos with these fellers a few months back with the "fire flower" idea, went for some more casual ones this time, not to mention a member change.
A bunchhhh of shots coming soon (:
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Follow me on 500px -> 500px.com/Suman_Kar
Backbone Solidarity Brigade of Maryland made a field trip to the confederate statue of General Lee calling for the Dismantling of White Supremacy.
They paid a visit to the Virginia state house emblazoning the face of it with guerrilla light projection messages calling for Medicare for All, protesting fossil fuel pipelines and demanding they "Respect Existence of Expect Resistance."
(Photos curtesy of Richmond DSA)