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[5 photos is series] Snow Hill, constructed in 1836, was the plantation home of Colonel Samuel Booth (1794-1876) of Surry County, Virginia. It has had few alterations since being built, presenting a structure of excellent architectural integrity. The 2 1/2-story home is a frame weatherboarded house, supported by brick piers, which allowed for circulation of air in a damp climate. It is a 5-bay single pile house or I-house (one room deep) with a central hall. It is a continuation of symmetrical Georgian-style architecture. The gable roof is currently tin, placed in 1972, but beneath that are cypress shingles. An external chimney is on each side. Beneath the roof is a modillion cornice. The windows are shuttered or boarded up, but the upper floor has five 6/6 double hung sashes while the first level has four 9/9 sashes. The entrance consists of double-leaf field-panel wooden doors. A field panel, as I’ve just learned, is a recessed or raised panel surrounded by moldings—and in the case of Snow Hill, the front door is a three fielded panel door. It’s not visible on the photos taken in 2014 (the door is boarded up), but it does show on the 2019 photo. At one time there was a porch, the outline visible around the entrance. Snow Hill, or the Booth House, has an independent listing on the National Register of Historic Places, added December 18, 1979 with reference ID 79003091.
I have concerns that this historical structure will fall victim to inattention. For its age, it has held up remarkably well, but all houses have limited existence without some tender loving care. I hope the home is ultimately restored as it shows a typical early 19th century plantation home if eastern Virginia.
The NRHP nomination form includes information on interior features. It is located at www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/090-0040_Sno...(Booth_House)_1979_Final_Nomination.pdf
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) includes some drawings and a history of the house and its occupants. The history can be found at tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/va/va04... and the drawings at
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0455/
A nice photo gallery is at genecharris.com/snow hill/snow_index.htm This site duplicates the HABS history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Click on the pic to view it in original size. A personally satisfying capture as I have operated both 611(the Roanoke Masterpiece) and 126(Sadie: the survivor) in the background, in 'at the Throttle Experiences'. The original Norfolk Southern AS-416 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1955. The AS-416 is one of several that were ordered by the original Norfolk Southern Railway. The 1616 has electrical components supplied by General Electric. The original NS ran from Charlotte, NC through Raleigh to Norfolk, VA. I am a member of the original NS Historical Society as the railroad ran beside my high school in charlotte(my inattention to the in season sport practice sat poorly with my coaches) and the line runs about 2.5 miles from my house today.
Después de vivir una noche surrealista en un inenarrable hotel de carretera, comprobamos al despertarnos que estábamos a seis grados bajo cero, algo que jamás habíamos experimentado en nuestros viajes por Andalucía aunque hay que reconocer que Granada en el mes de enero es otra cosa....Mientras desayunábamos, nuestro amigo Carlos, como se le había olvidado cargar la batería de la cámara, tuvo la feliz idea de conectar el cargador en el enchufe del comedor. Cuando acabamos de desayunar, eliminamos el hielo acumulado en las ventanas y la luna del coche y salimos disparados hacia Deifontes. No llevábamos ni quince minutos de viaje cuando el inefable Carlos lanzó al aire un irreproducible improperio. Rápidamente comprendimos que se le había olvidado el cargador con la batería en el comedor del hotel así que tuvimos que dar media vuelta para recuperarlo. Al menos, ningún amigo de lo ajeno se había aprovechado del despiste de nuestro colega y pudo recuperar el cargador donde lo había dejado. A partir de aquí, la agonía se unió a nuestro grupo porque íbamos a llegar muy justos a la foto que teníamos pensado hacer en Deifontes. En cuanto aparcamos el coche, salimos disparados corriendo por un sembrado y os aseguro que nos olvidamos por completo de que aún seguíamos a varios grados bajo cero. Entre otras cosas porque la sesión de "running" fue mucho más larga de lo previsto ya que las sombras invadían la zona donde pensábamos hacer la foto y tuvimos que recorrer un kilómetro extra (por lo menos) hasta el punto en el que finalmente tomamos esta imagen. Al agotamiento por culpa de la inesperada y alocada carrera, había que sumarle la angustia de pensar que en cualquier momento el tren podía aparecer, alternándose con momentos en los que pensábamos que ya habría pasado. Pero no fue así. Aún tuvo que pasar una larga media hora hasta que lo tuvimos ante nuestras cámaras, tiempo más que suficiente para recuperar el aliento y continuar con una larga persecución que no había hecho más que empezar.
After living a surreal night in an unspeakable roadside hotel, we discovered when we woke up that it was six degrees below zero, something we had never experienced in our travels through Andalusia although we must recognize that Granada in the month of January is another world. ..While we were having breakfast, our friend Carlos, since he had forgotten to charge the camera battery, had the happy idea of plugging the charger into the dining room outlet. When we finished breakfast, we removed the ice that had accumulated on the car windows and set off towards Deifontes. We were not even fifteen minutes into the trip when the ineffable Carlos launched an unreproducible expletive into the air. We quickly realized that he had forgotten the charger with the battery in the hotel dining room so we had to turn around to retrieve it. At least no one had taken advantage of our colleague's inattention and he was able to recover the charger where he had left it. From here, agony joined our group because we were going to arrive very close to the photo we had planned to take in Deifontes. As soon as we parked the car, we took off running through a field and I assure you that we completely forgot that we were still several degrees below zero. Among other things, because the "running" session was much longer than planned since the shadows invaded the area where we planned to take the photo and we had to travel an extra kilometer (at least) to the point where we finally took this image. To the exhaustion due to the unexpected and crazy race, we had to add the anguish of thinking that the train could appear at any moment, alternating with moments in which we thought it had already passed. But it was not like that. It still took a long half hour until we had the train in front of our cameras, more than enough time to catch our breath and continue with a long chase that had only just begun.
- 116 -
Forgetting your wallet up there at home.
Realizing it only once reaching the bottom of the stairs.
Climbing back up while sighing about your lasck of attention.
Investigating everywhere and anywhere to find it, three times.
Not realizing that you had it all along, inside the other pocket.
---
Oublier son portefeuille en haut chez soi.
Réaliser une fois arrivé en bas des escaliers.
Ascensionner encore en soupirant sur son inattention.
Investiguer pour le retrouver partout et ailleurs, trois fois.
Ne pas se rendre compte qu'on l'avait déjà, dans l'autre poche.
in a state of almost total inattention with just a brief flicker of consciousness becoming visible through the fog of noise
"The sky is insane, in a fluster of fresh air, dazed with light. Images of intense beauty spring up, and vanish. Is that the apparition of a god? I'm incapable of talking the slightest photo, which would be a double offence: a sin of inattention and an insult to the moment."
- Sylvian Tesson -
Of all difficulties which impede the progress of thought, and the formation of well-grounded opinions on life and social arrangements, the greatest is now the unspeakable ignorance and inattention of mankind - in respect to the influences which form human character.
Whatever any portion of the human species now are, or seem to be, such, it is supposed, they have a natural tendency to be: when the most elementary knowledge of the circumstances in which they have been placed, clearly points out the causes that made them what they are.
- John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women ( 1869 )
Time loops climb down from the strangest dream in the sky
It was clouds of ages past, a decade if I'm not wrong
A quirk of linkage that went without saying goodbye
Thoughts gathered a generation ago, still unsure where they belong
Like customers not buying, and cars continually in reverse, what does it all underlie
The peculiarity of an Acadian smile, that tiptoe-faced secrecy
A revelation in the eyes of hidden knowledge and prophecy
Something which age thrown down upon us all, cannot yet defy
Ten years whence the uttering's of unread books have been finally heard
Chapters pass with midnight celebrity from a book that may never again be read
Who knows is merely a clue to the expediency of it's intention
What it may teach is, in time at least, unique to the evening-encroaching just up ahead-
Daylight between the pages goes unnoticed till it fades with the inattention
Then, a dream, only within itself the philology of so much passing days left unsaid
So in sleep the easing of conscience is enabled along the paths we must retread
Though we never know it, the augmentation of life, of future worlds, is re-playable word for word
If you listen carefully in your sleep, you dream alive the life you wish to keep
Released from present fear the subconscious concerns of yesteryear-
Stalk the turning-over of previous angst, bedded-down in a long lost spiral
Of rocky emotional gullies that scream and cry scree down the slopes, fall the timeless tear,
Unto a parched earth of these decadal northern summers prefaced with a vision auroral
A shop frontispiece opening, the head start for the dreamy and illusionary peace-resting request
Lay the ghost to rest within fineries divine; the illustrative legacy that future generations may be blessed,
With art nouveau engraving...contemplating, we become a period piece within ourselves the valuable commission of twilight sleep
by anglia24
10h45: 29/09/2008
©2008anglia24
Siri sez:
"Pleese 'xcuse m' gross inattentions at the moment.
Just givin' m' li'l pause a good lyckin' !!!!
Catch ya laters!"
😸 😸 😸😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸 😸
Luv from Siri!
Dal sabato 1 marzo, nel silenzio generale, lontano dai cambi orari di dicembre e giugno e approfittando della disattenzione dei più, Trenitalia ha tagliato un'alta coppia di Intercity sulla dorsale Roma-Milano:
IC 586 Roma Termini (9;40)-Milano Centrale (16:15)
IC 587 Milano Centrale (10:50)-Roma Termini (17:20)
Ricordiamo il 586 con una bella foto negli ultimi giorni di primavera 2013.....
From Saturday, March 1, in the general silence, away from the exchange times in December and June and taking advantage of the inattention of the most, Trenitalia has cut back on the high torque of the Intercity Rome-Milan:
IC 586 Roma Termini (9, 40)-Milano Centrale (16:15)
IC 587 Milano Centrale (10:50)-Rome Termini (17:20)
We remember the 586 with a nice picture in the last days of spring 2013 .....
Old Man's beard macro of individual seed head.Old Man's Beard. Quote from:
www.hawk-conservancy.org/Conservation/MeadowMuses/200601....
"A native perennial of the buttercup family, found in hedgerows, woodland edges and scrub, mainly on chalky soils. It has woody, vine-like stems which climb up trees and shrubs, reaching a height of up to 30 metres. Loose clusters of almond-scented white flowers appear in July and August and numerous nut-like fruits with rounded heads of long feathery plumes are produced in September and October. These remain on the trees and bushes well into the winter, giving an almost snow-like appearance to the hedgerows.
Alternative names include Traveller’s Joy, Father Christmas, Baccy Plant, Boy’s Bacca, Smokewood, Shepherd’s Delight and Woodbine. The name Clematis is from the Greek meaning “long, lithe branches” and vitalba means “white vine”. The dry stems were traditionally cut in winter and used for smoking, giving rise to the names referring to tobacco, and Richard Mabey suggests in “Flora Britannica” that the plant may have inspired the Woodbine cigarette brand name. “Smokewood” may also refer to the appearance of the clouds of feathery fronds in the hedgerows when seen from a distance. The stems have also been used traditionally in basketry.
In medicine the plant has been used in homeopathy to treat rheumatism, skin rashes and swollen glands. The boiled roots and stems were used traditionally as a cure for itching. The plant appears in the Bach Flower remedies, quoted for “Indifference, Dreaminess, Inattention and Unconsciousness”, and is one of the ingredients of the well-known Rescue Remedy."
A slightly dishevelled urban fox near the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He obviously miscalculated the sunrise time. One woman was there and kept saying "he's not long for this world", as if he were a Dickensian street urchin with a nasty cough. You half expected the fox to return with "Don't you worry about me, I'll be alright guvnor". Normally I would engage with people quite happly but I studiously ignored her as I didn't want to be brought down as I was having a good morning.
Thank you for any and all views, faves, invites to groups, comments and constructive critique. I’m not keen on: invitations to post 1 award 3; copy and paste comments (you know who you are); or links to your work. If you like my images there is a good chance I will like yours and I tend to reciprocate views as a matter of courtesy and personal interest. All my images are my own original work, under my copyright, with all rights reserved. This means asking the owner's permission, and obtaining it, before using the image for ANY purpose.
Copyright infringement is theft.
Another redo of a relatively recent model - the Ferrari LaFerrari.
One problem with designing a model to be ready a few days after the launch of the real car - is an inattention to the details. The Ferrari LaFerrari is a pretty tricky set of surfaces too. The car is fill of 3D-diamond forms that are very difficult to replicate in Lego, particularly at this scale, whilst still being able to package the mechanicals, and having opening panels.
Anyway....
This update refines many of the details:
The front surface, doors, side panels, engine cover, windscreen and rear bumper.
Really, on the core is left intact, though there are minor structural improvements there as well.
On thing that doesn't change is the silly name. Hopefully next time, Ferrari chooses a more suitable name for its top-line supercar.
Taking right hand turns with a tram can be tricky due to other road users inattention.
© Henk Graalman 7315 (7-69)
Ce renard m'a donné tout un spectacle, à quelques mètres de moi, alors qu'il était trop préoccupé à chasser des écureuils. Au départ, il faisait tout son possible pour garder un profil bas, profitant d'un moment d'inattention pour bondir sur sa proie : sans succès ! Il use même de sa ruse pour inviter ses "amis à venir descendre et jouer". Finalement, il se contenta de quelques arachides qui trainaient ici et là.
This fox gave me quite a show, only a few meters from me, being so busy hunting squirrels. At first, he tried to keep a low profile, pouncing on it's prey without success ! He eve used it's uncanny ruse to invite his "friends to come down and play". Finally, he had to settle for leftover peanuts.
May 27 2011,
I hope you have had the time out of your busy schedule to read my previous letter. This letter contains my next Idea for saving the city some money while at the same time making Toronto a better city. Don't worry it's not all about bicycles.
Once again may I be so bold as to quote you (from the definitive source on everything that is Wikipedia)
“I can’t support bike lanes,” Mr. Ford infamously said in 2007. “Roads are built for buses, cars and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.”
I feel your pain as all you wanted to do was to get to work as quickly as possible from your place in the GTA burbs but you had to contend with all those bicycle swarms plus endless plodding streetcars blocking traffic how inconvenient, no wonder....by now after six months in office I suspect you regret your statement and I hope you know it just isn't true as most accidents are caused by the the inattention of automobile drivers. If you don't know this I respectably suggest you have one of your over educated assistants compile and read to you an executive summary of all road accidents and their causes on Toronto roads (not just cars versus bicycle).
Now on to the quality of life and saving money. Please pay careful attention as both you and I come from an age where the car was king and driving into the city to work and back again from the burbs was not only our right but also the norm.
Things have changed: Gas while you can still get some is edging towards $2 per litre ($7.57 per gal.) Ontario and Toronto have gone from an economic power house to second place mainly due to the mid west with their natural gas reserves and their tar sands and "let those easterners freeze in the dark" attitude. The Ontario automobile manufacturing output is a pitiful remnant of what it was in the past. Climate change and pollution we can all see for ourselves they are no longer just subjects for activists and scientists that only use the information to create and then point to some hard to read chart. What we should know by now and every world class city around the globe has already found out is that cars are a big part of the problem.
Now straight to the good stuff: While many American city went through or are still in a period where the city core is empty and the housing has decayed into slums the City of Toronto has always had a vibrant centre with people living, working and playing within the city boundary . Places like Mississauga once only a bedroom city has developed their own identity to the point that they stealing head offices from Toronto. With the Condo boom more and more people have become full time happy Torontonians. This is great for the city and great for your tax base.
The idea: Bring Toronto into the new age remove the automobile from centre stage. Instead of taxing cars that live in Toronto garages start heavily taxing cars that drive into the city. Replace the use of the car with better public transportation. Bring back free parking at the outlying TTC stations even subsidize and increase public transportation make it a critical service. Mr. Mayor I wish I could see the look on your face as you read this. Even the thought of taking public transportation to work everyday must be frightening! Yet this has to be the way of the future and is already the norm of many world class cities that realized that they were dying in their own traffic congestion and pollution.
Benefits are many fold: Less pollution, less dependency on oil, less road maintenance, faster transportation, safer, more space for greenery, sidewalk cafes, transit, pedestrian and bike right of ways, increased health and quality of life, attractive to new business....instead of pretending we would actually become a real "World Class City".
Yours truly,
Metrix X
While having a conversation in the street with my neighbor, this Eastern ratsnake slowly crawled out onto the road only 10 feet away from us. The punishment for its inattention was a short photo session before letting it continue on its way.
The Islamic concept of himmah, as many Gülen scholars have noted, is central to the operation and growth of the Fethullah Gulen movement. This is the name for the regular local fundraising activities to finance its wide educational network or other cultural activities within Turkey or abroad. The concept of himmah (himmet in Turkish), a spiritual virtue in the Islamic Sufi tradition, also holds a key role in Fethullah Gülen‘s understanding of Islam and teaching on the moral education of an ideal Muslim. The Sufi connection should not be surprising as it is well recorded that Gülen’s understanding of Islam has been deeply shaped by the Sufi tradition, which has been an undercurrent of Turkish Islam since its beginning.Despite its significance for Gülen’s teaching, the conceptual meaning of himmah has been given little attention by Gülen scholars. A quick survey of the works conducted on Fethullah Gülen‘s thought or the movement he inspired delivers few results. This is understandable as apart from scholars studying the Sufi tradition, the conceptual meaning and significance of himmah is not well known even among students of Islamic thought. Compounding its relative obscurity among scholars is the challenge of translation. Frequently rendered as spiritual “aspiration,” “yearning,” or “resolve,” this richly suggestive concept is difficult to translate into English with one single word.
This paper attempts to clarify the conceptual meaning of himmah in the context of Gülen’s thought through a cross-cultural comparison with the more familiar Christian virtue of “charity.” This paper begins with a discussion of the contemporary meaning of himmah within the Gülen movement, and moves on to discuss its meaning within the Sufi tradition in the second section. The third section examines the Christian virtue of charity, and the fourth compares charity with himmah. The last and concluding part will raise some questions about the practice of the inter-faith dialogue in relation to this comparison of the two key concepts of Islam and Christianity.
I. The Role of Himmet in the Gülen Movement
It is widely known that the Gülen movement identifies itself as hizmet (hizmāt in Arabic), which means “service” in Turkish. Hizmet is the generic name for all the disinterested public activities conducted by the members of this community to fulfill their duties to religion and nation. Specific examples of hizmet are inter-faith dialogue initiatives and the educational network set up in Turkey and abroad. The term is also used more broadly for self-identification by the community members. Hence, a member of the Gülen movement often identifies himself or herself as a member of hizmet.Related to this concept and less known to the outsiders but perhaps more important in terms of Islamic history is the concept of himmet. It has been noted that the twin concepts of hizmet and himmet provide a general conceptual framework for all the economic, cultural, and religious activities of the Gülen community both inside and outside Turkey.[2] Himmet, as another student of this movement notes, is the technical name used for the fundraising gatherings of the community: “The meetings organized by the Gülen community to obtain financial support for its activities, especially its educational activities, are called himmet meetings.”The organizers of these meetings present the past achievements and future goals or projects of the community, and appeal to the religious sentiments of the participants to collect funds for their activities. The participants, mostly local affluent business owners, pledge to make donations for the cause.
The Turkish word himmet derives from the Arabic word al-himmah (in Persian himmat). The original Arabic word denotes several interrelated meanings. More commonly it is translated as spiritual “aspiration” or “resolve.” Its other renderings by contemporary translators and commentators include “diligence,” “power,” “will,” “yearning,” “desire,” “purpose,” “ambition,” “intention,” “concentration,” and “determination,” all of which are used with a spiritual connotation. Common to all these translations of himmah is the connotation of spiritual or mystical quest for the divine. This quest requires turning one’s attention and efforts from worldly business toward more noble and urgent matters.There are numerous phrases in the Islamic literature in which himmah appears with this connotation of rising above the affairs of the world. The phrase uluww-i himmat (lofty aspiration) was used by the Persian Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar to mean “setting oneself high goals and not being satisfied with trivial things.”Another phrase in which himmat appears in relation to rulers is himmat-i buland which can be compared to the virtue known as high-mindedness or magnanimity in the Western tradition. For the first moralist of Islam, Miskawaih, izam alhimmah (composure) stands for “a virtue of the soul which causes it to sustain calmly both the happiness of good fortune and its opposites, including the distress which accompanies death.” Miskawaih defines himmah as a kind of courage.
In a short article entitled “Himmet: Teveccüh, İnfak ve Gayret,” (“Aspiration: Orientation, Charity, and Perseverance”), Gülen appeals to the theological roots of himmet in the Islamic tradition.Gülen puts great emphasis here on the fact that there is a deeper spiritual aspect of himmet beyond its popular aspect associated with spending one’s wealth in God’s path. Gülen particularly notes that himmet must be understood first and foremost in its tasawwufi sense. The common practical usage among public as charity (infak) and perseverance (gayret) is subordinate to this older theological meaning. Gülen further points out the connection between himmet and another tasawwufi term teveccüh (tawajjuh in Arabic). Translated as spiritual “concentration,” “orientation,” or “attentiveness,” tawajjuh literally means turning the face toward something.Tawajjuh is often used in the context of turning one’s face toward God or God’s disclosing itself to the Sufi wayfarer (salik) in return.It is also used in relation to the very personal relationship between the Sheikh (master) and the murid (disciple) in the Sufi orders.[9] In both senses it means the spiritual concentration or attention of the salik through which he hopes to receive the grace of God (either directly or indirectly through the sheikh). In relation to tawajjuh, himmet means orientation toward God with all one’s powers by opening one’s heart to God, and purifying oneself from all material or even spiritual interests and pleasures. One must even put aside the thought of heavenly rewards or spiritual powers, and commit his every deed for the sake of gaining Allah’s pleasure.Gülen also notes a second related sense of himmet in the context of social relationships. Himmet means doing a favor, helping one another, coming to the rescue of another, or reaching out to the needy. This social sense of himmet refers to committing oneself to benevolent action with sincerity on the one hand and God’s reciprocating the tawajjuh and sincerity (ikhlās) of his servant (kul) on the other. The servant’s inaba (turning to God with repentance) is reciprocated by God’s merciful tawajjuh toward the servant. God’s favors and care depends on servant’s constant orientation toward God (tawajjuh) as well as God’s reciprocal tawajjuh in mercy. It is this sense of himmet which bridges over the public meaning of doing good deeds through financial means and the tasawwufi sense conceived by sufis as “spiritual power,” which will be explored in the next section.Gülen stresses that contrary to the popular opinion that equates himmet merely with infaq (spending in the service of God) the latter must be understood only as one aspect of the former.Reminding us of the fact that himmet did not have this specific meaning in the past, Gülen points out that both the public calls for assistance and people’s response to these calls have come to be called himmet through time. The theological aspect of himmet, according to Gülen, subsumes the more practical religious virtues and duties of beneficence such as “infaq,” (charity) “sadaqa” (voluntary almsgiving), and “zakat” (obligatory almsgiving).
Gülen also notes that himmet (in the second restricted sense of beneficence) can be conducted not only through wealth but also knowledge, deeds, health, and intelligence. Combining its spiritual and practical sense, himmet can be construed to mean making efforts in the service of one’s religion and nation. Himmet in this sense carries the connotation of striving toward God through serving one’s fellow compatriots, co-religionists, and even all humanity. Gülen concludes his discussion of himmet by remembering Bediüzzaman Said Nursî’s words in the “The Damascus Sermon.” Here Nursî discusses the notion of himmet in the context of national solidarity or fraternity and laments how this notion was successfully applied at his time in the West and almost forgotten in the Islamic world. To quote the important passage on himmet from his sermon in full:
[B]ecause of the idea of nationhood which those foreigners obtained from us, an individual becomes as valuable as a nation. For a person’s value is relative to his endeavour [himmet]. If a person’s endeavour is his nation, that person forms a miniature nation on his own. Because of the heedlessness of some of us and the foreigners’ damaging characteristics that we have acquired, and, despite our strong and sacred Islamic nationhood, through everyone saying: “Me! Me!” and considering personal benefits and not the nation’s benefits, a thousand men have become like one man.Said Nursî goes on to emphasize the Aristotelian notion (incorporated later by Aquinas into the Catholic tradition) that man is a political or social being by nature and must act accordingly to become fully human:If a man’s endeavour is limited to himself, he is not a human being, for human beings are by nature social. Man is compelled to consider his fellow humans. His personal life continues through social life.
It can safely be claimed that Gülen is in agreement with the importance of the virtue of putting the service to others before oneself in the name of God. This virtue indeed constitutes the heart of Gülen’s teaching on the moral education of an ideal Muslim.
II. Himmah in the Sufi Tradition
As Gülen implies in his article, the concept of himmah holds a significant place in the Sufi tradition within Islam. Scholars of Sufism have noted that this is a technical term employed by greatest Sufis of history. Various late medieval Sufi masters such as Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, Najm al-Din Kubra, and Abdul-Karim al-Jili or Sufi poets such as Farid al-Din Attar employed this concept in their works.The spiritual powers of earlier mystics such as Hasan al-Basri and Rabi’a al-Adawiyya are also referred to as himmah in the hagiographical literature.This crucial term was often used by Sufis to signify the “determination of the heart to incline itself entirely to God.” Himmah in this sense is an essential quality to possess to be able to follow the arduous Sufi path. A contemporary scholar draws our attention to the significance of himmah to Sufism: “He who has no spiritual aspiration [himmah] or sincere will in seeking God in gratitude or in love cannot have an ambition to follow the path of Sufi walâya [authority].”
Various definitions of the term agree in their emphasis on the fact that himmah involves the spiritual quest for God, and this quest demands first and foremost the further qualities of purity, sincerity, and concentration. According to a contemporary scholar of Islam, himmah implies “total commitment to the goal of achieving spiritual perfection and closeness to God.”[18] In a classic work of Sufism Istilahat al-Sufiya (A Glossary of Sufi Technical Terms), himmah was defined as a term “applied to the freeing of the heart for the desired objects . . .; to the primal sincerity of the aspirant…; and to the concentration of the spiritual aspirations to insure the purity of inspirations.”[19] According to still another scholarly source, himmah is “the quality of perseverance or striving towards God” and “its opposite is al-hiss,” which means “distraction or inattention from concentration upon God.”
For the famous thirteenth century Andalusian Sufi Ibn al-Arabi, who exerted great influence on the course of Sufism after him, himmah is a pure force peculiar to the human being, which is either natural or acquired later in life.As an Ibn Arabi scholar notes, “The phenomenon of himmah is . . . something of much more than marginal significance in Ibn al-Arabi’s thought.”Ibn Arabi held that “it was only possible for human beings to come to a true understanding of the relationship that exists and should exist between creature and Creator if they were to become endowed with this power of himmah themselves.”
Ibn Arabi uses himmah in his major work al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations) especially in reference to the ideal of perfect man (al-insan al-kamil), which is characterized by “the inner condition of sidq [truthfulness] or pure spiritual intention (himma).” Himmah, according to Arabi, is the preserve of the spiritual elite as it is “one of the distinguishing signs of the highest forms of true faith in God” and the “natural effect of divine ‘victorious support’ (nasr).”[24] Nasr is a term that combines “the notions of divine assistance and the ‘victory’ resulting from that support.”Ibn Arabi’s coupling of himmah and nasr is especially important for the purposes of this paper as this relationship between the two roughly corresponds to the close connection between charity and grace in the Christian tradition.In Futuhat Ibn Arabi uses the phrase al-fi’l bi’l-himma to refer to the act of “producing effects . . . in the outside world through concentration.” This somewhat supernatural ability is closely related to the development of the faculty of imagination. The 20th century French orientalist Henry Corbin highlights this active (poetic) sense of himmah in Ibn Arabi’s work and uses the phrase “the creative power of the heart” to capture its richly suggestive meaning.[27] According to Corbin, this creative power is essentially “the very power with which God creates and sustains the cosmos, the power by means of which God brought all the cosmic domains, subtle, physical, and intellectual into existence,” but is also something that human beings can partake of.[28] The difference between the mystic’s himmah and the divine himmah is that “God exercises this creative power with perfect attentiveness and concentration whereas the mystic always exercises it with some admixture of inattentiveness.”
rumiforum.org/islamic-himmah-and-christian-charity-an-att...
Today marks the beginning of Mercury Retrograde, an astrological phase brought about by the apparent backward motion of the planet Mercury. Mercury is known as the ruler of communication. During the retrograde, anything even remotely connected with communication is likely to derail. Mercury Retrograde is unaffected by your belief system. IT doesn't matter whether or not you buy into astrology. Everyone on the planet is affected in some way or another. I used to scoff at the whole notion, but over the years have come to understand the impacts it has on life, and how best to endure it. One common manifestation is with computers and electrical gadgets. I watched yesterday as my computer just froze up, then took forever to reboot, and then led me into network issues once it did restart. Things like this become almost comical after while, as it seems like one thing after the another. It's not just computers; anything mechanical is subject to breakdown and I can't help but notice the many cars I see pulled off along the highway. Flat tires, dead batteries, check-engine lights, you name it. Things like this are really beyond our control. But one aspect of the retrograde that we can influence is carelessness. This is a time to double down on details; assume nothing, and double check everything you do (as well as the work of others). I guarantee you'll catch yourself on the verge of making mistakes as a result of inattention. Perhaps just innocently forgetting to attach a file to your email. But perhaps something much worse, something that costs you or someone else money or injury. Speaking of injury, this is a time when we are accident prone. Auto accidents abound, but injury can happen anywhere, and this often ties back to careless inattention. The current retrograde occurs in the sign of Aries, a fire sign. This suggests a higher than average probability of arguments and even hostility. Communications are already at a weak point, so keep this in mind. People are likely not to understand what you are saying, or may misinterpret or take things out of context. How best to endure this phase (which continues through mid-April)? Slow down, focus, think things through. Use these next few weeks to plan, assess, reflect, and decide what actions to implement when the retrograde concludes. Expect to have contact with someone from your past. Avoid major life decisions, contracts, financial dealings, big-ticket purchases, etc. Even small-ticket purchases will be print to failure. That item you ordered on Amazon will be backordered. Or they will ship the wrong item. Or the thing you bought will simply not fulfill its intended purpose. Just assume decision making is likely to be flawed for a while. And one last kicker, keep in mind that mistakes made during the retrograde are often not discovered until it's over. The actual retrograde is preceded and followed by a 'shadow' phase' so in all likelihood you've already started experiencing problems. Hang in there until early May!
After communism, Bucharest was aggressively invaded by capitalism. Due to inattention of the makers of this soft drink advertisement, however, its horrible colors turned it into a parody, as if it were communist anti-propaganda. It was removed shortly after this picture was taken.
One of the outtakes from Luki's shoot last week. beware of checking out other people's photoshoots whilst crossing the road, 0.3 s later he was hit by a taxi ....
Ce renard m'a donné tout un spectacle, à quelques mètres de moi, alors qu'il était trop préoccupé à chasser des écureuils. Au départ, il faisait tout son possible pour garder un profil bas, profitant d'un moment d'inattention pour bondir sur sa proie : sans succès ! Il use même de sa ruse pour inviter ses "amis à venir descendre et jouer". Finalement, il se contenta de quelques arachides qui trainaient ici et là.
This fox gave me quite a show, only a few meters from me, being so busy hunting squirrels. At first, he tried to keep a low profile, pouncing on it's prey without success ! He eve used it's uncanny ruse to invite his "friends to come down and play". Finally, he had to settle for leftover peanuts.
The 2017 Total Eclipse, at just over two minutes, was over too fast. After spending almost all of my first total eclipse exposing film, I paused to look about this time. A wonderful experience, the full eclipse is an awesome 'hole' in the sky. The corona, stars, planets and the unnatural lighting/shade have their own allure. So I was not too surprised when my image making time was so short. As a result few photos and all are soft, due to inattention on my part.
This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
[5 photos is series] Snow Hill, constructed in 1836, was the plantation home of Colonel Samuel Booth (1794-1876) of Surry County, Virginia. It has had few alterations since being built, presenting a structure of excellent architectural integrity. The 2 1/2-story home is a frame weatherboarded house, supported by brick piers, which allowed for circulation of air in a damp climate. It is a 5-bay single pile house or I-house (one room deep) with a central hall. It is a continuation of symmetrical Georgian-style architecture. The gable roof is currently tin, placed in 1972, but beneath that are cypress shingles. An external chimney is on each side. Beneath the roof is a modillion cornice. The windows are shuttered or boarded up, but the upper floor has five 6/6 double hung sashes while the first level has four 9/9 sashes. The entrance consists of double-leaf field-panel wooden doors. A field panel, as I’ve just learned, is a recessed or raised panel surrounded by moldings—and in the case of Snow Hill, the front door is a three fielded panel door. It’s not visible on the photos taken in 2014 (the door is boarded up), but it does show on the 2019 photo. At one time there was a porch, the outline visible around the entrance. Snow Hill, or the Booth House, has an independent listing on the National Register of Historic Places, added December 18, 1979 with reference ID 79003091.
I have concerns that this historical structure will fall victim to inattention. For its age, it has held up remarkably well, but all houses have limited existence without some tender loving care. I hope the home is ultimately restored as it shows a typical early 19th century plantation home if eastern Virginia.
The NRHP nomination form includes information on interior features. It is located at www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/090-0040_Sno...(Booth_House)_1979_Final_Nomination.pdf
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) includes some drawings and a history of the house and its occupants. The history can be found at tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/va/va04... and the drawings at
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0455/
A nice photo gallery is at genecharris.com/snow hill/snow_index.htm This site duplicates the HABS history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
[5 photos is series] Snow Hill, constructed in 1836, was the plantation home of Colonel Samuel Booth (1794-1876) of Surry County, Virginia. It has had few alterations since being built, presenting a structure of excellent architectural integrity. The 2 1/2-story home is a frame weatherboarded house, supported by brick piers, which allowed for circulation of air in a damp climate. It is a 5-bay single pile house or I-house (one room deep) with a central hall. It is a continuation of symmetrical Georgian-style architecture. The gable roof is currently tin, placed in 1972, but beneath that are cypress shingles. An external chimney is on each side. Beneath the roof is a modillion cornice. The windows are shuttered or boarded up, but the upper floor has five 6/6 double hung sashes while the first level has four 9/9 sashes. The entrance consists of double-leaf field-panel wooden doors. A field panel, as I’ve just learned, is a recessed or raised panel surrounded by moldings—and in the case of Snow Hill, the front door is a three fielded panel door. It’s not visible on the photos taken in 2014 (the door is boarded up), but it does show on the 2019 photo. At one time there was a porch, the outline visible around the entrance. Snow Hill, or the Booth House, has an independent listing on the National Register of Historic Places, added December 18, 1979 with reference ID 79003091.
I have concerns that this historical structure will fall victim to inattention. For its age, it has held up remarkably well, but all houses have limited existence without some tender loving care. I hope the home is ultimately restored as it shows a typical early 19th century plantation home if eastern Virginia.
The NRHP nomination form includes information on interior features. It is located at www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/090-0040_Sno...(Booth_House)_1979_Final_Nomination.pdf
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) includes some drawings and a history of the house and its occupants. The history can be found at tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/va/va04... and the drawings at
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0455/
A nice photo gallery is at genecharris.com/snow hill/snow_index.htm This site duplicates the HABS history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Fortunately Madame is wearing tights and not stockings, otherwise her inattention to her dress hem could prove embarassing - or maybe not?????
copyright © Mim Eisenberg/mimbrava studio. All rights reserved.
My thoughts are with all those who are impacted by Superstorm Sandy. I am grateful that my dear family, friends and colleagues have come through relatively safely, some more so than others. May their property damage be repaired quickly. May their hearts heal from the trauma. There are many ways to help those millions who have been less fortunate. Please contribute as much as you can in whatever way you can.
despite strong wind gusts
colorful leaves remain on trees
reluctant to fall
wanting to bring joy
to those mindful of Sandy's
obliterations
~Mim Eisenberg
Please forgive my recent absence and my inattention to your photos. I'll try to do better.
******************
See my photos on 500px
Or on 72dpi
Or on fluidr.
I invite you to stroll through My Galleries.
Ventanal de lo que en su día fue el Centro de Interpretación y Observatorio de Aves de Bayas y hoy es un ejemplo del abandono.
For those feeling disconnected
www.facebook.com/greatandterriblethings
Please don't use without permission/credit
Old Man's Beard. Quote from:
www.hawk-conservancy.org/Conservation/MeadowMuses/200601....
"A native perennial of the buttercup family, found in hedgerows, woodland edges and scrub, mainly on chalky soils. It has woody, vine-like stems which climb up trees and shrubs, reaching a height of up to 30 metres. Loose clusters of almond-scented white flowers appear in July and August and numerous nut-like fruits with rounded heads of long feathery plumes are produced in September and October. These remain on the trees and bushes well into the winter, giving an almost snow-like appearance to the hedgerows.
Alternative names include Traveller’s Joy, Father Christmas, Baccy Plant, Boy’s Bacca, Smokewood, Shepherd’s Delight and Woodbine. The name Clematis is from the Greek meaning “long, lithe branches” and vitalba means “white vine”. The dry stems were traditionally cut in winter and used for smoking, giving rise to the names referring to tobacco, and Richard Mabey suggests in “Flora Britannica” that the plant may have inspired the Woodbine cigarette brand name. “Smokewood” may also refer to the appearance of the clouds of feathery fronds in the hedgerows when seen from a distance. The stems have also been used traditionally in basketry.
In medicine the plant has been used in homeopathy to treat rheumatism, skin rashes and swollen glands. The boiled roots and stems were used traditionally as a cure for itching. The plant appears in the Bach Flower remedies, quoted for “Indifference, Dreaminess, Inattention and Unconsciousness”, and is one of the ingredients of the well-known Rescue Remedy."
The illustrations are from “The Blue Barbarians” by Stanton A. Coblentz in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer, 1931).
A satire on the American economic and political system as they existed in 1931, “The Blue Barbarians” was published in book form in 1958 by Avalon Books.
The Sun is fading and humanity needs a new home if it is to survive and Venus has been chosen for exploration. Seven expeditions have gone to Venus and vanished: now the eighth is leaving, led by physicist Erom Reve accompanied by self-styled poet Daolgi Kar who brings his little dog Tippy.
Reaching Venus, the men must bail out of their space car before meteors destroy it. They descend under electric parachutes and then make their way across the alien landscape until they come to a city, where they are captured and put into a zoo. Over several weeks they learn the rudiments of the Venusian language and convince the Venusians that they are not animals. The two men (with Tippy) are sent to prison for entering the nation of Wultho illegally. After a year, they are sent to work in a sawdust factory, which soon burns down due to Daolgi’s inattention to his job.
Green glass is the highest denomination of Venusian currency and Erom learns how to make a large quantity of it, becoming the richest and most powerful man on Venus. The Venusians greed for colored glass is exceeded only by their eagerness to slaughter each other. They use a newly invented death ray in an orgy of self-annihilation. The humans head back to Earth to prepare for humanity’s move to soon-to-be-depopulated Venus. [Synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia]
Breeze Branch Orange Vignette
Vignette
Without feeling devastated, I never fully realized my inattention ruined my dreams of myself — so many distractions locked me into an internal misconception. It takes as much energy to procrastinate as to invest in what I want.
The self-effort it takes to delude and believe in each product's message. As one of the target audience, I convinced myself to register, acquire, and purchase. My step forward is the seller's goal. Everywhere I venture, I partake as part of their moral purpose. I feel good as their faulted consumer.
They know how to relieve me of my dread. My acquisition is mindful and risk-free. Their call to action sponsors me. However, my identity has a cost, and the cage within has repurposed my sense of well-being. It is why I need to escape to the simplicity of experiencing the beauty of the biosphere.
Un instant d'inattention
Et... La nature reprend ses droits
Une rumeur évasive
La morsure d'un sabre
Au service de la menace
Henri a l'air conditionné
Amour de la routine
Chance de ne pas être là
Il passe d'un sujet à l'autre
Tant bien que mal
Interminable
Fuite en avant
Un instant d'inattention
Et... La nature reprend ses droits
Pedro fait saigner
Il impose ses règles
Mares de boues
Ongles noirs
Dollars
Et partout
Sur les ondes
Les plaintes chantantes des pleureuses
Et la vibration sourde des tambours
Un instant d'inattention
Et... La nature reprend ses droits
Fromont, 2015
today i was on fire...
woke earlier than usual and like riding a wave that desperately seeks a far shore, i raged forward all day
a counter-point to last night when i, for the first time in my adult life, nearly destroyed an entire batch of film due to a chemical error i should well have been past ever making. leaving the film in stasis until i could find a solution, i followed this by nearly destroying the re-mounting of a painting when the interaction of two different glues produced a horror of rubbery, potentially art destroying results and i made the wise decision to walk away from anything that had any importance whatsoever....
today, though creative chemistry and grace, i managed to rescue the film from oblivion...and these are the first results. basic scans, but what survived my idiotic mistake none the less...
i then sanded, sealed and gessoed a large panel for a future piece, painted 8 new works, procured information for our new years camping trip and scanned in images.
this unyielding pace leads me to believe i am avoiding some critical emotional issue...
regardless...this is javiera. she liked my work and so we made images together which i nearly destroyed by inattention to basic details...
t-max 400 processed in a manner i will never repeat again
This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
[5 photos is series] Snow Hill, constructed in 1836, was the plantation home of Colonel Samuel Booth (1794-1876) of Surry County, Virginia. It has had few alterations since being built, presenting a structure of excellent architectural integrity. The 2 1/2-story home is a frame weatherboarded house, supported by brick piers, which allowed for circulation of air in a damp climate. It is a 5-bay single pile house or I-house (one room deep) with a central hall. It is a continuation of symmetrical Georgian-style architecture. The gable roof is currently tin, placed in 1972, but beneath that are cypress shingles. An external chimney is on each side. Beneath the roof is a modillion cornice. The windows are shuttered or boarded up, but the upper floor has five 6/6 double hung sashes while the first level has four 9/9 sashes. The entrance consists of double-leaf field-panel wooden doors. A field panel, as I’ve just learned, is a recessed or raised panel surrounded by moldings—and in the case of Snow Hill, the front door is a three fielded panel door. It’s not visible on the photos taken in 2014 (the door is boarded up), but it does show on the 2019 photo. At one time there was a porch, the outline visible around the entrance. Snow Hill, or the Booth House, has an independent listing on the National Register of Historic Places, added December 18, 1979 with reference ID 79003091.
I have concerns that this historical structure will fall victim to inattention. For its age, it has held up remarkably well, but all houses have limited existence without some tender loving care. I hope the home is ultimately restored as it shows a typical early 19th century plantation home if eastern Virginia.
The NRHP nomination form includes information on interior features. It is located at www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/090-0040_Sno...(Booth_House)_1979_Final_Nomination.pdf
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) includes some drawings and a history of the house and its occupants. The history can be found at tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/va/va04... and the drawings at
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0455/
A nice photo gallery is at genecharris.com/snow hill/snow_index.htm This site duplicates the HABS history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
"Whereas the child is chiefly playful and experimental, the adult focuses on specific and conscious experiences. He practices selective inattention to the objects for which he has no immediate use and develops a kind of tunnel vision that helps him to move toward selected goals. This focusing on a limited range of experiences and goals is largely responsible for one's individual evolution and gives a deep and almost tragic significance to a statement made by Albert Camus in his novel La Chute: "Après un certain âge tout homme est responsable do son visage." An almost identical statement appears as the last entry in George Orwell's notebooks: "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves." There could not any more absolute affirmation of belief in personal responsibility for the quality of one's own life and character."
René Dubos (1901-1982), French microbiologist, environmentalist, humanist. "Individuality, Personality, and Collectivity," (1972).
When defenses against the most immediate forms of mental disturbance have been raised, the assimilation of the principles of "right conduct" arouses in the mind an "intimate, unalloyed joy" joined with the stability and sureness of one who feels himself in a state of "justice." For which we are given the simile of a lawfully crowned king who knows that his enemies are routed and that there is no threat of any kind to his sovereignty. We have also acquired the strengthened "neutrality" or "sidereality" of the mind that, thanks to the fourfold contemplation, has further freed itself and is now at the center of all its experience, both internal and external. At this point we undertake the really cathartic action whose aim is to neutralize, by degrees, any possibility of "combustion" and of self-abandonment to the multiple variety of "contacts."
Contacts wound; contacts consume by exciting the fire that burns the body and the mind, which nourishes the samsaric stem and prostrates the higher principle. "The fool, struck by force, perishes; the wise man, when struck, does not tremble," he remains intact, remains unshakable, remains elusive; we must become like the wise man. It is a question, then, of dealing a blow at the transcendental "desire" that lurks in the visual and other senses, in the khandha (the groups of the personality), in the elements, and which is corruption, disease, suppuration. All this must naturally take place, not on the psychological or moral plane, but on the existential and metaphysical one. The beginning of the process of alteration lies in the senses, which are likened to so many "wounds." (…) In order to "bandage the wounds" and neutralize the infection provoked by contacts, we must ensure that "the internal sight, the internal smelling, the internal hearing, the internal tasting, the internal touching, the internal thinking are not distracted," that is to say, that we are present in the sixfold seat of the senses in such a way that we can immediately prevent any self-relaxation, self-attachment, self-intoxication, any luring of ourselves by enjoyment. There will be, then, no further building of combinations, at first in the fundamental stem of the will, and then in the five stems of the personality." This is the essence of the new work of catharsis.
This work is based on what is known as the "watch over the doors of the senses," for which the canonical formula is: "Upon perceiving a form with the eye, the ascetic conceives no inclination, no interest. Since craving and aversion and damaging and harmful thoughts soon overcome the man who lives with the eye unguarded, he remains vigilant, he guards the eye, he remains vigilant over the eye." Upon hearing a sound with the ear, upon smelling an odor with the nose, upon tasting a flavor with the tongue, upon touching a contact with the body, upon representing to himself a mental state with the mind, he conceives no inclination, he conceives no interest. Since craving and aversion and damaging and harmful thoughts soon overcome the man who lives with his mind unguarded, he remains vigilant, he guards the mind, he remains vigilant over the mind." To fail in this vigilance at some point is to suffer the fate of the tortoise: when the tortoise unthinkingly put out one of its limbs a jackal seized it by that limb and carried it off to its ruin.
In this matter then, we have to come to grips with the samsaric entity with which we are associated and that constitutes our double, composed of thirst. A continually tightening circle closes round it. It is effectively likened to an enemy who, knowing that he cannot openly defeat his adversary, gets himself employed by him as a servant and gains his confidence so that he may then defeat him by treachery: this is the part that the illusory "I," created by identification, plays in us until the time of initiation into the doctrine of the Ariya.
That the discipline of the watch over the senses or binding the wounds leads to a higher liberation is shown by the simile of the man who has at a crossroads a thoroughbred team and can guide them wherever he pleases. The man who does not know or who forgets this practice is dominated by forms, sounds, smells, tastes, contacts, and thoughts, instead of being their master.
In another way this discipline can also he summed up by the word silentium: "to gird oneself with silence," silence in the technical and initiatory sense. Impressions are arrested at the periphery, at the limit of the senses. Between them and the "I" there is now a distance, a zone of "silence." We thus become endowed with that form of silence that consists of not pronouncing either the exterior word or the interior word, and this in turn implies not hearing, not seeing, not imagining. This theme has also been expressed in a popular form. It is, in fact, the deeper, hidden significance of the well-known statuette of the three sacred monkeys, one with the ears closed, one with the mouth closed, and one with the eyes closed: speak not, hear not, see not. And we may here also recall the curious hermetical formula: "Who has ears, let him open them [in the sense of a close watch on every impression], who has a mouth, let him keep it shut [in the sense of the aforesaid silence, of calm, intangible 'neutrality']."
It is thus that the conditions for further liberation and then for awakening the extrasamsāric principle are consolidated.
As the natural counterpart of the watch on the doors of the senses, a world of disintoxication is carried out within the zone that is now isolated, in order to eliminate or reduce those internal smoldering embers of agitation and self-identification that may be made to burst into life by external contacts. This is what is known as the removal of the five nīvarana, a term that means a "dross," a "hindrance," or an "impediment." The five nīvarana are: desire (kāmacchanda); hate or anger (vyāpāda); slothful idleness (thīna-middha); pride and impatience (uddhacca- kukkucca); doubtful uncertainty (vicikicchā).
The action of these five hindrances is clearly indicated by the following similes: it is like trying to look at one's reflection in water wherein all kinds of colors are mixed (desire), or in boiling water (hate and anger), or in water full of mud and moss (slothful idleness), or in water agitated by the wind (pride and impatience), or finally, in dark and murky water (doubt). Removal is effected by direct action of the mind on the mind, together with accurate and calm self-examination. The discipline is described in the texts in the following manner.
The ascetic finds a solitary place and begins to meditate. A well-known yoga position is counseled: sit with legs crossed and body straight upright. This traditional Indo-Aryan position is, however, only suitable if one is so accustomed to it that it is quite natural and requires no special effort and does not produce fatigue. In general, the position recommended for this, as for other contemplations, must be one of equilibrium, which does not have to be changed; it must have a kind of symbolical meaning of self-awareness and it must not demand efforts that would distract the mind.
It is fundamentally a more advanced development of the states already induced by sīla or "right conduct." The aim here is obviously to bring us to a deeper zone by means of the strengthened power of internal vision that we have gained through the preceding disciplines. It is a matter of attacking, to some degree, the sankhara, that is to say, the innate and congenital tendencies that come, in part, from the extra-individual heredity that we have assumed.
Here, too, the purity achieved at certain moments comes to be developed until it has almost attained a state of permanency. This is how we must understand what is known as the "threefold watch": "by day, walking and sitting, turn the mind away from disturbing things; in the first watch of the night, walking and sitting, turn the mind away from disturbing things; in the middle watch of the night, lie down on the right side, like the lion, one foot on the other, bringing to mind the hour of waking; in the last watch of the night, after arising, walking or sitting, turn the mind away from disturbing things."
This is a kind of continuous examination of consciousness. The yama, the watches of the night that are recognized in this discipline consist, according to the Buddhist tradition, of four hours each; the first runs from six until ten in the evening, the second from ten until two in the morning, the third from two to six in the morning. Thus, strictly speaking, the period of true sleep or of the state that in the common man would correspond to sleep is restricted to four hours only, from ten in the evening until two in the morning. In this we must not see an "ascetic" discipline in the Western sense of mortification: on the contrary, it is natural that in advancing along the road of illumination the need for sleep is considerably reduced, and this reduction produces no ill effect. Here, too, a unilateral "authoritarian" intervention would only serve to create states of fatigue and inattention unfavorable for spiritual life by day.
With attentive care of the "wounds" and with action taken against the hindrances or impediments, the zone of "silence" is strengthened, and a gradual interior increase of the extrasamsāric quality takes place therein; this increase should he aided by illuminated effort and it is related to the aforesaid "seven awakenings". These "awakenings" are the positive counterpart of the cathartic or prophylactic action, that is to say, they are a "defence against intoxication produced by action." The canonical formula is: "[The ascetic] rightly causes the awakening of mindfulness derived from detachment, derived from dispassion, derived from cessation [of the flux], ending in renunciation, he causes the awakening of investigation -of inflexible energy- of enthusiasm -of calm- of concentration -of equanimity, of these awakenings derived from detachment, derived from dispassion, derived from cessation, ending in renunciation."
Various interpretations of the place of these awakenings in the whole development are, nevertheless, possible. Their sense as a whole, indeed, reflects that of the four jhānas, of the contemplation that is to be performed in complete detachment from external experience. Here, however, we may understand them on a more relative plane, as a kind of transfiguration and liberation of faculties that are already pervaded by the element of bodhi, whence the expression bojjhanga. It must be realized that we are not dealing with a simple schematic enu¬meration, but rather with a series in which the meditation whereby they are appre¬hended should pursue an intimate causal linking of the single terms so that we are naturally led on from one to the next, and so that in the one we see the integration and resolution of its predecessors. Thus, we must first achieve nondistracted medita¬tion: then we must awaken the state of "mindfulness," fix it in the mind, develop it, master it, and see how this state leads to the second awakening and passes into "investigation," which may find support in some element of the doctrine; this inves¬tigation, when developed, fixed, extended, and mastered must lead on to the awak¬ening of "inflexible energy," whose perfect conquest should herald a state of spe¬cial, purified "enthusiasm," of purified joy. By further developing the meditation, we should realize that this enthusiasm, this joy, awakened and perfectly developed in a body that is becoming calm, in a mind that is becoming calm, will become resolved and liberated in the next awakening, which is that of "calm." When calm has been developed, extended, fixed, and mastered, "concentration" awakens; this, in its turn, when completely developed, becomes established and shines forth in the "equanimity" that is the seventh awakening.
These form a series of landmarks in meditation that is concerned with realization and they are connected by an inherent continuity. Through these, one is led in another way to the confirmation of what was already becoming established in the satipatthāna, the fourfold contemplation of detachment, that is to say, one is led to that impassibility that is qualified as "pure, clear, ductile, flexible, resplendent," but which has nothing to do-it should be noted-with the indifference of a blunt mind, with the indifference "of a fool, of an ignorant man, of an inexpert common man." For our part, we think it opportune to add that the state in question must on no account be confused with apathy, and that it develops together with a feeling of purified intellectualized and heroic joy, although this may at first seem difficult to understand. The Bhagavadgītā says: "When the mind, lamed by ascesis, becomes quiet; when [the ascetic], seeing the self in the self, rejoices in himself, knows that boundless joy which, transcending the senses, can only be ap¬prehended by the intellect and, when fixed in it, does not stir from the truth ... he knows that this detachment from union with pain is called yoga." At the same time, Buddhism speaks of a pleasure that is "like dung" when compared to that based on detachment, calm, and illumination (thus two kinds of joy are considered and contrasted. the one bound to life in the world, to mania, to enjoyment, the other to ascesis or to ultramundane states of detachment and of freedom from mania; and it is said that the second is the higher joy. "Extinction is the greatest joy.")
Furthermore, such sequences as these are frequent: "In the ascetic joy arises; this joy makes him blissful; being blissful, his body becomes calm: with the body calmed, serenity arises; in this serenity the mind comes to rest, becomes concentrated"; this is a preparation for the four jhāna. This is another sequence that has the character of a connected series, developing in an upward sense, not unlike that which, through the twelve nidana, led us downward to samsāric existence. The point of departure of this new series is, in fact, the state of suffering, of agitation, of contingency, which corresponds to the last nidāna of the descending path. Beyond it, there is the state of confidence; this leads to purified joy; then follows serenity, which gives place to bliss, passing on to equanimity - the term used here literally means also to vanish, to cease being in a place: it is a question of detached equilibrium. In this text the supreme realization has behind it a linked series in which special states of liberated joy play a particular part: a kind of joy that Plato contrasted with all mixed and conditioned forms of joy or of pleasure.
Let us quote another text that represents the state at which we may reckon to have arrived at this point of our exposition: „Concentration which knows neither increase nor decrease, which is not based on wearisome subjugation, which, because of its detached nature is constant, because of its constancy is full of bliss, because of its bliss cannot be destroyed — such concentration has suprene wisdom as its result.”
This should destroy the idea that the path of awakening is arid and desolate, that it kills all joy, that it offers only renunciation and destruction. That everyone whose furthest horizon is still within the effective, samsarically conditioned world should have this idea is quite natural but is of very little account.
A text reminds us that only an Awakened One can comprehend the Awakened One. An expressive simile demonstrates this: two companions leave a city together and reach a rock that one of them climbs. He says to the other: "I see from up here a wonderful view of gardens, woods, fields, and lakes," but the other retorts: "It is impossible, it is inadmissible, friend, that from up there you can see all that." Then the companion standing on the rock comes down, takes the other by the arm, makes him climb up on the rock and. after he has recovered his breath, asks him: "What do you then see, friend, standing on the rock?" The other replies: "I see a wonderful view of gardens, woods, fields, and lakes." "And your previous opinion?" "While I was obstructed by this great rock, I could not see what is now visible." It concludes: it is impossible that what is knowable, discernible, capable of achievement, capable of realization through detachment can be known, discerned, achieved, realized by one who lives among desires and who is consumed by desires." Quite apart from the higher "sidereal" principle. the Buddhist also knows the kind of joy that is contentedness, rejoicing, jubilation, enthusiasm, exultation, transport of the spirit and that, among others, is considered as "a factor of the great awakening”.
[Countering those who believe that the Buddhist road is one of desolation and aridity, Louis de La Vallée-Poussin most opportunely writes: “We must, rather, recognise that India is difficult when it comes to being and bliss; that as she puts being beyond existence, so she puts bliss beyond sensation.”]
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Julius Evola: The Doctrine of Awakening - Part II., Chapter 4. - Sidereal Awareness: The Wounds Close (excerpt)
H.O.P.E.: Hearing Other People's Experiences
This is part of my experiences:
DON’T EVER GIVE UP ON GOD OR YOUR SELF! ...
What ever you are doing in your life, you can and you will do all the things GOD want’s you to do. GOD made us for Himself and we belong to Him always. GOD will see to it we get to the place He needs us to be at the end of each day. Yes our life sometimes is very difficult, but that is how we grow to know ourselves and GOD better. GOD lets the bad things happen to us, not because He wants us to suffer but because He knows more then we do about our lives and our true needs. We are meant to become perfect before GOD’S eyes so GOD lets only the things we can handle and grow from happen to us. GOD will not let us fail in his works when we trust in Him.
I have had seven heart surgeries in my life and a pacemaker device implanted in my chest at 10 years old. Growing up was not always fun. I did not get to do a lot of the things other kids did, like sports. I also have dyslexia and was 22 by the time I could read at the high school level. I now have a B.A. and an M.A. in Fine Arts. I read better now and still spell very poorly. I did not like all the things this stuff was about in my life. although GOD was there all the time. I can see now that Jesus was carrying me all that time.
In 1998 I thought my life could not get any harder. I had paid my dues by then I thought. I got married to beautiful loving Loree. We soon had a son Albert (we call A.J.). Our son is the coolest kid I have ever met. He has taught me more than any one person ever has. Not just because he is my kid but because he truly belongs to GOD first before he belongs to us. He came into my life to change everything I know about life.
My son AJ is a kid of special needs. AJ was born Dec. 17, 1998 at 36 weeks gestation. He weighed 3.7lbs. He is a kid of special needs. He was born with broken femurs although he was born by cesarean. He has scoliosis of the back. His legs do not move and his right arm is flacid, the left arm has limited range of motion. He eats by a "G" tube in his tummy and can't swallow. He has a tracheotomy in his neck to breath through SIMV, a ventilation device to assist with his breathing. He’s extremely nearsighted and what he truly sees we just don’t really know. Most would describe A.J as a quadriplegic. He cannot speak. AJ is a wonderful inspiration to my wife and family and we are very honored and thankful to be his parents. our family tries to focus on what AJ can do and to nurture those developments. Giving up is not an option.
I am also inspired by two beautiful daughters who motivate me to accept what God has planned for me. they unknowingly as my son has done, helped me to live a better life full of fun and wonder. I become a better man and human from all they show me as they grow to be there own persons.
My only sister Maureen 40, February 25, 2009 Ash Wednesday. took her life by suicide. this has been the most pain. I have had in my life. but I for give her of it. she was and is my best friend! she is who I looked to to hold me up when I was having a hard time. I am to small to wrap my mind around whys. so I have to give it up to God to handle for me. God knew before time began this would be the way of my sister. God will hold me up in a new way. GOD is the unfathomable abyss of Holy mercy that has no end. any thing we do is so small in this it is as if it was not. no doctor heals a human. it is the Hand of God that heals us that are human.
life is not easy to live in some times. I get afraid some times and for get to look that God is always next to me. there is nothing in life that is so BIG that I can not overcome it, especially the bumps that used to look like mountains. I have had the opportunity to grow much in my life. I have joy in my life, from all the love and kindness GOD has given me. Every day I get to live is a miracle from GOD to me.
Thank you GOD for my life. Thank you Christ for carrying me all this way. May GOD bless your adventures and all that you do in your life. Do not lose sight of Christ in your life. JESUS is the only way home.
Be inattentional in getting to know Jesus.
Jesus has waited all eternity for each one of us to be born to love us…
Some days before I took this one, I captured some photographs of things I want to sell via ebay. Because I didn't intended to do RAW-processing for theses photos, I directly used JPEG out of the cam. Unfortunately I forgot to change the image quality back to RAW in the camera. Due to this inattention I took all photographs of my next tour directly in JPEG.
I'm very annoyed at this fact especially for this photograph with it's extreme light situation. With RAW as the base one could rescue more details from the very light and dark parts. Next thing is that I always adjust the white balance later in the RAW converter, what isn't as good possible with JPEG.
Nevertheless I like the result. But from now on I always have a look at the quality setup before I start a tour, although I know that I change this setting very seldom.
L2.05W0.82H1.14M120 • Cₓ0.2 • 0.5MW, 3,156Nm @12kHz, η>99%
EVBM18kg Li₂O₂ 40M୧ 720MJ • 679kph • 0-100kph→0.5s 5.665g₀
If you rode the rest of your life and really became the best that you could be, you would never ride like l ride.
S.S. LaBeouf in W.O. Stone 2010: WS: Money never sleeps.
Cfr. notes (1-18) over the above image.
NOTES
1. Windscreen-integrated MR-HUD + 3D holographic dashboard. 2. C-ABS, AWTVS, s-ϑ-v sensors on front & rear wheels. 3. Öhlins FGR300 Carbon ⌀60×S130 mm AS front fork. 4. 355mm T5 CCTi front brake vented discs. 5. Brembo GP5 front brake 4-piston fixed calipers. 6. 220mm T5 CCTi rear brake vented disc @ dx side. 7. Brembo GP5 rear brake 2-piston fixed caliper @ dx side. 8. BST GP Tek front + rear wheels (1.7+2.4 Kg). 9. 120/60ZR17 front tire. 10. 200/55ZR17 rear tire. 11. 525 17/46 drive chain. 12. 66.4° steering head angle. 13. 200° front/rear cameras. 14. Öhlins Carbon BDB50 S117mm AS rear shock absorber. 15. AWARHD. 16. M winglets provide 160N @300kph. 17. ϑ°ₘₐₓ 70°. 18. Lateral battery packs with the additional function of gyroscopic stabilizers.
Pₘₐₓ = Fₓ v = 2⁻¹ Cₓ A ρ vₘₐₓ³ → vₘₐₓ = ∛(2Pₘₐₓ Cₓ⁻¹ A⁻¹ ρ⁻¹) ≅ 678.6 km/h (A, frontal area ≅ 0.5 m²). Actual performance would depend on various factors, including aerodynamics, traction, and mechanical limitations. In this simplified model, v primarily depends on P and Cₓ rather than on M, and vₘₐₓ remains the same even with a slightly higher OAM.
REFERENCES
D.A. Vincenzi & al. 2024: Human factors in simulation & training.
M. Ghafarian & al. 2023: Dynamic Vehicular Motion Simulators.
B. González-Arcos & P.J. Gamez-Montero 2023: MotoGP airflow redirectors.
K. Wiński & A. Piechna 2022: Sport motorcycle CFD.
E. Frœse & al. 1985: Le parc (Street Hawk OST).
D. Byrne & al. 1983: This must be the place.
K. Gamble & al. 1973: For the love of money.
ÆM · EGP 2019 · 無限 神電八 2019 TT0 · LS218 2013 · ZM DSR-BF
BMW ÆM 2017 · DUCATI V21L · MOTOROiD 2017 · I/MI-B · TF · SA
