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Converse in the Spirit...The Paradise is not anything corporeal or tangible in a terrestrial sense.His body likewise appeared luminous, because its terrestrial substance was absorbed in the celestial essence. It radiated a pure, divine light. by Hughes Songe

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The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme,

Man in his cosmic aspect is a being very superior to that which is commonly looked upon as a "man," and which is described in books on anthropology, anatomy, &c. Such external sciences deal only with the grossly material body of external terrestrial man, while the essential body of macrocosmic and microcosmic man is beyond the reach of external observation. In the study of man as a cosmic being there are three subjects to be considered, although the three are only three aspects of one. These three subjects are God, Nature, and Man, and neither one of them can be understood in its inner essence without an understanding of the other two. External science, "natural philosophy," and theology seek to separate them. They regard man as a being separated, distinct, and independent of nature, and nature as something independent of man; while of God they know nothing, and regard the divine power, which is the cause of all life, as if it were something external to nature and man, and beyond their reach. For this reason the "man" of modern science has become an unnatural being, without any conceivable object for his existence, and nature is to him an organism evolved by accidence and subject to no other than mechanically acting law. The divine, spiritual, creative, and hidden powers in man and in nature are entirely removed from the field of perception of the "rationalist." spirit, a self-conscious, luminous sphere of unimaginable extent; as, in fact, at present the mental sphere of man has no defined limits; it reaches as far as his thoughts can go. He was created for the purpose of being the image of God. The glory of God was residing in him, and he was penetrated by the light of divine love. In man is contained everything, God, and the Christ, and the angels, the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms, and the powers of hell. Outside of him is nothing of which he can conceive; he can know nothing except that which exists in his mind. No god or devil, no spirit or any power whatever, can act within man unless it enters into his constitution. Only that which exists in him has existence for him. Without a realisation of this fact the mysteries of religion will remain incomprehensible. It may be interesting and amusing to speculate about all the different gods and celestial hosts that go to make up the Pantheons of the various nations, but such a study does not constitute real knowledge. Only when man's spiritual perceptions are unfolded and he attains divine knowledge of self, then will he know the Christ and all the celestial powers whose aggregate goes to make up the kingdom of God existing within himself.

"The Spirit of God resides from eternity to eternity only in heaven—that is to say, in His own essence, in the power of the majesty. When it became inbreathed into the image of man, then was heaven in man; for God willed to reveal Himself in man, as in an image created after His own likeness, and to manifest the great wonders of His eternal wisdom." (Stiefel, i. 36.) "Simultaneously with the introduction of His divine image, Adam received also the living word of God (spiritual intelligence) to furnish food for his soul." (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 24.) "God created Adam to (enjoy) eternal life in Paradise in a state of paradisiacal perfection. Divine love illumined his interior, as the sun is illuminating the world." (Stiefel, i. 36.) "In Paradise there is perfect life without disturbance, and a perpetual day, and the paradisiacal man is clear like transparent glass, and he is fully penetrated by the light of the divine sun." 1 (Signature, xi. 5 1.)

His body likewise appeared luminous, because its terrestrial substance was absorbed in the celestial essence. It radiated a pure, divine light. 2

"The inner holy corporeity of the pure element penetrated through the four elements and kept the Limus of earth—that is to say, the external sulphuric (terrestrial) body within itself as in a state of absorption. Nevertheless, that body was actually present, but in such a way as darkness dwells in light, so that the darkness cannot manifest itself on account of the light." (Mysterium, xvi. 6.) "All the qualities of the inner and holy body, together with the external ones, were in primordial man attuned in one harmony. Neither of them lived in its own state of desire; but they had their desire in the soul wherein the divine light was manifest. This, the divine light radiated through all the qualities, and produced in them an equal, harmonious temperature." (Mysterium, xvi. 5.) "The inner man kept the external one imprisoned within itself and penetrated it in a manner comparable to iron, which glows if it is penetrated by fire, so that it seems as if it were itself fire. But when the fire becomes extinct, then does the black, dark iron become manifest." (Mysterium, xvi. 7.) "The pure element penetrated through the external roan and overpowered the four elements; moreover, the power of the heat and the cold was in the flesh. But as the light of God was shining therein, they were in equal harmony, so that neither one of them became manifest before the other. Thus God the Father is called a wrathful, jealous God and a consuming fire, and He is all that in regard to His qualities; but of these qualities nothing becomes manifest in His light." (Stiefel, xi. 75.) "Primordial man in Paradise, being fixed therein, was in a state such as time is before God and God in time. As time is a spectacle before God, likewise the external life of man was a spectacle before the inner and holy man, who was the true image of God." (Mysterium, xvi. 8.) In the same sense the Bhagavad Gita says that the true self, the God, Atma, or " Christ," is not a participator, but merely a spectator in that which concerns the external illusion. "The inner body was a dwelling-place of the Godhead, an image of divine substantiality. In that body the soul had her meekness, and her fire was rendered mild thereby, for she received there the love and meekness of God." (Tilk., i. 233.) Owing to this resemblance to God, Adam's will and thoughts were as one. His mind was pure and uncomplicated, childlike, unsophisticated, and devoted to God; he did not need to speculate about the unknown, because he had the power to perceive that which he wanted to know. He enjoyed the perception of divine and terrestrial things. 1 "The mind of Adam was innocent like that of a child, playing with the wonders of its Father. There was in him no self-knowledge of evil will, no avarice, pride, envy, anger, but a pure enjoyment of love." (Threefold Life, xi. 23.) "When Adam was created in Paradise, there his life was burning like a flame of pure oil. Therefore his perception was celestial, and his intelligence was surpassing and comprehending things beyond nature." (Signature, vii. 2.) "The inner man stood in heaven; his essences were the Paradise; his body was indestructible. He knew the language of God and the angels, and the language of nature, as may be seen by Adam giving names to all creatures, to each according to its own essence and quality." (Forty Questions, iv. 7.) "Adam, after having been created by God, was in Paradise in a state of joy and glorification, beautiful and filled with knowledge. God then brought before him, as the lord of the world, all the animals, so that he might behold them, and give a name to each according to its special essence and power. And Adam knew that he was within every creature, and he gave to each its appropriate name. God can see into the hearts of all things, and the same could be done by Adam." 1 (Three Principles, x. 17.) In this state of godlike being he had power over all things; for all things existed in him and he in all, and there was nothing that could have done him any external injury. To express it in other words, all things existed subjectively in his mind, as they now do in ours, but his mind was his " body," and where the centre of his consciousness was, there was his "form." 2 "As God is a Lord over all, so man in the power of God was to be a lord over this world." (Menschwerdung, i. 4, 7.) "The soul in the power of God penetrates through all things, and is powerful over all, as God Himself; for she lives in the power of His heart." (Three Principles, xxii. 17.) "As gold is incorruptible in the fire, so man was subject to nothing, only to the One God dwelling in him, and manifested in him by the power of His holy being." (Mysterium, xvi. 12.) "Everything was subject to Adam; his rule extended into heaven and over the earth, and in all elements and stars. This was because divine power was manifested in him." 1 (Mysterium, xvi. 2.) "The will-spirit of man penetrated through all creatures, and was injured by none, because none could grasp it. No creature can apprehend the power and light of the sun in its own will, but must remain passive to become penetrated by it; thus it was then the case with the will-spirit of man." (Grace, vii. 2.)

"Before his fall, man could rule over the sun and the stars. Everything was in his power. 2 Fire, air, water, and earth could not tame him; no fire burned him, no water drowned, no air suffocated him; all that lived stood in awe of him." (Threefold Life, xi. 23.) "No heat, no cold, no sickness, nor accident, nor any fear could touch or terrify him. His body could pass through earth and rocks without breaking anything in them; for a man who could be overpowered by the terrestrial nature, or who could be broken to pieces, would not be eternal." 3 (Menschwerdung, i. 2, 13.) Likewise that nature which surrounded him, and which is called Eden, was illuminated by the celestial light, and it was thereby exalted to paradisiacal magnificence. "Adam was in Paradise, that is to say, in the temperature. Thereby he was placed in a certain locality, namely, in that where the holy world was blooming out through the earth and bearing the fruits of Paradise." (Grace, v. 34.) "'Eden' means the locality, but 'Paradise' is the out-flowing or the life of God in divine harmony." (Letters, xxxi. 28.) "In Paradise the substance of the divine world penetrated the substance belonging to time, comparable to the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it lovely to the sight and good to the taste." (Mysterium, xvii. 5.) "Thus the holy divine world was predominant through all the three principles of the human quality, and there was an equal accord, and no enmity or opposite will was manifest betwixt the principles." 1 (Mysterium, xvii. 20.) There were in Paradise all the products which we meet in the terrestrial world, but they were there in a state of ethereality and of supernatural beauty. This paradisiacal beauty was, however, not manifested in all parts of the world. "In Paradise there are growths, the same as in this world, but not in (terrestrial) tangibility. There Heaven is in the place of the earth, the Light of God instead of the sun, and the Eternal Father in the place of the power of the stars." (Three Principles, ix. 20.) "The Paradise is not anything corporeal or tangible in a terrestrial sense, but its corporeity and tangibility is like that of the angels. It is there a clear,

visible, substance, as if it were material, and it is actually "material;" but it is formed only out of the power, without any addition of terrestrial matter, and it is, therefore, perfectly transparent." (Three Principles, ix. 18.)

"The tangible world, or nature, before the time of the wrath of God, was thin, ethereal, lovely, and clear, so that the sourcive spirits could look through everything and penetrate it. There were therein neither terrestrial rocks nor earth, and there was no created light needed, such as it is now; but the light was generated in all things in the midst of each thing, and everything was in the light." (Aurora, xviii. 29.) The whole world would have been all Paradise if it had not been corrupted by Lucifer. But as God knew that Adam was going to fall, it bloomed out in only one place, wherein man might find a suitable dwelling-place, and be fortified therein." (Mysterium, xvii. 7.) "God saw and knew that man was going to fall, and therefore the Paradise did not bloom and bear fruits in the whole of the world by means of the earth, although it was manifest everywhere, but only in the Garden of Eden, wherein Adam was tempted, did it become revealed in its full magnificence." 1 (Letters, xxxix. 28.) For all that, man, although having been endowed with great splendour by the Creator, did not yet enjoy true similarity with God. 2 "In Adam was manifest the kingdom of grace, the divine life, because he lived in the temperature (harmony) of the qualities, but he did not know that God was revealed in him. Likewise his self-will did not know that which is good, because it had as yet experienced no evil. How could there be any joy where no sorrow is known?" (Grace, ix. 15.) "The soul was in her own essence from eternity, but as a created thing she was formed to represent the image of God at the time of the creation of the body. Nevertheless she is per se not yet the true image, but only an essential fire for its production." (Tilk., i. 81.)

"The soul of man, which has been breathed into him by God, is from the Eternal Father; but with that she has not yet attained the birth of the Son, wherein is the end of nature, and from which no created being issues." (Three Principles, ix. 13.)

Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father. "God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, and thus the soul should put her immutable will into the heart of God. Then would she be in heaven and Paradise, and enjoy the inexpressible happiness of God the Father, which He enjoys in the Son, and she would hear the inexpressible words in the heart of God." 1 (Three Principles, x. 14.) "Adam was conceived in the love of God and born into this world. He was in possession of a divine substantiality, and his soul was of the will, the first principle, the quality of the Father. This will should be directed, together with the imagination, into the heart of the Father, that is to say, into the Word and the Spirit of love and purity. Then would man's soul retain the substance of God in the Word of Life." (Menschwerdung, i. 10,

"The living soul, from the eternal will of the Father, was breathed into man, and this will has no other purpose than to give birth to His only Son. 1 Of this will God the Father infused into man, and this is the eternal soul of man. The soul ought to put her regenerated will into the eternal will of the Father, in the heart of God. Then will she receive the power of the heart of God and also His holy eternal light, wherein arises the Paradise and the celestial kingdom and eternal joy." (Three Principles, xxvi. 16.) "If the soul sinks her will into the meekness, i.e., the obedience of God, she becomes a fountain of the heart of God, and receives divine power, and all her essences become angelic and joyful. Then her harsh essences will also be useful to her, and appear to her more mild and useful, than if they had already originally been entirely sweet and mild." (Three Principles, xiii. 31.) It was within his power to decide, and he was free to do so, because there was in him not only the principle of light, but also the fire-principle,—not only perception, but will. "The light and the power of the light is a desire, and wants to come in possession of the noble image made after God's likeness, because it has been created for the world of light. Likewise the dark world or the craving wrath desires the same, for man has all the worlds within himself, and there is a great battle taking place in man. That principle with which he identifies himself with in his desire and his will, will rule in him." (Tilk., i. 381.) "As the soul is essential and her very substance is a

desire, it is clear that she is in two kinds of Fiat. The first is her own soul-property; the other belongs to the second principle, issuing from the will of God in the soul. The soul desiring for God for the purpose of forming herself in His image and likeness, this desire of God acts as a Fiat in her own centre; for the desire of God wants to possess the soul. On the other hand, she herself desires to possess the centre in the power of the fire, wherein the life of the soul originates." (Eye, vii.)

"The will of the soul is free, and she can either sink into nothing within herself and conceive of herself as the nothing, when she will sprout like a branch out of the tree of divine life, and eat of the love of God; or she may in her own self-will rise up in the fire and desire to become a separate tree." 1 (Forty Questions, ii. 2.) There existed in man also the third principle, wherein resides sensual desire. He was not endowed with this principle for the purpose of surrendering himself to it, but that he might introduce it into the light of God, and glorify Him by means of that light."Man was a mixed individuality, and destined to be an image according to the inner, and also according to the outer world; but as the symbol of God, he was to rule with the inner consciousness over the external one." (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 13.) "When man remains in harmonious order, so as not to let one world into the other, he is then the likeness of God; but the image or the mirror of the world. of light he should surely introduce into the external world." (Six Theosophical Points, vi. 12.) "The constellation (the astral influences) of the macrocosm should not be permitted to rule over man; but he has his own constellation (the spirit, the idea) within himself, which is capable of becoming attuned to the harmony of the rise and evolution of the divine world within." (Letters, i. 8.) "All of man's desire should have been placed into the light; then would the light have shone within his essence and desire, and filled everything as with one will." (Tilk., i. 542.) "The soul of Adam could have ruled powerfully over the external principle if she had entered again with her will into the heart of God, into the word of the Lord." 1 (Forty Questions, iv. 2.) Thus it was intended that, by means of the instrumentality of man, the paradisiacal splendour should be continually spread out and increased over terrestrial nature, and that all the hidden treasures of nature should be uncovered. "The external world is also of God and belonging to God, and man has been created therein, so that he may bring again the external into the internal one; the end into the beginning." (Letters, xi. 18.) "Adam was also created in the external quality, so that he may manifest in forms and execute in works that which had been perceived in eternal wisdom." (Menschwerdung, i. 4.) "Man has been created in Paradise, for it was out-blooming through the earth, and from the earth of Paradise was Adam's body created, because he was a lord of the earth, and it was his destiny to unfold the wonders of the earth. If it had not been for that purpose, God might have endowed him with an angelic body; but in that case the substantiated being with its wonderful qualities would not have been unfolded." 1 (Menschwerdung, ii. 12.)

www.sacred-texts.com/eso/ldjb/ldjb10.htm

River Ericht, Blairgowrie, Perth & Kinross, Scotland. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The River Ericht is a river in Perthshire, Scotland formed from the confluence of the rivers Blackwater and Ardle at Bridge of Cally.

It runs south for around 10 miles before discharging into the River Isla, and eventually the River Tay. The river cuts through the impressive Craighall Gorge before dissecting the burgh of Blairgowrie and Rattray.

The fast running water of the river was once used to power several textile mills. Game fishing for salmon and trout is possible on some stretches with an appropriate licence.

Blairgowrie and Rattray is a twin burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Locals refer to the town as "Blair". Blairgowrie is the larger of the two former burghs which were united by an Act of Parliament in 1928 and lies on the southwest side of the River Ericht while Rattray is on the northeast side. Rattray claims to be the older and certainly Old Rattray, the area round Rattray Kirk, dates back to the 12th century. New Rattray, the area along the Boat Brae and Balmoral Road dates from 1777 when the River was spanned by the Brig o' Blair. The town lies on the north side of Strathmore at the foot of the Grampian Mountains. The west boundary is formed by the Knockie, a round grassy hill, and Craighall Gorge on the Ericht. Blairgowrie and Rattray developed over the centuries at the crossroads of several historic routes with links from the town to Perth, Coupar Angus, Alyth and Braemar. The roads to Coupar Angus and Braemar form part of General Wade's military road from Perth to Ayrshire then over the tiny bridge to the hill Fort George. The town's centrepiece is the Wellmeadow, a grassy triangle in the middle of town which hosts regular markets and outdoor entertainment.

The name Blairgowrie means "Plain of Gowrie" in Scottish Gaelic, in which language it is spelt Blàr Ghobharaidh or Blàr Ghobhraidh. The name Rattray is Raitear in Gaelic, and may derive from an English language cognate of Gaelic ràth meaning "fortress" plus a Pictish term cognate with Welsh tref meaning "settlement".

The area around Blairgowrie has been occupied continuously since the Neolithic, as evidenced from the Cleaven Dyke, a cursus monument 2 miles (3 kilometres) south-southwest of the town, as well as a Neolithic long mortuary enclosure 4 miles (6 kilometres) west-southwest at Inchtuthil. Several stone circles of this age can also be found in the area, notably the circle bisected by the road at Leys of Marlee, 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) west of Blairgowrie.

Numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts have been found in the immediate area, including a number of flint arrowheads, spearheads, knives and scrapers found at Carsie, 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) south of Blairgowrie, and which are now displayed at Perth Museum, and bronze axes, and a bronze sword now in Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.

The remains of a Roman legionary fort can be found 4 miles (6 kilometres) west-southwest of Blairgowrie at Inchtuthil, dating from the decade 80-90. Unencumbered by subsequent development, this is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in Britain

Pictish remains are in abundance in this part of Scotland and one of the largest collections of Pictish sculptured stones is housed 5 miles (8 kilometres) east of the town at the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum. The size of the collection, all of which were found in Meigle, suggests this was an ecclesiastical centre of some importance in the 8th to 10th centuries.

From around 1600 to the beginning of the 19th century, Blairgowrie had a fairly stable population, recorded at 425 inhabitants in the first Statistical Account in 1792. The second Statistical Account of 1853 notes a disproportionate increase due to an influx of families attracted by the expanding textiles industry.[15] Gaelic was declining but still partially spoken in the upper part of the parish at that time, with all speaking English.

Blairgowrie was made a barony in favour of George Drummond of Blair in 1634 by a royal charter of Charles I, and became a free burgh in 1809. In 1724 the military road from Coupar Angus to Fort George which passes through the town on the line of the A923 and A93 was completed.

The town expanded hugely in the 19th century thanks to the employment provided by the many textile mills which were built along the River Ericht, all now closed. By 1870 there were 12 mills along the river employing nearly 2,000 men and women and the population had increased from 400 in the 1700s to 4,000. The disused mill buildings can be seen from the riverside walk west from the bridge and from Haugh Road to the east . Keithbank Mill has been converted to apartments.

Soft fruit growing, mainly raspberries and strawberries developed in the 20th century and became a very important part of the town's economy with Smedleys opening a cannery in Haugh Road, Adamsons a jam factory in Croft Lane and huge quantities of table berries and pulp being despatched to markets and jam factories throughout Britain. Berry pickers were brought in by bus from Perth and Dundee, and large encampments were set up on farms for pickers from further afield, mainly from the Glasgow area, who made this their annual holiday. They were joined by the travelling community who congregated here for the berry season. One of the best examples was the Tin City at Essendy, which housed workers in a complex of tin huts with its own chapel, post office, shop, kitchens, etc. The Tin City has gone but now every fruit farm has an extensive well appointed caravan site to house the hundreds of Eastern European students who arrive every summer to pick the fruit.

The coming of the railway revolutionised the textile and soft fruit trade. Blairgowrie railway station was the terminus of a branch from Coupar Angus on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway, later part of the Caledonian Railway. The last train ran in the 1960s, and the extensive railway yards are now the site of the Tesco supermarket and Welton Road industrial estate.

Blairgowrie had a busy livestock market at the bottom of the Boat Brae but this closed in the 1960s and is now the site of the Ashgrove Court sheltered housing complex.

Blairgowrie and Rattray Districts Cottage Hospital opened in May 1901, but its foundation can be traced back to 1882 when the idea for such a hospital was put forward by Mrs Clerk-Rattray. On her death she bequeathed £25 which was to be given to such an institution if it was ever founded. However attempts over the next few years to raise subscriptions to found the hospital failed. Eventually land for a hospital was gifted by Mrs Macpherson of Newton Castle and subscriptions were raised to found the hospital. As well as these monetary donations, furnishings for the hospital were provided while the architect Lake Falconer took no fee for his work on the hospital. At the time of opening it had two large wards. It is now known as Blairgowrie Community Hospital. In 2014 a £2.36 million refurbishment project saw the development of a purpose built in-patient GP unit and other new units added to the site.

A short distance upstream from the bridge on the riverside path is Cargill's Leap where Donald Cargill, a minister and covenanter, escaped Government troops by jumping over a narrow part of the River Ericht.

North of Rattray, occupying a dominating position on the edge of Craighall Gorge above the river Ericht, is Craighall Castle, the ancestral home of the chieftain of Clan Rattray. The castle is no longer occupied by a Rattray, having been sold in 2010.

On the west side of Blairgowrie are Newton Castle, home to the chieftain of Clan Macpherson, and Ardblair Castle, home to the Blair Oliphant family.

The surrounding area is still the soft fruit centre of Scotland, and the local population increases greatly in summer when the Eastern European students arrive to harvest the fruit which traditionally consisted of raspberries and strawberries but now includes a wider range with cherries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries etc. The extensive use of poly tunnels and raised beds has greatly extended the growing season with fruit available from May until October.

Other major industries include Castle Water, Proctor Insulation, Tayside Contracts, Graham Environmental, Davidsons chemist headquarters and various fruit processing and freezing plants. The industrial estate on Welton Road houses many small businesses.

The town has two main motor dealerships and several independent garages.

The local weekly newspaper is the Blairgowrie Advertiser, locally known as "the Blairie", which is now produced and printed in Perth by Trinity Mirror Group. The Blairie has a long history and was originally produced and printed in the old printworks in Reform Street where the original print machines are still mothballed.

There are regular Saturday outdoor markets in the Wellmeadow with stalls offering local produce and crafts.

Blairgowrie's town centre has a range of independent shops, craft workshops, restaurants and pubs. National retailers include Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op and Boots. The Angus Hotel and Royal Hotel cater for local customers, tourists and a large number of bus parties who use the town as a touring base.

The new Blairgowrie Campus opened in Elm Drive in 2009 incorporating Newhill Primary and St Stephens RC Primary. Newhill primary holds about 360 children while St Stephens RC primary is a smaller unit holding about 70 pupils. Rattray Primary serves children on that side of the river. Blairgowrie High School in Beeches Road provides secondary education for all round the area. The adjacent Recreation Centre has a pool and leisure facilities and is scheduled for replacement in the near future. The disused former Hill Primary School was the subject of a controversial but ultimately unsuccessful attempt by The Ericht Trust to provide a community centre but it has now been sold for conversion to housing as has the former St Stephen's RC primary school in John Street.

Stagecoach provide all the bus services to and from Blairgowrie with routes to Perth, Dundee, Alyth, Coupar Angus, Dunkeld, Aberfeldy, Kirkmichael and Glenshee as well as a circular town service. The nearest railway stations are Perth and Dunkeld & Birnam and the nearest airport is Dundee. Services to Perth and Dundee are frequent. The bus station is located in the Wellmeadow.

Churches represented are Church of Scotland (Blairgowrie and Rattray Parish Churches), St Stephen's RC, St Catherine's Episcopalian, Evangelical Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church on the Way, Lifeplus Church, Methodist Church and Plymouth Brethren.

In 1996, Blairgowrie hosted the Royal National Mòd, a festival of the Scottish Gaelic language. Since then the town has featured bilingual street signs, in English and Gaelic.

Notable people

David Laird Adams (1837–1892) theologian

Nora Calderwood (1896–1985), mathematician, born in Blairgowrie

Donald Cargill (1619–1681), Covenanter, born in Rattray

Andy Clyde (1892–1967), actor

Jake Findlay (born 1954), professional footballer, most notably for Luton Town, born in Blairgowrie

Alan Gifford (1911–1989), American-born film and television actor, died in Blairgowrie

Hamish Henderson (1919–2002), poet, folk singer, and activist, born in Blairgowrie

Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny (1926–2021), British High Court judge, and the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan Macpherson, born in Blairgowrie

Gavin Pyper (born 1979), racing driver, born in Blairgowrie

Prof Robert Alexander Robertson FLS FRSE (1873–1935), botanist, born in Rattray

Lt Col Alexander Dron Stewart FRSE (1883–1969), born in Blairgowrie

Blairgowrie and Rattray is home to the Scottish Junior Football East Region Premier League side Blairgowrie F.C. as well as the Scottish Amateur Football Association sides Rattray A.F.C. and Balmoral United A.F.C. which play in the Perthshire Amateur League.

Blairgowrie Rugby Club was founded in 1980 (originally as Blairgowrie High School FP RFC) and as of 2019, plays in the Caledonia Regional League Caledonia League 1. The team is based within the John Johnston Coupar Recreational Park on Coupar Angus Road, which formed part of an old berry farm which was bequeathed to the town in the 1970s for use as a sports and recreational facility.

Blairgowrie Golf Club was founded in 1889. There are now two 18-hole courses, Rosemount and Lansdowne, and a 9-hole course.

The Glenshee Ski Centre in Glenshee (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Sith, "Glen of the Fairies"), is some 18 miles (29 kilometres) north at the Cairnwell Pass on the A93 Braemar road, which is the highest public road in the UK.

Blairgowrie is normally considered the start and finish of the marked 64-mile (103-kilometre) Cateran Trail long-distance walk which follows a circular route through Glenericht and Strathardle to Bridge of Cally, Kirkmichael and Enochdhu, over Ben Earb to Spittal of Glenshee, through Glenshee and Glenisla to Kirkton of Glenisla and Alyth and finally back to Blairgowrie. The trail is divided into five stages and can easily be walked in five days or less, although winning teams in the annual "Cateran Yomp" regularly complete it in under eleven hours.

The traditional ball game of Rattray no longer takes place, but the Rattray silver ball, the trophy retained by the winners, is still in existence. It is believed to have been donated by Sylvester Rattray of Nether Persie who became minister of Rattray in 1591 and continued there until his death in 1623. The Rattray silver ball is now kept at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.

Blairgowrie Highland Games are held annually on the first Sunday of September in Bogles Field on Essendy Road. It is noted for its Hill Race and its mass tug o'war where as many contestants as possible from Blairgowrie and Rattray compete against each other.

The evening before is known as Braemar Night with entertainment in the Wellmeadow and fireworks along the river. This tradition started in the 1960s to encourage travellers returning from the Braemar Highland Games (then held on a Thursday), which attracted huge numbers of visitors due to the attendance of the Royal Family, to stop in the town and quickly grew into a huge programme of entertainments, pipe bands, fireworks, funfairs etc., drawing tens of thousands not only returning south from Braemar but on special excursions from Perth and Dundee.

When Blairgowrie Games restarted in the 1980s, the Braemar Games had moved to the first Saturday in September, and the following day seemed an appropriate date for Blair Games. Braemar Night has evolved into a more refined smaller all-day event aimed at locals but is still extremely popular. The main feature and finale is a spectacular firework display along the River Ericht which draws large crowds onto the bridge, which is temporarily closed, and along the riverside areas.

"Snow Road" Blairgowrie is the southern point of the Cairngorm National Park Snow Road tourist route which runs through Glenshee, Braemar, Ballater and Tomintoul to its northern end at Grantown-on-Spey. The route includes the highest point on the UK road system at the Cairnwell Pass and the Cockbridge to Tomintoul road over the Lecht Pass which is well known on winter road reports as one of the first to be closed by snow.

Twin cities

Pleasanton, California, United States

Cowansville, Quebec, Canada

Fergus, Ontario, Canada

Brebières, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France, France

Namesakes

Blairgowrie, a seaside town south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Blairgowrie, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, were named after the town.

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West. Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way. The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities. Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land. In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected. This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms. Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

"Agape" by Marcelino Rapayla Jr.

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Some pictures: Experimental Shoots

Greek word agape

a. Seldom used in secular Greek literature

b. When used referred to selective desire for something or someone.

c. Greek OT (LXX) used over 300 times to refer to God's selective and exclusive love for

Israelite people.

d. Predominant word for love in new covenant (over 250 occurrences in NT). Invested

with new meaning.

e. Representative Biblical references employing agape

Matt. 5:43,44 - "love your enemies"

Matt. 22:36-40 - "great commandment...love God..."

Jn. 3:16 - "God so loved the world He gave His only Son"

Jn. 13:34; 15:12 - "new commandment...love one another.."

Jn. 17:26 - "love wherewith Thou loved Me may be in them"

Rom. 5:5 - "love of God poured out within our hearts"

Rom. 13:10 - "love is the fulfillment of the law"

I Cor 13:1-13 - "...the greatest of these is love"

II Cor. 5:14 - "the love of Christ controls us"

Gal. 5:6 - "faith working through love"

Gal. 5:22 - "fruit of the Spirit is love..."

I Jn. 4:7 - "everyone who loves is born of God"

Divine basis of love

A. Character of God - "God is love" - I Jn. 4:8,16

1. Essentially

a. Absolute and independent, unnecessitated

b. immutable and uncompromising

c. personal, relational, fundamental to triune Godhead

d. Self-giving; other-oriented; desires the best for all others, and the best is Himself.

2. Comprehensively

a. All-encompassing expression of God's character

Rom. 13:9 - "summed up in 'you shall love your neighbor'"

Gal. 5:14 - "whole law summed up in 'love your neighbor'"

James 2:8 - "royal law...'you shall love your neighbor'"

b. Other attributes of God's character expressed in love

Exod. 20 - honor, respect, truth, loyalty, fidelity,...

I Cor 13 - patience, kindness, truth, eternality

Gal. 5:22 - joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness...

Loch Leven (Glen Coe) Highlands, Scotland. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Loch Leven is a sea loch located on the west coast of Scotland. It is spelled Loch Lyon in Timothy Pont's map of the area and is pronounced Li' un. The local Gaelic pronunciation is Lee' oon

Loch Leven extends 8+3⁄4 miles (14.1 km), varying in width between 220 yards (200 m) and just over 1 mile (1.6 km). It opens onto Camus a' Chois at North Ballachulish, part of Loch Linnhe at its western end. There are nine small islands, some rocky and covered with heather and some just smooth green grass, near the western end of the loch.

The village of Glencoe (Scottish Gaelic: A' Chàrnaich) lies on its southern shore. The burial place of the MacDonald clan of Glencoe lies on an island - Eilean Munde, St.Munda's or St Munn's or Saint Fintan Munnu's Island, opposite the village. The island burial place was also shared by the Camerons of Callart, on the north shore of the loch, the Stewarts of Ballachulish and Appin and other local families.

The village of Kinlochleven at the head of the loch was established when the aluminium smelter was built there during the first decade of the twentieth century. It was originally the hamlets of Kinlochmore (Inverness-shire) and Kinlochbeg (Argyll) either side of the River Leven. A road connecting the village to Glencoe and the south was not constructed until 1922: until this date the village could only be reached from the south by boat or on foot. The road on the north of the loch continues on to Fort William (Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan Inbhir Lochaidh), and was built in 1927.

For many years the Ballachulish Ferry plied the route across the mouth of the loch, providing a key link on the A82 between Glasgow and Fort William. In 1975 the Ballachulish Bridge replaced the ferry. Under the bridge lie the narrows of Caolas Mhic Phàdraig. The settlements either side of this point are North and South Ballachulish - Baile a' Chaolais (the settlement on the narrows). There is a fast tidal stream through the narrows, running at up to seven knots at springs; it is wise, therefore, to time and match any passage through the narrows with the tides. Further up the loch, there are several other narrows - principally Caolas na Con - with significant, but diminishing tidal streams. The Caolas na Con represented a considerable barrier to shipping, restricting the size of vessels that could reach Kinlochleven, however in 1907 the channel was dredged and the silt-bearing Allt Gleann a' Chaolais diverted to allow ships bringing bauxite alumina to reach the smelter at Kinlochleven.