View allAll Photos Tagged understanding
I have struggled with understanding, especially in the last couple years since I received my promotion. I struggle more so not in my understanding of things or of others, but in getting others to understand me and my world. It’s hard to explain why I work the hours I do and to get others to understand why yes, it is very difficult in my day to find time just to go to the bathroom or find a minute to eat something. One of my supervisors asked me the other day, “Do you eat? I never see you eat.” I just smiled on the outside and said “Of course I eat, can’t you tell??” but when the laugh faded, inside I was crumbling…
Sure, there’s the psychological side that says “Maybe that’s the way I want my life to be. I built my life to be this way on purpose for _______ reason….”, but I don’t quite buy that. No- correction: I don’t buy that whatsoever.
I wish I had a better means to bring understanding of my world and of my mind to those close to me: what I am going through, what my world is like, what millions of thoughts race through my mind. I wish I had the time to explain, be transparent, and be understood. But I have the feeling I will be chasing that elusive understanding for some time…
Theme: Musings And Ramblings
Year Six Of My 365 Project
This is the Mesquite High School "L Building". This section was one of the original structures of the MHS. Sadly, It was demolished around April of 2017 to make way for a new structure.
► "Stormy the Skeeter" is the school mascot for the school's various athletic teams (all known with some variant of the word "Skeeter") and the school's colors are Maroon and White. In the March 1901, the Mesquite Independent School District was incorporated at the behest of the citizens of Mesquite Texas to serve the primary and secondary educational needs of the city. The first school was established at the current site of MHS in 1902 with an enrollment of approximately 200 students. A new high school was built on the property in June 1923. MHS was officially recognized as an accredited high school in June 1924 by the Texas State Department of Education, thus allowing its students to attend Texas colleges and universities without having to take remedial coursework. Additional expansions occurred during 1938 and 1939 as a part of the Works Progress Administration created by President Roosevelt. A historical marker can be found at the street side of L. building and an WPA placard can be found on the outside of the art room to mark these significant events in MHS' history.
MHS students became known as "Skeeters" in 1944. This was a simplification of the traditional "Mesquiters" which had been the previous mascot name for the school. 1954 marked a significant change at MHS when the district relocated all its other existing grade levels to other sites within the city and the campus was solely dedicated to high school education. Integration of the school began in 1964 when area African-American students were allowed to enroll at MHS for the first time. During 1966, a six phase renovation project plan began. The final phase of construction was completed in 1999.
►From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesquite_High_School_(Mesquite,_Texas) ..
Photo Taken: March 4 2017
Photo Taken By: Randy A. Carlisle
ALL Photos (Unless otherwise stated) Copyright RAC Photography (Noted on photo)
“Preserving AMERICAs History Thru Photography”
***NO Photos are to be posted on ANY other website, or any kind of publication Without MY Permission. No Exceptions! They are not to be “Lifted”, Borrowed, reprinted, or by any other means other than viewing here on Flickr. If you want to use a photo of mine for anything, please email First. I’ll assist you any way I can. Thank You for your understanding. ALL Photos are For Sale.***
Portrait on London streets, a street worker looks back to me with understanding. This looks of human understanding remain so important for me.
I asked him, almost as I arrived in London, they were having a pause, "may I take a photo of you?" and he answered "Why? I am old" then I pointed to myself and said "And me? I am not still interesting, because of my age? I am older then you."
That is the look, telling me, "yes, take a photo"!
We were not so different after all and he felt also interesting.
I do remember, looking at these photos again, when Judy Carter told us "SEE the others" around you, tell them you see them.
Photo taken less then a month after my arrival in UK.
During my first photo stroll in London centre.
My set "no more a stranger" of photos of people I did not know
Old Vieux Öreg set
Merton begins this transitional section by clearly indicating that while vows are an essential element of religious profession, they are not the only or even the most important dimension of that profession. First in significance is the commitment to ongoing conversion, to “putting on” Christ, to following Christ, to sharing in the mystery of Christ. Then comes incorporation into the religious community, to be understood not just in a juridical context, as a contractual arrangement, but as participation in a supernatural family that is a manifestation of Trinitarian mutual love. “In this society of love,” Merton writes, “what matters is not the assertion of rights and the enforcement of obligations, but mutual trust and love” (157), which should then radiate out from the community to embrace the entire Church. Without this family spirit, religious life is reduced to “organized hypocrisy” (158). Consecration to God by vow is thus “but the third in importance of the three essential elements of religious profession” (158).
Merton then goes on to consider the nature of religious profession in general and of making vows in particular from both canonical and theological perspectives. The validity of profession depends on the fulfillment of various external factors (age, valid novitiate, explicit public declaration, etc.) but most fundamentally on free and full consent. The theological foundation of profession, traced through the successive diverse acts that constitute consent according to Thomistic analysis, is the will to obligate oneself, the free decision of the entire person, involving intelligence, senses and emotions, and the will. Thus to make a vow is not to renounce one’s freedom but to exercise it in an act of worship, the definitive offering of oneself to God. “Only to such a One can we give our liberty without debasing it. Only to such a One can we give our liberty and become yet more free by doing so” (185).
-The life of the vows : initiation into the monastic tradition 6 / by Thomas Merton ; edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell ; preface by Augustine Roberts.
Royal Navy And Royal Netherlands Navy Signing A Memorandum of Understanding. Picture:LA(Phot) Alex Knott
2SL, Vice Admiral David Steel CBE signing the Memorandumof Understanding on behalf of the Royal Navy.
2SL, Vice Admiral David Steel CBE signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Royal Navy. Pictured is the Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral David Steel CBE and Vice Admiral Borsboom of the Royal Netherlands Navy whilst the two respective Navies sign the Memorandum of Understanding, aboard HMS Victory in HMNB Portsmouth.
Poetic automata on display in “Perpetual Motion”, a fine exhibit of figurative kinetic sculptures at Heron Arts in San Francisco. This growing genre of contemporary art brings human and animal figures into animated motion, using hand-cranks and small motors connected to gears, rope, pulleys and sticks.
Eleven automata artists from the U.S. and abroad were invited to present their works in this show. They share creative talent, a good understanding of mechanics -- and a nostalgic aesthetic.
Featured artworks included “Biodiversity” by Paul Spooner, “Goodnight Moon” by Dean Lucker and Ann Wood -- and my favorite: “Megalodon”, a giant shark spaceship made of an old bomber fuel tank and found materials, by Nemo Gould.
This inspiring visit will inform our own work with puppet shows and mechanical theaters. Going on these weekly art expeditions with Phyllis is one of the real pleasures of ‘semi-retirement.’ We keep discovering new pockets of creativity together, and they feed our own art explorations ...
View more photos of our art expeditions:
www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157660492108727
Learn more about Perpetual Motion:
heronarts.com/exhibition/perpetual-motion
Learn more about Nemo Gould:
Leipziger Buchmesse 2017 / Leipzig Book Fair 2017
2017-03-25 (Saturday)
2017_035
2017#322 Eileen_gummibaerchen [Insta] (Astrid) as Fee (lila) from Fairies
2017#328 LucciCP9 (Amelie) 798008 as Fee (rot) from Fairies
2017#329 sara_ze [Insta] (Sara) as Fee (grün) from Fairies
2017#331 Lucia (Lucia) as Fee (blau/mint) from Fairies
Thank you for any group invites which I'd be glad to accept. However, if I can't check the content of such groups ("This group is not available to you") I'd rather not add any of my photos. Thank you for your understanding.
In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith.[3] The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), divine simplicity, and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent (perfectly good), and all loving.
God is most often held to be non-corporeal,[3] and to be without any human biological sex,[4][5] yet the concept of God actively creating the universe (as opposed to passively)[6] has caused many religions to describe God using masculine terminology, using such terms as "Him" or "Father". Furthermore, some religions (such as Judaism) attribute only a purely grammatical "gender" to God.[7]
In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[8]
There are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about God's identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten,[9] premised on being the one "true" Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe.[10] In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, "He Who Is", "I Am that I Am", and the tetragrammaton YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה, which means: "I am who I am"; "He Who Exists") are used as names of God, while Yahweh and Jehovah are sometimes used in Christianity as vocalizations of YHWH. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, the latter of which is believed by some scholars to descend from the Egyptian Aten.[11][12][13][14][15] In Islam, the name Allah, "Al-El", or "Al-Elah" ("the God") is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic deity.[16] Other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Bahá'í Faith,[17] Waheguru in Sikhism,[18] and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.[19]
The many different conceptions of God, and competing claims as to God's characteristics, aims, and actions, have led to the development of ideas of omnitheism, pandeism,[20][21] or a perennial philosophy, which postulates that there is one underlying theological truth, of which all religions express a partial understanding, and as to which "the devout in the various great world religions are in fact worshipping that one God, but through different, overlapping concepts or mental images of Him."[22]
Contents [hide]
1Etymology and usage
2General conceptions
2.1Oneness
2.2Theism, deism and pantheism
2.3Other concepts
3Non-theistic views
3.1Agnosticism and atheism
3.2Anthropomorphism
4Existence
5Specific attributes
5.1Names
5.2Gender
5.3Relationship with creation
6Depiction
6.1Zoroastrianism
6.2Islam
6.3Judaism
6.4Christianity
7Theological approaches
8Distribution of belief
9See also
9.1In specific religions
10References
11Further reading
12External links
Etymology and usage
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.
Main article: God (word)
The earliest written form of the Germanic word God (always, in this usage, capitalized[23]) comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[24] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.[25]
The word 'Allah' in Arabic calligraphy
In the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism.[26][27] The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.[28]
Allāh (Arabic: الله) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God" (with a capital G), while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[29][30][31] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[32]
Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning "placing (dʰeh1) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".[33]
Waheguru (Punjabi: vāhigurū) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God. It means "Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means "wonderful" and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. The most common usage of the word "Waheguru" is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Wonderful Lord's Khalsa, Victory is to the Wonderful Lord.
Baha, the "greatest" name for God in the Baha'i faith, is Arabic for "All-Glorious".
General conceptions
Main article: Conceptions of God
There is no clear consensus on the nature or even the existence of God.[34] The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the monotheistic definition of God in Judaism, the trinitarian view of Christians, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic. Divinity was recognized by the historical Buddha, particularly Śakra and Brahma. However, other sentient beings, including gods, can at best only play a supportive role in one's personal path to salvation. Conceptions of God in the latter developments of the Mahayana tradition give a more prominent place to notions of the divine.[citation needed]
Oneness
Main articles: Monotheism and Henotheism
The Trinity is the belief that God is composed of The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically in the physical realm by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.
Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the one true god is worshiped in different religions under different names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in Hinduism[35] and Sikhism.[36] In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in three persons. The Trinity comprises The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.[37] Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid (meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness"). God is described in the Quran as: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."[38][39] Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, and are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities.[41]
Theism, deism and pantheism
Main articles: Theism, Deism, and Pantheism
Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; and that God is personal and interacting with the universe through, for example, religious experience and the prayers of humans.[42] Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and in some way present in the affairs of the world.[43] Not all theists subscribe to all of these propositions, but each usually subscribes to some of them (see, by way of comparison, family resemblance).[42] Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence. Open Theism, by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. Theism is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.[44][45]
"God blessing the seventh day", a watercolor painting depicting God, by William Blake (1757 – 1827)
Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it.[43] In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and neither answers prayers nor produces miracles. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism and Panendeism, respectively, combine Deism with the Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs.[21][46][47] Pandeism is proposed to explain as to Deism why God would create a universe and then abandon it,[48] and as to Pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe.[48][49]
Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God, whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.[50] It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church; Theosophy; some views of Hinduism except Vaishnavism, which believes in panentheism; Sikhism; some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God—which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov—but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.[citation needed]
Other concepts
Dystheism, which is related to theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil. One such example comes from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan Karamazov rejects God on the grounds that he allows children to suffer.[51]
In modern times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as process theology and open theism. The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry has however proposed a phenomenological approach and definition of God as phenomenological essence of Life.[52]
God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[53] Augustine of Hippo,[53] and Al-Ghazali,[8] respectively.
Non-theistic views
See also: Evolutionary origin of religions and Evolutionary psychology of religion
Non-theist views about God also vary. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. The nineteenth-century English atheist Charles Bradlaugh declared that he refused to say "There is no God", because "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation";[54] he said more specifically that he disbelieved in the Christian god. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.[55]
Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."[56] Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.[57]
Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.[58] Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Agnosticism and atheism
Agnosticism is the view that, the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[60][61][62]
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities, or a God.[63][64] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[65]
Anthropomorphism
Main article: Anthropomorphism
Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems.[66] Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries.[67] Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.[68]
Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[69]
Existence
Main article: Existence of God
St. Thomas Aquinas summed up five main arguments as proofs for God's existence.
Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects.
Arguments about the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Different views include that: "God does not exist" (strong atheism); "God almost certainly does not exist" (de facto atheism); "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism[70]);"God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (de facto theism); and that "God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism).[55]
Countless arguments have been proposed to prove the existence of God.[71] Some of the most notable arguments are the Five Ways of Aquinas, the Argument from Desire proposed by C.S. Lewis, and the Ontological Argument formulated both by St. Anselm and René Descartes.[72]
St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: "By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence." For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature.[73] His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.[74]
Scientist Isaac Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.[75] Nevertheless, he rejected polymath Leibniz' thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator. In Query 31 of the Opticks, Newton simultaneously made an argument from design and for the necessity of intervention:
For while comets move in very eccentric orbs in all manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric, some inconsiderable irregularities excepted which may have arisen from the mutual actions of comets and planets on one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation.[76]
St. Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us. "Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists", of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self-evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that are more known to us, though less known in their nature—namely, by effects."[77] St. Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonstrated. Briefly in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered in great detail five arguments for the existence of God, widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways).
For the original text of the five proofs, see quinque viae
Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though cannot cause their own motion. Since there can be no infinite chain of causes of motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by anything else, and this is what everyone understands by God.
Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can cause itself, and an infinite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God.
Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled to suppose something that exists necessarily, having this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause for other things to exist.
Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things in the sense that some things are more hot, good, etc., there must be a superlative that is the truest and noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then, we call God (Note: Thomas does not ascribe actual qualities to God Himself).
Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal under the guidance of one who is aware. This we call God (Note that even when we guide objects, in Thomas's view, the source of all our knowledge comes from God as well).[78]
Alister McGrath, a formerly atheistic scientist and theologian who has been highly critical of Richard Dawkins' version of atheism
Some theologians, such as the scientist and theologian A.E. McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method.[79][80] Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argues that science and religion are not in conflict and do not overlap.[81]
Some findings in the fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience are interpreted by some atheists (including Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris) as evidence that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality.[82][83][84] These atheists claim that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined, embellished and promulgated in a trans-generational manner.[85] Richard Dawkins interprets such findings not only as a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God, but as extensive evidence to the contrary.[55] However, his views are opposed by some theologians and scientists including Alister McGrath, who argues that existence of God is compatible with science.[86]
Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Specific attributes
Different religious traditions assign differing (though often similar) attributes and characteristics to God, including expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature. The assignment of these attributes often differs according to the conceptions of God in the culture from which they arise. For example, attributes of God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism share certain similarities arising from their common roots.
Names
Main article: Names of God
99 names of Allah, in Chinese Sini (script)
The word God is "one of the most complex and difficult in the English language." In the Judeo-Christian tradition, "the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God". That the Bible "includes many different images, concepts, and ways of thinking about" God has resulted in perpetual "disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood".[87]
Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are many names for God. One of them is Elohim. Another one is El Shaddai, meaning "God Almighty".[88] A third notable name is El Elyon, which means "The Most High God".[89]
God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (See Names of God in Islam).[90]
Supreme soul
The Brahma Kumaris use the term "Supreme Soul" to refer to God. They see God as incorporeal and eternal, and regard him as a point of living light like human souls, but without a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers and values and that He is the unconditionally loving Father of all souls, irrespective of their religion, gender, or culture.[91]
Vaishnavism, a tradition in Hinduism, has list of titles and names of Krishna.
Gender
Main article: Gender of God
The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form.[92][93] Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.[6]
Biblical sources usually refer to God using male words, except Genesis 1:26-27,[94][95] Psalm 123:2-3, and Luke 15:8-10 (female); Hosea 11:3-4, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2 (a mother); Deuteronomy 32:11-12 (a mother eagle); and Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 (a mother hen).
Relationship with creation
See also: Creator deity, Prayer, and Worship
And Elohim Created Adam by William Blake, c.1795
Prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Muslims believe that the purpose of existence is to worship God.[96][97] He is viewed as a personal God and there are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God. Prayer often also includes supplication and asking forgiveness. God is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[98] Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that there are good reasons to suggest that a "personal god" is integral to the Christian outlook, but that one has to understand it is an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."[99]
Adherents of different religions generally disagree as to how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind, if there is one. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism: the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism, mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement.
Jews and Christians believe that humans are created in the likeness of God, and are the center, crown and key to God's creation, stewards for God, supreme over everything else God had made (Gen 1:26); for this reason, humans are in Christianity called the "Children of God".[100]
Depiction
God is defined as incorporeal,[3] and invisible from direct sight, and thus cannot be portrayed in a literal visual image.
The respective principles of religions may or may not permit them to use images (which are entirely symbolic) to represent God in art or in worship .
Zoroastrianism
Ahura Mazda (depiction is on the right, with high crown) presents Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Relief at Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd century CE)
During the early Parthian Empire, Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship. This practice ended during the beginning of the Sassanid empire. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture.[101]
Islam
Further information: God in Islam
Muslims believe that God (Allah) is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of His creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Judaism
At least some Jews do not use any image for God, since God is the unimageable Being who cannot be represented in material forms.[102] In some samples of Jewish Art, however, sometimes God, or at least His Intervention, is indicated by a Hand Of God symbol, which represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or Voice of God;[103] this use of the Hand Of God is carried over to Christian Art.
Christianity
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Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God.[104]
Use of the symbolic Hand of God in the Ascension from the Drogo Sacramentary, c. 850
However, later on the Hand of God symbol is found several times in the only ancient synagogue with a large surviving decorative scheme, the Dura Europos Synagogue of the mid-3rd century, and was probably adopted into Early Christian art from Jewish art. It was common in Late Antique art in both East and West, and remained the main way of symbolizing the actions or approval of God the Father in the West until about the end of the Romanesque period. It also represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or voice of God,[103] just like in Jewish Art.
In situations, such as the Baptism of Christ, where a specific representation of God the Father was indicated, the Hand of God was used, with increasing freedom from the Carolingian period until the end of the Romanesque. This motif now, since the discovery of the 3rd century Dura Europos synagogue, seems to have been borrowed from Jewish art, and is found in Christian art almost from its beginnings.
The use of religious images in general continued to increase up to the end of the 7th century, to the point that in 695, upon assuming the throne, Byzantine emperor Justinian II put an image of Christ on the obverse side of his gold coins, resulting in a rift which ended the use of Byzantine coin types in the Islamic world.[105] However, the increase in religious imagery did not include depictions of God the Father. For instance, while the eighty second canon of the Council of Trullo in 692 did not specifically condemn images of The Father, it suggested that icons of Christ were preferred over Old Testament shadows and figures.[106]
The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the period of Byzantine iconoclasm (literally image-breaking) started. Emperor Leo III (717–741), suppressed the use of icons by imperial edict of the Byzantine Empire, presumably due to a military loss which he attributed to the undue veneration of icons.[107] The edict (which was issued without consulting the Church) forbade the veneration of religious images but did not apply to other forms of art, including the image of the emperor, or religious symbols such as the cross.[108] Theological arguments against icons then began to appear with iconoclasts arguing that icons could not represent both the divine and the human natures of Jesus at the same time. In this atmosphere, no public depictions of God the Father were even attempted and such depictions only began to appear two centuries later.
The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general.[109] However, this did not immediately translate into large scale depictions of God the Father. Even supporters of the use of icons in the 8th century, such as Saint John of Damascus, drew a distinction between images of God the Father and those of Christ.
In his treatise On the Divine Images John of Damascus wrote: "In former times, God who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see".[110] The implication here is that insofar as God the Father or the Spirit did not become man, visible and tangible, images and portrait icons can not be depicted. So what was true for the whole Trinity before Christ remains true for the Father and the Spirit but not for the Word. John of Damascus wrote:[111]
"If we attempt to make an image of the invisible God, this would be sinful indeed. It is impossible to portray one who is without body:invisible, uncircumscribed and without form."
Around 790 Charlemagne ordered a set of four books that became known as the Libri Carolini (i.e. "Charles' books") to refute what his court mistakenly understood to be the iconoclast decrees of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea regarding sacred images. Although not well known during the Middle Ages, these books describe the key elements of the Catholic theological position on sacred images. To the Western Church, images were just objects made by craftsmen, to be utilized for stimulating the senses of the faithful, and to be respected for the sake of the subject represented, not in themselves. The Council of Constantinople (869) (considered ecumenical by the Western Church, but not the Eastern Church) reaffirmed the decisions of the Second Council of Nicaea and helped stamp out any remaining coals of iconoclasm. Specifically, its third canon required the image of Christ to have veneration equal with that of a Gospel book:[112]
We decree that the sacred image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator and Savior of all people, must be venerated with the same honor as is given the book of the holy Gospels. For as through the language of the words contained in this book all can reach salvation, so, due to the action which these images exercise by their colors, all wise and simple alike, can derive profit from them.
But images of God the Father were not directly addressed in Constantinople in 869. A list of permitted icons was enumerated at this Council, but symbols of God the Father were not among them.[113] However, the general acceptance of icons and holy images began to create an atmosphere in which God the Father could be symbolized.
Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art.[104] Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD. A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of Man in the image of His own (thus allowing Human to transcend the other animals).
It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely a whole human. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted.[114]
By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts, which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua.[115] In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush. By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry has a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden, which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, begun in 1425 use a similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram, continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ.
In an early Venetian school Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini, (c. 1443) The Father is depicted using the symbol consistently used by other artists later, namely a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and a beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the near-physical, but still figurative, description of the Ancient of Days.[116]
. ...the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9)
Usage of two Hands of God"(relatively unusual) and the Holy Spirit as a dove in Baptism of Christ, by Verrocchio, 1472
In the Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1470, God the Father is portrayed in the red robe and a hat that resembles that of a Cardinal. However, even in the later part of the 15th century, the symbolic representation of the Father and the Holy Spirit as "hands and dove" continued, e.g. in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ in 1472.[117]
God the Father with His Right Hand Raised in Blessing, with a triangular halo representing the Trinity, Girolamo dai Libri c. 1555
In Renaissance paintings of the adoration of the Trinity, God may be depicted in two ways, either with emphasis on The Father, or the three elements of the Trinity. The most usual depiction of the Trinity in Renaissance art depicts God the Father using an old man, usually with a long beard and patriarchal in appearance, sometimes with a triangular halo (as a reference to the Trinity), or with a papal crown, specially in Northern Renaissance painting. In these depictions The Father may hold a globe or book (to symbolize God's knowledge and as a reference to how knowledge is deemed divine). He is behind and above Christ on the Cross in the Throne of Mercy iconography. A dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit may hover above. Various people from different classes of society, e.g. kings, popes or martyrs may be present in the picture. In a Trinitarian Pietà, God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms. They are depicted as floating in heaven with angels who carry the instruments of the Passion.[118]
Representations of God the Father and the Trinity were attacked both by Protestants and within Catholicism, by the Jansenist and Baianist movements as well as more orthodox theologians. As with other attacks on Catholic imagery, this had the effect both of reducing Church support for the less central depictions, and strengthening it for the core ones. In the Western Church, the pressure to restrain religious imagery resulted in the highly influential decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563. The Council of Trent decrees confirmed the traditional Catholic doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person, not the image.[119]
Artistic depictions of God the Father were uncontroversial in Catholic art thereafter, but less common depictions of the Trinity were condemned. In 1745 Pope Benedict XIV explicitly supported the Throne of Mercy depiction, referring to the "Ancient of Days", but in 1786 it was still necessary for Pope Pius VI to issue a papal bull condemning the decision of an Italian church council to remove all images of the Trinity from churches.[120]
The famous The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, c.1512
God the Father is symbolized in several Genesis scenes in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, most famously The Creation of Adam (whose image of near touching hands of God and Adam is iconic of humanity, being a reminder that Man is created in the Image and Likeness of God (Gen 1:26)).God the Father is depicted as a powerful figure, floating in the clouds in Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari of Venice, long admired as a masterpiece of High Renaissance art.[121] The Church of the Gesù in Rome includes a number of 16th century depictions of God the Father. In some of these paintings the Trinity is still alluded to in terms of three angels, but Giovanni Battista Fiammeri also depicted God the Father as a man riding on a cloud, above the scenes.[122]
In both the Last Judgment and the Coronation of the Virgin paintings by Rubens he depicted God the Father using the image that by then had become widely accepted, a bearded patriarchal figure above the fray. In the 17th century, the two Spanish artists Velázquez (whose father-in-law Francisco Pacheco was in charge of the approval of new images for the Inquisition) and Murillo both depicted God the Father using a patriarchal figure with a white beard in a purple robe.
The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake
While representations of God the Father were growing in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Low Countries, there was resistance elsewhere in Europe, even during the 17th century. In 1632 most members of the Star Chamber court in England (except the Archbishop of York) condemned the use of the images of the Trinity in church windows, and some considered them illegal.[123] Later in the 17th century Sir Thomas Browne wrote that he considered the representation of God the Father using an old man "a dangerous act" that might lead to Egyptian symbolism.[124] In 1847, Charles Winston was still critical of such images as a "Romish trend" (a term used to refer to Roman Catholics) that he considered best avoided in England.[125]
In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which then also resulted in a whole range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list,[126][127] mostly affecting Western-style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons. The Council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the "Ancient of Days" was Christ, as Logos, not God the Father. However some icons continued to be produced in Russia, as well as Greece, Romania, and other Orthodox countries.
Theological approaches
Theologians and philosophers have attributed to God such characteristics as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God has been described as incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable being existent.[3] These attributes were all claimed to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars, including Maimonides,[53] St Augustine,[53] and Al-Ghazali.[128]
Many philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God,[8] while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes generated important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's omniscience may seem to imply that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, their ostensible free will might be illusory, or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.[129]
However, if by its essential nature, free will is not predetermined, then the effect of its will can never be perfectly predicted by anyone, regardless of intelligence and knowledge. Although knowledge of the options presented to that will, combined with perfectly infinite intelligence, could be said to provide God with omniscience if omniscience is defined as knowledge or understanding of all that is.
The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions regarding the arguments for God's existence raised by such philosophers as Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Antony Flew, although Kant held that the argument from morality was valid. The theist response has been either to contend, as does Alvin Plantinga, that faith is "properly basic", or to take, as does Richard Swinburne, the evidentialist position.[130] Some theists agree that only some of the arguments for God's existence are compelling, but argue that faith is not a product of reason, but requires risk. There would be no risk, they say, if the arguments for God's existence were as solid as the laws of logic, a position summed up by Pascal as "the heart has reasons of which reason does not know."[131] A recent theory using concepts from physics and neurophysiology proposes that God can be conceptualized within the theory of integrative level.[132]
Many religious believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings such as angels, saints, jinn, demons, and devas.[133][134][135][136][137]
Understanding The Moon Phases
Have you ever wondered what causes the moon phases?
Diagram Explanation
The illustration may look a little complex at first, but it's easy to explain.
Sunlight is shown coming in from the right. The earth, of course, is at the center of the diagram. The moon is shown at 8 key stages during its rotation around the earth. The dotted line from the earth to the moon represents your line of sight when looking at the moon. To help you visualize how the moon would appear at that point in the cycle, you can look at the larger moon image. The moon phase name is shown alongside the image.
One important thing to notice is that exactly one half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun. However, at certain times we see both the sunlit portion and the shadowed portion -- and that creates the various moon phase shapes we are all familiar with. Also note that the shadowed part of the moon is invisible to the naked eye; in the diagram above, it is only shown for clarification purposes.
So the basic explanation is that the lunar phases are created by changing angles (relative positions) of the earth, the moon and the sun, as the moon orbits the earth.
Moon Phases Simplified
It's probably easiest to understand the moon cycle in this order: new moon and full moon, first quarter and third quarter, and the phases in between.
As shown in the above diagram, the new moon occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun. The three objects are in approximate alignment (why "approximate" is explained below). The entire illuminated portion of the moon is on the back side of the moon, the half that we cannot see.
At a full moon, the earth, moon, and sun are in approximate alignment, just as the new moon, but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth, so the entire sunlit part of the moon is facing us. The shadowed portion is entirely hidden from view.
The first quarter and third quarter moons (both often called a "half moon"), happen when the moon is at a 90 degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow.
Once you understand those four key moon phases, the phases between should be fairly easy to visualize, as the illuminated portion gradually transitions between them.
An easy way to remember and understand those "between" lunar phase names is by breaking out and defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. The word crescent refers to the phases where the moon is less that half illuminated. The word gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated. Waxing essentially means "growing" or expanding in illumination, and waning means "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination.
Thus you can simply combine the two words to create the phase name, as follows:
After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent. After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous. After the full moon (maximum illumination), the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next. Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone -- a new moon.
The Moon's Orbit
You may have personally observed that the moon goes through a complete moon phases cycle in about one month. That's true, but it's not exactly one month. The synodic period or lunation is exactly 29.5305882 days. It's the time required for the moon to move to the same position as seen by an observer on earth. If you were to view the moon cycling the earth from outside our solar system (the viewpoint of the stars), the time required is 27.3217 days, roughly two days less. This figure is called the sidereal period or orbital period. Why is the synodic period different from the sidereal period? The short answer is because we see the sunlit moon from a slowly moving position: the earth! During the moon cycle, the earth has moved approximately one month along its year-long orbit around the sun, altering our angle of viewpoint, and thus, the phase. The earth's orbital direction is such that it lengthens the period for earthbound observers.
Although the synodic and sidereal periods are exact numbers, the moon phase can't be precisely calculated by simple division of days because the moon's motion (orbital speed and position) is affected and perturbed by various forces of different strengths. Hence, complex equations are used to determine the exact position and phase of the moon at any given point in time.
Also, looking at the diagram, you may have wondered why, at a new moon, the moon doesn't block the sun, and at a full moon, why the earth doesn't block sunlight from reaching the moon. The reason is because the moon's orbit about the earth is about 5 degrees off from the earth-sun orbital plane.
However, at special times during the year, the earth, moon, and sun do in fact "line up". When the moon blocks the sun or a part of it, it's called a solar eclipse, and it can only happen during the new moon phase. When the earth casts a shadow on the moon, it's called a lunar eclipse, and can only happen during the full moon phase. Roughly 4 to 7 eclipses happen in any given year, but most of them minor or "partial" eclipses. Major lunar or solar eclipses are relatively uncommon.
Facebook pages -- Understanding your Facebook page
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Download Our Free Facebook Cheat Sheet here
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What is the purpose of a Facebook page? For one of the purposes of a Facebook page is to give you the ability to reach customers where they are in their location from around the world.
One of the cool things about Facebook, is it people all over the world visit it. They visit Facebook to connect with their friends and even family members as well as other things that they enjoy and have interest in. These things may include businesses and organizations just like yours.
Your Facebook page, if designed correctly, can help you tremendously in marketing your business or cause. Your Facebook page is a place for customers can in turn learn about you, your products, and even your business services. your customers will learn on your page about the things you from old, they will do so in your news feeds, and the constantly updating list of your unique stories that you post on Facebook.
One of the best things about your page is the fact that it is free to you, it is easy for you to set up, and your Facebook page helps people to find you on facebook.
Facebook pages, built for businesses and mobile users
According to online resources, well over a billion people visit Facebook pages each and every month. And according to several articles online more and more individuals are visiting Facebook pages on their smartphones weather Android or Apple each and every day. For you to use your facebook it is never been more important to you or for your business, for it to be readily accessible on mobile devices.
Facebook pages, well simply put they work great on mobile devices. Your page on Facebook will make it easier for you to daily communicate with your customers. On your Facebook page youTo help your customers and help them make purchases, and even keep them coming back for more.
If you're into apps, then you will enjoy the Facebook pages manager app! This app is free and available on both Android and Apple products. With this app you can manage your Facebook page or pages very quickly and respond to your customers request no matter where you are.
Facebook pages, drives customers to take action
What is it about Facebook page? That makes it easy for customers eagerly learn more about you and your business? well and give them up to date information about how they can start using your products and/or services. Your unique page will always be loaded with all the up-to-date features available on Facebook which will enable you to accomplish all your unique business goals, no matter what business line or niche market you are interested in.
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As a child I loved looking at the covers and the illustrations within my dad's old science magazines. I didn't actually read any, just looked at the pictures. It's still absolutely inspirational stuff.
ABOUT ME:
a) I've got double digit peripheral vision.
b) My skin has been compared to that of a baby dolphin.
c) I'm in a music act called Adult Film Stars.
d) My power is beyond your understanding.
e) I've got one foot in the grave and one on a banana pill.
f) I really enjoy trees.
g) I'm a co-founder of PRO SMOKERS TOUR.
h) I'm good at nuetralizing bad situations. It's a gift.
i) I can {F} but I can't {L}....so I've been told.
j) it's a gift.
k) I would love to lay Juliette Lewis and Drew Barrymore.
l) When I was a teenager I jacked off a lot.
m) I didn't have sex for one year and a half once.
n) I gotta love kissing a woman for me to perform sexually.
o) I regret not having sex with Vanessa.
p) I've sold marijuana occasionally if I really "needed" the money.
q) I still love all my ex-girlfriends.
r) For the most part I delivered a baby once.
s) I was born in Heidelberg, Germany.
t) The first time I performed cunnilingus I was 17. LOVED IT!!
u) Rockn a live show is pretty cool too.
v) I know I'm the one to do what needs to be done.
w) I was invited to a Bukkake Party 3 years ago. I didn't go.
x) Women seem to like me a lot. I like them too.
y) Lately I've found slightly chubby chicks really fn hot.
z) I'm that guy who said, "just put ur {D} in the wind".
CONTACTS:
www.facebook.com/danieldayzuko
www.facebook.com/ProSmokersAssociation
September 13, 2009 | Lined up the grass in the background for an unbroken expanse of creamy green bokeh. I threw on a bit of my couch texture and borealnz's ttv layer
HBW!
You might think that relationship commitment and personal freedom are at odds with one another.
My own experience was that when I made the commitment to my marriage I felt liberated.
When I shared this observation with my single friend Howard, he looked at me as though I had taken leave of my...
howdoidate.com/relationships/commitment/this-is-what-rela...
Hong Kong Culture | Modern Hong Kong History started in 1841.
Visit Hong Kong - one of the World‛s GREATEST Cities!
Hong Kong is blessed with some of the most amazing panoramic city views in the World today and even better 75% of the land area consists of country parks and wetlands plus we have 575+ named hills and peaks offering some great hiking trails and lots of very fine beaches and remote islands - in a nutshell, Hong Kong is full of surprises!
Victoria Peak, The Peak Tram, Victoria Harbour, The Big Buddha | Po Lin Monastery, Tai O Fishing Village, The iconic Star Ferry, The Ocean Terminal Deck, The iconic Street Tram on HK Island, TST Promenade, Cheung Chau Island, Peng Chau Island, Temple Street Night Market, The Ladies Market, Chi Lin Nunnery | Nan Lian Garden, Statue Square, The Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, Tsz Shan Monastery, Tai Kwun Centre, Hollywood Road, The Mid Levels Escalator, Aberdeen, Stanley, The West Kowloon Cultural Centre, Food Markets... the list goes on and on of cool and unusual places you should “visit or do” when you come to Hong Kong.
Book a Private Tour of Hong Kong to maximise your time here and gain an in depth understanding of this amazing city, in addition we have a great food culture and night life scene with some 15,000 - 20,000 Restaurants and Bars officially and unofficially and any and all visitors should take a private or group food tour in Hong Kong!
Hong Kong has one of the very best public transport systems in the world (MTR Subway and Buses + 18,163 Taxi‛s) they are cheap, reliable and easy to use.
Hong Kong - Some Facts - Population 7.5 Million people | 92% Ethnic Chinese | English is an Official Language along with Cantonese and Mandarin | 1,114 sq km or 430sq miles of diversity | 263 Islands | People | Street Scenes | Traffic Scenes | Nature Scenes | Animals | Buildings | Shopping | Gardens | The Countryside | Islands and the Ocean + Daily Life and anything interesting, all Districts, Hong Kong
☛.... and if you want to read about my personal views on Hong Kong, then go to my blog, link is shown below, I have lived in Hong Kong for over 50 years and completed 2,324 Private Tours of Hong Kong between 8th April 2011 and February 11th 2020
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☛ Photography is simply a hobby for me, I do NOT sell my images and all of my images can be FREELY downloaded from this site in the original upload image size or 5 other sizes, please note that you DO NOT have to ask for permission to download and use any of my images!
Understanding the buildings of London through drawing…
my instinctive way to understand a building is to draw it as I am observing it. I think it is part of my architectural background of design sketching that I draw to think…. rather than observing first and drawing second. Anyway here are a few scribbles of some iconic buildings of London.
If I haven't said before I am having a few days in London after BCN and so one might think that this is a bit of trip prep.
BTW I am loving seeing Alissa Duke's trip prep on her blog (she is also going to London as well as BCN) www.alissaduke.com/
However…this sketching is actually work - how cool is that… I have an exciting illustration project that I am working on at the moment and this is preparation for that. Ok…back to work.
Happy Monday everyone… oh! it is cold today in Sydney!
Context gives new understanding to modern lingo…
Newell Harry
Untitled (THIS/DAM/MAD/SHIT), 2013
Tongan Ngatu (bark cloth), ink
279 x 118 cm
Newell Harry
Untitled (MILF/FILM/LAME/MALE), 2013
Tongan Ngatu (bark cloth), ink
279 x 118 cm
# Newell Harry
+ 1972: Born Sydney, Australian: South African/Mauritian ancestry
+ 1993-1995: Diploma of Fine Arts, The National Art School, East Sydney Technical College
+ 1997-2000: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons.1), College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
+ 2001-2004: Master of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
+ 2010-2013: Sessional Lecturer, COFA UNSW, Sydney
# Rosly Oxley9 Gallery
# SML Data
+ Date: 2013-05-23T16:45:18+0800
+ Dimensions: 4930 x 3286
+ Exposure: 1/30 sec at f/4.0
+ Focal Length: 32 mm
+ ISO: 100
+ Camera: Canon EOS 6D
+ Lens: Canon EF 17-40 f/4L USM
+ GPS: 22°16'59" N 114°10'22" E
+ Location: 香港會議展覽中心 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
+ Workflow: Lightroom 4
+ Serial: SML.20130523.6D.14009
+ Series: 新聞攝影 Photojournalism, SML Fine Art, Art Basel Hong Kong 2013
# Media Licensing
Creative Commons (CCBY) See-ming Lee 李思明 / SML Photography / SML Universe Limited
“Newell Harry (b.1972 Australia): Untitled (THIS/DAM/MAD/SHIT), 2013 + Untitled (MILF/FILM/LAME/MALE), 2013 (Tongan Ngatu (bark cloth), ink)” / Rosly Oxley9 Gallery / Art Basel Hong Kong 2013 / SML.20130523.6D.14009
/ #Photojournalism #CreativeCommons #CCBY #SMLPhotography #SMLUniverse #SMLFineArt #SMLProjects #SMLTypography #Crazyisgood
/ #中國 #中国 #China #香港 #HongKong #攝影 #摄影 #photography #Art #FineArt #ArtBasel #ABHK #NewellHarry #RoslyOxley9 #people #WTF #LOL #typography
Marziya Shakir my granddaughter bonded with beggars at a very young age ...
Understanding pain misery on this stage ..where man battled his fate in a cage ..
She learnt from this book of life every page ..her introduction to street photography..by a camera sage .
I made Marziya see observe the poor beggars and sooon she knew most of them on the way from her home to her playschool and back ..
She gave money to them that she saved specially for them.
The camera was her textbook of life ..
Today Marziya is 12 year old ..much wiser and more compassionate .
...to liberate the children of men
from the darkness of ignorance,
and guide them to the light
of true understanding.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 79
by Internet Archive Book Images
Business Management Degrees like MBA are among the most preferred of professional courses in India for those who have completed their graduation. Doing an MBA from India’s top management colleges is regarded as the surest way to ensure a long-term and rewarding c...
excited.g2a.website/understanding-popular-mba-degrees-in-...
Our text-book tackles the history, aesthetics, culture (and much more) of video games (now in stores)
photographer: xergs
location: malasag cdo,Philippines
Living gives you a better understanding of life. I would hope that my characters have become deeper and more rounded personalities. Wider travels have given me considerably greater insight into how cultural differences affect not only people, but politics and art.
--Alan Dean Foster--
During this record heatwave Elvis has decided to do his part and provide the world with the following lifesaving information - Elvis Kennedy's Guide to Understanding the Color of Your Pee and How it Can Be Used to Save Your Life.
First developed by Elvis during his Tour de France days as a guide to be used during cycling in the summer months, it has since been adopted by athletes of every sport, as well as working stiffs who must deal with heat and dehydration in their daily grind. It's especially useful for photographers working long hours in the baking sun.
With the general public now facing record temperatures this guide can be used by every man, woman and child as a quick and easy, down and dirty, handy-dandy, post on your bathroom mirror and on your refridgerator - guide to see if you have been drinking enough fluids.
Study this chart and you'll never look at your pee in the same way again. Ever.
Drink more water. Save yourselves. Elvis cares.
For more go to www.elviskennedy.com
This morning, a gentle breeze stirred as intermittent sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the landscape. Understanding the importance of sunlight in nature photography, I attached the NikonTC14EII Teleconverter to my Nikkor500mm lens, eager to capture close-up shots, particularly of the industrious robins as they hurriedly built their nests. With the impending responsibilities of egg guarding and shared nutrition looming, these days were crucial for the avian community amidst the ongoing climate crisis.
As I entered Bradgate Park, my attention was immediately drawn to a jackdaw meticulously collecting nest materials. Further along, although the green woodpecker pair remained distant, I seized the opportunity to capture a rare moment of them side by side. Beyond the breeding season, these woodpeckers are solitary feeders, making the encounter all the more special.
After a rewarding three-hour excursion, on my way back to the car, I chanced upon a little egret. Concealing myself, I observed as it skillfully hunted amidst the flowing waters of the River Lin. With deft movements, it startled small fish, seizing its prey with precision before swallowing.
However, my primary focus for the morning was the beloved robin. Patiently, I watched the pair as they foraged, allowing them to acclimate to my presence. Finally, capturing one of their favorite poses beneath a "KEEP CLEAR" sign, I immortalized the moment with three captivating photographs.
With that, I conclude my nearly four-hour journey, sharing with you the highlights of my photo tour.
The Pied Wagtail, scientifically known as Motacilla alba, is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae. Here's some detailed information about this fascinating bird:
Physical Description:
The Pied Wagtail is a slender bird with a long, black-and-white tail that constantly wags up and down, hence its name.
It has a distinctive black and white plumage, with a black head, throat, and upperparts, and white underparts.
Its wings are dark with white wing bars, and it has a black bib or breastband, which contrasts sharply with its white throat and belly.
Both males and females look alike, although males might have slightly longer tails.
Habitat:
Pied Wagtails are highly adaptable birds and can be found in various habitats, including urban areas, parks, gardens, farmland, riversides, and wetlands.
They prefer open areas with short vegetation, such as grasslands, fields, and lawns, where they can forage for insects and other small invertebrates.
Behavior:
As their name suggests, Pied Wagtails are known for their distinctive wagging tail movements, which are believed to serve various purposes, including communication, balance, and flushing out insects.
They are active birds, constantly moving about as they search for food. They have a characteristic walking gait, often bobbing their heads as they walk.
Pied Wagtails are generally social birds and are often seen in small flocks, especially during the non-breeding season.
Diet:
These birds are primarily insectivorous, feeding on a variety of small invertebrates, including flies, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, and worms.
They often forage on the ground, picking insects from the grass or soil, but they also catch insects in mid-air during aerial pursuits.
Breeding:
Pied Wagtails typically breed from April to July. They construct cup-shaped nests made of grass, leaves, and moss, lined with softer materials such as feathers and hair.
Nests are usually built in a concealed location, such as in crevices, among rocks, or in vegetation close to water bodies.
The female usually lays a clutch of 4-6 eggs, which are pale grey or buff with darker speckles. Both parents share the responsibilities of incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks.
Conservation Status:
The Pied Wagtail is widespread and abundant throughout its range, and its population is considered stable.
However, like many other bird species, it faces threats such as habitat loss, pollution, and predation by domestic cats.
Overall, it is not considered globally threatened, and its conservation status is of least concern.
Cultural Significance:
In folklore, the wagtail's constant tail-wagging is sometimes seen as a symbol of restlessness or nervousness.
In some cultures, the wagtail is considered a harbinger of good luck or prosperity.
These birds are also popular subjects in literature, art, and poetry, often celebrated for their lively and distinctive behavior.
Overall, the Pied Wagtail is a charming and adaptable bird, known for its distinctive appearance and behavior. Its presence in various habitats makes it a familiar sight to many people, whether in urban or rural settings.
I hope you'll enjoy the my images as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Thank you so much for visiting my stream, whether you comments , favorites or just have a look.
I appreciate it very much, wishing the best of luck and good light.
© All rights reserved R.Ertug Please do not use this image without my explicit written permission. Contact me by Flickr mail if you want to buy or use Your comments and critiques are very well appreciated.
Lens - With Nikon TC 14E II - hand held or Monopod and definitely SPORT VR on. Aperture is f8 and full length. All my images have been converted from RAW to JPEG.
I started using Nikon Cross-Body Strap or Monopod on long walks. Here is my Carbon Monopod details : Gitzo GM2542 Series 2 4S Carbon Monopod - Really Right Stuff MH-01 Monopod Head with Standard Lever - Really Right Stuff LCF-11 Replacement Foot for Nikon AF-S 500mm /5.6E PF Lense -
The Richard Cornish Endowment Fund was created by William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae (GALA), in consultation with the Earl Gregg Swem Library in 1993. The initial campaign, to raise the minimum $25,000 required for a named endowment, was made in honor of Michael Lee Goodrich ‘80. Subsequent campaigns and individual donations have raised the principal on the endowment to over $100,000. The Cornish Fund is currently one of Swem Library’s largest endowment funds. Each year, the proceeds from this fund purchase a wealth of materials in a variety of academic disciplines including history, theatre, film, religion, education, African American studies, American studies, and others that Swem Library could not otherwise acquire.
Items in this case include:
Ames, Jonathan. Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs. New York: Vintage, 2005. HQ77.7 .S49 2005.
Bejel, Emilio. Gay Cuban Nation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c2001. HQ76.3 .C9 .B45 2001.
Bookmark, circa 2004. William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae (GALA), Inc. Records.
Borris, Kenneth. Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650. New York: Routledge, 2004. PR428 .H66 .S36 2004.
Brandt, Eric. Dangerous Liaisons: Blacks & Gays and the Struggle for Equality. New York: New Press, 1999. HQ76.4 .U6 .D35 1999.
Bronski, Michael. Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2003. PS648 .H57 .P65 2003.
Brochures, circa 2004. William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae (GALA), Inc. Records.
Buttons, circa 2000. William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae (GALA), Inc. Records.
Certificate, circa 1993. Loan of Steven H. Murden '74.
Cimino, Kenneth W. Gay Conservatives: Group Consciousness and Assimilation. New York: Harrington Park Press, c2007. HQ76.85 .C56 2007.
Clum, John M. Still Acting Gay: Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2000. PS338 .H66 .C58 2000.
Cobb, Michael L. God Hates Fags: The Rhetorics of Religious Violence. New York: New York University Press, 2006. BR115 .H6 .C63 2006.
Cornish Courier, Fall 2004. William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae (GALA), Inc. Records.
Currah, Paisley, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter. Transgender Rights. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2006. HQ77.9 .T716 2006.
Dawesar, Abha. Babyji: A Novel. New York: Anchor Books, c2005. PS3554 .A9423 .B33 2005.
Dorenkamp, Monica and Richard Henke. Negotiating Lesbian & Gay Subjects. New York: Routledge, 1995. HQ76.25 .N44 1995.
Emmers-Sommer, Tara M. and Mike Allen. Safer Sex in Personal Relationships: The Role of Sexual Scripts in HIV Infection and Prevention. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005. HQ21 .E64 2005.
Epstein, Debbie, Sarah O’Flynn, and David Telford. Silenced Sexualities in Schools and Universities. Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK; Sterling, VA: Trentham Books, 2003. HQ57.6 .G7 .E68 2003.
Ferrebe, Alice. Masculinity in Male-Authored Fiction 1950-2000: Keeping it Up. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. PR888 .M45 .F47 2005.
Frontain, Raymond-Jean. Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture. New York: Harrington Park Press, c2003. PR120 .G39 .R43 2003.
Garza Carvajal, Federico. Butterflies will Burn: Prosecuting Sodomites in Early Modern Spain and Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, c2003. HQ1090.7 .S7 .G37 2003.
Gilreath, Shannon. Sexual Politics: The Gay Person in America Today. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, c2006. HQ76.3 .U5 .G55 2006.
Goodman, Eric K. Child of My Right Hand: A Novel. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Landmark, c2004. PS3557 .O583 .C47 2004.
Greif, Martin. The Gay Book of Days: An Evocatively Illustrated Who's Who of Who Is, Was, May Have Been, Probably Was, and Almost Certainly Seems to Have Been Gay during the Past 5,000 Years. Secaucus, N.J.: L. Stuart, c1982. HQ75.2 .G73 1982. Gift of Jon Fox ’72.
Griffiths, Robin. British Queer Cinema. London; New York: Routledge, 2006. PN1995.9 .H55 .B75 2006.
Howard, Kim and Annie Stevens. Out & About Campus: Personal Accounts by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered College Students. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2000. LC2574.6 .O87 2000.
Hubbard, Thomas K. Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2003. HQ76.3 .G8 .H66 2003.
Jackson, Edward and Stan Persky. Flaunting it!: A Decade of Gay Journalism from the Body Politic: An Anthology. Vancouver: New Star Books; Toronto: Pink Triangle Press, 1982. HQ76.8 .C3 .F55 1982.
Jennings, Kevin and Patricia Gottlieb Shapiro. Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, or Questioning Son or Daughter. New York: Simon & Schuster, c2003. HQ76.25 .J37 2003.
Kirkland, Richard. Cathal O'Byrne and the Northern Revival in Ireland, 1890-1960. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006. PR6029 .B9 .Z75 2006.
McDougall, Bryce. My Child is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1998. HQ75.8 .G75 .M34 1998.
Moats, David. Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage. Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, c2004. HQ1034 .U5 .M62 2001.
Morland, Iain and Annabelle Willox. Queer Theory. Houndmills [England]; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. HQ76.25 .Q3843 2004.
Olson, Jenni. The Queer Movie Poster Book. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, c2004. PN1995.9 .P5 .O47 2004.
Orndorff, Kata. Bi Lives: Bisexual Women tell Their Stories. Tucson, Ariz.: See Sharp Press, 1999. HQ74 .B52 1999.
Rodi, Robert. Bitch Goddess: A Novel. New York: Plume, c2002. PS3568 .O34854 .B58 2002.
Silverstein, Charles, Felice Picano. The Joy of Gay Sex. New York: HarperResource, 2004. HQ76 .S533 2004.
Stockton, Kathryn Bond. Beautiful Bottom, Beautiful Shame: Where "Black" meets "Queer." Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. PS374 .H63 .S76 2006.
Vargo, Marc. Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century. New York: Harrington Park Press, c2003. HQ76 .V37 2003.
Wardle, Lynn D., Mark Strasser, William C. Duncan, and David Orgon Coolidge. Marriage and Same-Sex Unions: A Debate. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. HQ1034 .U5 .M37 2003.
x
CINEMA DIGITAL
A Study of 4D Julia sets
Baraka / Baraka from DVD to 4K / Baraka with the monkey
Beatbox360
Enquanto a noite não chega (While we wait for the night â?" first Brazilian film in 4K)/(primeiro filme brasileiro em 4k)
Era la Notte
Flight to the Center of the Milky Way
Growth by aggregation 2
Jet Instabilities in a stratified fluid flow
Keio University Concert
Manny Farber (Tribute to)
Scalable City
The Nonlinear Evolution of the Universe
The Prague train
FILE INOVAÇÃO / FILE INNOVATION
Interface Cérebro-Computador – Eduardo Miranda
Sistema comercial de Reconhecimento Automático - Genius Instituto de Tecnologia
Robô de visão omnidirecional – Jun Okamoto
Loo Table: mesa interativa - André V. Perrotta, Erico Cheung e Luis Stateri dos Santos, da empresa Loodik
Simulador de Ondas e Simulador de Turbilhão - Steger produção de efeitos especiais ltda.
GAMES INSTALAÇÕES / INSTALLATIONS GAMES
Giles Askham – Aquaplayne
Jonah Warren & Steven Sanborn – Transpose
Jonah Warren & Steven Sanborn – Full Body Games
Fabiano Onça e Coméia – Tantalus Quest
Julian Oliver - levelHead
GAMES
Andreas Zecher – Understanding Games
Andrei R. Thomaz – Cubos de Cor
Arvi Teikari – Once In Space
Fabrício Fava – Futebolando
Golf Question Mark – Golf
Introversion.co.uk – Darwinia
Jens Andersson and Ida Rödén – Rorschach
Jonatan Söderström – CleanAsia!
Jonatan Söderström – AdNauseum2
Jorn Ebner – sans femme et sans avieteur
Josh Nimoy – BallDroppings
Josiah Pisciotta – Gish
Marek Walczak and Martin Wattenberg – Thinking Machine 7
Mariana Rillo – Desmanche
Mark Essen - Punishment: The punishing
Mark Essen - RANDY BALMA: MUNICIPAL ABORTIONIST
Playtime – SFZero
QUBO GAS: Jef Ablézot, Morgan Dimnet & Laura Henno - WATERCOULEUR PARK
QueasyGames - Jonathan Mak – Everyday Shooter
R-S-G: Radical Software Group - Kriegspiel - Guy Debord's Game of War
Shalin Shodhan (www.experimentalgameplay.com) – On a Rainy Day
Shalin Shodhan (www.experimentalgameplay.com) – Cytoplasm
Shalin Shodhan (www.experimentalgameplay.com) – Particle Rain
Tales of Tales: Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn - The Graveyard
Tanja Vujinovic – Osciloo
ThatGameCompany – Jenova Chen – Clouds
ThatGameCompany – Jenova Chen - flOw
JOGOS BR
JOGOS BR 1
Ayri - Uma Lenda Amazônica - Sylker Teles da Silva / Outline Interactive
Capoeira Experience - Andre Ivankio Hauer Ploszaj / Okio Serviços de Comunicação Multimídia Ltda.
Cim-itério - Wagner Gomes Carvalho / Green Land Studios
Incorporated (Emprego Maluco) - Tiago Pinheiro Teixeira / Interama Jogos Eletrônicos
Iracema Aventura – Odair Gaspar / Perceptum Software Ltda.
Nevrose: Sangue e Loucura Sob o Sol do Sertão - Rodrigo Queiroz de Oliveira
/ Gamion Realidade Virtual & Games
Raízes do Mal – Marcos Cruz Alves / Ignis Entretenimento e Informática Ltda.
JOGOS BR 2 – Jogos Completos
Cave Days - Winston George A. Petty / Insolita Studios
Peixis!
(JOGO EM DESENVOLVIMENTO) - Wallace Santos Lages / Ilusis Interactive Graphics
JOGOS BR 2 – Demos Jogáveis
Brasilia Tropicalis - Thiago Salgado Aiache de Moraes / Olympya Games
Conspiração Dumont - Guilherme Mattos Coutinho
Flora - Francisco Oliveira de Queiroz
Fórmula Galaxy – Artur Corrêa / Vencer Consultoria e Projetos Ltda.
Inferno - Alexandre Vrubel / Continuum Entertainment Ltda
Lex Venture - Tiago Pinheiro Teixeira / Interama Jogos Eletrônicos
Trem de Doido (DEMO EM DESENVOLVIMENTO) - Marcos André Penna Coutinho
Zumbi, o rei dos Palmeiras - Nicholas Lima de Souza
HIPERSÔNICA / HIPERSONICA
Hipersônica Performance
Andrei Thomaz, Francisco Serpa, Lílian Campesato e Vitor Kisil – Sonocromática
Bernhard Gal – Gal Live
+Zero: Fabrizio Augusto Poltronieri, Jonattas Marcel Poltronieri, Raphael Dall'Anese - +Zero do Brasil
Luiz duVa - Concerto para duo de laptops
Henrique Roscoe (a.k.a. 1mpar) – HOL
Jose Ignacio Hinestrosa e Testsu Kondo – Fricciones
Alexandre Fenerich e Giuliano Obici – Nmenos1
Orqstra de Laptops de São Paulo - EvEnTo 3 Movimentos para Orquestra
Hipersônica Participantes
Agricola de Cologne - soundSTORY - sound as a tool for storytelling
Jen-Kuan Chang – Drishti II
Jen-Kuan Chang – Discordance
Jen-Kuan Chang – Nekkhamma
Jen-Kuan Chang - She, Flush, Vegetable, Lo Mein, and Intolerable Happiness
Jerome Soudan – Mimetic
Matt Lewis e Jeremy Keenan – Animate Objects
Robert Dow - Precipitation within sight
Tetsu Kondo – Dendraw
Tomas Phillips – Drink_Deep
INSTALAÇÕES / INSTALLATIONS
Anaisa Franco – Connected Memories
Andrei Thomaz & Sílvia Laurentiz – 1º Subsolo
Graffiti Research Lab – Various
Hisako K. Yamakawa – Kodama
r3nder.net+i2off.org – is.3s
Jarbas Jacome – Crepúsculo dos Ídolos
Julio Obelleiro & Alberto García – Magnéticos
Julio Obelleiro & Alberto García – The Magic Torch
Mariana Manhães – Liquescer (Jarrinho)
Mariana Manhães – Liquescer (Jarrinho Azul)
Rejane Cantoni e Leonardo Crescenti – PISO
Sheldon Brown – Scalable City
Soraya Braz e Fábio FON – Roaming
Takahiro Matsuo – Phantasm
Ursula Hentschlaeger – Outer Space IP
Ursula Hentschlaeger – Phantasma
Ursula Hentschlaeger – Binary Art Site
SYMPOSIUM
Agnus Valente
Anaisa Franco
Andre Thomaz e Silvia Laurentiz
Christin Bolewski
Giles Askham
Graffiti Research Lab: James Powderly
Hidenori Watanave
Ivan Ivanoff e Jose Jimenez
Jarbas Jácome
João Fernando Igansi Nunes
Marcos Moraes
Mediengruppe Bitnik; Carmen Weisskopf, Domagoj Smoljo, Silvan Leuthold, Sven König [SWI]
Mesa Redonda (LABO) - Cicero Silva, Lev Manovich (teleconferencia) e Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Mesa Redonda [BRA] – (Hipersônica) Renata La Rocca, Gabriela Pereira Carneiro, Ana Paula Nogueira de Carvalho, Clarissa Ribeiro Pereira de Almeida. Mediação: Vivian Caccuri
Mesa Redonda [BRA] - [Ministro da Cultura: Gilberto Gil | Secretário do Audiovisual do Ministério da Cultura: Sílvio Da-Rin | Secretário de Políticas Culturais do Ministério da Cultura: Alfredo Manevy ]
Mesa Redonda [BRA] - Inovação - Lala Deheinzelin, Gian Zelada, Alessandro Dalla, Ivandro Sanches, Eduardo Giacomazzi. Mediação: Joana Ferraz
Mesa Redonda 4k - Jane de Almeida, Sheldon Brownn, Mike Toillion, Todd Margolis, Peter Otto
Nardo Germano
Nori Suzuki
Sandra Albuquerque Reis Fachinello
Satoru Tokuhisa
Sheldon Brown
Soraya Braz e Fabio FON
Suzete Venturelli, Mario Maciel e bolsistas do CNPq/UnB (Johnny Souza, Breno Rocha, João Rosa e Samuel Castro [BRA]
Ursula Hentschlaeger
Valzeli Sampaio
Cinema Documenta FILE São Paulo 2008
Antonello Matarazzo – Interferenze – Itália / Italy
Bruno Natal - Dub Echoes – Brasil / Brazil
Carlo Sansolo - Panoramika Eletronika - Brasil / Brazil
Kevin Logan – Recitation – Londres / London
Kodiak Bachine e Apollo 9 – Nuncupate – Brasil / Brazil
Linda Hilfing Nielsen - Participation 0.0 – Dinamarca
Maren Sextro e Holger Wick - Slices, Pioneers of Electronic Music – Vol.1 – Richie Hawtin Documentary – Alemanha / Germany
Matthew Bate - What The Future Sounded Like – Austrália
Thomas Ziegler, Jason Gross e Russell Charmo - OHM+ the early gurus of electronic music – Eua / USA
Mídia Arte FILE São Paulo 2008
[ fladry + jones ] Robb Fladry and Barry Jones - The War is Over 2007 – EUA / USA
Agricola de Cologne - One Day on Mars – Alemanha / Germany
alan bigelow - "When I Was President" – EUA / USA
Alessandra Ribeiro Parente Paes
Daniel Fernandes Gamez
Glauber Kotaki Rodrigues
Igor Albuquerque Bertolino
Karina Yuko Haneda
Marcio Pedrosa Tirico da Silva Junior – Reativo – Brasil / Brazil
Alessandro Capozzo – Talea – Itália / Italy
Alex Hetherington - Untitled (sexyback, folly artist) – Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Alexandre Campos, Bruno Massara e Lucilene Soares Alves - Novos Olhares sobre a Mobilidade – Brasil / Brazil
Alexandre Cardoso Rodrigues Nunes
Bruno Coimbra Franco
Diego Filipe Braga R. Nascimento
Fábio Rinaldi Batistine
Yumi Dayane Shimada – Abra Sua Gaveta – Brasil / Brazil
ALL: ALCIONE DE GODOY, ADILSON NG, CAMILLO LOUVISE COQUEIRO, MARINA QUEIROZ MAIA, RODOLFO ROSSI JULIANI, VINÍCIUS NAKAMURA DE BRITO – Vita Ex Maxina – Brasil / Brazil
Andreas Zingerle - Extension of Human sight – Áustria
Andrei R. Thomaz - O Tabuleiro dos Jogos que se bifurcam - First Person Movements - Brasil / Brazil
Andrei R. Thomaz e Marina Camargo – Eclipses – Brasil / Brazil
Brit Bunkley – Spin – Spite – Nova Zelândia – New Zeland
calin man – appendXship / Romênia
Carlindo da Conceição Barbosa
Kauê de Oliveira Souza
Guilherme Tetsuo Takei
Renato Michalischen
Ricardo Rodrigues Martins
Tassia Deusdara Manso
Thalyta de Almeida Barbosa / Da Música ao Caos – Brasil / Brazil
Christoph Korn – waldstueck – Alemanha / Germany
Corpos Informáticos: Bia Medeiros, Carla Rocha, Diego Azambuja, Fernando Aquino, Kacau Rodrigues, Márcio Mota, Marta Mencarini, Wanderson França – UAI 69 – Brasil / Brazil
Duda. – do pixel ao pixel – Brasil / Brazil
Daniel Kobayashi
Felipe Crivelli Ayub
Fernando Boschetti
Luiz Felipe M. Coelho
Marcelo Knelsen
Mauro Falavigna
Rafael de A. Campos
Wellington K. Guimarães Bastos - A Casa Dentro da Porta – Brasil / Brazil
David Clark - 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein – Canadá
Thais Paola Galvez
Josias Silva
Diego Abrahão Modesto
Nilson Benis
Vinicius Augusto Naka de Vasconcelos
Wilson Ruano Junior
Marcela Moreira da Silva – Rogério caos – Brasil / Brazil
Diogo Fuhrmann Misiti, Guilherme Pilz, João Henrique - Caleidoscópio Felliniano: 8 ½ - Brasil / Brazil
Agence TOPO: Elene Tremblay, Marcio Lana-Lopez, Maryse Larivière, Marie-Josée Hardy, James Prior - Mes / My contacts – Canadá / Canada
Eliane Weizmann, Fernando Marinho e Leocádio Neto – Storry teller – Brasil / Brazil
Fabian Antunes - Pousada Recanto Abaetuba – Brasil / Brazil
Edgar Franco e Fabio FON - Freakpedia - A verdadeira enciclopédia livre – Brasil / Brazil
Fernando Aquino – UAI Justiça – Brasil / Brazil
Henry Gwiazda - claudia and Paul - a doll's house is...... - there's whispering...... – EUA / USA
Architecture in Metaverse: Hidenori Watanave - "Archidemo" - Architecture in Metaverse – Hapão / Japan
Yto Aranda – Cyber Birds Dance – Chile
Dana Sperry - Sketch for an Intermezzo for the Masses, no. 7 – EUA / USA
Jorn Ebner - (sans femme et sans aviateur) – Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Josephine Anstey, Dave Pape - Office Diva – EUA / USA
Josh Fishburn – Layers – Waiting – EUA / USA
Karla Brunet – Peculiaris – Brasil / Brazil
Kevin Evensen - Veils of Light – EUA / USA
lemeh42 (santini michele and paoloni lorenza) - Study on human form and humanity #01 – Itália / Italy
linda hilfling e erik borra - misspelling generator – Dinamarca / Denmark
Lisa Link - If I Worked for 493 years – EUA / USA
Marcelo Padre – Estro – Brasil / Brazil
Martha Carrer Cruz Gabriel - Locative Painting - Brasil / Brazil
Martin John Callanan - I Wanted to See All of the News From Today – Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Mateus Knelsen, Ana Clara, Felipe Vasconcelos, Rafael Jacobsen, Ronaldo Silva - A pós-modernidade em recortes: Tide Hellmeister e as relações Design e cultura – Brasil / Brazil
Mateus Knelsen, Felipe Szulc, Mileine Assai Ishii, Pamela Cardoso, Tânia Taura - Homo ex machina – Brasil / Brazil
Michael Takeo Magruder - Sequence-n (labyrinth) - Sequence-n (horizon) – Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Michael Takeo Magruder + Drew Baker + David Steele - The Vitruvian World - Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Nina Simões - Rehearsing Reality ( An interactive non-linear docufragmentary) - Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Nurit Bar-Shai - Nothing Happens – EUA / USA
projectsinge: Blanquet Jerome - Monkey_Party – França / France
QUBO GAS - WATERCOULEUR PARK – França / France
rachelmauricio castro – 360 - R.G.B. – tybushwacka – Brasil / Brazil
Rafael Rozendaal - future physics – Netherlands
Regina Célia Pinto - Ninhos & Magia – Brasil / Brazil
Roni Ribeiro – Bípedes – Brasil / Brazil
Rubens Pássaro - ISTO NÃO É PARANÓIA – Brasil / Brazil
Rui Filipe Antunes – xTNZ – Brasil / Brazil
Selcuk ARTUT & Cem OCALAN – NewsPaperBox – Brazil
Tanja Vujinovic - "Without Title" – Switzerland
Hipersônica Screening – FILE São Paulo 2008
1mpar – hol – Brasil / Brazil
Art Zoyd - EYECATCHER 1 - EYECATCHER 2, Man with a movie camera - Movie-Concert for The Fall of the Usher House – França / France
Audiobeamers (FroZenSP and Klinid) - Paesaggi Liquidi II – Alemanha / Germany
Bernhard Loibner – Meltdown – Áustria
Bjørn Erik Haugen – Regress - Norway
Celia Eid e Sébastien Béranger – Gymel – França / France
Studio Brutus/Citrullo International - H2O – Itália / Italy
Daniel Carvalho - OUT_FLOW PART I – Brasil / Brazil
David Muth - You Are The Sony Of My Life – Reino Unido / United Kingdon
Dennis Summers - Phase Shift Vídeos – EUA / USA
Duprass - Liora Belford & Ido Govrin – Free Field – Pink / Noise – Israel
Fernando Velázquez – Nómada – Brasil / Brazil
Frames aka Flames - Performance audiovisual sincronizada: Sociedade pós-moderna, novas tecnologias e espaço urbano - Brasil / Brazil
Frederico Pessoa - butterbox – diving - Brasil / Brazil
Jay Needham - Narrative Half-life – EUA / USA
Soundsthatmatter – trotting – briji – Brasil / Brazil
x
The same sliced and chromed column in front of Pecci Museum, Prato.
This photo is an explanation for the other one (Pecci) as you can see the monument
from a clearer point of view.
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La stessa colonna affettata e cromata di fronte al Museo Pecci di arte moderna a Prato.
Questo scatto è un po' una spiegazione dell'altro (Pecci, accanto) potendo vedere la colonna da un punto di vista + chiaro.
According to my understanding of the Sibley's guide, this fellow is an hybrid (Downy-Nuttall's) and, if my interpretation is correct, that was an amazing opportunity. It picks the green berries, not the red, which are all over the park's ground. You can click on the picture to see the bird's details.
I have been trying to get inside Temple Church for some years now. Lat time was in January when the warden assured me it would be open on Saturday, only to find after travelling up from Dover that the door was locked, despite the sign on the door saying it was due to be open.
Anyway, all good things come to those that wait.
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The Temple Church was consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 10 February 1185 by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The whole Temple community had moved from an earlier site in High Holborn, considered by the 1160s to be too confined. The church was the chapel serving the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, and from them it took its name. The Templars – as the knights were popularly known – were soldier monks.
After the success of the First Crusade, the order was founded in Jerusalem in a building on the site of King Solomon’s temple. Their mission was to protect pilgrims travelling to and from the Holy Land, but in order to do this they needed men and money. For more details of the Templars and this early history of the Church, see The Round Church, 1185.
The London Temple was the Templars’ headquarters in Great Britain. The Templars’ churches were always built to a circular design to remind them of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, a round, domed building raised over the site of the sepulchre where Jesus was buried. At first, the Templars were liked and respected. St Bernard of Clairvaux became their patron and they gained many privileges from popes and much support from kings.
In England, King Henry II was probably present at the consecration of the church; King Henry III favoured them so much that he wished to be buried in their church. As a consequence of this wish, the choir of the church was pulled down and a far larger one built in its place, the choir which we now see. This was consecrated on Ascension Day 1240 in the presence of the king. However, after Henry died it was discovered that he had altered his will, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
On 10 February 1185 Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, processed into the Round for the church’s consecration. The King was almost certainly present. A grand church for a grand occasion; for the Round had no such quiet austerity as we see in it today. The walls and grotesque heads were painted: the walls most probably with bands and lozenges of colour. The Round was proudly modern: Heraclius entered through the Norman door to find the first free-standing Purbeck columns ever cut; above them curved in two dimensions Gothic arches rising to the drum. A chancel, some two thirds of the present chancel’s length, stretched to the east. There the Patriach’s procession will have come to rest for Mass. And there the altar stayed. What, then, – on that great day or later – was the function of the Round?
Its most important role was played by its shape. Jerusalem lies at the centre of all medieval maps, and was the centre of the crusaders’ world. The most sacred place in this most sacred city was the supposed site of Jesus’ own burial: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here the crusaders inherited a round church. It was the goal of every pilgrim, whose protection was the Templars’ care. This was the building, of all buildings on earth, that must be defended from its enemies.
In every round church that the Templars built throughout Europe they recreated the sanctity of this most holy place. Among the knights who would be buried in the Round was the most powerful man of his generation: William the Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (died 1219), adviser to King John and regent to Henry III. His sons’ effigies lie around his own. The Marshal himself (who lies recumbent and still) took the Cross as an old man; his sons (drawing their swords) did not. Their figures lie frozen in stone, forever alert in defence of their father’s long-forgotten cause. Such burial was devoutly to be desired; for to be buried in the Round was to be buried ‘in’ Jerusalem.
The Patriarch Heraclius may well have been the most ignorant, licentious and corrupt priest ever to hold his see. Our reports of his character, however, reach us from his enemies. The great Western chronicler of the Crusades, William of Tyre, was for decades Heraclius’ opponent and rival. In 1180 William had (and had been) expected to be appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem. But the king of Jerusalem was swayed by his mother, said to be a mistress of Heraclius – who was duly appointed Patriarch. William himself was honorably reticent in the face of this reverse. His followers were less restrained. ‘Ernoul’ tells (with more indignation, it seems, than accuracy) how his hero William was excommunicated by the new patriarch, went into exile and died at the hands of Heraclius’ own doctor in Rome. William’s narrative was expanded and continued in Old French as L’Estoire d’ Eracles: its story starts with the Emperor Heraclius who recovered the True Cross in 628 – and includes a prophecy that the Cross, secured by one Heraclius, would be lost (as it was) by another.
Can anything redeem our Heraclius’ reputation? Far more was at stake on his visit than at first appears. He was in London as part of a larger mission:- King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem was dying. His kingdom was riven by factions and under threat from Saladin. He had drawn up in his will the rules for the succession: if his nephew, due to become the child-king Baldwin V, were to die before the age of ten, a new ruler should be chosen through the arbitration of four potentates: the Pope, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the King of France and Henry II of England. Late in 1184 a deputation headed west from the Kingdom of Jerusalem: Heraclius, the Grand Master of the Templars and the Hospitallers’ Grand Prior. They visited the Pope, Frederick, Philip II Augustus – and finally Henry. The emissaries reached Reading. As credentials they brought the keys of the Tower of David and the Kingdom’s royal standard. According to some English chroniclers, they offered the Kingdom itself to Henry. The incident is hard to analyse. To plead for protection was to offer the power that would make such protection effective. Did that call for the Kingdom itself? The apparent offer of keys and standard may have been misread; for the ambassadors were reworking a performance already presented to Philip of France. (One French chronicler later derides Heraclius: he was offering the keys to any prince he met.) But the Kingdom of Jerusalem was in desperate straits; and behind the pageant may have lain hopes for the subtlest solution of all: to side-step Jerusalem’s factions; and instead to secure one – any one – of Europe’s leaders as king. How strange, to entrust any such delicate mission to the buffoonish Patriarch of myth.
The story offered welcome ammunition to Henry II’s enemies. Gerald of Wales, bitterly opposed to the Angevins, sees here the turning-point in Henry’s reign: the king failed to rise to this one supreme test; from then on his own and his sons’ adventures faced ruin. Gerald inherited the topos from an old story with a quite different cast. His new version gave Heraclius a starring role. The Patriarch confronted Henry, Gerald tells us, at Heraclius’ departure from Dover. Here is the king’s last chance. ‘Though all the men of my land,’ said the king, ‘were one body and spoke with one mouth, they would not dare speak to me as you have done.’ ‘Do by me,’ replied Heraclius, ‘as you did by that blessed man Thomas of Canterbury. I had rather be slain by you than by the Saracen, for you are worse than any Saracen.’ ‘I may not leave my land, for my own sons will surely rise against me in my absence.’ ‘No wonder, for from the devil they come and to the devil they shall go.’
Gerald’s Heraclius was no coward, and no fool. ‘That blessed man Thomas of Canterbury’ had been killed in 1170. The penance of the four knights who killed him was to serve with the Templars for fourteen years. Henry himself promised to pay for two hundred Templar knights for a year; and in 1172 he undertook to take the Cross himself. Thirteen years had passed. Henry was growing old. Such a vow, undischarged, threatened his immortal soul – as both Heraclius and he knew well. Henry must tread carefully. He summoned a Great Council at Clerkenwell. Surrounded by his advisers, he gave Heraclius his answer: ‘for the good of his realm and the salvation of his own soul’ he declared that he must stay in England. He would provide money instead. Heraclius was unimpressed: ‘We seek a man even without money – but not money without a man.’ Virum appetimus qui pecunia indigeat, non pecuniam quae viro.
***
Our church’s consecration was deep within the diplomatic labyrinth at whose centre lay the future of Jerusalem. The Templars had come a long way. The Order was founded in 1118-9 by a knight of Champagne, Hugh of Payns, who led a group of his fellow-knights in vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. At their foundation they were deeply suspect: it was unnatural for one man to be soldier and monk together. A handful of such ambivalent knights had little chance, it might seem, of attracting support. In the twelfth century the significance of their seal was well known: Matthew Paris, monk of St Albans, explained that the two knights on one horse recalled their lack of horses and poor beginnings.
In Champagne and Burgundy lay the Order’s origin and the seed of its success. Over the course of fifty years a star-burst of spiritual energy illumined all of Europe; and its centre lay in a small area of eastern France. Hugh’s town of Payns was near Troyes, the local city of one Robert, who became a Cluniac monk. In 1075 this Robert, already an abbot, left his monastery with a group of hermits to found a new house: at Molesme. The list of those influenced by Robert and his houses reads as a roll-call of Europe’s spiritual leaders. There was Bruno, who lived briefly as a hermit near Molesme before establishing the most ascetic of all houses, La Grande Chartreuse; Bruno had already been master to Odo, who later became Pope Urban II and preached the First Crusade. When Robert moved again, in search of a yet more rigorous life, he took with him Stephen Harding, later Archbishop of Canterbury. They set up their house at Citeaux.
Harding would in time become abbot. The rigour of the house made it few friends among the local nobility. Its future was uncertain. And then arrived as remarkable a monk as any of that remarkable age: Bernard. He spent three years at Citeaux before a local lord, Hugh Count of Champagne, gave him in 1116 an area of inhospitable woodland well to the north, back in the neighbourhood of Payns. It was known as the Valley of Gall. Bernard gave it a new name: Clairvaux, the Valley of Light.
Bernard secured single-handed the Templars’ future. Hugh of Champagne became a Templar; so did Bernard’s own uncle Andrew. The Templars’ constitution, the Rule, shows all the marks of Bernard’s influence; at the Council of Troyes in 1129 he spoke up for the Order; and, most influential support of all, at the repeated request of Hugh of Payns Bernard wrote In Praise of the New Knighthood.
The New Knighthood’s first half is well-known: in a text advising and praising and warning the knights, Bernard speaks as well to their critics. He is under no illusions: Europe was as glad to be rid of these warring knights as the Holy Land (in Bernard’s eyes) was glad to see them; their army could be a force for good – or for lawless violence. In the tract’s second half Bernard turns to the Holy Land and to Jerusalem itself. Here was his sharpest spur to the pilgrims’ understanding and to the Templars’ own.
Bernard reads Jerusalem itself like a book. In the tradition of Cassian’s fourfold reading of scripture, dominant throughout the Middle Ages, Bernard saw beneath the appearance of the city’s famous sites a far more important spiritual meaning. The land itself invited such a reading:- Bethlehem, ‘house of bread’, was the town where the living bread was first manifest. The ox and ass ate their food at the manger; we must discern there, by contrast, our spiritual food, and not chomp vainly at the Word’s ‘literal’ nourishment. Next, Nazareth, meaning ‘flower’: Bernard reminds us of those who were misled by the odour of flowers into missing the fruit.
And so to Jerusalem itself:- To descend from the Order’s headquarters on the Temple Mount across the Valley of Josaphat and up the Mount of Olives opposite, – this was itself an allegory for the dread of God’s judgement and our joy at receiving his mercy. The House of Martha, Mary and Lazarus offers a moral: the virtue of obedience and the fruits of penance. And above all: in the Holy Sepulchre itself the knight should be raised up to thoughts of Christ’s death and of the freedom from death that it had won for his people: ‘The death of Christ is the death of my death.’ Bernard draws on Paul’s famous account of baptism, and finds in the pilgrims’ weariness the process of their necessary ‘dying’: ‘For we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, so we shall be also in the likeness of the resurrection. How sweet it is for pilgrims after the great weariness of a long journey, after so many dangers of land and sea, there to rest at last where they know their Lord has rested!’
***
The Temple Church is now famous as a backwater, a welcome place of calm. The tides of history have shifted; their currents have dug deep channels far from our own Round Church. It was not always so. The effigies of the Marshal and his sons bear telling witness to the Temple’s role in the court’s and nation’s life. In the 16th century the chronicler Stow described the Templars’ seal. The story of their poverty was by then forgotten or incredible. Stow saw rather an emblem of Charity: a knight on horseback takes a fellow Christian out of danger. Perhaps there had always been romance in that picture of knights sharing a horse. The Order’s Rule, after all, allowed each knight three horses and a squire.
The effigies testify as well to a rich ‘reading’ of Jerusalem. The New Knighthood is double-edged: all that Bernard writes in praise of Jerusalem frees the faithful from the need to travel there: it is the spiritual sense of the city that matters – a sense as readily grasped at home. To find ‘Jerusalem’, as Bernard would have it, the faithful should rather come to Clairvaux, and not just on pilgrimage. So resolute a reading was hard to sustain. Bernard might detach Jerusalem from the benefits its contemplation could bring; but those around him sooner attached Jerusalem’s blessings to such places as fostered its contemplation.
Our effigies seem to us frozen in stone, their figures forever poised to fight battles that ended 700 years ago. But these knights’ eyes are open. They are all portrayed in their early thirties, the age at which Christ died and at which the dead will rise on his return. The effigies are not memorials of what has long since been and gone; they speak of what is yet to come, of these once and future knights who are poised to hear Christ’s summons and to spring again to war.
By 1145 the Templars themselves wore white robes with red crosses. White was linked with more than purity. In the Book of Revelation the martyrs of Christ, clad in white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7.14), are those who will be called to life at the ‘first resurrection’. For a millennium they will reign with Christ; at its end Satan will lead all the nations of the earth against ‘the beloved city’ (Rev 20.9). The final battle will be in Jerusalem. Our knights have good reason to draw their swords. For buried in ‘Jerusalem’, in Jerusalem they shall rise to join the Templars in the martyrs’ white and red. Here in the Temple, in our replica of the Sepulchre itself, the knights are waiting for their call to life, to arms and to the last, climactic defence of their most sacred place on earth.
Little more than fifty years after the consecration of the chancel, the Templars fell on evil times. The Holy Land was recaptured by the Saracens and so their work came to an end. The wealth they had accumulated made them the target of envious enemies, and in 1307, at the instigation of Philip IV King of France, the Order was abolished by the Pope. The papal decree was obeyed in England and King Edward II took control of the London Temple.
Eventually he gave it to the Order of St John – the Knights Hospitaller – who had always worked with the Templars. At the time, the lawyers were looking for a home in London in order to attend the royal courts in Westminster. So the Temple was rented to two colleges of lawyers, who came to be identified as the Inner and Middle Temples. The two colleges shared the use of the church. In this way, the Temple Church became the “college chapel” of those two societies and continues to be maintained by them to the present day.
It was King Henry VIII who brought about the next change in the church. In 1540 he abolished the Hospitallers and confiscated their property. The Temple again belonged to the Crown. It was then for Henry to provide a priest for the church, to whom he gave the title ‘Master of the Temple’.
‘Be of good comfort,’ said Hooker: ‘we have to do with a merciful God, rather to make the best of that little which we hold well; and not with a captious sophister who gathers the worst out of every thing in which we err.’
Richard Hooker was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585. England was in alarm. The threat from Catholic Europe had revived: there had been rebellion against the Queen and Settlement in 1569; in 1570 the Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth and declared her subjects free from their allegiance; Mary Queen of Scots was linked with ever further conspiracy against her cousin; and the danger of Spanish invasion was growing.
England’s radical reformers were convinced: England’s only hope of spiritual and political safety lay in the example of Calvin’s godly state, Geneva. The ‘head and neck’ of English Calvinism were Thomas Cartwright and Walter Travers. Since 1581 Travers had been the Reader (lecturer) of the Temple. In 1584 the Privy Council ordered the Inner Temple to continue his stipend ‘for his public labours and pains taken against the common adversaries, impugners of the state and the authorities under her Majesty’s gracious government.’ Hooker and Travers were to be colleagues. Their differences soon became clear. To recover the purity of the primitive church, Travers would be rid of all that intervened and would forge the English church anew. Hooker was steeped in classical and medieval thought; saw the roots of his own (and Travers’) understanding in Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas and Calvin himself; and acknowledged –even valued – the differences to which such a rich tradition could give rise: ‘Be it that Peter has one interpretation, and Apollos has another; that Paul is of this mind, and Barnabas of that. If this offend you, the fault is yours.’ As then, so now: ‘Carry peaceable minds, and you may have comfort by this variety.’ When Hooker carefully and bravely explored the possibility that individual Catholics could be saved, the scene was set for the most famous public debated of the day. ‘Surely I must confess unto you,’ said Hooker: ‘if it be an error to think that God may be merciful to save men, even when they err, my greatest comfort is my error. Were it not for the love I bear unto this “error”, I would neither wish to speak nor to live.’
We hear of Hooker’s preaching at the Temple: ‘his voice was low, stature little, gesture none at all, standing stone still in the pulpit, as if the posture of his body were the emblem of his mind, immovable in his opinions. Where his eye was left fixed at the beginning, it was found fixed at the end of the sermon. …The doctrine he delivered had nothing but itself to garnish it.’ Travers, by contrast, was a natural orator, and he was himself a distinguished thinker; he later became the first Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. Hooker held his ground and deepened his reasoning. It was to disclose and offer the comfort of faith that he spoke: ‘Have the sons of God a father careless whether they sink or swim?’ The Temple sermons that survive stress the simple conditions of salvation: ‘Infidelity, extreme despair, hatred of God and all godliness, obduration in sin – cannot stand where there is the least spark of faith, hope, love or sanctity; even as cold in the lowest degree cannot be where heat in the first degree is found.’
The debate was brought to an end by Archbishop Whitgift: In March 1586 Travers was forbidden to preach. In 1591 Hooker resigned, and was appointed vicar of Bishopsbourne in Kent. Here he developed his thought in his masterpiece, Ecclesiastical Polity, the foundational – and still, perhaps, the most important – exploration of doctrine in the history of the Anglican church. Hooker elaborated a theory of law based on the ‘absolute’ fundamental of natural law: this is the expression of God’s supreme reason and governs all civil and ecclesiastical polity. ‘Of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world: all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power: both angels and men and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy.’ Hooker’s influence has pervaded English thought ever since. He was admired by Laud and by the puritan Baxter, extolled by the Restoration bishops, and brought once more to prominence by Keble and the Oxford Movement; he has now been rediscovered (in a recent monograph by Richard Atkinson) within the modern evangelical church. His reach has extended far beyond theologians. Ecclesiastical Polity was the starting-point for Clarendon’s History and seminal for Locke’s philosophy; its self-critical balance touched Andrew Marvell; and Samuel Pepys read it at the recommendation of a friend who declared it ‘the best book, and the only one that made him a Christian.’
THE BATTLE OF THE PULPIT
In 1585 the Master of the Temple, Richard Alvey, died. His deputy – the Reader, Walter Travers – expected to be promoted, but Queen Elizabeth I and her advisers regarded his views as too Calvinist, and Travers was passed over.
Instead a new Master, Richard Hooker, was appointed from Exeter College, Oxford. On Hooker’s arrival, a unique situation arose. Each Sunday morning he would preach his sermon; each Sunday afternoon Travers would contradict him. People came to call it the Battle of the Pulpit, saying mischievously that Canterbury was preached in the morning and Geneva in the afternoon. There was a lasting result of all this: Hooker published his teaching as Ecclesiastical Polity and came to be recognised as the founding father of Anglican theology.
By the end of the 16th century, the two Inns of Court had erected many fine buildings at the Temple, yet their position as tenants was not a secure one. In order to protect what they had built up from any future whims of the Crown, they petitioned King James I for a more satisfactory arrangement. On 13 August 1608 the King granted the two Inns a Royal Charter giving them use of the Temple in perpetuity.
One condition of this was that the Inns must maintain the church. The Temple and the church are still governed by that charter. In gratitude, the Inns gave King James a fine gold cup. Some years later, in the Civil war, his son Charles I needed funds to keep his army in the field. The cup was sold in Holland and has never been traced.
In February 1683, the treasurers of the two Societies of the Temple commissioned an organ from each of the two leading organ builders of the time, Bernhard Smith (1630-1708) and Renatus Harris (1652-1708). The organs were to be installed in the halls of the Middle and Inner Temple, to enable them to be played and judged. Smith was annoyed to discover that Harris was also invited to compete for the contract; he was under the impression that the job had already been offered to him. Smith petitioned the treasurers and won permission to erect his instrument in the church instead of in one of the halls. It was set on a screen which divided the round from the quire. This advantage was short-lived as Harris sought and obtained approval to place his organ at the opposite end of the church, to the south side of the communion table. It is thought that both organs were completed by May 1684.
Harris and Smith engaged the finest organists to show off their respective instruments and were put to great expense as the competition intensified and each instrument became more.
In 1841 the church was again restored, by Smirke and Burton, the walls and ceiling being decorated in the high Victorian Gothic style. The object of this was to bring the church back to its original appearance, for it would have been brightly decorated like this when first built. Nothing of the work remains, however, for it was destroyed by fire bombs exactly a century after its completion. After the Victorian restoration, a choir of men and boys was introduced for the first time. The first organist and choirmaster was Dr Edward John Hopkins who remained in this post for over 50 years, 1843-96, establishing the Temple Church choir as one of the finest in London, a city of fine choirs. This tradition of high-quality music was maintained by Hopkins’ well-known successor, Henry Walford Davies, who stayed until 1923.
In 1923 Dr GT Thalben-Ball was appointed organist and choirmaster. This musician, later world- renowned, was to serve the church even longer than his predecessor, John Hopkins, retiring in 1982 after 59 years in office. One reason for his fame was the record made in 1927 of Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer by Thalben-Ball and the boy soloist Ernest Lough. The recording became world-famous and brought visitors to the church from all parts of the globe.
In 1941 on the night of 10 May, when Nazi air raids on London were at their height, the church was badly damaged by incendiary bombs. The roof of the round church burned first and the wind soon spread the blaze to the nave and choir. The organ was completely destroyed, together with all the wood in the church. Restoration took a long time to complete. The choir, containing a new organ given by Lord Glentannar, was the first area of the church to be rededicated in March 1954. By a stroke of good fortune the architects, Walter and Emil Godfrey, were able to use the reredos designed by Wren for his 17th-century restoration. Removed by Smirke and Burton in 1841, it had spent over a century in the Bowes Museum, County Durham, and was now re-installed in its original position. The round church was rededicated in November 1958.
Probably the most notable feature of today’s church is the east window. This was a gift from the Glaziers’ Company in 1954 to replace that destroyed in the war. It was designed by Carl Edwards and illustrates Jesus’ connection with the Temple at Jerusalem. In one panel we see him talking with the learned teachers there, in another driving out the money-changers. The window also depicts some of the personalities associated with Temple Church over the centuries, including Henry II, Henry III and several of the medieval Masters of the Temple.
Inspired by one of my favorite Flickr photographers: www.flickr.com/photos/je_est_un_autre/2519152913/in/set-7...
The exhibition "Understanding AI" shows how neural networks are structured and offers visitors the opportunity to train neural networks themselveswith via interactive stations.
Credit: Ars Electronica / Robert Bauernhansl
Understanding and Meeting the Needs of LGBT Elders
April 28, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:30pm
To watch the event, click here: www.americanprogressaction.org/events/2010/04/LGBTElders....
We need to address lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender inequality and implement change to ensure that, "we will all be able to live out our final years surrounded by the people we love in exactly the way we choose," Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told attendees at a CAP Action event yesterday.
Baldwin was joined at the event, "Understanding and Meeting the Needs of LGBT Elders," by a panel of experts that included Michael Adams, executive director of Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders; Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project; and Percil Stanford, chief diversity officer at the American Association of Retired Persons. Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at CAP Action Jessica Arons gave introductory remarks and CAP Action Senior Vice President for External Affairs Winnie Stachelberg gave introductory remarks and moderated.
The event centered around research and recommendations detailed in a new report, "Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults," which was released in March 2010 by SAGE and MAP in partnership with the American Society on Aging, the Center for American Progress, and the National Senior Citizens Law Center.
"The LGBT movement today is focused on our headline issues" such as repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell," working toward marriage equality, and passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Stachelberg said. But there are many more important issues that need urgent attention, such as LGBT elders. A "lack of full LGBT equality has real impact on real people's lives" and LGBT elders in particular face "challenges and obstacles that their straight peers do not" due to a lack of relationship recognition and employment benefits, she said.
All older adults face challenges as they age, but LGBT elders' lives are made even more difficult due to legal inequalities, as well as "homophobia and a hostile health care system" that amounts to institutional discrimination, Baldwin said.
To paint a clearer picture of "inequality in the eyes of the law," she cited the example of Harold and Clay, an older gay couple who lived in Sonoma County, California together for more than 25 years. They outlined their relationship in their wills and powers of attorney, but when Harold was injured and admitted to a nursing home, Clay was not allowed to visit him or take control of his partner's estate. Local authorities referred to them as roommates instead of partners, auctioned off their belongings, and Clay spent the next four months unable to visit his dying partner.
"The cruelty of these cases is unconscionable...but we can and we must take steps to make sure" this type of injustice does not continue, Baldwin said. The way to bring public attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders is by "putting a face on the issues we talk about...these are real people," she said. It is important for policymakers to hear these stories and know it is a human injustice.
But real stories are not enough. "We need a voice, and we need visibility to tell our stories. But we also need data," Baldwin said. If you cannot prove inequality or discrimination through statistical data, it is impossible to successfully argue that change is needed and pinpoint the specific fixes that would help the most. Questions about sexual orientation and gender identity must be added to general government health surveys to overcome this problem.
Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, also known as DOMA, will give equal access to federally provided health and income benefits, Baldwin said. She also wants reforms that will put these Americans on an equal footing with their heterosexual counterparts, stressing that "discrimination will not be tolerated."
Patients in the healthcare system must be treated with dignity and respect. Staff at nursing homes, hospitals, and other health care facilities need to be educated about LGBT issues and trained to provide this population with the same level of care afforded to others.
Short of fully repealing DOMA and enacting marriage rights for gay couples, federal programs such as Medicaid and Social Security could be amended to include same-sex couples. These couples currently receive 24 percent less in annual Social Security benefits than their heterosexual married counterparts, despite the fact that gay couples pay into the system at the same rate as straight couples.
"The time to address these issues is now," Adams said. The Baby Boomer generation is starting to enter their senior years and this is the first generation to have lived openly LGBT lives. They are also two times as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to be single and four times less likely to have children, which reduces the chance that they have someone who can help care for them in their later years. Those who do have close family members are also in a bind, because their families are often not legally recognized. Our current laws do not provide any protections to these families of choice, and are instead based upon the presumption of heterosexual marriage.
Cumulatively, these challenges negatively impact LGBT seniors' financial security, health and wellbeing, and social and community connections.
The report offers a host of recommendations to minimize or eliminate these negative outcomes, Adams said. One approach is to create a legislative model that includes "permanent partner" benefits in Social Security, Medicaid, family medical leave, hospital visitation, inheritance laws and estate taxes, and other policies. Congress should also pass nondiscrimination laws that include public accommodations—which include nursing homes and hospitals—and should work with health care providers on nondiscriminatory policies and cultural competency training.
Making sure that LGBT elders have healthy, secure, and rewarding lives requires reaching out to the mainstream aging community. The AARP has taken in a lead in this area, as Stanford described in his remarks. "What we do, we do for all," he said. He further said that, "as an organization, we're certainly committed to social change" and we "cannot afford to segregate based on color, sexual orientation, gender identity" or anything else.
Keynote speaker:
Rep. Tammy Baldwin, (D-WI)
Featured panelists:
Michael Adams, Executive Director, Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders
Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director, Movement Advancement Project
Percil Stanford, Chief Diversity Officer, American Association of Retired Persons
Moderated by:
Winnie Stachelberg, Senior Vice President for External Affairs, Center for American Progress Action Fund
For Tony's group Funny Face Friday
So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
~ Nick Lowe
"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
Albert Einstein
Heading out on vacation, see you soon; have a great week!
Stanislas de Guaita (6 April 1861, Tarquimpol, Moselle – 19 December 1897, Tarquimpol) was a French poet based in Paris, an expert on esotericism and European mysticism, and an active member of the Rosicrucian Order. He was very celebrated and successful in his time. He had many disputes with other people who were involved with occultism and magic. Occultism and magic were part of his novels.
Early life
De Guaita came from a noble Italian family who had relocated to France, and as such his title was 'Marquis', or Marquess. He was born in the castle of Alteville in the commune of Tarquimpol, Moselle, and went to school at the lyceum in Nancy, where he studied chemistry, metaphysics and Cabala.[1] As a young man, he moved to Paris, and his luxurious apartment became a meeting place for poets, artists, and writers who were interested in esotericism and mysticism. In the 1880s, Guaita published two collections of poetry The Dark Muse (1883) and The Mystic Rose (1885), which became popular.
Rosicrucian activities
De Guaita's drawings of the upright and inverted pentagrams, representing Spirit over matter (holiness) and matter over Spirit (evil), respectively, from his book La Clef de la Magie Noire, in 1897.
De Guaita was influenced by the writings of l'Abbé Alphonse-Louis Constant, alias Eliphas Lévi, a prominent French occultist who was initiated in London to rosicrucianism by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1854.[2] Eliphas Lévi was also initiated as a Freemason on 14 March 1861 in the Grand Orient de France Lodge La Rose du Parfait Silence at the Orient of Paris. De Guaita became further interested in occultism after reading a novel by Joséphin Péladan which was interwoven with Rosicrucian and occult themes. In Paris, de Guaita and Péladan became acquainted, and in 1884, the two decided to try to rebuild the Rosicrucian Brotherhood.[2] They recruited Gérard Encausse to help rebuild the brotherhood. Encausse, who went by the pseudonym “Papus”, was a Spanish-born French physician and occultist who had written books on magic, Cabalah and the Tarot.
In 1888, De Guaita founded the Ordre kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix, or the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross. Rosicrucianism is an esoteric movement which first began with the publication of the three Rosicrucian Manifestos in the early 17th century. Guaita's Rosicrucian Order provided training in the Cabala, an esoteric form of Jewish and Christian mysticism, which attempts to reveal hidden mystical insights in the Bible and divine nature.[1] The order also conducted examinations and provided university degrees on Cabala topics. Guaita had a large private library of books on metaphysical issues, magic, and the "hidden sciences." He was nicknamed the "Prince of the Rosicrucians" by his contemporaries for his broad learning on Rosicrucian issues. Papus, Peladan, and Antoine de La Rochefoucauld were prominent members. Maurice Barrès was a close friend of De Guaita.
In the late 1880s, the Abbé Boullan, a defrocked Catholic Priest and the head of a schismatic branch called the “Church of the Carmel” led a “magical war” against de Guaita. French-Belgian novelist Joris K. Huysmans, a supporter of Boullan, portrayed De Guaita as a Satanic sorcerer in the novel La Bas. Another of Boullan’s supporters, the writer Jules Bois, challenged De Guaita to a pistol duel. De Guaita agreed and took part in the duel, but as both men missed, no one was hurt.
By the 1890s, De Guaita's, Papus' and Péladan’s collaboration became increasingly strained by disagreements over strategy and doctrines. Guaita and Papus lost the support of Péladan, who left to start a competing order. It is in the writings of his friend and childhood roommate Péladan that Stanislas de Guaïta found his first entry into the world of Tradition. Subsequently, reading the work of Eliphas Lévi, of which he would henceforth become the commentator and theorist, initiated him into Christian mysticism; Fabre d'Olivet directs him towards the great mysteries in general and towards the Hebrew language; and Saint-Yves d'Alveydre initiated him into the Synarchy. He joined the very recent Martinist Order of his friend Papus, then a medical student, whose pseudonym he mocked.
In light of all these influences, Guaita advocates a spiritualism exalting the Christian Tradition, which, thanks to the possible establishment of synarchy – an ideal form of government – should lead to the advent of the kingdom of God. In 1888, in the same spirit, he founded with Péladan the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix, of which Papus immediately joined, Erik Satie and the artists' banker, Olivier Dubs also joined. Peladan then separated from it to found another order: the Catholic Rosicrucians, alleging its refusal of operative magic. In 1887, in collaboration with his secretary and friend Oswald Wirth, he created a Kabbalistic Tarot which is reproduced in the Tarot des Bohemiens by Papus3.
In 1893, the Order of Guaita was attacked by Huysmans, who accused it of bewitching the defrocked Lyon abbot Joseph-Antoine Boullan from a distance. Duels ensue; Huysmans and Jules Bois oppose Papus and Guaita.
Stanislas is still this young poet less fascinated by Baudelairian taste than by the perfect aesthetic of Parnassus by Leconte Delisle and Mallarmé. Moreover, Alain Mercier4, will confirm that Guaita poet “by his classicism of form and writing, is closer to the Parnassians than to the Symbolists. Thus there were two distinct beings in him: the aristocratic and generous hermetic on the one hand, the tormented poet worried about artifice on the other. It was the writer Mendès who encouraged him to read Éliphas Lévi. His original drawing of an inverted pentagram with a goat's head appeared in La Clef de la Magie Noire (The Key to Black Magic), published the year he died. It later became conflated with Baphomet, or the Sabbatic Goat.
He died on December 19, 1897, at the age of 36, in Alteville. He is buried in Tarquimpol7,8. The causes of his early death were explained by kidney problems or drug use. Regarding drugs, he wrote:
“Coca, like hashish, but in other ways, exerts a direct and powerful action on the astral body; its customary use unties, in man, certain compressive links of his hyperphysical nature – links whose persistence is for the greatest number a guarantee of salvation. If I spoke without hesitation on this point, I would encounter unbelievers, even among occultists. I must confine myself to advice. — You who value your life, your reason, the health of your soul, avoid hypodermic injections of cocaine like the plague. Without speaking of the habit which is created very quickly (even more imperative, more tenacious and more fatal a hundred times than any other of the same kind), a particular state has taken birth. »
His rich library, made up of works, parchments, alchemical treatises and grimoires dating back to time immemorial, was dispersed during several sales in Paris, in 1899 (Dorbon - René Philippon), and in 1968 (Drouot ) and 2014 (Piasa).
Stanislas de Guaita seen by his contemporaries
“He spent five months of the year in a small ground floor on Avenue Trudaine, where he only received a few occultists, and from which he sometimes did not leave for weeks. There he had amassed a whole strange and precious library, Latin texts from the Middle Ages, old grimoires loaded with pentacles, parchments illuminated with miniatures, alchemy treatises, the most esteemed editions of Van Helmont, Paracelsus, Raymond Lulle , Saint-Martin, Martinès de Pasqually, Corneille Agrippa, Pierre de Lancre, Knorr de Rosenroth, manuscripts by Eliphas, bindings signed Derome, Capé, Trautz-Bauzonnet, Chambolle-Duru, works of contemporary science. » (Maurice Barrès, A renovator of occultism: Stanislas de Guaita, Chamuel, 1898, p. 29)
“Starting from Eliphas Lévi, he went back to the Kabbalists of the Renaissance and the Hermetic Philosophers of the Middle Ages, reading everything and understanding everything with prodigious ease. The most obscure texts became illuminated as soon as he projected the clarity of his solar spirit onto them. He played with metaphysical problems and I was far from being able to follow him..." (Oswald Wirth, Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Âge, Émile Nourry, Paris, 1927.)
“He was very rich, and had devoted himself to occult sciences without knowledge or method. He only saw the picturesque side of it, like Rembrandt, like Téniers, like Jordaëns. Dressed in a red robe, sword in hand, in a setting that Breughel would not have disavowed, he evoked fantasies and dissolved larvae. The truth is that, saturated with morphine and alcohol, he really believed he saw animals climbing along his limbs, and specters moving stubbornly before his eyes. » (Michel de Lézinier, With Huysmans - Promenades et souvenirs, Paris, Delpeuch, 1928.)