Thursday, January 31, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
So You've Decided to Secede
Because your new nation-state is going to need administrative forms and stationary of all kinds (including passport, copyright, and patent applications; including blank forms for proclamations, resolutions, and appointments) consider seceding on a Friday afternoon*. That way fleeing rebel bureaucrats have the weekend to pilfer enough office supplies from the old government to get your new government off the ground.
*The attack on Fort Sumter began on Friday April 12, 1861 and continued through the weekend.
(document from the Records of the Confederate States of America stored in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress)
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What is true is already so.
Owning up to it doesn't make it worse.
Not being open about it doesn't make it go away.
And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with.
Anything untrue isn't there to be lived.
People can stand what is true,
for they are already enduring it.
-Eugene Gendlin
Owning up to it doesn't make it worse.
Not being open about it doesn't make it go away.
And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with.
Anything untrue isn't there to be lived.
People can stand what is true,
for they are already enduring it.
-Eugene Gendlin
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Evil Inclination
The Evil Inclination is like one who runs amongst the people with his hand closed, and nobody knows what's in it. He tricks people and asks each one: What am I holding? and each person assumes that the closed hand holds something he desires very much. So everyone runs after him. Eventually he opens his hand and there is nothing there at all.
"If this lowlife, the evil inclination, meets you, drag him to the study hall" (Kiddushin 30b).
At times, the evil inclination prays within a person. The person is like a synagogue in which someone is praying.
At other times, a person is like a study hall in which the evil inclination is learning.
The superior situation is that of the study hall. Our sages said that "if [the evil inclination] is a stone, it will melt [as a result of one's learning]: if it is metal, it will explode" (Kiddushin 30b).
This is why our sages began by saying, "If this lowlife meets you." The word used here for meeting refers homilectically to prayer, as our sages pointed out (Berachot 26b). In other words, when this lowlife is praying within you, and you are only like a synagogue, drag him to the study hall, for it is better that one become like a study hall, since that is more efficacious in dealing with one's evil inclination.
"If this lowlife, the evil inclination, meets you, drag him to the study hall" (Kiddushin 30b).
At times, the evil inclination prays within a person. The person is like a synagogue in which someone is praying.
At other times, a person is like a study hall in which the evil inclination is learning.
The superior situation is that of the study hall. Our sages said that "if [the evil inclination] is a stone, it will melt [as a result of one's learning]: if it is metal, it will explode" (Kiddushin 30b).
This is why our sages began by saying, "If this lowlife meets you." The word used here for meeting refers homilectically to prayer, as our sages pointed out (Berachot 26b). In other words, when this lowlife is praying within you, and you are only like a synagogue, drag him to the study hall, for it is better that one become like a study hall, since that is more efficacious in dealing with one's evil inclination.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
John Fowles: The Prince and the Magician
Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father.
But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.
"Are those real islands?", asked the young prince.
"Of course they are real islands," said the man in evening dress.
"And those strange and troubling creatures?"
"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."
"Then God also must exist!" cried the prince.
"I am God," replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow.
The young prince hurried home as quickly as he could.
"So you are back," said his father, the king.
"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
"Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God, exist."
"I saw them!"
"Tell me how God was dressed."
"God was in full evening dress."
"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"
The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.
"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."
At this, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.
"My father, the king, has told me who you are," said the young prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled.
"It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell so you cannot see them."
The prince returned pensively home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes.
"Father is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
"Yes my son, I am only a magician."
"Then the man on the shore was God."
"The man on the shore was another magician."
"I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was full of sadness.
He said, "I will kill myself."
The king by magic caused Death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
"Very well," he said. "I can bear it."
"You see, my son," said the king, "you too now begin to be a magician."
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Nachman
On the subject of medicine and the importance of avoiding physicians completely, the Rebbe said that when a person has someone sick in his house, if someone came and told him to give the patient a blow with a big wooden club he would certainly be very shocked. Yet when one puts the patient in the hands of the doctor it is literally like handing him over to a murderer. The doctor's remedies are more harmful than the blow of a murderer. Who would want to kill the patient with his own hands? Just because you have to do something to try and save the patient does that mean you should hand him over to a doctor? You might as well call someone over to beat the patient to death. Understand this.
Editor's note: The fact that the Rebbe himself traveled to Lemberg where he received medical treatment contains deeply hidden secrets. He did not go there for the medical treatment but for other purposes known only to him. It was the same with all his journeys: they all contained awesome mysteries, as when he went to Kaminetz, Novorich, and Sharograd.
"I used to have a beautiful body. It never made demands or pushed itself forward. Now I need to be careful when I eat, and so on. I used to drink henna. The people living where the henna grows are total unbelievers. They say, "There's no law and there's no Judge". I used to take other remedies from other areas where there are different kinds of heresy. When they all came inside me, they turned into whatever they turned into."
The drugs from each place all had to come into his stomach in order for the atheism of the place to be crushed. This was true of several drugs.
Editor's note: From this it is possible to gain a little understanding why the Rebbe submitted himself to medical treatment, although there were hidden reasons, as there were behind all his actions and behaviour. But his advice to other people was very emphatically to keep away from doctors and medical treatment.
On the second night of Rosh HaShanah, after the Rebbe had given his lesson, his condition became very critical. A few people wanted to summon the doctor, however they couldn't get him to come because it was the middle of the night. The Rebbe said: "It is good to give thanks to God that the doctor didn't come." He said anyone who cared about his life should make sure not to let any doctor near him. "Even if I myself later on give instructions to bring me a doctor, I still want you to see to it you don't let any doctor come in to see me."
This is actually what happened later on, but because of our many sins we did not keep to what the Rebbe said. The day before Sukkot the Rebbe was in very serious condition, and a number or people started saying they should bring the doctor. The Rebbe himself told them to do so. I myself was completely against this, even though the people there thought the Rebbe himself was willing for the doctor to come. But I knew the truth- that he was completely opposed to it. I knew very well that he he had no desire for a doctor at all. It was just that he was forced to agree because everyone around him was saying they should bring a doctor. The Rebbe once listed several things he had done because of the pressure people had put on him, even though he himself knew they would not help at all. The same happened now with the doctor. This was why I was totally opposed to calling him. But it was impossible to prevail, especially now that the Rebbe himself seemed to be agreeing with them and his condition was so serious. Accordingly, they summoned a doctor. If only they had not, because it did not help at all. If anything, it hastened his death.
Editor's note: The fact that the Rebbe himself traveled to Lemberg where he received medical treatment contains deeply hidden secrets. He did not go there for the medical treatment but for other purposes known only to him. It was the same with all his journeys: they all contained awesome mysteries, as when he went to Kaminetz, Novorich, and Sharograd.
"I used to have a beautiful body. It never made demands or pushed itself forward. Now I need to be careful when I eat, and so on. I used to drink henna. The people living where the henna grows are total unbelievers. They say, "There's no law and there's no Judge". I used to take other remedies from other areas where there are different kinds of heresy. When they all came inside me, they turned into whatever they turned into."
The drugs from each place all had to come into his stomach in order for the atheism of the place to be crushed. This was true of several drugs.
Editor's note: From this it is possible to gain a little understanding why the Rebbe submitted himself to medical treatment, although there were hidden reasons, as there were behind all his actions and behaviour. But his advice to other people was very emphatically to keep away from doctors and medical treatment.
On the second night of Rosh HaShanah, after the Rebbe had given his lesson, his condition became very critical. A few people wanted to summon the doctor, however they couldn't get him to come because it was the middle of the night. The Rebbe said: "It is good to give thanks to God that the doctor didn't come." He said anyone who cared about his life should make sure not to let any doctor near him. "Even if I myself later on give instructions to bring me a doctor, I still want you to see to it you don't let any doctor come in to see me."
This is actually what happened later on, but because of our many sins we did not keep to what the Rebbe said. The day before Sukkot the Rebbe was in very serious condition, and a number or people started saying they should bring the doctor. The Rebbe himself told them to do so. I myself was completely against this, even though the people there thought the Rebbe himself was willing for the doctor to come. But I knew the truth- that he was completely opposed to it. I knew very well that he he had no desire for a doctor at all. It was just that he was forced to agree because everyone around him was saying they should bring a doctor. The Rebbe once listed several things he had done because of the pressure people had put on him, even though he himself knew they would not help at all. The same happened now with the doctor. This was why I was totally opposed to calling him. But it was impossible to prevail, especially now that the Rebbe himself seemed to be agreeing with them and his condition was so serious. Accordingly, they summoned a doctor. If only they had not, because it did not help at all. If anything, it hastened his death.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
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