בן־אדם

If we are to take the generic translation of בן־אדם from the Aramaic/Hebrew texts, we basically have “someone”, in particular the son of someone with the not-so-subtle inference (again and again) that the son is actually lesser than the father. Given that ישוע was a carpenter, isn’t it a perversion that we deified a person whose Word was that anyone has the power to heal or to forgive his fellow man, in particular him/herself? Isn’t that perversion THE original sin and not the pursuit of knowledge and truth, the latter which is what some satanic scribes have twisted the Word into, by creating an inscrutable virulent manipulative hermetic taboo guarded by a self-appointed superfluous wedge of indulgence mystical peddlers that still pollutes and scars impressionable minds thousands of years later?

It is quite interesting, although hardly surprising giving the universality of human nature, that a similar process happened to बुद्ध. The man was showing us the way, which is that we only need some introspection to reach self-fulfillment, yet we built and still build the guy shrines and statues, peddle amulets in his name, muddling his simple message and building a stultifying hierarchy of hurdles to make the ascension unnecessarily sisyphian while pretending we have not corrupted his message by deifying him?

Sometimes I wonder why we subject our spirit to such self-mutilation, clinging with desperation to such perverted idolatry. It can not be the promise of Heaven, because in our deepest hearts we know that we are selfish, mesquin beings that rarely measure up to the standard we pretend to uphold. It can not be the torment of Hell, because that would be a too-sad-and-pathetic life to always live in fear of, always running from the unavoidable self-fulfilling fate of the flawed human beings that we made ourselves to believe we are.

Could it be the liberating promise of accepting ישוע as a personal savior? But what does that mean? That we convince ourselves that we are guilty of something that is mostly just our deepest fears, thoughts and angst against Chaos? Isn’t transubstantiation just a viral operating system takeover that results in us relinquishing control, thus scuttling liability as well, absolving ourselves from all our transgressions by simply reassigning the little voice in our head to someone else (יְהֹוָה ,ישוע, الله‎, מַלְאַךְ ,נשמה‎, סטנא) instead of taking full responsibility for all our deeds?

But the real reasons for this millennial self-flagellation couldn’t be just Stockholm syndrome and insipid cowardly me-tooism, could it?

Faith

Johann Hari blasts:

All people deserve respect, but not all ideas do. I don’t respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead. I don’t respect the idea that we should follow a “Prophet” who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn’t follow him.

I don’t respect the idea that the West Bank was handed to Jews by God and the Palestinians should be bombed or bullied into surrendering it. I don’t respect the idea that we may have lived before as goats, and could live again as woodlice.

He does not stop there:

By definition, if you have faith, you are choosing to believe in the absence of evidence. Nobody has “faith” that fire hurts, or Australia exists; they know it, based on proof. But it is psychologically painful to be confronted with the fact that your core beliefs are based on thin air, or on the empty shells of revelation or contorted parodies of reason. It’s easier to demand the source of the pesky doubt be silenced.

But a free society cannot be structured to soothe the hardcore faithful. It is based on a deal. You have an absolute right to voice your beliefs – but the price is that I too have a right to respond as I wish. Neither of us can set aside the rules and demand to be protected from offence.

Amen, brother!

God is taking voicemails in Nederlands for six months

Meneer Van Der Dong has designated himself a concierge for God. So, I called. First, I had to turn on my cell which just recharged (after it cut out midstream a conversation with mom). Then, I used our virtual LD phone card to call his voicemail (from US/Canada: 011-31-6-44244901). Unfortunately, I misdialed on my first attempt by using the first zero in the phone number published by Mr vd Dong. The virtual LD phone assistant said that I have over 500 minutes and then another computerized voice simply said something to the effect that the number can’t be connected as dialed. The dark side is strong…

On my second attempt, I got through after being reminded that I have only 45 minutes of airtime, then I heard the phone ring on the other end and I got a little excited. After about four rings, someone picked up and said something I did not understand one iota of. Must’ve been Dutch, but could have been Aramaic for all I know. Such a pity. It did sound like the guy was sincere and was attempting to communicate. Oh well… It seems that I only spent 39c in my valiant attempt to talk to the κοσμοκράτορα… Maybe another time…

Proxy of a proxy of a proxy of a proxy of a proxy of a proxy of a proxy

Soon there is gonna be a knock on that door and you will be called outside in the hall, there will be a man who outranks you. First, he will complement you on the fine job you have done and you are making the world safer place that you are to receive commendation and a promotion and then, he is going to tell you that I am to be released. You’re gonna protest. You’ll probably threaten to resign but in the end, I will be released.

The reason I will be released is the same reason you think I’ll be convicted. I do rub shoulders some of the most vile sadistic man, calling themselves leaders today but some of those men, are the enemies of your enemies while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss the President of United States who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year sometimes it is embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can’t be seen supplying. So? You call me evil, but unfortunately for you I am a necessary evil.

Lord of War Yuri Orlov retort to law-enforcement officer who thinks just pinned the tail on the donkey after years of investigating him.

Reality Space Invaders and RubikCubism art

Q: What do you get when you combine Rubik+Kubrick, Space Invaders+street art+reality game, or all of the above?
A: Another wonderful art mutation.

Religion

Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion. Indulge them in any other subject rather than that of religion. It is too important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. On the other hand, shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. You will naturally examine first, the religion of your own country. Read the Bible, then as you would read Livy or Tacitus. The facts which are within the ordinary course of nature, you will believe on the authority of the writer, as you do those of the same kind in Livy & Tacitus. The testimony of the writer weighs in their favor, in one scale, and their not being against the laws of nature, does not weigh against them. But those facts in the Bible which contradict the laws of nature, must be examined with more care, and under a variety of faces. Here you must recur to the pretensions of the writer to inspiration from God. Examine upon what evidence his pretensions are founded, and whether that evidence is so strong, as that its falsehood would be more improbable than a change in the laws of nature, in the case he relates. For example, in the book of Joshua, we are told, the sun stood still several hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus, we should class it with their showers of blood, speaking of statues, beasts, &c. But it is said, that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly, what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand, you are astronomer enough to know how contrary it is to the law of nature that a body revolving on its axis, as the earth does, should have stopped, should not, by that sudden stoppage, have prostrated animals, trees, buildings, and should after a certain time gave resumed its revolution, & that without a second general prostration. Is this arrest of the earth’s motion, or the evidence which affirms it, most within the law of probabilities? You will next read the New Testament. It is the history of a personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions: 1, of those who say he was begotten by God, born of a virgin, suspended & reversed the laws of nature at will, & ascended bodily into heaven; and 2, of those who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition, by being gibbeted, according to the Roman law, which punished the first commission of that offence by whipping, & the second by exile, or death in fureâ. See this law in the Digest Lib. 48. tit. 19. §. 28. 3. & Lipsius Lib 2. de cruce. cap. 2. These questions are examined in the books I have mentioned under the head of religion, & several others. They will assist you in your inquiries, but keep your reason firmly on the watch in reading them all.

Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you. If you find reason to believe there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under his eye, & that he approves you, will be a vast additional incitement; if that there be a future state, the hope of a happy existence in that increases the appetite to deserve it; if that Jesus was also a God, you will be comforted by a belief of his aid and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision. I forgot to observe, when speaking of the New Testament, that you should read all the histories of Christ, as well of those whom a council of ecclesiastics have decided for us, to be Pseudo-evangelists, as those they named Evangelists. Because these Pseudo-evangelists pretended to inspiration, as much as the others, and you are to judge their pretensions by your own reason, and not by the reason of those ecclesiastics. Most of these are lost. There are some, however, still extant, collected by Fabricius, which I will endeavor to get & send you.

Jefferson’s letter to his nephew, from Paris, August 10, 1787

Powder aka Princess Chunk: 44-lb tomcat

FOX News reported that:

About 500 people applied to adopt the 10-year-old cat found lumbering around Voorhees, New Jersey, after his owner lost her home to foreclosure.
[...]
The cat’s new family is a couple with a teenage child. [...] They are building a castle to go over Prince Chunk’s litter box.
[...]
Thousands of people from as far away as London and California called to inquire about adopting the cat, Harr said. Unfortunately, she said no one who contacted the shelter was interested in adopting any of the more than 200 other cats and kittens in the shelter’s care.

The shelter had to euthanize about 1,000 unwanted cats last year, about a third of the cats it took in, she said.