Apech

There’s a nugget of truth in that.

If I win bigly!

The thwarting downvote always wins.

You guys are just not trying hard enough.

This is a rather self effacing life account by this English Lama - he makes light of his own achievements but is actually a great scholar and meditator. It struck me that he could easily be a DaoBum with his background. If you are in England or Europe or Cali then I would recommend seeking him out if you are interested in Tibetan Buddhism. www.dechen.org

Nungas have I ever told you how I feel about you …. ?

Define toast Define jam

@Mark Foote Hi, Yes those are interesting pics. They are from so-called 'Mythological Papyri' which were produced in 21st Dynasty Thebes as short/condensed versions of the Book of the Dead with very little text being mostly in picture form. They are very helpful for getting at the underlying patterns of meaning in Egyptian beliefs. The shape with the writing on it on the left and the object being offered to the snake are the heart symbol 'ab'. The heart was the seat of consciousness which was weighed against truth in the famous judgement scene. The text on the heart symbol on the left is Chapter 30b from the Book of the Dead - which begins 'My heart, my mother, my heart, my mother, ka in my body ...' - so the heart was a part of your being which allowed you life and 'ka' which is something like an energy body had a close relation to the heart. They were not so much talking about the physical heart but more perhaps like the heart-centre or chakra (?) which was the location for the creation of a being (hence your mother). Chapter 30b was usually carved on a stone scarab beetle symbol - the link being the scarab beetle god Khepera 'stood' on his own heart in order to create the cosmos. So there is a strong link between th eheart and Khepera (whose name is derived from the verb khpr = to be, to become.) The serpent's name Neheb-kau means 'uniter of kas' or 'joiner of kas'. This god had a strong relation to the inundation of the Nile - so bringing fertility - and also with the seven neck vertebrae. There is a sense here of that which connects the expressions of energy together - like a field or continuum - hence the many coiled serpent imagery sometimes used. The beard is interesting perhaps because if you imagine having a plaited beard like this - if you arched your neck it would touch you sternum - in front of the heart centre. The Bennu bird is the Egyptian phoenix and is about life emerging from the pre-creational void. The ma'at figure represent 'order' in the universe. This picture would be part of a longer sequence which would place it in the context of a series of events or transformations undergone in the afterlife (or in this life when doing certain practices).

What bells does it ring for you?

Mark's picture is of the sun disk being lifted up by 'life' = ankh from the eastern horizon (or sometimes confusingly 'out of the west'). The two goddesses are Isis and Nepthys who represent various things including the two mountains who form the horizon, the two towers of the temple gateway (which also represents the horizon) - the cycling of energy (up into the light with Isis and down into the dark with Nepthys) - which is a kind of gestation of the new sun. The apes, sacred to Thoth, adore the rising sun ... which suggests the intellect adoring the 'real' if you like. Or you could say the joy of the mind awakened by the rising sun.

Mine was a joke also.

Y?

IDK

I think that the role of religion in social cohesion and the creation of high trust societies is an interesting one. But surely it is secondary to questions of faith or truth. After all there are cohesive Buddhist societies and so on - so it would seem that social stability depends more on the shared nature of belief and the social enforcement of a moral code. For instance if eveyone thinks it is wrong to steal then the levels of theft in society will be lower simply because of the social stigma of the act of stealing and not because of policing. In fact as the Dao would point out 'justice only exists because of injustice' etc. But is this really very interesting - no matter how pressing a debate it might be at the present because of the instability we are currently experiencing (for reasons known to all)? I would like to return to the actual 'truth-claims' made by Christianity - such as the virgin birth and the resurrection - and ask a) are they believable and b ) why does Christianity depend on them or emphasise them so highly. This is the sticking point for me. It is as if there is a guardian at the door saying 'believe these things or you cannot enter' - whereas I do not see this in any other religion (except perhaps Islam - a subject which I have feelings about which I will pass over in silence).

I met some Ishmaili Muslims once who were very pleasant - but then too are mystical Christians. The exceptions don't really make the rule.