Apech

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mods_and_rockers

They are aliens. I think.

Of course you are, sir, now please take your medication.

It amazed me that everybody who lost resigned ... not later ... immediately ... shows in my opinion that they are not real leadership material in the first place. Hint: You can learn from getting it wrong - what doesn't kill makes you stronger.

the Magna Carta is quoted on the doors of the US Supreme Court ... so nothing went wrong. Individual liberty under the rule of law - easily forgotten but still there somehow.

Yikes. I was joking. Sent apology by PM.

I'm not sure many Brits know much about it even though it was the most significant conflict leading up to the Brit Empire and so on. A stunning victory against the French who still then the super power of Europe and a step towards the English language becoming the lingua franca which it is today. A murky conflict in Europe though, it was in the US and India the real action happened. BTW have you rejoined the conversation Brian ... I thought maybe you were too busy stocking up the bunker with semi automatics and canned beans.

Also while I am on the subject we had this in 1215: " NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right." That's 561 years before the Declaration on Independence.

Hang on ... you helped us kick the French out first. I think Washington was a general in the Seven Years War ... not sure what you guys call that war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War ...I'm all for joining up as long as you realise you'll have to be a junior member of the United Kingdom P.S. we don't just have the Queen we have an endless stream of Royal Babies ....

shhhhh walls have ears!

If we build them ourselves then a sanctuary ... built by others a prison.

... stay free where no walls divide you ....

'Philosophy is people whining about words' ... ok I think that's enough for me of this pointless conversation.

The Amarnan period was very short and immediately replaced by traditional Egyptian religion. In any case Akhenaten was not a pure monotheist as the ureaus, thoth and other gods were also worshiped. The common people continued with their usual practices throughout. What you are quoting and what many quote is actually a reflection of Christian Egyptologist desperate to find a reflection fo their own beliefs in Ancient Egypt. Brahmin or Vedic religion was polytheistic and henotheistic similar to Egypt. Zoroastrianism is a dualism (Ahura Mazda and Ahriman). You have obviously read a lot but your understanding is not complete. Recommended reading : http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/POM/article/view/4686

Thanks for that link - very interesting. I don't think there is any doubt that Christianity as it grew assimilated much of what remained of the pagan tradition. I mean this in the same way as that Churches are built on ancient pagan sacred sites, groves and so on ... as a way of cultural assimilation. Clearly the mythic date of Christmas and a lot of the related storytelling comes to us in this same way. I have an interesting book "Religion in Roman Egypt" by David Frankfurter who makes the point that when Christianity took over the Egyptian temples they preserved the function, just replacing gods with Saints. So if it was a place of healing or childbirth or divination then that cult centre function would not change, simply the attribution changed from say Thoth to Saint (?). But the key difference between pagan thought and Judeo-Christian thought lies not in these kinds of outer trappings but in the difference between monotheism and polycentric polytheism (or henotheism). The relationship to the divine changes completely as does any plurality of thought, openness to other ways and so on - replaced by mono thinking as if reality is no longer an energetic dynamic but becomes a single and totalitarian authority. Obviously this is part of what made Christianity attractive to Constantine and evolved into a key tool of social control for empire builders.

I see Blair and Mandelson have some out of the woodwork criticising Labour under Miliband ... so soon! I think you can forget 'anything different' unless you want to start your own grass roots movement like Podemos in Spain. I like Marbles definition of conservative 'waste not want not' and can relate to that but actually I think our Conservatives are more conserve = hold on to power whatever the cost.

For myself I have always taken the view that feelings of alienation and so on are not me or mine. They exist in the mind/being because of the imprints of past experiences and are triggered by certain events. They are a form of inertia or like a recording being played again and again. The true nature of your being is naturally kind and compassionate and not bound by reactive feelings. But these feelings have a certain amount of energy in them and they are hard to ignore or overcome. But it is possible over time to erode their effect by first realising that they are on record only and by discharging the energy stored in them. You can do this internally by examining them and externally by using situations like this wedding as a kind of battleground. Either way you need to put the natural resources of your mind into play. Once you realise that this is the issue and not the details of the external events, other people and so on - they are not the cause but simply the triggers for how you feel - you can start to work with this. You may decide to go to the wedding even if you feel that you do not want to, its painful and so on. By observing how the triggers and patterns work you start to get more information about them and can start to pick them apart one bit at a time. This will lead you step by step toward a sense of personal freedom, energy and understanding.

I, for one am interested in the OP topic, Daoism and Neoplatonism ... this thread has been dominated by one poster with particular views and gone well off topic into a debate on the origin and causes of variation in skin colour. Please could the thread be split so the on topic discussion can continue.

If you read that article carefully you will see the author is saying that skin colour is an evolutionary adaptation to sunlight levels. In extremis where this is not enough, diet, eating fish, plays a part in boosting Vit. D levels. They are not attributing skin colour to diet. So it actually contradicts the point you are trying to make.

I don't deal in internet memes. "According to her website, Murdock received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Classics, Greek Civilization, from Franklin and Marshall College, after which she spent a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece.[12]" - from wikipedia ... so she has a degree ... big deal. Since you post youtube video here's one for you to watch: I don't think you can characterise Neoplatonism as materialism.

If you actually study Egyptian religion you will see there is practically no similarity between Horus and Christ. I'm not saying there was no influence ... there definitely was especially the madonna and child imagery taken from Isis/child Horus but that's more or less as far as it goes. Youtube videos like Zeitgheist and so on have been done to death and are so full of holes and factual incorrectness as to be a joke. Sorry but your argument just doesn't stand up. Freemasonry is a 17th century creation. But it is true that the renaissance was sparked off by Arabic Scholars. Christianity had no philosophy/ metaphysics so they essentially lifted the neoplatonic ideas and reverse engineered them to fit.

I'm not well versed enough in either traditions to give you a complete answer but I think its an interesting question. Neoplatonism is a kind of bridge between the ancient world and the classical and pre-classical thought which existed then and the modern world. Proclus is perhaps (have to check this) the last pagan philosopher before the Judeo-Christians took total domination of Western culture. - if you are interested it's worth reading Butler on this subject ... somewhere on this website https://henadology.wordpress.com/. The ancient pagan worldview found expression in Hermeticism ... but this then became fused with Judeo-Christian mysticism, kabbalh and so on and is a bit of a mish-mash. I think for any westerner it is important to understand all this even if you chose to focus on an eastern tradition (like Daoism). Some of the conceptual views are so embedded in the western worldview that if you try to practice an eastern system without first understanding your own inheritance you can get very confused. In fact I would say learning the differences makes comparison possible. Sorry if this answer is a bit garbled I am typing quickly.

We're happy to talk. tell us what you think.

Well I can sympathise. There used to be a kind of conservatism which simply meant more or less keep things the same ... and what they considered 'the same' was quite benign. It was old fashioned but it was essentially well meaning. But since Thatcher this has changed into a kind of hard edged uncaring selfishness. The values which the UK used to stand for like fairness, balance and pragmatic realism seem to have gone. And even though you can say those values were never properly followed they were still there to measure everything against. Even Cameron in his victory speech quoted those values (as did Thatcher) but you know as soon as they enter 10 Downing Street it will be back to the same dirty business.

I think it was a style decision ... Persian carpets are completely out this year ... what were you thinking?