Very Short Introduction – Jewish Literature

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Book Cover - Jewish LiteratureA Very Short Introduction: Jewish Literature by IIan Stavans
The story of Jewish literature spans the globe as well as the centuries, from the marrano poets and memorialists of medieval Spain, to the sprawling Yiddish writing in Ashkenaz (the “Pale of Settlement’ in Eastern Europe), to the probing narratives of Jewish immigrants to the United States and other parts of the New World. It also examines the accounts of horror during the Holocaust, the work of Israeli authors since the creation of the Jewish State in 1948, and the “ingathering” of Jewish works in Brazil, Bulgaria, Argentina, and South Africa at the end of the twentieth century. This kaleidoscopic introduction to Jewish literature presents its subject matter as constantly changing and adapting.

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The Blue People

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The Blue PeopleToday we explore the subject of Blue. Blue from your atmosphere is seen as the sky in daytime: it is pale blue, or darker blue and at night it graduates to a deep mid-night blue. But the blue is a colour that has an energy. There are Beings that have a bluish white skin – they are sometimes referred to as The Blue People. These Blue People, at another time, came to this planet you call Earth.

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Mahayana New Year

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On this day, 7 January 2022, the OM Full Moon Day, it is also Mahayana New Year. Just as Christianity and Islam have different streams of practice, so also does Buddhism. There is the “Great Vessel” and there is Theravada (also known as Hinayana, the vehicle of the Hearers), and Vajrayana. Mahayana means ‘the great way’, which aims to benefit all people and all forms of life. This word comes from one of the ways a person can practice Buddhism. The motivation for their meditation, prayers, ritual, and mantra can be not just for their own sake, but for the sake of all their precious family, and for the sake of all beings. On this day of Mahayana New Year we take an overview of Mahayana Buddhism.

 

Guan Yin Bodhisattva

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Pope Benedict and Human Values

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Pope Benedict and Human Values On Christmas Day in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI released an encyclical on the practice of Charity in Truth. In this encyclical (a letter to the Churches), the Pope seeks to develop Christian social teaching, as taught by Popes who went before him. It is intriguing to see the Pope mirroring the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai in a number of places, and without so much as naming human values, he promotes the proper practice of human values.

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Did Charles Dickens invent Christmas?

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I’ve seen two stage versions of English writer Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

One I saw in Glasgow in 2011 – an intimate, warm adaptation, with puppets for apparitions and a Scrooge speaking in broad Scots.

The English author Charles Dickens and his daughters. Picture: Getty Images

The other was at the Old Vic in London only a few weeks ago, a musical adaptation by Jack Thorne. This same adaptation is currently playing at the Melbourne Comedy Theatre, with well-known Australian actor David Wenham as Ebenezer Scrooge. Another production in Melbourne, by the Victorian Opera, relocates Dickens’ story to Federation Square and Flinders Street Station, making it contemporary and local.

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Om Kristave Namaha

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Christmas nativity sceneOm Kristave Namaha: Salutations to Christ! Why do we give salutations? We look to the life of Jesus, his words, his actions, and the actions of his followers. This is the ONE who told – in Palestine – before the Romans arrived and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem that he was ONE with his Father. Perhaps it is meet and fitting to reflect on the path of Oneness with Divinity that Jesus taught in word and action, in dying and rising from the tomb.

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Sexual Choking: some reflections

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Pornography and Sexual Choking: some reflections
Human sexual activity is part of the spiritual journey. When we practice truth, love, peace, right conduct and non-violence, we bring all that we are to our practice of values. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. And that involves a sexual element as this part of our lives ensures the human race will continue. Recent surveys of young people – and recent courtroom events – reveal a rise in sexual choking. For the young, this behaviour flows from the sexual landscape of pornography that shapes so much sexual activity in this day, this age. Some reflections and observations are offered.

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Water and Animals – Fish – Insects moving in circles

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Sheep moving in circlesIn recent days, several videos have been circulating on the internet, where different species of animals can be seen acting in strange ways. Groups of horses, ants, and even orcas are being seen going around in perfect circles for several days without apparent reason.

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Magenta: colour that inspires resilience

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Magenta: colour that inspires resilienceThose who purchase clothing often pay little attention to colour and variation – simply due the offerings of sales and retailers. What is well known in the West is that townships filled with retired people will be filled with people wearing aquamarine blue; and those places populated by the aged can reliably witness those wearing purple, violet or high violet hues like this. Here, Magenta is celebrated as the incoming colour for year 2023.

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The Witchcraft Act saw thousands executed and tortured. Now Scotland is doing something about it

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hanging of witches

Around 2,500 people — mostly women — were executed in Scotland between 1563 and 1736 under the country’s Witchcraft Act.

Now, hundreds of years later, the Parliament of Scotland is doing something about it — starting with a public apology. The apology affirms the proper attitude to gender and the role of women in society.

Many light-workers, healers, Romany (gypsies) and others unjustly accused of being in league with the devil were arrested on scant evidence, more often, simply finger-pointing. A righting of the wrongs is the correct thing to do, and allows for healing on the astral (or akasha) levels – as there is an etheric signature to these events which must be erased.

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Sarada Devi – The Holy Mother

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Sarada deviSarada Devi – called The Holy Mother or Divine Mother – was the consort of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. To Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi was the visible representation of the Blissful Mother. If they were ‘married as man and wife‘, it was for the purpose of fulfilment of a great Mission, for the purpose of a great religious and spiritual renaissance in the country, and not to live as the ‘normal man and wife’.

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The Golden Age

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The Golden AgeMany speak of the coming of the higher dimensions, the 5th Dimension. For some, it is the great restoration to a time before the Fall of Atlantis. Others call it the Age of Aquarius, others say it is the Golden Age, and some others tell it is the Return of the Light. Whatever the name, the recognition is in the heart: a return to an era of peace and harmony, wherein people will live with harmony and love; and there will be discussion and debate instead of discord and war.

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