Culture of Life

As Pope John Paul II theorized on the "Culture of Life" in relation to Church teachings, the popular media completely ignored his pastoral thesis and focused on the "Culture of Death", here is what he said...

"...we are confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin. This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable 'culture of death.'"

He elaborates:

"This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. ...a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected..."

Concluding that:

"...a kind of 'conspiracy against life is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to a point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States."

What is very recognizable to me is his description of "sin" as a cultural unit of measure and indicating it has a structure. This structure does not have a name but he describes it as a specific activity -  "it denies solidarity".

Focusing on the "Culture of Death" immediately eliminated identifying any "activities" necessary to overcome "denying solidarity" in all our lives. Establishing a "Culture of Life" quickly ran into political issues and agreement with how this could be done. However, I do agree with the critics who say:

"...critics, who argue that religious conservatives do not have a monopoly on valuing life, or that they devalue it themselves, or that by emphasizing quantity of life they devalue quality of life."

Pope John Paul's original observation of a "Denial of Solidarity" however seems very valid in the current political context. Even more so than a "Culture of Death" focused on abortion, euthanasia, and other socially occurring manifestations.

"Denial of Solidarity" sounds related to Pope John Paul's personal involvement in Poland's Solidarity Movement (1980-1989). This was a pro-democracy movement made up of workers, intellectuals, students, peasants, the Catholic Church, and major professional groups targeting the communist regime.

Searching for reference to "Denial of Solidarity" was fruitless except for the law book entitled, Solidarity, by K. Bayertz, Springer Science & Business Media, Feb 28, 1999 - Law - 350 pages.

There are many legal books referencing this particular phrase and combination of words but as I dug deeper another type of reference began to appear. Health books and papers referencing human dignity as a taxonomy subject.

"Solidarity is unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on universities of interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies. It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one. The term is generally employed in sociology and the other social sciences as well as in philosophy or in Catholic social teaching."

Solidarity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://tinyurl.com/njut9g8

Culture of life - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://tinyurl.com/np3t9uf

Movements and Campaigns: http://tinyurl.com/ppz6eht

Solidarity - Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/mr2uxe7

The Holocene Impact Working Group

...is a group of six scientists who hypothesize that meteorite impacts on Earth are more common than current scientific consensus indicates.

http://goo.gl/kYhRIf

When Space Changed History

...Documentary

http://goo.gl/GtkYSu

Did a Comet Cause the Great Flood?

...The universal human myth may be the first example of disaster reporting.

http://goo.gl/txrcsc

Burckle Crater

...Dating the Flood

http://goo.gl/bmz84N

The 9 Most Influential Works of Scientific Racism...

One of the more enduring symbols of Christianity is Bread and Wine. As sacrifices to God they go back to our origins in Genesis and continued to evolve throughout the entire biblical canon. Bread is a representation of the flesh while wine is a refection of the spirit. It is no mistake that wine is mixed with water - the spirit can be overpowering and intoxicating to  man. As a comparison, certain fundamental aspects of our mutual existence can also be overpowering.

Sacrifice seems to be a human reaction to the unknown with a physical element intended to influence the result. Early in the Old Testament sin was connected to the natural environment in a fundamental way. Men's actions were seen as influencing the environment that was governed by the unnamed God. Although there were two types of sacrifice handed down from Adams sons - cereal and animal - it was Melchizedek who focused on cereal sacrifice after the great flood. The animal sacrifice of Cane transitioned into human sacrifice that Abraham sought to overcome. This was done by a priestly sacrifice of a ram taking the place of his son. The concept of ritual sacrifice or the symbolic representation of an offering developed.

Lost in the stories and biblical symbolism is the idea that we can influence God and nature. The Old Testament struggles with sin as the central symbol that's at the root of the perceived hardships - natural disaster and human self oppression. The biblical references move from the examples of natural disasters and focus on human self oppression toward the end of the Old Testament. A notable example of this is the story of Job that bore a number if hardships not based on his personal sins but for God's glory alone. This was the cumulation of the sacrificial paradigm in the old testament, not a disconnect from the concept of sin causing natural disasters and social hardship but sin as a human commonality.

What Christianity did for the regional pagan concepts of sacrifice, having evolved into human sacrifice and oppressive patriarchal feuding, was to fulfill and bring full circle the oppressive social elements of a multicultural region and transformed them into democratic concepts. These concepts have always been opposed by leaders who consider the earth and its inhabitants as resources to be exploited but revered by those who have a fundamental respect for the earth and its multiracial inhabitants.

Although the fulfillment of these Old Testament beliefs found a regional history that expanded beyond  the New Testament and the European Renaissance, what lessons can be learned that would allow us to bring together our modern Paganism? Not the notion of classifying people into a system of believers and unbelievers or Christian and Atheist. Nor by judging people as fit for sacrifice based on their sexual preference or other actions that should not qualify for government funding. The modern Paganism that I'm referring to is the tribalism that underlies the entire spectrum of communication and spreads exponentially using the disruptive communication tools that have become a norm. Although our religious history seems to frustrate our most modern science and our religious beliefs contain little room for measuring minute results, our conversion must include a forgiveness that does not sacrifice each others most cherished Human gifts. Each other.

http://io9.com/the-9-most-influential-works-of-scientific-racism-rank-1575543279/+AnnaleeNewitz

Purgatory

Purgatory as a descriptive word for a broken  communication system...

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-sued-over-disappearing-imessage-texts-sent-to-android-users/

Aldous Huxley on Drugs, Democracy, and Religion

Might have to read the book. There is ONLY ONE TRUTH not many and I also enjoy the science tradition. However, they always oversimplify the theology which leads me to believe the evaluation is a general evaluation or based on a narrow fundamentalist view. Although science contains two of the three dynamics of Catholic tradition it is not a unified concept in the Reformed Tradition. Science and Engineering both historically serve the political structure while religion in the Reform Tradition is Protestant. The reformed churches are structured and exist as symbolic representations of the Israelite nationalistic communities at the time of Christ. Based solely on research of the various reformed writings and from a Catholic perspective, they exist totally separated and opposed to structured human knowledge systems that do not profess Christ as their savior.

The Messiah theology has been part of Jewish tradition from the beginning however there is a major difference in the perception and expectations of Messiah. Jewish apologetics on Christianity indicate that Christians would be yet another sect of Judaism except for the recognition of Christ as the promised Messiah. Despite the divergent path that believers in Christ followed, is there another more predominate element that would explain how the faith of the emerging nation transitioned into a world faith? There is an element of Judaism that it is so profound that scripture does not expanded on it and that is also contained in other ancient belief systems. In addition, can there be an inherent design to Judaism that has caused this large scale fragmentation of thought? Although biology has chosen to speak in a language that professes no belief in God does its perception also validate ancient beliefs that exist in our humanity? In the Jewish scriptural tradition the oneness of God is so profound that scripture writings never have a beginning. In terms of a modern writing style they never contain the first chapter because everything was one.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/03/25/aldous-huxley-moksha-drugs/

A Philosophical and Historical Analysis of Modern Democracy, on the American

Ran across this reference recently and thought I would share it. It has a lot of Catholic references but its a nice concise history. I like it JUST BECAUSE it does contain some of the ancient concepts. The non faith version would focus on astronomy. Recently realized there were two major competitive social dynamics in the same region: priest prophets and kings while the other was astronomers engineers and kings. Kinda leads me back to the Cain and Able story that has a Muslim tradition also. Able is known as the city builder...

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0010.html

King, David, In Synchrony with the Heavens, Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization

Based on this, the editors of The
Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (ERN) adopted a working definition of religion as “that dimension of human experience engaged with sacred norms, which are related to transformative forces and powers and which people consider to be dangerous and/or beneficent and/or meaningful
in some ultimate way” (x).

In his introduction Taylor further states that “for many, this meaningfulness and the sacred norms associated with it have much to do with nature” (x).

He acknowledges that nature itself is a problematic and contested term, but defines it as “that world which includes—but at the same time is perceived to be beyond—our human bodies, and which confronts us daily with its apparent otherness” (x).

These “minimalist definitions” (x), when combined into the term “nature religion”, become “any religiosity that considers nature to be sacred (extraordinarily powerful in both dangerous and beneficial ways) and worthy of reverent care” (x).

Muzaffar Iqbal
Book Review

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cis-ca.org%2Fjol%2Fvol4-no1%2Freviews.pdf&rct=j&q=King%2C%20David%2C%20In%20Synchrony%20with%20the%20Heavens%2C%20Studies%20in%20Astronomical%20%0D%0ATimekeeping%20and%20Instrumentation%20in%20Medieval%20Islamic%20Civilization&ei=YcI8U7bGM6jKsAS844GICw&usg=AFQjCNH4ZVOvMc3IOD0hIAIjHFv6ZNWxkA&bvm=bv.63934634,d.cWc

Engineering?

Had an interest in college on the architecture of thought that was recently  rekindled. It happened while deployed to Afghanistan for or a variety if reasons: conflict, tribalism, the military, religion, etc. They all seemed to be an issue that needed looked into.

There is a dualism that drives culture seemingly inherent to our humanity. Some believe this dualism to be our final reality but others no. It is my theory that the ebb and flow of a society is based on this conceptualized dualality.

Astronomy is easily recognized as our earliest science but the duality with religion is a recent social construct. In addition, when looking for models if tribal behavior, I identified two institutes as maintaining a tribal nature: religious and military.

What I wanted to find was the original dualality so to better understand the evolution of tribal cultures. It is not well documented but feel that I have found it. Not sure how much of this is perceived or real, in a knowledge since but it fits into my research and a favorite ancient source....

Engineering!!!

Astronomy and Engineering!!!

Of course the Noah story seems to elude to conservation, but I see it as a fragmentation of astronomy. Also its the biblical stories that confirm astronomy as being integrated into political hiarchies. However, you do not see engineering nor is it a major topic - unless you realize its part of the tribal conflict itself.

Military Engineering

Although the story of Genesis speaks as the beginning, it begins to establish the cultural under pinnings of an entire region. In its stories of creation lye a very early link to what could be considered as civil engineering.

”Cain is also described as a city-builder, and, through three sons of his son five times remote, as the forefather of tent-dwelling pastoralists, all lyre and pipe players, and the bronze and iron smiths, respectively." - Wikipedia

Noah's Arc...

”The flood myth motif is widespread among many cultures as seen in the Mesopotamian flood stories, the Puranas, Deucalion in Greek mythology, the Genesis flood narrative, and in the lore of the K'iche' and Maya peoples of Central America, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa tribe of Native Americans in North America, and the Muisca people in South America." - Wikipedia.

Could not easily find sources that indicated the Noah story as historical but do remember seeing a documentary theorizing a regional event in the Mediterranean. It proposed a series of events caused by a tsunami affecting the entire shoreline.  Even so - was there a Noah and or an Ark?

As I read the bible it makes more since to be viewed as examples of leadership. Examples of tribal leaders from Israelite's history that transition into a fulfilled  leadership style in Christ. It contains examples of men and women experiencing life and how they influenced the Jewish people through their work and spiritual reflections.

When the Church recently updated biblical translations with current linguistic studies, they began to look into a more gender neutral approach. It was soon realized that these prior stories of men and women developed a leadership style that was handed down through the cultural traditions. Eliminating the references to gender would remove the observed fulfilled links to Jesus and Mary.

People come together as families forming culture with leaders emerging who resolve issues in a complex human dynamic. If you look at the subject matter of the separate biblical books, this is the commonality. They then begin to reveal an even more interesting story - a story of hope, inspiration and solidarity.

I see Noah as an early leader who was driven to become a savior. He possessed an internal knowledge that he decided to act upon. To me it is a beautiful metaphor and includes the cultural thinking during the time it was composed and popularized. His knowledge is described in a supernatural way but his family trusted him and his knowledge skills.

However, others did not. His knowledge, either as a real person or if only a story showing a desire by his people, was extensive and seems almost impossible. Engineering and animal conservation - of course these are modern equivalents. These great skills would seem highly unlikely if not for the more recent  example of European Renaissance history. Where, as in the past, knowledge was seen as coming from God and there was a struggle with its power.

The Noah story is a favorite and I can't wait to see it. Sounds like the director had a life long desire to put it to film. I like the concept of the ark as a metaphor bringing together diverse sources of information (social and conservation) into a functional representation allowing for good leadership decisions. Its obvious that "my ark" is spelled with a "C".

Geography?

"To be a good geographer: one must have a basic understanding of the fundamental elements of both the natural and social sciences; we must know: how the various elements interact to create the differences that exist from place to place, the names of various features, processes, and conditions, and finally (this is where geography comes in) we must know where all of this is located, why it’s there, and of what importance is it to us and others." - Dr. Charles Gritzner

Creativity and a Cultural Reference...

As I walked into church today I immediately noticed the children's art imitating the "Stations of the Cross". The plastic lamination detracted from the childish intentions but I scanned the entire series. Wait a minute - one of these  is not like the others.

Being creative is less about art imitating life and more about mystery and expression. The child's picture was art and at such a young age. All the others could have been coloring book pictures but not "Jesus Meets His Mother". I even stayed after to see if I could get a picture but the lighting was too harsh.

It had swashes of color with some general shapes and a little detail. The only elements that led me to recognize Jesus or his Mother were the eyes. A single one for Jesus and a single one for Mary, excepting that Mary's had a tear. Of all the recent art I've seen this one moved me - would like to see it again and even get that picture.

Art is uniquely human and it means many things to many people. The northern European Renaissance developed highly detailed small symbolic compositions while the south did large scale murals whose detail could only be seen from a distance. The artist knows when its complete by an intuition born from mastering technique. Imitating life is a picture but when lifeless materials are made to contain mystery and hold individual attention - without any supporting dialog - then that's art.

Set my mood - then it happened. The Gospel was very symbolic too (MT 17:1-9) - "tents” - symbolic of the Tabernacle's of the old testament and clothing becoming "white as light". The Essenes Sect focused on writing while the the Pharisees and the Sadducees focused on the law and prophets. All different sources of knowledge that later became highly developed. However, a system of chapters and verses allowing for cross reference was not developed until the early 13th century (Archbishop Langton).

Earlier Jewish systems were less refined and relied heavily on a functional division based on scrolls and verse endings. Initially their was no book or canon and no chapters, however, writing was a highly developed part of the priestly tradition. They were not the only tradition either, included was an oral tradition and a ceremonial tradition.

The symbolic nature of the Jewish culture is apparent but without a method of cataloging there would have been an innate need to cross-reference the law, with the writing, with ceremony, and prophetic teaching. The stories used to perpetuate the culture included liberal references to historic symbols to explain how they changed. The importance was never historical or geospatial but a practical method of continuity so important to tribal survival and cult identity. Its symbols. And how they changed relative to their creators and influencers.

Exploring...

If you read theology and love science then this is a beautiful composition. It alludes to an intelligence that we DO NOT measure today but what brought together the elements if nature in such a unique way.

The mind illuminated in such a way that we did not migrate but explored. We did not scavenge but cultivated and we did not form packs but created space.

Created by I am Who am or a unique event in an infinite universe does it change who we are?  Does it change what we can be? How to explain the unexplainable except from the power of our space. How do we communicate through commands if not accompanied by question or a story?

As I moved through the morning the land matched the sky except for where the orange fire burned on the horizon. The grey fueled the brightness as it grew, changing from a spark into the light of the sky. On the dark side, where families made their homes, lights shown. Not as sparks but as small suns that could be contained. It was an illusion....

http://www.cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?10.002

New Android - Zopo ZP700 Cuppy...

Have been racking up more phone experience than I ever wanted to. Went through a couple of phones in a short period time. One of my Neobox phones lost its speaker so decided to splurge on a Samsung Mini. Then the Mini quite working too - dropped it really hard and it bounced under the moving truck.

Started getting gadget fever when I saw a cheap Chinese phone for $80 bucks. A flash deal that didn't flash - after ordering it they told me they were unavailable. WHAT? Chinese New Year? Oh well. Kept looking though and found a decent phone on Amazon - it was a Samsung imitation with decent specs for about $130 bucks. Didn't need one but decided to buy it
for my girlfriend.

It was pretty nice and it went up in price after I bought it before selling out. There was an issue with it not being rooted like advertised but Lisa liked it so we kept it. It was from a company called Lightahead selling on Amazon. They were quick to respond and said I could return it so when I began to look for a replacement for mine I started there.

Was trying to see how much phone I could get for a $100 dollars and they had a few that seemed to fit my bill. Read the specs on one but was concerned about what type of SIM card it used (regular, micro, nano) so I emailed them. Another quick response with the answer I was hunting for - regular - so I bought it. Everything went smooth.

Received it and began the process of checking out the features. Not too bad - uh oh! What do you mean its not a Samsung Galaxy? Wanted a Samsung imitation because of all the accessories. Although it looked like a Samsung Galaxy the guy at the mall assured me the case wouldn't work. That was just the beginning - on the way home I noticed that the 3G icon wasn't working so I started testing everything. In the end there was no 3G and it didn't even  have a GPS. I didn't know they made phones without a GPS.

Before receiving the refund, I  went ahead and purchased a Moto G with case. Was planning a trip and wanted it before l left - even splurged on fast delivery and big memory. So I was REALLY surprised when there was an issue. Couldn't believe I was having so much trouble with specifications. Had bought numerous phones with no problems but now two in a row. Went back to the Amazon web page and sure enough - nothing that said it didn't use a regular SIM card. Back it went - had to get out Lisa's old phone as a backup.

Bought my new Zopo ZP700 before I left on my trip. Had purchased two phones from DinoDirect and noticed they did not skimp on the specks but the unlocked phones on Amazon didn't match up. Decided to look else where for the best cheap phone I could find. After my past experience an imitation name brand accessories didn't concern me - would just have to make due with limited accessories. The THL brand of phones caught my attention but didn't want to wait six weeks to get it from China or Hong Kong. eBay to the rescue!!!:-) Didn't take long to find the Zopo - US only, buy now, top rated seller, etc. Complete list of specifications and it was sexy.

Actually had looked at the Zopo brand previously and it always scores high in reviews - $160 bucks seemed like a great buy. HiRes screen, 8mp camera, quad core, plenty of memory and compatible with Straight Talk SIM card for AT&T. One reason I do keep going back to the Chinese phones is that they always have the most recent version of Android and the ZP700 is no exception. Lots of nice features but not over done. The picture quality is great and its fast but one of the best features? - a huge speaker. Its visually bigger but the sound is the best I've heard on any phone.

I've had numerous phones but like this one the best so far. Android is polished and the Zopo ZP700 has the right balance of price and performance. It has a lot of features so find a web site and look them up. You won't be disappointed. Oh yeah - it has GPS and the network is awesomely fast. It even has an H+ icon that comes on frequently.

One more story about the phone: usually turn off my WiFi when leaving  the apartment in the morning, just to conserve battery during the day. As I was exiting into the lobby from the fifth floor I noticed that I was still connected. Can't be? How is this possible? Decided to ask Google Now about the weather to see if the WiFi was actually working. IT WAS:-) How could this be? I turned off the WiFi and tried to reconnect - nothing. It stayed connected from 5 floors down. Amazing phone....

You load sixteen tons...

A major paradigm in our human existence is mining. Mining in its basic form is the extraction if valuable... materials. Although linked historically to minerals it has now been expanded into the knowledge domain. The link itself is if the utmost importance in its social classification - it reflects its rise into the ranks of economic importance just as its historic counterpart.

Although there are automated ways that sift through social media looking for arbitrary links based on a concept of repetition and vocalized interest, it still seems to be focused at a scale limited in perception. Of interest too, this same activity is a threat depending on the knowledge management system containing this paradigm.

Extracting value seems to be an underlying activity regardless of the nature of the material. The mining process is limited and confined to major knowledge management activities and subject to predominate historic perceptions. The way the mining is done is critical in the social context of how it is perceived but all mining activity exists within the confines of our human experience.

System approach...

http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-devices/googles-android-contract-not-very-open/d/d-id/1113837

This is a continuous problem with all large scale strategic endeavors - a system is designed to work together in its functionality but somehow its function is seen as a threat or unsupportive of another system...

Cheap Phones...

So all my tricks did not help my phone - it died. The last test was a factory reset. No cell tower signal at all - I think I just wore it out. Wi-Fi just seemed to use more battery so I would just leave it on cell tower data all the time. Don't think it should have died though. Its funny because I'm using Lisa’s old one that I originally bought for myself. I've been through two to her one:-) Guess I push their limits - probably need to buy a quality one but it goes against my senseabilities. As a mater of fact I'm going to push the low end especially since its the low end phone that I'm using.

They are all from China but built with different specification and quality control. Its interesting that China has decided to develop their own operating system because Google Android has an official system design that has made it more expensive while the Chinese manufactories used their open source system to design more inexpensive phones.

Google is such a unique company that I always chuckle when so called industry insiders compare them to other companies. The recent news was lambasting them for selling off Motorola but as always, they are a technology company not a phone company. Lenova is a dominate supplier in China and now they will be able to sell officially licensed android phones in the largest market in the world.

However, I thought of replacing my Latin American Samsung Mini with a Moto G but its still too expensive to me. Two out of three phones dying within a relatively shirt time period not to mention the replacement phone I received while on Virgin Mobile. This time I'm gonna go sub $100 and check it out. Just bought a huge 5 inch phone with a Gorilla Glass screen for $120 so I'm gonna go with a 4 inch phone without the Gorilla Glass. Found one for $85 dollars.

But as before I know I'm going to have problems with my favorite game. It has has been updated many times and while trying to put back on my old phone I found a new problem. It requires an SD card now and this made it easy to nix the Moto G but I know there be a storage problem anyway. If I'm gonna have problems I want to save all the money I can...:-)

PS: The modular phone is on its way...

Android Bookmarks...

Bookmarks seem overly difficult on Android and if you've ever had to change phones then you may have experienced this. The built in management is terrible so I did what everyone does - downloaded an app to fix it.

Found a great one called "Bookmark Folders” by DynamicG. It used a special character, such as a dash (-) to recognize/create a virtual sub folders. Very simplistic and functional except on the backups. Google played havoc on bookmark backup programing especially if you don't use an SD card and would like to backup to the cloud.

It took a while but I found another program that worked seamless with ”Bookmark Folders”.  It backs up the default web browsers bookmarks to an HTML file. It too was on Google Play and its called ” Bookmark Sort and Backup” by Happydroid. It also  backs up the default web browser bookmarks to a directory of my choice - I can the send them anywhere.

Its my understanding that Chrome will soon be the default browser on future Android releases but it will be hard to beat the functionality of "Bookmark Folders". I will of course use them as long as I can.

Repurposing :-)

Love the concept of repurposing - such a practical concept. Viewing things for their intrinsic value rather than a social or economic purpose. Ideas and concepts are the same way - aspects of their social value become detached with advances in communication and human creativity. Conflict arises in leadership based on conflicting ideals - one side not trusting the others perceptions or methods. Successful leaders are able to create unity without using the age old method of fear and a common enemy. Repurposed fear is hope and a reposed enemy is a friend. The measure of a leader that has endured throughout the ages revolves around sacrifice. Do they sacrifice others or themselves?