Transubstantiation

For a while now I've been interested in the social history that surrounds the divergence of Christianity. Especially the more famous occurrence that resulted in the Protestant Reformation. One of the very first questions that formed - was that the first time in history? The resulting Protestant Reformation began with disagreements in doctrine especially those surrounding the Sacrament of the Eucharist. A Sacrament in this context is a ritual believed as an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual divine grace with the Eucharist being specifically instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.

The Reformation itself is considered beginning with Martin Luther, a German Augustinian monk, posting his 95 theses on a church door at the university town of Wittenberg. However, even this wasn't the first disagreement. Over the centuries there had been many that resulted in church councils that desired simplification. However, the political context of this church battle was based on the emergence of the middle class and thriving cities in what is now known as Italy. These new medieval cities began focusing on trade allowing for the growth of towns and leisure time. Artisans and merchants, developed their own associations, such as the Guild of Merchants, to protect their interests and help fight against the feudal system. This was done in the context of Church belief and structure.

Church symbolism and ritual was the bases of society and the Guild's expanded on these beliefs. The Church doctrin that allowed for this is called the Communion of Saints and at the center of this belief is the Eucharistic ritual.

"The communion of saints, when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of The Christian Church, living and the dead, those on earth, in heaven, and, for those who believe in purgatory, those also who are in that state of purification. They are all part of a single "mystical body", with Christ as the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all.” Wikipedia - Communion of Saints

The Protestant Reformation resulted in the destruction of the ritual that created social unity. In the context of our history it is this event that describes the beginning of the modern era. The Catholic Church survived and did reorganize without Kings and Monarchs. This was simply called the Counter Reformation and included reforms such as actual training for priests in theological traditions and a return to spiritual life through devotions and a personal relation to Christ. It also included the creation of a system of tribunals known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition.

The Inquisition moved at the pace of government and was as widespread as it's influence. There were three distinct movements based on the Supreme orders: Catholic, Spanish, Portuguese and Roman. The Roman Inquisition was considered more bureaucratic and focussed on pre-emptive control in addition to judicial prosecution. It was out of this history that our current forms of government evolved and that specifically separated Church into state, science, and religion.

Although the ritual at the center of Church was supplanted by politics, observation, and the Bible - we find ourselves now at the apex of this modern era where none of these institutions by themselves have meaning. Interesting enough the Eucharist Ritual is about meaning and what it does to use as humans. As a ritual, it's a social activity embraced by a people and a celebrant where activities have specific meaning. In the context of this tradition the change is from bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This ritual was defined during the previous mentioned history and has its foundations in biblical history and tradition. However, can we now understand it's meaning? Is there a necessity hidden in these acts that could help us out of a society that has become so fragmented that it's disfunctional? The most enticing question for me is - has anything really changed? The only remaining ritual with as much history and tradition is money.

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

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

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...

Human Terrain...

The military concept of human terrain has more significants to me than just the integration of anthropology and human geography. It also seems to reflect a spiritual element that our current society has lost. It's a method of developing social structure and concepts based on the complexities of the immediate biosphere. This can be seen as the method of thought that sustained or most earliest ancestors for many many generations.

My initial research began on two topics when initially assigned in Afghanistan, one was to understand the function of the human terrain element in the information dominance center and two, to explore more fully the anthropologist concepts on tribal structure. What was apparent to me, due to my background in graphic design, was that their are many historical symbols even in our own culture that originate in our immediate biosphere. My interest was the wonder of a more profound connection that may influence our perception of these symbols.

This led to one more field of study that fits into a concept of social influence and that began to emerge in the 1990's but is linked to the influence of the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book entitled The Selfish Gene (1976). The book is said to describe a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles that could explain the spread of ideas. This concept has grown through the practice of applying biological algorithms to explain the spread of knowledge and ideas in our social structure. Interesting enough is the very open distain for the spiritual that Mr. Richard Dawson publicly displays.

To try and explain this biospherical link and how it effects culture based on the perception and persistents of its symbols is to use an apology of human terrain. This communication model can be more easily recognized rather than a biological model of cell reproduction. In addition it also opens up a new direction in the study of memetics. There is a persistent symbol that permiates all cultures used to represent and understand communication and it's social implications. This symbol is also found in ancient writings and may generate a better understanding of early concepts of a human terrain. This symbol is the use of water and it's dynamic to represent human communication. Water in all its natural form and functions to understand the enigma of our existence.

The Symbolic Life...

"We have no symbolic life, and we are all badly in need of the symbolic life. Only the symbolic life can express the need of the soul - the daily need of the soul, mind you! And because people have no such thing, they can never step out of this mill - this awful, banal, grinding life in which they are "nothing but." . . . Everything is banal; everything is "nothing but," and that is the reason why people are neurotic. They are simply sick of the whole thing, sick of that banal life, and therefore they want sensation. They even want a war; they all want a war; they are all glad when there is a war; they say, "Thank heaven, now something is going to happen - something bigger than ourselves!"

http://www.jung.org/readingcorner.html

A non-linear dynamic model of spatial economic development and R&D policy...

The Annals of Regional Science

1991, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp 287-302

• P. Nijkamp,
• H. J. Poot,
• J. Rouwendal

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01581854

After a Crisis of Faith...

As I read this article l am reminded of the paper by Danny Guyton - " There is No Alternative to Tribalism." It is only our fragmented Hebrew tribal traditions that has created such a fearce opposing duality. Beginning with such stories as  Cain and Able and resulting in decisive splits into Christianity and Islam. Both of these resulting tribal branches has continued their fragmentation ignoring the original leadership concepts proposed by their Old Testament leaders. Leadership is the only tool available for tribal harmony but leadership methods in these great tribal traditions lack the human competence to overcome their created discord. The leadership style that was written about in the Old Testament and in more symbolic methods in the New is one that allows traditions to exist but brings together the knowledge of opposing opinions. The foresight of the biblical writers is there knowledge of Meme creation and the mythology needed to transform tribal beliefs into a plausible reality for everyone. With this in mind it was a coordinated effort between the selected biblical writings and the resulting leaders through a positive duel approach of tribal customs and example brought peoples together. Where as the Roman Empire existed out of pure brutality and force it was claimed by the efforts of early Christians who practiced the resulting merging of Hebrew trading with the organizational methods of the Roman Empire. Our Christian heritage was successful in creating a grand European culture that grew on the newly formed tribal symbols and rituals until being fragmented by a deliberate attack on those very symbols that brought a portion of the traditions together. What emerged out of the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent Catholic Reformation was yet another major cultural split that separated science as a it's own separate form of knowledge management that created symbols in a more rigid system of observation. However, in this human geography there exists the overriding desire of all people's - to belong.

"After a Crisis of Faith, a Former Minister Finds a New, Secular Mission" - http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/after-a-crisis-of-faith-finding-a-new-secular-mission.html

"There is No Alternative to Tribalism" - http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/17/

Geospatial Integration...

Not sure this is happening at every level and capacity but the document does justice to the complexity.

http://www.govloop.com/m/blogpost?id=1154385%3ABlogPost%3A2592863

5 senses - 3 scales

They will find there are 3 levels not 6 senses

Writing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - http://safe.mn/nJw5

Sense - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - http://safe.mn/nJGI

How Writing Changed the World | LiveScience - http://safe.mn/nJGE

Sixth Sense Mapped in the Brain : Science : Nature World News - http://safe.mn/nJG9