It is important for people to know the basics about the reptilian mind because it reveals the character, attitudes and reason of its disguised and manipulative behavior.
Snakes, for example, are able to smell warm-blooded animals and respond to it, as humans respond to the smell of warm and tasty food.
The reptilian has the most ancient of the brains. It has two hemispheres, and they relate functionally to the left and to the right.
The brain consists of the upper part of the spinal cord and the basal ganglia, the di-encephalon, and parts of the mid-brain -all of which sits atop the spinal column like a knob in the middle of the head.
It represents a fundamental core of the nervous system and derives from a form of mammal-like reptile that once ranged widely over the world but disappeared during the Tri-Assic period having provided the link between dinosaurs and mammals. It was the fusing of reptilian DNA to mammal DNA.
First and foremost of its described nature is the drive to establish the boundaries of its territory and the extremely potent will to dominate it. Then the assertiveness and aggressiveness of its elaborated plan for the defense of it, giving way to violent combats. If they are defeated in combat, they lose their majesty and lapse into a kind of depression and die.
The language of the reptilian mind is visual imagery. All communications transferred by the mind of a reptile are done by visual symbolic representations, each having specific meaning. Reptiles do not dream because their waking state function like dreams do to us.
The movie and television industry of today is based in the same process of reptilian communication. It stimulates the brain hormones that function when we are in dreaming-state, however, we are fully awake. Human subconscious is able to process the endless symbolisms and visual codes that now comes to our brain through the television, computers, cell phones, etc, and occupies up to 16-18 of our time per day.
Since all reptiles, insects, arachnids, amphibians, and fish are cold-blooded, they do things very differently than warm-blooded mammals.
Reptiles cannot expend energy chasing prey for hours, instead they spend a lot of time in a hunting 'sit and wait' mood or basking in the sun, because they can't regulate their own body temperature as warm-blooded mammals do.
Reptiles depend on ambient conditions to reach operational body temperatures. They have lower metabolic rates than warm-blooded type, at a given body mass, and, as a consequence, they generally rely on higher food consumption.
When cold-blooded animals emerge from shelter, many diurnal ones need to heat up in the early sunlight before they begin their daily activities. In cold climates most cannot survive at all.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Friday, August 12, 2016
THE 4 GARMENTS THAT MYTHS WEAR.
The word "Myth"itself has multiple definitions. In general, myth is the traditional way in which stories of ostensibly historical events unfold part of the world view of the people or explain a practical belief or natural phenomenon. Myth is compared to a garment that covers many stories. Here are four garments that myth may take.
- Metaphysical Myths help explain the origins of existence. They tell of the world's beginning or the start of man. They mention gods and mystical beings personifications, such as night and day personified, talking animals, and living dreams. Supernatural action in many forms appear, including natural phenomena, magical arts, alchemy, witchcraft and so on.
- Cosmological Myths emphasize that all components of the universe are part of a single picture. They tell of journeys of enlightenment, of discovery and reaching final goals. They join the pieces together in a meaningful whole. They mention all-powerful entities or mysterious forces that envelop and create unity.
- Sociological Myths maintain social order by authorizing a social code for a culture to follow. They mention those individuals who stray from the straight and narrow path of social conformance and the terrible woes that befall them. They also mention tales of conquest and rebellion, of uprising and how people working together can move mountains.
- Psychological Myths provides models for personal conduct. Their heroes embody social rules, seeking always to do good. They have clear personal values that align with ideal social norms. In contrast to the good heroes, there are bad villains who have no values and embody all that is wrong.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) speaks very appreciatively about the Myths: "Lovers of stories that were in a way lovers of wisdom, since stories were composed of such wonders that make man start to philosophize. Those wonders were mainly astronomical and cosmological ones."
Aristotle describes the birth of mythology in closer detail and in connection to his discussion on "how many primal movers and movements there can be, related to the personification of a multitude of gods."
Aristotle said that 'tradition' needs to be considered in this way: "From old -and indeed extremely ancient- times there has been handed down to our later age intimations of a mythical character to the effect that the stars are gods and that the divine embraces the whole of nature." "Further details were added in the manner of myths with the sole purpose of 'persuasion of the masses' and general legislative and political expediency"
Aristotle suggests to discard the embroidered details, but to recognize that in mythical perspectives the primary substances were beings identified as gods -a claim he calls 'inspired,' pointing out also that though many other arts and doctrines may have perished through time, "these ancient cosmologies have been preserved, like holy relics, right up to the present day."
- Metaphysical Myths help explain the origins of existence. They tell of the world's beginning or the start of man. They mention gods and mystical beings personifications, such as night and day personified, talking animals, and living dreams. Supernatural action in many forms appear, including natural phenomena, magical arts, alchemy, witchcraft and so on.
- Cosmological Myths emphasize that all components of the universe are part of a single picture. They tell of journeys of enlightenment, of discovery and reaching final goals. They join the pieces together in a meaningful whole. They mention all-powerful entities or mysterious forces that envelop and create unity.
- Sociological Myths maintain social order by authorizing a social code for a culture to follow. They mention those individuals who stray from the straight and narrow path of social conformance and the terrible woes that befall them. They also mention tales of conquest and rebellion, of uprising and how people working together can move mountains.
- Psychological Myths provides models for personal conduct. Their heroes embody social rules, seeking always to do good. They have clear personal values that align with ideal social norms. In contrast to the good heroes, there are bad villains who have no values and embody all that is wrong.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) speaks very appreciatively about the Myths: "Lovers of stories that were in a way lovers of wisdom, since stories were composed of such wonders that make man start to philosophize. Those wonders were mainly astronomical and cosmological ones."
Aristotle describes the birth of mythology in closer detail and in connection to his discussion on "how many primal movers and movements there can be, related to the personification of a multitude of gods."
Aristotle said that 'tradition' needs to be considered in this way: "From old -and indeed extremely ancient- times there has been handed down to our later age intimations of a mythical character to the effect that the stars are gods and that the divine embraces the whole of nature." "Further details were added in the manner of myths with the sole purpose of 'persuasion of the masses' and general legislative and political expediency"
Aristotle suggests to discard the embroidered details, but to recognize that in mythical perspectives the primary substances were beings identified as gods -a claim he calls 'inspired,' pointing out also that though many other arts and doctrines may have perished through time, "these ancient cosmologies have been preserved, like holy relics, right up to the present day."
Thursday, August 4, 2016
THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS.
The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb (Sunset), that is usually defined as much or most of the region of North West Africa, West of Egypt. The basement rock of most Africa was formed during the largest span of time in Earth's history about 4.6 billion yeas ago, and is much older than the Atlas Mountains lying on the continent The Atlas was formed during three subsequent phases of Earth's history.
The Atlas Mountains stretches around 2,500 km / 1,600 mi through Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
The range highest peak is Jebel Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,167 m / 13,671 ft in South Western Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
The mountains are home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa. Many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. Examples include:
-The Barbary Macaque best known as the Old World Monkey species. The Monkey is of particular interest because males play an atypical role in rearing the young. Because of uncertain paternity, males are integral to raising all infants. Generally, Barbary Macaque of all ages and sexes contribute in the system of parenting in which individuals other than the parents act in a parental role. Males live to a maximum of 25 years while females may live up to 30 years. The monkey is yellowish- brown to grey with a lighter under side. It has a body length of around 556 mm in females and 634 mm in males and mean body weight is reported to be 1 kg. Males often have a more prominent tail. The front limbs are longer than its hind limbs. Females are smaller than the males. Their diet consists of a mixture of plants and insect prey. The can occupy a variety of habitats, such as cedar, fir, and oak forests, or grassland, scrub, rocky ridges full of vegetation. Currently in the Atlas Mountains they inhabit cedar forests. Beside humans, they are the only free-living primates in Europe. Its name refers to the Barbary Coast of North West Africa.
-The Atlas Bear was Africa's only native bear that survived into modern times. Once inhabiting the Atlas Mountains and neighboring areas, from Morocco to Libya, the animal is now thought to be extinct. The decline of the Atlas bear is attributed to the Romans. As their empire expanded into Northern Africa, they intensely hunted and captured the bears and used them as sport for many games. This went for centuries, during which time thousands of bears had been used in the arenas to fight in games against gladiators, lions, tigers, and other animals. They were cruelly treated, often starved and malnourished to increase their desperation and hence their aggression within the arena. The bear become extinct shortly after modern firearms were developed. The bear was brownish black and lacked a white mark on the muzzle, and the muzzle and claws were shorter than those of the American Black Bear, though it was stouter and thicker in body. The fur on the under parts was reddish orange and 4-5 in /100-130mm long. It was 9 ft long and weighed 450 kg/1,000lb. It fed on roots, acorns and nuts.
Where the Atlas bear actually originated is unknown. One genetic study was unable to link it to any brown bear, but it had weak but significant genetic links to the polar bear. Polar bears appeared 2.6 million years ago and the drawing of them appeared in cave paintings in Anda-Lucia, Spain, which is a very short swim to the Atlas Mountains for a polar bear.
-Barbary Leopard or North African Leopard is grouped with the African Leopard after following genetic analysis. Leopards are rare in Northern Africa. Only small populations persist in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria in cedar forest and mountain steep in elevations of 300 to 2,500 m /980 to 8,200 ft where the climate is temperate to cold.
The Barbary lion (Panthera Leo Leo) also known as the Atlas Lion is now considered extinct in the wild. Small groups may have survived in Algeria and Morocco following the introduction of firearms and bounties for shooting them. Results of a long-term study of lions indicate that various factors such as ambient temperature, nutrition, and level of testosterone influence the color and size of lion manes.
Sub-Saharan lions kept in a cool environment usually develop bigger manes. Atlas Lions may have developed long-haired manes because of the temperatures in the Atlas Mountains that are much lower than in any other African regions, particularly in winter. The Atlas Lion was long considered one of the biggest subspecies, or even the largest of lions. The male was described as having very dark and long-haired mane that extended over the shoulder and to the belly. Head-to-tail length varied from 2.35 to 2.8 m / 7ft 9in to 9ft 2in, and females around 2.5 m / 8ft 2in. In some historic accounts the weight of the males reached 270 to 300 kb / 600 to 660 lb. Also it was described as being much superior to the black-maned lions of South Africa in bulk, strength and bravery.
-The Atlas Elephant, a separate elephant species that existed North of the Sahara until becoming extinct in Ancient Roman times. these were the famous war elephants used by Carthage in the Punic Wars, during their conflict with the Roman Republic. Carthaginian frescoes and coins minted by the power of whoever controlled North Africa at various times show small elephants, perhaps 2.5m / 8ft 2in at the shoulder, with the large ears and concave back typical of modern African elephants. It is also possible that it was more docile and plainer allowing the Punics to tame it as a war elephant. After the Romans conquered Sicily in 242 BC, they wanted to capture some specimens that had been left behind in the middle of the island by the Carthaginians, but failed in their endeavor. The elephants with which Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps in order to invade Italy during the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BC) belonged to this group, with the exception of Hannibal's personal animal, Surus, meaning 'the Syrian' or 'One Tusker,' which became extinct shortly after Hannibal invaded Italy but before the extinction of the Atlas Elephant. The Atlas elephant was also trained and used by the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. The taming of the animal was inferior and the results in battle also inferior against the larger Indian elephants used by the Seleucid kings, after the break up of the Macedonian Empire. A surviving Ptolemaic inscription enumerates 3 types of War Elephants: the Troglodytic (Libyan), the Ethiopian, and the Indian. The Ptolemaic king prides himself with being the 1st to tame the Ethiopian elephants, a stock which could be identical to one of the two extant African species. During the reighn of Augustus, Roman circus games resulted in the killing of 3,500 elephants.
-The Atlas Urus is a extinct type of large wild cattle. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived until the last recorded Urus that died in Poland in 1627. During the Agricultural Revolution, a wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, there were at least two Uros domestication events. One related to the Indian subspecies, leading to Zebu cattle. The other related to the Eurasian sibspecies, leading to Taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated. the oldest Uros remains have been dated to about 2 million years ago, in India. The Indian subspecies were the first to appear. The species migrated West into the Middle East (Western Asia) as well as to the East. They reached Europe about 270,000 years ago. The South Asian domestic Zebu descended from India Uros at the edge of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert in the North Western part of Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan, and is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. The Zebu is resistant to drought. Domestic Yak, Gayal, and Banteng do not descend from Uros. The Uros was one of the largest herbivores in post-glacial Eurasia.
The size appears to have varied by region. Also the body mass appeared to have shown variability. The ones from the late-middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg /3,300lb. The Uros populations in Hungary, Denmark, and germany had an average weight reaching around 700 kg / 1,500 lb. The cows were significantly shorter than their males counterparts.
Because of the massive horns, the frontal bones of Uros were elongated and broad. The horns were characterized in size, curvature and orientation. They were curved in 3 directions: Upwards and outwards at the base, Swinging forwards and inwards, the Inwards and upwards. they reached 80cm/31in in length and between 10 to 20 cm/3,9 and 7.0in in diameter. The male horns were stronger and larger that the female. the Uros were swift and fast and very aggressive when teased or hunted. they had a food selection very similar to domestic cattle.
The Atlas Mountains stretches around 2,500 km / 1,600 mi through Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
The range highest peak is Jebel Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,167 m / 13,671 ft in South Western Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
The mountains are home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa. Many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. Examples include:
-The Barbary Macaque best known as the Old World Monkey species. The Monkey is of particular interest because males play an atypical role in rearing the young. Because of uncertain paternity, males are integral to raising all infants. Generally, Barbary Macaque of all ages and sexes contribute in the system of parenting in which individuals other than the parents act in a parental role. Males live to a maximum of 25 years while females may live up to 30 years. The monkey is yellowish- brown to grey with a lighter under side. It has a body length of around 556 mm in females and 634 mm in males and mean body weight is reported to be 1 kg. Males often have a more prominent tail. The front limbs are longer than its hind limbs. Females are smaller than the males. Their diet consists of a mixture of plants and insect prey. The can occupy a variety of habitats, such as cedar, fir, and oak forests, or grassland, scrub, rocky ridges full of vegetation. Currently in the Atlas Mountains they inhabit cedar forests. Beside humans, they are the only free-living primates in Europe. Its name refers to the Barbary Coast of North West Africa.
-The Atlas Bear was Africa's only native bear that survived into modern times. Once inhabiting the Atlas Mountains and neighboring areas, from Morocco to Libya, the animal is now thought to be extinct. The decline of the Atlas bear is attributed to the Romans. As their empire expanded into Northern Africa, they intensely hunted and captured the bears and used them as sport for many games. This went for centuries, during which time thousands of bears had been used in the arenas to fight in games against gladiators, lions, tigers, and other animals. They were cruelly treated, often starved and malnourished to increase their desperation and hence their aggression within the arena. The bear become extinct shortly after modern firearms were developed. The bear was brownish black and lacked a white mark on the muzzle, and the muzzle and claws were shorter than those of the American Black Bear, though it was stouter and thicker in body. The fur on the under parts was reddish orange and 4-5 in /100-130mm long. It was 9 ft long and weighed 450 kg/1,000lb. It fed on roots, acorns and nuts.
Where the Atlas bear actually originated is unknown. One genetic study was unable to link it to any brown bear, but it had weak but significant genetic links to the polar bear. Polar bears appeared 2.6 million years ago and the drawing of them appeared in cave paintings in Anda-Lucia, Spain, which is a very short swim to the Atlas Mountains for a polar bear.
-Barbary Leopard or North African Leopard is grouped with the African Leopard after following genetic analysis. Leopards are rare in Northern Africa. Only small populations persist in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria in cedar forest and mountain steep in elevations of 300 to 2,500 m /980 to 8,200 ft where the climate is temperate to cold.
The Barbary lion (Panthera Leo Leo) also known as the Atlas Lion is now considered extinct in the wild. Small groups may have survived in Algeria and Morocco following the introduction of firearms and bounties for shooting them. Results of a long-term study of lions indicate that various factors such as ambient temperature, nutrition, and level of testosterone influence the color and size of lion manes.
Sub-Saharan lions kept in a cool environment usually develop bigger manes. Atlas Lions may have developed long-haired manes because of the temperatures in the Atlas Mountains that are much lower than in any other African regions, particularly in winter. The Atlas Lion was long considered one of the biggest subspecies, or even the largest of lions. The male was described as having very dark and long-haired mane that extended over the shoulder and to the belly. Head-to-tail length varied from 2.35 to 2.8 m / 7ft 9in to 9ft 2in, and females around 2.5 m / 8ft 2in. In some historic accounts the weight of the males reached 270 to 300 kb / 600 to 660 lb. Also it was described as being much superior to the black-maned lions of South Africa in bulk, strength and bravery.
-The Atlas Elephant, a separate elephant species that existed North of the Sahara until becoming extinct in Ancient Roman times. these were the famous war elephants used by Carthage in the Punic Wars, during their conflict with the Roman Republic. Carthaginian frescoes and coins minted by the power of whoever controlled North Africa at various times show small elephants, perhaps 2.5m / 8ft 2in at the shoulder, with the large ears and concave back typical of modern African elephants. It is also possible that it was more docile and plainer allowing the Punics to tame it as a war elephant. After the Romans conquered Sicily in 242 BC, they wanted to capture some specimens that had been left behind in the middle of the island by the Carthaginians, but failed in their endeavor. The elephants with which Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps in order to invade Italy during the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BC) belonged to this group, with the exception of Hannibal's personal animal, Surus, meaning 'the Syrian' or 'One Tusker,' which became extinct shortly after Hannibal invaded Italy but before the extinction of the Atlas Elephant. The Atlas elephant was also trained and used by the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. The taming of the animal was inferior and the results in battle also inferior against the larger Indian elephants used by the Seleucid kings, after the break up of the Macedonian Empire. A surviving Ptolemaic inscription enumerates 3 types of War Elephants: the Troglodytic (Libyan), the Ethiopian, and the Indian. The Ptolemaic king prides himself with being the 1st to tame the Ethiopian elephants, a stock which could be identical to one of the two extant African species. During the reighn of Augustus, Roman circus games resulted in the killing of 3,500 elephants.
-The Atlas Urus is a extinct type of large wild cattle. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived until the last recorded Urus that died in Poland in 1627. During the Agricultural Revolution, a wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, there were at least two Uros domestication events. One related to the Indian subspecies, leading to Zebu cattle. The other related to the Eurasian sibspecies, leading to Taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated. the oldest Uros remains have been dated to about 2 million years ago, in India. The Indian subspecies were the first to appear. The species migrated West into the Middle East (Western Asia) as well as to the East. They reached Europe about 270,000 years ago. The South Asian domestic Zebu descended from India Uros at the edge of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert in the North Western part of Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan, and is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. The Zebu is resistant to drought. Domestic Yak, Gayal, and Banteng do not descend from Uros. The Uros was one of the largest herbivores in post-glacial Eurasia.
The size appears to have varied by region. Also the body mass appeared to have shown variability. The ones from the late-middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg /3,300lb. The Uros populations in Hungary, Denmark, and germany had an average weight reaching around 700 kg / 1,500 lb. The cows were significantly shorter than their males counterparts.
Because of the massive horns, the frontal bones of Uros were elongated and broad. The horns were characterized in size, curvature and orientation. They were curved in 3 directions: Upwards and outwards at the base, Swinging forwards and inwards, the Inwards and upwards. they reached 80cm/31in in length and between 10 to 20 cm/3,9 and 7.0in in diameter. The male horns were stronger and larger that the female. the Uros were swift and fast and very aggressive when teased or hunted. they had a food selection very similar to domestic cattle.
THE LOTUS EATERS.
The Lotus Eaters were a race of people living on an island dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.
An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical and/or physical life and the world, lacking a sense of purpose and meaning in their life. The challenge was irrelevant to them. It is a way to forget negative feelings.
The Lotus Tree is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey chapter IX, as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was said to be the only food of an island people called the Lotus Eaters. When they ate of the Lotus Tree they forgot their friends and homes and the desire to return to their native lands was lost in favor lo living in idleness.
Odysseus tells how adverse North Winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea, a peninsula known for its treacherous weather, in the Southern most tip of the Peloponnesus in Greece, headed Westward for Ithaca: "I was driven by Foul Winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the 10th day we reached the Land of the Lotus-Eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crew got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-Eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the Lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what happened to them. Nevertheless, though they wept bitterly i forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars."
Herodotus, in the 5th century BC, was sure that the Lotus-Eaters still existed in his day in coastal Libya, the region West of the Nile. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berbers, known in the Hellenistic period as Libyans.
The name Libya also appeared in the Hebrew language, written in the Bible as Lebahim and Lubim, indicating the ethnic population and the geographic territory as well.
Homer also names Libya, in Odyssey chapter IX. Menelaus had travelled there on his way home from Troy. It was a land of wonderful richness, where the lambs have horns as soon as they were born, where ewes lamb three times a year and no shepherd ever went short of milk, meat or cheese. Homer used the name in a geographical sense, while he also called its inhabitants "Lotus-Eaters."
In the narrative poem 'The Metamorphoses' by the Roman poet Ovid, chronicling the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar, mention the beautiful daughter of Neptune, the god of water and the sea. In order to flee the violent and lustful attention of the sexual impotent Pri-Apus, a rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia, she invoked the assistance of the gods, who answered her prayers by turning her into a lotus tree.
Pri-Apus is described as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus, or father or son of Hermes, or the son of Zeus or Pan, depending on the source. According to the legend, Hera cursed him with impotence, ugliness and foul-mindedness while he was still in Aphrodite's womb, in revenge for the hero Paris having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera. The other gods refused to allow him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. Then he joined Pan and the satyrs as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence.
In the Scriptures in the Book of Job, there are two lines in the chapter 40, with the Hebrew word meaning the 'Lotus Tree' which appears nowhere else in the Scriptures. The Book addresses the theme of God's justice in the face of human suffering, or more simply, 'Why do the righteous suffer?' When God finally speaks He neither explains the reason for Job's suffering nor defends His justice. The first speech focuses on his role in maintaining Order in the universe: the list of things that God does and Job cannot do demonstrates divine wisdom because Order is the Heart of Wisdom. Job confesses his lack of wisdom, meaning his lack of understanding of the workings of the cosmos and of the ability to maintain it. The second speech concerns God's role in controlling Behemoth and Leviathan, two powerful primeval cosmic forces or entities, in either case demonstrating God's wisdom and power. In the concluding part of the narrative God restores and increases his prosperity, indicating that the divine policy of retributive Justice remains unchanged.
The name Behemoth has come to be used for an extremely large and powerful entity created together with the human being. It represents the dust from which the divine body of the first man was made of.
Then the sea-monster Leviathan, representing another powerful entity that govern the cosmic mind.
God mention both to demonstrate Job the futility of questioning God, who alone has created these beings and who alone can capture them.
An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical and/or physical life and the world, lacking a sense of purpose and meaning in their life. The challenge was irrelevant to them. It is a way to forget negative feelings.
The Lotus Tree is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey chapter IX, as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was said to be the only food of an island people called the Lotus Eaters. When they ate of the Lotus Tree they forgot their friends and homes and the desire to return to their native lands was lost in favor lo living in idleness.
Odysseus tells how adverse North Winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea, a peninsula known for its treacherous weather, in the Southern most tip of the Peloponnesus in Greece, headed Westward for Ithaca: "I was driven by Foul Winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the 10th day we reached the Land of the Lotus-Eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crew got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-Eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the Lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what happened to them. Nevertheless, though they wept bitterly i forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars."
Herodotus, in the 5th century BC, was sure that the Lotus-Eaters still existed in his day in coastal Libya, the region West of the Nile. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berbers, known in the Hellenistic period as Libyans.
The name Libya also appeared in the Hebrew language, written in the Bible as Lebahim and Lubim, indicating the ethnic population and the geographic territory as well.
Homer also names Libya, in Odyssey chapter IX. Menelaus had travelled there on his way home from Troy. It was a land of wonderful richness, where the lambs have horns as soon as they were born, where ewes lamb three times a year and no shepherd ever went short of milk, meat or cheese. Homer used the name in a geographical sense, while he also called its inhabitants "Lotus-Eaters."
In the narrative poem 'The Metamorphoses' by the Roman poet Ovid, chronicling the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar, mention the beautiful daughter of Neptune, the god of water and the sea. In order to flee the violent and lustful attention of the sexual impotent Pri-Apus, a rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia, she invoked the assistance of the gods, who answered her prayers by turning her into a lotus tree.
Pri-Apus is described as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus, or father or son of Hermes, or the son of Zeus or Pan, depending on the source. According to the legend, Hera cursed him with impotence, ugliness and foul-mindedness while he was still in Aphrodite's womb, in revenge for the hero Paris having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera. The other gods refused to allow him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. Then he joined Pan and the satyrs as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence.
In the Scriptures in the Book of Job, there are two lines in the chapter 40, with the Hebrew word meaning the 'Lotus Tree' which appears nowhere else in the Scriptures. The Book addresses the theme of God's justice in the face of human suffering, or more simply, 'Why do the righteous suffer?' When God finally speaks He neither explains the reason for Job's suffering nor defends His justice. The first speech focuses on his role in maintaining Order in the universe: the list of things that God does and Job cannot do demonstrates divine wisdom because Order is the Heart of Wisdom. Job confesses his lack of wisdom, meaning his lack of understanding of the workings of the cosmos and of the ability to maintain it. The second speech concerns God's role in controlling Behemoth and Leviathan, two powerful primeval cosmic forces or entities, in either case demonstrating God's wisdom and power. In the concluding part of the narrative God restores and increases his prosperity, indicating that the divine policy of retributive Justice remains unchanged.
The name Behemoth has come to be used for an extremely large and powerful entity created together with the human being. It represents the dust from which the divine body of the first man was made of.
Then the sea-monster Leviathan, representing another powerful entity that govern the cosmic mind.
God mention both to demonstrate Job the futility of questioning God, who alone has created these beings and who alone can capture them.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
THE URAL AND CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS.
The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs from North to South through Western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River originating in the Southern Urals and flowing through Russia and North Western Kazakh-Stan and ending at the Caspian Sea. The Ural River (2,428km / 1,509mi) is the 3rd longest River in Europe after the Volga and the Danube and considered together with the mountain range, the Northern boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Its highest peak is Mount Narod-Naya, approximately 1,895m / 6,217 ft in elevation.
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in the combined continental land-mass of Europe and Asia. They include the Greater Caucasus which extends from the Caucasian Natural Reserve on the North Eastern shore of the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus, then aligned West- North West to East-South East and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea; and the Lesser Caucasus, which runs parallel to the greater range, at a distance averaging about 100 km / 62mi South. the highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount El-Brus in the Greater Caucasus, which rises to a height of 5,642 m / 18,510 ft above the sea level.
The Caucasus Mountains formed largely as the result of a tectonic plate collision between the Arabian plate moving Northwards with respect to the Eurasian plate. As the Tethys Sea was closed (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean now cover the area) and the Arabian plate collided with the Iranian plate and was pushed against it and with the clockwise movement of the Eurasian plate towards the Iranian plate and their final collision, the Iranian plate was pressed against the Eurasian plate. As this happened, the entire rocks that had been deposited in this basin from the Jurassic to the Miocene eras were folded to form the Greater Caucasus mountains. The entire region is regularly subjected to strong earthquakes from this activity. While the Greater Caucasus have a mainly folded sedimentary structure, the Lesser Caucasus are largely of volcanic origin.
The concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity and their borders are geological arbitrary, with the Ural and Caucasus ranges being the main delimiters between the two.
Physiographically, Eurasia is a single continent and is connected to Africa at the Suez Canal, and sometimes is combined with Africa as the super continent Afro-Eurasia.
Eurasia has been the host of many civilizations, including those based in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China. In the mid-1st millennium BC a continuous belt of civilizations stretched through the Eurasian subtropical zone from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This belt became the mainstream of world history for over two millennia.
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in the combined continental land-mass of Europe and Asia. They include the Greater Caucasus which extends from the Caucasian Natural Reserve on the North Eastern shore of the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus, then aligned West- North West to East-South East and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea; and the Lesser Caucasus, which runs parallel to the greater range, at a distance averaging about 100 km / 62mi South. the highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount El-Brus in the Greater Caucasus, which rises to a height of 5,642 m / 18,510 ft above the sea level.
The Caucasus Mountains formed largely as the result of a tectonic plate collision between the Arabian plate moving Northwards with respect to the Eurasian plate. As the Tethys Sea was closed (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean now cover the area) and the Arabian plate collided with the Iranian plate and was pushed against it and with the clockwise movement of the Eurasian plate towards the Iranian plate and their final collision, the Iranian plate was pressed against the Eurasian plate. As this happened, the entire rocks that had been deposited in this basin from the Jurassic to the Miocene eras were folded to form the Greater Caucasus mountains. The entire region is regularly subjected to strong earthquakes from this activity. While the Greater Caucasus have a mainly folded sedimentary structure, the Lesser Caucasus are largely of volcanic origin.
The concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity and their borders are geological arbitrary, with the Ural and Caucasus ranges being the main delimiters between the two.
Physiographically, Eurasia is a single continent and is connected to Africa at the Suez Canal, and sometimes is combined with Africa as the super continent Afro-Eurasia.
Eurasia has been the host of many civilizations, including those based in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China. In the mid-1st millennium BC a continuous belt of civilizations stretched through the Eurasian subtropical zone from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This belt became the mainstream of world history for over two millennia.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
THE SPIRIT OF THE COLCA CANYON, PERU
The Colca Canyon is an amazing geological formation created by erosion from the Colca River over thousands of years in which the abrasive effect of the water that flows through the mountains carved the rock and gradually turned into one of the deepest (4,160m) natural canyons on the planet.
Peru is especially characterized by the presence of the Volcanic chain of the Western Mountain Range of the Andes which are made up by a spectacular views of the combination of impressive mountains and volcanoes such as Hualca Hualca, Ampato, and Sabancaya (still active), that reach over 6,000 m in heights, making the Colca Canyon part of it.
Ampato is known to be the final resting place of an Inca mummy, surprisingly conserved. Ampato means 'frog' in Quechua, the language of the Andean people, referring to the characteristic form of the Volcano seen from the surrounding areas. The ancient inhabitants worshiped this mountain with offerings because they considered it a divine spirit living in the form of the Volcano together with the Mountain Chain in which the Volcano rested. The spirits of the mountains helped them to improve their agricultural techniques and farm animal production.
The Canyon is located on the right side of the Chila Mountain Range formed by the glaciers Bomboya, Serpregina, Mismi, Queshihua, and on the other side by the Volcanoes that are part of the Ampato Mountain Range, in the North Eastern side of Arequipa, Peru, about 4 hours North of the city of Arequipa. At a distance you are able to observe two high mountains accompanying the deepest Canyon in the planet, the Coropuna (6,305m), the highest peak in Arequipa, and the Solimana (6,323 m).
The Coca Canyon reaches depths of 4,160 m in the region of Canco of the district of Huambo on the North side and 3,600 m on the South side. It is more than 120 km long.
Canco is a small Valley that is located between the crosses of the Colca and Huambo Rivers. Due to its high location (1820m) the weather is nice and a variety of subtropical fruits and crops grow there. Also you can see several condors flying around this area.
The Colca Valley that goes by the same name as the canyon is a colorful Andean valley with pre-Inca roots, still inhabited by people of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures, who moved to the area from the Lake Titicaca region. They maintain their ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces. The Valley begins in the surroundings of Chivay, the main town of the area, continuing in a North West direction for more than 60 km towards the area known as the Condor Cross (la Cruz del Condor) in the Town of Cabana-Conde.
The Colca River originates in the Andes, in the high Condor-Ama Cruise and descends to the Town of Chivay located at 3,600m above sea level and it is the location where the Canyon starts. Then it pass through the Old River Town of Maca. From this point the flow of the River increases dramatically and spills into the depth of the Valley reaching a greater depth at the Condor Cross (la Cruz del Condor) viewpoint in the town of Cabana-Conde. It then flows down about 40 km and converges with the River Anda-Mayo, marking the end of the Canyon and the beginning of the Majes Valley and before flowing into the Pacific Ocean it becomes the Camana River. Thus the Colca River change its name as it passess through these different territories, Colca, in the hills; Majes, in the middle; and Camana, in the coastal desert.
Peru is especially characterized by the presence of the Volcanic chain of the Western Mountain Range of the Andes which are made up by a spectacular views of the combination of impressive mountains and volcanoes such as Hualca Hualca, Ampato, and Sabancaya (still active), that reach over 6,000 m in heights, making the Colca Canyon part of it.
Ampato is known to be the final resting place of an Inca mummy, surprisingly conserved. Ampato means 'frog' in Quechua, the language of the Andean people, referring to the characteristic form of the Volcano seen from the surrounding areas. The ancient inhabitants worshiped this mountain with offerings because they considered it a divine spirit living in the form of the Volcano together with the Mountain Chain in which the Volcano rested. The spirits of the mountains helped them to improve their agricultural techniques and farm animal production.
The Canyon is located on the right side of the Chila Mountain Range formed by the glaciers Bomboya, Serpregina, Mismi, Queshihua, and on the other side by the Volcanoes that are part of the Ampato Mountain Range, in the North Eastern side of Arequipa, Peru, about 4 hours North of the city of Arequipa. At a distance you are able to observe two high mountains accompanying the deepest Canyon in the planet, the Coropuna (6,305m), the highest peak in Arequipa, and the Solimana (6,323 m).
The Coca Canyon reaches depths of 4,160 m in the region of Canco of the district of Huambo on the North side and 3,600 m on the South side. It is more than 120 km long.
Canco is a small Valley that is located between the crosses of the Colca and Huambo Rivers. Due to its high location (1820m) the weather is nice and a variety of subtropical fruits and crops grow there. Also you can see several condors flying around this area.
The Colca Valley that goes by the same name as the canyon is a colorful Andean valley with pre-Inca roots, still inhabited by people of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures, who moved to the area from the Lake Titicaca region. They maintain their ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces. The Valley begins in the surroundings of Chivay, the main town of the area, continuing in a North West direction for more than 60 km towards the area known as the Condor Cross (la Cruz del Condor) in the Town of Cabana-Conde.
The Colca River originates in the Andes, in the high Condor-Ama Cruise and descends to the Town of Chivay located at 3,600m above sea level and it is the location where the Canyon starts. Then it pass through the Old River Town of Maca. From this point the flow of the River increases dramatically and spills into the depth of the Valley reaching a greater depth at the Condor Cross (la Cruz del Condor) viewpoint in the town of Cabana-Conde. It then flows down about 40 km and converges with the River Anda-Mayo, marking the end of the Canyon and the beginning of the Majes Valley and before flowing into the Pacific Ocean it becomes the Camana River. Thus the Colca River change its name as it passess through these different territories, Colca, in the hills; Majes, in the middle; and Camana, in the coastal desert.
Monday, August 1, 2016
THE MYTH OF THE CASPIAN SEA.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area. It is a closed drainage basin that retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water. It is located between Europe and Asia, to the East of the Caucasus Mountains and the the West of the vast steppe of Central Asia. Its Northern part, the Caspian Depression, is one of the lowest points on Earth.
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region at the border of Europe and Asia. The region was inhabited since the Paleolithic Era. In 1991, early human fossils of 1.8 million years of age were found in the Southern Caucasus.
The Caspian Sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 /143,200 sq mi, not included its detach lagoon of Garabo-Gazkol Aylagy, and a volume of 78,200 km3 /18,800 cu mi. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2% (12g/l) about a third of the salinity of most sea water.
The Caspian is divided into 3 distinct physical regions: the Northen, the Middle, and Southern Caspian.
Differences between the regions are dramatic. The Northern Caspian only includes the Caspian shelf, and is very shallow; it accounts for less than 1% of the total water volume with an average depth of only 5-6 m /16-20 ft. The Sea noticeably drops off towards the Middle Caspian, where the average depth is 190 m/620 ft. The Southern Caspian is the deepest, with oceanic depths of over 1,000 m/3,300 ft, greatly exceeding the depth of other regional seas, such as the Persian Gulf.
During warm and dry climatic periods, the landlock Sea almost dried up, depositing water-soluble mineral sediment like halite (common for homeowners in cold climates to melt the ice) that were covered by wind-blown deposits and were sealed off as an crystallized sediment when cool, and wet climates refilled the basin. Comparable crystallized beds underlie the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the current inflow of fresh water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its Northern portions. It is more saline in its Iranian shore, where the catchment basin contributes little flow.
The Caspian Sea is bounded to the North East by Kazakh-Stan, to the North West by Russia, to the West by Azer-Baijan, to the South by Iran, and the South West by Turk-Meni-Stan.
The word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived South West of the Sea in Trans-Caucasia. Strabo (64/63BC- 24 CE), a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian, wrote that "to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Casp-Iane, which was named after the Caspian Tribe, as was also the Sea; but the tribe has now disappeared." The Caspians have been generally regarded as a pre-Indo-European people. Ernst Emill Herzfeld (23July1879-20January1948), a German archaeologist and Iranian-logist, identified them with the Kassites, who spoke a language without an identified relationship to any other known language and whose origins have long been the subject of debate. However onomastic evidence bearing on this point has been discovered in Aramaic papyri from Egypt in which several of the Caspian names that are mentioned and identified as 'Kaspai' are in part, etymologically Iranic. The Caspians of the Egyptian papyri must therefore be considered either an Iranian people or strongly under Iranic cultural influence.
The Caspian Gates, a region in Iran's Tehran province, indicates that they migrated to the South of the Sea.
The name Caspian Gates applied to the narrow region at the Southern corner of the Caspian Sea, through which, during the time of Alexander the Great, he actually marched in the pursuit of Artaxexes V, a prominent Persian Satrap of Bactria in Persia, and self-proclaimed King of Kings of Persia.
According to classical sources, he killed his predecessor and relative, Darius III, after the Persian army had been defeated by Alexander. He was executed by the hand of Alexander in 329 BC.
Under Ashur-Banipal (669-627BC) the boundaries of the Assyrian Empire reached as far as the Caucasus Mountains
The Gates were a legendary barrier built by Alexander in the Caucasus to keep Gog and Magog, uncivilized barbarians of the North from invading the land of the South.
Gog and Magog appear in the Hebrew Scriptures as individual persons or entities, or as peoples, or as lands. The Book of Ezekiel, Gog is the name of an individual and Magog the name of his land paints them as the enemies of God at the end of time. In Genesis 10 Magog is an entity and no Gog is mentioned, and in Revelation both Gog and Magog appear together as the hostile nations of the world.
The Caspian Sea, like the Aral Sea, Black Sea, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Para-Tethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall of sea level.
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region at the border of Europe and Asia. The region was inhabited since the Paleolithic Era. In 1991, early human fossils of 1.8 million years of age were found in the Southern Caucasus.
The Caspian Sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 /143,200 sq mi, not included its detach lagoon of Garabo-Gazkol Aylagy, and a volume of 78,200 km3 /18,800 cu mi. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2% (12g/l) about a third of the salinity of most sea water.
The Caspian is divided into 3 distinct physical regions: the Northen, the Middle, and Southern Caspian.
Differences between the regions are dramatic. The Northern Caspian only includes the Caspian shelf, and is very shallow; it accounts for less than 1% of the total water volume with an average depth of only 5-6 m /16-20 ft. The Sea noticeably drops off towards the Middle Caspian, where the average depth is 190 m/620 ft. The Southern Caspian is the deepest, with oceanic depths of over 1,000 m/3,300 ft, greatly exceeding the depth of other regional seas, such as the Persian Gulf.
During warm and dry climatic periods, the landlock Sea almost dried up, depositing water-soluble mineral sediment like halite (common for homeowners in cold climates to melt the ice) that were covered by wind-blown deposits and were sealed off as an crystallized sediment when cool, and wet climates refilled the basin. Comparable crystallized beds underlie the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the current inflow of fresh water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its Northern portions. It is more saline in its Iranian shore, where the catchment basin contributes little flow.
The Caspian Sea is bounded to the North East by Kazakh-Stan, to the North West by Russia, to the West by Azer-Baijan, to the South by Iran, and the South West by Turk-Meni-Stan.
The word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived South West of the Sea in Trans-Caucasia. Strabo (64/63BC- 24 CE), a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian, wrote that "to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Casp-Iane, which was named after the Caspian Tribe, as was also the Sea; but the tribe has now disappeared." The Caspians have been generally regarded as a pre-Indo-European people. Ernst Emill Herzfeld (23July1879-20January1948), a German archaeologist and Iranian-logist, identified them with the Kassites, who spoke a language without an identified relationship to any other known language and whose origins have long been the subject of debate. However onomastic evidence bearing on this point has been discovered in Aramaic papyri from Egypt in which several of the Caspian names that are mentioned and identified as 'Kaspai' are in part, etymologically Iranic. The Caspians of the Egyptian papyri must therefore be considered either an Iranian people or strongly under Iranic cultural influence.
The Caspian Gates, a region in Iran's Tehran province, indicates that they migrated to the South of the Sea.
The name Caspian Gates applied to the narrow region at the Southern corner of the Caspian Sea, through which, during the time of Alexander the Great, he actually marched in the pursuit of Artaxexes V, a prominent Persian Satrap of Bactria in Persia, and self-proclaimed King of Kings of Persia.
According to classical sources, he killed his predecessor and relative, Darius III, after the Persian army had been defeated by Alexander. He was executed by the hand of Alexander in 329 BC.
Under Ashur-Banipal (669-627BC) the boundaries of the Assyrian Empire reached as far as the Caucasus Mountains
The Gates were a legendary barrier built by Alexander in the Caucasus to keep Gog and Magog, uncivilized barbarians of the North from invading the land of the South.
Gog and Magog appear in the Hebrew Scriptures as individual persons or entities, or as peoples, or as lands. The Book of Ezekiel, Gog is the name of an individual and Magog the name of his land paints them as the enemies of God at the end of time. In Genesis 10 Magog is an entity and no Gog is mentioned, and in Revelation both Gog and Magog appear together as the hostile nations of the world.
The Caspian Sea, like the Aral Sea, Black Sea, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Para-Tethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall of sea level.
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