A Humble Perspective

Posted on September 12, 2018 by cdsmiller17
61fnyzsrt7L

Cover courtesy of Amazon

Spirits That Come For A Human Experience

This is the 2007 follow-up book to Jamie Best’s Fountain booklet, The Naked Heart. When I contacted Jamie via Facebook in August, he told me about it. He offered to let me read a pdf version, but I told him I didn’t mind paying for a copy. It came yesterday and I haven’t been able to put it down.

Meet Jamie Best

41GbS5-HfTL._UX250_

From what I understand, Jamie had an epiphany in the late 1980’s. The information contained in this book was conveyed to him during that event. It took him 17 years to get it fully down on paper. He tells me that, even now, more information keeps coming through. This is true to the premise of his story: we are on a life-long journey to discover our own Truth.

Mission Statements

It has always been my main aim and motivation in writing to try to simplify and convey ideas and concepts in a commonly tangible way. To trim away the complexities of specialised science and traditional religion that seem to alienate so many people from even contemplating certain ideas or following particular trains of thought, and in doing so, to help to dissolve the many fears, superstitions and rhetorical texts that have restricted free thinking in our cultures and societies throughout our more recent history. I am aware that in the entirety of its experience, our evolution and recorded history to date is a very complex subject and living reality, with so many lives, cultures and civilisations. Likewise I am aware of the great wealth of knowledge and theories that exist, both scientific and religious, thanks to the dedication of many lifetimes past and present. All of these can lay claim, in some part, to both our welfare and advancement as a race, as well as to our downfall at times. And yet, with no disrespect to what any culture, religion or science has given us, the more time and energy you pour into something, and the more detailed or specific your research or rituals become, the more complexities and divisions can be written in and created. (Page 106: A Brief Insight Into Human Evolution)

As I continue in this book to trace my own path of understanding as to how or why the Universe creates matter and individual being, and the different levels of awareness this involves, so I may come to use many different scientific and religious terms. I commit to no school of thought in particular, and use these terms merely as tools; it is only the general feeling of ideas and concepts that I am trying to convey, in a simple and available way. Although what I have written may become categorised in time, I have no intention of establishing another separate school of thought or religious ideal. Instead I am to bring together all that is true and positive within science and religion, to unite them in their humanitarian origins. My main considered intention in writing this, is to demonstrate the simplicity of free thinking and what it can produce, for all of the ideas contained herein have come from a simple open mind, inseparably linked to the Universe as all living things are. (Pages 23-4: Saying The Same Thing)

Conclusion

This is a book that anyone can read. The concepts are not difficult, and the humble perspective is a welcome change from other publications.

In fact, the whole book can be summed up in the next image:

drop

Posted in reviews, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Illuminati

Posted on September 11, 2018 by cdsmiller17

 

Angels & Demons

Although Ron Howard’s filmed version of Dan Brown’s book follows The Da Vinci Code this book actually precedes it.

I’m not sure if Dan Brown has something against the Roman Catholic Church or whether its need for secrecy is just too enticing for him to ignore. This story revolves around the choosing of a new Pope by the Cardinals in Conclave, set against a terrorist attempt to thwart the process. His weapon of mass destruction is ‘antimatter‘, the so-called “God Particle”.

The God Particle

god_particle

This concept seems to echo the Big Bang theory. The movie shows in its opening sequence how it could be captured. But soon after, the killings start. Terrorism is a deadly game, for sure.

The argument that involves the Roman Catholic Church is that man should not be trying to duplicate what is only God’s will to do. The inference is that our experimentation could destroy the whole of creation, like resetting the computer simulation in The Matrix. They may have a point, there.

The Illuminati

ANON Illuminati NWO 2

Paranoia runs deep within our collective psyche. Brown’s use of this group as his villains of the piece has tapped into that fear. Conspiracy theorists have tried to connect the dots, and the resulting picture is not a pretty one. In fact, they think the Deep State is part of the Illuminati. (Holy Batman, your symbol is shown in the picture above…)

But Brown was clear that in his story, the Illuminati no longer exist, and the terrorist was only being directed to act as one to unite the Church against an ancient enemy.

This is what gets the goat of outsiders…

Conclusion

38719310-aaa3-012b-01c4-0050569439b1

The United States of America is a republic based on Masonic principles. That makes it a frightening idea to God-fearing enemies. (We always fear what we don’t understand.)

Whereas it does collectively believe in a higher deity (“In God We Trust”), individually the people believe what they want, and that is something completely different: might is right, for example.

And on this 17th anniversary of 9-11, we must never presume anything: Lest We Forget.

maxresdefault

Posted in history, paranoia | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

New American Civil War

Posted on September 10, 2018 by cdsmiller17

unnamed

In Case You Hadn’t Noticed

Yesterday, David Wilcock posted a rather hurried update on his Divine Cosmos website that should raise an alarm or two. I suggest that you take some time to read it because, without doing so, you will miss the point of this post.

It seems that something big is about to go down in the USA, the Deep State.

Sealed Indictments

dnfnsrnrr777

There is a lot of wishful thinking going on behind this image. According to David, there are over 51,700 Grand Jury sealed indictments ready to be unsealed. This will take at least 100,000 law enforcement officers working for several days in a row to round up the unsuspecting individuals.

Supposedly, this will cut out the rot at the centre of their legal, secret, military and government circles. “Draining the swamp…”?

September is Emergency Preparedness Month

preparedness-month

Is this a hint, folks? Have you got your two week’s emergency supplies in? Can you survive without going to the local supermarket, without electricity, without gas?

It may not happen in September, but this should be a time of testing your reserves and resolve.

Conclusion

It is not my job to sort out the good guys from the bad guys… In fact, each side of the political divide in the States sees the other as the Enemy. That kind of thinking makes everyone suspect everyone else of collusion with forces outside of their country, and the strange thing is how David Wilcock talks about the Alliance (friendly foreigners included) against the Cabal (Deep State) as if they were Good vs Evil.

Now it seems that spy satellites have been made ‘invisible’ to the CIA and other surveillance watchers. Does this mean America is vulnerable to an invasion of sorts?

Somebody turn on the Bat signal!

Bat_Signal

Posted in history, paranoia | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Da Vinci Code

Posted on September 8, 2018 by cdsmiller17

DA-VINCI-CODE-MOVIE-POSTER

The Movie

Ron Howard’s depiction of Dan Brown’s book was an eye-opener for the viewing public, in much the same way the book was for readers.

The idea that there might be a Sang Real (royal bloodline) from the union (marriage?) of Jesus and Mary Magdalene seemed so outlandish, unexpected and sacrilegious all at once that it caught the imagination of the world.

But for those who have been following the trail of leads through the South of France, this was old-hat.

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

{75218424-138E-4992-B841-AA60C43EBAF1}Img100

This whole scenario started when Henry Lincoln picked up some summer reading material in the 1969:

The most casual and mundane of actions can sometimes change the course of one’s life. So it was for me in 1969 when idly I spun a pavement bookstand outside a papershop in a small provincial French town. I was looking for some light and entertaining reading, something undemanding to fill a holiday hour. I reached out and took from the rack Le Trésor Maudit (‘The Accursed Treasure’). As I handed over the few francs for the paperback, I had no inkling that I had just purchased twenty years of excitement, mystery and discovery. As haphazardly as a roulette wheel the spinning bookstand had presented me with a winner. (Henry Lincoln, opening paragraph from his book The Holy Place)

To some, it seemed like Lincoln had embarked on a wild goose chase, but what it really did was re-ignite a thousand year old heresy that had been extinguished when the Cathars were destroyed in the 13th century.

The Priory of Sion

Priory_of_Sion_Logo

This ‘fake’ organization was uncovered by Lincoln during his perusal of the Treasure book. They had planted (Plantard) some documentation which pointed to the fact of a continuing French bloodline descended from the Merovingian dynasty. These documents were aligned to a painting by Poussin which I featured in a previous post. The idea was that a secret tomb was located in the South of France, near Rennes-le-Château. Speculation as to whether this might be Jesus’ tomb is what makes it earthshaking, to say the least.

But Plantard’s purpose was not to re-open a heresy but to suggest that by divine right he himself was the true King of France. And that is where the story ends for the Priory of Sion. Charlemagne made sure of that when he became the first Holy Roman Emperor.

Plantard was exposed by Lincoln as highly suspect, but Dan Brown decided that the Priory of Sion was ‘real’, for literary purposes.

Rosslyn Chapel

1_aerial_view

It was also inspired thinking that brought Ron Howard and his crew to include Rosslyn Chapel in the movie. The fact that the South of France is nowhere featured in the story except by having one of the characters named Saunière, this location brings the Knights Templar back to the Sinclair base in Scotland.

As has been noted in many publications about it, Rosslyn Chapel is a strange mix of many religious heritages. It may have been a way to hide heretical information under the very nose of the Roman Catholic Church. To say that it is an enigma would be an understatement.

Rosslyn-Chapel-interior

Princess Sophie

da_vinci_code_audrey_tautou_by_arilogan

Dan Brown’s use of Sophia (wisdom) as the basis of the name of his principal female character was wholly inspired. The Gnostics in the first century developed a theory that a first-born of God was wisdom and she mistook the reflected light from creation to be her father’s original light and fell into materialization.

Strange as that may sound, it makes a certain kind of sense when you think of the Holy Spirit as feminine. She is the Comforter promised by Jesus. And Mary Magdalene was said to embody that energy. Have we come full circle?

To have a fictional character who is good at code-breaking with that name was somehow satisfying, at least for me.

Conclusion

I watched the movie last night for the first time in years.

It visually tried to hammer home certain ‘truths’ which would make the Roman Catholic Church redundant in today’s day and age, whether or not they are true.

But people believe what they want to believe, so we shall never know for sure what is the Real Truth.

Posted in history, reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Birth of Astrology

Posted on September 4, 2018 by cdsmiller17

HoroscopeWorld'sOldestWREJC1

Dawn — April 29, 410 BCE, Babylon

This chart shows the energies that were in place on that day so long ago. I don’t know who’s birth chart this is, but, evidently, it’s the oldest known horoscope.

Without trying to trivialize Astrology’s Birth, let’s look at this birth chart as if it were a person. Since the Moon seems to be the pivotal spot of this individual’s life, I am going to concentrate on the aspects to that ‘light’.

Moon in Libra

Your desire for harmonious relationships and surroundings is so strong that you avoid personal confrontations or any expression of intense, unpleasant emotions.  You are an idealist who would like to paint the world in pastel colors, and live in peace and harmony with others at all times. You are able to see points of similarity and unity with people who are vastly different from yourself, and befriend many different types of people. You are a considerate and thoughtful friend, and have a real flair for making others feel accepted and appreciated. Inwardly you are often torn with indecision and are much more at odds with yourself than others would ever guess from your smooth, even disposition.

Moon Opposition Mercury

You have some difficulty in getting your emotions and your mind to work togeher. You often feel that they are opposed, that what your reason says is right feels wrong emotionally and vice versa. The challenge is to reach some kind of balance between them.

Moon Inconjunct Venus

You need to be loved, even more than most people, particularly by your mother or another woman who takes the place of your mother. This need for love will be the force behind many of your actions.

Moon Trine Mars

You have a great need to be yourself and to express your emotions exactly as you feel them without holding anything back. If you feel happy, you express it joyously to everyone, and if you feel sad or angry, you express that very clearly as well.

Moon Inconjunct Jupiter

This aspect indicates that you have a positive, optimistic outlook on life, and you enjoy socializing with good friends. However, there are some dangers with this aspect. It can be a sign that you are self-indulgent and possibly even selfish, although this is not likely to happen if you have a good, strong relationship with your mother.

Moon Square Saturn

This aspect can be quite difficult at times. You often feel that the people around you or even life itself prevents you from expressing your emotions. You may feel lonely and unsupported by your friends, brothers and sisters and even your parents. You often feel like an oddball whom no one understands.

Moon Inconjunct Neptune

This aspect indicates that you are very sensitive and that you pick up feelings from the people around you very easily. As a result, you prefer to be alone with your thoughts and let your fancies wander wherever they want to go. You must learn to stand on your own and not depend on others.

Moon Square Midheaven

Your emotions are quite strong and are very important to you. Your needs and feelings may often conflict with what other people seem to expect of you. Or you may feel like going one way even though you know it would be better to go the opposite way. You have to live with others, but at the same time you have to be yourself.

Conclusion

j-_vermeer_-_el_gec3b3grafo_museo_stc3a4del_frc3a1ncfort_del_meno_1669

The descriptions above seem to me to be very accurate when applied to Astrologers in general. Therefore, the Birth of Astrology may actually be more correctly described as the Birth of the Astrologer.

 

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Pope Francis and the Vatican

Posted on September 3, 2018 by cdsmiller17

ngogeobkpope_1024x1024

A New Relationship

While watching a YouTube video about the Pope’s birth chart, I was surprised by a statement early on in which the astrologer said that we didn’t need a chart for the Vatican, that we would only be analyzing Francis’.

What kind of ‘two-bit’ cowboy was this guy? Of course we would need to do a comparison with the Vatican, or else we would have only one side of the story.

The Vatican City

St_Peter's_Square,_Vatican_City_-_April_2007

Unfortunately, it would be impossible to get an exact time and date for the building that was erected over St Peter’s tomb in the 4th Century, but the Vatican City State was created in 1929 and that will do as our symbol of the Holy See.

In fact, by using February 11, 1929 @ 11:05 am, when the Lanteran Treaty was signed, we get a very clear picture of the energy of the Vatican, especially in relationship to this Pope.

The Compatibility Chart

CityTheVaticanWBAGE2

(All text from my Kepler 7.0 computer program.)

Pope’s Sun in Sagittarius and The Vatican’s Sun in Aquarius

Outgoing and progressive, both of you enjoy busy life styles that keep you on the go. Both of you enjoy meeting new people, traveling, and keeping up with current events; even in later life both of you will stay abreast of current trends in fashion, music, arts, literature, science, and politics. Pope tends to be a bit more philosophical than The Vatican, and likes to have a sense of mission and purpose, and is sometimes prone to grandiose visions and exaggerated hopes. Neither of you is particularly sentimental and your relationship may be very friendly but somewhat detached, and fortunately this is not likely to be viewed as a problem by either of you. You both are independent; with this friend you can have the space and freedom you need. Overall, your temperaments and interests are a bit different but blend well and this should be a rewarding friendship.

Pope’s Moon in Aquarius and The Vatican’s Moon in Pisces

Your emotional rhythms and temperaments are rather different. The Vatican is gentle, non-competitive, somewhat passive, and has a need to withdraw or “get away from it all” on a regular basis. Pope, on the other hand, needs involvement in the world and enjoys being in the flow of contemporary life.

More significantly, The Vatican is very sensitive emotionally and psychically, and is a deeply feeling person, while Pope responds more rationally and intellectually to people and situations. Pope has strong humanitarian or idealistic impulses, but frequently lacks empathy in personal situations, whereas The Vatican is so tender-hearted that others sometimes take advantage.

Pope is too cool, emotionally detached, and mental to suit The Vatican sometimes. Pope needs intellectual stimulation and companionship, and is rather uncomfortable with excessive displays of feeling and The Vatican’s emotionality in general. Also, The Vatican is highly intuitive, whereas Pope needs scientific evidence or support of the things that The Vatican takes on faith. Pope questions The Vatican’s hunches and emotional or psychic impressions. However, Pope can also help The Vatican get some distance and clarity about the emotional situations that The Vatican gets so immersed in.

Pope’s Sun Conjunct The Vatican’s Saturn

The two of you often work well together on shared responsibilities and practical matters of importance. However, there is also a constrained, serious tone to the relationship that can make it stifling and frustrating. The Vatican has a strong tendency to criticize and judge Pope’s actions, sometimes accurately and sometimes unjustly. The Vatican should guard against this tendency to dampen Pope’s enthusiasm, and Pope needs to avoid bing overly sensitive to The Vatican’s suggestions and criticisms. The Vatican’s tendency to dominate, control, or even repress Pope makes Pope feel resentful at times, and Pope may feel lowered in vitality and self-confidence after being with The Vatican for a long time. You must make room for lightness and play, or you both will feel burdened by the tone that is set between you.

Pope’s Sun Opposition The Vatican’s Mars

This is an active, energetic relationship and you can accomplish a great deal together. Be wary, however, of the tendency to butt heads when your combined dynamic energy makes you both feel impatient.

The Vatican’s Sun Trine Pope’s Mars

Successful cooperation in achieving goals and accomplishing tasks is highlighted. You make an excellent working team and you are able to assist each other in achieving specific, concrete goals.

Pope’s Moon Conjunct The Vatican’s Mercury

You enjoy long conversations, confiding in each other, sharing your inner feelings and thoughts. You enjoy “psychoanalyzing” each other and others as well. At worst, this can degrade into gossip and at best it can provide a depth of mutual understanding and self-discovery that is enlightening, nourishing, and refreshing.

The Vatican’s Moon Conjunct Pope’s Saturn

You don’t loosen up and enjoy each other’s company as much as you might have hoped. The mood that develops when you get together is formal, even constrained and inhibited at times. The Vatican may feel that Pope is too critical, acting like a parent or authority towards the Vatican. However, you do respect one another, are very responsible to each other, and feel that you understand each other even though communication is often stilted and difficult.

The Vatican’s Moon Sextile Pope’s Mercury

You enjoy long talks and feel very much at home with each other. You are able to openly share your feelings about almost any subject. You will find that as you spend more time together, your tastes, interests, hobbies, and activities tend to blend together harmoniously. Your friendship is a strong and lasting one.

Pope’s Mercury Opposition The Vatican’s Pluto

Your conversations have a deep, probing quality. You uncover hidden aspects of yourselves and, in general, you find that you can share at a much deeper level than you can with most people. If you encounter a topic where you strongly disagree with each other, you will both hammer on this issue until it is resolved or until death — whichever comes first!

Pope’s Mercury Square The Vatican’s Venus

You enjoy sharing ideas about the arts, literature, and people but often you fail to understand each other and sometimes reach a complete impasse. Your feelings towards each other are sometimes misunderstood, too. Both of you will have to tolerate one another’s different points of view for this relationship to work successfully.

Pope’s Venus Square The Vatican’s Jupiter

You enjoy laughing, playing, socializing, and going out together to have a good time. You are expansive and generous with each other and are inclined to spend unwisely, overeat, or otherwise overindulge when you’re together. If you live together or work closely with one another, disagreements regarding finances, budgeting, or investments are likely to arise.

Pope’s Venus Sextile The Vatican’s Venus

There is a beautiful flow of love between the two of you, and you are able to both give and receive affection, appreciation, and tenderness in this relationship. You enjoy the same pleasures and find it easy and natural to do those things that really please and make your friend happy. Your taste in aesthetics is also very compatible.

Pope’s Mars Square The Vatican’s Pluto

You inspire, vitalize, and energize one another and you can accomplish much together, but you can easily become overly zealous, even fanatical, in your pursuits. It is also likely that your objectives will sometimes be different and you will feel at cross-purposes with each other. You often end up in power struggles, being very competitive with each other, and trying to manipulate or dominate one another. The Vatican, especially, can override or undermine Pope’s efforts.

The Vatican’s Mars Square Pope’s Neptune

It is very difficult for the two of you to jointly accomplish practical, mundane tasks. You draw out the silly, childish, imaginative side of of each other, and you often will simply not be able to clearly focus on practical tasks. If either of you has a drinking, drug, or psychological problem, it is likely your relationship will highlight this problem. Be wary of the tendency of both of you to overindulge in these kinds of bad habits.

Pope’s Mars Trine The Vatican’s Mars

You are able to coordinate your efforts and work together very well on practical tasks. You make an excellent working team. There is a warm, stimulating, energizing quality between you, and you generate a lot of steam for anything you undertake together. You also discover your physical drives and desires are very much in sync.

Conclusion

Italy Vatican Pope~s _admi

The doom and gloom that has been circulating about Pope Francis and the Roman Catholic Church is just the early stages of what appears to be a long and purposeful dynamic. Of course, there are growing pains in any relationship, but the key will be to stand back and look at the good that they can do together.

Their demise is premature. The man and his job are compatible.

Posted in history, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seasons as Time Passages

Posted on September 3, 2018 by cdsmiller17

663702931.0.x.1

Doctor Zhivago

I’m almost finished reading this classic 20th Century novel. The overall impression I have is the use of the changing seasons to show the passage of time.

The movie by David Lean more or less followed the same tactic visually. But he seemed to concentrate on winter and spring, and not so much on summer and autumn.

doctor-zhivago-4

dr-zhivago-2

dr-zhivago-10888a862ce45870e59435d223ff493fe47b3a66-s6-c30

Dr-Zhivago-1

Conclusion

Siberia and Canada have the same weather patterns. That’s what made the movie so spectacular for me. The words Boris Pasternak wrote tried to convey the same images in written form, but didn’t always succeed. I think it would be true to say:

One picture is worth a thousand words.

Posted in reviews, showbusiness | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Don’t Accept Any Favours

Posted on September 2, 2018 by cdsmiller17

fb-share-img-2

From Insurance Juniors

The final part of the Limey story involves getting a payout from our insurance company, CAA (Canadian Automobile Association). As you may remember, our 2011 Ford Fiesta caught fire due to a mechanical failure. That was on July 31st.

On August 10th we got a telephone call from the CAA Insurance Adjustor. Right off the top, he offered us what we wanted for a payout (just $10 short of our ‘hopeful’ amount).

Unfortunately, he offered the amount over the phone to me. Susan called him back (as she was the policy holder), after we got the emailed confirmation and paperwork to sign, and wanted to increase the amount to cover the new tires and brakes we’d had installed that April. The Insurance Claims officer offered to round the figure up by $10. Susan reluctantly agreed, and the paperwork was emailed again with the amended figure.

I sent the completed paperwork back that same evening by email.

Then We Waited…

When the cheque didn’t arrive early the next week, my ‘Spidey’ sense kicked in. Patiently, we waited until the rental car was returned, and the new Corolla was purchased. Then Susan rang them again, to transfer the insurance coverage from the old car to the new one. She asked what had happened to the payout, and was transferred to the Claims department. We were told that it was being prepared for mailing the next day, August 16th. We should get the cheque on the following Monday at the latest, we were told.

The following Monday, no mail. On Tuesday, there was some mail, but no cheque. On Wednesday, Susan rang again. We were told they would have to check the mailroom to see what had happened to it. They promised to ring us back.

So we waited for their call. It never came, so Susan rang again.

The Insurance Adjustor Still had the Cheque

For some reason (the $10 difference, no doubt), the cheque was being held back. After the Claims officer on the phone went to see the Adjustor, he was assured that it was being sent out the next day. (Where had we heard that before?)

On Friday, Susan rang again, because by rights that cheque should have been in our hands by then, and it wasn’t.

It turned out that it was being mailed out by Priority Post on Friday.

Come the Next Week

We didn’t get any mail on Monday.

Susan rang again. Yes, the cheque had gone out on Friday, and the reason we didn’t get it on Monday was the fact that the weekend intervened. We were assured that it would be with us on Tuesday.

And [surprise, surprise] on Tuesday it came. The cheque was dated August 16th, the accompanying letter written on August 22nd (with a muddled value quoted), and the date received August 28th.

The value on the cheque?  The original amount quoted…

Conclusion

It would appear that if we had been content with the original amount offered, the cheque would have been in our hands ten days earlier.

This just goes to show that one shouldn’t accept any favours, especially from junior staff.

Lesson learned.

Posted in paranoia, personal | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stemming the Tide of History

Posted on August 31, 2018 by cdsmiller17

dr_zhivago

Doctor Zhivago

I read a paperback edition of this novel in the late 60’s after watching the David Lean movie of the same name. I couldn’t have taken every word in because, as I’m reading it again now, from a tenth impression of the 1958 English translation, most of it is new to me. But that could also be due to preferring the filmed version over the written. Such is youth.

What strikes me is the hero, Yury Zhivago, is a very insecure individual. This seems to come out in every passage where he is thinking his inner thoughts to himself. I suspect these were Boris Pasternak’s inner thoughts, too, which gives the novel its personal power to move me. I have thought these same things, although never really giving voice to them, except maybe in my poetry.

The term, ‘hero in his own story’ doesn’t seem to apply here. It’s more likely that he felt he was chronicling the events as they unfolded during the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war. As a reporter, he saw the absurdity of life through the before and after of their historic conflicts. It is reminiscent of living through the 60’s and watching the nighty news. “The whole world’s watching.”

Christianity

It’s obvious, isn’t it? The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the most enduring branches of Christianity, even after religion was abolished by the Russian Soviets. Pasternak makes reference to liturgy and scriptures many times through this novel. His thinking isn’t revolutionary, but some of his words show an interesting take on some beliefs.

Dr. Zhivago’s impromptu lecture to Anna about death.

Resurrection. — In the crude form in which it is preached for the consolation of the weak, the idea doesn’t appeal to me. I have always understood Christ’s words about the living and the dead in a different sense. Where could you find room for all these hordes of people collected over thousands of years? The universe isn’t big enough, God and good and meaning would be crowded out. They’d be crushed by all that greedy animal jostling.

But all the time life, always one and the same, always incomprehensibly keeping its identity, fills the universe and is renewed at every moment in innumerable combinations and metamorphoses. You are anxious whether you will rise from the dead or not, but you have risen already — you rose from the dead when you were born and you didn’t notice it. Will you feel pain? Do the tissues feel their disintegration? In other words, what will happen to your consciousness? But what is consciousness? Let’s see. To try consciously to go to sleep is a sure way to have insomnia, to try to be conscious of one’s own digestion is a sure way to upset the stomach. Consciousness is a poison when we apply it to ourselves. Consciousness is a beam of light directed outwards, it lights up the way ahead of us so that we don’t trip up. It’s like the head-lamps on a railway engine — if you turned the beam inwards there would be a catastrophe.

So what will happen to your consciousness? Your consciousness, yours, not anyone else’s. Well, what are you? That’s the crux of the matter. Let’s try to find out. What is it about you that you have always known as yourself? What are you conscious of in yourself? Your kidneys? Your liver? Your blood vessels? — No. However far back you go in your memory, it is always in some external, active manifestation of yourself that you come across your identity — in the work of your hands, in your family, in other people. And now look. You in others are yourself, your soul. This is what you are. This is what your consciousness has breathed and lived on and enjoyed throughout your life. — Your soul, your immortality, your life in others. And what now? You have always been in others and you will remain in others. And what does it matter to you if later on it is called your memory? This will be you — the you that enters the future and becomes a part of it.

And now one last point. There is nothing to worry about. There is no death. Death is not our department. But you mentioned talent — that’s different, that’s ours, that’s at our disposal. And to be gifted in the widest and highest sense is to be gifted for life.

There will be no death, says St. John, and just look at the simplicity of his argument. There will be no death because the past is over; that’s almost like saying there will be no death because death is already done with, it’s old and we are tired of it. What we need is something new, and that new thing is life eternal.

(Page 70-1, Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, Collins and Harvill Press, London – 1958)

Psychology

Pasternak has also thought a great deal about the nature of dreams.

About dreams.

It is usually taken for granted that you dream of something which has made a particularly strong impression on you during the day, but it seems to me it’s just the contrary.

Often it’s something you paid no attention to at the time — a vague thought that you didn’t bother to think out to the end, words spoken without feeling and which passed unnoticed — these are the things which return at night, clothed in flesh and blood as characters in dreams, as if to force you to make up for having neglected them in your waking hours.

(Page 257 – Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak – Collins and Harvill Press, London – 1958)

The Lara Love Story

According to those who knew Pasternak’s personal life, a new chapter in his life opened up when he met and fell in love with Olga Ivinskaya. Since this novel wasn’t completed until 1965, I think Pasternak went back over his manuscript and inserted chapters about Lara to fill in the emotional hole at the centre of the story.

David Lean, when he filmed the story, decided to focus on their relationship because it was obvious that how we view this love affair will be the ‘making or breaking’ of its popularity.

When I read the discussions between Yury and Lara in the book, I was struck at how self-less and banal their love for each other was. I guess that’s to be expected if the writer is going through a similar process in real life. But does it make it the ‘love story of the 20th Century’? Some might disagree.

Coincidence

Russia is the largest land mass on earth. It also is a country made up of many ethnic peoples. What struck me as strange was how many times Boris Pasternak relied on coincidence to further his story lines. Surely, in real life, we don’t get to revisit old friends and acquaintances in the flesh. (The social media has a lot to answer for, these days.)

Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge had a similar way of reintroducing characters into his story. Call me old-fashioned, but that just doesn’t ring true.

Admittedly, there are a lot of players in this story. And it cannot just be about Yury and Lara, if we are to get any understanding of what a revolution is like. But, after awhile, you can spot where Pasternak is setting you up for another ‘reveal’.

Conclusion

This story is a tragic one. Most true love stories are. Zhivago’s love for Lara is enduring, and our memory of their relationship will be, too. Viva la revolution!

 

Posted in history, reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Francis: The Rebel Pope

Posted on August 29, 2018 by cdsmiller17

image-853199-860_poster_16x9-hnqp-853199

A Man of the People

I was challenged by a friend on Facebook to sit through a 70 minute video of an astrologer. dressed in papal robes, with a mitre on his head, discussing how ‘dangerous’ Pope Francis was, according to his birth chart. It was painful to watch.

It might come as no surprise to you who are reading this post to learn that the quality of the astrologer dictates the quality of their output. After all, you cannot get blood from a stone, can you?

Because the birth chart was being dissected with the current crisis of priests sexually abusing children, and the subsequent coverup by the Vatican, Francis was being accused as having been a pedophile himself. That, to me, is a step too far. I needed to review his birth chart for myself to see what is really going on.

The Chart

FrancisPopeWREJC1

The timing of his birth has been suggested by someone who applied for the Pope’s birth certificate (for research purposes). In the past it was common to round the time up to the top of the hour, but in truth, the actual time could be 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after that hour. However, chart rectification shows his election to Pontiff is quite accurate for the position of Saturn @ 16° Pisces 30′. The timing from the Ascendant @ 9° Cancer 58′ indicates that his age was close to 77 years in 2013.

There are rebellious elements all through this chart, the most obvious being Uranus @ 5° Taurus 56′ in the 10th House. As most of the aspects trigger off this planetary placement, it is obvious that Francis will not ‘toe-the-line’ when it comes to what the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy want from him. He is stubborn, too, so the more people want him to condemn the priests, the more he will resist, NOT because he is a pedophile, but because he is empathetic with the underdog. And there are so many underdogs in this crisis.

The Cardinals probably rue the day they elected this Pontiff, and are perhaps actively plotting to force him to resign. No chance, there!

Conclusion

pope-francis

Pope Francis I is a rebel. He had a good example set for him.

After all, Jesus was a rebel, too. And look what they did to him…

Posted in history, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments