Worldwide Buddhist Information and Education Network. Beyond Ishtar: The Tradition of Eggs at Easter. Photo by Willow Gardeners.
CC, click on image for license and information. Eggs occupy a special status during Easter observances. They’re symbols of rebirth and renewal—life bursts forth from this otherwise plain, inanimate object that gives no hint as to what it contains. In this regard it is a handy symbol for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is is a symbol that has held this meaning long before Christianity adopted it. Ishtar depicted on a vase in the Louvre. There is a meme floating around Facebook that some people have rallied around and are sharing as a “truth” of Easter. Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex.
Clearly, we all know that Facebook memes are the ultimate source of information—particularly when they makes a biting point about something or some group that is not particularly favorably viewed. Ancient Egyptians believed in a primeval egg from which the sun god hatched. When a persecution complex goes awry. For the social conservatives and the religious right movement, a sense of victimization and a profound persecution complex aren’t just hallmarks of their ideology, it’s been elevated to a near art form.
Nobody – nobody – feels sorry for themselves as dramatically and effectively as far-right evangelical activists. And with the culture-war winds blowing even stronger in a progressive direction of late, the urge among social conservatives to feel sorry for themselves is apparently uncontrollable. David Brody of radical TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network offered this self-pitying gem yesterday (via Ed Kilgore): In the media’s narrative, you would think that homosexuals are the poor souls who have been banished by society like ugly stepchildren and are now rising to overcome incredible odds.But what about today? Let’s be honest: If you are a conservative evangelical who believes in the biblical definition of traditional marriage then guess what? Please. Quite right. I Don't Believe in Atheists (Chris Hedges) 20 Spiritual Quotes From Eckhart Tolle.
I find great peace by reading spiritual quotes.
It’s very soothing to glimpse into your inner self for perspective. Today I wanted to share my favorite quotes from spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle . Enjoy 1- To end the misery that has afflicted the human condition for thousands of years, you have to start with yourself and take responsibility for you inner state at any given moment. 2- For what you do to others, you do to yourself. 3- Instead of asking “what do I want from life? 4- If there were nothing but thought in you, you wouldn’t even know you are thinking. 5- Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have? The Power of Now Page 40. Sense of permanency and fulfillment - is a recipe for frustration and suffering.
The whole advertising industry and consumer society would collapse if people became enlightened and no longer sought to find their identity through things. The more you seek happiness in this way, the more it will elude you. Tao Te Ching Translations. Taoism. The History Of Music In Church Worship. Sex and The Bible, Part 2 - National Gnosticism & Heretical Spirituality. 'The Bible must be shaken upside down before it will yield all its secrets.
The priest have censored and clipped and mangled: they give us a celibate Jesus born of a virgin without the slightest "stain" of sexual contact, which is blasphemous nonsense.' --William Blake-- In ‘Sex and The Bible Part 1’, Isaiah’s son, Mathershalalhashbaz, took the reader on a tour of Israel’s continuous Mardi Gras party in The Old Testament. From Lot’s daughters tag-teaming their stoned father to Solomon’s affairs with tattooed foreign women in his holy bike shop, no stone was left unturned and no venereal disease was left undocumented.
God is dead. "God is dead" (German: "Gott ist tot" ; also known as the death of God) is a widely-quoted statement by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Catholic vs Protestant. Definition Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective καθολικός, meaning "general; universal" (cf.
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon). In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has several usages: The word commonly refers to the members, beliefs, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and those sui juris churches that are in full communion with the Pope (Bishop of Rome). It comprises the Latin Rite and twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches. Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. Taoism. Taoist rite at the Qingyanggong (Bronze Ram Temple) in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Taoism, or Daoism, is a philosophical, ethical, and religious tradition of Chinese origin that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (also romanized as Dao). The term Tao means "way", "path" or "principle", and can also be found in Chinese philosophies and religions other than Taoism. In Taoism, however, Tao denotes something that is both the source and the driving force behind everything that exists.