"Concerning God" Spinoza, excerpt

"Hence any one who seeks for the true causes of miracles, and strives to understand natural phenomena as an intelligent being, and not to gaze at them like a fool, is set down and denounced as an impious heretic by those, whom the masses adore as the interpreters of nature and the gods. Such persons know that, with the removal of ignorance, the wonder of which forms their only available means for proving and preserving their authority would also vanish. "After men persuaded themselves, that everything which is created is created for their sake, they were bound to consider as the chief quality of everything that which is most useful to themselves, and to account those things the best of all which have the most beneficial effect on mankind. Further, they are bound to form abstract notions for the explanation of the nature of things, such as goodness, badness, order, confusion, warmth, cold, beauty, deformity, and so on; and from the belief that they are free agents arose the further notions praise, blame, sin and merit." Pp.74-75, "Appendix, of Concerning God," THE ETHICS, by Benedict de Spinoza (Prometheus Press, Amherst. NY: 1677, 1982)

"WE"

"We" is an abused word! "We" are as "we" do, not as "we" appear and not as "we" speak.

CONSTITUTIONAL LYNCHING?

LYNCHING WAS THE ONLY "DUE PROCESS" BLACK PEOPLE KNEW AFTER 1865, WHEN BLACK SOLDIERS WERE MUSTERED OUT OF SERVICE; WHEN THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS WERE SHIPPED OUT WEST TO FIGHT THE INDIANS AND MEXICANS; AND WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WITHDREW THE REMAINING TROOPS FROM LOUISIANA AND SOUTH CAROLINA, AND TURNED ITS HYPOCRITICAL BACK ON ITS CONSTITUTION, LEAVING ITS NEWEST CONSCRIPTED "CITIZENS"--BLACKS--AT THE MERCY OF DEFEATED, HUMILIATED, NOW UNRESTRAINED VENGEANCE OF THEIR FORMER MASTERS UNTIL 1965. ▶ "[ On this day September 28, 1868 The Opelousas, Louisiana Massacre] began when three local whites beat up Emerson Bently, the 18 year-old editor of the Opelousas Republican newspaper. Twelve blacks who came to Bentley’s rescue were ar...See More Photo: ▶ "[ On this day September 28, 1868 The Opelousas, Louisiana Massacre] began when three local whites beat up Emerson Bently, the 18 year-old editor of the Opelousas Republican newspaper. Twelve blacks who came to Bentley’s rescue were arrested and immediately taken to jail. The same night, they were taken out and hanged. Afterwards, bands of armed whites, many of whom were Confederate veterans and prominent citizens of Opelousas, roamed the fields and swamps surrounding the town, killing every black person they encountered. Between 200 and 300 innocent blacks were murdered before the carnage ended.” http://books.google.com/books?id=GuvsptYLFL4C&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=The+Opelousas,+Louisiana+massacre&source=bl&ots=3RExbQJQ0f&sig=rMvXaMHdmsMyWcbd4LLeUN1Cijs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4z5HUqf7C5Gp4AOE6IH4Bg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=The%20Opelousas%2C%20Louisiana%20massacre&f=false Another Account -- “While most Reconstruction era violence was sparked by conflicts between black Republicans and white Democrats, the initial catalyst for the Massacre was the attempt by some Opelousas blacks to join a Democratic political group in the neighboring town of Washington. White Democrats in Opelousas, mainly members of the Seymour Knights, the local unit of the white supremacist organization Knights of the White Camellia, visited Washington to drive them out of the Party. In response Emerson Bentley, an Ohio-born white school teacher and editor of The Progress, a Republican newspaper in Opelousas, wrote what many local whites thought was a racially inflammatory article which described the violence that the Seymour Knights had used against the African American Democrats in Washington. Bentley argued that such violence should persuade the blacks to remain loyal to the GOP. Shortly after the article appeared, Bentley was assaulted by a group of whites while he taught his class. He was severely beaten and whipped although he survived the assault. In response he fled the town, literally running for his life for nearly three weeks before escaping back to the North. Meanwhile numerous reports circulated that Bentley had been killed in retaliation for his news article. His mysterious absence was enough to support rumors of his death. Now black Republicans urged retaliatory violence on the Knights, who in turn viewed this as the beginning of the long anticipated, and inevitable, “Black Revolt” and race war. The Knights of the White Camellia mobilized thousand of members. Both sides were armed and prepared for conflict as they gathered in Opelousas. It is unclear as to who initiated the battle that began on September 28. What is clear is that the white Democrats had the overwhelming advantage in numbers and weapons. By the afternoon of September 28 the battle had become a massacre. A number of blacks were shot and killed or captured and later executed. Those who were not captured were chased into the swamps and killed on sight. Twelve leaders of the black Republicans who surrendered were executed the next day on the edge of town. Those executions seemed to encourage a wave of anti-black violence that spread throughout the parish. No one will ever know how many people were killed but the best estimate is that the number was at least 150 and may have exceeded that total.” http://www.blackpast.org/aah/opelousas-massacre-1868

URAEUS

THE ANOINTING

meditations on morality

Meditations on Morality By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman Saturday, September 28, 2013 Relations among men are governed by spoken and by unspoken rules. Perhaps, the most well-known is the “Golden Rule,” which says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The standard is “you.” Its companion is love, as in “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Again, the standard is “you.” Because the standard is “you,” your conception of yourself governs your morality with respect to others. It also reflects your self-conception by your outer conduct. Morality, thus, moves from the inside of you to the outside of you. “You” might be a person, a family, a community, a city, a state, a nation, a religion or a race. “Who am I, what am I, why am I, where am I, when am I, and how am I” are the most fundamental questions undergirding morality, and undergirding “you” and I. “Morality” is particularly human in its application. Humans are insensible to the world around them until they acquire self-consciousness from others like them. Such self-consciousness consists of the answers to the 6 foregoing questions. Love, care, and comfort are the first things felt. Am I fed, am I warm, am I dry? Am I held? If not, why not? What happens when I cry? What if I scream? Non-verbal communications such as these are life’s first human instructors. They form the setting for the jewels of understanding that will be later fitted into that setting. Morality is foremost among these jewels. Its setting must be inlaid love. Amen.

OXYGEN, COLUMBUS, AMERICA

This quotation from THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS (U. of Chicago Press: 1962, 2012), by Thomas S. Kuhn, is applicable to the commemoration of Christopher Columbus' alleged discovery of America each October. Simply transpose, the words "America" and "oxygen," bracketed below, and marvel at the historical irony of the result! "Clearly we need a new vocabulary and concepts for analyzing events like the discovery of [oxygen]. Though undoubtedly correct, the sentence, "[Oxygen] was discovered," misleads by suggesting that discovering something is a simple act assimilable to our usual (and questionable) concept of seeing. That is why we so readily assume that discovering, like seeing or touching, should be unequivocally attributed to an individual and to a moment in time. But the latter attribution is always impossible, and the former often is as well." p.55. Once oxygen and America are transposed in Kuhn's quotation, one finds that it is "always impossible" to attribute the discovery of America with any "moment in time," nor to "attribute it to an individual, unequivocally."

THE BARREN FIG TREE

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree 6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”LUKE 13

CONTRABAND FARMER

THIS "CONTRABAND FARMER" IS SYMBOLIC OF OUR CONNECTION TO THE LAND THAT IS, NOW, ALMOST LOST INCIDENT TO WAVES OF MIGRATION FROM THE SOUTH DUE TO TERRORISM, PEONAGE, AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST TOO MANY OF US AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, WHEN WE THOUGHT THAT WE WERE CONSTITUTIONALLY FREE AND EQUAL TO WHITE PEOPLE. FORTUNATELY, UNTIL THE DEATH OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON IN 1915, OUR PEOPLE, THROUGH IT ALL, WERE ABLE TO ACQUIRE 1/3 OF THE FARM LAND IN THE SOUTH, STARTING FROM NOTHING, MY GRANDPARENTS AND GREAT-GRANDPARENTS AMONG THEM. BUT, THE ALLURE OF THE NORTH AND ITS FALSE PROMISES OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVED TO BE TOO MUCH FOR MY PARENTS' GENERATION; MANY OF THEM LEFT THEIR FAMILY LAND, "DOWN SOUTH," FOR GOOD, EN ROUTE TO PLACES LIKE DETROIT, CHICAGO, HARLEM, CLEVELAND, PHILLY, PITTSBURGH, LOS ANGELES, ST. LOUIS, OMAHA, KC. I DO NOT CONDEMN THEIR DEPARTURES. THEY DID WHAT THEY FELT WAS BEST FOR ME AND MY GENERATION, AND I AM GRATEFUL! BUT, OUR ROOTS ARE IN THE SOUTH, OVERWHELMINGLY. THOSE ROOTS MUST BE AERATED, TREATED, "DUNGED"--TO QUOTE THE BIBLE--AND WATERED IF OUR TREE IS TO CONTINUE TO BEAR GOOD FRUIT IN THE FUTURE. AMEN!

LATENCY

Latency I feel you, but can't find you. I hear you, but don't mind you. What a wretched man am I What a wretched man am I.

3 BILLION YEAR-OLD-SOILS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

"Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and University of British Columbia examined the chemical composition of three-billion-year-old soils from South Africa -- the oldest soils on Earth -- and found evidence for low concentrations of atmospheric oxygen." -- GOD FORMED MAN FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH AND BREATHED INTO HIM AND MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL. --GEN.2:7 Ancient soils reveal clues to early life on Earth www.sciencedaily.com

TALK TO ME

Neither borrower Nor lender be. No! Save your money And talk to me! --God.

MARK 4:25--A FILL-IN THE BLANKS SCRIPTURE?

YESTERDAY, I POSTED THE FOLLOWING STATUS: "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." MARK 4:25 When I first encountered this scripture in 1975, I asked my former pastor, Rev. Christopher Columbus Butler, of St. Matthews C.M.E. Church, near St. Louis, Missouri, whether this referred to money? He said, "No. Faith." I remain unpersuaded by his explanation, preferring my own intuition. SINCE THAT TIME IT HAS OCCURRED TO ME, THAT THIS MAY WELL BE A FILL-IN THE BLANK TYPE OF SCRIPTURE. FOR, EXAMPLE, "LOVE," "HOPE," "POWER," "POVERTY"--ALL WORK, IN ADDITION TO FAITH AND MONEY. WHO ARE YOU IS THE REAL ISSUE? TRY INSERTING OTHER SUBJECTS AFTER "HAS" AND "HAVE" AND SEE THE RESULT.

"RELIGION AND SCIENCE: IRRECONCILABLE?"

IDEAS AND OPINIONS, “Religion and Science: Irreconcilable?”, by Albert Einstein (Three Rivers Press, NY: 1954, 1982), pp. 51-52 “When considering the actual living conditions of present-day civilized humanity from the standpoint of even the most elementary scientific commands, one is bound to experience a feeling of deep and painful disappointment at what one sees. For while religion prescribes brotherly love in the relations among the individuals and groups, the actual spectacle more resembles a battlefield than an orchestra. Everywhere, in economic as well as in political life, the guiding principle is one of ruthless striving for success at the expense of one's fellowmen. This competitive spirit prevails even in school and, destroying all feelings of human fraternity and cooperation, conceives of achievement not as derived from the love for productive and thoughtful work, but as springing from personal ambition and fear of rejection. “There are pessimists who hold that such a state of affairs is necessarily inherent in human nature; it is those who propound such views that are the enemies of true religion, for they imply thereby that religious teachings are utopian ideals and unsuited to afford guidance in human affairs. The study of the social patterns in certain so-called primitive cultures, however, seems to have made it sufficiently evident that such a defeatist view is wholly unwarranted. Whoever is concerned with this problem, a crucial one in the study of religion as such, is advised to read the description of the Pueblo Indians in Ruth Benedict's book, Patterns of Culture. Under the hardest living conditions, this tribe has apparently accomplished the difficult task of delivering its people from the scourge of the competitive spirit and of fostering in it a temperate, cooperative conduct of life, free of external pressure and without any curtailment of happiness. “The interpretation of religion, as here advanced, implies a dependence of science on the religious attitude, a relation which, in our predominantly materialistic age, is only too easily overlooked. While it is true that scientific results are entirely independent from religious or moral considerations, those individuals to whom we owe the great creative achievements of science were all of them embued with the truly religious conviction that this universe of ours is something perfect and susceptible to the rational striving for knowledge. If this conviction had not been a strongly emotional one and if those searching for knowledge had not been inspired by Spinoza's Amor Dei Intellectualis, they would hardly have been capable of that untiring devotion which alone enables man to attain his greatest achievements.”

AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING...

http://www.lifesciencesite.com/lsj/life0803/052_6611life0803_309_312.pdf as it was in the beginning...

Money or Faith: Mark 4:25

Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." MARK 4:25 When I first encountered this scripture in 1975, I asked my former pastor, Rev. Christopher Columbus Butler, of St. Matthews C.M.E. Church, near St. Louis, Missouri, whether this referred to money? He said, "No. Faith." I remain unpersuaded by his explanation, preferring my own intuition.

Romans 8:16-18

Romans 8:16-18 King James Version (KJV) 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

CREATION

Addition and subtraction are basic parts of life's arithmetic. So, too, are multiplication and division among its natural components. These basic facts are validated in nature and in human life, daily, along with: the rational and the irrational, the positive and negative, the algorithmic and logarithmic, the potential and the exponential, absolute-zero and infinity. All are parts of the ever-accelerating geometric calculus of divine and universal creation, to which we are joint heirs, along with all that is, was, or ever shall be. Amen.

GOD IS NOT A MAN

Numbers 23:19 King James Version (KJV) 19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

IN SEASON, OUT OF SEASON

4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 2 Tim. 4

The Golden Ratio, Excerpt...

THE GOLDEN RATIO: The Story of Phi, The World's Most Astonishing Number, by Mario Livio, (Broadway Books, New York: 2002), p.69 “In a surprising turn of events, in 1998 two groups of astronomers discovered that not only is our universe expanding (a fact already discovered by Edwin Hubble in the 1920's), but that the expansion is accelerating. This discovery came as a total shock, since astronomers naturally assumed that, due to gravity the expansion should be slowing down. In the same way that a ball thrown upward on Earth continuously slows down because of gravity's pull (and eventually reverses its motion), the gravitational force exerted by all the matter in the universe should cause the cosmic expansion to decelerate. The discovery that the expansion is speeding up rather than slowing down suggests the existence of some form of “dark energy” that manifests itself as a repulsive force, which in our present- day universe, overcomes the attractive force of gravity. Physicists are still struggling to understand the source and nature of this “dark energy.”

MAKE CAPITAL AVAILABLE AND GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Larry Delano Coleman Make capital available and get out of the way! Listening again to POTUS'S 2013 "State of the Union" address, yesterday, I heard him mention the need to protect American business from foreign competition, "like China," who unfairly benefit from their government's policies and subsidies, resulting in an "unfair advantage" over American business interests. This cant has been repeated by every American President that I have heard. Everyone looks out for their own and protects their own, regardless of its impact on their own consumers or others. Such is the nature of trade and commerce. It used to be known as protectionism. High tariffs and inspection criteria, along with licenses were used to protect domestic interests, while pretending to pursue "free trade." Black American businesses and professions need the same protections vis-a-vis white American businesses and professions, as the latter have historically enjoyed relative to foreign competition. And for the same reasons! Black enterprises and professions have suffered discriminatory treatment in trade and commerce through government policies and regulations; through terrorists bombings, arson, and lynching--still unsolved or non-prosecuted decades or centuries later; and through the mythical conception that the white man's ice is colder or water is wetter than the blacks. In short, blacks have been treated as foreign enemies in their own land, since after the Civil War, and this must stop! To remedy this problem, which is the true source of black poverty and unemployment and crime, I say make adequate capital available to black people,and get out of the way with discriminatory policies rooted in disparate government regulations and lax legal protection. Then watch what happens, after these final fetters from slavery are removed!

IDEAS AND OPINIONS, EXCERPT...

IDEAS AND OPINIONS, by Albert Einstein (Three Rivers Press, NY: 1954, 1982), pp. 46-47, 48-49 “During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operation of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favor by means of magic and prayer. The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old concept of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown, for instance, by the fact that men appeal to the Divine Being in prayers and plead for the fulfillment of their wishes. “Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, an the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is, if this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?... “If it is one of the goals of religion to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in yet another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not the only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements. It is in this striving after the rational unification of the manifold that it encounters its greatest successes, even though it is precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of falling a prey to illusions. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of understanding, he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seem so me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life. “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. In this sense I believe that the priest must become a teacher if he wishes to do justice to his lofty educational mission.”

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE?

"How much time do you have? " Time is more precious than gold. You can live very well without gold. But, you cannot live at all without time. The first concept introduced in the Bible is time. The Bible states, "In the beginning, God..." Genesis 1:1. "The Beginning" is a concept of time. Time, in its "the beginning" concept, precedes God in the Bible's text. Before you--in particular--can concern yourself about God, you--in particular--must be here, must exist, must have a beginning: you, uniquely. In textual Biblical precedence, if not also in cosmological precedence, time--the beginning-- is either before God; or, the beginning, is of God! That is not to say that time is lesser or greater than God; they co-exist! They reinforce each other. "And God said let us make man." That "us" was time: outside of which, nothing exists. Anything that is with, or of, God is of great value. So, Time is of great value, being with or of God, or both. Nothing on Earth is more valuable than time. Nothing you possess is more valuable to you than your time. Yet, because you cannot appreciate the value of time, or of your own time, you waste it, give it away, sully it. In extreme cases, you self-terminate it! In order to appreciate the true value of time, an analogy of St. Augustine of Hippo, "The Father of Theology," would be useful and helpful to you. He said, as I update and paraphrase his meaning, "Let us assume that we each have 5 years to live. Since, we have all lived 5 years, already, we have a sense of its length. We also know that 5 years is not yet. We have only this year. But, this year is not over. So, we only have this month. But, the month is not over either. So, all we have is this week. But, this week is not over! All we have is this day. But, the day is not over! All we have is this hour! But, the hour is not over. All we have is this minute. But, this minute is not over! It has 60 seconds, in any one of which seconds, our time could end!" -- spoke the 5th century sage. Indeed, time is ending for someone, somewhere, even as I write this note. So how much time do you really have? You do not "have" -- own or possess--any "time" at all. Its allotment is gifted to you, to us, by time. Time "owns" us. We are time's tenants. Time has granted each of us some portion of its bounty for a time. So, while there is still time, and while you, in particular, still have time, make the highest and best use of your time, so that both time and God will be glorified by and through you, and through your time on this Earth. Amen. Photo: "How much time do you have? " Time is more precious than gold. You can live very well without gold. But, you cannot live at all without time. The first concept introduced in the Bible is time. The Bible states, "In the beginning, God..." Genesis 1:1. "The Beginning" is a concept of time. Time, in its "the beginning" concept, precedes God in the Bible's text. Before you--in particular--can concern yourself about God, you--in particular--must be here, must exist, must have a beginning: you, uniquely. In textual Biblical precedence, if not also in cosmological precedence, time--the beginning-- is either before God; or, the beginning, is of God! That is not to say that time is lesser or greater than God; they co-exist! They reinforce each other. "And God said let us make man." That "us" was time: outside of which, nothing exists. Anything that is with, or of, God is of great value. So, Time is of great value, being with or of God, or both. Nothing on Earth is more valuable than time. Nothing you possess is more valuable to you than your time. Yet, because you cannot appreciate the value of time, or of your own time, you waste it, give it away, sully it. In extreme cases, you self-terminate it! In order to appreciate the true value of time, an analogy of St. Augustine of Hippo, "The Father of Theology," would be useful and helpful to you. He said, as I update and paraphrase his meaning, "Let us assume that we each have 5 years to live. Since, we have all lived 5 years, already, we have a sense of its length. We also know that 5 years is not yet. We have only this year. But, this year is not over. So, we only have this month. But, the month is not over either. So, all we have is this week. But, this week is not over! All we have is this day. But, the day is not over! All we have is this hour! But, the hour is not over. All we have is this minute. But, this minute is not over! It has 60 seconds, in any one of which seconds, our time could end!" -- spoke the 5th century sage. Indeed, time is ending for someone, somewhere, even as I write this note. So how much time do you really have? You do not "have" -- own or possess--any "time" at all. Its allotment is gifted to you, to us, by time. Time "owns" us. We are time's tenants. Time has granted each of us some portion of its bounty for a time. So, while there is still time, and while you, in particular, still have time, make the highest and best use of your time, so that both time and God will be glorified by and through you, and through your time on this Earth. Amen.

structure of scientific revolutions, excerpt

THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS, “Anomaly and the Emergence of Scientific Discoveries,” by Thomas S. Kuhn, pp. 52-53 (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London: 2012) “Normal science does not aim at novelties of fact or theory and, when successful, finds none. New and unsuspected phenomena are, however, repeatedly uncovered by scientific research, and radical new theories have again and again been invented by scientists. History even suggests that the scientific enterprise has developed a uniquely powerful technique for producing surprises of this sort. If this characteristic of science is to be reconciled with what has already been said, then research under a paradigm must be a particularly effective way of inducing paradigm change. That is what fundamental novelties of fact and theory do. Produced inadvertently by a game played under one set of rules, their assimilation requires the elaboration of another set. After they have become parts of science, the enterprise, at least of those specialists in whose particular field the novelties lie, is never quite the same again. (italics added) “We must now ask how changes of this sort can come about, considering first discoveries, or novelties of fact, and then inventions, or novelties of theory. The distinction between discovery and invention, or between fact and theory will, however, immediately prove to be exceedingly artificial. Its artificiality is an important clue to several of this essay's main theses. Examining selected discoveries in the rest of this section, we shall quickly find that they are not isolated events but extended episodes with a regularly recurrent structure.”

MASSACRE/DROWNING OF CONTRABAND BY UNION TROOPS IN EBENEZER CREEK, GEORGIA

Never heard of the Ebenezer Creek drowning/massacre of 5,000 black "contraband" by elements of Union General William T. Sherman's army, during its infamous "march to the sea." Betrayal at Ebenezer Creek www.historynet.com

AFRICAN SLAVERY CAUSED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somersett%27s_Case This case from England in 1772 freeing the slave James Somerset from slavery on English soil, was the real cause of the American Declaration of Independence, as it threatened this colony's capital in human flesh, and its capital infrastructure of shipping, banking, trade and commerce, its base. So, African slavery caused the American Revolution, just as it also caused the American Civil War, although traditional history claims otherwise.

RACISM AND DEPRESSION LINKED...AT LAST!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130917093910.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 About time! But for the grace of God and the strong constitutions of our forebears, we would have long been extinct, given our virulent oppression!

HARLEM'S HELL FIGHTERS, EXCERPT

HARLEM'S HELL FIGHTERS: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN 369TH INFANTRY IN WORLD WAR I, by Stephen L. Harris (Potomac Books, Inc., Wash. DC: 2003), p.34 “Soon after Whitman's appointments, he seemingly hedged his bets with the city's African Americans by requesting from the War Department that it reassign Maj. Charles Young to the Fifteenth. At the time, Young was in Mexico with the Second Squadron of the Tenth U. S. Cavalry, turning himself into a national hero. On 12 April, he led his squadron on a rescue mission to save the Thirteenth U.S. Cavalry from destruction at the hands of Villa's forces at Hacienda Santa Cruz de la Villegas and, in so doing, according to some historians, averted a full-scale war with Mexico. The [New York] Age's editorial writer noted: 'At last we notice that the Tenth Cavalry is appearing in news despatches. It did look like as though the censor's biggest job was keeping any mention of the colored soldiers out of the despatches, but we knew that couldn't be kept up after our boys really got down to work.' Mexican citizens, who saw those boys at work, called them 'devils.' A black trooper overheard one of them say, 'They are not Americans. They are devils.' Two years later, the French would call them fighters from hell.'”

MISSOURI SHOWS THE WAY IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130916122137.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 VARYING THE MATHEMATICS DIET, LIKE THE HUMAN DIET, ENRICHES THE CONSUMER EXPONENTIALLY.

LOST SHEPHERD

Jesus Appears to His Disciples 36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.[f] 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.[g] 43 And He took it and ate in their presence. The Scriptures Opened 44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise[h] from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem[i] until you are endued with power from on high.” The Ascension 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and[j] blessing God. Amen.[k] LUKE 24:36-53

A FOOL'S FOLLY

If you let a fool believe it has won a dispute, that the fool's ignorance and false pride have truly lost, you will have thereby purchased your peace, for the price of a fool's folly.

PARADIGMS FOR OUR PEOPLE

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aapaddr.html ONE PARADIGM, THAT OF THE "SELF-DETERMINATION" OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND OF MARCUS GARVEY, PREVAILED DURING THE PERIOD OF POST-CIVIL WAR, OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL NON-RECOGNITION OF, BLACKS' LEGAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS, AS SET FORTH IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, 1877-1927, AND RACIST TERRORISM AGAINST SAME. THE OTHER PARADIGM, THAT OF THE "INTEGRATION" OF W.E.B. DuBOIS AND FELLOW NAACP-TYPE COMRADES, PREVAILS NOW DURING THIS POST-WORLD WAR II PERIOD, OF THE INTERNATIONAL DISAPPROVAL RACIST OPPRESSION, AS EMBODIED IN THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER, IN THE WAKE OF THE BROWN V.BOARD DECISION, AND IN DESTABILIZING, DESTRUCTIVE SCHOOL PRACTICES/POLICIES IN PURSUANCE OF SAME. WHAT NOW IS OUR, PARADIGM, AS AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE, IS THE QUESTION, IN LIGHT OF THE CONFLUENCE OF BOTH PRIOR PARADIGMS, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RE-ELECTION OF OBAMA?

CELESTIAL EQUATOR

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Celestial_equator?qsrc=3044 THE CELESTIAL EQUATOR IS A PROJECTION OF THE TERRESTRIAL EQUATOR IN THE SAME PLANE TO INFINITY

PRECESSION

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Axial_precession?o=2800&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com#Ancient_Egyptians I HAVE LONG BEEN INTRIGUED WITH THE PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES, BUT NEVER BEGAN TO GRASP IT UNTIL TODAY. PRAISE GOD!

ABYDOS, BURIAL SITE OF FIRST KEMET (EGYPTIAN) KINGS AND QUEENS

The first kings and queens of Egypt in order of succession were Aha, Djer, Djet, Queen Merneith, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet and Qa'a. They would have ruled over a territory spanning a similar area to Egypt today with formal borders at Aswan in the south, the Mediterranean Sea in the north and across to the modern-day Gaza Strip in the east.

soul within

DUE DILIGENCE

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." ISAIAH 30:21 DO THE DUE DILIGENTLY, AND YOU WILL GET YOUR DUE DILIGENTLY.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS BUT ROOT OUT THE WAR-MAKERS!

On this September 11, 2013, I am grateful that we are not on the brink of war in Syria, and only 15 months away from a complete withdrawal of our weary troops in Afghanistan. The President said right last night. We are sick of war! We need that money diverted to job-creating activity at home. Too often, we hear such trite expressions as "support our troops," or "thank you for your service." Yet, when they get discharged, these same troops are unemployed, homeless, in jail, physically or mentally impaired, or suicide candidates. Those trite cliches mask a cynical policy of war for profit, conducted at the highest levels of government. Focusing on the troops diverts attention away from the policies and the procurements which make war inevitable, and which keep these troops in harm's way! "Support our troops," yes, in theater and out! But, root out the war-makers, who line their oligarchical treasures, to the determined detriment of the domestic agenda, abandoned by solons since the MLKing assassination on April 4, 1968!

ACTUAL BIBLE CODE

The Bible is written in code. Its secrets are revealed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Reading reveals an apparent meaning, but the Holy Spirit reveals the actual meaning.

"Not all, not every, but nevertheless"

"Not all, not every, but nevertheless" Not all things are the same thing. Not everything is everything. All things and everything are unique and distinct things, individually and aggregately. All things and everything are continuously changing in motion in form and in substance. Even you and I. Yet, our emergence onto this plane of being is most highly significant, as neither all things, nor everything, either successfully or completely, emerge hereon. Yet, all things do return to their pre-emergent state of non-being, sooner or later. Where or what this state is, or if it is, is the enduring subject of theological wonder, of philosophical speculation, of scientific inquiry, of religious belief and of dogged denial and doubt. Yet, here we are together. Not all, not every, but nevertheless.

NEGRO NOBLE

PERCEPTION AND UNDERSTANDING

PERCEPTION AND UNDERSTANDING Perceiving a principle active in one thing, enables its perception in another thing. Understanding that principle in one thing, enables its understanding in many things. Perception precedes understanding. Understanding perfects perception.

MORE THAN...

More Than... Some folks say, "You are what you eat." Jesus answers "Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Matt. 6:25 Other folks say, "You are what you know." In 1 Cor. 1:19, the Apostle Paul says "It is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent, I will frustrate.'" There is more than we can ever know, wear, bear, or consume in life. Isaiah 55:9 says this: "As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts, than your thoughts." Whenever man gets through, always know there yet remains "more than!"

S.T.E.M. IS BLACK HISTORY

STEM IS BLACK HISTORY Black history involves more than dates and personages. Much more! Learn it, apply it, teach and praise it! It also involves some environmental-altering subject matters, including those named below, known today by the acronym, STEM-- science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Science may be represented, in part, by geology and astronomy, for example. Astronomy involves calibrating their daily lives by the observations recorded while witnessing the rising and the setting of stars and constellations, from which they produced the first world's calendar in 4241 B.C. Geology is the identifying of rock strata and formations containing granite, marble, basalt or other stones needed in their megalithic structures as building blocks. From these, they built the great pyramid at least 3,000 B.C. Technology is represented by the tools needed in the quarrying of these multi-ton stones by the thousands; and the moving of the precisely quarried stones into place in temple construction with absolute accuracy. Such excellence is ritualized in worldwide secret societies, who clandestinely pay homage to the foregoing. Engineering encompasses the foregoing, as well as temple and pyramidal alignment and orientation in consonance with the stars. It also involved the building of roads, ports, ships, and management manuals needed to facilitate men and materials movement, feeding, housing and storage. Mathematics is subsumed in the precision and geometry exhibited in all of the above, which Plato praised as preexisting that of Greece by untold millennia in his book, THE LAWS. Without the mathematics, little of the above would be possible. In short, these few examples attest to what the most ancient papyri, documents and monuments already confirm, that STEM IS AFRICAN, Nubian, black, and it predates all others in time and in space. This is no reason to brag or to boast, in retribution for the millennial lies told by certain Western Europeans, Arab conquerors and others, who later appropriated these offerings, while enslaving our forebears, who themselves had lost such knowledge! Instead, the best retribution is to relearn our heritage embodied, in part, in STEM, so that we can resume our rightful place in the Earth, and contribute to its redemption and salvation.

ZERO

IF 0+?=0, IF 0-?=0, IF 0 X?=0, IF ?/0=0; THEN WHAT IS ? TRANSLATION: IF WE COME FROM THE UNKNOWN AND RETURN TO THE UNKNOWN, WHAT IS NOW KNOWN?

Religion and Science @ Einstein

"Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us. Now what are the feelings and needs that have led men to religious thought and belief in the widest sense of these words? A little consideration will suffice to show us that the most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evolves religious notions--fear of hunger, fear of wild beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage of existence understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed, the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings depend. Thus one tries to secure the favor of these beings by carrying out actions and offering sacrifices which, according to the tradition handed down from generation to generation propitiate them or make them well disposed toward a mortal...." P.36-37, "Religion and Science," IDEAS AND OPINIONS, by Albert Einstein (Crown Publishers, NY: 1954, 1982)

FOCUS ON THE LOCUS NOT THE HOCUS-POCUS

FOCUS ON THE LOCUS NOT THE HOCU-POCUS

ACTS 16:37

But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out." ACTS 16:37

REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP, EXCERPT...

"Living here in Boston where the black man is given equal justice, I must say a word on the general treatment of my race, both in the North and the South in this twentieth century. I wonder if our white fellow men realize the true sense or meaning of brotherhood? For two hundred years we have toiled for them; the war of 1861 came and was ended, and we thought our race was forever free from bondage, and that the two races could live in unity with each other, but when we read almost every day about what is being done to my race by some whites in the South, I sometimes ask, "Was the war in vain? Has it brought freedom in the full sense of the word, or has it not made our condition more hopeless?" "In this "land of the free" we are burned, tortured, denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro-hating white man. There is no redress for us from a government which promised to protect all under its flag. It seems a mystery to me. They say, "One flag, one nation, one country indivisible." Is this true? Can we say this truthfully, when one race is allowed to burn, hang, and inflict the most horrible torture weekly, monthly, on another? No, we cannot sing, "My country, 't is of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty!" It is hollow mockery. The Southland laws are all on the side of the white, and they do just as they like to the negro, whether it is right or wrong." P.61-62, "Thoughts on Present Conditions," REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN'S CIVIL WAR MEMOIR, by Susie King Taylor (U. of Georgia, 1902, 2006)

IDEAS AND OPINIONS BY EINSTEIN

"You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a religious feeling of his own. But it is different from the religiosity of the naive man. For the latter, God is a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears; a sublimation of a feeling similar to that of a child for its father, a being to whom one stands, so to speak, in a personal relation, however deeply it may be tinged with awe. "But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past. There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages." P. 40, "The Religious Spirit of Science," IDEAS AND OPINIONS, by Albert Einstein (Crown Publishers, NY: 1954, 1982)

CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS, EXCERPT

"The board [of LDF] was effective and influential, many of the relationships became personal as well as organizational. But, on the other hand, I sometimes wondered how such an elite group, whose members were so similar to one another, could hope to determine the best interests of the black community. We hardly could be said to represent a cross-section of that population--no one set of interests could ever have been best for everyone in so large and diverse a community. Still, we couldn't hold a plebiscite, any more than Charles Houston or Thurgood did, or CORE or SNCC could. There was no perfect answer. I tried to deal with the problems by forming the Division of Legal Information and Community Services, but in the end we had nothing to go on but our own best judgment on where right lay, assuming that where one racial group had been so badly deprived of equal justice, serving justice, even as only we saw it, would inevitably serve the interest of the entire group." P.401, "LDF Grows as an Institution," CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS, by Jack Greenberg (2004) The above admission establishes categorically that LDF had no clue what "the black community" wanted in pursuing its destructive litigation strategy of forced busing and magnet schools from the late 1960's forward. Neither did it attempt to discern the will of its presumed client, the black community, relying instead on detached elitists' seat of their Brooks Brothers pants convictions of rectitude.

'BETTER TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE' VERIFIED BY MATH AND SCIENCE

Bible maxim/verse "Better to give than to receive," Acts 20:35, proven to be true mathematically and biologically, over the long term, in a group setting; not one on one. It is the "fittest" survival strategy for mankind. Biologists show that generosity leads to evolutionary success www.sciencedaily.com

NATURAL GENESIS, EXCERPT

THE NATURAL GENESIS, by Gerald Massey, “Natural Genesis of Kamite Typology” introduction by Charles Finch (Black Classic Press, Baltimore, MD: 1883, 1998), p. 39 “The beetle in Egypt, during the Inundation, would have been washed out of life altogether but for its Arkite cunning in making ready for the waters by rolling up its little globe, with the seed inside, and burying it in the dry earth until the Inundation subsided. How they must have watched the clever little creature at work; no font of letter-type employed in radiating human thought could shed a clearer light of illustration on the idea of resurrection from the earth than this living likeness of the process of transformation into the winged world. How the primitive man observed the works and ways and on-goings of the intelligence thus manifested around him; how he copied what he could, and gradually found a line of his own in the scheme of development; how he honored these his early teachers and instructors, and made their forms the pictures of the primal thoughts which they had evoked in his mind, at length recorded in the system of hieroglyphic symbols and mythology; and the illustrative proofs are extant to this day. “One of the workers that caught the attention of primitive men was the spider, as spinner. In Inner Africa the ten-legged spider called Ananse in Ashanti, serves as the type for the Creator of man. This can be interpreted. The spider, as the first weaver, made the suspended woof. Heaven is the blue woof, the weaver of which was therefore the spider, according to the typology. The always represent Ananse as talking through his nose. The nose is an organ of breath. The god Knef is called the breath of those who are in the firmament. Ananse, as spinner of the blue woof above, was a deity of breath, or the nose as a type of life.”

RESTITUTION FOR AMERICA'S UNPAID LABOR

I do not malign wage-labor. Instead, I celebrate unpaid labor, still due lawful and unpaid restitution, which is vitally more important to me!

Voting more politically palatable than land reform/redistribution for unpaid labor/formerly enslaved

Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner continued to support land reform for freed people, but were opposed by a large bloc of politicians who did not want to violate property rights or redistribute capital.[227] Many radical Northerners withdrew their support for land reform in the years following the war. One reason for the shift in political opinion was fear by the Republicans that land ownership might lead Blacks to align with Democrats for economic reasons. In general, politicians turned their focus to the legal status of freed people.[228] In the analysis of W. E. B. DuBois, black suffrage[disambiguation needed] became more politically palatable precisely as an inexpensive alternative to well-funded agrarian reform.[107]-- Excerpted from "40 acres and a mule"--Wikipedia

ASTUTE STATESMANSHIP

PRESIDENT OBAMA ON SYRIA: an astute political move that: comports with the U.S. Constitution, blunts the lobbies of foreign and domestic war hawks, squelches dissent, calls out Congress and keeps us out of there and that mess! Love it!