TERMS STARTING WITH
Abyss [from Greek a not + byssos, bythos deep, depth] Bottomless, unfathomable; chaos, space, the watery abyss which becomes the field of manifestation or cosmos — a concept found in all mythologies. With the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians the great Deep gave birth to Ea, the All-wise, unknowable infinite deity, while in the Chaldean cosmogony Tiamat, the female principle, is the imbodiment of chaos. The Abyss or chaos was the abode of cosmic wisdom. Egyptian cosmogony speaks of Nut as the celestial abyss while Scandinavian cosmogony tells of Ginnungagap (chasm of offspring of Ginn), the infinite void or the abyss of illusion (SD 1:367).
Abyssinia) was the most readily available. It literally rioted in angel names—many of them, as
Abyss: Metaphysically considered, the Abyss is the Gulf between the phenomenal and the noumenal; the illusory and the real. Magically considered, the Oath of the Abyss means to make a willed effort to Cross the Abyss, or transcend the world of subject and object and resolve the antinomies of mundane consciousness.
abye ::: v. t. & i. --> To pay for; to suffer for; to atone for; to make amends for; to give satisfaction.
To endure; to abide.
abyme ::: n. --> A abyss.
abysmal ::: 1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; fathomless; deep-sunken. 2. Extremely or hopelessly bad or severe.
abysmal ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.
abysmally ::: adv. --> To a fathomless depth; profoundly.
abysm ::: an abyss. abysm"s, abysms.
abysm ::: n. --> An abyss; a gulf.
abyss ::: 1. The great deep, the primal chaos; the ‘bowels of the earth", the supposed cavity of the lower world; the ‘infernal pit". 2. A bottomless gulf; any unfathomable or apparently unfathomable cavity or void space; a profound gulf, chasm, or void extending beneath. Abyss, abyss"s, abysses.
abyss ::: Abyss In Ritual Magick and Kabbalah, the Abyss is the divide between individual ego-consciousness and Cosmic consciousness (enlightenment). In Kabbalah, it is the divide between the Supernal and the lower Sephiroth, i.e. the divide between the higher and lower states of existence. The serpent Choronzon is the 'dweller' in the abyss, the final great obstacle between the magician and true enlightenment. See Oath of the Abyss for further details.
abyssal ::: a. --> Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable.
abyss, and chief of demons of the underworld
abyss” and his roar is heard when he “causes the
abysses. In Hebrew lore, he is described as an angel
abyssinian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Abyssinia. ::: n. --> A native of Abyssinia.
A member of the Abyssinian Church.
abyss ::: n. --> A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.
Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.
The center of an escutcheon.
aby ::: v. t. & i. --> Alt. of Abye
TERMS ANYWHERE
3DO "company, games, standard" A set of specifications created and owned by the 3DO company, which is a partnership of seven different companies. These specs are the blueprint for making a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and are licensed to hardware and software producers. A 3DO system has an {ARM60} 32-bit {RISC} {CPU} and a graphics engine based around two custom designed graphics and animation processors. It has 2 Megabytes of {DRAM}, 1 Megabyte of {VRAM}, and a double speed {CD-ROM} drive for main storage. The {Panasonic} 3DO system can run 3DO Interactive software, play audio CDs (including support for CD+G), view {Photo-CDs}, and will eventually be able to play {Video CDs} with a special add-on {MPEG}1 {full-motion video} cartridge. Up to 8 {controllers} can be {daisy-chain}ed on the system at once. A keyboard, mouse, light gun, and other peripherals may also some day be hooked into the system, although they are not currently available (December 1993). The 3DO can display {full-motion video}, fully {texture map}ped 3d landscapes, all in 24-bit colour. {Sanyo} and {AT&T} will also release 3DO systems. Sanyo's in mid 1994 and AT&T in late 1994. There will be a 3DO add-on cartridge based on the {PowerPC} to enable the 3DO to compete with {Sony}'s {Playstation} console and {Sega}'s {Saturn} console, both of which have a higher specification than the original 3DO. The add-on is commonly known as the M2 or Bulldog. It should hit the shops by Christmas 1995 and will (allegedly) do a million flat shaded polygons per second. {3DO Home (http://3do.com/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.games.video.3do}. (1994-12-13)
64-bit "architecture" A term describing a computer architecture with an {ALU}, {registers} and {data bus} which handle 64 {bit}s at a time. 64-bit processors were quite common by 1996, e.g. {Digital} {Alpha}, versions of {Sun} {SPARC}, {MIPS}, {IBM} {AS/4000}. The {PowerPC} and {Intel} were expected to move to 64 bits at their next generation - {PPC 620} and {Intel P7}. Being able to deal with 64-bit binary numbers means the processor can work with {signed integers} between +-2^32 or unsigned integers between zero and 2^64-1. A 64-bit {address bus} allows the processor to address 18 million {gigabytes} as opposed to the mere four gigabytes allowed with 32 bits. In 1996 {hard disks} could already hold over 4 GB. Floating point calculations can also be more accurate. A 64-bit {OS} is needed as well to take advantage of the CPU. In 1996 there were only a few 64-bit operating systems, including {OS/400}, {Digital} {Unix}, {Solaris} (partialy). A 32-bit OS can run on a 64-bit CPU. (2004-05-12)
Abaddon (Hebrew) ’Abaddōn [from the verbal root ’ābad to perish, be cut off] Destruction, abyss; the region of the dead, synonym of She’ol in the Old Testament. Equivalent to the Greek apollyon (destruction, laying waste — Rev 9:11). Thus Abaddon, Apollyon, Hades, and Orcus all signify the underworld — the kama-loka or region of disintegrating “shells,” human or other.
Abbadon: The Hebrew name of the “bottomless pit,” the place of the lost in Sheol; the abyss of hell.
abegge ::: --> Same as Aby.
Ab (Hebrew) ’Āb [from the verbal root ’ābab to blossom, bear fruit] Father, hence founder, forefather, ancestor; by extension, teacher or counselor. Originally a Babylonian name.
abib ::: n. --> The first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, corresponding nearly to our April. After the Babylonish captivity this month was called Nisan.
abime ::: n. --> Alt. of Abyme
abought ::: --> imp. & p. p. of Aby. ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Abye
abuna ::: n. --> The Patriarch, or head of the Abyssinian Church.
Abyss [from Greek a not + byssos, bythos deep, depth] Bottomless, unfathomable; chaos, space, the watery abyss which becomes the field of manifestation or cosmos — a concept found in all mythologies. With the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians the great Deep gave birth to Ea, the All-wise, unknowable infinite deity, while in the Chaldean cosmogony Tiamat, the female principle, is the imbodiment of chaos. The Abyss or chaos was the abode of cosmic wisdom. Egyptian cosmogony speaks of Nut as the celestial abyss while Scandinavian cosmogony tells of Ginnungagap (chasm of offspring of Ginn), the infinite void or the abyss of illusion (SD 1:367).
accadian ::: a. --> Pertaining to a race supposed to have lived in Babylonia before the Assyrian conquest.
Adad is a national and guardian deity of the Syrian races and the Edomites, found as early as 3000 BC in Syrian cuneiform tablets. In the Babylo-Assyrian pantheon ’Adad is named in the second divine triad, that of the life-giving nature forces, with Shamash (the sun god) and Sin (the moon deity), and is always represented with a bull. In the Babylonian flood myth Adad is the god of storms, rains, and harvests, whose emblem is the thunderbolt, apparently the Semitic equivalent of the Greek Zeus, Roman Jupiter, and Norse Thor. His consort is Atargatis (Astarte, Asthoreth, Ishtar) who at times takes his place. See also AD, SONS OF
Adapa: In Babylonian mythology, the name of a hero created and endowed with wisdom by Ea, whose temple at Eridu he was to tend. Summoned before Anu, god of the sky, he unwittingly refused immortality.
Adonis [from Hebrew ’ādōn lord] Title of the Babylonian god Tammuz, whose cult was imported into Asiatic Greece. A beautiful youth beloved of Aphrodite, he was killed by a boar. Aphrodite was so grief-stricken that the gods of the lower world allowed him to spend half of every year with her on earth. His death and resurrection were symbolized in annual festivals.
Ad or Adad, Hadad (Semitic) [from ’adad to be powerful, strong] Powerful, mighty; the primeval One, similar to the Sanskrit ad (first, primeval). In the Babylonian system, according to Blavatsky, Ad or Ad-ad is the great first cause “who is never named, but only acknowledged in thought as the Hindu Swayambhuva. From this he becomes manifest as Anu or Ana — the one above all — Monas” (IU 2:170). Ad or Adad is without attributes and therefore viewed as the source from which the Demiurge or world builder came into manifestation.
Advanced Intelligent Tape "storage" (AIT) A form of {magnetic tape} and drive using {AME} developed by {Sony} for storing large amounts of data. An AIT can store over 50 {gigabytes} and transfer data at six megabytes/second (in February 1999). AIT features high speed file access, long head and media life, the {ALDC compression} {algorithm}, and a {MIC} chip. {(http://aittape.com/)}. {Seagate (http://seagate.com/support/tape/scsiide/sidewinder/ait_main_page.shtml)}. (1999-04-16)
Aethiopians, Ethiopians An undefined but powerful group of peoples, generally placed south of Egypt and east of Babylon; often spoken of as being at one time a monarchy and able to contribute kings to the Egyptian throne. Blavatsky shows the archaic racial connection between Egypt and India (SD 2:417; IU 1:569-70). Migrants from northwestern India to Africa took with them the names of their great river, variously called Aethiops or Nila, now called the Indus. These immigrants were the so-called Sons of Horus or Blacksmiths of Egyptian records, mighty builders but somewhat later than the Atlantean descendants who built the first pyramids. This makes the Aethiopians — and also, therefore, some of the Egyptians — Aryans. A highly advanced urban civilization of Mohenjo-Daro has been discovered on the Indus “between Attock and Sind,” exactly the location mentioned in The Secret Doctrine as the abode of the Aethiopians.
Agade or Akkad [from aga crown + de fire] Also Agadi. The ancient city of the Babylonian ruler Sargon I (2637-2587 BC), the word referring to the city’s patron deity, Ishtar or Anunit.
aiglet ::: n. --> A tag of a lace or of the points, braids, or cords formerly used in dress. They were sometimes formed into small images. Hence, "aglet baby" (Shak.), an aglet image.
A round white staylace.
Same as Aglet.
Akkadians, Accadians A non-Semitic race which preceded the Semites in Babylonia, evidence for whom is mainly found in some of the cuneiform inscriptions. The name comes from the city of Agade, the capital of Sargon I. Blavatsky says in The Secret Doctrine that the Akkadians were not Turanian, but were emigrants from India and were the Aryan instructors of the later Babylonians. There is an Akkadian Genesis, which stands in the line of descent leading to the Biblical Genesis.
Alaparus (Chaldean) The second divine king of Babylonia who reigned “three Saroi,” a saros being 3600 years. According to Berosus, the first king of the divine dynasty was Alorus, who reigned ten saroi. These figures refer not to human individuals but to subraces: since each definitely distinctive subrace has its own svabhava or individuality, the ancients spoke of each as an individual.
“All aspects of the omnipresent Reality have their fundamental truth in the Supreme Existence. Thus even the aspect or power of Inconscience, which seems to be an opposite, a negation of the eternal Reality, yet corresponds to a Truth held in itself by the self-aware and all-conscious Infinite. It is, when we look closely at it, the Infinite’s power of plunging the consciousness into a trance of self-involution, a self-oblivion of the Spirit veiled in its own abysses where nothing is manifest but all inconceivably is and can emerge from that ineffable latency. In the heights of Spirit this state of cosmic or infinite trance-sleep appears to our cognition as a luminous uttermost Superconscience: at the other end of being it offers itself to cognition as the Spirit’s potency of presenting to itself the opposites of its own truths of being,—an abyss of non-existence, a profound Night of inconscience, a fathomless swoon of insensibility from which yet all forms of being, consciousness and delight of existence can manifest themselves,—but they appear in limited terms, in slowly emerging and increasing self-formulations, even in contrary terms of themselves; it is the play of a secret all-being, all-delight, all-knowledge, but it observes the rules of its own self-oblivion, self-opposition, self-limitation until it is ready to surpass it. This is the Inconscience and Ignorance that we see at work in the material universe. It is not a denial, it is one term, one formula of the infinite and eternal Existence.” The Life Divine
Alorus, Adi-ur (Chaldean) According to Berosus, the first king of the mythical age of Babylon, the period before the flood of Xisuthrus. Alorus reigned for a period of ten saroi or 36,000 years. See also ALAPARUS
Also, an alternative spelling of the Assyro-Babylonian god Nebo.
amharic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Amhara, a division of Abyssinia; as, the Amharic language is closely allied to the Ethiopic. ::: n. --> The Amharic language (now the chief language of Abyssinia).
Aminet "networking" (Amiga network) A collection of {FTP} {mirrors} that contain several {gigabytes} of {freely distributable software} for the {Amiga} range of computers. {Home, ftp.wustl.edu (ftp://ftp.wustl.edu)}. (1997-08-31)
Ammon (Greek) Ámmōn Amen (Egyptian) Ȧmen. Also Amun, Amon. In the Egyptian 5th dynasty, Amen and his consort Ament were among the primeval gods, mentioned immediately after the deities connected with primeval matter, Nau and Nen (gods of the cosmic watery abyss). He was envisaged as “All-nature,” the universe itself, especially in its occult and secret aspects. After the 12th dynasty, however, this god additionally became looked upon as having solar attributes, and therefore was called Amen-Ra — the chief deity of the powerful priesthood of Thebes, whose sway encompassed the whole of Egypt. Ammon was identified particularly with the hidden aspect of the sun, for the hymns are addressed: “he who is hidden to gods and men,” “he who is unknown,” “thy name is hidden from thy children in thy name Amen.”
Amorites (Hebrew) ’Emorī An Amorite; originally a mountaineer, but finally a Canaanite people living in the land east and west of the Jordan. Used in the Bible interchangeably with Canaanites (though the latter generally referred to people still living, while Amorites especially referred to the people of the past), the term is evidently connected with the Assyrian name Amurru, Egyptian Amar, and Babylonian Mar-tu, referring to the lands north of Palestine as far as Kadesh on the Orontes — although there was a district of the name Mar-tu in the neighborhood of Babylonia.
An ancient Egyptian zodiac has been found which represented three Virgins: “The three ‘Virgins,’ or Virgo in three different positions, meant . . . the record of the first three ‘divine or astronomical Dynasties,’ who taught the Third Root-Race; and after having abandoned the Atlanteans to their doom, returned (or redescended, rather) during the third Sub-Race of the Fifth, in order to reveal to saved humanity the mysteries of their birth-place — the sidereal Heavens. The same symbolical record of the human races and the three Dynasties (Gods, Manes — semi-divine astrals of the Third and Fourth, and the ‘Heroes’ of the Fifth Race), which preceded the purely human kings, was found in the distribution of the tiers and passages of the Egyptian Labyrinth” (SD 2:435-6).
Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the
Anatum or Antum (Chaldean) Consort of the god of heaven, Anu, supreme god of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. Whereas Anu represented heaven and height, Anatum represented the earth and depth. She was regarded as the mother of the gods, as well as being the mother of the god Ea or Hea. “Astronomically she is Ishtar, Venus, the Ashtoreth of the Jews” (TG 21). Anu and Anatum correspond to Ouranos and Gaia in Hesiod, and therefore in one of her mystical significances Anatum corresponds with the Hindu prakriti.
Anu; Anum: The Babylonian and Assyrian god of heaven, ruler of destiny, king of gods, chief of the Babylonian triad of gods (the other two were Ea and Enlil).
Anu (Chaldean) Supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon, king of angels and spirits, ruler of destiny, lord of the city of Erech or Uruk — later Ur. One of the loftiest of Babylonian divinities, part of a trinity with Enlil and Ea, he was especially the god of heaven, creator of star spirits and of the demons of cold, rain, and darkness. His consort Antum or Anatum was mother of the gods. Anu was the concealed deity; in the Chaldean account of Genesis, he is the passive deity, however, “the primordial chaos, the god time and world at once, chronos, and kosmos, the uncreated matter issued from the one and fundamental principle of all things” (IU 2:423).
Anunit (Chaldean) One of the popular nature goddesses of the early Babylonian peoples, who in one aspect is called Ishtar. Her worship was prominent at Sippar in the later Babylonian period. A sanctuary was erected in her honor by Sargon of Akkad at Babylon (3800 BC). Blavatsky held that Anunit was the planet Venus as the morning star, whereas the same planet as the evening star was Ishtar of Erech.
Anunnaki (Chaldean) In Babylonian mythology, a hierarchy of lower angels: the angels of earth or the underworld, star gods who had sunk below the horizon and become judges of the dead. Below the anunnaki were several classes of genii — sadu, vadukku, ekimu, gallu — some of which were represented as being good, some evil. The anunnaki are “terrestrial Elementals also” (TG 25).
Anzu or Zu (Babylonian) The lion-headed eagle, often portrayed as “master of the animals.” Plotting to assume sovereignty and command the gods, he stole the Tablet of Destinies (DUB-šima-a-ti) from the empty throne of his master, the high god Enlil, then flew off to hide in the inaccessible mountain. Warrior-god Ninurta was sent to battle Anzu, slay him, and return the Tablet. George Smith’s 1875 translation (cited in SD 2:283n) was tentative at best and is now superseded by modern translations such as in Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia, 1989.
Apollonius of Tyana First-century neo-Pythagorean, known for his ascetic life, moral teachings, and occult powers. His biography is a Hermetic allegory, though based on facts. A theurgist and adept of high powers, he studied Phoenician sciences as well as Pythagorean philosophy. He traveled widely, journeying to Babylon and India where he associated with the Chaldeans, Magi, Brahmans, and Buddhists. His life was spent preaching noble ethics, prophesying, healing, and performing many well-attested phenomena or “miracles.” Before his death he opened an esoteric school at Ephesus. Blavatsky states that he was a nirmanakaya rather than an avatara.
Appletalk "networking, protocol" A proprietary {local area network} {protocol} developed by {Apple Computer, Inc.} for communication between Apple products (e.g. {Macintosh}) and other computers. This protocol is independent of the {network layer} on which it runs. Current implementations exist for {Localtalk}, a 235 kilobyte per second local area network and {Ethertalk}, a 10 megabyte per second local area network. (1995-03-08)
Apsu (Babylonian) Abzu (Sumerian) Also Ab Soo. The primordial deep; the waters of space in the Babylonian epic of creation Enuma Elish (when on high). From Apsu and Tiamat were born all the gods, man being fashioned from the clay of Apsu in a Sumerian version, and from the blood of Kingu, son and second consort of Tiamat, in Enuma Elish. The deep is the abode of Ea (wisdom) who saves humanity from destruction by Apsu, Apsu being transformed into still or stagnant subterranean waters.
Aralu: The underworld, abode of the dead in Babylonian mythology. Conceived of as a vast, dark underground cave, entered through a hole in the earth, guarded by seven doors, to which all human beings go after death, never to return, but able to communicate with and give oracles to the living.
araby ::: n. --> The country of Arabia.
Archangel [from Greek arch higher, original + angelos messenger] A higher or original order of angels; cosmic powers synonymous with the highest class of dhyani-chohans. In Christian legend, they number seven; in the Koran, four. In Catholic theology, the eighth of the nine divisions in the divine hierarchy. Jewish astrology associates the archangels with the planets: Raphael with the Sun, Gabriel with the Moon, Michael with Mercury, Aniel (Anael) with Venus, Samael with Mars, Zadkiel (Sachiel) with Jupiter, and Kafziel (Cassiel) with Saturn. In medieval Europe, influenced by the Islamic system of Averroes, the planets of Michael and Raphael were reversed. The archangels parallel the Babylonian planetary spirits, the Zoroastrian amesha spentas, and the Hindu adityas.
Ariadne (Greek) In Greek mythology, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, who fell in love with Theseus when he came to kill the Minotaur confined in the labyrinth. She gave Theseus a clue of yarn or thread by means of which he found his way out of the labyrinth again. Ariadne fled with him, but he abandoned her on the Isle of Naxos at the request of Dionysos, who then married her and raised her to immortality. Ariadne was identified in Italy with Libera, goddess of wine. “Analogy is the guiding law in Nature, the only true Ariadne’s thread that can lead us, through the inextricable paths of her domain, toward her primal and final mysteries.” (SD 2:153)
Aries (The Ram): The first sign of the zodiac. Its symbol () represents the head and horns of the ram. In astrology, it is a symbol of offensive power—a weapon of the gods, hence an implement of the will. The Babylonians sacrificed rams during the period when the Sun occupied this sign, which occurs annually from March 21 to April 20. Astrologically and astronomically it is the first thirty-degree arc beginning at the point of the Spring Equinox. It is the “leading” quality of the element Fire: positive, diurnal, movable, dry, hot, fiery, choleric and violent. Ruler: Mars. Exaltation: Sun. Detriment: Venus. Fall: Saturn. Symbolic interpretation: Sprouting seed; fire in eruption; a fountain of water; a ram’s horns.
Arundhati is one of the most mystical terms in ancient Hindu mythology. The congruence of attributes suggests that Arundhati is the cosmic sakti or power stimulating, generating, and bringing to birth what would otherwise lie latent or relatively inactive in the abysses of cosmic force or energy. In her role of Lucifer-Venus, Arundahati may be mystically connected with the hierarchies of the manasaputras, the sons of mind, who quickened dormant mind in the early humanities.
As Egypt was divided into the North and South, the deity took on two aspects: Hap-Reset, the North Nile, pictured with a cluster of papyrus plants upon his head, and Hap-Meht, the South Nile, depicted with lotus plants. He was called the vivifier, creator of things which exist, father of the gods. In one aspect, Hap was identified with Osiris, especially Osiris-Apis or Serapis; thus Isis came to be regarded as his consort. Likewise he had absorbed the attributes of Nu, the primeval watery abyss from which Ra, the sun god, emerged on the first day of the new world period; therefore he was designated the father of living things, for without the waters of Hap, all living things would perish. Blavatsky points to his psychopompic role and his equivalence with the angel Gabriel (BCW 10:55-6).
Ashtart: The fertility goddess of the Semitic races; ever-virginal, yet the fruitful mother and creator of life. Also known as Astarte, in Babylonia as Ishtar, and in Canaan as Ashtoreth.
assonance ::: n. --> Resemblance of sound.
A peculiar species of rhyme, in which the last acce`ted vow`l and tnose whioh follow it in one word correspond in sound with the vowels of another word, while the consonants of the two words are unlike in sound; as, calamo and platano, baby and chary.
Incomplete correspondence.
Assorus [from Chaldean] “The third group of progeny (Kissan [Kissare] and Assorus) from the Babylonian Duad, Tauthe and Apason, according to the Theogonies of Damascius. From this last emanated three others, of which series the last, Aus, begat Belus — ‘the fabricator of the World, the Demiurgus’ ” (TG 36).
Astarte (Greek) Greek form of the Syro-Phoenician goddess Ashtoreth, female counterpart of Baal. The goddess of love and fruitfulness, she was essentially a lunar goddess of productiveness or fertility. The Assyrian and Babylonian form was Ishtar, in Syria Atargates, in Phrygia Cybele, in the Bible Ashtoreth, and in North Africa Tanith or Dido. She was intimately connected in the Chaldean form of her worship with the planet Venus. She corresponds to the Egyptian Isis or Hathor, Greek Aphrodite, and Norse Freya. The Virgin Mary represented on the crescent moon weeping, is taken from similar images of Astarte (BCW 11:96-7).
As time went on certain deities became more prominent in theological thought and speculation, acquiring celestial attributes as well as earthly ones, such as Ba‘al, Astarte (made equivalent to Isis by Plutarch), and the Tyrian Melqarth (associated with Herakles). Originally each masculine deity had the title Ba‘al (“lord,” equivalent to Babylonian Bel), and the feminine deities had the title of ’Amma (mother), just as the ancient Hebrews spoke of their ’em or ’ammah (fountain, beginning, womb, mother). The gods were called ’elomim or ’elim, from the original Shemetic root ’el. The god of the moon was Sin, the deity of the flame or lightning was Resh Reshuf and Eshmun was the god of vital force or healing (worshiped especially at Sidon) — clearly ’Eshmun is from the Shemitic verbal root ’esh (fire, cosmic fire or vitality) — cosmic vital electricity or fohat. Blavatsky states that the Phoenicians also propitiated the kabeiroi, deities of Samothrace.
Atarpi or Atarpi-nisi (Chaldean) The man; in the Babylonian account of Genesis, a pious person who prayed to the god Hea to remove the evil of drought and other things before the deluge is sent. In answer to this prayer, “Hea announces his resolve to destroy the people he created, which he does by a deluge” (TG 41-2).
ATX "hardware, standard" An {open} {PC} {motherboard} specification by {Intel}. ATX is a development of the {Baby AT} specification with the motherboard rotated 90 degrees in the chassis. The {CPU} and {SIMM} sockets have been relocated away from the {expansion card} slots meaning that all the slots support full-length cards. More {I/O} functions are integrated on the motherboard. As the longer edge of the board is now at the back of the chassis, there is more space for connectors; also, the I/O opening on the back panel of the chassis has been defined as double the previous height, allowing vendors to add extra on-board I/O functions over and above the standard. Most {Pentium Pro} boards use this {form factor}. As well as the motherboard size, layout, and placement, the ATX specification also includes requirements for power supply and fan specification and location. The full size ATX board measures 305mm wide by 244mm deep. There is also a Mini-ATX form factor, 284mm by 208mm. {Home (http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx.htm)}. (2001-07-16)
A universal myth is that of the sun god fighting the dragon and eventually worsting it, which represents the descent of spirit into matter and the eventual sublimation of matter by spirit in the ascending arc of evolution. There are Bel (and later Merodach) and the dragon Tiamat in Babylonia and with the Hebrews; Fafnir in Scandinavia; Chozzar with the Peratae Gnostics; among the Greeks Python conquered by Apollo and the two serpents killed by Hercules at his birth; the fight between Ahti and the evil serpent in the Kalevala; and many other such stories. In the Christian Apocalypse the dragon plays a great part, but it has been often misinterpreted as evil just as Satan or the Devil has been imagined as the foe of divinity and humanity. Cosmologically, all dragons and serpents slain by their adversaries are the unregulated or chaotic cosmic principles bought to order by the spiritual sun gods or formative cosmic powers. The dragon is the demiurge, the establisher or former of our planet and of all that pertains to it — neither good nor bad, but its differentiated aspects in nature make it assume one or the other character.
babe ::: a baby; child or infant.
babehood ::: n. --> Babyhood.
Babel ::: Amal: “‘Babel’ alludes to a legend in antiquity that at Babylon there were so many nations gathered to build a tower that their various tongues got mixed up and confused. It is the confusion that is referred to in Sri Aurobindo’s line and called ‘the babel’.”
babel ::: “The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens’. God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
babel ::: "The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens". God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works Sri Aurobindo: "The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other"s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
babe ::: n. --> An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby.
A doll for children.
babied ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Baby
babies ::: pl. --> of Baby
babish ::: a. --> Like a babe; a childish; babyish.
abye ::: v. t. & i. --> To pay for; to suffer for; to atone for; to make amends for; to give satisfaction.
To endure; to abide.
abyme ::: n. --> A abyss.
abysmal ::: 1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; fathomless; deep-sunken. 2. Extremely or hopelessly bad or severe.
abysmal ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.
abysmally ::: adv. --> To a fathomless depth; profoundly.
abysm ::: an abyss. abysm"s, abysms.
abysm ::: n. --> An abyss; a gulf.
abyss ::: 1. The great deep, the primal chaos; the ‘bowels of the earth", the supposed cavity of the lower world; the ‘infernal pit". 2. A bottomless gulf; any unfathomable or apparently unfathomable cavity or void space; a profound gulf, chasm, or void extending beneath. Abyss, abyss"s, abysses.
abyssal ::: a. --> Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable.
abyssinian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Abyssinia. ::: n. --> A native of Abyssinia.
A member of the Abyssinian Church.
abyss ::: n. --> A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.
Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.
The center of an escutcheon.
aby ::: v. t. & i. --> Alt. of Abye
BABYLON "artificial intelligence" A {development environment} for {expert systems}. BABYLON includes {frames}, {constraints}, a {prolog}-like logic formalism and a description language for diagnostic applications. It requires {Common Lisp}. Version 2.3, 1994-06-22 included ports to {MCL}, {TI CL}, {Allegro CL}, {CLisp}, {CMU CL}. Contact: Juergen Walther, AI Research Division, {GMD}. {CMU AI archive (http://www-cgi.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/areas/expert/systems/babylon/0.html)} (2019-05-27)
Balthazar, Belshazzar Lord of riches, lord of prisoners; one of the three Magi, described as journeying to Judea to pay homage to the infant Jesus. The ancient Babylonian deity Bel or Ba‘al was associated with the moon — the lord of the high places; thus one interpretation of the legend indicates the three particular planets which were predominant at the birth of the Christ: Balthazar standing for the Moon, Kaspar for Mercury, and Melchior for Venus.
bambino ::: n. --> A child or baby; esp., a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Babe Ruth.
base memory "hardware, jargon" The lowest 640 {kilobytes} of memory in an {IBM PC}-compatible computer running {MS-DOS}. Other PC {operating systems} can usually compensate and "ignore" the fact that there is a 640K limit to base memory. This was put in place because the original {CPU} - the {Intel 8088} - could only access one {megabyte} of memory, and {IBM} wanted to reserve the upper 384KB for {device drivers}. The {high memory area} (HMA) lies above 640KB and can be accessed on MS-DOS computers that have an {A20 handler}. (1997-05-30)
Baubo The Matron Baubo, the enchantress “before she succeeds in reconciling the soul — Demeter, to its new position, finds herself obliged to assume the sexual forms of an infant. Baubo is matter, the physical body; and the intellectual, as yet pure astral soul can be ensnared into its new terrestrial prison but by the display of innocent babyhood. Until then, doomed to her fate, Demeter, or Magna-mater, the Soul, wonders and hesitates and suffers; but once having partaken of the magic potion prepared by Baubo, she forgets her sorrows; for a certain time she parts with that consciousness of higher intellect that she was possessed of before entering the body of a child. Thenceforth she must seek to rejoin it again; and when the age of reason arrives for the child, the struggle — forgotten for a few years of infancy — begins again” (IU 2:112).
Baby AT "hardware" The redesigned {AT} motherboard that had the same size as the {XT} motherboard had (8.5" x 11") and could thus fit into an XT case. The original 12" x 13" AT motherboards are now largely forgotten. Compare {ATX}. (1997-02-20)
baby farm ::: --> A place where the nourishment and care of babies are offered for hire.
baby farmer ::: --> One who keeps a baby farm.
baby farming ::: --> The business of keeping a baby farm.
babyhood ::: n. --> The state or period of infancy.
babyhouse ::: a. --> A place for children&
babying ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Baby
babyish ::: a. --> Like a baby; childish; puerile; simple.
babyism ::: n. --> The state of being a baby.
A babyish manner of acting or speaking.
baby jumper ::: --> A hoop suspended by an elastic strap, in which a young child may be held secure while amusing itself by jumping on the floor.
Babylon [from Assyrian “gate of the gods”] An ancient, celebrated city on the Euphrates said to have been founded by the Assyrian monarch Ninus or his legendary wife Semiramis. In ancient times one foci through which Brahmanical esoteric wisdom from India was diffused in Asia Minor, and its cosmogony forms a link between those teachings and the cosmogony of the Hebraic Bible.
Babylonian: An astrologer; so-called because the Babylonians were famed for their knowledge of astrology.
babylonian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the real or to the mystical Babylon, or to the ancient kingdom of Babylonia; Chaldean. ::: n. --> An inhabitant of Babylonia (which included Chaldea); a Chaldean.
An astrologer; -- so called because the Chaldeans were
babylonic ::: a. --> Alt. of Babylonical
babylonical ::: a. --> Pertaining to Babylon, or made there; as, Babylonic garments, carpets, or hangings.
Tumultuous; disorderly.
babylonish ::: n. --> Of or pertaining to, or made in, Babylon or Babylonia.
Pertaining to the Babylon of Revelation xiv. 8.
Pertaining to Rome and papal power.
Confused; Babel-like.
baby ::: n. --> An infant or young child of either sex; a babe.
A small image of an infant; a doll. ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, an infant; young or little; as, baby swans.
babyroussa ::: n. --> Alt. of Babyrussa
babyrussa ::: n. --> See Babyroussa.
babyship ::: n. --> The quality of being a baby; the personality of an infant.
beden ::: n. --> The Abyssinian or Arabian ibex (Capra Nubiana). It is probably the wild goat of the Bible.
Bel (Greek, Latin) [from Semitic ba‘al chief, lord] Lord, chief; one of the supreme gods of the Chaldeo- or Assyro-Babylonian pantheon: the second of the triad composed of Anu, Bel, and Ea. Assyriologists have assumed that Bel was simply the title of a deity, which they have designated as En-lil (the mighty lord). In the division of the universe into heaven, earth, and water, Bel was considered as the lord of the land, and his temple at Nippur was called E-kur (the mountain house), just as Ea’s was the watery house.
Bell Communications Research, Inc (Bellcore) The research laboratory for the seven regional {Bell Telephone} companies in the USA that were created by the divestiture of {AT&T} in 1984. It can be compared to {Bell Laboratories}, for which many Bellcore employees used to work. Currently jointly owned by the seven baby bells (as they are called), there are rumours that it is to be sold by its current owners to become an independent research laboratory Its headquarters are in Livingstone, New Jersey. It has offices in Morristown, Lincroft, and Piscataway, all in New Jersey, USA. Telephone: +1 (201) 74 3000, +1 (800) 521 CORE. (1994-12-06)
bel ::: n. --> The Babylonian name of the god known among the Hebrews as Baal. See Baal.
Bel: The Babylonian form of Baal (q.v.), a member of the supreme triad of deities: Anu, god of the heavens; Bel, god of the Earth; and Ea, god of the waters.
berber ::: n. --> A member of a race somewhat resembling the Arabs, but often classed as Hamitic, who were formerly the inhabitants of the whole of North Africa from the Mediterranean southward into the Sahara, and who still occupy a large part of that region; -- called also Kabyles. Also, the language spoken by this people.
Berosus (3rd century BC) A Chaldaean priest of Belus living in Babylon at the time of Alexander the Great, who translated the primeval traditions of the human race down nearly to his own times. Fragments of this work have been preserved by the historians and mythographers Apollodorus and Polyhistor, and also Josephus, of the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. His cosmogony shows that the Biblical stories of creation and deluge were derived from older sources, as since has been confirmed by Babylonian archaeology.
binary prefix "unit" (Or "IEC prefix") A prefix used with a {unit} of {data} to mean multiplication by a power of 1024. Binary prefixes are most often used with "{byte}" (e.g. "{kilobyte}") but also with {bit} (e.g. "{megabit}"). For example, the term {kilobyte} has historically been used to mean 1024 {bytes}, and {megabyte} to mean 1,048,576 bytes. The multipliers 1024 and 1,048,576 are powers of 1024, which is itself a power of two (1024 = 2^10). It is this factor of two that gives the name "binary prefix". This is in contrast to a {decimal prefix} denoting a power of 1000, which is itself a power of ten (1000 = 10^3). Decimal prefixes are used in science and engineering and are specified in widely adopted {SI} standards. Note that the actual prefix - kilo or mega - is the same, it is the interpretation that differs. The difference between the two interpretations increases with each multiplication, so while 1000 and 1024 differ by only 2.4%, 1000^6 and 1024^6 differ by 15%. The 1024-based interpretation of prefixes is often still used informally and especially when discussing the storage capacity of {random-access memory}. This has lead to storage device manufacturers being accused of false marketing for using the decimal interpretation where customers might assume the larger, historical, binary interpretation. In an attempt to clarify the distinction, in 1998 the {IEC} specified that kilobyte, megabyte, etc. should only be used for powers of 1000 (following SI). They specified new prefixes for powers of 1024 containing "bi" for "binary": {kibibyte}, {mebibyte}, etc.; an idea originally propsed by {IUPAC}. IEC also specified new abbreviations Ki, Mi, etc. for the new prefixes. Many other standards bodies such as {NIST}, {IEEE} and {BIPM} support this proposal but as of 2013 its use is rare in non-technical circles. Specific units of IEC 60027-2 A.2 and ISO/IEC 80000 IEC prefix Representations Customary prefix Name Symbol Base 2 Base Base 10 Name Symbol 1024 (approx) kibi Ki 2^10 1024^1 1.02x10^3 kilo k, K mebi Mi 2^20 1024^2 1.05x10^6 mega M gibi Gi 2^30 1024^3 1.07x10^9 giga G tebi Ti 2^40 1024^4 1.10x10^12 tera T pebi Pi 2^50 1024^5 1.13x10^15 peta P exbi Ei 2^60 1024^6 1.15x10^18 exa E zebi Zi 2^70 1024^7 1.18x10^21 zetta Z yobi Yi 2^80 1024^8 1.21x10^24 yotta Y (2013-11-04)
Birs-Nimrud Modern name of an ancient Babylonian ziggurat or temple-tower of ancient Borsippa. Even today it is the most conspicuous and striking ruin in Iraq, situated on the top of a hill over a hundred feet high. A pyramidal, stepped structure called “the house of the seven divisions of heaven and earth,” it was dedicated to Nebo, the ancient Chaldean god of wisdom. Each of the seven divisions or stages was dedicated to one of the seven planets and was faced with bricks of the color appropriate to the planet.
bottomless ::: a. --> Without a bottom; hence, fathomless; baseless; as, a bottomless abyss.
brontobyte "unit, data" A proposed unit of {data} equal to 10^27 {bytes}. A brontobyte is 1000^9 bytes or 1000 {yottabytes}. "Bronto-" is not an official prefix and the term brontobyte is generally attributed to the IBM Dictionary of Computing. One brontobyte would be enough data to store a three-dimensional map of the Earth with one byte for each {voxel} of a one-centimetre grid. See {prefix}. [Where did IBM get it from?] (2013-11-04)
Bythos, Bythus (Greek) The depth; chaos, the primeval deep, frequently used by the Gnostics. For example, with Valentinus it was the cosmic source whence emanated two by two the series of aeons. Sometimes it was considered as one member of a primordial cosmic mystic square — sige (silence), bythos (depth), nous (intellect), and aletheia (truth); sometimes bythos was paired by Gnostics with sige as composing a primordial cosmic binary. See also ABYSS
Byzantine "jargon, architecture" A term describing any system that has so many labyrinthine internal interconnections that it would be impossible to simplify by separation into loosely coupled or linked components. The city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and then Istanbul, and the Byzantine Empire were vitiated by a bureaucratic overelaboration bordering on lunacy: quadruple banked agencies, dozens or even scores of superfluous levels and officials with high flown titles unrelated to their actual function, if any. Access to the Emperor and his council was controlled by powerful and inscrutable eunuchs and by rival sports factions. [Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"]. (1999-01-15)
Centaurs (Greek) Greek mythology preserves legends of monsters, half man, half horse, located in wild spots in Greece. “See, for comparison, the account of creation by Berosus (Alexander Polyhistor) and the hideous beings born from the two-fold principle (Earth and Water) in the Abyss of primordial creation: Neras [Naras] (Centaurs, men with the limbs of horses and human bodies), and Kimnaras (men with the heads of horses) created by Brahma in the commencement of the Kalpa” (SD 2:65). The centaurs were also said to be the offspring of Ixion, king of the Lapith people, and a cloud shaped like Hera, sent by Zeus to test his wickedness; or as being offsprings of Ixion’s son and mares. They were considered a rude, wild race living in the mountains of Thessaly.
Chaldeans, Chaldees To the seventh subrace of the third root-race belong the far-distant predecessors of the Mystery school; and to now forgotten geologic history the predecessors of those later called Chaldees, along with Hindu, Egyptian, Persian, and Phoenician sages. In their records are mentioned divine dynasties preceding the human kings, and the cycle of 432,000 years. From them came the origins of all such thoughts as are contained in the occult Nabathean Agriculture, and in their ancient records is found the source of the original Biblical cosmogonic allegories. The mathematical and astronomical lore of the Chaldeans was celebrated in all the ancient Mediterranean world: the word Chaldee often meant simply an adept, magician, or astrologer. In the Bible they are usually spoken of as Babylonians.
chasm ::: 1. A deep, steep-sided opening in the earth"s surface; an abyss or gorge. 2. A void or gap. chasms.
chasm ::: n. --> A deep opening made by disruption, as a breach in the earth or a rock; a yawning abyss; a cleft; a fissure.
A void space; a gap or break, as in ranks of men.
cheirotherium ::: n. --> A genus of extinct animals, so named from fossil footprints rudely resembling impressions of the human hand, and believed to have been made by labyrinthodont reptiles. See Illustration in Appendix.
child ::: 1. A person between birth and full growth. 2. A baby or infant. 3. A person who has not attained maturity. 4. One who is childish or immature. 5. An individual regarded as strongly affected by another or by a specified time, place, or circumstance. 6. Any person or thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences, etc. Child, child"s, children, Children, children"s, child-god, Child-Godhead, child-heart, child-heart"s, child-laughter, child-soul, child-sovereign, child-thought, flame-child, foster-child, God-child, King-children.
cochlea ::: n. --> An appendage of the labyrinth of the internal ear, which is elongated and coiled into a spiral in mammals. See Ear.
coffee ::: n. --> The "beans" or "berries" (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America.
The coffee tree.
The beverage made from the roasted and ground berry.
Comet [from Greek komet long-haired, alluding to the cometary tail] A stage in the formation of globes from the primordial world-stuff, following the state known as the comic curds and preceding the formation of suns and planets. “What does Science know of Comets, their genesis, growth, and ultimate behaviour? Nothing . . . And what is there so impossible that a laya centre — a lump of cosmic protoplasm, homogeneous and latent, when suddenly animated or fired up — should rush from its bed in Space and whirl throughout the abysmal depths in order to strengthen its homogeneous organism by an accumulation and addition of differentiated elements? And why should not such a comet settle in life, live, and become an inhabited globe!” (SD 1:204). They are called wanderers, and some of them become suns, others planets. Some become attracted to solar systems and pursue closed orbits because they are reimbodying planets; others have not yet assumed periodic form; more are either broken up or absorbed by the influence of neighboring suns or globes. The matter of which they are composed, though on the same plane albeit in its higher portions, as our senses (otherwise they would not be visible to us), is not of the same kind as our terrestrial matter, but they are on their way towards it during their ages of condensation.
Common Data Format "library" (CDF) A {library} and toolkit based on a {self-describing} data format for {scalar} and multidimensional data. CDF aims to be platform- and discipline-independent. A scientific data management package (CDF Library) allows developers to manage data and {metadata} through APIs. CDF has built-in support for {data compression} ({gZip}, {RLE}, {Huffman}) and files larger than two {gigabytes}. There are interfaces for {C}, {FORTRAN}, {Java}, {Perl}, {C
Compact Disc Read-Only Memory "storage" (CD-ROM) A {non-volatile} optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio {compact discs}, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. CD-ROM is popular for distribution of large databases, software and especially {multimedia} {applications}. The maximum capacity is about 600 megabytes. A CD can store around 640 {megabytes} of data - about 12 billion bytes per pound weight. CD-ROM drives are rated with a speed factor relative to music CDs (1x or 1-speed which gives a data transfer rate of 150 {kilobytes} per second). 12x drives were common in April 1997. Above 12x speed, there are problems with vibration and heat. {Constant angular velocity} (CAV) drives give speeds up to 20x but due to the nature of CAV the actual throughput increase over 12x is less than 20/12. 20x was thought to be the maximum speed due to mechanical constraints but on 1998-02-24, {Samsung Electronics} introduced the SCR-3230, a 32x CD-ROM drive which uses a ball bearing system to balance the spinning CD-ROM in the drive to reduce noise. CD-ROM drives may connect to an {IDE} interface, a {SCSI} interface or a propritary interface, of which there are three - Sony, Panasonic, and Mitsumi. Most CD-ROM drives can also play audio CDs. There are several formats used for CD-ROM data, including {Green Book CD-ROM}, {White Book CD-ROM} and {Yellow Book CD-ROM}. {ISO 9660} defines a standard {file system}, later extended by {Joliet}. See also {Compact Disc Recordable}, {Digital Versatile Disc}. {Byte, February 1997 (http://byte.com/art/9702/sec17/art5.htm)}. (2006-09-25)
Compact Disc Recordable "storage" (CD-R) A write-once version of {CD-ROM}. CD-Rs can hold about 650 {megabytes} of data. They are very durable and can be read by normal CD-ROM drives, but once data has been written it cannot be altered. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-R discs have a dye-based recording layer and an additional golden reflecting layer. Digital information is written to the disc by burning (forming) pits in the recording layer in a pattern corresponding to that of a conventional CD. The laser beam heats the substrate and recording layer to approximately 250 C. The recording layer melts and the substrate expands into the space that becomes available. {Phillips: New Technologies (http://www-us.sv.philips.com/newtech/cdrewritable.html)}. See also {CD-RW} and {DVD-RAM}. (1999-08-01)
Compact Disc Rewritable "storage" (CD-RW) A rewritable version of {CD-ROM}. A CD-RW drive can write about 650 {megabytes} of data to CD-RW media an unlimited number of times. Most CD-RW drives can also write once to {CD-R} media. CD-RW media cannot be read by CD-ROM drives built prior to 1997 due to the reduced reflectivity (15% compared to 70%) of CD-RW media. CD-RW drives and media are currently (1999) more expensive than {CD-R} drives and media. CD-R is sometimes considered a better technology for archival purposes as the data cannot be accidentally modified or tampered with, and encourages better archival practices. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-WR discs have a phase-change recording layer and an additional silver (aluminium) reflecting layer. A laser beam can melt crystals in the recording layer into a non-crystalline amorphous phase or anneal them slowly at a lower temperature back to the crystalline state. The different reflectance of the areas make them appear as the 'pits' and 'lands' of a standard CD. {Phillips: New Technologies (http://www-us.sv.philips.com/newtech/cdrewritable.html)}. See also {CD-R} and {DVD-RAM}. (1999-08-01)
Concerning the labyrinth of ancient Egypt, “Herodotus, preserved for posterity the remembrance of that wonder of the world, the great Labyrinth. . . . Herodotus says that he found therein 3,000 chambers; half subterranean and the other half above-ground. ‘The upper chambers,’ he says, ‘I myself passed through and examined in detail. In the underground ones (which may exist till now, for all the archaeologists know), the keepers of the building would not let me in, for they contain the sepulchres of the kings who built the Labyrinth, and also those of the sacred crocodiles. The upper chambers I saw and examined with my own eyes, and found them to excel all other human productions’ ” (IU 1:522-3).
convincing ::: “Convincing the abyss by heavenly form,”
cradle ::: n. --> A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots; hence, the place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence; as, a cradle of crime; the cradle of liberty.
Infancy, or very early life.
An implement consisting of a broad scythe for cutting grain, with a set of long fingers parallel to the scythe, designed to receive the grain, and to lay it evenly in a swath.
crudware /kruhd'weir/ Pejorative term for the hundreds of megabytes of low-quality {freeware} circulated by user's groups and {BBSs} in the micro-hobbyist world. [{Jargon File}]
Cutha Tablets Tablets found at Cutha, an ancient city in Babylonia, containing fragments of the ancient Chaldean account of creation.
Dache-Dachus (Chaldean) “The dual emanation of Moymis, the progeny of the dual or androgynous World-Principle, the male Apason and female Tauthe. Like all theocratic nations possessing Temple mysteries, the Babylonians never mentioned the ‘One’ Principle of the Universe, nor did they give it a name. This made Damascius (Theogonies) remark that like the rest of ‘barbarians’ the Babylonians passed it over in silence. Tauthe was the mother of the gods, while Apason was her self-generating male power, Moymis, the ideal universe, being her only-begotten son, and emanating in his turn Dache-Dachus, and at last Belus, the Demiurge of the objective Universe” (TG 93).
Dag, Dagon (Hebrew, Phoenician) Dāg, Dāgōn [from dāg fish + ōn diminutive; or from dāgān grain] Fish or a little fish; a Philistine god, at Ashod and Gaza, mentioned several places in the Bible (e.g. Judges 16). He was more than a local deity, however, as place-names called after him are widespread. Some scholars assert there was an ancient Canaanite deity of similar name, and also associate this Shemitic god with the Babylonian Dagan. It is commonly believed that Dagon was represented as half-man half-fish and identified with Oannes, though no such early representations bear his name. Some scholars cite Philo Byblius as making Dagon the discoverer of grain and the inventor of the plow, an earth god parallel with Bel.
Damkina (Chaldean, Babylonian) Sometimes Davkina. Consort of Ea or Hea, god of the watery regions, partaking of Ea’s characteristics, hence named Damgal-nunna (great lady of the waters), likewise Nin-Ki (lady of that which is below, i.e., the watery deeps or underworld). Mother of Marduk (or Merodach).
Daniel (Hebrew) Dāniyyē’l The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament has twelve chapters, the first six a historical narrative, the last six prophetic. According to the former, Daniel flourished about 600 b.c., was taken captive with the other Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and became a Magus. His skill in interpreting dreams procured him favor and the governorship of the province of Babylon. Later he became the first president of the whole Medo-Persian empire. Scholarship, however, finds difficulties in reconciling biblical data with information from other sources.
Daos (Chaldean) Sixth King (Shepherd) of the Babylonian Divine Dynasty who reigned for the 36,000 years. “In his time four Annedoti, or Men-fishes (Dagons) made their appearance” (TG 96).
Darkness In theosophical philosophy light is not regarded as self-existent, but as primordially the spiritual effect of a spiritual cause, the emanation from something grander and more radical beyond it. This unknown divine substratum, the original superspiritual intelligence-substance of the universe, is sometimes called darkness; likewise, it is spoken of as absolute light. Thus absolute light and absolute darkness are the same, so that manifested light sprang from unmanifested light or darkness. Philosophically, non-ego — which is freedom from the limitations of egoity and manifested particularities — voidness, and darkness are a three-in-one, darkness being Father-Mother and light, their Son. Night or darkness preceded day and light in cosmogony, as is recognized in Genesis, where darkness broods over the face of the deep. The creation of light, or the emanation of light from darkness, is the first step in cosmic manifestation. Light thus is truly called original substance or spiritual matter; darkness, purest spirit. Synonymous with this darkness are ’eyn soph, the Boundless, the bridgeless abyss, the unmanifest, the ever-invisible robes of the eternal parent.
deep ::: n. 1. A vast extent, as of space or time; an abyss. 2. Fig. Difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge; as an unfathomable thought, idea, esp. poetic. Deep, deep"s, deeps. adj. 3. Extending far downward below a surface. 4. Having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination. 5. Coming from or penetrating to a great depth. 6. Situated far down, in, or back. 7. Lying below the surface; not superficial; profound. 8. Of great intensity; as extreme deep happiness, deep trouble. 9. Absorbing; engrossing. 10. Grave or serious. 11. Profoundly or intensely. 12. Mysterious; obscure; difficult to penetrate or understand. 13. Low in pitch or tone. 14. Profoundly cunning, crafty or artful. 15. The central and most intense or profound part; "in the deep of night”; "in the deep of winter”. deeper, deepest, deep-browed, deep-caved, deep-concealed, deep-etched, deep-fraught, deep-guarded, deep-hid, deep-honied, deep-pooled, deep-thoughted. *adv. *16. to a great depth psychologically or profoundly.
Deep. See ABYSS; BYTHOS; SPACE
Demonology: Referring to a study of the widespread religious ideas of hostile superhuman beings called demons. These creatures were generally thought of as inhabiting a super- or under-world and playing havoc with the fortunes of man by bringing about diseases, mental twists and calamities in general. Ridding an individual supposedly held in possession by such a demon was an ancient practice (technically known as "exorcism") and continued in some Christian liturgies even to our own day. Demonology as a theory of demonic behavior throve among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, post-exilic Hebrews, Jews, Greeks and many scattered peoples including the hoary ancients. Elaborate demonic ideas appear in the Mohammedan religion. -- V.F.
Digital Audio Tape "storage, music" (DAT) A format for storing music on magnetic tape, developed in the mid-1980s by {Sony} and {Philips}. As digital music was popularized by {compact discs}, the need for a digital recording format for the consumer existed. The problem is that digital music contains over 5 megabytes of data per minute before error correction and supplementary information. Before DAT, the only way to record digitally was to use a video or a reel-to-reel recorder. DAT uses a rotary-head (or "helical scan") format, where the read/write head spins diagonally across the tape like a video cassette recorder. Thus the proper name is "R-DAT", where "R" for rotary distinguishes it from "S-DAT", a stationary design that did not make it out of the laboratories. Studio reel-to-reel decks are able to use stationary heads because they can have wider tape and faster tape speeds, but for the desired small medium of DAT the rotary-head compromise was made despite the potential problems with more moving parts. Most DAT recorders appear to be a cross between a typical analog cassette deck and a {compact disc} player. In addition to the music, one can record subcode information such as the number of the track (so one can jump between songs in a certain order) or absolute time (counted from the beginning of the tape). The tape speed is much faster than a regular deck (one can rewind 30 minutes of music in 10-25 seconds), though not quite as fast as a compact disc player. DAT decks have both analog and digital inputs and outputs. DAT tapes have only one recordable side and can be as long 120 minutes. DAT defines the following recording modes with the following performance specifications... 2 channel 48KHz Sample rate, 16-bit linear encoding 120 min max. Frequency Response 2-22KHz (+-0.5dB) SN = 93 dB DR = 93 dB 2 channel 44.1Khz Sample rate, 16-bit linear encoding 120 min max Frequency Response 2-22KHz (+-0.5dB) SN = 93 dB DR = 93 dB 2 channel 32KHz Sample Rate, 12-bit non-linear encoding 240 min max Frequency Response 2-14.5KHz (+-0.5dB) SN = 92 dB DR = 92 dB 4 channel 32KHz (not supported by any deck) DAT is also used for recording computer data. Most computer DAT recorders use DDS format which is the same as audio DAT but they usually have completely different connectors and it is not always possible to read tapes from one system on the other. Computer tapes can be used in audio machines but are usually more expensive. You can record for two minutes on each metre of tape. (1995-02-09)
Digital Linear Tape "storage" (DLT) A kind of {magnetic tape} drive originally developed by {DEC} and now marketed by {Quantum}. DLT drives implement the {Digital Lempel Ziv 1} (DLZ1) {compression} {algorithm} in a combination of {hardware} and {firmware}. They use a popular chip by {Stac} (now {hi/fn}) to do the string searching. Counting, sorting and {Huffman coding} are done in firmware (with hardware support for the Huffman algorithm?). In April 1997 DLT drives can transfer 5 {megabytes} per second and can store 35 {gigabytes} on a single cartridge. Compression might roughly double these figures. (1997-04-05)
disk drive "hardware, storage" (Or "hard disk drive", "hard drive", "floppy disk drive", "floppy drive") A {peripheral} device that reads and writes {hard disks} or {floppy disks}. The drive contains a motor to rotate the disk at a constant rate and one or more read/write heads which are positioned over the desired {track} by a servo mechanism. It also contains the electronics to amplify the signals from the heads to normal digital logic levels and vice versa. In order for a disk drive to start to read or write a given location a read/write head must be positioned radially over the right track and rotationally over the start of the right sector. Radial motion is known as "{seek}ing" and it is this which causes most of the intermittent noise heard during disk activity. There is usually one head for each disk surface and all heads move together. The set of locations which are accessible with the heads in a given radial position are known as a "{cylinder}". The "{seek time}" is the time taken to seek to a different cylinder. The disk is constantly rotating (except for some {floppy disk} drives where the motor is switched off between accesses to reduce wear and power consumption) so positioning the heads over the right sector is simply a matter of waiting until it arrives under the head. With a single set of heads this "{rotational latency}" will be on average half a revolution but some big drives have multiple sets of heads spaced at equal angles around the disk. If seeking and rotation are independent, access time is seek time + rotational latency. When accessing multiple tracks sequentially, data is sometimes arranged so that by the time the seek from one track to the next has finished, the disk has rotated just enough to begin accessing the next track. See also {sector interleave}. Early disk drives had a capacity of a few {megabytes} and were housed inside a separate cabinet the size of a washing machine. Over a few decades they shrunk to fit a {terabyte} or more in a box the size of a paperback book. The disks may be {removable disks}; floppy disks always are, removable hard disks were common on {mainframes} and {minicomputers} but less so on {microcomputers} until the mid 1990s(?) with products like the {Zip Drive}. A {CD-ROM} drive is not usually referred to as a disk drive. Two common interfaces for disk drives (and other devices) are {SCSI} and {IDE}. {ST-506} used to be common in microcomputers (in the 1980s?). (1997-04-15)
Ditto Drive "hardware, storage" The Ditto {tape drives} range in capacity from 120 {megabytes} to 1.6 {gigabytes} ({data compression} can roughly double these figures). The newer devices are designed for special tapes, though they will read standard tape types. The largest of tape stores up 3.2 {GB}. Using an enhanced {floppy drive} card the transfer rate approaches the claimed 19 {MB}/minute. External {parallel} port versions are also available. {Compatibility details (http://iomega.com/support/techs/ditto/3040.html)}. (1997-03-26)
doll ::: n. --> A child&
dolly varden ::: --> A character in Dickens&
doom palm ::: --> A species of palm tree (Hyphaene Thebaica), highly valued for the fibrous pulp of its fruit, which has the flavor of gingerbread, and is largely eaten in Egypt and Abyssinia.
Drought, Drouth A cyclic condition of the earth’s astral light reacting upon the atmosphere and cooperating with other meteorological causes bringing about periods of dryness over larger or smaller portions of the earth; in extreme form, it brings about a state of periodic ekpyrosis or burning, resulting in the reduction of fertile areas into deserts. The opposite of this condition, resulting in extraordinary rains and floods of longer duration, and sometimes extending over wide surfaces of the earth, is called cataclysm. The dragon is said by the Chinese to be able to affect climate, producing droughts, rain, etc., a direct reference to the astral light in its cyclic workings upon earth; in history, the human application of the dragon is made to magicians of the fourth or early fifth root-race. Samael, Satan, or the Red Dragon, the Simoom, and the Vedic Vritra are drought producers, as is the Babylonian Tiamat, the dragon slain by Bel or by Merodach.
Dual In-line Memory Module "storage" Small circuit boards carrying memory {integrated circuits}, with signal and power pins on both sides of the board, in contrast to {single-in-line memory modules} (SIMM). The individual gold or lead connectors (pins) on SIMMs, although they are on both sides of the chip, are connected to the same memory chip, while on a DIMM, the connections on each side of the module connect to different chips. This allows for a wider data path, as more modules can be accessed at once. DIMM pins are arranged in a zigzag design to allow PCB tracks to pass between them. The 8-byte DIMM format with dual-sided contacts can accommodate 4- and 16-megabit {dynamic RAM} chips, and is predicted to handle 64- and 256-Mbit devices. The 8-byte DIMM will hold up to 32 megabytes of memory using 16-Mbit DRAMs, but with the 256-Mbit future-generation DRAM, it will be able to hold a 64-Mx64 configuration. Another variation, the 72-pin {SO-DIMM}, is designed to connect directly to 32 bit data buses, and is intended for use in memory-expansion applications in {notebook computers}. A Dual in-line memory module (DIMM), as opposed to SIMMs (used by the majority of the PC industry) allows for a 128-bit data path by interleaving memory on alternating memory access cycles. SIMMs on the other hand, have a 64-bit data path. Suppliers are unanimous in their belief that the DIMM will eventually replace the SIMM as the market's preferred memory module. (1996-01-28)
Eabani (Babylonian) Created by Ea; the hero-companion of Izdubar (Gilgamesh) in the epic of Gilgamesh. Here he is created by Ea upon supplication by the people to send them a champion to deliver them from the tyranny of Izdubar. Eabani, however, becomes his bosom-friend and fellow-traveler, acting as guide when Izdubar descends to the regions of the dead. See also MARDUK
Ea: In Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, the god of waters and of wisdom, crafts and learning, especially of the magical arts; the third member of the Babylonian triad of gods (Anu, Enlil, Ea).
Ea or Hea (Akkadian, Chaldean) [from house + water] One of the three chief gods of the Chaldaeo- or Assyro-Babylonian celestial triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea. In the division of the universe into heaven, earth, and water, Ea is king of the watery deeps (Shar Apsi); also Lord of that which is below (En-Ki).
Emacs "text, tool" /ee'maks/ (Editing MACroS, or Extensible MACro System, GNU Emacs) A popular {screen editor} for {Unix} and most other {operating systems}. Emacs is distributed by the {Free Software Foundation} and was {Richard Stallman}'s first step in the {GNU} project. Emacs is extensible - it is easy to add new functions; customisable - you can rebind keys, and modify the behaviour of existing functions; self-documenting - there is extensive on-line, context-sensitive help; and has a real-time "what you see is what you get" display. Emacs is writen in {C} and the higher levels are programmed in {Emacs Lisp}. Emacs has an entire {Lisp} system inside it. It was originally written in {TECO} under {ITS} at the {MIT} {AI lab}. AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced, self-documenting, customisable, extensible real-time display editor". It includes facilities to view directories, run compilation subprocesses and send and receive {electronic mail} and {Usenet} {news} ({GNUS}). {W3} is a {web browser}, the ange-ftp package provides transparent access to files on remote {FTP} {servers}. {Calc} is a calculator and {symbolic mathematics} package. There are "modes" provided to assist in editing most well-known programming languages. Most of these extra functions are configured to load automatically on first use, reducing start-up time and memory consumption. Many hackers (including {Denis Howe}) spend more than 80% of their {tube time} inside Emacs. GNU Emacs is available for {Unix}, {VMS}, {GNU}/{Linux}, {FreeBSD}, {NetBSD}, {OpenBSD}, {MS Windows}, {MS-DOS}, and other systems. Emacs has been re-implemented more than 30 times. Other variants include {GOSMACS}, CCA Emacs, UniPress Emacs, Montgomery Emacs, and {XEmacs}. {Jove}, {epsilon}, and {MicroEmacs} are limited look-alikes. Some Emacs versions running under {window managers} iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one feature the editor does not (yet) include. Indeed, some hackers find Emacs too {heavyweight} and {baroque} for their taste, and expand the name as "Escape Meta Alt Control Shift" to spoof its heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with {bucky bits}. Other spoof expansions include "Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping", "Eventually "malloc()'s All Computer Storage", and "Emacs Makes A Computer Slow" (see {recursive acronym}). See also {vi}. Version 21.1 added a redisplay engine with support for {proportional text}, images, {toolbars}, {tool tips}, toolkit scroll bars and a mouse-sensitive mode line. {FTP} from your nearest {GNU archive site}. E-mail: (bug reports only) "bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org". {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:gnu.emacs.help}, {news:gnu.emacs.bug}, {news:alt.religion.emacs}, {news:gnu.emacs.sources}, {news:gnu.emacs.announce}. [{Jargon File}] (1997-02-04)
endolymph ::: n. --> The watery fluid contained in the membranous labyrinth of the internal ear.
Enlil: The Sumerian and Babylonian god of wind and storm, second of the Babylonian triad of gods (the other two were Anu and Ea).
Eridu One of the oldest seats of religious culture in ancient Babylonia, located a few miles SSW of Ur in Chaldea, and mentioned in ancient records as the city of the deep. In it was a temple of Ea, god of the sea and of wisdom. Rediscovered in 1854, it is now about 120 miles from the Persian Gulf, though spoken of in old records as being on the shore; calculations based on the rate of alluvial deposition places its date in the seventh millennium BC. Sayce, by comparing the Akkadian calendar with the present position of the vernal equinox, gives a date going back to 4700 BC.
ethiopic ::: a. --> Of or relating to Ethiopia or the Ethiopians. ::: n. --> The language of ancient Ethiopia; the language of the ancient Abyssinian empire (in Ethiopia), now used only in the Abyssinian church. It is of Semitic origin, and is also called Geez.
“Every nation had its exoteric and esoteric religion, the one for the masses, the other for the learned and elect. For example, the Hindus had three degrees with several sub-degrees. The Egyptians had also three preliminary degrees, personified under the ‘three guardians of the fire’ in the Mysteries. The Chinese had their most ancient Triad Society: and the Tibetans have to this day their ‘triple step’: which was symbolized in the ‘Vedas by the three strides of Vishnu. . . . The old Babylonians had their three stages of initiation into the priesthood (which was then esoteric knowledge); the Jews, the Kabbalists and mystics borrowed them from the Chaldees, and the Christian Church from the Jews” (TG 333).
Exabyte "company, storage" A company and, by extension, a tape format for computer data backup and transfer. The tape is a data quality 8mm video cassette recorder tape. Exabyte units can store between five and fourteen {gigabytes} of data per tape. Exabytes are usually attached to {Unix} {workstations}. [What different tape capacities exist? Compare with DAT?] (1995-07-06)
exabyte "unit, data" (EB) A unit of {data} equal to 10^18 {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. An exabyte is exactly 1000^6 bytes or 1000 {petabytes}. 1000 exabytes are one {zettabyte}. See {prefix}. (2013-11-04)
exilic ::: a. --> Pertaining to exile or banishment, esp. to that of the Jews in Babylon.
extended memory "storage" Memory above the first {megabyte} of {address space} in an {IBM PC} with an {80286} or later processor. Extended memory is not directly available in {real mode}, only through {EMS}, {UMB}, {XMS}, or {HMA}; only applications executing in {protected mode} can use extended memory directly. In this case, the extended memory is provided by a supervising {protected-mode} {operating system} such as {Microsoft Windows}. The processor makes this memory available through a system of {global descriptor tables} and {local descriptor tables}. The memory is "protected" in the sense that memory assigned a local descriptor cannot be accessed by another program without causing a hardware {trap}. This prevents programs running in protected mode from interfering with each other's memory. A {protected-mode} {operating system} such as Windows can also run {real-mode} programs and provide {expanded memory} to them. {DOS Protected Mode Interface} is {Microsoft}'s prescribed method for an {MS-DOS} program to access extended memory under a {multitasking} environment. Having extended memory does not necessarily mean that you have more than one megabyte of memory since the reserved memory area may be partially empty. In fact, if your 386 or higher uses extended memory as expanded memory then that part is not in excess of 1Mb. See also {conventional memory}. (1996-01-10)
feroher ::: n. --> A symbol of the solar deity, found on monuments exhumed in Babylon, Nineveh, etc.
Fetahil, Ptahil (Gnostic) With the Nazarene Gnostics, the builder of the material worlds. In the Codex Nazaraeus, Abatur, the Father, opens a gate and walks to the dark water (chaos) and looks down into it. The darkness reflects the image, whereupon a son appears or is emanated, the Logos or Demiurge, Fetahil. Because Fetahil is thus produced in order to bring forth the worlds of manifestation, the Codex describes him as being immersed in the abyss of primordial stuff or matter (chaos), soliloquizing on his inability alone to produce it. Whereupon Spiritus (the Gnostic “Mother”) appears and unites with Karabtanos, cosmic kama involved in primordial matter, thus bringing forth seven stellars. These are, however, seven imperfect figures “which represent also the seven capital sins, the progeny of an astral soul separated from its divine source (spirit) and matter, the blind demon of concupiscence. Seeing this, Fetahil extends his hand towards the abyss of matter, and says: — ‘Let the Earth exist, just as the abode of the powers has exited.’ Dipping his hand in the chaos, which he condenses, he creates our planet” (SD 1:195).
Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop "hardware, standard" (FC-AL) A fast serial bus interface standard intended to replace {SCSI} on high-end {servers}. FC-AL has a number of advantages over SCSI. It offers higher speed: the base speed is 100 {megabytes} per second, with 200, 400, and 800 planned. Many devices are dual ported, i.e., can be accessed through two independent ports, which doubles speed and increases fault tolerance. Cables can be as long as 30 m (coaxial) or 10 km (optical). FC-AL enables {self-configuring} and {hot swapping} and the maximum number of devices on a single port is 126. Finally, it provides software compatibility with SCSI. Despite all these features FC-AL is unlikely to appear on desktops anytime soon, partly because its price, partly because typical {desktop computers} would not take advantage of many of the advanced features. On these systems {FireWire} has more potential. [Current status? Reference?] (1999-09-12)
Fifth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical or sacred year, according to the system used after the Babylonian captivity; also the 11th month of the civil year. Likewise the 11th month of the Palmyrenes and Syrians, equivalent to July-August and the zodiacal sign Leo. See also ABBA.
File Allocation Table "file system" (FAT) The component of an {MS-DOS} or {Windows 95} {file system} which describes the {files}, {directories}, and free space on a {hard disk} or {floppy disk}. A disk is divided into {partitions}. Under the FAT {file system} each partition is divided into {clusters}, each of which can be one or more {sectors}, depending on the size of the partition. Each cluster is either allocated to a file or directory or it is free (unused). A directory lists the name, size, modification time and starting cluster of each file or subdirectory it contains. At the start of the partition is a table (the FAT) with one entry for each cluster. Each entry gives the number of the next cluster in the same file or a special value for "not allocated" or a special value for "this is the last cluster in the chain". The first few clusters after the FAT contain the {root directory}. The FAT file system was originally created for the {CP/M}[?] {operating system} where files were catalogued using 8-bit addressing. {MS DOS}'s FAT allows only {8.3} filenames. With the introduction of MS-DOS 4 an incompatible 16-bit FAT (FAT16) with 32-kilobyte {clusters} was introduced that allowed {partitions} of up to 2 gigabytes. Microsoft later created {FAT32} to support partitions larger than two gigabytes and {pathnames} greater that 256 characters. It also allows more efficient use of disk space since {clusters} are four kilobytes rather than 32 kilobytes. FAT32 was first available in {OEM} Service Release 2 of {Windows 95} in 1996. It is not fully {backward compatible} with the 16-bit and 8-bit FATs. {IDG article (http://idg.net/idgframes/english/content.cgi?vc=docid_9-62525.html)}. {(http://home.c2i.net/tkjoerne/os/fat.htm)}. {(http://teleport.com/~brainy/)}. {(http://209.67.75.168/hardware/fatgen.htm)}. {(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/9/97.asp)}. Compare: {NTFS}. [How big is a FAT? Is the term used outside MS DOS? How long is a FAT16 filename?] (2000-02-05)
Filtabyte "networking, hardware" An {Ethernet controller} card made by {LRT} based on the {LANCE} and {SIA}. It uses {DMA}. Its {Ethernet address} can be changed by software. (1994-12-01)
fool file "jargon" A term found on {Usenet} for a notional repository of all the most dramatically and abysmally stupid utterances ever. An entire subgenre of {sig blocks} consists of the header "From the fool file:" followed by some quote the poster wishes to represent as an immortal gem of dimwittery; for this usage to be really effective, the quote has to be so obviously wrong as to be laughable. More than one {Usenetter} has achieved an unwanted notoriety by being quoted in this way. (2001-01-05)
formless mysticism ::: A peak experience of oneness with phenomena (or lack thereof) in the causal state. Can also refer to meditative formless absorption, nirvikalpa samadhi, jnana samadhi, the Void, the Abyss, Ayin, Urgrund, etc.
For the others, the “ baby monkey ” type or those who are still more independent, following their own ideas, doing their own sadhana, asking only for some instruction or help, the grace of the Guru is there, but it acts according to the nature of the sadhaka and counts upon his efforts to a greater or less degree ; it helps, succours in difficulty, saves in the time of danger ; the disciple is not always, is perhaps hardly at all aware of what is being done as he is absorbed in himself and his endeavour. In such cases the decisive psychological movement, the touch that makes all clear, may lake longer to come.
FreeBSD "operating system" A free {operating system} based on the {BSD 4.4-lite} release from {Computer Systems Research Group} at the {University of California at Berkeley}. FreeBSD requires an {ISA}, {EISA}, {VESA}, or {PCI} based computer with an {Intel 80386SX} to {Pentium} CPU (or compatible {AMD} or {Cyrix} CPU) with 4 megabytes of {RAM} and 60MB of disk space. Some of FreeBSD's features are: {preemptive multitasking} with dynamic priority adjustment to ensure smooth and fair sharing of the computer between applications and users. Multiuser access - {peripherals} such as printers and tape drives can be shared between all users. Complete {TCP/IP} networking including {SLIP}, {PPP}, {NFS} and {NIS}. {Memory protection}, {demand-paged virtual memory} with a merged {VM}/{buffer cache} design. FreeBSD was designed as a {32 bit operating system}. {X Window System} (X11R6) provides a {graphical user interface}. {Binary compatibility} with many programs built for {SCO}, {BSDI}, {NetBSD}, {386BSD}, and {Linux}. Hundreds of ready-to-run applications in the FreeBSD ports collection. FreeBSD is {source code compatible} with most popular commercial {Unix} systems and thus most applications require few, if any, changes to compile. {Shared libraries}. A full compliment of {C}, {C++}, {Fortran} and {Perl} development tools and many other languages. {Source code} for the entire system is available. Extensive on-line documentation. {(http://freebsd.org/)}. {(ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD)} or try your nearest {mirror site} listed at the home site or buy the {CD-ROM} from {Walnut Creek}. (1998-11-24)
Gan-Eden (Hebrew) Gan ’Ēden [from gan garden, park + ’ēden] Sometimes Gan-Aeden, Gandunia. The garden of Eden; in the Assyrian tablets it is rendered gan-dunyas or gan-dunu, which is also a name of Babylonia. See also EDEN; PARADISE
ganocephala ::: n. pl. --> A group of fossil amphibians allied to the labyrinthodonts, having the head defended by bony, sculptured plates, as in some ganoid fishes.
gawby ::: n. --> A baby; a dunce.
gaby ::: n. --> A simpleton; a dunce; a lout.
Gb "unit" Gigabit. 10^9 {bits}. Might also be wrongly used for {gigabyte} ({GB}). (1997-03-27)
GB "unit" {gigabytes} or {gigabits} - see {MB}. Giga stands for 10^9 - a US billion, or in computing for 2^30. The text of a thirty volume encyclopaedia would require about one gigabyte of {ASCII} storage. (1997-03-27)
gelada ::: n. --> A baboon (Gelada Ruppelli) of Abyssinia, remarkable for the length of the hair on the neck and shoulders of the adult male.
Gemara: ( Heb. completion) Is the larger and latter part of the Talmud (q.v.) discussing the Mishnah, and incorporating also vast materials not closely related to the Mishnah topics. The 1812 authorities of the gemara are known as Amoraim (speakers). Its contents bears on Halaeha (law) and Aggadah (tale), i.e. non-legal material like legends, history, science, ethics, philosophy, biography, etc. There are two gemaras better known as Talmuds: the Jerusalem (i.e. Palestinian) Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. -- H.L.G.
Gemarah: Hebrew for completion; the name of the larger and latter part of the Talmud (q.v.) discussing the Mishnah (q.v.) and incorporating also vast materials not closely related to the Mishnah topics. The 1812 authorities of the Gemarah are known as Amoraim (speakers). Its contents bears on Hadaeha (law) and Aggadah (tale), i.e., non-legal material like legends, history, science, ethics, philosophy, biography, etc. There are two Gemarahs better known as Talmuds: the Jerusalem (i.e., Palestinian) Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.
Get a real computer! "jargon" A typical {hacker} response to news that somebody is having trouble getting work done on a {toy} system or {bitty box}. The threshold for "real computer" rises with time. As of mid-1993 it meant {multi-tasking}, with a {hard disk}, and an {address space} bigger than 16 {megabytes}. At this time, according to {GLS}, computers with character-only displays were verging on "unreal". In 2001, a real computer has a one {gigahertz} processor, 128 MB of {RAM}, 20 GB of hard disk, and runs {Linux}. [{Jargon File}] (2001-06-22)
gigabyte "unit, data" (GB or colloquially "gig") A unit of {data} equal to one billion {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. A gigabyte is 1000^3 {bytes} or 1000 {megabytes}. A human gene sequence (including all the redundant codons) contains about 1.5 gigabytes of data. 1000 gigabytes are one {terabyte}. See {prefix}. {Human genome data content (http://bitesizebio.com/articles/how-much-information-is-stored-in-the-human-genome/)}. (2013-11-03)
gig {gigabyte}
Girru: The Babylonian god of fire.
Gnosticism: A creed representing a mixture of the doctrines of the Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian and Christian religions, occultism, astrology and magic, as well as parts of the Hebrew Kabalistic teachings. Its origin is still a matter of debate. According to the Encyclopedia of Religion by V. Ferm, “Gnosticism is now regarded as pre-Christian Oriental mysticism.” All Gnostic sects had their priests who practiced astrology and the magic arts, and it is claimed that the Gnostics continued to celebrate the ancient Greek mysteries, too. The Church regarded the Gnostics as heretics and sorcerers and persecuted them as such.
gopala. ::: cowherd; a title of Krishna, both as baby and young boy
Great Deep. See SPACE; ABYSS
grivet ::: n. --> A monkey of the upper Nile and Abyssinia (Cercopithecus griseo-viridis), having the upper parts dull green, the lower parts white, the hands, ears, and face black. It was known to the ancient Egyptians. Called also tota.
guereza ::: n. --> A beautiful Abyssinian monkey (Colobus guereza), having the body black, with a fringe of long, silky, white hair along the sides, and a tuft of the same at the end of the tail. The frontal band, cheeks, and chin are white.
gulf ::: 1. A portion of an ocean or sea partly enclosed by land. 2. A deep, wide chasm; an abyss. 3. Any wide separation. gulfs.
gulf ::: n. --> A hollow place in the earth; an abyss; a deep chasm or basin,
That which swallows; the gullet.
That which swallows irretrievably; a whirlpool; a sucking eddy.
A portion of an ocean or sea extending into the land; a partially land-locked sea; as, the Gulf of Mexico.
A large deposit of ore in a lode.
Happy Fields A name for the afterdeath state among the ancient Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians. These regions were reached after passing through the place of purgation (in a restricted sense therefore equivalent to the Greek Hades) which was ruled over by the Lady of the Great Land, called Nin-Kigal by the Assyrians and Allatu by the Babylonians. The entrance to this place was by means of the cave of Aralu.
Hepatoscopy: A form of divination, by studying the liver of a sacrificed sheep, practiced among the Babylonians, Etruscans, Hittites, etc., based on the assumption that the seat of life is in the liver, and that the structure of the world and the fortune of the individual may be traced on the liver of the animal.
Hermes (Greek) Greek god, son of Zeus and Maia, the third person in a triad of Father-Mother-Son, hence the formative Logos or Word. He is equivalent to the Hindu Budha, the Zoroastrian Mithra, the Babylonian Nebo — son of Zarpa-Nitu (moon) and Merodach (sun) — and the Egyptian Thoth with the ibis for his emblem; also to Enoch and the Roman Mercurius, son of Coelus and Lux (heaven and light). Among his emblems are the cross, the cubical shape, the serpent, and especially his wand, the caduceus, which combines the serpent and cross. The name has been used generically for many adepts. To Hermes were attributed many functions, such as that of inspiring eloquence and healing, and he is the patron of intellectual, artistic, and productively agricultural pursuits. The nature and functions of this divinity express themselves to our mind as light, wisdom, intelligence, and quickness — especially in an intellectual sense. He was the messenger of the gods, and also the psychopomp or conductor of souls to the netherworld. In his lower aspects he is often made to serve as the inspirer of gross misuses of intelligence such as clever theft — thus illustrating that even the noblest qualities have their dark side.
high memory area "storage" (HMA) The first 64 {kilobytes} (minus 16 byte) of the {extended memory} on an {IBM PC}. By a strange design glitch the {Intel 80x86} processors can actually address 17*64 kbyte minus 16 byte of memory (from 0000:0000 to ffff:ffff) in real mode. In the {Intel 8086} and {Intel 8088} processors, unable to handle more than 1 {megabyte} of memory, addressing wrapped around, that is, address ffff:0010 was equivalent to 0000:0000. For compatibility reasons, later processors still wrapped around by default, but this feature could be switched off. Special programs called {A20 handlers} can control the addressing mode dynamically, thereby allowing programs to load themselves into the 1024--1088 kbyte region and run in {real mode}. From version 5.0 parts of {MS-DOS} can be loaded into HMA as well freeing up to 46 kbytes of {conventional memory}. (1995-01-10)
Hillel, Heilel (Hebrew) Hēilel [from hālal to shine] Shining brightly or gloriously; used in Isaiah (14:12), referring to the king of Babylon: “How art thou fallen from the heavens, Lucifer [Hillel], Son of the Morning, how art thou cast down unto the earth, thou who didst cast down the nations.” (BCW 8:27-8n)
However, it is more than a mere commentary on the old testament, but a veritable storehouse of ancient Jewish philosophy, theology, history, ethics, sciences, folklore, etc., that accumulated during those eventful 8 centuries. The Talmud consists of an older layer, the Mishnah (q.v.) compiled in Palestine (200 A.D.) and younger layer -- the Gemara (q.v.) as commentary on the former. The Gemara produced in Palestine together with the Mishnah is known as the Jerusalem Talmud (q.v.) and the Gemara produced in Babylon together with the same Mishnah is known as the Babylonian Talmud.
IBM 1620 "computer" A computer built by {IBM} and released in late 1959. The 1620 cost from around $85,000(?) up to hundreds of thousands of dollars(?) according to the configuration. It was billed as a "small scientific computer" to distinguish it from the business-oriented {IBM 1401}. It was regarded as inexpensive, and many schools started out with one. It was either developed for the US Navy to teach computing, or as a replacement for the very successful {IBM 650} which did quite well in the low end scientific market. Rumour has it that the Navy called this computer the CADET - Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try. The {ALU} used lookup tables to add, subtract and multiply but it could do address increments and the like without the tables. You could change the number base by adjusting the tables, which were input during the boot sequence from {Hollerith} cards. The divide instruction required additional hardware, as did {floating point} operations. The basic machine had 20,000 decimal digits of {ferrite core memory} arranged as a 100 by 100 array of 12-bit locations, each holding two digits. Each digit was stored as four numeric bits, one flag bit and one parity bit. The numeric bits stored a decimal digit (values above nine were illegal). Memory was logically divided into fields. On the high-order digit of a field the flag bit indicated the end of the field. On the low-order digit it indicated a negative number. A flag bit on the low order of the address indicated {indirect addressing} if you had that option installed. A few "illegal" bit combinations were used to store things like record marks and "numeric blanks". On a {subroutine} call it stored the {return address} in the five digits just before the entry point to the routine, so you had to build your own {stack} to do {recursion}. The enclosure was grey, and the core was about four or five inches across. The core memory was kept cool inside a temperature-controlled box. The machine took a few minutes to warm up after power on before you could use it. If it got too hot there was a thermal cut-out switch that would shut it down. Memory could be expanded up to 100,000 digits in a second cabinet. The cheapest package used {paper tape} for I/O. You could also get {punched cards} and later models could be hooked up to a 1311 {disk drive} (a two-{megabyte} {washing machine}), a 1627 {plotter}, and a 1443 {line printer}. Because the 1620 was popular with colleges, IBM ran a clearing house of software for a nominal cost such as {Snobol}, {COBOL}, chess games, etc. The model II, released about three years later, could add and subtract without tables. The {clock period} decreased from 20 to 10 microseconds, instruction fetch sped up by a few cycles and it added {index registers} of some sort. Some of the model I's options were standard on the model II, like {indirect addressing} and the {console} {teletype} changed from a model C to a {Selectric}. Later still, IBM marketed the {IBM 1710}. A favorite use was to tune a FM radio to pick up the "interference" from the lights on the console. With the right delay loops you could generate musical notes. Hackers wrote {interpreters} that played music from notation like "C44". {IBM 1620 console (img:/pub/misc/IBM1620-console.jpg)} 1620 consoles were used as props to represent {Colossus} in the film "The Forbin Project", though most of the machines had been scrapped by the time the film was made. {A fully configured 1620 (http://uranus.ee.auth.gr/TMTh/exhibit.htm)}. {IBM 1620 at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA (/pub/misc/IBM1620-Tuck1960s.jpg)} (Thanks Victor E. McGee, pictured). ["Basic Programming Concepts and the IBM 1620 Computer", Leeson and Dimitry, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962]. (2018-09-11)
IBM PC AT "computer" ("Advanced Technology") A version of the {IBM PC}, released in Aug 1984 with an {Intel 80286} processor, a 16-bit {bus}, a medium-speed {hard disk} and a 1.2 {megabyte} {floppy} {disk drive}. It had a larger case than the PC, which allowed it to accept "{tall cards}". The AT keyboard corrected the PC's non-standard placement of the {return} and left shift keys but shortened the {backspace} key, making it harder to reach. (1995-03-01)
IBM PC "computer" International Business Machines Personal Computer. IBM PCs and compatible models from other vendors are the most widely used computer systems in the world. They are typically single user {personal computers}, although they have been adapted into multi-user models for special applications. Note: "IBM PC" is used in this dictionary to denote IBM and compatible personal computers, and to distinguish these from other {personal computers}, though the phrase "PC" is often used elsewhere, by those who know no better, to mean "IBM PC or compatible". There are hundreds of models of IBM compatible computers. They are based on {Intel}'s {microprocessors}: {Intel 8086}, {Intel 8088}, {Intel 80286}, {Intel 80386}, {Intel 486} or {Pentium}. The models of IBM's first-generation Personal Computer (PC) series have names: IBM PC, {IBM PC XT}, {IBM PC AT}, Convertible and Portable. The models of its second generation, the Personal System/2 ({PS/2}), are known by model number: Model 25, Model 30. Within each series, the models are also commonly referenced by their {CPU} {clock rate}. All IBM personal computers are software compatible with each other in general, but not every program will work in every machine. Some programs are time sensitive to a particular speed class. Older programs will not take advantage of newer higher-resolution {display standards}. The speed of the {CPU} ({microprocessor}) is the most significant factor in machine performance. It is determined by its {clock rate} and the number of bits it can process internally. It is also determined by the number of bits it transfers across its {data bus}. The second major performance factor is the speed of the {hard disk}. {CAD} and other graphics-intensive {application programs} can be sped up with the addition of a mathematics {coprocessor}, a chip which plugs into a special socket available in almost all machines. {Intel 8086} and {Intel 8088}-based PCs require {EMS} (expanded memory) boards to work with more than one megabyte of memory. All these machines run under {MS-DOS}. The original {IBM PC AT} used an {Intel 80286} processor which can access up to 16 megabytes of memory (though standard {MS-DOS} applications cannot use more than one megabyte without {EMS}). {Intel 80286}-based computers running under {OS/2} can work with the maximum memory. Although IBM sells {printers} for PCs, most printers will work with them. As with display hardware, the software vendor must support a wide variety of printers. Each program must be installed with the appropriate {printer driver}. The original 1981 IBM PC's keyboard was severely criticised by typists for its non-standard placement of the return and left shift keys. In 1984, IBM corrected this on its AT keyboard, but shortened the backspace key, making it harder to reach. In 1987, it introduced its Enhanced keyboard, which relocated all the function keys and placed the control key in an awkward location for touch typists. The escape key was relocated to the opposite side of the keyboard. By relocating the function keys, IBM made it impossible for software vendors to use them intelligently. What's easy to reach on one keyboard is difficult on the other, and vice versa. To the touch typist, these deficiencies are maddening. An "IBM PC compatible" may have a keyboard which does not recognize every key combination a true IBM PC does, e.g. shifted cursor keys. In addition, the "compatible" vendors sometimes use proprietary keyboard interfaces, preventing you from replacing the keyboard. The 1981 PC had 360K {floppy disks}. In 1984, IBM introduced the 1.2 megabyte floppy disk along with its AT model. Although often used as {backup} storage, the high density floppy is not often used for interchangeability. In 1986, IBM introduced the 720K 3.5" microfloppy disk on its Convertible {laptop computer}. It introduced the 1.44 megabyte double density version with the PS/2 line. These disk drives can be added to existing PCs. Fixed, non-removable, {hard disks} for IBM compatibles are available with storage capacities from 20 to over 600 megabytes. If a hard disk is added that is not compatible with the existing {disk controller}, a new controller board must be plugged in. However, one disk's internal standard does not conflict with another, since all programs and data must be copied onto it to begin with. Removable hard disks that hold at least 20 megabytes are also available. When a new peripheral device, such as a {monitor} or {scanner}, is added to an IBM compatible, a corresponding, new controller board must be plugged into an {expansion slot} (in the bus) in order to electronically control its operation. The PC and XT had eight-bit busses; the AT had a 16-bit bus. 16-bit boards will not fit into 8-bit slots, but 8-bit boards will fit into 16-bit slots. {Intel 80286} and {Intel 80386} computers provide both 8-bit and 16-bit slots, while the 386s also have proprietary 32-bit memory slots. The bus in high-end models of the PS/2 line is called "{Micro Channel}". {EISA} is a non-IBM rival to Micro Channel. The original IBM PC came with {BASIC} in {ROM}. Later, Basic and BasicA were distributed on floppy but ran and referenced routines in ROM. IBM PC and PS/2 models PC range Intro CPU Features PC Aug 1981 8088 Floppy disk system XT Mar 1983 8088 Slow hard disk XT/370 Oct 1983 8088 IBM 370 mainframe emulation 3270 PC Oct 1983 8088 with 3270 terminal emulation PCjr Nov 1983 8088 Floppy-based home computer PC Portable Feb 1984 8088 Floppy-based portable AT Aug 1984 286 Medium-speed hard disk Convertible Apr 1986 8088 Microfloppy laptop portable XT 286 Sep 1986 286 Slow hard disk PS/2 range Intro CPU Features Model 1987-08-25 8086 PC bus (limited expansion) Model 1987-04-30 8086 PC bus Model 30 1988-09-286 286 PC bus Model 1987-04-50 286 Micro Channel bus Model 50Z Jun 1988 286 Faster Model 50 Model 55 SX May 1989 386SX Micro Channel bus Model 1987-04-60 286 Micro Channel bus Model 1988-06-70 386 Desktop, Micro Channel bus Model P1989-05-70 386 Portable, Micro Channel bus Model 1987-04-80 386 Tower, Micro Channel bus IBM PC compatible specifications CPU CPU Clock Bus Floppy Hard bus speed width RAM disk disk OS bit Mhz bit byte inch byte Mbyte 8088 16 4.8-9.5 8 1M* 5.25 360K 10-40 DOS 3.5 720K 3.5 1.44M 8086 16 6-12 16 1M* 20-60 286 16 6-25 16 1-8M* 5.25 360K 20-300 DOS 5.25 1.2M OS/2 386 32 16-33 32 1-16M** 3.5 720K Unix 3.5 1.44M 40-600 386SX 32 16-33 16 1-16M** 40-600 *Under DOS, RAM is expanded beyond 1M with EMS memory boards **Under DOS, RAM is expanded beyond 1M with normal "extended" memory and a memory management program. See also {BIOS}, {display standard}. (1995-05-12)
If we take 1897-8 as date of the approximate entry of the sun into Aquarius, the Aries cycle would then have begun about 2400 BC [[originally given as 2443 BC, Blavatsky gives 2410 BC in BCW 8:174n]] and closed around 263 BC when the Pisces cycle began. This agrees very well with other calculations based on the 25,920 years of the precessional cycle, and with very early Babylonian zodiacal records, making due allowance for the uncertainties inherent in the problem.
Igigi: A Babylonian term for the gods or spirits of heaven in general, or specifically, for the gods or spirits embodied in those stars which were above the horizon at any one time.
In ancient times the heart was also a sacred symbol, in Egypt associated with Horus, in Babylon, with Bel, while in Greece the lacerated heart was connected with Bacchus. “Its symbol was the persea. The pear-like shape of its fruit, and of its kernel especially, resembles the heart in form. It is sometimes seen on the head of Isis, the mother of Horus, the fruit being cut open and the heart-like kernel exposed to full view” (TG 283).
inconscience ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Inconscience is an inverse reproduction of the supreme superconscience: it has the same absoluteness of being and automatic action, but in a vast involved trance; it is being lost in itself, plunged in its own abyss of infinity.” *The Life Divine
"All aspects of the omnipresent Reality have their fundamental truth in the Supreme Existence. Thus even the aspect or power of Inconscience, which seems to be an opposite, a negation of the eternal Reality, yet corresponds to a Truth held in itself by the self-aware and all-conscious Infinite. It is, when we look closely at it, the Infinite"s power of plunging the consciousness into a trance of self-involution, a self-oblivion of the Spirit veiled in its own abysses where nothing is manifest but all inconceivably is and can emerge from that ineffable latency. In the heights of Spirit this state of cosmic or infinite trance-sleep appears to our cognition as a luminous uttermost Superconscience: at the other end of being it offers itself to cognition as the Spirit"s potency of presenting to itself the opposites of its own truths of being, — an abyss of non-existence, a profound Night of inconscience, a fathomless swoon of insensibility from which yet all forms of being, consciousness and delight of existence can manifest themselves, — but they appear in limited terms, in slowly emerging and increasing self-formulations, even in contrary terms of themselves; it is the play of a secret all-being, all-delight, all-knowledge, but it observes the rules of its own self-oblivion, self-opposition, self-limitation until it is ready to surpass it. This is the Inconscience and Ignorance that we see at work in the material universe. It is not a denial, it is one term, one formula of the infinite and eternal Existence.” *The Life Divine
"Once consciousnesses separated from the one consciousness, they fell inevitably into Ignorance and the last result of Ignorance was Inconscience.” Letters on Yoga
*inconscience.
Inconscience ::: “The Inconscience is an inverse reproduction of the supreme superconscience: it has the same absoluteness of being and automatic action, but in a vast involved trance; it is being lost in itself, plunged in its own abyss of infinity.” The Life Divine
infant ::: n. **1. A child during the earliest period of its life, especially before he or she can walk; baby. 2. Anything in the first stage of existence or progress. Infant, infant"s, Infants. adj. 3.** Anything in the first stage of existence or progress.
In later Babylonian history, one of the trinity Anu, Bel, and Ea, associated with the three divisions of the universe: heaven, earth, and the spatial or watery deep. In another aspect, Anu is identical with Sin (the moon). “And the Moon in the Hebrew Kabala is the Argha of the seed of all material life, and is still more closely connected, kabalistically, with Jehovah, who is double-sexed as Anu is. They are both represented in Esotericism and viewed from a dual aspect: male or spiritual, female or material, or Spirit and Matter, the two antagonistic principles” (SD 2:62). In the astrological theology of Babylonia and Assyria, Anu, Bel, and Ea became the northern, middle, and southern zones of the ecliptic respectively.
integrated circuit "electronics" (IC, or "chip") A microelectronic {semiconductor} device consisting of many interconnected transistors and other components. ICs are constructed ("fabricated") on a small rectangle (a "die") cut from a Silicon (or for special applications, Sapphire) wafer. This is known as the "substrate". Different areas of the substrate are "doped" with other elements to make them either "p-type" or "n-type" and polysilicon or aluminium tracks are etched in one to three layers deposited over the surface. The die is then connected into a package using gold wires which are welded to "pads", usually found around the edge of the die. Integrated circuits can be classified into analogue, digital and hybrid (both analogue and digital on the same chip). Digital integrated circuits can contain anything from one to millions of {logic gates} - {inverters}, {AND}, {OR}, {NAND} and {NOR} gates, {flip-flops}, {multiplexors} etc. on a few square millimeters. The small size of these circuits allows high speed, low power dissipation, and reduced manufacturing cost compared with board-level integration. The first integrated circuits contained only a few {transistors}. Small Scale Integration ({SSI}) brought circuits containing transistors numbered in the tens. Later, Medium Scale Integration ({MSI}) contained hundreds of transistors. Further development lead to Large Scale Integration ({LSI}) (thousands), and VLSI (hundreds of thousands and beyond). In 1986 the first one {megabyte} {RAM} was introduced which contained more than one million transistors. LSI circuits began to be produced in large quantities around 1970 for computer main memories and pocket calculators. For the first time it became possible to fabricate a {CPU} or even an entire {microprocesor} on a single integrated circuit. The most extreme technique is {wafer-scale integration} which uses whole uncut wafers as components. [Where and when was the term "chip" introduced?] (1997-07-03)
Intel 80386 "processor" (Commonly abbreviated to "386", trademark "Intel386") The successor to the {Intel 80286} {microprocessor}. It was the first Intel processor with 32-bit data and address {buss}es. It can address four {gigabytes} (2^32 bytes) of memory; however, 16 megabytes is a typical maximum in {IBM PCs}. The 386 allows multiple {application programs} to run at the same time (when running under 386-specific {operating systems}) using "{protected mode}". The first {IBM compatible} to use the 386 was the {Compaq} 386, before {IBM} used it in high-end models of their {PS/2} series. It is also used in {HP}'s {RS} series and many others. It does not require special {EMS} memory boards to expand {MS-DOS} memory limits. With the 386, the EMS standard can be simulated in normal {extended memory}, and many DOS add-ons provide this "Expanded Memory Manager" feature. See also {Intel 80386SX}, {BSD386}. (1995-02-21)
interrupt list [{MS-DOS}] The list of all known {software interrupt} calls (both documented and undocumented) for {IBM PCs} and compatibles, maintained and made available for free redistribution by Ralf Brown "ralf@cs.cmu.edu". As of late 1992, it had grown to approximately two megabytes in length.
In the Sephirothal scheme, the Divine Name of the Sephirah of Malchuth was ’Adonai. The Gnostics taught that Iurbo and Adonai were names of Iao-Jehovah, who is an emanation of Ilda Baoth. According to Origen the Gnostics considered Adonai the genius of the sun. Blavatsky writes: “Both Aidoneus and Dionysius [Dionysus] are the bases of Adonai, or ‘Jurbo Adonai,’ as Jehovah is called in Codex Nazaraeus. . . . Baal-Adonis of the sods or Mysteries of the pre-Babylonian Jews became the Adonai by the Massorah, the later-vowelled Jehovah” (SD 1:463). See also ’ADON; IAO; JEHOVAH
intricate ::: a. --> Entangled; involved; perplexed; complicated; difficult to understand, follow, arrange, or adjust; as, intricate machinery, labyrinths, accounts, plots, etc. ::: v. t. --> To entangle; to involve; to make perplexing.
intrigue ::: a complicated maze; a puzzle; a labyrinth.
Irkalla (Chaldean) The netherworld or underworld of the Babylonians, also known as Aralu, its entrance approached by a deep cavern. It was ruled over by the goddess Allatu, or Ereshkigal (lady of the netherworld), sister or alter ego of Ishtar, the great nature goddess. The same idea is present in the Egyptian conception of Isis and Nephthys. Irkalla was ruled conjointly by Allatu and Nergal, who was also considered the god of the dead.
Ishtar (Chaldean) Ancient Babylonian deity, eldest of heaven and earth, daughter of Anu (the lord of the heavens). Her worship was fervently pursued by the multitude both in Babylonia and Assyria, although she was known under various names in different localities — Anunit, Nina, Nanna, Innanna, Atar — even when represented as the consort of Marduk (Babylonia) and of Assur (Assyria). In popular conception, she was the bounteous nature goddess, queen of beauty and joyousness, equivalent to Aphrodite or Venus, however, rather than Ceres, although synthesizing certain attributes of both these goddesses. Her other aspect is as the grim, stern harvester, withdrawing the life-forces so that everything during this period shall have sleep and rest. This aspect was stressed by the warlike Assyrians, who represented her as armed with bow and arrows, and hence she becomes their chief goddess of battles; whereas the Babylonians stressed the mother and child idea. Her symbol was an eight-rayed star.
Ishtar: The Babylonian goddess of fertility.
Izdubar (Babylonian) An ancient hero of Erech, whose exploits are recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the most important literary works to have been excavated in Nineveh, coming from the royal collection of Assurbanipal (668-26 BC), in the form of twelve tablets (although not all are completely preserved). The hero’s name, written ideographically, was formerly read Izdubar, until another fragment of the same cycle gave the rendition Gilgamesh.
jaal goat ::: --> A species of wild goat (Capra Nubiana) found in the mountains of Abyssinia, Upper Egypt, and Arabia; -- called also beden, and jaela.
Jaz Drive "hardware, storage" {Iomega Corporation}'s drive which takes removable one or two {gigabyte} disk cartridges which contain conventional {hard disks}. Internal and external drives are available claiming an average transfer rate of 330 {megabytes} per minute - though that is dependent on the {SCSI} adapter, the parallel port adapter is unlikely to reach anything like this speed. The Jaz drive was the successor to the company's more establistablished {Zip Drive}. (1998-08-28)
Jebel Judi (Arabic) The holy mountain or flood-mountain of Arabian legends which in the flood legends of other Near Eastern peoples appears as Mount Ararat, and the Babylonian Mount of Nizir, where the ark or container of lives landed.
jew ::: n. --> Originally, one belonging to the tribe or kingdom of Judah; after the return from the Babylonish captivity, any member of the new state; a Hebrew; an Israelite.
Jhumur: “Of all the creatures the eagle is the one bird that can stare straight at the sun. It lives on the heights. Here is its counterpart, the bird at its full power with enormous strength usually climbing straight into the sun or at the sun and here into the abyss. It is a bird of tremendous power, the king of birds.. It is fearless and it is very, very strong. Instead of the bird that leads you up to the sun it is the bird that leads you down into the darkness with the same force, with the same dynamism.”
Kasdim (Aramaic) Kaśdīm [plural of kaśdī Chaldean] Chaldeans; the Hebrew word kashdim means the inhabitants of Babylonia, also astrologers.
kabyle ::: n. --> A Berber, as in Algiers or Tunis. See Berber.
Khepera (Egyptian) Kheperȧ [from kheper to become, be born, arise into manifestation] Originally one of three aspects of the sun: “I am Khepera in the morning, and Ra at noon-day, and Temu in the evening.” Later each of these aspects developed into a separate deity. Khepera was the god of regeneration and development in growth, a spiritual power regulating reimbodiments and transmigrations and the deity presiding over the Egyptian form of the creation, where he is the only thing in existence besides the watery abyss, Nu. The deity of the universe, Nebertcher (a form of Ra) says: “I am he who came into being in the form of the god Khepera,” the hieroglyphic text representing the word by the scarab surmounted by a circle. The universe, then, is but the re-manifestation of a previous universe: the scarab standing for rebirth and regeneration, and the circle for karmic destiny in the universe as containing the seeds of life, brought into activity through reimbodiment or rebirth. The primeval deities Shu and Tefnut were brought forth by Khepera, who was the developer of everything which comes into manifested being from latency. In The Book of the Dead Khepera is called the father of the gods.
Khnum, Khnumu, or Khnemu (Egyptian) Khnum, Khnumu, or Khnemu [from khnem to join, unite] The chief member of the triad of deities revered at Abu or Elephantine, their worship extending from Thebes to Philae. Khnemu was the Father who was in the beginning, who fashioned the first egg from which sprang the sun, raiser up of the heaven upon its four pillars, and supporter of the same in the firmament, builder of gods and men, maker of all things which are, evolver of things which shall be, the source of things which exist. Thus Khnemu is intimately connected with Khepera, perhaps the latter in his active creative functions. His attributes are those of a water deity, one of the recondite cosmic powers in the waters of space; later he became associated with the Nile god, Hapi, taking on the name Hap-ur, and with Nu, the primeval god of the watery abyss or space. But at Abu he united the characteristics of Ra, Shu, Seb, and Osiris. Even in Christian times his worship flourished, for Gnostic gems bear testimony to his popularity. Sometimes pictured as a ram-headed deity fashioning a man on a potter’s wheel.
kilobyte "unit, data" (KB) A unit of {data} equal to 1000 {bytes} (but see {binary prefix} for other definitions). One kilobyte is the amount of data in 1000 {ASCII} (or {UTF-8}) characters or about 250 English words (whose average length is about four characters). 1000 kilobytes are one {megabyte}. (2014-07-21)
Kingu: Babylonian god of the powers of darkness and black magic.
korrigum ::: n. --> A West African antelope (Damalis Senegalensis), allied to the sassaby. It is reddish gray, with a black face, and a black stripe on the outside of the legs above the knees.
kousso ::: n. --> An Abyssinian rosaceous tree (Brayera anthelmintica), the flowers of which are used as a vermifuge.
K "unit" {kilo-}, a {kilobyte}. Used both as a spoken word and a written suffix, like {meg} and {gig} for {megabyte} and {gigabyte}. See {prefix}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-09-29)
LANCE Local Area Network Controller for Ethernet. The alternative name for the Am7990 {integrated circuit} used in a {Filtabyte} {Ethernet} controller card. (1995-02-15)
labyrinthal ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, a labyrinth; intricate; labyrinthian.
labyrinth ::: An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze. (Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adj.)
labyrinth ::: an intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one"s way; a maze. (Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adj.)
Labyrinth [from Greek labyrinthos probably from laura crypt] The complex prison built for King Minos of Crete by Daedalus to house the Minotaur. Theseus succeeded in finding his way out with the aid of the thread given him by the king’s daughter, Ariadne. Symbolically, it may be the celestial labyrinth, into which the souls of the departed plunge, and also its earthly counterpart, as shown in the tortuous subterranean chambers in ancient Egypt, or similar constructions under temples in various ancient lands. These labyrinths also symbolized the races of mankind, and the succession of gods, demigods, and heroes who preceded mortal kings. These underground chambers in general were used as initiation chambers in the Mysteries, where candidates were taught by actual experience various truths regarding human destiny after death; hence there was an exact analogy between the physical construction of these chambers and the truths thus symbolized. The labyrinth therefore refers both to an inner and outer mystery. One of the coins unearthed at Knossos in Crete showed a diagram of such a maze, and this identical pattern, exact to the last important detail, has been found among the Pima Indians of Arizona (cf Theosophical Path, April 1925). Clearly its real significance was common knowledge to initiates in all parts of the world.
labyrinthian ::: a. --> Intricately winding; like a labyrinth; perplexed; labyrinthal.
labyrinthibranch ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Labyrinthici. ::: n. --> One of the Labyrinthici.
labyrinthic ::: a. --> Alt. of Labyrinthical
labyrinthical ::: a. --> Like or pertaining to a labyrinth.
labyrinthici ::: n. pl. --> An order of teleostean fishes, including the Anabas, or climbing perch, and other allied fishes.
labyrinthiform ::: a. --> Having the form of a labyrinth; intricate.
labyrinthine ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.
labyrinthine ::: resembling a labyrinth in complexity.
labyrinth ::: n. --> An edifice or place full of intricate passageways which render it difficult to find the way from the interior to the entrance; as, the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinths.
Any intricate or involved inclosure; especially, an ornamental maze or inclosure in a park or garden.
Any object or arrangement of an intricate or involved form, or having a very complicated nature.
An inextricable or bewildering difficulty.
labyrinthodon ::: n. --> A genus of very large fossil amphibians, of the Triassic period, having bony plates on the under side of the body. It is the type of the order Labyrinthodonta. Called also Mastodonsaurus.
labyrinthodonta ::: n. pl. --> An extinct order of Amphibia, including the typical genus Labyrinthodon, and many other allied forms, from the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic formations. By recent writers they are divided into two or more orders. See Stegocephala.
labyrinthodont ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Labyrinthodonta. ::: n. --> One of the Labyrinthodonta.
Life is a perpetual choice between truth and falsehood, light and darkness, progress and regression, the ascent towards the heights or a fall into the abyss. It is for each one to choose freely.
Ref: CWM Vol. 14, Page: 29
Lilith (Hebrew) Līlīth [from layil night] In popular Jewish legend a female demon, commonly but erroneously supposed to be nocturnal, counterpart of the Babylo-Assyrian Lilit or Lilu. In Rabbinical writings Lilith is the first consort or wife of the mindless Adam, and it was from the snares of Eve-Lilith that the second Eve, the woman, become his savior (IU 2:445).
Logical Block Addressing "storage" (LBA) A {hard disk} {sector} addressing scheme used on all {SCSI} hard disks, and on {ATA-2} conforming {IDE} hard disks. The addressing conversion is performed by the hard disk firmware. Prior to LBA, combined limitations of {IBM PC} {BIOS} and {ATA} restricted the useful capacity of IDE hard disks on IBM PCs and compatibles to 1024 cylinders * 63 sectors per track * 16 heads * 512 bytes per sector = 528 million bytes = 504 megabytes. Modern BIOSes select LBA mode automatically, and work around the 1024-cylinder BIOS limit by representing a hard disk to the OS as having e.g. half as many cylinders and twice as many heads. However, there is still an unbreakable BIOS disk size limit of 1024 cylinders * 63 sectors per track * 256 heads * 512 bytes per sector = 8 gigabytes, but modern OSes (including {Windows 9x}, {Windows NT} and {Linux}) are not affected by it, since they issue direct LBA-based calls, bypassing the BIOS hard disk services completely. (2000-04-30)
Logic Replacement Technology (LRT) Reading, BERKS. Tel: (0734) 751087. Marketing Director Bob Barrett. Manufacturers of the Ethernet hardware including the Filtabyte Ethernet controller card and EtherGate open access gateway.
lucifer ::: n. --> The planet Venus, when appearing as the morning star; -- applied in Isaiah by a metaphor to a king of Babylon.
Hence, Satan.
A match made of a sliver of wood tipped with a combustible substance, and ignited by friction; -- called also lucifer match, and locofoco. See Locofoco.
A genus of free-swimming macruran Crustacea, having a slender body and long appendages.
lullaby ::: v. t. --> A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets.
Hence: Good night; good-by.
Maat (Egyptian) Maāt. The goddess personifying physical and moral law, order, and truth, regarded as the feminine counterpart of Thoth (Tehuti). She is represented as standing with Thoth in the boat of Ra when the sun god first rose above the waters of the primeval spatial abyss of Nu. She is called the daughter of Ra, the eye of Ra, lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and mistress of the Underworld, who guides the course of the sun. The type and symbol of the goddess is the ostrich feather; the word maat is represented by the hieroglyph of the feather and means primarily that which is orderly and direct, hence in a moral sense, right, truth, justice, including a reference to the fact that these supreme attributes weigh light as a feather in the scales of judgment, and yet are as weighty in importance as the universe itself. Maat was regarded by the Egyptians, in connection with her moral power, as the greatest of goddesses, for she was the chief lady of the Judgment Hall, into which the deceased must enter (called the Hall of Maati, “double truth”).
Mac "computer" The line of computers manufactured by {Apple Inc}. "Mac" is not primarily a nickname or an abbreviation, but a brand name and trademark in its own right. Apple currently (2009) refer to the brand as any of "Mac", "iMac" or "Macintosh" (all registered trademarks). The Mac was Apple's successor to the {Lisa}. The project was proposed by {Jef Raskin} some time before {Steve Jobs}'s famous visit to {Xerox PARC}. Jobs tried to scuttle the Macintosh project and only joined it later because he wasn't trusted to manage the {Lisa} project. The {Macintosh user interface} was notable for popularising the {graphical user interface}, with its easy to learn and easy to use {desktop} metaphor. The first Macintosh, introduced in January 1984, had a {Motorola 68000} {CPU}, 128K of {RAM}, a small {monochrome} screen, and one built-in {floppy disk} drive with an external slot for one more, two {serial ports} and a four-voice sound generator. This was all housed in one small plastic case, including the screen. When more memory was available later in the year, a 512K Macintosh was nicknamed the "Fat Mac." The Mac Plus (January 1986) added expandability by providing an external {SCSI} port for connecting {hard disks}, {magnetic tape}, and other high-speed devices. The Mac SE (March 1987) had up to four megabytes of {RAM}, an optional built-in 20 megabyte hard disk and one internal expansion slot for connecting a third-party device. The Mac II (March 1987) used the faster {Motorola 68020} {CPU} with a 32-bit {bus}. In 1994 the {Power Mac} was launched, and in 1999 the {iMac} was introduced. The {SuperDrive} appeared in the iMac in 2002. The {Macintosh Operating System} is now officially called "Mac OS". Mac OS X is the successor to Mac OS 9, although its technological parent is the {NEXTSTEP} OS from {Next, Inc.}, founded by Steve Jobs after he left Apple the first time. OS X is based largely on the {BSD} UNIX system. The core of the OS X operating system is released as free {source code} under the project name {Darwin}. The standard Macintosh screen {resolution} is 72 {dpi} (making one {point} = one {pixel}), exactly half the 144 dpi resolution of the ancient {Apple Imagewriter} {dot matrix} printer. If "Macintosh" were an acronym, some say it would stand for "Many Applications Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs". While this was true for pre Mac OS 9 systems, it is less true for Mac OS 9, and totally incorrect for Mac OS X, which has protected memory, so even if one application crashes, the system and other applications are unaffected. See also {Macintosh file system}, {Macintosh user interface}. {Apple Home (http://apple.com/mac)}. (2009-05-05)
Macintosh II "computer" (Mac II) A version of {Apple}'s {Macintosh} {personal computer}, released in March 1987, using the {Motorola 68020} {CPU}, which runs at a higher {clock rate} than the {Motorola 68000} used in the original Mac. The Mac II has a full 32-bit data bus instead of a 16-bit bus. Mac II models have built-in 40 to 160 megabyte {hard disks} and can take up to eight megabytes of {RAM} (and more as denser memory chips arive). The Mac II was the first Macintosh to provide a colour graphics option, with up to 256 colours on screen at a 640x480 resolution. Mac II models are designed for expandability with three ({Macintosh IIcx}) or six (II & IIx) built-in {NuBus} {expansion slots} for additional {peripheral} and {coprocessor} boards. (1996-05-25)
madoqua ::: n. --> A small Abyssinian antelope (Neotragus Saltiana), about the size of a hare.
magnetic tape "storage" (Or "magtape", "tape" - {paper tape} is now obsolete) A data storage medium consisting of a magnetisable oxide coating on a thin plastic strip, commonly used for {backup} and {archiving}. Early industry-standard magnetic tape was half an inch wide and wound on removable reels 10.5 inches in diameter. Different lengths were available with 2400 feet and 4800 feet being common. {DECtape} was a variation on this "{round tape}". In modern magnetic tape systems the reels are much smaller and are fixed inside a {cartridge} to protect the tape and for ease of handling ("{square tape}" - though it's really rectangular). Cartridge formats include {QIC}, {DAT}, and {Exabyte}. Tape is read and written on a tape drive (or "deck") which winds the tape from one reel to the other causing it to move past a read/write head. Early tape had seven parallel tracks of data along the length of the tape allowing six bit characters plus {parity} written across the tape. A typical recording density was 556 characters per inch. The tape had reflective marks near its end which signaled beginning of tape (BOT) and end of tape (EOT) to the hardware. Data is written to tape in {blocks} with {inter-block gaps} between them. Each block is typically written in a single operation with the tape running continuously during the write. The larger the block the larger the data {buffer} required in order to supply or receive the data written to or read from the tape. The smaller the block the more tape is wasted as inter-block gaps. Several logical {records} may be combined into one physical block to reduce wastage ("{blocked records}"). Finding a certain block on the tape generally involved reading sequentially from the beginning, in contrast to {magnetic disks}. Tape is not suitable for {random access}. The exception to this is that some systems allow {tape marks} to be written which can be detected while winding the tape forward or rewinding it at high speed. These are typically used to separate logical files on a tape. Most tape drives now include some kind of {data compression}. There are several {algorithms} which provide similar results: {LZ} (most), {IDRC} ({Exabyte}), {ALDC} ({IBM}, {QIC}) and {DLZ1} ({DLT}). See also {cut a tape}, {flap}, {Group Code Recording}, {spool}, {macrotape}, {microtape}, {Non Return to Zero Inverted}, {Phase Encoded}. (1997-04-05)
magneto-optical disk "hardware, storage" (MO) A plastic or glass disk coated with a compound (often TbFeCo) with special optical, magnetic and thermal properties. The disk is read by bouncing a low-intensity {laser} off the disk. Originally the laser was infrared, but frequencies up to blue may be possible giving higher {storage density}. The polarisation of the reflected light depends on the polarity of the stored magnetic field. To write, a higher intensity laser heats the coating up to its Curie point, allowing its magnetisation to be altered in a way that is retained when it has cooled. Although optical, they appear as hard drives to the {operating system} and do not require a special {filesystem} (they can be formatted as {FAT}, {HPFS}, {NTFS}, etc.). The initial 5.25" MO drives, introduced at the end of the 1980s, were the size of a full-height 5.25" {hard drive} (like in {IBM PC XT}) and the disks looked like a {CD-ROM} enclosed in an old-style cartridge In 2006, a 3.5" drive has the size of 1.44 {megabyte} {diskette drive} with disks about the size of a regular 1.44MB {floppy disc} but twice the thickness. {Storage FAQ (http://cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/arch-storage/part1/faq.html)}. (2006-07-25)
Marduk: In Babylonian mythology, the king of all the gods, determiner of destiny, god of magicians and magic arts.
Masoretic Points or Vowels A system adopted by the College of the Massoretes where certain signs were added to the vowelless consonants of the Hebrew manuscripts, in order to supply vowels as well as to mark the division of the consonants into words — hence the term Massorah — thus enabling a reader to give the supposedly correct meaning, pronunciation, and intonation of the texts when read in the synagogue or to oneself. Hebrew, written originally without any spaces between the words, naturally called for some system of division, or vocalizing the series of consonants, and hence arose the usage of the Massoretic points or vowels. The vowel indications consist for the most part of dots and dashes, commonly termed points, and the placing of these dots and points is called puctating. This method of puctating was developed in the schools of Palestine, some say mainly by the rabbis of the School of Tiberias; another system, however, was used in Babylon, which differed in notation rather than in pronunciation. For an illustration of the method of employing differing vowels to the same Hebrew consonants, see also BERE’SHITH
mastodonsaurus ::: n. --> A large extinct genus of labyrinthodonts, found in the European Triassic rocks.
maze ::: an intricate, usually confusing network of interconnecting pathways, as in a garden; a labyrinth. mazes.
maze ::: n. --> A wild fancy; a confused notion.
Confusion of thought; perplexity; uncertainty; state of bewilderment.
A confusing and baffling network, as of paths or passages; an intricacy; a labyrinth. ::: v. t.
MBps {megabytes per second}
MB "unit" (Or "Mb") {megabytes} or {megabits}. When referring to the size or data transfer rate of a storage device which is accessed in multiples of eight bits (e.g. {RAM}, {hard disk}) this almost certainly means megabytes, but when referring to the data transfer rate of a communications system it probably means {megabits}. Some years ago, it is claimed, "MB" always meant megabytes and "Mb" meant megabits but recently this useful distinction has been lost. (1996-09-22)
megabytes per second "unit" (MBps, MB/s) Millions of {bytes} per second. A unit of {data rate}. 1 MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes per second (not 1,048,576). (2007-02-20)
megabyte "unit, data" (MB, colloquially "meg") A Unit of {data} equal to one million {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. A megabyte is 1000^2 bytes or 1000 {kilobytes}. The text of a six hundred page paperback book stored as {ASCII} {characters} contains about one megabyte of data. The complete King James bible is 5.2 megabytes. 1000 megabytes are one {gigabyte}. See {prefix}. (2013-11-04)
meg {megabyte}
Microsoft Disk Operating System "operating system" /M S doss/ (Or "MS-DOS", "PC-DOS", "{MS-DOG}", "{mess-dos}") {Microsoft Corporation}'s {clone} of the {CP/M} {disk operating system} for the {8088} {crufted} together in 6 weeks by {hacker} {Tim Paterson}, who is said to have regretted it ever since. MS-DOS is a single user {operating system} that runs one program at a time and is limited to working with one megabyte of memory, 640 kilobytes of which is usable for the {application program}. Special add-on {EMS} memory boards allow EMS-compliant software to exceed the 1 MB limit. Add-ons to DOS, such as {Microsoft Windows} and {DESQview}, take advantage of EMS and allow the user to have multiple applications loaded at once and switch between them. Numerous features, including vaguely {Unix}-like but rather broken support for subdirectories, {I/O redirection} and {pipelines}, were hacked into MS-DOS 2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two or more incompatible versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers can never agree on basic things like what character to use as an option switch ("-" or "/"). The resulting mess became the highest-unit-volume {operating system} in history. It was used on many {Intel} 16 and 32 bit {microprocessors} and {IBM PC} compatibles. Many of the original DOS functions were calls to {BASIC} (in {ROM} on the original {IBM PC}), e.g. Format and Mode. People with non-IBM PCs had to buy {MS-Basic} (later called {GWBasic}). Most version of DOS came with some version of BASIC. Also know as PC-DOS or simply DOS, ignoring the fact that there were many other OSes with that name, starting in the mid-1960s with {IBM}'s first disk operating system for the {IBM 360}. [{Jargon File}] (2007-05-21)
Minos (Greek) King and legislator of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa, afterwards one of the judges of the shades in Hades or the Underworld. Also, a grandson of this Minos, also king of Crete figuring in the story of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.
minotaur ::: n. --> A fabled monster, half man and half bull, confined in the labyrinth constructed by Daedalus in Crete.
mizmaze ::: n. --> A maze or labyrinth.
moby "jargon" /moh'bee/ (From {MIT}, seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick", some say from "Moby Pickle") 1. Large, immense, complex, impressive. "A Saturn V rocket is a truly moby frob." "Some MIT undergrads pulled off a moby hack at the Harvard-Yale game." 2. (Obsolete) The maximum {address space} of a computer (see below). For a 680[234]0 or {VAX} or most modern 32-bit architectures, it is 4,294,967,296 8-bit bytes (four {gigabytes}). 3. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a competent hacker. "Greetings, moby Dave. How's that address-book thing for the Mac going?" 4. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in "moby sixes", "moby ones", etc. Compare this with {bignum}: double sixes are both bignums and moby sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the use of "moby" to describe double ones is sarcastic). 5. The largest available unit of something which is available in discrete increments. Thus a "moby Coke" is not just large, it's the largest size on sale. This term entered hackerdom with the Fabritek 256K memory added to the MIT AI PDP-6 machine, which was considered unimaginably huge when it was installed in the 1960s (at a time when a more typical memory size for a {time-sharing} system was 72 kilobytes). Thus, a moby is classically 256K 36-bit words, the size of a PDP-6 or PDP-10 moby. Back when {address registers} were narrow the term was more generally useful, because when a computer had {virtual memory} mapping, it might actually have more physical memory attached to it than any one program could access directly. One could then say "This computer has six mobies" meaning that the ratio of physical memory to address space is six, without having to say specifically how much memory there actually is. That in turn implied that the computer could timeshare six "full-sized" programs without having to swap programs between memory and disk. Nowadays the low cost of processor logic means that address spaces are usually larger than the most physical memory you can cram onto a machine, so most systems have much *less* than one theoretical "native" moby of {core}. Also, more modern memory-management techniques (especially paging) make the "moby count" less significant. However, there is one series of widely-used chips for which the term could stand to be revived --- the Intel 8088 and 80286 with their incredibly {brain-damaged} segmented-memory designs. On these, a "moby" would be the 1-megabyte address span of a segment/offset pair (by coincidence, a PDP-10 moby was exactly one megabyte of nine-bit bytes). [{Jargon File}] (1997-10-01)
mocha ::: n. --> A seaport town of Arabia, on the Red Sea.
A variety of coffee brought from Mocha.
An Abyssinian weight, equivalent to a Troy grain.
Moloch (Hebrew) Molekh Royal, king — another form of the more usual melekh; an idol of the Moabites and the Ammonites, also called Milcom, to which Jews after the time of Solomon are said to have sacrificed infants. Some scholars suggest that the Hebrews looked upon Moloch as the title of Yahweh or Yihweh (Jehovah). Even when occurring in the Bible the rendering is “the Molech,” and the idea is that of dedication — “to make one’s son or daughter pass through fire to (the) Molech” (2 King 23:10); and Jeremiah seems to indicate that immolation was practiced. Nothing of such a practice has been discovered in the ancient Assyrian or Babylonian empires, but ancient Greek writers have suggested that the Phoenicians had such a custom. Diodorus (19:14) mentions a Carthaginian idol made of brass into which children were placed, and compares it to the child-eating Kronos. Blavatsky suggests that the Moloch of the Ammonites was the King of the Hosts of Heaven, the sun (SD 1:397); and there was undoubtedly some such connection, yet antiquity has identified Kronos with the planet Saturn, which was held in reverence by all the ancient Shemitic peoples, the Jews included.
moppet ::: n. --> A rag baby; a puppet made of cloth; hence, also, in fondness, a little girl, or a woman.
A long-haired pet dog.
MPC Level 1 Specification "multimedia" The original {Multimedia Personal Computer} specification. Minimum requirements are a 16 MHz {386SX} with 2 {megabytes} of {RAM}, a 30 MB {hard disk drive}, and a {CD-ROM} drive with a sustained data transfer rate of 150 KB/s at no more than 40% of {CPU} {bandwidth} and reading at least 16 KB blocks. The maximum average {seek time} is 1 second and the {Mean Time Between Failure} 10000 hours. Capability Mode 1. The computer must have 8-bit digital sound and an 8-note synthesizer with {MIDI} playback. Sample rates of 22.05 and 11.025 kHz must be supported by no more than 10% of CPU bandwidth, preferably 44.1 kHz at no more than 15% of CPU bandwidth. The synthesizer must support multi-voice, multi-timbral generation of six simultaneous melody notes and two simultaneous percussive notes with internal mixing capabilities to combine input from three sources and present the output as a stereo, line-level audio signal at the back panel. The video display must have a {resolution} of at least 640 x 480 in 16 colours. MIDI, I/O, and joystick ports must be previded. Compare {MPC Level 2 Specification}. (1997-01-19)
musa ::: n. --> A genus of perennial, herbaceous, endogenous plants of great size, including the banana (Musa sapientum), the plantain (M. paradisiaca of Linnaeus, but probably not a distinct species), the Abyssinian (M. Ensete), the Philippine Island (M. textilis, which yields Manila hemp), and about eighteen other species. See Illust. of Banana and Plantain.
Music of the Spheres ::: Every sphere that runs its course in the abysmal depths of space sings a song as it passes along. Everylittle atom is attuned to a musical note. It is in constant movement, in constant vibration at speeds whichare incomprehensible to the ordinary brain-mind of man; and each such speed has its own numericalquantity, in other words its own numerical note, and therefore sings that note. This is called the music ofthe spheres, and if man had the power of spiritual clairaudience, the life surrounding him would be onegrand sweet song: his very body would be as it were a symphonic orchestra, singing some magnificent,incomprehensible, musical symphonic composition. The growth of a flower, for instance, would be like achanging melody running along from day to day; he could hear the grass grow, and understand why itgrows; he could hear the atoms sing and see their movements, and hear the unison of the songs of allindividual atoms, and the melodies that any physical body produces; and he would know what the stars intheir courses are constantly singing.
myrrh ::: n. --> A gum resin, usually of a yellowish brown or amber color, of an aromatic odor, and a bitter, slightly pungent taste. It is valued for its odor and for its medicinal properties. It exudes from the bark of a shrub of Abyssinia and Arabia, the Balsamodendron Myrrha. The myrrh of the Bible is supposed to have been partly the gum above named, and partly the exudation of species of Cistus, or rockrose.
mystical ::: a. --> Remote from or beyond human comprehension; baffling human understanding; unknowable; obscure; mysterious.
Importing or implying mysticism; involving some secret meaning; allegorical; emblematical; as, a mystic dance; mystic Babylon.
Nabi’ (Hebrew) Nābī’ [from nābā’ to deliver an oracle] A prophet, one inspired to foretell future events; the name given to prophecy in the Bible. One of the “spiritual powers, such as divination, clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while enchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in the Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nobia appear as the special gifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai, the Greek word for seers, clairvoyants; after which they were designated as Nebim [nebi’im] ‘the plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom.’ The kabalist distinguishes between the seer and the magician; one is passive, the other active; Nebirah [nabi’] is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant; Nebi-poel [nebi’-po‘el], he who possesses magic powers” (IU 1:xxxvii).
Native historians attribute the foundation of the temple to the Prince of Roma, a legendary hero, while European scholars place it in the 13th century under Buddhist influence. This does not account for the preponderating scenes from ancient Hindu mythology, for the figures sculptured in the Egyptian manner (the side turned toward the front), for the man-fish deity (similar to Dagon of ancient Babylon) sculptured several times on the walls, or for the kabeirian gods of Samothrace, with their parent Vulcan. Though the Kabiri were once universally worshiped as the most ancient of the Asiatic mystery-gods, this worship was abandoned 200 years BC, and the Samothracian Mysteries had been completely altered by that time (IU 1:566).
Nebo, Nabu, Nabi’ (Hebrew) Nĕbō The proclaimer by prophecy; one of the chief deities of the Chaldean or Babylonian pantheon, the god of wisdom, recognized as fully by the ancient Hebrews as by the Chaldeans. The name and function of the divinity correspond to the Greek Hermes, the Egyptian Thoth, and the Hindu Budha, all of which are related to the regent of the planet Mercury.
Nergal: In Babylonian mythology, the god and ruler of the underworld where the spirits of the dead dwell.
nethermost ::: a. --> Lowest; as, the nethermost abyss.
Nimrod (Hebrew) Nimrod The traditional founder of the kingdom of Babylon, known in Babylonia as Izdubar or Gilgamesh. According to the Bible, the son of Cush; in legend a mighty hunter (Genesis 10:9). The name Nimrod has not been found prior to the period of the Israelites (500 BC). Blavatsky equates him with Bacchus, and calls him “the most powerful and strongest of physical men on this side of the flood — the last remnant of the antediluvian giants” (IU 1:150).
Ninib (Babylonian) A Chaldean deity originally with solar attributes, especially prominent at Shirgulla, where he was closely associated with Bel and regarded as his son. In hymns he is described as a healing god who releases men from illness. But he was also classed as a god of war, and represented as armed for the chase. The aspect stressed was the sun at the morning and the springtime season, showering beneficence upon mankind.
Ninurta: In Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, the god of war and of storms, patron of physicians.
Nisan (Hebrew) Nīsān Nisanu (Babylonian) The first month of the Hebrew year (after the exile), corresponding to ’Abib (March-April), during which the Passover was celebrated.
Nissi (Babylonian) One of the seven great gods, each of whom was the producer of a race of men.
Nizir (Chaldean) The mountain to which the ark of Xisuthrus finally became moored in the Babylonian account of the flood; equivalent to the Hebrew Mt. Ararat.
Noah (Hebrew) Noaḥ [from nūaḥ to come to rest, be at rest, reach rest, settle down into repose] Biblical patriarch, son of Lamech, connected with the flood which overwhelmed the earth, as related in Genesis 7-9. According to Hebrew legend, he and his family alone survived the deluge by means of an ark, which he had been commanded to build and to place therein a pair of every living thing upon the earth. The Hebrew narrative is based upon that of Babylonia. These universal flood legends are derived from the historical catastrophe which befell Atlantis.
Nusku (Babylonian) Prominent Babylonian and Assyrian deity of light and fire, very closely associated with the god Girru or Gibil. As in other countries, fire was regarded as the great purifier, along with Ea, the god of water; hymns were addressed to him as the great cleanser from diseases and illness. Nusku-Girru represented both heavenly and terrestrial fire. He was regarded as the son of Anu, the deity of the heavenly spaces; but at Harran, in Assyria, he was regarded as the son of the moon deity Sin. Because of the connection of fire with productivity and birth, he held a position of the family god somewhat parallel to that of the Lares and Penates in ancient Rome.
Oannes (Assyrian-Babylonian) A deity, half man, half fish, who rose every day from the Persian Gulf and taught the people wisdom, the arts and sciences, agriculture, etc. Identified with the deity Ea and also called Dagon (Dāḡôn) and Annedotus. A somewhat similar story is related in the Sanskrit Hari-Purana about Vishnu during his Matsya-avatara (fish incarnation).
Odacon (Babylonian) The fifth Annedotus (Dagon or Oannes), a man-fish who appeared from the deeps of the ocean to teach humanity. In the Babylonian description of the instructors and teachers of early humankind, their fishlike form is connected with their origin in the waters of space — spiritual beings taking human form and appearing out of the deeps of cosmic ether.
Omoroka (Greek) [from Chaldean, cf Hebrew ‘amaq to be deep, profound; Hebrew ‘amar to heap together, overwhelm; and Arabic ‘amar to overwhelm with water] The deep, the ocean, whether physically or mystically; used in the Babylonian account of creation. One legend tells of Belus cutting Omoroka in two, from one part of which the heavens were formed, and from the other, the earth — showing that Omoroka signifies space.
One interpretation of this allegory is that Vishnu appears in such fashion at the time of a major deluge for the preservation of the sishtas — the fine flowers of all living things in their respective hierarchical classes, which are thus preserved as seeds of life from age to age. The Biblical Noah, the Babylonian Oannes, and the Chaldean Dagon are representations of the same cosmic or human event.
One that contrives, devises, or constructs something: “The labyrinth . . . was built by Daedalus, a most skillful artificer” (Thomas Bulfinch).
On the whole, there can be distinguished two currents in the entire stream of Jewish philosophy which flowed for about five hundred years, the Oriental and the Occidental. The first was limited to the lands of the East, such as Babylonia and the neighboring countries, and the leading representatives of which were Saadia (q.v.) among the Rabbanites and Aaron ben Elijah (q.v.) among the Karaites. The second developed primarily in Spain and the Provence, and among its leading thinkers were Bahya (q.v.), Gabirol (q.v.), Maimonides (q.v.), Gersonides (q.v.) and Crescas (q.v.). Since Jewish philosophy, during a large part of its existence, was developed within the Arabic world, it consequently reflects the influence of the various systems of thought dominant within that sphere.
optical disk drive "hardware" (Or "optical disc drive", "optical storage") A generic term for any device that reads and/or writes {optical media}, i.e. {compact discs}, {DVDs} and/or {Blu-ray discs} or future media that uses light (from a small laser) to read data off a removable, rotating disk. At least one such drive is commonly installed in most {personal computers} to allow them to play and/or record {audio} and {video} media and load and store data such as program {installers}. The {floppy disk} has been replaced by optical media due to its vastly greater capacity, e.g. 50,000 {megabytes} for a dual-layer {blu-ray disc} compared with 1.5 {megabytes} for a floppy (over 30,000 times as much). (2014-04-27)
Orion (Greek) A handsome giant and mighty hunter of Boeotia, who was placed among the stars. The constellation Orion was regarded as a giant not only in Greece but in Syria, Arabia, and Palestine; in Ireland and among the Mayas it is a warrior; in Egypt it is identified with Horus, the young sun, in the solar boat; and in Babylonia with Merodach, or Nimrod the mighty hunter.
Out of the Greek ichthys (fish) has been made the acrostic Jesus Christos Theou Yios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). Jesus, Bacchus, the Chaldean Dagon and Oannes, the Akkadian Ea, the Babylonian Xisuthrus, and the Hindu Vishsu and Vaivasvata-Manu mystically are all fish characters, and hence connected with floods and avataras.
pademelon ::: n. --> See Wallaby.
papyrus ::: n. --> A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.
The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed.
A manuscript written on papyrus; esp., pl., written scrolls made of papyrus; as, the papyri of Egypt or Herculaneum.
Paracelsus, Theophrastus Bombast: (1493-1541) Of Hohenheim, was a physician who endeavored to use philosophy as one of the "pillars" of medical science. His philosophy is a weird combination of Neo-Platonism, experimentalism, and superstitious magic. He rejected much of the traditional theory of Galen and the Arab physicians. His works (Labyrinthus, Opus paramirum, Die grosse Wundarznei, De natura rerum) were written in Swiss-German, translated into Latin by his followers, recent investigators make no attempt to distinguish his personal thought from that of his school. Thorndyke, L., Hist. of Magic and Experimental Science (N. Y., 1941), V, 615-651. -- V.J.B.
perilymph ::: n. --> The fluid which surrounds the membranous labyrinth of the internal ear, and separates it from the walls of the chambers in which the labyrinth lies.
petabyte "unit, data" (PB) A unit of data equal to one quadrillion {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. A petabyte is 10^15 bytes or 1000^5 bytes or 1000 {terabytes}. As of 2013-11-05, the {Internet Archive} {Wayback Machine} contains almost two petabytes of data. A petabyte is the amount of data that would be required to store a 2000 by 1600 pixel image of every one of the 314 million people living in the USA in 2012. 1000 petabytes are one {exabyte}. See {prefix}. (2007-09-13)
petrogale ::: n. --> Any Australian kangaroo of the genus Petrogale, as the rock wallaby (P. penicillata).
pit ::: n. --> A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit.
A large hole in the ground from which material is dug or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a charcoal pit.
A vat sunk in the ground; as, a tan pit.
Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
pizza box [Sun] The largish thin box housing the electronics in (especially {Sun}) desktop {workstations}, so named because of its size and shape and the dimpled pattern that looks like air holes. Two megabyte single-platter removable disk packs used to be called pizzas, and the huge drive they were stuck into was referred to as a pizza oven. It's an index of progress that in the old days just the disk was pizza-sized, while now the entire computer is. [{Jargon File}]
plump ::: adv. --> Well rounded or filled out; full; fleshy; fat; as, a plump baby; plump cheeks. ::: n. --> A knot; a cluster; a group; a crowd; a flock; as, a plump of trees, fowls, or spears.
Porphyrion (Greek) Lurid, fiery; a gigante or giant born of the blood (vitality) of Ouranos (heaven) falling upon the earth. These giants were more human than the titans, and continued the war against the Olympian gods, which symbolizes the struggles which took place during the descending arc of evolution, cosmically and among the races of mankind, between the lower material forces and the celestial powers from above. Porphyrion is slain by the gods with the help of Hercules and buried in the abysses of earth.
poupeton ::: n. --> A puppet, or little baby.
profound ::: n. 1. That which is eminently deep, or the deepest part of something; a vast depth; an abyss. lit. and fig; chiefly poetical. adj. 2. Situated at or extending to great depth; too deep to have been sounded or plumbed. 3. Coming as if from the depths of one"s being. 4. Of deep meaning; of great and broadly inclusive significance. 5. Being or going far beneath what is superficial, external, or obvious. 6. Showing or requiring great knowledge or understanding. profounder.
protected mode An operating mode of {Intel 80x86} processors. The opposite of real mode. The {Intel 8088}, {Intel 8086}, {Intel 80188} and {Intel 80186} had only real mode, processors beginning with the {Intel 80286} feature a second mode called protected mode. In real mode, addresses are generated by adding an address offset to the value of a {segment register} shifted left four bits. As the segment register and address offset are 16 bits long this results in a 20-bit address. This is the origin of the one megabyte (2^20) limit in real mode. There are 4 segment registers on processors before the {Intel 80386}. The 80386 introduced two more segment registers. Which segment register is used depends on the instruction, on the {addressing mode} and of an optional instruction prefix which selects the segment register explicitly. In protected mode, the segment registers contain an index into a table of {segment descriptors}. Each segment descriptor contains the start address of the segment, to which the offset is added to generate the address. In addition, the segment descriptor contains {memory protection} information. This includes an offset limit and bits for write and read permission. This allows the processor to prevent memory accesses to certain data. The {operating system} can use this to protect different processes' memory from each other, hence the name "protected mode". While the standard {register set} belongs to the {CPU}, the segment registers lie "at the boundary" between the CPU and MMU. Each time a new value is loaded into a segment register while in protected mode, the corresponding descriptor is loaded into a descriptor cache in the (Segment-)MMU. On processors before the {Pentium} this takes longer than just loading the segment register in real mode. Addresses generated by the CPU (which are segment offsets) are passed to the MMU to be checked against the limit in the segment descriptor and are there added to the segment base address in the descriptor to form a {linear address}. On a 80386 or later, the linear address is further processed by the paged MMU before the result (the physical address) appears on the chip's address pins. The 80286 doesn't have a paged MMU so the linear address is output directly as the physical address. The paged MMU allows for arbitrary remapping of four klilobyte memory blocks ({pages}) through a translation table stored in memory. A few entries of this table are cached in the MMU's {Translation Lookaside Buffer} to avoid excessive memory accesses. After processor reset, all processors start in real mode. Protected mode has to be enabled by software. On the 80286 there exists no documented way back to real mode apart from resetting the processor. Later processors allow switching back to real mode by software. Software which has been written or compiled to run in protected mode must only use segment register values given to it by the operating system. Unfortunately, most application code for {MS-DOS}, written before the 286, will fail in protected mode because it assumes real mode addressing and writes arbitrary values to segment registers, e.g. in order to perform address calculations. Such use of segment registers is only really necessary with data structures that are larger than 64 kilobytes and thus don't fit into a single segment. This is usually dealt with by the {huge memory model} in compilers. In this model, compilers generate address arithmetic involving segment registers. A solution which is portable to protected mode with almost the same efficiency would involve using a table of segments instead of calculating new segment register values ad hoc. To ease the transition to protected mode, {Intel 80386} and later processors provide "{virtual 86 mode}". (1995-03-29)
PS/2 "computer" {IBM}'s second generation of {personal computers}. The PS/2 series introduced three advances over the PC series: 3.5" 1.44 megabyte {microfloppy} disks, {VGA} and {8514} graphics {display standards}, and the {Micro Channel} bus architecture. The 3.5" disks and VGA can be easily installed on other PCs and will become the standard for new compatible computers. The Micro Channel bus allows for multiprocessing and less aggravation, but cannot be retrofitted to older PCs. PS/2 models 25 and 30 are {ISA}, other models have Micro Channel and {ESDI}. (1995-11-27)
Psychic Powers ::: The lowest powers of the intermediate or soul-nature in the human being, and we are exercising andusing them all the time -- yes, and we cannot even control them properly! Men's emotional thoughts arevagrant, wandering, uncertain, lacking precision, without positive direction, and feebly governed. Theaverage man cannot even keep his emotions and thoughts in the grip of his self-conscious will. Hisweakest passions lead him astray. It is this part of his nature whence flow his "psychic powers." It isman's work to transmute them and to turn them to employment which is good and useful and holy.Indeed, the average man cannot control the ordinary psycho-astral-physical powers that he commonlyuses; and when, forsooth, people talk about cultivating occult powers, by which they mean merelypsychic powers, it simply shows that through ignorance they know not to what they refer. Their mindsare clouded as regards the actual facts. Those who talk so glibly of cultivating occult powers are just thepeople who cannot be trusted as real guides, for before they themselves can crawl in these mysteriousregions of life, they seem to desire to teach other people how to run and to leap. What most people reallymean, apparently, when they speak of cultivating occult powers is "I want to get power over otherpeople." Such individuals are totally unfit to wield occult powers of any kind, for the motive is in mostcases purely selfish, and their minds are beclouded and darkened with ignorance.The so-called psychic powers have the same relation to genuine spiritual powers that baby-talk has to thediscourse of a wise philosopher. Before occult powers of any kind can be cultivated safely, man mustlearn the first lesson of the mystic knowledge, which is to control himself; and all powers that later hegains must be laid on the altar of impersonal service -- on the altar of service to mankind.Psychic powers will come to men as a natural development of their inner faculties, as evolution performsits wonderful work in future ages. New senses, and new organs corresponding to these new senses, bothinterior and exterior, will come into active functioning in the distant future. But it is perilous both tosanity and to health to attempt to force the development of these prematurely, and unless the training anddiscipline be done under the watchful and compassionate eye of a genuine occult teacher who knowswhat he is about. The world even today contains hundreds of thousands of "sensitives" who are the firstfeeble forerunners of what future evolution will make common in the human race; but these sensitivesare usually in a very unfortunate and trying situation, for they themselves misunderstand what is in them,and they are misunderstood by their fellows. (See also Occultism)
Quarter Inch Cartridge "storage" /kwik/ (QIC) a type of {magnetic tape} and {tape drive}. Development standards for QIC make it possible for tapes written on one QIC drive to be read on another. QIC drives are made to work with different lengths of tape. The model number of the drive consists of QIC followed by a number which indicates the drives tape capacity in {megabytes} (MB). (1996-12-09)
Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal "humour" Back in the good old days - the "Golden Era" of computers, it was easy to separate the men from the boys (sometimes called "Real Men" and "Quiche Eaters" in the literature). During this period, the Real Men were the ones that understood computer programming, and the Quiche Eaters were the ones that didn't. A real computer programmer said things like "DO 10 I=1,10" and "ABEND" (they actually talked in capital letters, you understand), and the rest of the world said things like "computers are too complicated for me" and "I can't relate to computers - they're so impersonal". (A previous work [1] points out that Real Men don't "relate" to anything, and aren't afraid of being impersonal.) But, as usual, times change. We are faced today with a world in which little old ladies can get computers in their microwave ovens, 12-year-old kids can blow Real Men out of the water playing Asteroids and Pac-Man, and anyone can buy and even understand their very own Personal Computer. The Real Programmer is in danger of becoming extinct, of being replaced by high-school students with {TRASH-80s}. There is a clear need to point out the differences between the typical high-school junior Pac-Man player and a Real Programmer. If this difference is made clear, it will give these kids something to aspire to -- a role model, a Father Figure. It will also help explain to the employers of Real Programmers why it would be a mistake to replace the Real Programmers on their staff with 12-year-old Pac-Man players (at a considerable salary savings). LANGUAGES The easiest way to tell a Real Programmer from the crowd is by the programming language he (or she) uses. Real Programmers use {Fortran}. Quiche Eaters use {Pascal}. Nicklaus Wirth, the designer of Pascal, gave a talk once at which he was asked how to pronounce his name. He replied, "You can either call me by name, pronouncing it 'Veert', or call me by value, 'Worth'." One can tell immediately from this comment that Nicklaus Wirth is a Quiche Eater. The only parameter passing mechanism endorsed by Real Programmers is call-by-value-return, as implemented in the {IBM 370} {Fortran-G} and H compilers. Real programmers don't need all these abstract concepts to get their jobs done - they are perfectly happy with a {keypunch}, a {Fortran IV} {compiler}, and a beer. Real Programmers do List Processing in Fortran. Real Programmers do String Manipulation in Fortran. Real Programmers do Accounting (if they do it at all) in Fortran. Real Programmers do {Artificial Intelligence} programs in Fortran. If you can't do it in Fortran, do it in {assembly language}. If you can't do it in assembly language, it isn't worth doing. STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING The academics in computer science have gotten into the "structured programming" rut over the past several years. They claim that programs are more easily understood if the programmer uses some special language constructs and techniques. They don't all agree on exactly which constructs, of course, and the examples they use to show their particular point of view invariably fit on a single page of some obscure journal or another - clearly not enough of an example to convince anyone. When I got out of school, I thought I was the best programmer in the world. I could write an unbeatable tic-tac-toe program, use five different computer languages, and create 1000-line programs that WORKED. (Really!) Then I got out into the Real World. My first task in the Real World was to read and understand a 200,000-line Fortran program, then speed it up by a factor of two. Any Real Programmer will tell you that all the Structured Coding in the world won't help you solve a problem like that - it takes actual talent. Some quick observations on Real Programmers and Structured Programming: Real Programmers aren't afraid to use {GOTOs}. Real Programmers can write five-page-long DO loops without getting confused. Real Programmers like Arithmetic IF statements - they make the code more interesting. Real Programmers write self-modifying code, especially if they can save 20 {nanoseconds} in the middle of a tight loop. Real Programmers don't need comments - the code is obvious. Since Fortran doesn't have a structured IF, REPEAT ... UNTIL, or CASE statement, Real Programmers don't have to worry about not using them. Besides, they can be simulated when necessary using {assigned GOTOs}. Data Structures have also gotten a lot of press lately. Abstract Data Types, Structures, Pointers, Lists, and Strings have become popular in certain circles. Wirth (the above-mentioned Quiche Eater) actually wrote an entire book [2] contending that you could write a program based on data structures, instead of the other way around. As all Real Programmers know, the only useful data structure is the Array. Strings, lists, structures, sets - these are all special cases of arrays and can be treated that way just as easily without messing up your programing language with all sorts of complications. The worst thing about fancy data types is that you have to declare them, and Real Programming Languages, as we all know, have implicit typing based on the first letter of the (six character) variable name. OPERATING SYSTEMS What kind of operating system is used by a Real Programmer? CP/M? God forbid - CP/M, after all, is basically a toy operating system. Even little old ladies and grade school students can understand and use CP/M. Unix is a lot more complicated of course - the typical Unix hacker never can remember what the PRINT command is called this week - but when it gets right down to it, Unix is a glorified video game. People don't do Serious Work on Unix systems: they send jokes around the world on {UUCP}-net and write adventure games and research papers. No, your Real Programmer uses OS 370. A good programmer can find and understand the description of the IJK305I error he just got in his JCL manual. A great programmer can write JCL without referring to the manual at all. A truly outstanding programmer can find bugs buried in a 6 megabyte {core dump} without using a hex calculator. (I have actually seen this done.) OS is a truly remarkable operating system. It's possible to destroy days of work with a single misplaced space, so alertness in the programming staff is encouraged. The best way to approach the system is through a keypunch. Some people claim there is a Time Sharing system that runs on OS 370, but after careful study I have come to the conclusion that they were mistaken. PROGRAMMING TOOLS What kind of tools does a Real Programmer use? In theory, a Real Programmer could run his programs by keying them into the front panel of the computer. Back in the days when computers had front panels, this was actually done occasionally. Your typical Real Programmer knew the entire bootstrap loader by memory in hex, and toggled it in whenever it got destroyed by his program. (Back then, memory was memory - it didn't go away when the power went off. Today, memory either forgets things when you don't want it to, or remembers things long after they're better forgotten.) Legend has it that {Seymore Cray}, inventor of the Cray I supercomputer and most of Control Data's computers, actually toggled the first operating system for the CDC7600 in on the front panel from memory when it was first powered on. Seymore, needless to say, is a Real Programmer. One of my favorite Real Programmers was a systems programmer for Texas Instruments. One day he got a long distance call from a user whose system had crashed in the middle of saving some important work. Jim was able to repair the damage over the phone, getting the user to toggle in disk I/O instructions at the front panel, repairing system tables in hex, reading register contents back over the phone. The moral of this story: while a Real Programmer usually includes a keypunch and lineprinter in his toolkit, he can get along with just a front panel and a telephone in emergencies. In some companies, text editing no longer consists of ten engineers standing in line to use an 029 keypunch. In fact, the building I work in doesn't contain a single keypunch. The Real Programmer in this situation has to do his work with a "text editor" program. Most systems supply several text editors to select from, and the Real Programmer must be careful to pick one that reflects his personal style. Many people believe that the best text editors in the world were written at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center for use on their Alto and Dorado computers [3]. Unfortunately, no Real Programmer would ever use a computer whose operating system is called SmallTalk, and would certainly not talk to the computer with a mouse. Some of the concepts in these Xerox editors have been incorporated into editors running on more reasonably named operating systems - {Emacs} and {VI} being two. The problem with these editors is that Real Programmers consider "what you see is what you get" to be just as bad a concept in Text Editors as it is in women. No the Real Programmer wants a "you asked for it, you got it" text editor - complicated, cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous. TECO, to be precise. It has been observed that a TECO command sequence more closely resembles transmission line noise than readable text [4]. One of the more entertaining games to play with TECO is to type your name in as a command line and try to guess what it does. Just about any possible typing error while talking with TECO will probably destroy your program, or even worse - introduce subtle and mysterious bugs in a once working subroutine. For this reason, Real Programmers are reluctant to actually edit a program that is close to working. They find it much easier to just patch the binary {object code} directly, using a wonderful program called SUPERZAP (or its equivalent on non-IBM machines). This works so well that many working programs on IBM systems bear no relation to the original Fortran code. In many cases, the original source code is no longer available. When it comes time to fix a program like this, no manager would even think of sending anything less than a Real Programmer to do the job - no Quiche Eating structured programmer would even know where to start. This is called "job security". Some programming tools NOT used by Real Programmers: Fortran preprocessors like {MORTRAN} and {RATFOR}. The Cuisinarts of programming - great for making Quiche. See comments above on structured programming. Source language debuggers. Real Programmers can read core dumps. Compilers with array bounds checking. They stifle creativity, destroy most of the interesting uses for EQUIVALENCE, and make it impossible to modify the operating system code with negative subscripts. Worst of all, bounds checking is inefficient. Source code maintenance systems. A Real Programmer keeps his code locked up in a card file, because it implies that its owner cannot leave his important programs unguarded [5]. THE REAL PROGRAMMER AT WORK Where does the typical Real Programmer work? What kind of programs are worthy of the efforts of so talented an individual? You can be sure that no Real Programmer would be caught dead writing accounts-receivable programs in {COBOL}, or sorting {mailing lists} for People magazine. A Real Programmer wants tasks of earth-shaking importance (literally!). Real Programmers work for Los Alamos National Laboratory, writing atomic bomb simulations to run on Cray I supercomputers. Real Programmers work for the National Security Agency, decoding Russian transmissions. It was largely due to the efforts of thousands of Real Programmers working for NASA that our boys got to the moon and back before the Russkies. Real Programmers are at work for Boeing designing the operating systems for cruise missiles. Some of the most awesome Real Programmers of all work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Many of them know the entire operating system of the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft by heart. With a combination of large ground-based Fortran programs and small spacecraft-based assembly language programs, they are able to do incredible feats of navigation and improvisation - hitting ten-kilometer wide windows at Saturn after six years in space, repairing or bypassing damaged sensor platforms, radios, and batteries. Allegedly, one Real Programmer managed to tuck a pattern-matching program into a few hundred bytes of unused memory in a Voyager spacecraft that searched for, located, and photographed a new moon of Jupiter. The current plan for the Galileo spacecraft is to use a gravity assist trajectory past Mars on the way to Jupiter. This trajectory passes within 80 +/-3 kilometers of the surface of Mars. Nobody is going to trust a Pascal program (or a Pascal programmer) for navigation to these tolerances. As you can tell, many of the world's Real Programmers work for the U.S. Government - mainly the Defense Department. This is as it should be. Recently, however, a black cloud has formed on the Real Programmer horizon. It seems that some highly placed Quiche Eaters at the Defense Department decided that all Defense programs should be written in some grand unified language called "ADA" ((C), DoD). For a while, it seemed that ADA was destined to become a language that went against all the precepts of Real Programming - a language with structure, a language with data types, {strong typing}, and semicolons. In short, a language designed to cripple the creativity of the typical Real Programmer. Fortunately, the language adopted by DoD has enough interesting features to make it approachable -- it's incredibly complex, includes methods for messing with the operating system and rearranging memory, and Edsgar Dijkstra doesn't like it [6]. (Dijkstra, as I'm sure you know, was the author of "GoTos Considered Harmful" - a landmark work in programming methodology, applauded by Pascal programmers and Quiche Eaters alike.) Besides, the determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language. The Real Programmer might compromise his principles and work on something slightly more trivial than the destruction of life as we know it, providing there's enough money in it. There are several Real Programmers building video games at Atari, for example. (But not playing them - a Real Programmer knows how to beat the machine every time: no challenge in that.) Everyone working at LucasFilm is a Real Programmer. (It would be crazy to turn down the money of fifty million Star Trek fans.) The proportion of Real Programmers in Computer Graphics is somewhat lower than the norm, mostly because nobody has found a use for computer graphics yet. On the other hand, all computer graphics is done in Fortran, so there are a fair number of people doing graphics in order to avoid having to write COBOL programs. THE REAL PROGRAMMER AT PLAY Generally, the Real Programmer plays the same way he works - with computers. He is constantly amazed that his employer actually pays him to do what he would be doing for fun anyway (although he is careful not to express this opinion out loud). Occasionally, the Real Programmer does step out of the office for a breath of fresh air and a beer or two. Some tips on recognizing Real Programmers away from the computer room: At a party, the Real Programmers are the ones in the corner talking about operating system security and how to get around it. At a football game, the Real Programmer is the one comparing the plays against his simulations printed on 11 by 14 fanfold paper. At the beach, the Real Programmer is the one drawing flowcharts in the sand. At a funeral, the Real Programmer is the one saying "Poor George, he almost had the sort routine working before the coronary." In a grocery store, the Real Programmer is the one who insists on running the cans past the laser checkout scanner himself, because he never could trust keypunch operators to get it right the first time. THE REAL PROGRAMMER'S NATURAL HABITAT What sort of environment does the Real Programmer function best in? This is an important question for the managers of Real Programmers. Considering the amount of money it costs to keep one on the staff, it's best to put him (or her) in an environment where he can get his work done. The typical Real Programmer lives in front of a computer terminal. Surrounding this terminal are: Listings of all programs the Real Programmer has ever worked on, piled in roughly chronological order on every flat surface in the office. Some half-dozen or so partly filled cups of cold coffee. Occasionally, there will be cigarette butts floating in the coffee. In some cases, the cups will contain Orange Crush. Unless he is very good, there will be copies of the OS JCL manual and the Principles of Operation open to some particularly interesting pages. Taped to the wall is a line-printer Snoopy calendar for the year 1969. Strewn about the floor are several wrappers for peanut butter filled cheese bars - the type that are made pre-stale at the bakery so they can't get any worse while waiting in the vending machine. Hiding in the top left-hand drawer of the desk is a stash of double-stuff Oreos for special occasions. Underneath the Oreos is a flowcharting template, left there by the previous occupant of the office. (Real Programmers write programs, not documentation. Leave that to the maintenance people.) The Real Programmer is capable of working 30, 40, even 50 hours at a stretch, under intense pressure. In fact, he prefers it that way. Bad response time doesn't bother the Real Programmer - it gives him a chance to catch a little sleep between compiles. If there is not enough schedule pressure on the Real Programmer, he tends to make things more challenging by working on some small but interesting part of the problem for the first nine weeks, then finishing the rest in the last week, in two or three 50-hour marathons. This not only impresses the hell out of his manager, who was despairing of ever getting the project done on time, but creates a convenient excuse for not doing the documentation. In general: No Real Programmer works 9 to 5 (unless it's the ones at night). Real Programmers don't wear neckties. Real Programmers don't wear high-heeled shoes. Real Programmers arrive at work in time for lunch [9]. A Real Programmer might or might not know his wife's name. He does, however, know the entire {ASCII} (or EBCDIC) code table. Real Programmers don't know how to cook. Grocery stores aren't open at three in the morning. Real Programmers survive on Twinkies and coffee. THE FUTURE What of the future? It is a matter of some concern to Real Programmers that the latest generation of computer programmers are not being brought up with the same outlook on life as their elders. Many of them have never seen a computer with a front panel. Hardly anyone graduating from school these days can do hex arithmetic without a calculator. College graduates these days are soft - protected from the realities of programming by source level debuggers, text editors that count parentheses, and "user friendly" operating systems. Worst of all, some of these alleged "computer scientists" manage to get degrees without ever learning Fortran! Are we destined to become an industry of Unix hackers and Pascal programmers? From my experience, I can only report that the future is bright for Real Programmers everywhere. Neither OS 370 nor Fortran show any signs of dying out, despite all the efforts of Pascal programmers the world over. Even more subtle tricks, like adding structured coding constructs to Fortran have failed. Oh sure, some computer vendors have come out with Fortran 77 compilers, but every one of them has a way of converting itself back into a Fortran 66 compiler at the drop of an option card - to compile DO loops like God meant them to be. Even Unix might not be as bad on Real Programmers as it once was. The latest release of Unix has the potential of an operating system worthy of any Real Programmer - two different and subtly incompatible user interfaces, an arcane and complicated teletype driver, virtual memory. If you ignore the fact that it's "structured", even 'C' programming can be appreciated by the Real Programmer: after all, there's no type checking, variable names are seven (ten? eight?) characters long, and the added bonus of the Pointer data type is thrown in - like having the best parts of Fortran and assembly language in one place. (Not to mention some of the more creative uses for
Records of ancient medicine in Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, etc., tell of the temples being used as hospitals, with priest-physicians supported by the state giving every care to the sick who came, both rich and poor. In addition to material means of treatment — many of which we have rediscovered — these devotees of the gods of healing used special incense, prayers, the “temple sleep,” invocations, music, astrology, etc., which we regard as harmless superstition of an earlier day. However, such conditions, intelligently adapted to each case, in making a pure, serene, uplifting atmosphere around the sick person, would invoke the influences of wholeness within and without him. By putting the inner man in tune with his body, his disordered nature-forces manifesting as disease would tend to flow freely in the currents of health. Natural magic is as practical as the unknown alchemy which transmutes our digested daily bread into molecules of our living body.
rip "audio, video, legal" (From "rip off" - to steal) To copy audio or video, typically from a {compact disc} or {DVD}, to a {file} on a {computer} {hard disk}. A dedicated program to do this is called a "ripper" though it is often a function of player software. Ripping usually includes converting the data to a format that is more suitable for computer playback, e.g. {MP3} {digital audio} or {DivX} video. The process is entirely digital so it is possible to make a perfect copy of the data. However the resulting files are large (a few {megabytes} for an audio track, a few {gigabytes} for a film) so the conversion often includes {compression} to reduce the file size at the cost of some loss of quality. While it may be legal to do this for personal use, distributing a ripped copyright work to others could result in prosecution. See also {ripcording}. (2008-01-21)
Saadia, ben Joseph: (Arabic Sa'id Al-Fayyumi) (892-942) Born and educated in Egypt, he left his native country in 915 and settled in Babylonia where he was appointed in 928 Gaon of the Academy of Sura. He translated the Bible into Arabic and wrote numerous works, both in Hebrew and Arabic, in the fields of philology, exegesis, Talmudics, polemics, Jewish history, and philosophy. His chief philosophical work is the Kitab Al-Amanat wa'l-Itikadat, better known by its Hebrew title, Emunot we-Deott, i.e., Doctrines and Religious Beliefs. Its purpose is to prove the compatibility of the principles of Judaism with reason and to interpret them in such a way that their rationality be evident The first nine sections establish philosophically the ten fundamental articles of faith, and the tenth deals with ethics. Philosophically, Saadia was influenced by the teachings of the Mutazilia. See Jewish Philosophy. -- Q.V.
Sa (Babylonian) The god of wisdom or of the cosmic deep; equivalent to Hea or Ea. As the remote and almost inscrutable divinity of the cosmic deep, the enclosure of all its cosmic children, Sa is seen to be the synthetic acme of the seven or twelve great gods — the cosmic hierarch of his own sphere.
Sabeanism was unquestionably the main religious belief of the ancient Chaldeans and Assyrians, but likewise the very foundation stone of practically all the great religions of all the great peoples of the past. Upon the authority of the Jewish scholar Maimonides, scholars have considered the Sabeans as an ancient race whose principal religion was that of star-worship and closely affiliated with the Babylonians and Syrians. But the Sabeans were not a race, but those who followed and practiced the divine astrological astrolatry of the hoariest antiquity. Mohammed in the Koran mentions a sect between the Jews and Christians called Sabi una — to whom certain privileges were granted; older Moslem theologians were agreed that the Sabeans possessed manuscripts which they regarded in the light of a revelation, and the Mandeans came under the same protection granted to the Sabeans; hence the Mandeans also came to be regarded as Sabeans. Another sect of polytheists, the Harranians (830 AD), also affiliated with the Sabeans and shielded themselves under the same privileges; they were a remnant of a Mesopotamian cult, and star-worship had a prominent place in their system.
sacculus ::: n. --> A little sac; esp., a part of the membranous labyrinth of the ear.
Sagittarius (The Archer): The ninth sign of the zodiac. In Hindu astrology: Dhanus. Its symbol represents an arrow and a section of a bow, typifying aspiration. It is usually pictured as the Centaur: half horse, half man—representing the conflict between the philosophical mind and the carnal instinct of conquest; also aspiration supported by effort that aims at the stars. Said to have been named for the Babylonian god of war. The Sun is in Sagittarius annually from November 23 to December 21. Astrologically it is the thirty-degree arc immediately preceding the Sun’s passing over the Tropic of Capricorn, occupying a position along the Ecliptic from 240° to 270°. It is the “mutable” quality of the element Fire: positive, hot, dry, changeable, bicorporeal, obeying. Ruler: Jupiter. Detriment: Mercury. Symbolic interpretation: The centaur; an arrow with a short section of the bow, the symbol of enthusiasm and effort, aiming at the stars.
sangu ::: n. --> The Abyssinian ox (Bos / Bibos, Africanus), noted for the great length of its horns. It has a hump on its back.
Sargon Sharru-konu (Assyrian) Also Sarru-kinu. The legitimate king; of the two Sargons in Babylonian history, one is regarded as the first historical king in the old Babylonian period, whose reign has been placed about 3800 BC. He ruled over northern Babylonia, making Agade (Akkad) his capital. He made conquests in Syria and erected the temple Eulbar in honor of Anunit. His story is cited by Blavatsky as the original of the familiar Biblical story of Moses: the mother of Sargon was a princess who placed her babe in an ark of rushes, sealing the ark with bitumen and setting it adrift on the river. The ark was found by a watercarrier, Akki, who brought up the child as his own. In time Sargon became the monarch of Babylonia, reigning at Agadi, which was near the city of Sippara (cf Zipporah, the name of the wife of Moses).
Sarku (Babylonian, Chaldean) Light race; in the Babylonian legends, the name of one of the two first races. While the dark race (Zalmat-Qaqadi) was the first to fall into generation or mortality, the light race remained apart for a long while — hence was considered to be a race of gods. The dark race has also been called by Europeans the Adamic race, which was “one of the two principal races that exited at the time of the ‘Fall of Man’ (hence our third Root-race) . . .” (TG 384).
Saros: (1) A Chaldean and Babylonian interpretation of a cycle of 60 days as 60 years. (2) 60 sixties, or 3,600. (3) A lunar cycle of 6,585.32 days—223 lunations; or 18 years, 11% days.
sassabye ::: n. --> A large African antelope (Alcelaphus lunata), similar to the hartbeest, but having its horns regularly curved.
sassaby ::: n. --> Alt. of Sassabye
Serial Interface Adaptor (SIA) The {Ethernet} driver chip used on a {Filtabyte} Ethernet card.
Shamash (Chaldean) The sun as one of the seven planets, also the Assyrian and Babylonian sun god, regarded as the all-pervading spirit of justice, as exposing injustice and wrong — as the morning sunbeams by their very presence disperse shadow and darkness. The principal centers of solar worship were in Babylon and Sippara, although temples were erected in all the principal cities of the empire, the structures being named ebarra (the shining house or house of the shining one). As with so many ancient peoples, the sun was popularly held to be driven across the sky by means of a chariot and horses, the charioteer being known as Bunene; while Justice (Kettu) and Right (Mesharu) followed as attendants.
Shamash: In Babylonian mythology, god of the sun and of divination. The Assyrian all-seeing god of right and justice.
Single In-line Memory Module "storage" (SIMM) A small circuit board or substrate, typically about 10cm x 2cm, with {RAM} {integrated circuits} or die on one or both sides and a single row of pins along one long edge. Several SIMMs are mounted with their substrates at right-angles to the main circuit board (the {motherboard}). This configuration allows greater packing density than direct mounting of, e.g. DIL ({dual in-line}) RAM packages on the motherboard. In 1993 one SIMM typically held one or four megabytes, by early 1997 one could hold 8, 16, or 32 MB. (1997-01-05)
SI prefix "unit, standard" The {standard} metric prefixes used in the {Système International d'Unités} (SI) conventions for scientific measurement. Here are the SI magnifying prefixes, along with the corresponding binary interpretations in common use: prefix abr decimal binary yocto- 1000^-8 zepto- 1000^-7 atto- 1000^-6 femto- f 1000^-5 pico- p 1000^-4 nano- n 1000^-3 micro- * 1000^-2 * Abbreviation: Greek mu milli- m 1000^-1 kilo- k 1000^1 1024^1 = 2^10 = 1,024 mega- M 1000^2 1024^2 = 2^20 = 1,048,576 giga- G 1000^3 1024^3 = 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 tera- T 1000^4 1024^4 = 2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776 peta- 1000^5 1024^5 = 2^50 = 1,125,899,906,842,624 exa- 1000^6 1024^6 = 2^60 = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 zetta- 1000^7 1024^7 = 2^70 = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 yotta- 1000^8 1024^8 = 2^80 = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 "Femto" and "atto" derive not from Greek but from Danish. The abbreviated forms of these prefixes are common in electronics and physics. When used with bytes of storage, these prefixes usually denote multiplication by powers of 1024 = 2^10 (K, M, G and T are common in computing). Thus "MB" stands for megabytes (2^20 bytes). This common practice goes against the edicts of the {BIPM} who deprecate the use of these prefixes for powers of two. The formal SI prefix for 1000 is lower case "k"; some, including this dictionary, use this strictly, reserving upper case "K" for multiplication by 1024 (KB is thus "kilobytes"). Also, in data transfer rates the prefixes stand for powers of ten so, for example, 28.8 kb/s means 28,800 bits per second. The unit is often dropped so one may talk of "a 40K salary" (40000 dollars) or "2 meg of disk space" (2*2^20 bytes). The accepted pronunciation of the initial G of "giga-" is hard, /gi'ga/. Confusing 1000 and 1024 (or other powers of 2 and 10 close in magnitude) - for example, describing a memory in units of 500K or 524K instead of 512K - is a sure sign of the {marketroid}. For example, 3.5" {microfloppies} are often described as storing "1.44 MB". In fact, this is completely specious. The correct size is 1440 KB = 1440 * 1024 = 1474560 bytes. Alas, this point is probably lost on the world forever. In 1993, hacker Morgan Burke proposed, to general approval on {Usenet}, the following additional prefixes: groucho (10^-30), harpo (10^-27), harpi (10^27), grouchi (10^30). This would leave the prefixes zeppo-, gummo-, and chico- available for future expansion. Sadly, there is little immediate prospect that Mr. Burke's eminently sensible proposal will be ratified. (2009-09-01)
Speculation in Jewry rose again in the ninth century in the lands of the East, particularly in Babylonia, when Judaism once more met Greek philosophy, this time dressed in Arabic garb. The philosophic tradition of the ancients transmitted through the Syrians, to the young Arabic nation created a disturbance in the minds of the devotees of the Koran who, testing its principles by the light of the newly acquired wisdom, found them often wanting. As a result, various currents of thought were set in motion. Of these, the leading was the Kalamitic or the Mutazilite philosophy, (q.v.) of several shades, the general aim ot which was both to defend doctrines of religion against heresies and also to reconcile them with the principles of reason.
stegocephala ::: n. pl. --> An extinct order of amphibians found fossil in the Mesozoic rocks; called also Stegocephali, and Labyrinthodonta.
Suggested additional material: Many experts in ancient Hebrew hold that the name of the old Syriac desert spirit/deity Azazel (Azazyel from the Ethiopian text) was confused with the Hebrew term “oz-oz-el” which literally meant “A goat that goes away.” This confusion was fueled by the use of a sacrificial goat “for Azazel” (actually released, not killed) in the Jewish Old Testament rite of atonement. Later, in comparatively modern times, the term “azazel” became synonymous with the idea of the scapegoat. While a firm connection has never been established, it seems likely that the 3,000-year-old Syriac Azazel is the same one mentioned about 200 BC in the apocryphal “Book of Enoch” (Henoch) as the eventual leader of the “Sons of God” or “Watchers” sent to earth to watch over mankind, but later punished for taking human wives and teaching hidden knowledge to mankind. Confined to a thousand years’ bondage in the “abyss,” he was guarded by Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel. Although modern Christians often equate Azazel with Satan (Lucifer/Heylel), there is little scholarly evidence to support this view. A more likely view holds that the ancient worshippers of Yahweh sought to incorporate a link to existing, older belief systems while demonizing competing deities.
Ta Ku: Major cause. See: ku. Talmud: (Learning) An encyclopedic work in Hebrew-Aramaic produced during 800 years (300 B.C.-500 A.D.) in Palestine and Babylon. Its six sedarim (orders) subdivided in 63 massektot (tractates) represent the oral tradition of Judaism expounding and developing the religious ideas and civil laws of the written special hermeneutic middot (measures) of law (i.e., the Hebrew Bible) by means of Rabbi Hillel, 13 of R. Ishmael and 32 of R. Eliezer of Galilee.
Talmud: An encyclopedic work in Hebrew-Aramaic produced during 800 years (300 B.C.-500 A.D.) in Palestine and Babylon. Its six Orders (sedarim), subdivided in sixty-three tractates (mas-sektoth), sum up the oral traditions of Jewry, expounding, developing and commenting on the civil and religious laws of Judaism. It is a veritable treasure-house of ancient Jewish philosophy, ethics, theology, folklore, sciences, etc. accumulated during those eight centuries. The Talmud consists of an older part, the Mishnah (q.v.), and the later part, Gemarah (q.v.), a commentary on the former.
Talmud, Babylonian: The Palestine Mishna was carried to Babylon and studied by 7 generations of Amoraim in the Academies of Nehardea (under Samuel). -- H.L.G.
TB {terabyte}
terabyte "unit, data" (TB) A unit of {data} equal to one trillion {bytes}. A terabyte is 10^12 bytes or 1000^4 bytes or 1000 {gigabytes}. A {terabyte} is roughly the amount of data in 117 {DVDs} (at 8.5 {gigabytes} each). 1000 terabytes are one {petabyte}. (Note the spelling - one 'r'). See {prefix}. (2013-11-03)
terrabyte "spelling" It's spelled "{terabyte}". (1997-01-23)
The ancients gave different time periods as the extent of the cycle for which the phoenix stood as a symbol: 500 years, 600 years (the Babylonian naros), 1461 years, and others, as the phoenix did not symbolize any one cycle but was a general emblem of cycles themselves.
The Babylonian hero-creator is Marduk, whose prowess against the monstrous forces of Tiamat (matter) caused the gods to endow him with the power to overcome them and to complete the creation of heaven and earth.
The crescent moon, because of its curved form, either represented the mystic ark itself or was conjoined with it in various manners, for the moon in archaic teaching was the fecund yet presently dead mother of our earth, the latter being its reimbodiment. Thus the moon stood as an emblem of the cosmic matrix or ark floating in and on the watery abyss of space — just as the ark in the Jewish form of this cosmogonic legend was associated with the flood waters as the bearer of all the seeds of lives. In the view of the later rather materialistic Hebrew rabbis the human womb became the maqom or ark, the place representative on earth of what the moon was in the cosmic sphere.
“. . .the dark Ideas of the Abyss.”
The ethnology of the ancient peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia is extremely obscure. The records of occult history show that in a previous geological period, all that portion of western and central-western Asia, which includes Persia, Babylonia, Turkestan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, etc., was once a highly fertile and well-populated portion of the earth’s surface, not only bearing once famous and brilliant civilizations, but likewise the seat of different peoples living side by side. When immense climatic and geological changes took place, this vast stretch of territory became the seeding-place or focus whence spread to the east, south, and west various emigrant offshoots which populated what were then less fertile territories, which in time became on the one hand northern India, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Turkestan, and on the southwest Iran, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus district. It was far later that a reverse current of emigration left what is now northern India and proceeded westward settling to a certain extent in the lands of their ancient forefathers, and this accounts not only for the similarities between the west and east of this district, but the Indian influence perceptible in Mesopotamia and the close linguistic and other links that existed between the ancient Zoroastrians and the Brahmanical streams of thought.
“The first three chapters are transcribed from the allegorical narratives of the beginnings common to all nations. Chapters four and five are a new allegorical adaptation of the same narration in the secret Book of Numbers; chapter six is an astronomical narrative of the Solar year and the seven cosmocratores from the Egyptian original of the Pymander and the symbolical visions of a series of Enoichioi (Seers) — from whom came also the Book of Enoch. The beginning of Exodus, and the story of Moses is that of the Babylonian Sargon, who having flourished . . . 3750 b.c. preceded the Jewish lawgiver by almost 2300 years. (See Secret Doctrine, vol. II., pp. 691 et seq.) Nevertheless, Genesis is an undeniably esoteric work. It has not borrowed, nor has it disfigured the universal symbols and teachings on the lines of which it was written, but simply adapted the eternal truths to its own national spirit and clothed them in cunning allegories comprehensible only to its Kabbalists and Initiates” (TG 127).
The Inconscience is an inverse reproduction of the supreme superconscience: it has the same absoluteness of being and automatic action, but in a vast involved trance; it is being lost in itself, plunged in its own abyss of infinity. Instead of a luminous absorption in self-existence there is a tenebrous involution in it, the darkness veiled within darkness of the Rig Veda, tamaasit tamasa gudham, which makes it look like Non-Existence; instead of a luminous inherent self-awareness there is a consciousness plunged into an abyss of self-oblivion, inherent in being but not awake in being. Yet is this involved consciousness still a concealed knowledge by identity; it carries in it the awareness of all the truths of existence hidden in its dark infinite and, when it acts and creates,—but it acts first as Energy and not as Consciousness,—everything is arranged with the precision and perfection of an intrinsic knowledge. In all material things reside a mute and involved Real-Idea, a substantial and self-effective intuition, an eyeless exact perception, an automatic intelligence working out its unexpressed and unthought conceptions, a blindly seeing sureness of sight, a dumb infallible sureness of suppressed feeling coated in insensibility, which effectuate all that has to be effected. All this state and action of the Inconscient corresponds very evidently with the same state and action of the pure Superconscience, but translated into terms of self-darkness in place of the original self-light. Intrinsic in the material form, these powers are not possessed by the form, but yet work in its mute subconscience.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 21-22, Page: 570
the opposites of its own truths of being ::: an abyss of non-existence,24 a profound Night of inconscience, a fathomless swoon of insensibility from which yet all forms of being, consciousness and delight of existence [saccidananda] can manifest themselves"; (same as asat brahma)"something beyond the last term to which we can reduce our purest conception and our most abstract or subtle experience of actual being as we know or conceive it while in this universe", not a mere negation but "a zero which is All or an indefinable Infinite which appears to the mind a blank, because mind grasps only finite constructions".
The principal seat of his worship appears to have been at Borsippa (opposite the city of Babylon) where a temple-school flourished until the end of the neo-Babylonian empire — even surviving the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus (538 BC). His original character cannot now be determined and he may have been a solar deity, although associated with water. His consort, Tashmit, is occasionally invoked with him. Nebo’s worship flourished before that of Marduk (the Biblical Merodach, probably the planet Mars and its regent), and when the latter was elevated to the chief position of the Babylonian pantheon, Nebo was regarded as his son and the two thereafter are more or less inseparable. Even in Assyria the worship of Nebo was made more prominent than the chief deity, Assur (’Ashshur) by some of the monarchs (e.g., Assurbanipal, 668-626 BC). His hieroglyph was the stylus, for he was regarded as the god of writing, prophecy, sacred chanting, and hence of song, having charge of the tablets of fate, on which he inscribed the names of men and forecast their destiny. His wisdom was likewise associated with the study of the heavenly bodies, hence the temple-school became famed for its astrologers. “Nebo is a creator, like Budha, of the Fourth and also of the Fifth Race. For the former starts a new race of Adepts, and the latter, the Solar-Lunar Dynasty, or the men of these Races and Round. Both are the Adams of their respective creatures” (SD 2:456).
The Qabbalah here uses “He” to describe one of the mostl profound and mystical — because purely impersonal — conceptions in cosmogony; because the first Sephirah is Kether the Crown and hence the first of the cosmic rays emanating from the abysmal cosmic deep. From this Crown, called Ancient of the Ancient, flowed forth in emanational procession all the other developments of the cosmic Tree of Life or cosmic hierarchy.
The series of chambers in the labyrinth was an attempt to portray in the Mysteries by means of a construction — whether subterranean or above ground — the peregrinations of the human monad in its postmortem destiny, as it wandered from chamber to chamber — from sphere to sphere or globe to globe — in the celestial spaces, finally returning to its point of departure, in this instance to human reimbodiment.
“The Vedas, Brahmanism, and along with these, Sanskrit, were importations into what we now regard as India. They were never indigenous to its soil. There was a time when the ancient nations of the West included under the generic name of India many of the countries of Asia now classified under other names. There was an Upper, a Lower, and a Western India, even during the comparatively late period of Alexander; and Persia (Iran) is called Western India in some ancient classics. The countries now named Tibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary were considered by them as forming part of India. When we say, therefore, that India has civilized the world, and was the Alma Mater of the civilizations, arts, and sciences of all other nations (Babylonia, and perhaps even Egypt, included) we mean archaic, pre-historic India, India of the time when the great Gobi was a sea, and the lost ‘Atlantis’ formed part of an unbroken continent which began at the Himalayas and ran down over Southern India, Ceylon, and Java, to far-away Tasmania” (Five Years of Theosophy 179).
This decisive touch comes most easily to the baby cat ” people, those who have at some point between the psychic and the emotional vital a quick and decisive movement of surrender to the Guru or the Divine. I have seen that when that is there and there is the conscious central dependence compelling the mind also and the rest of the vital, then the fundamental diffi- culty disappears. If others remain they are not felt as difficulties, but simply as things that have just to be done and need cause no worry. Sometimes no tapasya is necessary — one just refers things to the Power that one feels guiding or doing the sadhana and assents to its action, rejecting all that is contrary to it, and the Power removes what has to be removed or changes what
Tiamat: In Babylonian and Chaldean cosmogony, the undifferentiated matter out of which gods and men, heaven and earth sprang.
Triton "processor" {Intel}'s {Pentium} {core} logic {chip set}. In addition to the traditional features, this chip set supports: {EDO DRAM} to increase the {bandwidth} of the {DRAM} interface; "{pipelined} {burst SRAM}" for a cheaper, faster {second level cache}; "{bus master} {IDE}" control logic to reduce processor load; a plug and play port for easy implementation of functions such as audio. The Triton I chipset (official name 82430FX) consists of 4 chips: one 82437FX TSC (Triton Sysetm Controller), two 82438FX TDP (Triton Data Path), and one 82371FB PIIX (PCI IDE Xcellerator). It supports {PB Cache}, {EDO DRAM}, and a maximum {PCI} and memory burst data transfer rate of 100 {megabytes} per second. There are also {Moble Triton} (82430MX), {Triton II} (82430HX), and the {Triton VX} (82430VX) chip sets. {Introduction (http://asus.com.tw/Products/TB/triton-intro.html)}. (1996-04-03)
true colour "graphics" A system where the red, green, and blue components of a colour are stored in {display memory}, as opposed to storing {logical colours} and using a {colour palette} to convert them to red, green, blue components. The advantage of true colour over a palette is that it does not restrict the range of colours which can be displayed on screen simultaneously. For example, if eight bits are used to store each component of each {pixel} then a total of 2^24 (about 17 million) different colours can be displayed at once which would require a (very expensive) palette with 3 * 2^24 bytes (about 50 megabytes) of memory. The disadvantage of true colour is that image transformations which would normally be done by changing the palette must be done to every pixel of the image which can be much slower. Compare {high colour}. (1996-03-24)
under the hood [hot-rodder talk] 1. The underlying implementation of a product (hardware, software, or idea). Implies that the implementation is not intuitively obvious from the appearance, but the speaker is about to enable the listener to {grok} it. "Let's now look under the hood to see how ...." 2. Can also imply that the implementation is much simpler than the appearance would indicate: "Under the hood, we are just fork/execing the shell." 3. Inside a chassis, as in "Under the hood, this baby has a 40MHz 68030!" [{Jargon File}]
University of London Computing Centre "body, education" (ULCC) One of the UK's national high performance computing centres. It provides networking services and large-scale computing facilities which are used by researchers from all over the UK. ULCC was founded in 1968 to provide a service for education and research. It has been at the forefront of advanced research computing since its foundation, initially providing large-scale {CDC}-based facilities, then from 1982 to 1991 a national {Cray} {vector} supercomputing service. Its high performance computing facilities are now centred on a 6 processor, 4 Gbyte {Convex C3860} {supercomputer} (Neptune) with a Convex C3200 front-end (Pluto). ULCC is the main site for national and international network connections in the UK. They run the {Network Operations and Service Centre} for the {JANET Internet Protocol Service} (JIPS), the largest of the {JANET} {NOCs} and various international links and relays on behalf of {UKERNA}. ULCC's pilot {National Data Repository} service provides a network-accessible digital archive and filestore, based on a robotic tape system with 6 terabytes of storage. Although the data is stored on tape, you can access it very quickly, as if it were on-line. It is made available to you via high-speed links to the {JANET} and {SuperJANET} networks. {(http://ulcc.ac.uk/)}. (1994-11-29)
Usenet "messaging" /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ (Or "Usenet news", from "Users' Network") A distributed {bulletin board} system and the people who post and read articles thereon. Originally implemented in 1979 - 1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott and Steve Daniel at Duke University, and supported mainly by {Unix} machines, it swiftly grew to become international in scope and, before the advent of the {web}, probably the largest decentralised information utility in existence. Usenet encompassed government agencies, universities, high schools, businesses of all sizes and home computers of all descriptions. As of early 1993, it hosted over 1200 {newsgroups} ("groups" for short) and an average of 40 megabytes (the equivalent of several thousand paper pages) of new technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and {flamage} every day. By November 1999, the number of groups had grown to over 37,000. To join in, you need a {Usenet provider (https://www.usenetstorm.com)}. Originally you needed a {news reader} program but there are now several web gateways, cheifly {Google Groups (http://groups.google.com/)} (originally {Deja News}). Some {web browsers} used to include news readers and {URLs} beginning "news:" referred to Usenet newsgroups. {Network News Transfer Protocol} is a {protocol} used to transfer news articles between a news {server} and a {news reader}. In the beginning, not all Usenet hosts were on the Internet. The {uucp} {protocol} was sometimes used to transfer articles between servers, though this became increasingly rare with the spread of the {Internet}. [Gene Spafford "spaf@cs.purdue.edu", "What is Usenet?", regular posting to {news:news.announce.newusers}]. (2017-09-26)
utriculus ::: n. --> A little sac, or bag; a utricle; especially, a part of the membranous labyrinth of the ear. See the Note under Ear.
Vannevar Bush "person" Dr. Vannevar Bush, 1890-1974. The man who invented {hypertext}, which he called {memex}, in the 1930s. Bush did his undergraduate work at Tufts College, where he later taught. His masters thesis (1913) included the invention of the Profile Tracer, used in surveying work to measure distances over uneven ground. In 1919, he joined {MIT}'s Department of Electrical Engineering, where he stayed for twenty-five years. In 1932, he was appointed vice-president and dean. At this time, Bush worked on optical and photocomposition devices, as well as a machine for rapid selection from banks of microfilm. Further positions followed: president of the Carnegie Institute in Washington, DC (1939); chair of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (1939); director of Office of Scientific Research and Development. This last role was as presidential science advisor, which made him personally responsible for the 6,000 scientists involved in the war effort. During World War II, Bush worked on radar antenna profiles and the calculation of artillery firing tables. He proposed the development of an {analogue computer}, which later became the {Rockefeller Differential Analyser}. Bush is the pivotal figure in hypertext research. His ground-breaking 1945 paper, "As We May Think," speculated on how a machine might be created to assist human reasoning, and introduced the idea of an easily accessible, individually configurable storehouse of knowledge. This machine, which he dubbed "memex," in various ways anticipated {hypermedia} and the {World Wide Web} by nearly half a century. {Electronic Labyrinth article (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0034.html)}. {Bush's famous article, "As We May Think" (http://theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/computer/bushf.htm)}. (2001-06-17)
Various terms more or less synonymous are akasa, the universal egg (from which Brahma issued as light), the virgin egg, the virgin mother, the immaculate root (fructified by the ray), the primeval deep, the abyss, the great mother. The divine ray and chaos are father-mother or cosmic fire and water. Chaos-Theos-Cosmos are the triple deity or all-in-all. Chaos was personified in Egypt by the goddess Neith, who is the Father-Mother of the Stanzas of Dzyan, the akasa of the Hindus, the svabhavat of the northern Buddhists, and the Icelandic ginnungagap.
virtual 86 mode "processor, programming" (Or "virtual mode" or "virtual 8086 mode") An operating mode provided by the {Intel 80386} and later processors to allow {real mode} programs to run under {operating systems} which use {protected mode}. In this sub-mode of protected mode, an operating environment is created which mimics the address calculation in real mode. In virtual 86 mode the segment {MMU} is practically turned off and the {segment registers} exhibit the same behaviour as in real mode. The {page}d MMU, however, still operates. This means that the one megabyte {address space} of real mode can be remapped in four kilobyte {pages} to anywhere in the 32 bit {physical address} space. Each page can be protected separately from read or write accesses. Virtual mode is handled on a per-task-basis, so each {exception} (from protection violations or {interrupts}) switches the processor back into protected mode. It is therefore possible to have multiple tasks in virtual mode which run {concurrent}ly under the control of an operating system which runs in protected mode. Most operating system services in {MS-DOS} systems are called by {software interrupts}, which are a kind of exception. If an MS-DOS application runs in virtual mode under the control of a protected mode operating system, each call to MS-DOS causes a switch to protected mode. The operating system emulates the MS-DOS service and switches back to the application in virtual mode. From the viewpoint of the application nothing differs from real mode. {Microsoft Windows}, {Windows NT}, and {OS/2} use this feature to implement "DOS-boxes" in which both MS-DOS and real mode {application programs} can run.
wallabies ::: pl. --> of Wallaby
wallaby ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of kangaroos belonging to the genus Halmaturus, native of Australia and Tasmania, especially the smaller species, as the brush kangaroo (H. Bennettii) and the pademelon (H. thetidis). The wallabies chiefly inhabit the wooded district and bushy plains.
Welt (deep): The psychic is often seen as a deep well or abyss into which one plunges.
Wherever opinions differ, it is the Babylonian Talmud that is considered as authoritative for the Jews.
Wide SCSI "hardware, standard" A variant on the {SCSI-2} interface. It uses a 16-bit bus - double the width of the original {SCSI}-1 - and therefore cannot be connected to a SCSI-1 bus. It supports transfer rates up to 20 MB/s, like {Fast SCSI}. There is also a SCSI-2 definition of Wide-SCSI with a 32 bit data bus. This allows up to 40 megabytes per second but is very rarely used because it requires a large number of wires (118 wires on two connectors). Thus Wide SCSI usually means 16 bit-wide SCSI. (1995-04-21)
winchester "hardware" An informal generic term for floating head {magnetic disk} drives in which the read-write head planes over the disk surface on an air cushion. The name arose because the original 1973 engineering prototype for what later became the {IBM 3340} featured two 30-megabyte volumes; 30--30 became "Winchester" when somebody noticed the similarity to the common term for a famous Winchester rifle (in the latter, the first 30 referred to caliber and the second to the grain weight of the charge). [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-06)
World-Wide Web "web, networking, hypertext" (WWW, W3, the web) A {client-server} {hypertext} distributed information retrieval system, often referred to as "The Internet" though strictly speaking, the Internet is the network and the web is just one use of the network (others being {e-mail}, {DNS}, {SSH}). Basically, the web consists of documents or {web pages} in {HTML} format (a kind of {hypertext}), each of which has a unique {URL} or "web address". {Links} in a page are URLs of other pages which may be part of the same {website} or a page on another site on a different {web server} anywhere on the {Internet}. As well as HTML pages, a URL may refer to an image, some code ({JavaScript} or {Java}), {CSS}, a {video} stream or other kinds of object. URLs typically start with "http://", indicating that the page needs to be fetched using the {HTTP} {protocol} or or "https://" for the {HTTPS} protocol which {encrypts} the request and the resulting page for security. The URL "scheme" (the bit before the ":") indicates the protocol to use. These include {FTP}, the original protocol for transferring files over the Internet. {RTSP} is a {streaming protocol} that allow a continuous feed of {audio} or {video} from the server to the browser. {Gopher} was a predecessor of HTTP and {Telnet} starts an {interactive} {command-line} session with a remote server. The web is accessed using a {client} program known as a {web browser} that runs on the user's computer. The browser fetches and displays pages and allows the user to follow {links} by clicking on them (or similar action) and to input queries to the server. A variety of browsers are freely available, e.g. {Google Chrome}, {Microsoft} {Internet Explorer}, {Apple} {Safari} and {Mozilla} {Firefox}. Early browsers included {NCSA} {Mosaic} and {Netscape} {Navigator}. Queries can be entered into "forms" which allow the user to enter arbitrary text and select options from customisable menus and other controls. The server processes each request - either a simple URL or data from a form - and returns a response, typically a page of HTML. The World-Wide Web originated from the {CERN} High-Energy Physics laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland. In the early 1990s, the developers at CERN spread word of the Web's capabilities to scientific and academic audiences worldwide. By September 1993, the share of Web traffic traversing the {NSFNET} {Internet} {backbone} reached 75 {gigabytes} per month or one percent. By July 1994 it was one {terabyte} per month. The {World Wide Web Consortium} is the main standards body for the web. Following the widespread availability of web browsers and servers from about 1995, organisations started using the same software and protocols on their own private internal {TCP/IP} networks giving rise to the term "{intranet}". {This dictionary} is accessible via the Web at {(http://foldoc.org/)}. {An article by John December (http://sunsite.unc.edu/cmc/mag/1994/oct/webip.html)}. {W3 servers, clients and tools (http://w3.org/Status.html)}. (2017-11-01)
yottabyte "unit, data" (YB) A unit of {data} equal to 10^24 {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. A yottabyte is 1000^8 bytes or 1000 {zettabytes}. It is estimated that the {web} contains about one yottabyte of data (2013). 1000 yottabytes has been called one {brontobyte}. See {prefix}. (2013-11-04)
zebub ::: n. --> A large noxious fly of Abyssinia, which like the tsetse fly, is destructive to cattle.
zettabyte "unit, data" (ZB) A unit of {data} equal to 10^21 {bytes} but see {binary prefix} for other definitions. A zetabyte is 1000^7 bytes or 1000 {exabytes}. 1000 zettabytes are one {yottabyte}. See {prefix}. (2013-11-04)
Zilog Z80 "processor" An 8-bit {microprocessor}. It was released in July 1976 with a 2.5 MHz {clock rate}. The Z80 was a much improved {Intel 8080} (as was the {Intel 8085}). It also used 8-bit data and 16-bit addressing, and could execute all of the {8080} {op codes} as well as 80 new ones, instructions that included 1, 4, 8 and 16-bit operations and even block move and block I/O instructions. The {register set} was doubled, with two banks of registers (including A and F) that could be switched between. This allowed fast {operating system} or {interrupt} {context switch}es. It features 3 types of interrupt mode. The Z80 also added two {index registers} (IX and IY) and relocatable {vectored interrupts} (via the 8-bit IV register). Like many processors (including the {8085}), the Z80 featured many undocumented op codes. Chip area near the edge was used for added instructions, but fabrication made the failure of these high. Instructions that often failed were just not documented, increasing chip yield. Later fabrication made these more reliable. The thing that really made the Z80 popular was the memory interface - the CPU generated it's own {RAM} {refresh} signals, which meant easier design and lower system cost. That and its {8080} compatibility and {CP/M}, the first standard {microprocessor} {operating system}, made it the first choice of many systems. In addition to the original Z80 (2.5 MHz) there are the {Zilog Z80A} (4 MHz), {Zilog Z80B} (6MHz) and {Zilog Z80H} (8 MHz) versions. The popular {Hitachi HD64180} processor family adds peripherals and an {MMU} to the Z80. The {Zilog Z280} was an enhanced version with an {MMU} and many new {op codes}. The Z80 was used in the first {Nintendo} {Game Boy}. A {Sharp} Z80 work-alike was used in the {GameBoy Color}, running at 4 MHz for GameBoy software or at 8 MHz for Game Boy Color software. The Z80 was used in the {Sega Master System} and the {Game Gear}. It was also used in the {Sega Genesis} for hardware reverse compatibility with the Sega Master System through a special cartridge. {Gaby Chaudry site (http://gaby.de/z80/)}. (2004-06-10)
zimb ::: n. --> A large, venomous, two-winged fly, native of Abyssinia. It is allied to the tsetse fly, and, like the latter, is destructive to cattle.
Zip Drive "hardware, storage" A {disk drive} from {Iomega Corporation} which takes removable {hard disks} storig 100 to 750 {megabytes}. Both internal and external drives are manufactured, making the drive suitable for {backup}, mass storage or for moving files between computers. Software is included to help with file organisation. The internal {SCSI} model offers up to 60 MB / minute transfer rate. The Zip drive was awarded {Byte}'s Readers' {Hardware Choice Award 1996 (http://byte.com/art/9607/sec11/art1.htm)}. It was superceded by the {Jaz} drive which takes one {gigbyte} disks. (2008-01-21)
KEYS (10k)
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
11 Kristen Ashley
11 John Green
4 Anonymous
3 Liu Cixin
3 Ernest Hemingway
2 Toba Beta
2 Stylo Fantome
2 Stephen King
2 Rachel Ren e Russell
2 Lil Wayne
2 Lady Gaga
2 Kresley Cole
2 Judy Blume
2 Jodi Ellen Malpas
2 Joan Rivers
2 Colleen Hoover
2 Babyface
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Vicky, aby se o ně s Holly ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
2:If you give a party, you better give it right. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
3:I enjoy the burger joint the same way I enjoy fancy meals. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
4:I like '50s and '60s American art. I have 85 or 90 Warhols. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
5:Nikdy jsem nedopustil, aby škola stála v mé cestě za vzděláním. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
6:Nechci, aby naši muži trpěli pocitem osobní zodpovědnosti. ~ Jonathan Littell, #NFDB
7:tí praví ti nestoja v ceste
urobia ti miesto
aby si mohla vykročiť ~ Rupi Kaur,#NFDB
8:A lidé poslouchají, aby nemusili mluvit, nebo mluví, aby nemusili poslouchat; ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
9:Není nic těžšího než vyjádřit významnou myšlenku tak, aby jí každý rozuměl. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #NFDB
10:Jeśli prawo ma dotyczyć człowieka, to je tak interpretuj, aby człowiekowi służyło jak najlepiej. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
11:Człowiek nie musi żyć wśród mętów społeczeństwa, aby nie usłyszeć nic o mętach towarzystwa. ~ Ford Madox Ford, #NFDB
12:Ženská rovnoprávnost ještě nedošla k tomu, aby se vyskytly vtipy o tchyních ze stanoviska snach. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
13:Every generation", Aby Warburg mused long ago, "gets the Renaissance of Antiquity that it deserves. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
14:Kto kradnie, niech kraść przestanie i raczej ciężko pracuje, aby miał z czego wspierać potrzebujących. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
15:Ti lidi tam dole jsou dost chudí, dost vyplašení a dost nevědomí, aby měli trochu zdravýho rozumu! ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
16:I understand entertaining. You want people to walk out saying, I spent a night with interesting people. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
17:Každá stránka Zinkových chlapců volá: lidé, nedopusťte, aby se tento krvavý zlý sen opakoval! ~ Svetlana Alexievich, #NFDB
18:Když ale moudrost nemá dost sil na to, aby zajistila dobro, dělá to jediné, co může - oddaluje zlo. ~ Fazil Iskander, #NFDB
19:Víte přece, co říkal Salvor Hardin: Nesmíte nikdy dopustit, aby vám smysl pro morálku zabránil vykonat správnou věc. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
20:Přesto si Wild nedělá ani naděje, ani nároky na to, aby ho jmenovali vedoucím skupiny. Rád stojí ve druhé řadě. ~ Reinhold Messner, #NFDB
21:Starý král mi kdysi řekl, že bohové dali lidem smysl pro humor, aby jim vynahradili to, že jim nejdřív dali sex. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
22:Jeśli w Londynie obawiają się, że wpuścimy wroga tam tylko po to, aby wpadł w pułapkę, to ta obawa jest nieuzasadniona. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
23:Nemůžeme ptákům žalu zabránit, aby nám prolétli životem, ale nemusíme jim dovolit, aby se nám uhnízdili ve vlasech! ~ Steve Biddulph, #NFDB
24:(…) hrůza se ze všech emocí, co jich na světě je, nejvíc vzpírá tomu, aby si ji člověk dokázal udržet déle než okamžik. ~ Zadie Smith, #NFDB
25:Pamiętaj o zdrowiu - pijaj wino dobre - człowiek naszego czasu powinien się już nieraz napić wina, aby był trzeźwym ~ Cyprian Kamil Norwid, #NFDB
26:I could go out to five parties a day if I wanted to. I don't. I have attachments to my wife and kids - and about 20 pieces of art. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
27:Zastanawiałem się czasem, czy moja twórczość nie jest aby adresowana do idiotów? Nie żebym na to mógł cokolwiek poradzić... ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
28:Vzduch venku byl kapalného skupenství. Černá, antracitová voda, vybízející k tomu, aby jí člověk položil ruku na hřbet a pohladil ji. ~ Roberto Bola o, #NFDB
29:Aby zatem odnaleźć zwłoki, musimy nocą przemknąć się „przez linie". Jest to dzieło popiołów. Wymaga ono sprytu i zręczności. Wymaga ono pomocy Boga. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
30:Precítenie bolesti nás oslobodí, aby sme mohli pocítiť radosť z toho, že sme ľudskými bytosťami. Bez hrozby utrpenia nemôžeme zažiť pravú radosť. ~ Neal Shusterman, #NFDB
31:Fantazie na polonézu byla pouhou záminkou, aby se ve světě uvolnili síly, které rozhýbou a vyhodí do povětří všechno, co lidský řád tak pečlivě skrývá. ~ S ndor M rai, #NFDB
32:Litość została stworzona po to, aby ponaglać radość do niesienia pomocy zrozpaczonym, ale można też zrobić z niej zły użytek, zrobić z niej na rzędzie szantażu. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
33:Wątpliwe, aby świat miał sens; jeszcze bardziej wątpliwe, aby miał sens podwójny lub potrójny, zauważy niedowiarek. Ja sądzę, że tak właśnie jest; (...). ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #NFDB
34:Donald Tusk w Bartoszycach. Apelował do mieszkańców, aby z powodu kryzysu ukraińskiego nie okazywali niechęci Rosjanom przyjeżdżającym z obwodu kaliningradzkiego. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
35:Moje dziecko, aby dać sobie radę z ludźmi, trzeba mieć za sobą kobiety; aby mieć za sobą kobiety, trzeba je znać. Wiedz zatem, że wszystkie kobiety są fałszywe i kurwy. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
36:A naprzód idą dworscy urzędnicy:
Ten w futrze ciepłem, lecz na wpół odkrytem,
Aby widziano jego krzyżów cztery;
Zmarznie, lecz wszystkim pokaże ordery,(...). ~ Adam Mickiewicz,#NFDB
37:Sędzia śledczy Bernis, dusza towarzystwa, chwacki tancerz i moralna szmata, gnuśniał tu i z nudów układał niemieckie wiersze do pamiętników, aby zawsze mieć coś na podorędziu ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
38:Lístek byl napsán velmi špatným jazykem, jak to u většiny lidových jídelen bývá. Je to proto, aby byli hosté ukolébáni falešným přesvědčením o své nadřazené inteligenci. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
39:Aby mieć u czytelników powodzenie, trzeba albo umrzeć, albo być obcokrajowcem, albo pisać perwersyjnie. Najlepszy zaś sposób to być zagranicznym perwersyjnym nieboszczykiem. ~ Julian Tuwim, #NFDB
40:Boże, użycz mi pogody ducha, abym godził się z tym, czego nie mogę zmienić, odwagi, abym zmieniał to, co mogę zmienić, i szczęścia, aby mi się jedno z drugim nie popieprzyło. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
41:Bude muset být světová válka, aby si státy mohly rozdělit moře. Ale my zůstaneme neutrální. Někdo přece musí zůstat neutrální, aby dodával zbraně a všecko těm druhým. Tak je to, ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
42:... chciałbym, aby awansował pan do wyższej klasy, klasy posiadaczy kóz, do której - jestem tego pewien - powinien pan należeć. Szczerze mówiąc, sprawia pan wrażenie posiadacza kozy. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
43:I spend time with people who are movers and shakers, and others who are just friends I really care for. Some of them are rich, some of them are poor. I couldn't care less. I'm not a snob. ~ Aby Rosen, #NFDB
44:Góral chciałby najpierw „połknąć” kolejną firmę, aby Asseco było jeszcze większe. Mówi o fuzji „na partnerskich warunkach, w których kluczowe role odgrywaliby również polscy menedżerowie”. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
45:Już żyjący w XVIII wieku amerykański prezydent Benjamin Franklin przestrzegał: „Trzeba dokonać wielu dobrych czynów, aby zbudować dobrą reputację, ale wystarczy jeden zły, aby ją stracić”. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
46:A nie dumaj aby, że ja z tych, co to ino skiń na nie, a one już gotowe spermiencje jakieś na sianie wyczyniać. Ale co wiem, to wiem. Jeśli się chłopa kocha, to całego, a nie we fragmentach. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
47:Ale rzecz główna, aby każdy był sobą, a nie udawał kogoś, kim nie jest, nie grał całe życie często wstrętnej mu, narzuconej przez wychowanie i tradycję, nie pasującej doń roli. ~ Stanis aw Ignacy Witkiewicz, #NFDB
48:Radujte se – to netřeba říkati; ale radujte se tak, aby radost vaše byla hodna tří set let čekání, aby vyvážila třistaleté utrpení vašich otců, aby byla velikou a krásnou událostí našich dějin. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
49:Jesteśmy uwięzieni w stereotypach. Wciąż się oglądamy za siebie, czy aby idziemy kupą. W końcu łatwiej pytać, czy ze mnie Europejczyk, czy Polak, a trudniej, czy aby nie jełop albo i świnia. ~ Andrzej Stasiuk, #NFDB
50:Pro člověka je dokonce velmi špatné, nemůže-li přistupovat k záhadě bytí nejprve citem. Je proto nutné, aby vychovatel měl pro všechny přírodní zákony a tajemství světa k dispozici podobenství. ~ Rudolf Steiner, #NFDB
51:Kedykoľvek by si šiel spochybňovať svoju vlastnú hodnotu, spomeň si na lotosový kvet. Aj keď sa vynára do života spopod bahna, nedovolí nánosom, ktoré ho obklopujú, aby ovplyvnili jeho rast alebo krásu. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
52:Młodość nie jest tak pociągająca jak się panu wydaje. Młodość to zmarnowany czas. Zmarnowany na złudzenia. Jakby życie ofiarując nam młodość, zadrwiło z nas, aby tym dotkliwiej nas potem doświadczyć. ~ Wies aw My liwski, #NFDB
53:Dala by som čokoľvek, keby na miesto toho, aby som bola stosedemdesiatpäť centimetrov vysokou princeznou s plochou hrudou, som mohla byť stošesťdesiaťpäť centimetrovým normálnym dievčaťom s prsiami. ČOKOĽVEK. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
54:Gideon mě téměř nepozorovane navedl dál do rohu, aby mezi námi a návštěvníky stál písací stůl, což mě moc neuklidnilo, protože se jednalo o nanejvýš křehký rokokový model. Rustikální dub by mi byl milejší. ~ Kerstin Gier, #NFDB
55:Myślała o tym, że spotkała – zupełnie przypadkowo – niezwykłego człowieka. Że chciałaby, aby był na zawsze. Na wieczność. Czuła się przy nim tak wyróżniona i tak jedyna jak przy nikim na świecie. ~ Janusz Leon Wi niewski, #NFDB
56:Niewykluczone jednak, że po prostu ciało i rozkosz kobiety wydawało mu się jeszcze jedną wspaniałą potrawą, a jak każdy smakosz czuł przerażenie na myśl, aby jeść zawsze to samo na śniadanie. obiad i kolację. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
57:Sam vstala. „To nic není, opravdu!“ ujišťovala ho. „Jsem v pořádku!“ A aby dokázala, že tomu tak opravdu je, prostrčila několikrát pěst otvorem tam a zase zpátky, poskočila a tleskla rukama nad hlavou. Saniťák omdlel. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
58:Končím bez potlesku
ráno mne uvidíte
jak krmím racky nad řekou svým povídáním
a plivaje na oblohu dělám obláčky
neboť božský měsíc
má kocovinu
a je potřeba aby to někdo udělal
než pojedou lidé do práce ~ V clav Hrab,#NFDB
59:Sadista se chce stát pánem života, a proto je nutné, aby jeho oběť žila. To ho právě odlišuje od destruktivního člověka. Ten chce druhého člověka odstranit, usmrtit, chce zničit samotný život, chce život ovládat a přiškrcovat. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
60:Existují-li liberálové, kteří považují za slučitelné se svým liberalismem, aby se zasadili dokonce za zestátnění železnic, dolů a jiných podniků anebo za ochranná cla, poznáme snadno, že z liberalismu přetrvává pouze název. ~ Ludwig von Mises, #NFDB
61:Ničeho člověk nehájí horlivěji a usilovněji než pochybné pravdy, nejspíš aby přehlušil tu nespokojenou a trýznivou předtuchu, že to má ránu. Na ničem člověk netrvá tak houževnatě jako na věcech, o kterých v nitru není přesvědčen. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
62:Žádná společnost nikdy neměla sílu, žádný vůdce odolnost a žádná víra energii nutnou k tomu, aby své zákony prosadila trvale na celém světě. Univerzální moc se prokázala jako nedosažitelná a islám v tomto bodě není výjimkou. ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
63:Olga obróciła spojrzenie o parę stopni w bok i nagle dostrzegła Jeda, stojącego nieruchomo w tłumie gości. Czasem kilka sekund wystarcza, aby nie tyle zdecydować o całym życiu, ile określić charakter jego głównego kierunku. ~ Michel Houellebecq, #NFDB
64:Obličeje se v něčem podobají dlaním. Spíš než aby nám byla jejich podoba beze zbytku vrozená, je postupně, jak plyne čas, utvářena vlivem toho prostředí, v kterém se právě kdo z nás nachází. Každý exemplář je pak jedinečný unikát. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
65:Milovaný chce bejt úplně všecko. Zpíváme, tancujem, pitvoříme se, dáváme si kytky a to všecko v naději že nás někdo bude mít rád. Všimla sis někdy že stromy dělaj přesně to samý co my aby na sebe upozornily? Teda až na to že nechoděj. ~ Alice Walker, #NFDB
66:Možno by som si mala samovraždu naplánovať tak, aby sa stretávka a môj pohreb konali v rovnakom čase. Pozrela som sa do kalendára. Nie, tak dlho určite nevydržím čakať. Teraz máme koniec apríla, rada by som to mala čo najskôr za sebou. ~ Kerstin Gier, #NFDB
67:Netoužím po tom, aby někdo žil podle mě, ale stejně tak nehodlám žít podle někoho jiného. Nebudu své názory měnit jenom proto, že si někdo myslí, že když se světem žene revoluce, která je mu názorově blízká, musí se všichni přizpůsobit. ~ Erik Tabery, #NFDB
68:Taký brak odmietam písať! Vrátim sa a poviem mu, aby si veľmi rýchlo urobil magickú cesnakovú omeletu, inak mu prehryznem krčnú tepnu" - tá predstava ma tak vyviedla z miery, že som iba dodala: "A potom... potom pôjdem domov alebo čo.. ~ Kerstin Gier, #NFDB
69:Harry úplně ztratil řeč: Hermiona byla poslední, od koho by čekal sebemenší překročení školního řádu, a teď tu stála a tvrdila, že ho porušila, jen aby jeho a Rona dostala z maléru; asi jako kdyby jim Snape zničehonic začal rozdávat cukroví. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
70:Je-li v takovéto atmosféře lásky možné napodobování zdravých vzorů, pak je dítě ve svém správném elementu. Mělo by se proto přísně dohlížet na to, aby se v okolí dítěte nedělo nic, o čem bychom pak museli dítěti říkat: "To nesmíš dělat! ~ Rudolf Steiner, #NFDB
71:Lubił rozmawiać z kobietami. Bardziej niż z mężczyznami. Kobiety nie dążyły tak usilnie do tego, aby na końcu mieć rację, gdy jej nie miały. To prawda, że kobiety mówią o wiele więcej niż mężczyźni. Ale gdy już przestaną, to słuchają i słyszą. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
72:Musíme si uvedomiť, že kresťanská meditácia nad Slovom, na rozdieľ od pohanskej meditácii je meditovanie nahlas, aby sme sa počuli. Nahlas meditovanie prináša Slovo do ducha, na druhej strane mlčanlivé meditovanie zostáva len v duši (v hlave). ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
73:By krzewić umiarkowanie w jedzeniu, jako rzecz pożyteczną, prawodawca obmyślił wiele środków ku temu zmierzających, podobnie jak i dla odciągnięcia [mężczyzn] od kobiet, aby zbyt wiele dzieci nie płodzili, zaprowadził stosunki między mężczyznami; ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
74:ABYSM (ABY'SM) n.s.[abysme, old Fr. now written contractedly abîme.]A gulf; the same with abyss. My good stars, that were my former guides,Have empty left their orbs, and shot their firesInto the abysm of hell.Shakespeare’sAntony and Cleopatra. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
75:Já jen pevně doufám, že tento ukrajinský alarmující a urgentní "budíček" Evropou zatřese, aby si uvědomila, že bezpečnost není zdarma. Že není možné chtít jen nejlevnější věci, nejlevnější plyn a energie a zároveň si nenechat vzít vlastní bezpečnost... ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
76:Należy bowiem pamiętać, że ludzi trzeba albo potraktować łagodnie albo wygubić, gdyż mszczą się za błahe krzywdy, za ciężkie zaś nie mogą. Przeto gdy się krzywdzi człowieka, należy czynić to w ten sposób, aby nie trzeba było obawiać się zemsty. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
77:Nikdy jsem nemyslil, že svoboda člověka by záležela v tom, aby dělal, co chce, nýbrž spíš, aby nikdy nedělal, co nechce, a to je svoboda, jíž jsem se vždy dovolával, často ji zachovával a pro kterou jsem byl nejvíce svým vrstevníkům k pohoršení ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, #NFDB
78:Aby Warburg est ainsi à l’origine d’un fonds bibliophilique inouï. Il a des théories sur le rangement des livres. Notamment celle du bon voisinage. Le livre que l’on cherche n’est pas forcément celui que l’on doit lire. Il faut regarder celui d’à côté. ~ David Foenkinos, #NFDB
79:- Świadomość tego, co cię spotyka, sprawi mi ból niezależnie od tego, gdzie będę. (…) Wiesz, że gdybym mogła, poprosiłabym, aby bat spadł raczej na moje ciało.
- A ty wiesz – ucałował ją w oba policzki – że nie pozwoliłbym ci zająć mego miejsca. ~ Christopher Paolini,#NFDB
80:Bůh není nějaký kriminálník, který podvádí v kartách. Chce, abychom se jeho zákony řídili svobodně, z vlastní vůle. Ani Bůh nedokáže nakreslit kulatý čtverec. Bůh je osamělý - chce, aby si lidé poslušnost sami zvolili, a ne aby k ní byli přinuceni strachem. ~ Paul Hoffman, #NFDB
81:Wyrażając to inaczej, plany pacjentów zostały stworzone wokół punktów krytycznych — chwil, o których wiedzieli, że ból — a zarazem pokusa, aby zarzucić plany — będą najsilniejsze. Pacjenci mówili sobie, w jaki sposób zamierzają pokonać te najtrudniejsze chwile. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
82:Potrzeba, jedna z najbardziej natrętnych, podczas pisania dość pornograficznej miejscami Pornografii: przepuścić świat przez młodość; przetłumaczyć na język młodości, czyli na język atrakcji... Zmiękczyć go młodością... Zaprawić go młodością - aby dał się zgwałcić... ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
83:Czasem bywa tak, że podziwiamy, bośmy przyzwyczaili się podziwiać, a także dlatego, że nie chcemy popsuć sobie parady. Bywa też, że podziwiamy przez delikatność, aby nie robić przykrości. Na wszelki wypadek doradzam: uderzmy w nich mocno aby zobaczyć, czy się nie przewrócą. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
84:Během let jsem si nadělal spoustu nepřátel. Naučil jsem se jednu věc – nepouštět se do předem prohraného boje. Na druhé straně nesmíte nikdy dopustit, aby člověk, který vás urazil, beztrestně vyklouzl. Vyčkejte času, a aţ budete zase na koni, tak mu to vraťte – i kdyţ uţ nebudete muset. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
85:Obyczaje w przedwojennych warszawskich kawiarniach. Gdy kelner przyjął zamówienie, szedł do kuchni i prosił o wydanie. Całość... kupował od firmy. Na koniec dnia kelner płacił za to, co zamówił dla gości. I na jego głowie było, aby odzyskać od nich pieniądze, oczywiście z sutym napiwkiem ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
86:w sobie awanturniczego i niespokojnego ducha. Podczas kolacji Tomek kradł cukier, ilekroć tylko nadarzyła się sposobność, zaś ciotka Polly zadawała mu podstępne i zdradzieckie pytania, aby wyciągnąć z niego kompromitujące zeznania. Jak wszyscy ludzie prostoduszni, uważała się za mistrzynię ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
87:Co si myslíš, že jsou špióni? Knězi, svatí a mučedníci? Je to ubohá banda ztracených bláznů, taky zrádců, teploušů, sadistů a opilců. Jsou to lidi, kteří si hrají na kovboje a indiány, aby si zpestřili své šedivé životy. Myslíš si, že sedí v Londýně jako mniši a ustaraně zvažují dobro a zlo? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
88:Ve své knize Šok z budoucnosti z roku 1970 předpovídá Alvin Toffler některé důsledky jevu, který označuje jako „zahlcení informacemi“. Podle jeho názoru bude naším obranným mechanismem zjednodušování světa tak, aby vyhovoval našim předsudkům, ačkoli on sám se stává různorodější a složitější. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
89:Zaczyna się od uczenia na pamięć bardzo słabego wierszyka Konopnickiej pod tytułem Rota: „Nie będzie Niemiec pluł nam w twarz”. Jest to dość minimalne jako program polityczny, oznacza to bowiem, że każdy inny może nam pluć w twarz, aby nie Niemiec, i że Niemiec też może pluć, aby nie w twarz. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
90:Someone called out the name Becca, and she waved at them. She said to me, pointing over her shoulder, “My friends are calling. See you tomorrow.”
Aby waved, and I was left with another discovery.
I half-whispered to myself, “Her name isn’t actually Becs?” That made a whole lot more sense. ~ Tijan,#NFDB
91:Odkąd chrześcijaństwo wniosło swój wkład w rozwój cywilizacji w Rzymie, zamiast centuriona pojawiającego się na polecenie tyrana, aby rzec: "Cesarz pragnie, abyś umarł", przybywał legat, który z promiennym uśmiechem oznajmiał ci polecenie papieża: "Jego Świątobliwość pragnie, abyś przybył do niego na ucztę". ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
92:Co jsme vlastně zač? Proč je možné s námi provádět, co se komu zlíbí? Vrátit matce místo syna zinkovou rakev a pak ji přesvědčit, aby žalovala spisovatelku, která napsala, jak ona nemohla svého syna na rozloučenou ani políbit a jak výtažkem z bylin omývala a poté hladila jen zinkový plech… Co jsme to za lidi? ~ Svetlana Alexievich, #NFDB
93:Oba byli dost moudří na to, aby se těmto tématům vyhýbali. Vyvarovávali se rozhovorů, o nichž věděli, že by se při nich neshodli, protože oba vyrostli v různých vírách v Boha a v lidskou duši. Spokojili se s tím, že se vyhnuli ošidným diskusím a sdíleli své přátelství jako dva rozumní lidé, lékaři a nyní i vojáci. Když ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
94:Głównym wrogiem Wesaliusza był jego dawny nauczyciel Sylwiusz, podobno tak złośliwy, że uśmiechnął się tylko w dzień śmierci swojego kota. Ów Sylwiusz napisał o swoim uczniu: „Łatwiej byłoby wysprzątać stajnie Augiasza, niż pozbyć się tego potwora, powstrzymać go, aby nie skaził reszty Europy swym zabójczym tchnieniem”. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
95:Není pravda, že osud vstupuje slepě do našich životú. Osud vstupuje dovnitř dvěřmi, které mu my otevřeme, a pobídneme jej, aby vešel. Žádný člověk není dostatečně silný a moudrý na to, aby slovel anebo činem zamezil přístupu tomu neblahému údelu, který se železnou zákonitostí vyplývá z jeho povahy, z jeho charakteru. ~ S ndor M rai, #NFDB
96:Ograniczył rozrost swojego przedsiębiorstwa do maksymalnie pięciu procent w skali roku, zobowiązał się do ekologicznego gospodarowania i zrezygnował z zaciągania długów, aby być niezależnym od banków. To się opłaciło: w 2008 roku, w okresie kryzysu finansowego, „Patagonia” miała najlepszy rok biznesowy w swojej historii. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
97:Po to, aby być Szkotem, Neapolitańczykiem albo protestanckim Niemcem, nie wystarczy wyglądać, zachowywać się, a nawet posiadać wewnętrzne cechy charakterystyczne danego typu. Trzeba jeszcze chcieć być i przynależeć, i ta podważana przez różne nacjonalistyczne teorie okoliczność decyduje, moim zdaniem, o narodowych różnicach. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
98:Poważne operacje często kończyły się śmiercią pacjenta. Nawet utalentowani chirurdzy potrafili biernie przypatrywać się umierającemu, pozwalając, by spełniła się wola boska. Sprytny chirurg, podejmując się ryzykownego zabiegu, żądał zapłaty z góry, a po operacji przenosił do sąsiedniej wioski, aby nie zasiedzieć się w gościnie. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
99:Komplexy jsou zpravidla nevědomé a nevědomé většinou zůstávají. Pak je často projikujeme mimo nás. Projekce je součástí obranných mechanizmů, které naše já používá, aby se chránilo před pocity, které by je mohly narušit. Projikuje je tak na druhé a to tak dobře, že obviňujeme ostatní z nedostatků, které jsou součástí našeho nevědomí. ~ Guy Corneau, #NFDB
100:Smutno się robi na tę myśl, ale bez wątpienia geniusz trwa dłużej niż piękność. To wyjaśnia fakt, dlaczego wszyscy zadajemy sobie tyle trudu, aby się stać jak najbardziej wykształconymi. W dzikiej walce o byt potrzeba nam czegoś, co trwa, i dlatego zapełniamy sobie umysł rupieciami i faktami, w głupiej nadziei utrzymania się na poziomie. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
101:Schopnost evokovat Hitlera, Osvětim nebo Mnichov má své přednosti: alespoň se tak současnost dovolává minulosti, místo aby ji zcela ignorovala. Dnes to činíme amatérsky a stále více způsobem, kterým sami sobě škodíme, ale aspoň to děláme. Nemáme se těchto aktivit vzdát, nýbrž provádět je s vyšší mírou historické informovanosti a vnímavosti. ~ Tony Judt, #NFDB
102:Ci, którzy mówią: „Aby nakarmić świat, musimy zacząć produkować więcej jedzenia” mylą się w ocenie problemu. Jeśli nie możemy poradzić sobie z głodem w kraju, w którym na osobę jest dostępnych więcej kalorii, niż kiedykolwiek przedtem w historii ludzkości, to najwyraźniej coś jest nie tak, jednak nie chodzi tu o produkcję, ale o dystrybucję. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
103:Už jsem jednou mrtvýho člověka viděl. Bylo to tam, jak jsme bydleli, na trhu v Kaneši. Paní, co tam prodávala pomeranče, srazil minibus; neviděl ho přijíždět nikdo. já si představoval, že ty pomeranče, který se rozklutálely po zemi, jsou její šťastný vzpomínky a že hledají někoho jinýho, na koho by se mohly přilepit, aby nepřišly vniveč. ~ Stephen Kelman, #NFDB
104:I rzeczywiście partyjny światopogląd najłatwiej dawał się wpoić ludziom o zbyt ograniczonej inteligencji, aby go mogli pojąć. Bez protestu akceptowali nawet najjaskrawsze wypaczenia rzeczywistości, bo nie rozumieli w pełni potworności tego, czego od nich żądano, a ponadto zbyt mało interesowali się aktualnymi wydarzeniami, aby zdawać sobie sprawę z grozy sytuacji. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
105:Polakom ubliżałoby to, aby tyle sensu politycznego mieli, żeby stworzyć sobie partię swą w Rosji, z którą graniczyć na wiek wieków muszą: albowiem Polacy rachują raczej na (jak to mówią) poświęcenie krwi pokoleń co piętnaście lat - na periodyczną rzeź niewiniątek, aż Bóg z obłoków wyjrzy, co też i prorocy polscy zapowiedzieli dawno - WIEDZĄC, CO NASTĄPI. ~ Cyprian Kamil Norwid, #NFDB
106:W sprawach dotyczących zdrowia i diety radziła, aby niewiasta, która jest zbyt otyła, by mieć dzieci, nasmarowała się obficie pastą z krowiego łajna oraz „dobrego wina”, a potem usiadła w gorącej saunie i pozostała tam tak długo, aż zrobi się zielona. Równie otyły mąż lub narzeczony miał obtoczyć się w takiej samej miksturze, a potem zagrzebać w piasku nad oceanem. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
107:Nauczyciele, wychowawcy, kierownicy duchowi? W istocie, oni nauczyli czytelnika polskiego tej prawdy o literaturze, że ona jest czymś w rodzaju szkolnych wypracowań, pisanych po to aby belfer mógł postawić stopień [...] Są to mistrzowie trywializacji, artyści w przemienianiu ostrego życia w nudną papkę, gdzie wszystko jest mnie więcej równie mierne i nieważne. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
108:Heisenbergův princip neurčitosti lze přeformulovat i tak, aby zněl, že je nemožné zároveň změřit energii částice a časový interval její existence. Z toho vyplývá, že pokud budeme uvažovat o dění v jisté oblasti prázdného prostoru ve velmi malém časovém intervalu, bude panovat značná nejistota ohledně energie tohoto prostoru. Jinými slovy, energie se může zrodit z ničeho! ~ Marcus Chown, #NFDB
109:Inicjatorom bitwy o Powązki można pozazdrościć, że nie mają większych zmartwień. Czy np. pochowani na Powązkach Maja Berezowska i Julian Tuwim zasługują na ten zaszczyt? Wszak Berezowska odwracała uwagę od radzieckiej okupacji, a Tuwim w pewnym okresie wyraźnie komunizował. Minister Siemoniak radzi, aby w przypadkach wątpliwych zasięgać opinii urzędów centralnych, m.in. IPN. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
110:Slova nebyla nudná, slova byla věcmi, které dokázaly přinutit vaši mysl, aby se hýbala. Když jste je četli a nechali se prostoupit tím kouzlem, mohli jste žít bez bolesti, s nadějí, bez ohledu na to, co se vám přihodilo... Četl jsem své knihy po nocích, takhle pod přikrývkou s přehrátou stolní lampou. Četl jsem všechny ty dobré řádky, zatímco jsem se dusil. Bylo to kouzelné. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
111:Recepční nevěděl, zda se host nachází ve svém pokoji nebo třeba v jiné části hotelu, nabídl se však, že to zjistí. Což mu přísně zakázal a nařídil mu, aby se věnoval obvyklým činnostem a tvářil se jakoby nic, protože jinak by on sám nebo někdo jiný mohl přijít k úhoně. Pohled na sedm po zuby ozbrojených černooděnců však pravděpodobně část úkolu zvanou „tvářit se jakoby nic“ recepčnímu ztížil. ~ Jo Nesb, #NFDB
112:Zalecam siedem albo osiem małych kawałków żelaza naszykować, rozmiaru sążnia. Ułożone na tyle, wypalają hemoroidy, nie pozostawiając żadnych niewypalonych, jako że wypalić należy je wszystkie. Kiedy żegadło jest przykładane do chorego, jego głowę i ręce trzymać należy, aby nie mógł się poruszyć, choć krzyczeć powinien... Nasmarować miodem i przyłożyć; gąbkę przycisnąć na tyle, na ile można. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
113:CHŁOPIEC WOŹNICA do tłumu
Najsutsze dłoni mojej dary,
Patrzcie! Rozsiałem w krąg, bez miary.
Na tym i owym łbie się żarzy
Płomyczek, który samem zażegł,
Tu i tam skacze po czuprynie,
Tej się uczepi, z tamtej spłynie,
Lecz wzwyż nieczęsto strzeli jaśniej,
Aby w rozkwicie krótkim zalśnić.
U wielu zaś, nim go kto pozna,
Wygasa w smęt zetlały do cna. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,#NFDB
114:Ser Gregor máchl mečem se vší svou divošskou silou. Rudá zmije se vrhl stranou, odkulil se před ním. Nebohý pacholek za ním tak rychlý nebyl, když zvedl paži, aby si ochránil tvář, Gregorův meč mu ji uťal mezi loktem a ramenem. „Zavři HUBU!“ zavyl Hora v odpověď na chlapcův výkřik, sekl mečem bočně a uťal chlapci horní polovinu hlavy, která se ve sprše krve a mozkové hmoty rozlétla přes nádvoří. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
115:Kryzys intelektualny jaki przeżywamy, nie tyle może należy przypisywać zwątpieniu w siłę rozumu, ile temu, że jego zasięg jest tak nieznaczny. Z przerażeniem ujrzeliśmy, że otacza nas milionowy bezmiar umysłów ciemnych, które porywają nam prawdy nasze, aby je paczyć, pomniejszać, przerabiać na narzędzie swoich namiętności; i odkryliśmy, że ilość ludzi jest bardziej decydująca niż jakoś prawd. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
116:Kryzys intelektualny jaki przeżywamy, nie tyle może należy przypisywać zwątpieniu w siłę rozumu, ile temu, że jego zasięg jest tak nieznaczny. Z przerażeniem ujrzeliśmy, że otacza nas milionowy bezmiar umysłów ciemnych, które porywają nam prawdy nasze, aby je paczyć, pomniejszać, przerabiać na narzędzie swoich namiętności; i odkryliśmy, że ilość ludzi jest bardziej decydująca niż jakość prawd. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
117:Choćby otaczał nas ocean zła, będą z niego wystawać zielone i żyzne wysepki. Widać je, są na horyzoncie. Nawet najgorsza sytuacja, jeżeli w niej się znajdziemy, rozkłada się na czynniki pierwsze, a wśród nich będą takie, których można się uchwycić, jak gałęzi krzaka rosnącego na brzegu, aby stawić opór wirom ściągającym na dno. Ta szczelina, ta wyspa, ta gałąź utrzymują nas na powierzchni istnienia. ~ Ryszard Kapu ci ski, #NFDB
118:Katon Starszy, wybitny mąż stanu, nie lubił Greków, nie znosił lekarzy, a już szczególnie nienawidził greckich medyków. Tak mówił o Grekach swojemu synowi Markowi: Są zupełnie bezużyteczni. Kiedy ta nacja zaleje nas swoją literaturą, doprowadzi do powszechnego zepsucia, a jeszcze gorzej będzie, jak podsunie nam swych lekarzy. Zmówili się, aby zgładzić wszystkich obcych [tj. nie-Greków] swoją fizyką [medycyną]. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
119:Podczas pobytu na dworze carycy Katarzyny II wielki szwajcarski matematyk Leonhard Euler wdał się w dyskusję na temat istnienia Boga. Aby pokonać przeciwników, poprosił o tablicę, na której napisał: (x + y)^2 = x^2 + 2xy + y^2, a więc Bóg istnieje! Nie mogąc zakwestionować adekwatności wywodu, którego nie rozumieli, i nie chcąc okazać swojej niewiedzy, oponenci przyjęli ten argument za rozstrzygający. ~ Stanislav Andreski, #NFDB
120:MILAN (CHVÁLA UŽ JEJ MÍRNĚ ŠTVE): No, já se ho ptám, a moc bych si přál, aby odpověděl. CHVÁLA (K VIKTOROVI): Chceš mu odpovědět? MILAN: Díky. VIKTOR: Po pravdě? Tahle práce je pro mě jenom mezizastávka. CHVÁLA (NAŠTVANĚ): Ale… MILAN SE PODÍVÁ NA CHVÁLU. VIKTOR: Práce není složitá. Domů jdu s čistou hlavou. Vlastně je to docela blbárna. CHVÁLA: Táák, možná na tvé úrovni, ale… VIKTOR: Mým největším snem je dělat hudbu – ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
121:Porzućcie zatem owo cackanie się ze sztuką, porzućcie na Boga! - cały ten system wydymania jej, wyolbrzymiania; i zamiast upajać się legendą, pozwólcie, aby fakty was stwarzały. I już to jedno powinno by przysporzyć wam niezłej ulgi, otwierając na was Rzeczywistość - ale zarazem pozbądźcie się leku, że to zuboży wam i skurczy ducha - albowiem Rzeczywistość jest zawsze bogatsza od naiwnych iluzji i kłamliwych fikcji [...]. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
122:Wśród lęku i podejrzeń,
z zamętem w myślach, z trwogą w oczach,
rozpaczliwie szukamy jakichkolwiek sposobów,
aby uniknąć oczywistej grozy,
która jest tuż przed nami.
A jednak się mylimy: nie ma jej na drodze.
Wieści kłamały
(a może ich nie było albośmy ich nie pojęli).
Zupełnie inna klęska, nigdy nie przeczuwana,
nagle jak burza na nas spada
i nie przygotowanych — a czasu już brak — zagarnia. ~ Constantinos P Cavafy,#NFDB
123:Prosím, aby mezi námi nedošlo k nedorozumění: z plna srdce obdivuji Star Trek a Lucasova-Spielbergova epická díla, abych zmínil jen nejvěhlasnější příklady tohoto žánru. Jenže tato díla patří do oblasti fantasy, není to science fiction v přesném smyslu slova. Nyní se zdá téměř jisté, že ve skutečném vesmíru možná nikdy nepřekročíme rychlost světla. Let dokonce i do těch nejbližších hvězdných soustav pokaždé potrvá celá desetiletí anebo staletí. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
124:V kazdom civilizovanom state je bohatstvo posvatne, v demokracii je vsak jedinou posvatnou vecou. Nuz a tucniacky stat bol demokraticky; tri ci styri financne spolocnosti tu mali rozsiahlejsiu, a najma ucinnejsiu a stalejsiu moc nez ministri republiky, mali pani, ktorych tieto spolocnosti tajne riadili a zastrasovanim ci korupciou nutili, aby ich zvyhodnovali na ukor statu -, pokial ministri ostali cestni, ohovarackami ich v tlaci znicili! ~ Anatole France, #NFDB
125:jak stary jest wszechświat. Gdyby spisać jego historię w taki sposób, aby każde stulecie zajmowało jedną stronę, jak gruba byłaby powstała księga? Traktując poważnie poglądy kreacjonistów głoszących ideę „młodej Ziemi”, zmieścilibyśmy całą historię wszechświata w cieniutkiej broszurce. A jaka jest naukowa odpowiedź na to pytanie? Gdybyśmy zachowali tę samą skalę, wszystkie tomy historii wszechświata zapełniłyby półkę o długości piętnastu kilometrów. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
126:(...) kwiaty raniły przechodzące obok twarze. Ponieważ były tak piękne, ponieważ nie straciły blasku krajobrazu, lasów i błoni, i łąk, napawały jedynie smutkiem. Należały do kraju, a kraj był zawsze przeciwieństwem państwa. Kwitły rok w rok, nie potrzebowały niczego, aby rosnąć. Ten upór piękna tuż obok biedy jawił mi się czasami jako obojętność, ignorowanie ludzi.
Jeśli w państwie przeżycie stało się sensem istnienia, piękno kraju jest bólem. ~ Herta M ller,#NFDB
127:S každou vírou je to taková divná a křehoučká věc; jistě lepší a osvícenější je věřit moudře než věřit slepě; ale troufá si někdo říci, že je osvícenější nevěřit vůbec nežli věřit? První možný náboženský pokrok je tolerance, totiž úcta a pozornost ke každé náboženské víře; bezkonfesijní škola je tu proto, aby vychovávala děti v toleranci, ale ne v nevíře; a netolerance bezkonfesijních je stejně neosvícená jako netolerance kteréhokoliv konfesijního popa. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
128:Znova jsem se octl v tom velkoměstě připomínajícím hrobku a byl mi protivný pohled na lidi spěchající ulicemi, aby se navzájem okradli o trochu peněz, aby zhltli hnusoty, které si ukuchtili, vyzunkli nezdravé pivo a snili své hloupé a bezvýznamné sny. Pronikali do mých myšlenek. Byli to vetřelci, jejichž poznání života mi Šlo na nervy jako předstírání něčeho, co neexistuje, neboť jsem s naprostou jistotou cítil, že v žádném případě nemohou znát to, co jsem poznal já. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
129:láska nevyzerá ako človek
láska to sú naše činy
láska to je keď dávame všetko čo máme
hoci len väčší kúsok koláča
láska je keď pochopíš
že máš silu tomu druhému ublížiť
no urobíš všetko pre to
aby si to nespravila
láska to je prejavovať všetku pozornosť akú si zaslúžime
a keď sa zjaví niekto
kto sľúbi že k tebe bude rovnaký
no jeho činy ti skôr ubližujú
namiesto toho aby ťa povznášali
láska je potom schopnosť správne sa rozhodnúť ~ Rupi Kaur,#NFDB
130:Čím dřív si člověk uvědomí, že se s ním nikdo nebude mazlit a že nemůže čekat, aby ho někdo krmil zadarmo a tak, nebo že jeho parchantům někdo poskytne bezplatné vzdělání a co všechno, dokud si na to nevydělá, rozumíš, tím dřív se vrhne do práce a bude vyrábět – vyrábět – vyrábět. To Amerika potřebuje, a ne ty vaše pohádečky, které v dělníkovi jenom oslabují sílu vůle a sugerují jeho parchantům všelijaké myšlenky, které dělné třídě nepříslušejí.
(přel. J. Škvorecký) ~ Sinclair Lewis,#NFDB
131:Steve si myslí, že většina lidí nemá to, co je potřebné, aby se stali podnikateli nebo produktovými manažery. Mluvil o tom, když se pokoušel úspěšně rozjet NeXT. "Mnoho lidí," prohlásil, "ke mně přichází a říká, 'chci se stát podnikatelem'." Když se jich zeptám: "Jakou máte představu?", odpovídají: "Ještě žádnou nemám."
Takovým lidem Steve doporučuje: "Myslím, že byste si měl najít práci sběrače nádobí nebo něco podobného, než si uvědomíte, pro co jste opravdu zapálen. ~ Walter Isaacson,#NFDB
132:Nu už je to venku, řekl jsem si, pravda je zachráněna. Ale hergot, copak je tohle celá pravda? Vždyť všechna tahle odhalení a zklamání, ty trpké pravdy, deziluze a hořké zkušenosti, to je jen ždibec pravdy; celá pravda je větší, celá pravda je, že velká a bláznivá věc je láska, pýcha, vášeň a ctižádost, že každá oběť je hrdinská a že lidský tvor ve vé lásce je něco krásného a úžasného. To je druhá a ta velká půlka pravdy; ale to by člověk musel být básník, aby to dovedl vidět a říci, ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
133:Zbývajících sedmatřicet německých států se seskupilo do entity nazvané Německý spolek, která měla poskytnout odpověď na odvěké evropské dilema: když je Německo slabé, je lákadlem pro cizí – především francouzské – intervence, a když je jednotné, pak má dost síly na to, aby samostatně porazilo své sousedy, a svádí je proto k tomu, aby v reakci na nebezpečí spojili své síly. V tomto smyslu lze tvrdit, že po většinu historie bylo Německo pro mír v Evropě buď příliš slabé, nebo příliš silné. ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
134:Britové napsali před více než sto lety knihu o operacích v Afghánistánu. V dobách jejich impéria. Tvrdili, že když uvažujete o ofenzívě, musíte nejdřív naplánovat nevyhnutelný ústup. A musíte si nechat v zásobě poslední kulku pro sebe, aby vás nechytili živého, zejména aby vás nechytily domorodé ženy. Velitelé rot si tu knihu přečetli. Politickým komisařům ji zakázali. Vysvětlili jim, že Britové neuspěli, protože jejich politika byla chybná. Sovětská ideologie je čistá, takže úspěch je zaručen. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
135:Žádný vůdce nemůže doufat, že se mu podaří, důsledně a bez pomoci dalších osob, přesvědčit všechny členy skupiny. Silný vůdce ovšem může rozumně předpokládat, že přesvědčí určitý rozsáhlejší počet členů skupiny. Pak už pouhá informace, že podstatná část členů skupiny byla přesvědčena, může sama o sobě přesvědčit zbytek. Proto bývají nejvlivnějšími vůdci ti, kdo vědí, jak zařídit, aby podmínky ve skupině umožnily, že princip sociálního schválení bude fungovat co nejvíc v jejich prospěch. ~ Robert B Cialdini, #NFDB
136:není tak daleko od nás, jak povídají tato cizokrajná jména; je blízko, je na dosah našich srdcí a snad, snad i na dosah pomocné ruky; ale rozhodně dosti blízko, aby otřásl naším mozkem a probudil jej z letargie. Člověk dvacátého století nepoloží tváří v tvář této hrůze otázku Bohu, zda je, či není; ale položí otázku lidstvu, zda je, či není; a to je otázka, jež teď, a zvláště teď po světové válce, je hroznější a osudnější, než kdy byla jaká otázka po Bohu. Není to otázka humanity, nýbrž civilizace. ~ Karel apek, #NFDB
137:Odešel rychlým krokem jako muž, který je rád, že unikl dlouhému loučení u dveří. Dívala se za ním, jak se vzdaluje. Cítila, jak v ní narůstá pocit obrovské prázdnoty. Teď už věděla, co to znamená "být sama". Ne "být sama" na placení složenek nebo výchovu dětí, ale "být sama", protože muž, o kterém jste doufali, že vás vezme do náruče, se k vám otočil zády a odchází. Mám radši tu samotu, která se týká placení složenek, povzdechla si a zmáčkla tlačítko, aby přivolala výtah. Člověk aspoň ví, na čem je. ~ Katherine Pancol, #NFDB
138:Nemuseli "uzavírat přátelství" jako jejich vrstevníci při směšných a slavnostních obradech, s důležitou vášnivostí, jako když se mezi lidmi ohlásí vášeň, nevědomky a zmrzačená, kdy člověk poprvé chce odejmout světu tělo a duši jiného člověka, aby patřili jemu, pouze jemu. Toto je smysl lásky a přátelství. Jejich přátelství bylo tak vážné a mlčenlivé jako všechny velké city na celý život. A jako v každém velkém citu i v tomto byla cudnost a vědomí viny. Člověk nemůže beztrestně vzít někoho ostatným lidem. ~ S ndor M rai, #NFDB
139:„Musí ti být jasné, že náš civilizovaný svět je tak rozlehlý, že si nemůžeme dovolit, aby menšiny byly nespokojené a neklidné. Zeptej se sám sebe, čeho u nás chceme dosáhnout především? Lidé chtějí být šťastní, není to tak? Neslyšels to celý život? Chci být šťastný, říkají lidé. No, a nejsou? Copak je pořád něčím nezaměstnáváme, neposkytujeme jim dost zábavy? Vždyť pro to žijeme, pro nic jiného, nemám pravdu? Pro požitek, pro příjemné vzrušení. A musíš připustit, že naše kultura nás tímhle přímo zahrnuje. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
140:Kdekoli byla demokracie zdiskreditována, stalo se to tím, že lid si nedovedl zvolit rozumově a mravně kvalifikované zástupce. S činností špatně vybraných zástupců byl pak přirozeně nespokojen, ale místo aby si demokracii spravil, pojal k ní nedůvěru a strpěl, aby o ni přišel.
Demokracie vydrží zkoušku dějin jen tehdy, když občan bude považovat volbu poslance za rozhodnutí neméně důležité nežli výběr lékaře, a pak ovšem když volený poslanec bude cítit stejnou odpovědnost jako chirurg, když operuje na živém těle. ~ Erik Tabery,#NFDB
141:Príjel ze světa, kde v restauracích a plesových síních, v salonech městského centra vyhrávala tlumená hudba; jenže jinak, než jak to miloval jeho přítel. Vyhrávali, aby byl život příjemnější a slavnostnější, aby se leskli oči žen a jiskřila ješitnost mužů...Avšak ta hudba, kterou miloval Konrád, nechtěla skýtat zapomění, nýbrž dotknout se vášní a vědomí viny v lidech, chtěla, aby život v lidských srdcích a myslích byl skutečnější. Taková hudba nahání strach, pomyslel si a potichu a vzdorně si začal pohvizdovat valčík. ~ S ndor M rai, #NFDB
142:Był to przyjazny rudy policjant z jej dzielnicy. Ten, z którym dawniej rozmawiała matka. Który zawsze puszczał do niej oko, kiedy szła do szkoły. Do którego pomachała w dniu aresztowań, a on odwrócił wzrok. Teraz był zbyt blisko, aby spojrzeć w inną stronę. Patrzyła mu w oczy, ani razu nie spuszczając wzroku. Miał dziwne żółtawe źrenice, niemal złote. Twarz policjanta poczerwieniała ze wstydu i dziewczynka miała wrażenie, że widzi, jak drży. Nic nie mówiła, patrząc na niego z całą pogardą, na jaką umiała się zdobyć. ~ Tatiana de Rosnay, #NFDB
143:Plotka to taki rodzaj informacji, który nie odpowiada prawdzie, ale odpowiada zapotrzebowaniu. Jedynym warunkiem jej istnienia jest to, by ludzie chcieli jej słuchać. Świat nigdy nie jest taki, jakim rysuje go plotka, ale za to plotka jest zawsze dokładnie taka, jak świat, który obmawia. (…) Celowe plotki, rozmyślnie skonstruowane, tworzy się i rozpowszechnia po to, aby w ten lub inny sposób wpływać na bieg wydarzeń, stwarzać sytuacje odpowiadające określonym interesom, politycznym, społecznym, i utrzymywać je pod kontrolą". ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
144:Uważam socjalistyczny system gospodarczy za idiotyzm. Jak on wygląda w praktyce, opisywałem powyżej. Ale bolszewicy nie mogą tłumaczyć tłumom, że głód, nędza, brak wszystkiego, katastrofy powstają dlatego, że ich system gospodarczy jest idiotyzmem. Więc coś należy znaleźć takiego, aby tłumom wytłumaczyć, dlaczego są katastrofy na każdym kroku. I oto najłatwiejsze, najprzystępniejsze, symplicystyczne, tak łatwo trafiające do przekonania tłumaczenie: wrieditiel. Są ludzie nienawidzący Sowietów, którzy umyślnie wywołują katastrofy. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
145:Czuł, że jeśli zacznie się zastanawiać nad tym, co przeżył, rozchoruje się lub dostanie obłędu. Istnieją grzechy, których urok tkwi raczej w myśli o nich niż w samym czynie, triumfy dziwne, zadowalające raczej dumę niż namiętność, wzmagające tętno intelektualnej radości – radości znacznie intensywniejszej niż ta, jaką obdarzają czy mają możliwość obdarzać zmysły. Ale ten jego grzech nie należał do owej kategorii. Przeciwnie, był jednym z tych, które należy wymazać z pamięci, uśpić makiem, zdławić, aby nie zostać przezeń zdławionym. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
146:Dlaczego nasze społeczeństwo tak łatwo ulega wygodnemu złudzeniu, że poglądy religijne zasługują na automatyczny szacunek i nie wolno ich kwestionować? Jeśli zechcę, aby szanowano moje poglądy na politykę, naukę albo sztukę, muszę zasłużyć sobie na ten szacunek odpowiednią argumentacją, rozumowaniem, elokwencją albo wiedzą. Muszę umieć stawić czoło argumentom strony przeciwnej. Jeżeli jednak wyrażę pogląd o charakterze religijnym, moi krytycy będą musieli chodzić na paluszkach i uważać, by mnie nie urazić, albo sami narażą się na gniew społeczeństwa. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
147:Autobus se rozjel a Evelin se opřela o uzel nějaké bábušky, který poputuje na Sibiř, stejně jako všechny ty ostatní obrovské bílé rance z prostěradel plné věcí nakoupených v Estonsku, které Rusové celí shrbení vláčeli na nádraží a pak směr Sibiř, a brzy tím směrem pojede i ona, tam ji pošlou, zuby jí skřípaly jako kolejnice a v tom skřípotu si protahoval záda strach, aby se na ni mohl vrhnout a zaseknout se jí do páteře jako železné hroty mykací škrabky, ale ještě ne, ještě ne, nejdřív domů, chtěla ještě vidět domov, než přijdou, a oni vždycky přijdou. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
148:Siedze looked down at the boy's head in her hands now. She felt a bittersweet pang in her heart. To know love now when it was so near departure! She would be wise. She would take the sweetness and let the bitterness be. She had never been loved like this before. She didn't mean there had been no family love, that had been there, always there, but to be loved aby another person, an outsider, who could surely see your flaws—someone who loved you, simply, for yourself! It was so wondrous, and she allowed the glow of that love to linger a little longer. ~ Easterine Kire, #NFDB
149:Každému, kdo se drží historicky nepravdivé - a naprosto nemorální - doktríny, která praví, že 'násilím se nic nevyřeší', bych radil, aby vyvolal ducha Napoleona Bonaparta a vévody z Wellingtonu a nechal je to prodebatovat. Hitlerův duch by mohl soudcovat a v porotě by klidně mohli sedět ptáci dodo, alka velká a holub stěhovavý. Násilí, holá síla, vyřešilo v dějinách mnohem více než kterýkoliv jiný faktor, a opačný názor je jenom toužebné očekávání v té nejhorší podobě. Druhy, jež na tuto základní pravdu zapomněly, vždycky platily svými životy a svobodou. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
150:S tím mrtvým klukem jsem se kamarádil tak napůl, moc jsme se nevídali, protože byl starší a nechodil do mý školy. Dokázal jezdit na kole bez držení tak, že mu člověk ani nepřál, aby si natlouk. V duchu jsem se za něj pomodlil. Jen prostě, že mi je to líto. To je všechno, co si pamatuju. Upřeně jsem se na tu krev díval a sám sobě namlouval, že když se na to budu dívat dostatečně upřeně, dosáhnu toho, že se krev vrátí zpátky do toho kluka a že ho tak vlastně oživím. Něco podobnýho se už stalo. Tam, kde jsem bydlel předtím, než jsem se narodil. Česný, že to byl zázrak. Jenže tentokrát to nezabralo. ~ Stephen Kelman, #NFDB
151:Nie pojmuję, jak można nie palić, kto nie pali, dobrowolnie pozbawia się, że tak powiem, najlepszej cząstki życia, w każdym razie wielkiej przyjemności. Budząc się już się cieszę, że w ciągu dnia będę mógł palić, a przy jedzeniu znów się na to cieszę, a nawet mogę powiedzieć, oczywiście z pewną przesadą – że jem tylko po to, aby później zapalić. Ale dzień bez tytoniu byłby dla mnie szczytem szarzyzny, byłby dniem zupełnie pustym i bez żadnego powabu, a gdybym musiał sobie rano powiedzieć:dzisiaj nie ma nic do palenia-sądzę, że nie znalazłbym wcale odwagi, żeby wstać, słowo daję, że zostałbym w łóżku. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
152:Od razu wiedział, że chce napisać o obrazoburstwie, powiedzieć, że w otwartym społeczeństwie żadnych idei ani wierzeń nie można wyodrębniać i osłaniać przed żadnego typu krytycznymi uwagami – filozoficznymi, satyrycznymi, głębokimi, powierzchownymi, radosnymi, prześmiewczymi ani inteligentnymi. Wolność wymaga jednego: aby chroniono przestrzeń wolnego dyskursu. Wolność tkwi w samym sporze, nie w rozwiązaniu sporu, w możności kwestionowania nawet najbardziej cenionych poglądów innych; społeczeństwo wolne jest nie spokojne, ale wrzące. Bazar kolidujących ze sobą idei jest miejscem, gdzie rozbrzmiewa wolność. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
153:Bash.org.pl (calibre) - Your Highlight on Location 49-53 | Added on Friday, December 12, 2014 11:44:02 PM Dawno dawno temu moja rodzicielka popełniła błąd wychowawczy zastraszając moją młodszą siostrę aby ta w żadnym razie nie wychylała się przez okno gdyż czai się tam diabeł, który może ją przez to okno wyciągnąć (co niechybnie skończyłoby się rozkwaszeniem siostry na chodniku). Była to oczywiście próba ustrzeżenia dziecka przed śmiercią. Wiele lat później siostra wyznała, że BARDZO chciała się wychylić, żeby tego diabła zobaczyć (niewierna), ale bała się że fiknie przez to okno ponosząc śmierć na miejscu. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
154:Situace, kdy jsme bezmocní, a proto jsme v nebezpečí zotročení, je stejně zlá jako situace, kdy máme moc, a proto nám hrozí nebezpečí odlidštění. Čeho se máme vyvarovat víc, je věcí náboženského, morálního nebo politického přesvědčení. Buddhismus, židovská tradice z dob proroků a křesťanská evangelia volí vždy jasně, v protikladu k dnešnímu myšlení. Je naprosto legitimní pečlivě rozlišovat mezi mocí a bezmocností, ale měli bychom se při tom vyhnout jednomu nebezpečí: že využijeme mnohoznačnosti určitých slov k doporučování, aby lidé sloužili současně Bohu a císaři, nebo - což je ještě horší - aby si je ztotožnili. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
155:Część długu powstała za dyktatury pułkowników (1967–1974), podczas której wzrósł on czterokrotnie. Część długu zaciągnięto ze szkodą dla społeczeństwa (ponieważ w dużej mierze chodziło o to, aby wyciągnąć z tarapatów francuskie i niemieckie instytucje kredytowe); jeszcze inna część długu bierze się bezpośrednio z tego, że przedsiębiorstwa ponadnarodowe (takie jak niemiecki koncern Siemens [7]), pragnące sprzedać Grecji swoje często wadliwe produkty, skorumpowały pewnych greckich polityków; część wreszcie bierze się z bezeceństw takich banków, jak Goldman Sachs, który pomógł Grecji zamaskować jej kruchość gospodarczą… ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
156:Železným pravidlem našich dnů je požadovat od života cíl a účel. Z nás všech se činí součástky složitého soukolí pokroku, který nás může přivést jedině do studenějších a bezútěšnějších končin, než v jakých jsme se narodili. Trvá se na tom, aby každý něco přidal - třeba špetičku, ale vydřenou neúnavným úsilím - k nahromaděné kupě užitečnosti, jež bude užitečná jen k tomu, aby naše potomstvo zavalila ještě tíživějšími myšlenkami a nezřízenější lopotou než nás. Žádný život dnes neplyne jako nespoutaná řeka, i nejnepatrnější potůček má své mlýnské kolo. Z příliš usilovného odhodlání jít naprosto správně jdeme naprosto špatně. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, #NFDB
157:Bůh stvořil člověka, aby byl jeho obrazem, stvořil ho, aby byl obrazem Božím, jako muže a ženu je stvořil. 28 A Bůh jim požehnal a řekl jim: "Ploďte a množte se a naplňte zemi. Podmaňte ji a panujte nad mořskými rybami, nad nebeským ptactvem, nade vším živým, co se na zemi hýbe." 29 Bůh také řekl: "Hle, dal jsem vám na celé zemi každou bylinu nesoucí semena i každý strom, na němž rostou plody se semeny. To budete mít za pokrm. 30 Veškeré zemské zvěři i všemu nebeskému ptactvu a všemu, co se plazí po zemi, v čem je živá duše, dal jsem za pokrm veškerou zelenou bylinu." A stalo se tak. 31 Bůh viděl, že všechno, co učinil, je velmi dobré. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
158:What should I do? Aby is coming from France any day, and he’s got to have a home to come to. I will have to take out from my eating the meat and the milk to save together the extra five dollars. People! Give me an advice! What else can I do? If a wild wolf falls on you in the black night, will crying help you?” With a gesture of abject despair, she fell prone upon the bench. “Gottuniu! If there is any justice and mercy on this earth, then may the landlord be tortured like he is torturing me! May the fires burn him and the waters drown him! May his flesh be torn from him in pieces and his bones be ground in the teeth of wild dogs! ~ Anzia Yezierska, #NFDB
159:Chociaż nie odważył się jej o to zapytać, był pewien, że się masturbuje. Była zbyt inteligentna, aby tego nie robić. Tylko kobiety, które się masturbują, dobrze wiedzą, co je podnieca i umieją o to poprosić. Ponadto akt masturbacji jest jedynie dodatkiem do prawdziwego aktu, który ma miejsce w mózgu. Podbrzusze jest tylko sceną, na której się to rozgrywa. Był pewien, że ona masturbuje się, myśląc o nim. Tak, to była właśnie ta wyłączność: być w jej mózgu i w jej palcach w takim momencie. Czy można być w ogóle bliżej kobiety niż wtedy, gdy ona rozładowuje napięcie swoich fantazji, wiedząc, że nic, absolutnie nic i przed nikim nie musi udawać? ~ Janusz Leon Wi niewski, #NFDB
160:a już grzywka, którą nosi, okazuje jawną pretensję — mówił dalej. — Trzeba nie mieć za grosz smaku estetycznego, żeby zakrywać czoło, tę najszlachetniejszą część twarzy, będącą siedliskiem myśli. Najpiękniejsza twarzyczka szpeci się tym sposobem, bo przybiera kształt nieforemnego trójkąta i przypomina kudłate pieski pokojowe z rasy pinczerów. Gdy widzę kobietę z czołem przysłoniętym, z góry mam o niej niekorzystne wyobrażenie: przypuszczam, że chce coś ukryć i obawia się, aby jej myśli nie wyczytano. Dlaczego wy grzywek nie nosicie? Bo jesteście dziewczętami rozumnymi. Wasz ubiór jest skromny, ale pełen smaku; wasze czoła są tak jasne i pogodne jak wasze myśli. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
161:Svetu hrozia tri pliagy, tri morové rany.
Prvá pliaga - nacionalizmus.
Druhý - rasizmus.
Tretia - náboženský fundamentalizmus.
Tieto tri pliagy majú rovnakú črtu, spoločného menovateľa - je to agresívna, všemocná, totálna iracionalita. Nie je možné preniknúť do vedomia zasiahnutého niektorou touto pliagou. V takejto hlave horí svätá hranica, ktorá iba čaká obete. Každý pokus o pokojný rozhovor sa skončí neúspechom. Takémuto človeku nejde o rozhovor, iba o deklaráciu. Aby si mu prisvedčil, dal za pravdu, podpísal súhlas. Inak v jeho očiach nemáš cenu, pretože zavážiš iba ako nástroj, ako inštrument, ako zbraň. Ľudia nejestvujú - je iba vec. ~ Ryszard Kapu ci ski,#NFDB
162:Na początku Bóg stworzył Ziemię i oglądał ją z wyżyn swojej kosmicznej samotności.
I rzekł Pan: Ulepmy z gliny żywe stworzenia, aby glina mogła zobaczyć, co uczyniliśmy. I ulepił Bóg wszelkie zwierzęta, jakie żyją na Ziemi, a pośród nich i człowieka. Jedynie glina w postaci człowieka potrafiła mówić. Bóg pochylił się nisko, kiedy glina w postaci człowieka powstała, rozejrzała się dokoła i przemówiła. Człowiek zamrugał i grzecznie spytał: Jaki jest sens tego wszystkiego?
- Czy wszystko musi mieć jakiś sens? - spytał Bóg.
- Oczywiście - odpowiedział człowiek.
- W takim razie pozostawiam tobie znalezienie sensu tego wszystkiego - powiedział Bóg.
I odszedł. ~ Kurt Vonnegut,#NFDB
163:Nebo jak dostal od manželky nový psací stroj. A musel ho vyzkoušet. I my bychom ho banálně vyzkoušeli, jenže pan Hrabal to provedl přímo úžasně. Než ten nový psací stroj vyzkoušel, přikryl peřinou ten starý, aby mu nebylo líto, že je mu nevěrný.
Pozorování měsíce. Nikdo vzdělaný, sčetlý, světaznalý neřekne, že dívat se na měsíc je krásné. ( To by hned vyšlo najevo, že dotyčný člověk nemá literární vzdělání a rád čte Paula Coelha. Tak hrozně ho to společensky diskvalifikuje, že mu na nějaké té párty klidně mohou nalévat polosladké rumunské víno místo burgundského a Elle Decoration nikdy neuveřejní fotky jeho bytu.) Jenže to by panu Hrabalovi bylo jedno. On totiž na mnoho věcí nahlíží s nadšením. ~ Mariusz Szczygie,#NFDB
164:Vrátili jsme se do Celestýnova pokoje a on mi ukázal sviij glóbus. Glóbus je taková veliká kovová koule, na které jsou nakresleny pevniny a moře. Celestýn mi vysvětlil, že je to na učení zeměpisu, a ukázal mi, kde jsou které země. To jsem věděl už předtím, máme podobný glóbus ve škole a paní učitelka nám uká zala, jak se s ním zachází. Celestýn mi řekl, že se glóbus dá vyndat ze své osy a pak vypadá jako velikánský míč. Myslím, že jsem to byl já, koho napadlo hrát si s ním, ale nebyl to dobrý nápad. Bavili jsme se tím, že jsme si glóbus házeli, ale Celestýn si sundal brýle, aby si je náhodou nerozbil, a bez brýlí on dobře ne vidí, a tak glóbus nechytil a glóbus vletěl Austrálií přímo do zrcadla, které se ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
165:Wielce zagadkową jest sprawą, że jednorożec, choć niebywale płochliwy i ludzi się bojący, jeśli takową pannę napotka, która jeszcze z mężem cieleśnie nie obcowała, wnet przybieży do niej, uklęknie i bez nijakiego lęku głowę jej na podołku pokładzie. Ponoć w minionych a zamierzchłych czasach były takie panny, które istny proceder z tego sobie, uczyniły. W bezżeństwie i wstrzemięźliwości trwały lata długie po to, aby łowcom jako wabiki na jednorożce służyć mogły. Wnet się jednak wyjawiło, że jednorożec jeno ku młodzieniutkim dziewicom idzie, starsze za nic sobie mając. Mądrym zwierzęciem będąc, jednorożec rozumie niechybnie, że ponad miarę w dziewictwie trwać podejrzaną i przeciwną naturze jest rzeczą. Physiologus ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
166:Będąc nauczycielem, często walczyłam z dziećmi, błagając je, aby napisały coś, co naprawdę myślą, a nie to, co im powiedziałam, i widziałam, jaką sprawiało im to trudność, bo celem szkoły i tendencją, która dominowała w tamtych latach było rozwijanie zbiorowej świadomości. Ponieważ szkoła jest ukierunkowana na asymilacje zbiorowej świadomości, oryginalność indywidualnej osoby zazwyczaj blednie, i gdy weźmie się dwadzieścia osób, dostaje się jedynie zestaw zbiorowej wiedzy. Gdy zada im się pytanie na jakikolwiek tematy, będą jedynie powtarzać to, co powiedzieli im ich rodzice czy przyjaciele, albo co przeczytali w gazecie, a przywrócenie im wyjątkowych osobowych świadomych reakcji będzie niesłychanie trudne. ~ Marie Louise von Franz, #NFDB
167:Błogosławiony ten, co nie mając nic do powiedzenia, nie obleka tego faktu w słowa.
Cnotliwa kobieta nie goni za mężem, bo kto widział, by pułapka goniła mysz?
Egoista: ten, który więcej dba o siebie niż o mnie.
Pesymista twierdzi, że wszystkie kobiety to nierządnice. Optymista twierdzi, że nie, ale ma nadzieję.
Pojęcia takie jak: wieczność, bezgraniczność zaczynam rozumieć dopiero wtedy, gdy załatwiam jakąś sprawę w urzędzie.
Powiedzieć komuś: idiota! – to nie obelga, lecz diagnoza.
Różnica między wielbłądem i człowiekiem – wielbłąd może pracować przez tydzień nie pijąc; człowiek może przez tydzień pić nie pracując.
Żyj tak, aby znajomym zrobiło się nudno, gdy umrzesz. ~ Julian Tuwim,#NFDB
168:Po co kochać, jak już się kochało? Po co jeść, jak już się jadło? (...) Z takiego mianowicie powodu, że życie jest jednorazowe i w swej jednorazowości produkuje silny, mityczny i nieubłagany głód powtarzalności. Książek nie czyta się po to, aby je pamiętać. Książki czyta się po to, aby je zapominać, zapomina się je zaś po to, by móc znów je czytać. Biblioteka jest zbiorem snów zapomnianych, ale utrwalonych, jest szansą nieustannego powrotu, a każdy powrót może tu na pwrót stać się pierwszym przyjściem (...) W czytaniu zapominanie jest równie ważne jak pamięć powtórna, kolejna lektura to nie jest żadne proste „przeżyjmy to jeszcze raz”, to ponowne uruchomienie snu, a sen, choć już kiedyś śniony, zawsze jest nieprzewidywalny. ~ Jerzy Pilch, #NFDB
169:Wiedza i prawda od dawna już przestały być naczelną troską intelektualisty - zastąpiła je troska o to po prostu, żeby się nie dowiedziano, że on nie wie. Intelektualista, rozsadzany treściami, których sobie nie przyswoił, kluczy jak może, byle nie dać się przyłapać. Środki ostrożności? Formułować chytrze, żeby nie złapano za słówko. Nie wychylać nosa poza to, co jako tako się opanowało. Używać pojęć skrótowo, niby że to one są już wszystkim doskonale znane, a w gruncie rzeczy, aby nie zdradzić się z ignorancją. Dawać do zrozumienia, że się wie. Powstał kunszt specjalny zręcznego szermowania myślami nieopanowanymi z miną, jak gdyby wszystko było w największym porządku. Powstała specjalna sztuka cytowania i zażywania nazwisk. ~ Witold Gombrowicz, #NFDB
170:My se ve světě protloukáme, protože víme, že dvě plus dvě jsou čtyři, a držíme se toho tak usilovně, až je to kapku hloupý a občas se to může dotknout něčích citů. Je mi to líto.“
„Čích citů jako? Lidí, co si myslí, že dvě plus dvě je pět?“
„Lidí, pro který je důležitější společenský chování než to, aby každá věta vyslovená během rozhovoru byla doslovně pravdivá.“
„Jako, kupříkladu… žen?“
Randy asi míli skřípe zuby a pak řekne: „Pokud vůbec existuje nějaký zevšeobecnění toho, jak uvažujou muži versus ženy, tak podle mě je to v tom, že muži se dokážou soustředit jako laserovej paprsek na neuvěřitelně mrňavou maličkost a nemyslet na nic jinýho.“
„Kdežto ženy to nedokážou?“
„Předpokládám, že dokážou. Ale zřejmě málokdy chtějí. ~ Neal Stephenson,#NFDB
171:Olśnienie olśnieniem. Tak, widzę, pamiętam wczorajszą noc. Nagłą światłość na progu jesiennej albo letniej nocy. Raptowną, wszechogarniającą pewność, że to my, ludzie, ta płynąca znikąd donikąd rzeka materii biologicznej, że to my stworzyliśmy Boga. Nie w siedem dni, ale przez wieki lodowców i tropików, przez wieki rodzących się kontynentów i wysychających mórz, przez wieki rozwoju półkul mózgowych i zamierania skrzeli, przez wieki dobre i złe, przez ery ujawnione i okryte dotąd tajemnicą, przez całą naszą człowieczą wieczność stworzyliśmy mozolnie, z bólem, z męką naszego Boga, Boga miłosierdzia i dobra, aby nas uchronił przed złem wszechświata, kosmosu lub choćby tego niebieskiego nieba, które nas razi piorunami. Żeby nas uchronił przed nam. ~ Tadeusz Konwicki, #NFDB
172:Eumaie," řekl ten druhý, "jaký je způsob lidí, o kterém sníš? Jaký by mohl být za tisíc let? Jestliže bohové umořou - kdyby mohli umřít?"
"Všechno záleží na tom, jestli si lidé vezou poučení z bohů. Nebo jestli se poučí z vlastní zkušenosti, ze života země, jejího povrchu, z bolesti, z válek. Pokud se poučí od vlastního plemene, pak to možná dopadne dobře. Pak si možná rozdělí moc. Pak možná nebudou mít otroky. Pak se možná budou radit, místo aby válčili, a budou obchodovat a vyměňovat si věci, místo aby drancovali. Pak si možná rozdělí chleba tak, aby všichni měli stejně. Ale to je daleko, nedokážu tam dohlédnout. Nevidím žádný cíl, jenom tuším směr. Za tisíc let nebo dva tisíce let nebo tři tisíce let možná přijde říše člověka."
(Břehy a příboj) ~ Eyvind Johnson,#NFDB
173:Począł rozmyślać, czy nam się też kiedyś uda podnieść psychologię do poziomu nauki tak ścisłej, aby mogła odsłaniać najdrobniejsze źródła życia. Obecnie zawsze fałszywie rozumiemy siebie, a rzadko rozumiemy drugich. Doświadczenie nie posiada wartości etycznej. Jest ono tylko mianem, które człowiek nadał swym pomyłkom. Moraliści uważali je przeważnie za przestrogę, przyznawali mu wartość etyczną dla kształtowania charakteru, sławili jako coś, co uczy nas, za czym iść, a co omijać należy. Ale doświadczenie nie jest przejawem umotywowanych sił. Nie jest pobudką czynów, tak samo jak nią nie jest sumienie. Dowodzi jedynie tego, że przyszłość nasza będzie taką, jaką była przeszłość, i że grzech popełniony niegdyś ze wstrętem niejednokrotnie popełniać będziemy z radością. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
174:Brytyjski pisarz Orwell dopiero za jedenaście lat ogłosi drukiem zasady życia pod okiem Wielkiego Brata, ale Jan wyprzedza światową literaturę. Wpada na pomysł, aby stworzyć coś, czego jeszcze nie było: ruchome, śledzące pracowników biuro. Swoją kancelarię umieszcza w przeszklonej windzie, która sunie wzdłuż wieżowca. (Kabina 5 x 5 metrów, umywalka z ciepłą wodą, radio, klimatyzacja). Nie musi wychodzić z windy, nie musi iść po schodach. Kancelaria zatrzymuje się na przykład na piętrze trzynastym, ściana budynku odsuwa się na bok i ze swojej ruchomej sali tronowej Jan Antonín Bata widzi pracujących ludzi. Mówi, że to także dla ich dobra: aby przyjść do szefa, nie muszą poświęcać wiele czasu. Jeśli zajdzie taka potrzeba, kancelaria za chwilę może pojawić się na innym piętrze. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
175:Jest coś atrakcyjnego w hiperinflacji, to pozorne bogactwo, kiedy portfel puchnie od szeleszczących papierków, cóż z tego, że nic prawie nie można za nie kupić, jestem w pewien absurdalny sposób zwolennikiem wielkiej inflacji, bo lubię mnogość nominałów. Słabość forinta jest mi więc na rękę, żałuję nieco, że największy nominał to dwadzieścia tysięcy, tak jak żałuję, że wycofano banknoty dwustuforintowe, tak jak tęsknię za francuskimi frankami i słoweńskimi tolarami, to były niezwykłej urody banknoty, duże i kolorowe, to, co dała nam Unia, te różowe, pomarańczowe, niebieskie nudne druki, to jest jakaś nieszczęsna politycznie poprawna parodia – banknoty bez właściwości, aby nikogo nie urazić, żałośnie banalne, bez śladu narodowych mitomanii. Całe szczęście, że na Węgrzech wciąż są forinty, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
176:Myslíte si, že keď vyrastáte s nejakými ľuďmi, poznáte ich. Veď boli pri vás po celý váš život. Poznáte ich hlas, krivky rúk, viete, na čom sa radi smejú. Poznáte ich srdcia. Ale ukáže sa, že nepoznáte ich myšlienky. Teda nie celkom, nie naozaj. Všetci ľudia majú svoje tajomstvá, a nie sú to len záležitosti, ktoré pred vami taja, ale tajomstvá o vás. A oni dúfajú, že sa ich nikdy nedozviete. Môžete s niekým bývať pod jednou strechou, prežívať s ním banálne každodenné zážitky, používať spoločné mydlo, cukorničku, topánky – a predsa by ste to nikdy neuhádli. Myslíte si, že niekoho poznáte. A potom jedného dňa zistíte, že bežíte. Skutočne bežíte, až vám horia pľúca, tŕpnu vám nohy. A ste priveľmi unavení, aby ste zastali a obzreli sa. Ukázalo sa, že ja som bežala celý život. Len som to nevedela. ~ Mary Louise Kelly, #NFDB
177:Vždy je jednoduchšie nájsť svoju sebahodnotu prostredníctvom znižovania hodnoty niekoho iného. Je jednoduchšie definovať sa tým, „čím nie sme“, ako naozaj preskúmať svoje kvality.
Preto je nenávisť k mužom ako k pohlaviu taká znepokojivá. Je to presne to isté, čo muži robili ženám celé storočia. Aby sa necítili slabí, premietli svoju slabosť na nás ako na plátno. Aby sa vyhli citlivosti, premietli na nás svoje emócie. Dnes, keď sa ženy nechcú cítiť nerozumne, premietajú iracionalitu na mužov. Keď sa nechcú cítiť deštruktívne, tvária sa, že deštruktívni sú muži.
V tejto projekcii nielenže odmietame vidieť celkovú ľudskosť mužov, ale odmietame vidieť ľudskosť nás samých. Nie sme ľudské, ak prijímame len svoje dobré stránky. Ak použijeme len svetlé farby, k žiadnej rozmanitosti sa nedostaneme. ~ Jessa Crispin,#NFDB
178:Když se mladík z dvanáctého století zamiloval, neudělal tři kroky nazpět, nezadíval se jí do očí a neřekl jí, že je pro tento svět příliš krásná. Řekl, že vyjde ven a zjistí, jak se věci mají. A pokud venku potkal nějakého muže a rozbil mu hlavu, dokázalo se tím, že jeho dívka – dívka toho prvního mladíka – je opravdu hezká. Pokud mu však rozbil hlavu ten druhý – myslím tomu prvnímu mladíkovi –, pak jeho dívka – nikoliv tedy dívka toho druhého chlapíka, nýbrž dívka toho, který… Podívejte, pokud mladík A rozbil hlavu mladíkovi B, pak dívka mladíka A je opravdu hezká; ale pokud mladík B rozbil hlavu mladíkovi A, pak dívka mladíka A hezká není a hezká je dívka mladíka B. Takovým způsobem provozovali uměleckou kritiku. V dnešní době si zapálíme dýmku a necháme dívky, aby si to mezi sebou vyřídily samy. ~ Jerome K Jerome, #NFDB
179:Wystarczy niektórym z naszych szlachetnych panien, że obcięły włosy, włożyły niebieskie okulary i nazwały się nihilistkami aby nabrać przekonania, że tym samym zaczynają mieć własne "przekonania". Komu innemu wystarczyło poczuć w sercu kropelkę, dosłownie odrobinę jakiegoś ludzkiego, życzliwego uczucia, aby natychmiast nabyć przekonania, że nikt na świecie nie czuje tak jak on i jest on forpocztą w rozwoju ludzkości. Wystarczyło komu innemu przyjąć na słowo jakąś myśl albo przeczytać stronniczkę jakiegoś dzieła bez początku i zakończenia, aby natychmiast uwierzyć, że to "jego własne myśli", zrodzone w jego własnym mózgu. Bezczelność naiwności, jeśli można się tak wyrazić, dochodzi w takich wypadkach do zadziwiających rozmiarów, wszytko to brzmi nieprawdopodobnie, ale spotykamy się z tym na każdym kroku. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
180:Pociąg z Warszawy do Łodzi spóźnia się pół godziny. Ninel z zadowoleniem konstatuje, że dworzec nadal nie został odnowiony, nie wzniesiono nawet rusztowania. Krzywe perony, brudne ściany, obskurne budki z trującymi zapiekankami i hot dogami. Jest tak brzydko, jak zapamiętała. Albo nawet brzydziej. Spostrzeżenie owo napawa ją otuchą. Oddycha lżej. Z całych sił nienawidzi Łodzi, miasta, w którym się urodziła, wychowała i z którego uciekła przy pierwszej nadarzającej się okazji z pomocą studiów i męża. Oddycha lżej, dookolna szpetota upewnia ją, że nie zwariowała. Miasto Łódź zasługuje na nienawiść. Jest przykre, przynajmniej od strony dworca, jak mało które miejsce na ziemi; nic, tylko zamknąć oczy i pomodlić się o schludny natychmiastowy pociąg – albo lepiej karetkę pogotowia na sygnale – odjeżdżający dokądkolwiek, aby precz stąd. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
181:Aby sme boli ľuďom sympatickí a aby za nami išli, musíme ich veru presvedčiť, že nechceme zvrhnúť republiku, naopak, chceme ju obnoviť, očistiť, oprášiť, okrášliť, ozdobiť, vystrojiť, vycifrovať, vyvoňať, slovom, spraviť z nej konečne nádhernú a čarovnú vec pre všetkých. Nesmieme teda vystupovať vo vlastnom mene. Je známe, že nie sme naklonení terajšiemu zriadeniu. Musíme sa obrátiť na nejakého priateľa republiky, ba ešte lepšie, na obrancu tohto režimu. Ťažkosti budú iba s výberom. Najlepšie, ak to bude človek najpopulárnejší, a pokiaľ to tak môžem povedať, najrepublikánskejší. Získame si ho lichôtkami, darmi, a najmä sľubmi. Sľuby sú lacnejšie ako dary a vyplatia sa oveľa väčšmi. Nikdy nedávame toľko ako vtedy, keď dávame nádej. Nie je nevyhnutné, aby bol ktovieako inteligentný. Ba bol by som radšej, keby nebol veľmi bystrý. ~ Anatole France, #NFDB
182:Existují takové věci jako jedlé... ne, delikátní pirohy v polévce, hrášky dokonale uvařené, rajská omáčka pikantní ve své chuťové plnosti a masová náplň z oněch
částí zvířat, které by se daly většinou i pojmenovat. Jsou platonické burgery vyrobené z hovězího a ne z volské tlamy a kopyt. Jsou jisté obchody, kde mají smažené filé s pomfrity, kdy filé je ryba a ne jen bílá břečka v rakvičce ze smažené strouhanky a pomfrity jsou k jídlu a nedají se použít k holení. Jsou párky v rohlíku, kdy mají párky s masem společnou nejen barvu a jejich šťastní konzumenti si na ně nedávají hořčici, aby nepokazili tu chuť. Důležité však je, že se lidé dají naučit na to, aby dávali přednost občerstvení toho prvního typu a vyhledávali je. Je to, jako kdyby Machiavelli napsal kuchařku. Ale ať už se mají věci jakkoliv, neexistuje omluva pro nikoho, kdo dá na pizzu ananas. ~ Terry Pratchett,#NFDB
183:Myslím, že by například ministerská rada měla občas držet černou hodinku; měla by zasedat v rostoucím šeru, ve kterém by žhnulo jen několik cigár. Jeden ministr po druhém by upadal v tichou zádumčivost. „Mládenci,“ ozval by se pan předseda měkce, „mně je vám někdy ouzko z toho politikaření. Víte, kdybychom si nikdy nelhali a vždycky si řekli, co vlastně chceme…“ „No ba,“ vzdychl by jiný ministr. „Já si tak někdy myslím, že vládnout je zatracená povinnost. To člověka strašně zavazuje. Kdyby to tak nějakšlo… beze všech kliček a hejblů… aby byl člověk jako ze skla…“ „Taky to říkám,“ děl by třetí. „Co by se všechno dalo udělat, kdybychom si navzájem věřili!“ „No jo,“ řekl by čtvrtý, „ale politika je neřád. Kdybychom mysleli víc na svou zatracenou povinnost nežli na politiku.“
„Tak co,“ zeptal by se pan předseda, „mám už rozsvítit?“
„Ještě ne; vždyť se nám tady tak dobře sedí! ~ Karel apek,#NFDB
184:Popularniejsze od wywoływania pęcherzy było wytwarzanie sączącego się ropnia. Posługując się narzędziem podobnym do skalpela, lekarze nacinali ciało pacjentów „ruchem piłującym”. Następnie wkładano w rozcięcie przedmiot obcy, najczęściej suche ziarna grochu lub fasoli, aby wywołać stan zapalny i sączenie się rany. Lekarz ponownie ją otwierał, często nawet codziennie, przez kilka tygodni lub miesięcy, by nie pozwolić jej się zagoić. Doktor Jonathan Toogood, starszy chirurg w brytyjskim szpitalu w Bridgewater, tak opisał leczenie dwudziestojednoletniej kobiety chorej na przepuklinę: Zrobiłem nacięcie po obu stronach krzywizny, na tyle duże, by w każdym otworze pomieściło się czterdzieści małych ziarenek bobu. Rany te utrzymywano otwarte przez blisko dwa lata. Pacjentka nie była zupełnie uwięziona w domu – w ciągu dnia siedziała na małym fotelu na kółkach, mogła pracować, rysować i się bawić. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
185:W tej właśnie komnacie przyszedłem na świat. Z odmętów długiej nocy, która miała pozór, lecz nie była nicością, wyłoniłem się po to, aby wkroczyć nagle w krainę baśni, w pałacowe przepychy fantazji, w dziwaczne dziedziny myśli i wiedzy klasztornej. Nie dziw tedy, że przerażonym a płomiennym wzrokiem badałem świat dookolny, że dzieciństwo spędziłem wśród ksiąg, a młodość roztrwoniłem na marzeniach; lecz zastanawia ta okoliczność, że gdy lata upływały i południe dojrzałego wieku zastało mnie jeszcze żywcem w gnieździe mych przodków — zastanawia, powtarzam, ta okoliczność, że bijące źródła mojego życia zaprawiły się nagłym zastojem, że w kierunku najwłaściwszego mi myślenia stał się przewrót zupełny. Zjawiska rzeczywistości potrącały o mnie jak sny i tylko jako sny, podczas gdy szaleńcze pomysły z krainy snów stały się w zamian nie tylko strawą mego codziennego istnienia, lecz stanowczo jedynym i całkowitym istnieniem w samym sobie. ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #NFDB
186:Wartość dziewictwa Pomimo wielkiej wagi, jaką przywiązywano do zachowania czystości, aż do XVIII wieku lekarze przestrzegali przed szkodliwymi skutkami długotrwałego dziewictwa. Twierdzili, że zachowywanie dziewictwa przez zbyt długi czas może prowadzić do problemów zdrowotnych. Uważano, że „zamknięte” ciało dziewicy jest podatne na takie dolegliwości, jak chloroza – choroba, która sprawia, że dziewczęca twarz staje się bladozielona – oraz „zadławienie macicy”, na którego skutek macica wędruje po całym ciele, wywołując niepokojące napady. Kiedy zdaniem lekarzy dziewczyna doświadczała niebezpiecznej frustracji seksualnej, ale nie była jeszcze gotowa do zamążpójścia, oczywiście nie mogło być mowy o przyjęciu dawki „uzdrawiającego” nasienia. Dlatego średniowieczni lekarze zalecali, aby zaufane położne pomagały dziewczętom w masturbacji. Nawet według dzisiejszych liberalnych standardów takie zalecenie wywołałoby zmarszczenie niejednych brwi. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
187:A vážně hrozné je, že celkem zakrátko přijde Maj Britt na obláček k von Borringově matce na permanentní návštěvu, protože Maj Brittiny dny se už krátí, a přestože její vztah k Bohu je poněkud vlažný, bohatě stačí na to, aby byla Maj Britt vpuštěna do nebe, pochyby jí budou přičteny k dobru a bude umístěna na stejný obláček jako ostatní lidé z její obce, protože tak to v nebi chodí, respektují se tam hranice obcí, a jestliže von Borringově matce už teď připadá vyčerpávající tam sedět, dokážete si sami představit, v jaké peklo se jí pobyt promění po Maj Brittině příchodu. A ostatně: v rozporu s tím, v co, jak se zdá, věří mnoho křesťanů, to není tak, že by si s sebou člověk do nebe nesměl nic vzít. Jednu věci si totiž každý vzít může. Proto je třeba volit obezřetně. Von Borringova matka si vybrala truhlu s morfiem a Maj Britt si zvolí kamion marihuany. Diskuse mezi nimi budou duchaplné i iritující a budou probíhat opravdu dlouho předlouho.) ~ Erlend Loe, #NFDB
188:Kekulému se zdá o Velkém hadovi, který drží v tlamě svůj vlastní ocas, snící Had, který obklopuje Svět. Ale ta lakota, ten cynismus, se kterou tento sen bude využit. Had, který oznamuje „Svět je uzavřená věc, cyklická, rezonující, věčně se vracející,“ bude doručen do Systému, jehož jediným cílem je narušit Cyklus. Systém, který bere a nevrací, který požaduje, aby se „produktivita“ a „zisky“ v čase neustále zvyšovaly, odčerpává ze zbytku světa obrovské množství energie, aby udržel svůj maličký zoufalý podíl na zisku: a ne jen většina lidstva – ale i většina Světa, zvířat, rostlin a minerálů je v tomto procesu odhozena jako odpad. Systém může a nemusí rozumět tomu, že si pouze kupuje čas. A že čas je především příliš umělý zdroj, který nemá cenu pro nikoho jiného kromě Systému, jenž dříve nebo později musí ztroskotat a zahynout, až jeho závislost na energii překročí množství, které mu svět může poskytnout, a stáhne s sebou nevinné duše na celém řetězci života. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
189:Duševní krutost, přání druhého člověka pokořit a ranit jeho city je snad ještě rozšířenější než tělesný sadismus. Tento typ sadistického útoku je pro sadistu mnohem méně riskantní, vždyť nepoužívá fyzického násilí, ale "jen" slova. Na druhé straně však může být duševní utrpení právě tak intenzivní nebo ještě silnější než utrpení tělesné. Příklady tohoto duševního sadismu nemusím uvádět. Rodiče ho uplatňují vůči dětem, učitelé vůči žákům, šéfové vůči podřízeným - jinými slovy používá se ve všech situacích, kde se oběť nemůže sadistovi bránit. (Je-li učitel bezmocný, často se stávají sadisty žáci.) Duševní sadismus může být maskován mnoha zdánlivě nevinnými způsoby - otázkou, úsměvem, poznámkou, která druhého zmate. Kdo by neznal nějakého "umělce" v tomto druhu sadismu, který vždy najde přesně to správné slovo nebo gesto, aby druhého tímto "nevinným" způsobem uvedl do rozpaků nebo pokořil. Tento druh sadismu je přirozeně často ještě účinnější, když se odehrává před očima jiných lidí. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
190:Mi esperas ke kiam vi venos la vetero estos milda," řekla jazyková instruktorka na obrazovce videa a odmlčela se, aby nechala prostor pro překlad. Rimmer stále chodil. "Ehmmm... ufff...hmmmm... Moment... tohle vím ...Úúúúú... počkej... neříkej mi to... Echmm..." Aniž by vzhledl od soustavy trysek, které vášnivě olejoval, Lister zapěl: "Doufám, že až přijdeš, bude vlídné počasí." "Doufám, že až přijdeš, bude vlídné počasí," souhlasila s ním žena z obrazovky. "Neříkej mi to. Na tohle bych přišel." "Bonvolu direkti min al kvinstela hotelo?" vložila se do toho instruktorka z nahraného pásku. "Ach ano, ahá... tohle bylo i posledně... vzpomínám si na to... Úúúú..." Lister si vytáhl šroubovák z úst: "Mohl byste mi, prosím, ukázat cestu k pětivězdičkovému hotelu?" "To je určitě spatně. Totálně, naprosto a úplně, totálně špatně." "Mohl byste mi, prosím," řekla instruktorka, "ukázat cestu k pětihvězdičkovému hotelu?" "Listere - mohl bys, prosím tě, držet hubu?" "Jenom ti pomáhám." "Já žádnou pomoc nepotřebuju. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
191:Lidstvo v každé době plodí ďábelské šílence a svůdné představy útisku. Úkolem státnictví je zabránit tomu, aby se vyšvihli k moci, a udržet funkční mezinárodní uspořádání, které je může – pokud se k moci dostanou – zastrašit. Toxická směs povrchního pacifismu, geopolitické nerovnováhy a nejednoty spojenců však těmto silám v meziválečném období dala volnou ruku. Evropa poučená třemi sty lety konfliktu vybudovala mezinárodní řád – a pak ho odhodila, protože její vůdcové nerozuměli při vstupu do první světové války důsledkům svého počínání, a i když nyní chápali, jaký by byl dopad další hromadné katastrofy, zalekli se závěrů, k nimž je toto nahlédnutí mělo přimět. Kolaps mezinárodního pořádku, k němuž v této době došlo, byl v zásadě rezignací či přímo sebevraždou. Evropa opustila zásady vestfálského urovnání, zdráhala se uplatnit sílu, jež by byla nezbytná k obhajobě deklarované morální alternativy, a nyní ji stravovala nová válka, jejíž konec s sebou znovu přinesl nutnost nově pojmout uspořádání kontinentu. ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
192:Uważam też, że nie przynosi pożytku odsyłanie małych dzieci do pokoju, aby się tam uspokoiły i przemyślały swoje zachowanie. Więź z rodzicem jest podstawą przetrwania dziecka, i ono doskonale o tym wie. Kiedy więź zostaje chwilowo zerwana (odesłanie do pokoju), dziecko odkłada bieżące problemy na bok, by zająć się tym najbardziej palącym - przywrócenie więzi. Skoro zostało odesłane dla uspokojenia się, przestaje płakać - lecz nie dlatego, że zrozumiało swój błąd, tylko ponieważ wie, że tego się od niego oczekuje. Takie dzieci nakładają maski, aby jak najszybciej odbudować kontakt z rodzicem. Nie byłoby w tym nic złego, gdyby nie fakt, że w przyrodzie nic nie ginie. Zepchnięte na bok emocje nie wyparowują, przyczajają się gdzieś na uboczu, by odezwać się w innym, bardziej sprzyjającym momencie (sprzyjającym z punktu widzenia emocji). Badany w takich sytuacjach poziom hormonu stresu, kortyzolu, (łatwo go zbadać, bo wydzielany jest do śliny) utrzymuje się na bardzo wysokim poziomie – dowodzi to niezbicie, że odsyłanie nie pomaga wyciszyć emocji, a jedynie je przykryć. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
193:Uważam życie za gospodę, w której muszę czekać na dyliżans z otchłani. Nie wiem, dokąd mnie zawiezie, bo niczego nie wiem. Mógłbym traktować tę gospodę jako więzienie, bo jestem zmuszony w niej czekać; mógłbym ją traktować jako miejsce spotkań towarzyskich, bo tutaj kontaktuję się z innymi. Jednak ani się nie niecierpliwię, ani z nikim się nie bratam. Zostawiam tych, którzy zamknięci w swoim pokoju leżą bezwładnie na łóżku w bezsennym oczekiwaniu; zostawiam ludzi prowadzących rozmowy w salach, z których dobiegają mnie przyjemne dla ucha głosy i muzyka. Siadam w drzwiach i upajam oczy i uszy kolorami i dźwiękami pejzażu; i śpiewam powoli samemu sobie niezrozumiałe piosenki, które układam, czekając.
Dla wszystkich zapadnie noc i po wszystkich przyjedzie dyliżans. Cieszę się wiatrem, który dostaję, i duszą, którą dostałem, aby się nim cieszyć, i o nic więcej nie pytam ani niczego nie szukam. Jeżeli to, co zapisuję w tym dzienniku podróży, zdoła kiedyś dać rozrywkę innym podróżnikom, to dobrze. Jeżeli tego nie przeczytają lub nie znajdą w tym rozrywki, też dobrze. ~ Fernando Pessoa,#NFDB
194:Piekło kobiet (Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński) - Your Highlight on page 6 | location 81-90 | Added on Sunday, 7 December 2014 14:17:43 Uczynić biedną dziewczynę matką, pozbawić ją pracy dlatego, bo2 się spodziewa macierzyństwa, kopnąć ją z pogardą, zrzucić na nią cały ciężar błędu i jego skutków, i zagrozić jej latami więzienia, jeżeli, oszalała rozpaczą, chce się od tego zbyt ciężkiego na jej siły brzemienia uwolnić — oto filozofia praw, które, aż nadto znać, były przez mężczyzn pisane! Głosić wzniosłe teorie o „prawie płodu do życia”, znów grozić matce więzieniem w imię praw tego płodu, ale równocześnie nie troszczyć się o to, aby nosicielka tego płodu miała co do ust włożyć... I rzecz szczególna, ten sam płód, nad którym trzęsą się ustawodawcy, póki jest w łonie matki, w godzinę po urodzeniu traci wszelkie prawa do opieki prawnej, może zginąć pod mostem z zimna, gdy matka — którą jej „święte” macierzyństwo czyni nieraz wyrzutkiem społeczeństwa — nie ma dachu nad głową. ========== Piekło kobiet (Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński) - Your Bookmark on page 5 | location 74 | Added on Sunday, 7 December 2014 14:19:11 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
195:Słyszał o kobiecie, która będąc w ciąży, wystraszyła się kota wyskakującego spod łóżka. Urodziła potem dziewczynkę z kocią głową. Duński król Frederik IV planował wybudować szpital dla niepełnosprawnych, jednak wcale nie zamierzał ich tam leczyć; chciał tylko usunąć chorych z widoku publicznego, aby nie musiały ich oglądać kobiety oczekujące potomstwa. W XVIII wieku medyczni doradcy na dworze brytyjskiego króla Jerzego twierdzili, że upodobanie ciężarnej do jedzenia mięsa królika prowadzi do rodzenia królików, a w literaturze medycznej odnotowano przypadek miłośniczki owoców morza, której nowo narodzone dziecko miało kształt małża. W końcu lekarze stali się sceptyczni wobec tej teorii, co doprowadziło do dramatycznej rozgrywki w niemieckim sądzie. Oto w 1790 roku pewna kobieta została oskarżona o cudzołóstwo po tym, jak wyszła za czarnoskórego mężczyznę i urodziła białe dziecko. W swoich zeznaniach twierdziła, że na ścianie w jej mieszkaniu wisiał obraz przedstawiający mężczyznę o jasnej karnacji, a ona często przystawała, żeby podziwiać artyzm tego malowidła. Niestety i tak została skazana. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
196:Řekl jí, že na Lilu myslí ve dne v noci, ale ne s normální touhou, touha po ní se nepodobá té, kterou zná. Ve skutečnosti ji nechce. Tedy, nechce ji tak, jak obvykle chce ženský, aby je dostal pod sebe, obrátil je, převrátil je, rozpáral je, rozmlátil je, dupal po nich a rozdrtil je. Nechce ji, aby si ji vzal a zapomněl na ni. Chce ji s její bystrou hlavou plnou nápadů. Chce ji s její tvořivostí. A chce ji, ne aby ji zničil, ale aby mu vydržela. Nechce ji, aby ji opíchal, to slovo mu ve spojení s Lilou vadí. Chce ji, aby ji mohl líbat a objímat. Chce ji, aby ho hladila, pomáhala mu, vedla ho, rozkazovala mu. Chce ji, aby viděl, jak se v průběhu času mění, jak stárne. Chce ji, aby s ní věci probíral a aby mu pomáhala věci promyslet. Chápeš? Mluvil o ní tak, jak se mnou, se mnou, se kterou se brzo ožení, nikdy nemluvil. Přísahám, že to tak je. Mumlal: můj brácha Marcello, ten debil Stefano a Enzo se svým prdelním ksichtem, co ty z Liny pochopili? Uvědomili si, o co přišli, o co by mohli přijít? Ne, nejsou na to dost inteligentní. Jen já vím, co ona je, kdo je. Já jsem poznal její pravou povahu. A trpím při pomyšlení, jak se ničí. ~ Elena Ferrante, #NFDB
197:Problem dewastacji środowiska przyciągał uwagę greckich władców
już na początku VI w. p. n. e. Prawodawca Solon proponował wprowadzenie zakazu uprawiania ziemi na stromych stokach, aby zapobiec erozji; Pizystrat wprowadził premię dla rolników, którzy sadzili drzewa oliwne, wyrównując w ten sposób straty spowodowane wyrębem lasów i nadmiernym wypasem. Dwieście lat później Platon pisał o spustoszeniu, jakiego dokonano na ziemiach Attyki: l jak można to wnosić z [wyglądu] małych wysp, nasza pozostała ziemia przedstawiała się w porównaniu z dawną jak kości chorego człowieka: po odpłynięciu z niej tego, to było tłuste i mięknienie pozostało teraz w tej okolicy nic więcej jak tylko
szkielet. (. . . ) Góry bowiem, gdzie dzisiaj tylko pszczoły znajdują
pożywienie, jeszcze do niedawna dawały drzewa. (...) ziemia dawała niezmiernie dużo paszy dla trzód. Woda, zsyłana co rok przez Zeusa, nie płynęła
na próżno (...). Wszędzie płynęły obfite fale źródeł i rzek. Co do
istniejących dawniej źródeł, to jeszcze do dzisiaj zachowane poświęcone im
świątynie są świadectwem, że to, co powiedzieliśmy na ten temat, jest
prawdziwe'. ~ Norman Davies,#NFDB
198:Člověk, vědomý si své izolace, musí najít nové vazby se svými bližními, na tom závisí jeho duševní zdraví. Bez silných citových vazeb ke světu by trpěl pocitem nesmírné opuštěnosti a ztracenosti. Může však navázat vztah k jiným lidem, a to nejrůznějšími způsoby. Může k ostatním lidem cítit lásku, což vyžaduje nezávislost a činorodost, nebo se k nim může vztáhnout symbioticky - to znamená, že se stane jejich částí nebo je učiní částí vlastního já. V tomto symbiotickém vztahu buď ovládá druhé (sadismus), nebo jimi je ovládán (masochismus). Nemůže-li si vybrat ani lásku, ani symbiózu, může problém řešit vybudováním vztahu k vlastní osobě (narcismus). Potom se sám stává světem a "miluje" svět tím, že miluje sám sebe. To je častý způsob, jak se lidé vypořádávají s potřebou mít nějaký vztah, a obvykle bývá smíšen se sadismem. Je nebezpečný a v krajním případě vede k určitým formám šílenství. Poslední a zhoubný způsob řešení problémů (obvykle spojený s krajním narcismem) je vášeň zničit všechny ostatní. Když neexistuje nikdo kromě mě, nemusím se jiných bát a nepotřebuji s nimi navazovat vztahy. Zničím-li svět, zachráním se před tím, aby mě rozdrtil. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
199:Bol som taký slepý a prehnane ctižiadostivý, že som svojim skutočným emóciam nevenoval pozornosť a vinu som hádzal na druhých - čiernych, gejov, Židov a všetkých ostatných, ktorí sa odo mňa odlišovali. Pripisoval som im vinu za moje vlastné problémy, na ktorých nemali žiadny podiel. Moje neodôvodnene zdesenie sa rýchlo a neoprávnene začalo prejavovať ako zlostná nenávisť, ktorá sa ešte zradikalizovala pôsobením tých, ktorí vo mne videli ľahko formátovateľného chlapca. A keďže som zúfalo potreboval dať svojmu životu nejaký zmysel, žral som všetky drobky, ktorými ma kŕmili a ktoré sa tvárili ako významné. Stotožnil som sa s nimi a pripustil som, aby zatienili môj skutočný charakter. Pomocou nezvládnutej nevraživosti som sa stal jedným veľkým nafúknutým rasistickým surovcom. Chorobne nafúknutým od tých nekonečných lží, kt. ma kŕmili ti, ktorí zneužili moju mladickú naivitu a osamelosť. Pažravo som si pochutnával na jedoch.
Nastal čas, aby som sa tých posratých jedov raz a navždy zbavil. Sedem rokov tvrdohlavého popierania pravdy a ľudskosti si žiada neuveriteľné množstvo energie. Ako dvadsaťjedenročný som už nemal silu angažovať sa v neustálom boji s vlastným svedomím. ~ Christian Picciolini,#NFDB
200:...potom brácha ten brovnink rozmontoval a už jsme to nedali dohromady, chtěli jsme se ze zoufalství zastřelit, ale nemohli jsme ten brovnink dát dohromady, to bylo naše štěstí, tak já jsem mohl kdykoliv přijít za slečinkama ke kostelu, vždycky jsem přišel nastrojenej, štráfový kalhoty, jak bankovní úředník a posadil jsem se na hilznu od minimaxu, jak diplomat, sluníčko svítilo a ty slečny ležely v plavkách na dekách, jako nějakej spolek 'Ctitelů slunce', bylo jich šest a ležely na znaku s rukama pod vytupírovanejma hlavinkama a dívaly se schválně do mračen, aby nechaly svoje tělička napospas mužskejm vočím, já, že jsem byl citlivej jak Mozart a ctitel evropský renesance, koukal jsem se jak krokodýl, jedním vokem do farní zahrady na pana děkana, a druhým vokem na ty nožky přehozený přes kolena, pořád ty krasavice houpaly kotníčkama a po mně lezli mravenci, komupak se to stane, aby byl s tolika krasotinkama? to jedině císař, nebo sultán, a tak jsem těm kráskám vypravoval, jak jsem měl příjemnej sen, jak se mi zdálo, že pekař sází do pece chleba a to je výhra na los, ale já los nemám, ovšem pekařství jako takové ve snách viděti, to znamená noční radovánky, ale co z radovánek?... ~ Bohumil Hrabal, #NFDB
201:Najtrudniej usiąść i wysłuchać. Słuchać, jak ktoś mówi „boję się”. Gotowość do prawdziwej rozmowy to gotowość usłyszenia o takich lękach, które są również moimi lękami. Dla mnie to jest konieczna odwaga głównie wobec samego siebie – powiedzieć: dziś jestem słabsza, czegoś nie chcę robić. Jeśli notorycznie uciekamy od życia, od prawdy, to człowiek w końcu ani nie jest szczęśliwy naprawdę, ani nie żyje naprawdę. Żyje, udając. Największa lekcja z tego całego epizodu to nie bać się wyjść do ludzi i powiedzieć: potrzebuję ciebie. Na poziomie intelektualnym rozumiemy, że każdy myśli inaczej, że można inaczej odczuwać, ale na poziomie emocjonalnym bardzo oczekujemy, by postąpił w określony sposób. Osoby z depresją koncentrują się przesadnie na problemach, ignorując przy tym pozytywne zdarzenia. Bo jak chcieć zrobić cokolwiek, jeśli nic się nie może powieść? Aby mądrze postępować w życiu, trzeba być otwartym na całość doświadczenia. Nie należy więc cenzurować, czy wręcz fałszować doświadczenia, aby sprostać normom kultury. Mądry smutek zachęca do zmiany. Zmiana może być dla nas zaskakująco dobra, może sprawić, że zrozumiemy, że stoimy w miejscu lub robimy rzeczy, których nigdy nie chcieliśmy robić****. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
202:CREDO NOWOCZESNEGO HUMANIZMU
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ uważam, że świat jest okrutny, niesprawiedliwy, obojętny.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ życie jest dla mnie za krótkie, zbyt ograniczone, bolesne.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ odprawiłem żałobę po obiektywnej prawdzie i teraz już wiem, że nigdy nie będę wiedział.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ dostrzegam, że wszelka równowaga jest krucha i tymczasowa.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ nie wierzę w postęp, a dokładniej mówiąc w postęp samoistny, nieunikniony, nieuchronny, postęp beze mnie, bez nas, bez naszej woli i naszego potu.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ obawiam się, aby nie nadeszło najgorsze, więc zrobię wszystko, aby go uniknąć.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ to jedyne inteligentne rozwiązanie, jakie mogę wyciągnąć z absurdu.
Jestem optymistą, ponieważ to jedyna spójna postawa, jaką podszeptuje mi rozpacz.
Tak, jestem optymistą, ponieważ bycie optymistą to atrakcyjna stawka; jeżeli los dowiedzie mi, że miałem rację, ufając - wygram; jeżeli los ujawni mój błąd, nic nie stracę, a moje życie będzie lepsze, bogatsze, bardziej użyteczne. ~ ric Emmanuel Schmitt,#NFDB
203:Anna navštívila Texas mnohokrát předtím, ale sama tady doposud nebyla. Jezdívala sem vždycky s Edem, aby mu dělala společnost při obchodních cestách, a často přitom hovořili o Texasanech jako takových, o tom, jak je těžké najit v nich zalíbeni. Jejich neomalenost a hrubiánstvi se daly ignorovat. Ale to nebylo to hlavní. V těch lidech zřejmě ještě přežívala jakási nelítostnost, cosi vyloženě brutálního, drsného, neúprosného, co už prominout nešlo. Neměli v srdci špetku slitováni, špetku soucitu, špetku jemnosti. Jedinou takzvanou ctností, kterou byli obdařeni – a kterou se také ostentativně a donekonečna před cizinci holedbali – byla jakási profesionální blahosklonnost. Nosili ji jako vývěsní štít. Linula se z jejich hlasů a úsměvů jako sirup. Na Annu však nezapůsobila. Vnitřně ji nechávala zcela, naprosto chladnou. „Proč si tak rádi hraji na tvrdé chlapy?“ ptávala se. „Protože jsou to děti,“ odpovídal Ed. „Jsou to nebezpečné děti, které se snaží napodobovat své dědy. Jejich dědové byli průkopníci. Tihle lidé jimi nejsou.“ Tyhle současné Texasany jako by poháněla jakási egoistická síla – bij a nech se bít. Všichni kolem sebe bili. Všichni byli biti. A mohl si tak někdo, ještě k tomu cizinec, zkusit vystoupit z jejich středu a pevně prohlásit: „Já se bít nebudu, ale taky se bít nenechám.“ Něco takového prostě nebylo možné. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
204:Anna navštívila Texas mnohokrát předtím, ale sama tady doposud nebyla. Jezdívala sem vždycky s Edem, aby mu dělala společnost při obchodních cestách, a často přitom hovořili o Texasanech jako takových, o tom, jak je těžké najit v nich zalíbeni. Jejich neomalenost a hrubiánstvi se daly ignorovat. Ale to nebylo to hlavní. V těch lidech zřejmě ještě přežívala jakási nelítostnost, cosi vyloženě brutálního, drsného, neúprosného, co už prominout nešlo. Neměli v srdci špetku slitováni, špetku soucitu, špetku jemnosti. Jedinou takzvanou ctností, kterou byli obdařeni – a kterou se také ostentativně a donekonečna před cizinci holedbali – byla jakási profesionální blahosklonnost. Nosili ji jako vývěsní štít. Linula se z jejich hlasů a úsměvů jako sirup. Na Annu však nezapůsobila. Vnitřně ji nechávala zcela, naprosto chladnou. „Proč si tak rádi hraji na tvrdé chlapy?“ ptávala se. „Protože jsou to děti,“ odpovídal Ed. „Jsou to nebezpečné děti, které se snaží napodobovat své dědy. Jejich dědové byli průkopníci. Tihle lidé jimi nejsou.“ Tyhle současné Texasany jako by poháněla jakási egoistická síla – bij a nech se bít. Všichni kolem sebe bili. Všichni byli biti. A mohl si tak někdo, ještě k tomu cizinec, zkusit vystoupit z jejich středu a pevně prohlásit: „Já se bít nebudu, ale taky se bít nenechám.“ Něco takového prostě nebylo možné. A zvlášť ne v Dallasu. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
205:Oblast životních zájmů člověka je však daleko širší než oblast životních zájmů zvířat. Člověk musí přežít nejen fyzicky, ale také psychicky. Musí si udržet určitou psychickou rovnováhu, chce-li si zachovat schopnost vykonávat své činnosti správně. Pro člověka má všechno, co je nezbytné k udržení jeho psychické rovnováhy, stejně základní význam jako to, co slouží jeho fyzické rovnováze. Člověk má životní zájem na tom, aby si zachoval svůj základní orientační rámec. Na tom závisí jeho schopnost jednat a koneckonců jeho pocit identity. Když ho jiní lidé ohrožují idejemi, které zpochybňují jeho orientační rámec, zareaguje na ně jako na vážné ohrožení. Tuto reakci si může různě racionalizovat. Řekne třeba, že nové myšlenky jsou od základu "nemorální", "necivilizované", "bláznivé" nebo cokoli jiného, co ho napadne, aby vyjádřil svůj odpor - ve skutečnosti jeho nepřátelské pocity vznikají z toho, že se cítí ohrožený. Člověk nepotřebuje jen orientační rámec, ale také objekty uctívání, které jsou životně důležité pro jeho emocionální rovnováhu. Ať jde o jakékoli hodnoty, ideály, předky, otce, matku, půdu, vlast, třídu, náboženství a stovky jiných jevů, pociťuje je jako "svaté". Dokonce i zvyky se mohou stát posvátnými, protože symbolizují stávající hodnoty. Jedinec nebo skupina lidí pak reaguje na útok proti tomu, co je "svaté", se stejnou zuřivostí a agresivitou, jako by šlo o ohrožení života. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
206:- Ja sobie sam wezmę twoje wytłumaczenie - odpowiedział Western - ściągaj kubrak! Obiję cię tak, ty półgłówku, jak jeszcześ nigdy w życiu nie był obity!
Tu wybuchnął wymyślaniem, nie szczędząc wyrażeń, które uchodzą tylko między dwoma wiejskimi szlachcicami o odmiennej opinii. Przytaczał często miano pewnej części ciała, które zazwyczaj pojawia się we wszelkich konwersacjach wśród niższych sfer angielskiej szlachty, na wyścigach, w czasie walk kogutów i w innych publicznych miejscach spotkań. Podobne aluzje są również często przytaczane w formie żartu, który, moim zdaniem, jest zazwyczaj błędnie interpretowany. W rzeczywistości dowcip polega na tym, iż radzisz przeciwnikowi, aby pocałował ciebie w d... za to, że zagroziłeś kopnięciem go w d..., bo zaobserwowałem z całą pewnością, że nikt nigdy nie proponuje, żebyś ty go kopnął, ani nie występuje z propozycją pocałowania ciebie w omawianą część ciała.
Może również wydać się zdumiewające, iż pomimo wielu tysięcy uprzejmych zaproszeń tego rodzaju, które musiał słyszeć każdy, kto przestawał z wiejską szlachtą, nikt - o ile wiem - nie był ani razu świadkiem, aby owo życzenie było spełnione - wyraźny przykład prowincjonalnego braku grzeczności, bo w miastach jest to powszechnie spotykaną ceremonią, którą najelegantsi panowie odprawiają codziennie w stosunku do swoich zwierzchników, wcale nawet o to nie proszeni.
Tom Jones, t. 1, s. 297. ~ Henry Fielding,#NFDB
207:Jak ich było pięćdziesięciu, wszyscy byli poetami i każdy wypowie wiersz na cześć profesora R. (który dyskretnie i z taktem dawał do zrozumienia, że mniejsza o niego, poezja grunt). Zawezwałem wtedy kelnera aby mi dostarczył dwóch butelek wina, jedną białego, drugą czerwonego, i obie zacząłem doić! Tymczasem poeci recytowali, R. promieniał, anielskość parowała wraz ze wszystkimi cnotami praktykowanymi w takich wypadkach - skromność, dyskrecja, ale i szlachetność, z uczuciem, z sercem, wszystko było jak wyjęte z najsłodszych snów poetyckich starej ciotki: "piękne" i "czyste". Gdy skończył poeta, ściskano mu dłoń, wołano "brawo!". Ale kiedy na koniec tłusta pindula, niecierpliwie oczekująca swojej kolei, zerwała się rzucając biustem na prawo i lewo, machając rękami, wytoczyła z siebie nowe pęki rymowanych szlachetności, ja mając we wnętrzu czerwone z białym nie wytrzymałem, parsknąłem w plecy Dipie, który też parsknął, ale, że to nie miał komu wsadzić w plecy twarz, parsknął i ryknął twarzą całemu zgromadzeniu!
Zgorszenie. Spojrzenia. Ale oto wstaje czcigodny laureat i kropi: że nie zasłużył sobie, chociaż może i zasłużył, ale raczej nie zasłużył, acz cokolwiek może zasłużył... Wzruszenie. Oklaski. Anioł-prezes-poeta dziękuje i zagrzewa... Atmosfera staje się tak wzniosła i słodka, że Dipi i ja dajemy drała najbliższymi drzwiami, zataczają się, pijani w pestkę, w pędzel, w sztok i w kitę! ~ Witold Gombrowicz,#NFDB
208:Mezi muži ženoucími se za množstvím žen můžeme snadno rozlišit dvě kategorie. Jedni hledají ve všech ženách svůj vlastní subjektivní a stále stejný sen o ženě. Druzí jsou hnáni touhou zmocnit se nekonečné pestrosti objektivního ženského světa. Posedlost těch prvních je lyrická: hledají v ženách sami sebe, svůj ideál a jsou stále znovu a znovu zklamáni, protože ideál je, jak známo, to, co se najít nikdy nedá. Zklamání, které je žene od ženy k ženě, dává jejich nestálosti jakousi romantickou omluvu, takže mnohé sentimentální dámy jsou s to být jejich urputnou polygamností dojaty. Ta druhá posedlost je epická a ženy v ní nevidí nic dojemného: muž si do žen nepromítá žádný subjektivní ideál; všechno ho proto zajímá a nic ho nemůže zklamat. A právě ta neschopnost být zklamán má v sobě cosi pohoršujícího. Posedlost epického děvkaře připadá lidem nevykoupená (nevykoupená zklamáním). Jelikož lyrický děvkař pronásleduje pořád stejný typ žen, nikdo si ani nevšimne, že milenky střídá; přátelé mu způsobují ustavičná nedorozumění, protože nejsou s to rozlišit jeho přítelkyně a nazývají je stále stejným jménem. Epičtí děvkaři (a právě mezi ně patří ovšem Tomáš) vzdalují se ve své honbě za poznáním stále víc a víc konvenční ženské kráse, které se rychle nabažili, a skončí neodvratně jako sběratelé kuriozit. Vědí to o sobě, trochu se za to ostýchají a aby neuváděli přátele do rozpaků, neukazují se s milenkami na veřejnosti. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
209:Ještě před šesti týdny jezdil spoj číslo 193, vzpomněla si. Ten byl poslán s nákladem oceli nikoli do Faulktonu v Nebrasce, kde již dva týdny nečinně stála Spencerova továrna na obráběcí stroje, nejlepší strojařský závod, který v zemi ještě zbýval, protože čekala na materiál, nýbrž do Sand Creeku v Illinois, kde se firma Confederate Machines již přes rok utápěla v dluzích a vyráběla nespolehlivé zboží v nepravidelných intervalech. Ocel jí přidělil úřední výnos zdůvodněný tím, že Spencerova továrna je bohatý koncern, který si může dovolit počkat, zatímco Confederate Machines je na dně a nelze dopustit, aby se položila úplně, neboť je jediným zdrojem živobytí pro celé městečko Sand Creek. Spencerova továrna zavřela brány před měsícem, Confederate Machines dva týdny nato. Obyvatelům Sand Creeku byl sice přiznán nárok na podporu, v prázdných sýpkách se však pro ně tak narychlo žádné jídlo nenašlo. Nařízením Jednotícího výboru proto stát zabavil farmářům z Nebrasky zrní na osev a vlak číslo 194 nyní vezl nezasetou sklizeň a budoucnost občanů Nebrasky hladovějícím občanům Illinois. „V této osvícené éře,“ kázal Eugene Lawson v rozhlase, „jsme konečně seznali, že každý jsme strážcem svého bratra.“ „…v dnešní neklidné době celonárodní nouze,“ pokračoval James Taggart s pohledem upřeným na mapu, „není jistě příjemné, že v některých divizích musíme odkládat výplatu a vršit mzdové nedoplatky, je to samozřejmě dočasný stav, nicméně –“ Dagny se tiše zasmála. „Plán sjednocení železnic nefunguje, co, Jime? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
210:Chtěl bych však zopakovat, že tato moje argumentace nemíří ani proti sociálnu, či lidské solidaritě, ani proti přírodě a ochraně životního prostředí. Míří proti tomu, aby byl ekonomický princip, což je z definice princip úsporný a efektivní, zatlačován na druhou kolej. Je-li na druhou kolej zatlačen, je trvalá ekonomická stagnace, kterou právě prožíváme (která určitě není pouze dočasnou fází jakéhosi cyklického vývoje), věcí nevyhnutelnou. 3. V éře komunismu byla jedním z hlavních terčů kriticky uvažujících ekonomů absurdnost tehdejšího ekonomického systému založeného na nefunkční kombinaci centralismu a dirigismu. Proto bylo v éře sametové revoluce a bezprostředně po ní základem našeho postupu odmítání těchto dvou zel – centralismu a dirigismu, proto nám šlo o zrušení vertikálních vztahů jako klíčového koordinačního mechanismu ekonomiky a o nastolení dominance vztahů horizontálních, tedy trhu. To bylo zakódováno v naší DNA. Věděli jsme, že zbavit se centrálního řízení bylo nezbytným předpokladem v úsilí o vytvoření racionální ekonomiky. Dlouhou dobu se nám zdálo, že se nám to daří. Staré centrální plánovací instituce jsme zrušili velmi rychle bez jakékoli náhrady a věřili jsme, že tím zcela radikálně dlouhodobě omezujeme úlohu státu v ekonomice. Jak se ukázalo, nebylo to dlouhodobé. Starý typ plánování bylo snadné zrušit, stejně to byla do značné míry fikce (komunistická ekonomika byla daleko méně plánovaná, než se říkalo), ale nová – dnes tak oblíbená – regulace rychle nahradila tak neoblíbené plánování. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
211:Jaki był sądowy finał ujawnienia w Raporcie operacji WSI i ciebie jako współpracownika służb? Pozwałem ministra obrony narodowej i zażądałem przeprosin. Proces trwał dwa lata. W imieniu ministra występowała Prokuratoria Generalna, która przegrała w pierwszej instancji i w apelacji. Sądy nakazały mnie przeprosić i podyktowały formułę przeprosin, które ukazały się w 2013 roku w „Rzeczpospolitej”. Z mojego punktu widzenia sprawa została zakończona. Sąd stwierdził, że wszelkie sugestie w Raporcie – jakobym był hochsztaplerem, złodziejem, naciągaczem – są niezgodne z prawdą. Z tego wyroku wynika, że autorzy Raportu, z Antonim Macierewiczem na czele, kłamali, konfabulowali i wprowadzali odbiorców w błąd. Według mnie Macierewicz, ujawniając szczegóły operacji specjalnej w Afganistanie, mógł wziąć udział w obcym wywiadzie. O czym mówisz? W jaki sposób? Zgodnie z definicją artykułu 130 par. 2 kodeksu karnego w obcym wywiadzie bierze udział ten, kto ujawnia informacje mogące szkodzić Rzeczpospolitej. Aby wziąć udział w obcym wywiadzie, nie trzeba mieć żadnego związku organizacyjnego czy konspiracyjnego z obcą służbą. Ujawniając informacje o tajnych działaniach w Afganistanie, ujawniając całemu światu informacje o tym, że byłem współpracownikiem wywiadu, Macierewicz de facto przekazał je wywiadowi Al-Kaidy i innym służbom zagranicznym. Takie działanie ma swoją potoczną nazwę – zdrada stanu. Tak to określił profesor Andrzej Rzepliński tuż po publikacji Raportu w 2007 roku, a ponieważ doszedł w 2010 roku do stanowiska prezesa Trybunału Konstytucyjnego, to należy zakładać, że wie, co mówi. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
212:Nikdo už nepoznal, jaký podíl na všeobecném rozkladu mají upřímní lidumilové a jaký nepokrytí gangsteři, kde probíhá rabování na popud Eugenů Lawsonů a jejich neuhasitelné žízně po dobročinnosti a kde na popud Cuffy Meigsů a jejich nezřízené hrabivosti, které obce padly za oběť těm, jimž nástup hladomoru hrozil o týden dříve, a které musely padnout, protože kterýsi překupník zatoužil po nové jachtě. Záleželo snad na tom? Obě pohnutky vedly ke stejnému výsledku, obě byly duševně spřízněné, neboť obě vycházely z přesvědčení, že pokud člověk něco potřebuje, má právo si to vzít. Obě jednaly v souladu s týmž mravním řádem. Obě hlásaly povinnost sebeobětování – a také ji důkladně vymáhaly. Dokonce již ani neexistoval rozdíl mezi kanibalem a obětí. Občané, kteří bez váhání přijali zkonfiskované šatstvo a palivo z města pár kilometrů na východ, neboť byli přesvědčeni, že na něj mají právoplatný nárok, za týden zjistili, že jim stát zabavil sýpky, aby nasytil město pár kilometrů na západ. Lidé konečně dosáhli ideálu, o který usilovali celá staletí, v celé jeho bezmezné, bezvýhradné dokonalosti – potřebnost se konečně stala jejich svrchovaným pánem a vládcem, přednostním právem na jejich majetek, jediným měřítkem hodnoty, nejcennějším platidlem v zemi, posvátnějším než právo či život. Nechali se vlákat do temné jámy, kde nyní jeden přes druhého křičeli, že každý je strážcem svého bratra, zatímco se vespolek okrádali, kde se každý oháněl svým nárokem na nezasloužené, zatímco ustavičně naříkal, že z něj druzí sdírají kůži, kde se všichni navzájem požírali, zatímco vřeštěli hrůzou, že se svět rozpadá působením jakéhosi neznámého zla. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
213:Zanim pozwolisz dziecku korzystać z Internetu bez nadzoru, uzgodnij z nim zestaw zasad, których powinno przestrzegać. Jeśli nie wiesz, od czego zacząć, skorzystaj z poniższych wskazówek: • Zachęcaj dziecko do opowiadania o swoich doświadczeniach związanych z korzystaniem z Internetu i staraj się, przynajmniej na początku, korzystać z Internetu razem z dzieckiem. • Często powtarzaj i podkreślaj, że dzieciom nigdy nie wolno podawać adresu, numeru telefonu ani innych informacji osobistych, takich jak nazwa szkoły czy miejsce zabaw. • Naucz dziecko ufać swojemu doświadczeniu i intuicji; pracuj nad zaufaniem do siebie, bo jeśli je zdobędziesz, to dziecko powie Ci, jeżeli znajdzie w Internecie coś, co wywołuje jego niepokój. • Naucz dziecko, że nie wszystko, co przeczyta lub zobaczy w Internecie, jest prawdą; zachęcaj je do zadawania pytań, jeśli nie jest czegoś pewne. • Jeśli dzieci wykonują w Internecie czynności wymagające zalogowania się w celu identyfikacji użytkownika, pomóż im wybrać odpowiednią nazwę i dopilnuj, aby nie zdradzała ona żadnych informacji osobistych o dziecku. • Powiedz dzieciom, że nie należy spotykać się z osobami poznanymi w Internecie; wyjaśnij, że internetowi przyjaciele nie zawsze są tymi, za których się podają. • Wymagaj, aby dziecko przestrzegało praw własności innych internautów; wyjaśnij, że nielegalne kopiowanie efektów pracy innych ludzi – muzyki, gier wideo i innych programów – to kradzież. • Dopóki nie upewnisz się, że dziecko potrafi w rozsądny sposób korzystać z Internetu, skorzystaj z oprogramowania kontrolującego aktywności dziecka w Internecie; są programy, które umożliwiają zablokowanie dostępu do nieodpowiednich witryn, monitorowanie odwiedzanych przez dzieci witryn i sprawdzanie, co dzieci tam robią. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
214:Nazywam się Entropia. Rosnę od swoich narodzin. Moje wzrastanie nie ma końca. Koniec mego wzrastania będzie stanem równowagi. Stan równowagi będzie końcem wszystkiego. Koniec wszystkiego bywa, żartobliwie i na wyrost, choć nie zawsze wprost, nazywany niebem. Jestem bardzo skryta, trudno mnie objąć i zmierzyć, dlatego wyszłam na jaw całkiem niedawno. Najpierw łączono mnie z termodynamiką. W istocie druga zasada termodynamiki to pean na moją cześć. Do twarzy mi w różniczce zupełnej. Rzucano pod moje rosnące i metaforyczne stopy wiele całek, ciągów, bitów i wartości stałych, że wymienię tylko Plancka i Boltzmanna, aby się nie przechwalać. Udało mi się wyzwolić z mezaliansu z ciepłem i termodynamiką. Pozwoliłam się odkryć w teorii informacji, weszłam w czarne dziury, a nawet do literatury. Mój debiut literacki, wyjąwszy falstarty, to opowiadanie amerykańskiego pisarza Thomasa Pynchona pod moim tytułem. Do dziś mi nie podziękował. Jestem gawędziarą. Lubię dygresje, puste przypisy, odnośniki donikąd. Moim żywiołem są literówki, pomyłki i zdarzenia pozbawione celowości. Przeglądam się w gwiazdach i oczach. Mieszam porządki. Tnę wątki. Śpiewam kołysanki rozumowi. Głos mam nie najlepszy, słuchu wcale, lecz nic to, bardzo jestem fm i ukf. Bywam kojarzona z bałaganem, sobiepaństwem i niezorganizowaniem. Nic bardziej mylnego! Jestem pedantką. Rosnę sekunda po sekundzie. Nie łamię szyku w zdaniach. Sprzątam po sobie i codziennie myję zęby. A raz do roku obowiązkowo mammografia. Jestem konsekwentna i uparta. Pojawiam się, w sensach mniej ścisłych a bardziej potocznych, wszędzie. Nie ma na mnie rady ani siły. Jestem podstawową Zasadą, jestem Stałą Fizyczną i Transcendentalną. Mam miriady skrzydeł o pawim oku. Pióra upadają, oczy mam bez powiek: ciągle patrzą. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
215:Nie potrafię zrozumieć, czemu marnujemy czas dyskutując o religii. O ile jesteśmy uczciwi, a naukowcy powinni być tacy, musimy przyznać, że religia jest zbieraniną fałszywych stwierdzeń, bez żadnych podstaw w rzeczywistości. Sama idea Boga, to wytwór ludzkiej wyobraźni. To zupełnie zrozumiałe, dlaczego pierwotni ludzie, którzy o wiele bardziej byli narażeni na łaskę i niełaskę sił przyrody, niż my dzisiaj, personifikowali te siły w strachu i z drżeniem. Ale dziś, gdy już zrozumieliśmy tak wiele naturalnych procesów w przyrodzie, nie mamy takiej potrzeby. Nie mogę dostrzec, za żadne skarby świata, jak Wszechmogący Bóg pomaga nam w jakikolwiek sposób. To, co widzę – że to założenie prowadzi do tak bezproduktywnych pytań – dlaczego Bóg pozwala na tak wiele nieszczęść i niesprawiedliwości, wyzysku biednych przez bogatych i wszystkich innych okropności. Mógł temu zapobiec. Jeśli religia jest ciągle nauczana, to bynajmniej nie z powodu, iżby jej idee wciąż nas przekonywały. Lecz po prostu dlatego, że niektórzy z nas chcą zapewnić spokój klas niższych. Spokojnymi ludźmi jest o wiele łatwiej rządzić niż krzykliwymi i niezadowolonymi. Jest też znacznie łatwiej ich eksploatować. Religia to rodzaj opium dla ludu, które pozwala uśpić ludzi w pobożnych marzeniach i skłonić aby zapomnieli o krzywdach, jakie są im wyrządzane. Stąd wynika sojusz owych dwu wielkich potęg politycznych, państwa i Kościoła. Państwo i Kościół potrzebują iluzji, że dobry Bóg nagrodzi ludzi w niebie, nie na ziemi – tych wszystkich którzy godzą się na niesprawiedliwości, którzy wypełniają swoje obowiązki cicho i bez narzekania. Dlatego właśnie uczciwe stwierdzenie, że Bóg jest tylko wytworem ludzkiej wyobraźni, nazywane jest przez Kościół najgorszym ze wszystkich grzechów śmiertelnych. ~ Paul A M Dirac, #NFDB
216:neuvědomovali: předně je to přísná rutina zbyrokratizované, zmechanizované práce, umožňující lidem, aby si neuvědomovali svá nejzákladnější lidská přání, svou touhu po transcendenci a jednotě. Pokud tato rutina sama nestačí, člověk přemáhá své podvědomé zoufalství rutinou zábavy, pasivním konzumem sluchových a zrakových požitků, které nabízí průmysl zábavy; určité uspokojení mu přináší i nakupování stále nových věcí a jejich brzká výměna za jiné.
Moderní človek se přeměnil ve zboží; prožívá svou životní energii jako investici, která je mu protředkem k dosažení co největšího zisku se zřetelem k jeho postavení a k situaci na trhu osobností. Odcizil se sám sobě, ostatním lidem i přírodě. Jeho hlavním cílem je výhodná směna jeho dovedností, znalostí – jeho samého, jeho „osobnostního balíčku“ s jinými, kteří mají stejný záměr spravedlivé a výhodné směny. Život nemá jiný cíl než pohyb, jinou zásadu než zásadu spravedlivé směny, jiné uspokojení než konzumovat.
Skutečnost, že soustředění je nutným předpokladem pro zvládnutí některého umění, je sotva třeba dokazovat. Každý, kdo se nějakému umění učil, to poznal. Ale soustředěnost je v naší době ještě vzácnější než sebekázeň. Naše kultura přímo vede k nesoustředěnému a rozptýlenému způsobu života, snad jako žádná jiná. Děláte mnoho věcí najednou: čtete, posloucháte rozhlas, mluvíte, kouříte, jíte, pijete. Jste spotřebitel s otevřenými ústy, dychtivý a ochotný polknout všechno – obrázky, lihoviny, vědomosti.
Stroj, který vyrobí za poloviční dobu stejné množství, je dvakrát tak dobrý než starší a pomalejší. Jsou pro to ovšem důležité ekonomické důvody. Ale jako v tak mnoha jiných případec, i zde se lidské hodnoty určují hodnotami ekonomickými. Co je dobré pro stroj, musí být dobré i pro člověka – tak se uvažuje. ~ Erich Fromm,#NFDB
217:Ručník je skutečně kolosálně užitečná součást výbavy hvězdného stopaře. Především má značnou praktickou cenu — můžete se například do něj zabalit, aby vám nebylo zima, když poskakujete napříč chladnými měsíci planety Jaglan Beta. Můžete na něm ležet na zářivých, mramorovým pískem vystlaných plážích Santraginu V a vdechovat opojné výpary z jeho moří. Můžete na něm spát pod hvězdami, jež tak rudě září na planetě pouští, Karkrafúnu. Můžete ho použít jako plachtu, až poplujete na maličkém voru po proudu drsné řeky Moth, můžete ho namočit pro boj zblízka, nebo si jím zahalit hlavu, abyste necítili jedovaté pachy žravé obludy Blátotlačky z Traalu a nestřetli se s jejím pohledem (je to nepředstavitelně tupé zvíře, myslí si, že když ji nevidíte, nevidí ani ona vás — blbá jak tágo, ale zato značně žravá). Když jste v úzkých, můžete jím signalizovat o pomoc. No, a samozřejmě se jím také můžete utřít, pokud vám po tom všem ještě připadá dost čistý. Co je však ještě důležitější, je obrovský psychologický význam ručníku. Tak například když nějaký paďour (paďour = ten, kdo není stopař) zjistí, že stopař má ručník, automaticky předpokládá, že vlastní rovněž kartáček na zuby, žínku, mýdlo, krabici sušenek, čutoru, kompas, mapu, klubko provázku, sprej proti mravencům, výbavu do deště, skafandr atd. ap. A nejen to. Rád stopaři půjčí kterýkoli ze jmenovaných předmětů nebo cokoliv jiného, co stopař nešťastnou náhodou „ztratil. Onen paďour si totiž pomyslí, že ten, kdo dokázal stopovat napříč a našíř celou Galaxií, žít v drsných podmínkách a za pár šupů, porvat se s osudem a přeprat ho, a kdo přesto vždycky ví, kde má ručník, je zřejmě člověk, s nímž je nutno počítat. Tento obrat ostatně pronikl i do stopařského slengu. Lze například říct: „Hele, sasuješ toho húpyho Forda Prefecta? To ti je teda frúd, kterej fakticky ví, kde má ručník. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
218:(...) telefon znajdował się w moim pokoju, aby zaś nie przeszkdzał rodzicom, dzownej zastąpiony był głuchym terczeniem.
Z obawy, że go nie usłyszę, nie ruszałem się. Nieruchomość moja była taka, że pierwszy raz od wielu miesięcy zauważyłem tykanie zegara. Franciszka przyszła sprzątnąć. Rozmawiała ze mną, ale ja nie znosiłem tej rozmowy, pod której jednostajnie banalną ciągłością uczucia moje zmieniały się co chwila, przechodząc od obawy do lęku, od lęku do zupełnego zwątpienia. Twarz moja, różna od zdawkowo pogodnych słów, jakimi uważałem za właściwe odpowiadać Franciszce, była - czułem to - tak zbolała, żem się zacząć skarżyć na reumatyzm, aby wytłumaczyć rozdźwięk między udaną obojętnością a tym bolesnym wyrazem. Zarazem bałem się, aby rzucane, zresztą półgłosem, słowa Franciszki (nie na temat Albertyny, bo Franciszka sądziła, że już dawno minęła godzina jej możliwego przyjścia) nie przeszkodziły mi dosłyszeć zbawczego i niepowrotnego sygnału. W końcu Franciszka poszła się położyć; odprawiłem ją z szorstką dobrodusznością, aby, odchodząc, hałasem nie pokryła dźwięku telefonu. I zacząłem na nowo słuchać, cierpieć. Kiedy czekamy, podwója droga od ucha, chwytającego dźwięki, do mózgu, który je rozbiera i analizuje, i od mózgu do serca, któremu mózg przekazuje swoje wyniki, jest tak szybka, że nie możemy nawet pochwycić jej trwania i że się nam wydaje, iż słuchaliśmy wprost sercem.
Dręczyło mnie nieustanne pragnienie, wciąż niespokojniejsze i wciąż nie spełnione - pragnienie sygnału telefonicznego.Kiedy doszło szczytowego punktu bolesnego wznoszenia się w spiralach mojej samotnej udręki, naraz, z głębi ludnego i nocnego Paryża, zbliżonego nagle do mnie, tuż koło szafy z książkami usłyszałem - mechaniczne i wzniosłe, niby w "Tristanie: powiewająca szarfa lub fujarka pasterza - terczenie telefonu. Podskoczyłem: to była Albertyna. ~ Marcel Proust,#NFDB
219:Naše civilizace poskytuje mnoho utišujících prostředků, které lidem pomáhají, aby si svou osamělost neuvědomovali: předně je to přísná rutina zbyrokratizované, zmechanizované práce, umožňující lidem, aby si neuvědomovali svá nejzákladnější lidská přání, svou touhu po transcendenci a jednotě. Pokud tato rutina sama nestačí, člověk přemáhá své podvědomé zoufalství rutinou zábavy, pasivním konzumem sluchových a zrakových požitků, které nabízí průmysl zábavy; určité uspokojení mu přináší i nakupování stále nových věcí a jejich brzká výměna za jiné.
*Moderní človek se přeměnil ve zboží; prožívá svou životní energii jako investici, která je mu protředkem k dosažení co největšího zisku se zřetelem k jeho postavení a k situaci na trhu osobností. Odcizil se sám sobě, ostatním lidem i přírodě. Jeho hlavním cílem je výhodná směna jeho dovedností, znalostí – jeho samého, jeho „osobnostního balíčku“ s jinými, kteří mají stejný záměr spravedlivé a výhodné směny. Život nemá jiný cíl než pohyb, jinou zásadu než zásadu spravedlivé směny, jiné uspokojení než konzumovat.
*Skutečnost, že soustředění je nutným předpokladem pro zvládnutí některého umění, je sotva třeba dokazovat. Každý, kdo se nějakému umění učil, to poznal. Ale soustředěnost je v naší době ještě vzácnější než sebekázeň. Naše kultura přímo vede k nesoustředěnému a rozptýlenému způsobu života, snad jako žádná jiná. Děláte mnoho věcí najednou: čtete, posloucháte rozhlas, mluvíte, kouříte, jíte, pijete. Jste spotřebitel s otevřenými ústy, dychtivý a ochotný polknout všechno – obrázky, lihoviny, vědomosti.
*Stroj, který vyrobí za poloviční dobu stejné množství, je dvakrát tak dobrý než starší a pomalejší. Jsou pro to ovšem důležité ekonomické důvody. Ale jako v tak mnoha jiných případec, i zde se lidské hodnoty určují hodnotami ekonomickými. Co je dobré pro stroj, musí být dobré i pro člověka – tak se uvažuje. ~ Erich Fromm,#NFDB
220:Robert Stadler se však dopustil smrtelného hříchu, neboť si nikdy nepoložil otázku, kde leží jeho pravá vlast, do jaké éry vlastně patří… Nenáviděl hlupáky. To byla jediná emoce, kterou kdy druhým dával najevo – kousavá, zahořklá, unavená nenávist k jakékoli neschopnosti, která se mu odvážila vzdorovat. Chtěl si jít vlastní cestou a přál si, aby ho druzí nechali na pokoji. Chtěl jít přímo za svým cílem a cestou odstrkovat druhé stranou. Nikdy se však nepozastavil nad tím, po jaké cestě vlastně kráčí a kdo mu v ní stojí. A tak si neuvědomil, že jde zkratkou. Vidím, že se usmíváte, slečno Taggartová. Vy jej nenávidíte, že ano? Ovšem, vy víte, jakou zkratku si zvolil. Svěřil se vám, že jsme byli rivalové. To je pravda, přinejmenším z jeho strany. Já to tak nevnímal. Nicméně pokud jsme opravdu byli rivalové, pak já měl jednu výhodu – věděl jsem, proč naši tři studenti potřebují obě naše profese. Stadler nikdy nepochopil, proč se zajímají o tu mou. Nikdy si neuvědomil, jak důležitá je pro něj samého, což také nakonec přivodilo jeho pád. V těch dobách měl však ještě dostatek elánu, že se oněch tří nadšeně chopil. A to ‚chopil‘ myslím doslova. Jelikož inteligence je jedinou hodnotou, jakou kdy uznával, tiskl k sobě ty tři jako nějakou truhlici s pokladem. Odjakživa byl velmi osamělý. Myslím, že nikdy v životě nemiloval nikoho kromě Francisca a Ragnara a k nikomu kromě Johna nechoval skutečnou vášeň. Právě jeho považoval za svého nástupce, za svou budoucnost, záruku nesmrtelnosti. John se chtěl stát vynálezcem, což znamenalo, že musel nejprve vystudovat fyziku; na postgraduální studium se chystal právě k Robertu Stadlerovi. Francisco chtěl ihned po promoci začít pracovat. Měl se stát dokonalou kombinací obou svých duchovních otců – průmyslníkem. A Ragnar, vy nevíte, čím se rozhodl stát Ragnar, slečno Taggartová? Ne, nikoli akrobatickým letcem, průzkumníkem neznámých džunglí či hlubokomořským potápěčem. Zvolil si mnohem odvážnější kariéru – Ragnar chtěl být filozofem. Abstraktním, teoretickým, akademickým myslitelem osaměle bádajícím ve slonovinové věži… ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
221:A przecież tak właśnie stało się w wyniku konferencji międzynarodowej, która obradowała w Londynie w latach 1951–1952 w sprawie zmniejszenia zadłużenia Republiki Federalnej Niemiec. Ówczesne debaty przypominają obecne debaty dotyczące Grecji, poczynając od sprzeczności między „zasadami” a zdrowym rozsądkiem gospodarczym. „W grę wchodzą miliardy dolarów”, donosił Paul Heffernan, dziennikarz, który śledził tamte debaty dla New York Times. „Nie chodzi jednak tylko o pieniądze. Konferencja w pałacu Lancaster House przede wszystkim będzie dotyczyła jednej z żywotnych zasad międzynarodowego kapitalizmu: świętości umów międzynarodowych” (24 lutego 1952 r.). Zatroskani o nią negocjatorzy – głównie amerykańscy, brytyjscy, francuscy i niemieccy – wysłuchali jednak argumentów negocjatorów niemieckich. W liście z 6 marca 1951 r. kanclerz Konrad Adenauer wezwał swoich partnerów, aby „wzięli pod uwagę sytuację gospodarczą Republiki Federalnej”, a „zwłaszcza fakt, że ciężar długu rośnie, a gospodarka się kurczy”. Jak podsumował to ekonomista Timothy W. Guinnane, wszyscy zgodzili się szybko, że „redukcja spożycia w Niemczech nie stanowi właściwego rozwiązania, gwarantującego spłatę długu” [12]. Wreszcie 27 lutego 1953 r. podpisano porozumienie. Przewidywało ono zmniejszenie o co najmniej 50% sum, które Niemcy pożyczyły w okresie międzywojennym, 5-letnie moratorium na spłatę pozostałych długów i odłożenie sine die spłat długów wojennych, których można było żądać od rządu w Bonn – Eric Toussaint z Komitetu na rzecz Anulowania Długu Trzeciego Świata (CADTM) ocenia, że w sumie długi niemieckie zredukowano o 90% [13] – oraz możliwość spłaty przez Niemcy we własnej walucie i określenie limitu sum przeznaczonych na obsługę długu (5% wartości niemieckiego eksportu) i stopy procentowej (również 5%). To nie wszystko. W trosce o to, precyzował Heffernan, aby „takie porozumienie stanowiło jedynie preludium do wysiłków zmierzających do pobudzenia wzrostu gospodarczego Niemiec”, państwa-wierzyciele zapewniły im rynki zbytu i zrezygnowały ze sprzedaży swoich własnych produktów Republice Federalnej. Zdaniem historyka gospodarki niemieckiej Albrechta Ritschla posunięcia te stały się „finansowym fundamentem niemieckiego cudu gospodarczego” lat 50 [14]. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
222:Od té chvíle se stalo hlavním cílem jejího neklidného života zbavit se maniaka. Tremor se jí pověsil na paty. Přespával u vchodu do domu, hlídkoval na schodech univerzity. Ať šla Jája kamkoli, v určité vzdálenosti ji následoval a provrtával její záda pohledem, který svědčil o nutnosti okamžitého zákroku psychiatra. Jájini přátelé si tu a tam jejího ocásku všimli a projevovali znepokojení. Ale Jája je bezstarostně odbývala: „Všechno je v pořádku, je to můj maniak! Moc milý!“ Když se Jája ocitla sama, ohleduplný Tremor ji doháněl, aby mohl „sestřičce“ odhalit další trpkou stránku své biografie. Vyprávění se nejčastěji týkalo Tremorových „kámošů“, kteří už všichni do jednoho zemřeli, přesněji, podle jeho břitkého vyjádření, „exli“. Jednou, když byl v lyrickém rozpoložení ducha, zatáhl Tremor Jáju na hřbitov, kde leželi všichni „exnutí kámoši“. A celý den ji vodil mezi hroby a nahlas vyzpěvoval smutné písně z repertoáru Michaila Kruga. O tom, že „všichni kámoši zatřepali bačkorama a já tu zůstal sám“. Jája se pokusila vzít roha, ale Tremor ji držel pevně za ruku. Po setmění Tremor rozdělal oheň na krajnici státní silnice, posadil Jáju na shnilý trám a vyprávěl jí o tom, jak dobře bylo v Sovětském svazu. Vždyť všichni „kámoši“, co se živili čórkami, byli tenkrát ještě naživu a každý den společně popíjeli vodku za tři ruble a šedesát dvě kopějky v „kapačce“ na rohu Leninova prospektu a ulice 25. října… Záhy však události nabraly méně idylický směr. Tremor si předsevzal, že se s Jájou ožení. Svatbu plánoval uskutečnit 7. listopadu, pod transparenty a sametovými zástavami oblastního výboru. Tremor přestal říkat Jáje „sestřičko“ a začal ji soužit svéráznými žádostmi, které měly ukázat veškerou sílu a hloubku jeho komsomolské vášně. „Jen mi poruč, a já skočím z tohohle mostu!“ vykřikoval Tremor a třeštil šílené modré oči. Jája nechtěla, aby Tremor skákal z mostu, protože byla už zima. „Stačí jen naznačit, kdo ti ubližuje, a já ho donutím, aby sežral sochor!“ Tremor se rozrušil ještě víc a utíkal, co mu nohy stačily, domů, kde měl v komoře schované zlověstné nástroje. Jája totiž netušila, jak vypadá sochor, a naivně si myslela, že to je otrávený suchar. Ukázalo se, že sochor je velká železná tyč, kterou rybáři prosekávají díry do ledu. „Sežrat“ sochor by bylo velmi obtížné a určitě nepříjemné. Jája nechtěla, aby měl někdo tak těžký úděl. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
223:Onou hranou, na níž balancujete poslední dvě hodiny, zatímco posloucháte můj hlas, a zároveň před ním toužíte utéct, je světonázor zbabělce obsažený ve větě: ‚Vždyť přeci nemusíme zacházet do krajností!‘ Onou krajností, které se odjakživa ze všech sil vyhýbáte, je přiznání, že realita je konečná, že A je A a že pravda je pravdivá. Mravní řád, který nelze dodržovat, který žádá buď nedokonalost, nebo smrt, vás naučil rozpouštět všechno myšlení v neprostupné mlze, nepřipouštět žádné pevné definice, brát všechny pojmy za přibližné a všechna pravidla za elastická, činit ústupky u každé hodnoty, vždy jít zlatou střední cestou. Vnutil vám absolutní pravdy nadpřirozena, a přiměl vás tak odmítnout absolutní pravdy přírody. Znemožnil vám činit mravní soudy, a připravil vás tak o schopnost činit soudy racionální. Mravní řád, který vám zakazuje vrhnout první kámen, vám zatajil totožnost kamene, znemožnil vám poznat, kdy nebo zda jste sami kamenováni. Člověk, který odmítá soudit druhé, který neříká ani tak, ani onak, který hlásá, že absolutní pravdy neexistují, neboť se tak chce vyhnout zodpovědnosti, je ve skutečnosti zodpovědný za všechnu krev, která je nyní ve světě prolévána. Realita je absolutní, existence je absolutní, zrnko prachu je absolutní a absolutní je i lidský život. Otázka, zda žijete či nikoli, je absolutní. Otázka, zda máte krajíc chleba nebo ne, je absolutní. A to, zda svůj krajíc sami sníte nebo se budete dívat, jak mizí v žaludku loupeživého bandity, je také absolutní. Každá otázka má dvě odpovědi – jedna je správná a druhá špatná, leč střední cesta je vždy cesta zla. Ten, kdo se mýlí, si stále uchovává jakýsi smysl pro pravdu, i kdyby jen tím, že se nevyhýbá zodpovědnosti za jasné rozhodnutí. Ale ten, kdo si zvolí střední cestu, je ničema, který zatemňuje pravdu, aby mohl předstírat, že žádná rozhodnutí či hodnoty neexistují, který raději přečká každou bitvu v závětří a sveze se na krvi nevinných, nebo se připlazí po břiše k viníkům, jejichž představa spravedlnost spočívá v tom, že odsoudí za mříže lupiče i oloupeného, a konflikty řeší tak, že vybídnou přemýšlivého i blázna, aby si navzájem vyšli vstříc. Z kompromisu mezi potravou a jedem může vyjít vítězně jedině smrt. Z kompromisu mezi dobrem a zlem může profitovat jedině zlo. V procesu transfuze krve, který vysává dobro a vyživuje zlo, slouží člověk ochotný ke kompromisu jako gumová hadička. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
224:Téměř všichni jsou obyčejného původu, prostí muži, kteří se nikdy nevzdálili víc než míli od domu, kde se narodili, a to až do dne, kdy přišel nějaký pán, aby si je odvedl do války. Špatně obutí a bídně oblečení pochodují pod svými praporci, často s žádnými lepšími zbraněmi než se srpem či nabroušenou motykou nebo s kyjem, který si sami vyrobili tak, že připevnili kámen ke klacku proužky kůže. Bratři pochodují s bratry, synové s otci, přátelé s přáteli. Slyšeli písně a příběhy, a tak odcházejí s dychtivými srdci a sní o divech, které ve světě uvidí, o bohatství a slávě, které získají. Válka jim připadá jako nádherné dobrodružství, to největší, jaké většina z nich kdy zažije. Pak poznají chuť bitvy. Pro některé je jedno ochutnání vším, co postačí k tomu, aby je to zlomilo. Ostatní pokračují celé roky, dokud neztratí přehled o všech bitvách, ve kterých bojovali, ale dokonce i muž, který přežil stovku bojů, se může zhroutit ve stém a prvním. Bratři se dívají, jak umírají jejich bratři, otcové ztrácejí své syny, přátelé vidí své přátele, jak se snaží udržet v břiše vnitřnosti vykuchané sekerou. Vidí, jak zabíjejí pána, který je tam přivedl, a nějaký jiný pán křičí, že odteď jsou jeho. Jsou zraněni, a když se jim rána teprve napůl zhojí, utrží další. Věčně trpí nedostatkem jídla, jejich boty se rozpadají od ustavičného pochodu, šaty, co mají na sobě, jsou potrhané a ztrouchnivělé a polovina z nich trpí průjmy a kálí si do kaťat, jak pijí špatnou vodu. Když chtějí nové boty nebo teplejší plášť nebo možná jen zrezivělou polopřílbu, musí si ji vzít od mrtvoly, a netrvá dlouho a začnou krást i živým, prostým lidem, v jejichž zemi bojují, lidem úplně stejným, jako byli dřív sami. Zabíjejí jejich ovce a kradou jim slepice a od toho už je jen krůček k tomu, aby začali unášet také jejich dcery. A jednoho dne se rozhlédnou a uvědomí si, že všichni jejich přátelé a příbuzní jsou pryč, že bojují vedle cizinců pod praporcem, který stěží poznávají. Nevědí, kde jsou, nebo jak se dostanou zpátky domů, a pán, za kterého bojují, nezná jejich jména, a přece k nim přijíždí, křičí na ně, aby se zformovali. Aby vytvořili linii s kopími a kosami a naostřenými motykami, aby si hájili své území. A pak se na ně již řítí rytíři, muži bez tváří odění v oceli, a železný hřmot jejich útoku jako by plnil celičký svět… A tehdy se muž zlomí. Otočí se a utíká nebo se plazí přes mrtvoly těch, které zabil, nebo se krade pryč v černi noci a hledá si místo, kde by se mohl ukrýt. Veškeré myšlenky na domov se do té doby vytratí a všichni králové a lordi a bohové pro něj znamenají méně než kus zkaženého masa, který mu umožní přežít další den, nebo měch špatného vína, ve kterém by mohl na pár hodin utopit svůj strach. Dezertér žije ze dne na den, od jednoho jídla ke druhému, spíš jako zvíře než jako člověk. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
225:Mexická kuchyně? Nic nestravitelně exotického. Zkuste plněné taštičky Když se řekne empanadas, představíte si něco složitého, exotického, co se v našich zeměpisných šířkách v podstatě nedá připravit. V praxi však zjistíte, že jsou to obyčejné plněné taštičky. Plněné surovinami, které používají Mexičané, ale jsou v každé samoobsluze dostupné i pro nás. Taštičky empanadas se servírují například se salsou. Náplň se bude skládat ze směsi pokrájené krkovičky, salámu chorizo, rajčat a koření. Celé se to zabalí do těsta a upeče. Podává se například se salsou, což je zase jen nasekané rajče s mangem a kořením. Tedy k pečenému trocha čerstvé chuti pro kontrast. Nejprve si připravíme náplň. Maso omyjeme, osušíme a nakrájíme na malé kostičky. Opravdu malé, uvědomme si, že musí vzniknout směska, kterou se bude plnit malá taštička. Takže oloupeme cibuli a nakrájíme najemno, přidáme nahrubo nakrájený česnek. V pánvi rozpálíme olej, zpěníme cibulku, přidáme česnek a nadrobno pokrájené maso a chorizo. Restujeme asi 10 minut. Ochutíme pepřem, solí, oreganem a římským kmínem. Záleží na chuti, místo choriza je výborné použít třeba pancettu, tedy slaninu. Stejně tak se často používají do směsi i černé olivy, které se běžně nepovažují za nejtypičtější mexickou surovinu a evokují nám spíše Středomoří. Je ale pravdou, že od 16. století byly olivovníky do Mexika importovány, takže už měly možnost se ve stravě prosadit. Do orestované směsi přidáme olivy, k nim přidáme chilli papričky, najemno nakrájená rajčata nebo passatu, vařená vejce na kostičky a důkladně promícháme a necháme krátce povařit. Nakonec přidáme strouhanou kůru z limetky a limetkovou šťávu, promícháme a necháme vychladnout. „Dávkování koření typického pro mexickou kuchyni bych nechal na vás. Jsou lidi, kteří milují chilli, česnek, římský kmín a koriandr, ale jsou i takoví, kteří tyto chuti nemusí. Berte tento mexický recept jen jako inspiraci k vytvoření chutných plněných taštiček,“ říká kuchař Michal Suchánek, který mexickou kuchyni učí na kurzech vaření v pražském studiu Chefparade. Salsa Pico de Gallo Ingredience: 500 g rajčata 2 červené cibule 2 papričky - zelené jalapeňos 1/2 svazku koriandru 1 limeta 1 mango sůl a pepř Postup: Rajčata nasekáme na kostičky, přidáme nasekané papričky, koriandr, mango, cibuli. Dochutíme solí pepřem a limetkovou šťávou. Zatímco bude směs chladnout, vyrobíme si těsto. Smícháme 600 g hladké mouky, 80–100 g másla, sůl, 2 ks vejce, 100 ml ledové vody, 40 ml octa. Mouku s vejci a máslem smícháme důkladně dohromady, vodu, sůl a ocet postupně přidáváme a vše vypracujeme do hladkého těsta. Necháme na půl hodinky odpočinout do lednice. Pak rozválíme na cca 0,5 cm silnou placku a vykrajujeme kolečka o průměru zhruba 10 cm. Na ně rozdělíme připravenou masovou náplň. Pozor, nepřehánět to s náplní – myslete a to, že placku budete přehýbat a utěsňovat, tak aby vám směs při pečení nevytékala, jak to s oblibou dělá. Kolečka přehneme a okraje pečlivě stiskneme k sobě. Taštičky rozložíme na plech a pečeme v předehřáté troubě při 200 °C asi 15 minut dozlatova. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
226:Mexická kuchyně? Nic nestravitelně exotického. Zkuste plněné taštičky Když se řekne empanadas, představíte si něco složitého, exotického, co se v našich zeměpisných šířkách v podstatě nedá připravit. V praxi však zjistíte, že jsou to obyčejné plněné taštičky. Plněné surovinami, které používají Mexičané, ale jsou v každé samoobsluze dostupné i pro nás. Taštičky empanadas se servírují například se salsou. Náplň se bude skládat ze směsi pokrájené krkovičky, salámu chorizo, rajčat a koření. Celé se to zabalí do těsta a upeče. Podává se například se salsou, což je zase jen nasekané rajče s mangem a kořením. Tedy k pečenému trocha čerstvé chuti pro kontrast. Nejprve si připravíme náplň. Maso omyjeme, osušíme a nakrájíme na malé kostičky. Opravdu malé, uvědomme si, že musí vzniknout směska, kterou se bude plnit malá taštička. Takže oloupeme cibuli a nakrájíme najemno, přidáme nahrubo nakrájený česnek. V pánvi rozpálíme olej, zpěníme cibulku, přidáme česnek a nadrobno pokrájené maso a chorizo. Restujeme asi 10 minut. Ochutíme pepřem, solí, oreganem a římským kmínem. Záleží na chuti, místo choriza je výborné použít třeba pancettu, tedy slaninu. Stejně tak se často používají do směsi i černé olivy, které se běžně nepovažují za nejtypičtější mexickou surovinu a evokují nám spíše Středomoří. Je ale pravdou, že od 16. století byly olivovníky do Mexika importovány, takže už měly možnost se ve stravě prosadit. Do orestované směsi přidáme olivy, k nim přidáme chilli papričky, najemno nakrájená rajčata nebo passatu, vařená vejce na kostičky a důkladně promícháme a necháme krátce povařit. Nakonec přidáme strouhanou kůru z limetky a limetkovou šťávu, promícháme a necháme vychladnout. „Dávkování koření typického pro mexickou kuchyni bych nechal na vás. Jsou lidi, kteří milují chilli, česnek, římský kmín a koriandr, ale jsou i takoví, kteří tyto chuti nemusí. Berte tento mexický recept jen jako inspiraci k vytvoření chutných plněných taštiček,“ říká kuchař Michal Suchánek, který mexickou kuchyni učí na kurzech vaření v pražském studiu Chefparade. Salsa Pico de Gallo Ingredience: 500 g rajčata 2 červené cibule 2 papričky - zelené jalapeňos 1/2 svazku koriandru 1 limeta 1 mango sůl a pepř Postup: Rajčata nasekáme na kostičky, přidáme nasekané papričky, koriandr, mango, cibuli. Dochutíme solí pepřem a limetkovou šťávou. Zatímco bude směs chladnout, vyrobíme si těsto. Smícháme 600 g hladké mouky, 80–100 g másla, sůl, 2 ks vejce, 100 ml ledové vody, 40 ml octa. Mouku s vejci a máslem smícháme důkladně dohromady, vodu, sůl a ocet postupně přidáváme a vše vypracujeme do hladkého těsta. Necháme na půl hodinky odpočinout do lednice. Pak rozválíme na cca 0,5 cm silnou placku a vykrajujeme kolečka o průměru zhruba 10 cm. Na ně rozdělíme připravenou masovou náplň. Pozor, nepřehánět to s náplní – myslete a to, že placku budete přehýbat a utěsňovat, tak aby vám směs při pečení nevytékala, jak to s oblibou dělá. Kolečka přehneme a okraje pečlivě stiskneme k sobě. Taštičky rozložíme na plech a pečeme v předehřáté troubě při 200 °C asi 15 minut dozlatova. Kompletní postup krok za krokem najdete ve fotogalerii. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
227:*Soustředění se dá v našem kulturním okruhu cvičit mnohem obtížněji, protože vše v něm působí proti schopnosti k soustředění. Nejdůležitější krok je naučit se být sám se sebou bez čtení, bez poslechu rozhlasu, bez kouření a pití. Vskutku, umět se soustředit znamená umět být sám se sebou – a tato schopnost je jedna z podmínek pro schopnost milovat. Jsem-li připoután k druhému člověku, protože neumím stát na vlastních nohou, on či ona může být pro mě zachráncem života, ale není to milostný vztah. Je to paradoxní, ale schopnost být sám je předpokladem schopnosti milovat. Kdo se pokusí být sám se sebou, pozná, jak je to těžké. Pocítí neklid, nervozitu či dokonce úzkost. Bude mít sklon k tomu, aby svou neochotu pokračovat zdůvodnil úvahou, že to nemá cenu, že je to hloupost, že to zabírá příliš mnoho času, atd. [...] Když se člověk soustředí, málo záleží na tom, co dělá; důležité stejně jako nedůležité věci nabývají nových rozměrů, protože se jim dostává plné pozornosti. Naučit se soustředění znamená vyhýbat se podle možnosti triviálním rozhovorům, tj. rozhovorům nepravým. Když dva lidé spolu hovoří o růstu stromu, který oba znají, o chuti chleba, který právě jedli spolu, nebo o společné zkušenosti z práce, může takový rozhovor mít význam, pokud to, o čem mluví, prožívají, pokud o těchto věcech nemluví způsobem, který je zbavuje konkrétnosti; na druhé straně se může rozhovor zabývat politikou, náboženstvím a přesto může být triviální; to se stává, když dva lidé mluví ve frázích, když v tom, co říkají, není jejich srdce. Měl bych zde dodat, že stejně důležité jako vyhýbat se triviálním rozhovorům je vyhýbat se špatné společnosti. Pod pojmem „špatná společnost“ nerozumím jen neřestné a destktruktivní lidi, kterým by se měl člověk vyhýbat, protože být vystaven jejich vlivu je zhoubné a skličující. Myslím tím též společnost „zombií“, lidí, jejichž duše je mrtvá, i když jejich tělo žije; lidí, kteří myslí i hovoří triviálně; kteří štěbetají, místo aby mluvili, a místo, aby myslili, vyslovují fráze.
*Soustředit se ve vztahu k jiným lidem znamená především umět naslouchat. Většina lidí poslouchá jiné, dokonce jim radí, aniž skutečně naslouchá. Neberou vážně to, co druhý říká, neberou vážně ani své vlastní odpovědi. Proto je rozhovor unavuje. Žijí v iluzi, že by je unavoval ještě více, kdyby soustředěně naslouchali. Ale je tomu právě naopak. Každá činnost, která se provádí soustředěně, člověka vzpružuje (i když pak nastane přirozená a blahodárná únava), kdežto nesoustředěná činnost vyvolává ospalost – a přitom zároveň znesnadňuje usínání na konci dne.
*Dochází k zaměňování slušnosti za lásku.
*Naše společnost je řízena manažerskou byrokracií, profesionálními politiky; motivace lidí je určována masovou sugescí, jejich cílem je vyrobit více a spotřebovat více a tyto cíle jsou účelem samy pro sebe. Všechna činnost je podřízena ekonomickým cílům, z prostředků se stal účel; člověk je automat – dobře živený, dobře šacený, ale bez hlubokého, všepronikajícího zájmu o to, co je jeho specificky lidskou kvalitou a funkcí. Má-li člověk umět milovat, musí si sám sebe navýsost cenit. ~ Erich Fromm,#NFDB
228:Przedmowa do wydania z 1962 r. Istnieją dwie metody organizacji działania ludzi w ramach społeczeństwa, tak by ich współpraca była pokojowa. Jedną jest zarządzanie biurokratyczne, drugą jest zarządzanie nastawione na zysk. Dobrze wiadomo, iż zarządzanie nastawione na zysk jest w dzisiejszych czasach bardzo niepopularne. Ludzie robią wszystko, by władzę zwierzchnią konsumentów jako czynnik działający w gospodarce rynkowej zastąpić przez powszechne planowanie władzy centralnej, czyli socjalizm. Jednakże ci sami ludzie jednocześnie ostro krytykują wady biurokracji. Nie zauważają nawet, że głośno domagając się usunięcia ograniczenia zarządzania nastawionego na zysk, sami postulują coraz większą biurokrację, a nawet pełną biurokratyzację każdej sfery ludzkich spraw. Istnieją obszary działalności człowieka, w których wybór pomiędzy zarządzaniem nastawionym na zysk i zarządzaniem biurokratycznym nie podlega kwestii i w których to ostatnie musi dominować. Komisariatem policji nie można kierować posługując się metodami nadającymi się do prowadzenia przedsiębiorstwa zarobkowego. Ale na przykład piekarnia służy określonej liczbie ludzi – mianowicie jej konsumentom – sprzedając im wyprodukowane przez siebie pieczywo. To patronat konsumentów jest społeczną legitymacją – czyli rentownością – przedsiębiorstwa, jakim jest piekarnia. Komisariat policji natomiast nie może sprzedawać swoich „produktów”. Jego osiągnięcia, jakkolwiek cenne, a nawet niezbywalne, nie posiadają ceny rynkowej, a zatem nie można ich zestawiać z całkowitym kosztem poniesionym dla ich dokoniania. Poniższa rozprawa nie potępia ani też nie wini biurokracji. Usiłuje natomiast pokazać, co oznacza zarządzanie biurokratyczne i czym różni się ono od zarządzania nastawionego na zysk. Ponadto ukazuje w jakim obszarze zarządzanie biurokratyczne stanowi jedyną możliwą metodę rozstrzygania spraw społecznych. W jakimś stopniu celem tej rozprawy jest też pragnienie złagodzenia aktualnych i przyszłych skutków prób, podjętych przez obecne rządy i partie polityczne, by prywatną inicjatywę zastąpić państwowym interwencjonizmem. Badanie wskazanych powyżej problemów dostarcza nam niezbędnej wiedzy, która z kolei pozwala dokonać adekwatnej oceny dwóch systemów gospodarczej organizacji społeczeństwa – gospodarki rynkowej i socjalizmu. Przeanalizujemy znaczenie programu Lenina, aby „zorganizować całą gospodarkę narodową na wzór funkcjonowania poczty”, a z całego społeczeństwa zrobić „jeden urząd i jedną fabrykę”, zaś wszystkich obywateli przekształcić „w najemnych pracowników państwa”[1]. Rozprawa niniejsza została napisana i po raz pierwszy opublikowana w 1944 roku. W pewnych punktach odnosi się ona do warunków i osób tamtego okresu. Sytuacja zewnętrzna zmieniła się wprawdzie w wielu aspektach, a niektórzy przywódcy z 1944 roku utracili swoje aureole, niemniej istotne cechy problemów politycznych, o jakich tu mowa, pozostały niezmienne. Wielki historyczny konflikt pomiędzy indywidualizmem i kolektywizmem dzieli ludzkość na dwa wrogie obozy, jak to miało miejsce osiemnaście lat temu. Stąd badanie kontrastu pomiędzy zarządzaniem biurokratycznym i prywatnym jest nadal ważne. Nowy Jork, styczeń 1962 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
229:— Nie, to nie żarty. Opowiadam ci tylko, do czego doszedłem. Można przekazywać wiedzę, ale nie mądrość. Mądrość można znaleźć, można nią żyć, można się na niej wspierać, można dzięki niej czynić cuda, ale wypowiedzieć jej i nauczać nie sposób. Domyślałem się tego już jako chłopak i to właśnie odsunęło mnie od nauczycieli. Dokonałem pewnego odkrycia, Gowindo, które ty znowu uznasz za żart albo za błazeństwo, ale to najbardziej cenna z moich myśli. Oto przeciwieństwo każdej prawdy jest równie prawdziwe! Prawdę można przecież wypowiedzieć i ubrać w słowa tylko wtedy, gdy jest to prawda jednostronna. Wszystko, co ma postać myśli i daje się wyrazić słowami, jest jednostronne, jest połowiczne, brakuje mu całości, dopełnienia, jedności. Gdy wzniosły Gautama nauczał o świecie, musiał go podzielić na sansarę i nirwanę, na złudzenie i prawdę, na ból i wyzwolenie. Inaczej się nie da, kto chce nauczać, nie ma przed sobą innej drogi. Ale sam świat, to, co jest wokół nas i w nas w środku nigdy nie jest jednostronne. Żaden człowiek ani żaden uczynek nie należy całkowicie do sansary ani do nirwany, żaden człowiek nie jest do końca grzeszny ani święty. Tak się wydaje, owszem, ponieważ ulegamy złudzeniu, iż czas jest czymś rzeczywistym. Czas nie jest czymś rzeczywistym. A jeśli czas nie jest rzeczywisty, to i ta odległość, jaka zdaje się dzielić świat od wieczności, cierpienie od szczęścia, zło od dobra, jest tylko złudzeniem. — Jakże to? — spytał niespokojnie Gowinda. — Posłuchaj mnie, mój miły, słuchaj mnie dobrze! Grzesznik, taki jak ja i taki jak ty, jest grzesznikiem, ale kiedyś znowu złączy się z brahmanem, osiągnie kiedyś nirwanę, będzie buddą i teraz zobacz: to “kiedyś" jest złudzeniem, jest tylko przenośnią! Naprawdę bowiem nie jest tak, że grzesznik przebywa jakąś drogę, by stać się buddą, nie staje się nim w trakcie rozwoju, choć nasz umysł nie potrafi sobie tego inaczej wyobrazić. Nie, w grzeszniku jest już teraz dzisiaj przyszły buddą, cała jego przyszłość już w nim jest zawarta i w tym grzeszniku, w sobie samym, w każdym człowieku należy wielbić przyszłego, możliwego, ukrytego buddę. Świat, przyjacielu, nie jest doskonały ani też nie zbliża się powoli do doskonałości, nie: jest doskonały w każdej chwili, wszelki grzech zawiera w sobie już łaskę, każde dziecko nosi w sobie starca, każdy noworodek śmierć, każdy umierający wieczne życie. Nikomu z ludzi nie jest dane ocenić, jak daleko inny zaszedł na swej drodze, w zbóju i hulace czeka już budda, w braminie czeka zbój. Głęboka medytacja pozwala ci znieść czas, widzieć naraz wszelkie życie niegdysiejsze, obecne i przyszłe, i wtedy wszystko jest doskonałe, wszystko jest brahmanem. Dlatego wszystko, co jest, zdaje mi się dobre, śmierć na równi z życiem, grzech na równi ze świętością, roztropność na równi z głupotą, wszystko musi być takie, jakie jest, potrzeba tylko mojej zgody, mojej dobrej woli, mojego przyzwolenia, a wszystko jest dla mnie dobre, może mnie tylko wesprzeć, nie może mi szkodzić. Na własnym ciele i duszy doświadczyłem, że potrzeba mi było grzechów, potrzebna mi była rozpusta, chciwość, próżność i najstraszniejsze zwątpienie, aby nauczyć się uległości, aby pokochać świat, aby nie porównywać go z jakimś przez siebie wymarzonym, wyobrażonym światem, z wymyślonym jakimś rodzajem doskonałości, tylko zostawić go takim, jakim jest, i kochać go i cieszyć się, że do niego należę. Takie między innymi są moje odkrycia, Gowindo. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
230:Říká se, že pohromy jsou dílem nešťastné náhody, a jsou tací, kteří by dozajista tvrdili, že pasažéři Komety nenesli žádnou vinu na tom, co se jim přihodilo. Muž v lůžkovém kupé A vozu 1 byl profesorem sociologie, který učil, že individuální schopnosti jsou nepodstatné, že individuální úsilí je pošetilé, že individuální svědomí je zbytečný přepych, že neexistuje nic jako individuální mysl nebo charakter nebo úspěch, že vše je dílem kolektivního úsilí a že nezáleží na jednotlivých lidech, nýbrž na společnosti jako celku. Lehátkové kupé č. 7 vozu 2 patřilo mladému novináři, který psal, že je správné a morální užívat donucovacích prostředků „v zájmu dobré věci“. Věřil, že má právo nutit druhé pod hrozbou fyzického násilí – ničit životy, dusit ctižádost, hasit naděje, pošlapávat hodnoty, zavírat do vězení, plenit, zabíjet – ve jménu své vlastní soukromé představy „dobré věci“, a že ani nemusí jít o žádný promyšlený světonázor, neboť novinář nikdy nevysvětlil, co je podle něj „dobré“, nýbrž pokaždé jen mávl rukou, že to tak zkrátka „cítí“. Byl to pocit nepodepřený fakty, neboť novinář věřil, že emoce jsou nadřazeny znalostem, a spoléhal se tudíž výhradně na své „dobré úmysly“ a úřední moc. V lehátkovém kupé 10 vozu 3 byla postarší učitelka, která celý život vychovávala ze svých bezmocných svěřenců zakřiknuté zbabělce, neboť jim vštěpovala, že vůle většiny je jediným měřítkem dobra a zla, že většina má právo činit všechno, co uzná za nutné, že lidé se v životě nesmějí příliš prosazovat a vyvyšovat nad druhé, ale že naopak musejí dělat totéž co ostatní. V salonním kupé B vozu 4 seděl vydavatel novin, který věřil, že lidé jsou od přírody zkažení a nezpůsobilí žit ve svobodné společnosti, že nechá-li se jim volná ruka, budou jen lhát, loupit a vraždit, a že lhaní, loupení a vraždění musí tudíž být výhradními nástroji vládců, neboť jedině tak lze lidi přinutit k tomu, aby pracovali, chovali se mravně a dodržovali zákony. Muž v lůžkovém kupé H vozu 5 byl podnikatel, který získal svůj rudný důl díky státnímu úvěrovému programu zřízenému Zákonem o zrovnoprávnění příležitostí. V salonním kupé A vozu 6 seděl finančník, který vydělal jmění tím, že skupoval „zmrazené“ železniční dluhopisy, které pak nechával u svých známých ve Washingtonu „rozmrazovat“. Muž na sedadle č. 5 vozu 7 byl dělník přesvědčený o tom, že má „právo“ na práci, ať už o něj zaměstnavatel stojí, nebo ne. V lehátkovém kupé 6 vozu 8 cestovala odborná asistentka, která pevně věřila, že coby spotřebitel má „právo“ na dopravní služby, ať už je majitelé železnic v dané oblasti chtějí poskytovat, nebo ne. Lehátkové kupé 2 vozu 9 patřilo profesoru ekonomie, který volal po zrušení soukromého vlastnictví a hlásal, že inteligence nehraje v oblasti průmyslové výroby žádnou roli, že lidská mysl je utvářena pracovními nástroji, že železniční firmu či továrnu by dokázal řídit každý a že by stačilo jen znárodnit výrobní prostředky. Lůžkové kupé D vozu 10 si zamluvila matka dvou dětí. Ty spaly na lůžku nad ní. Žena je pečlivě přikryla, aby je ochránila před průvanem a otřesy vlaku. Její manžel pracoval ve státní správě, kde dohlížel na dodržování nových směrnic, které žena hájila stylem: „Co bych si s nimi dělala hlavu, stejně postihují jen boháče. Já musím hledět především na své děti.“ V lehátkovém kupé 3 vozu 11 byl ukňouraný neurotický mužík, který psal laciné jednoaktovky, do kterých na důkaz své společenské angažovanosti vkládal zbabělé, jízlivé narážky na to, jací jsou podnikatelé darebáci. V leh ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
231:Umíte si představit, co se na takových schůzích odehrávalo? Hned na té první jsme zjistili, že se z nás ze všech stali žebráci – prolhaní, vypočítaví, ufňukaní žebráci, všichni do jednoho, protože nikdo neměl právo na vlastní výplatu, neměl žádná práva a žádný příjem, plody jeho práce nepatřily jemu, ale celé ‚rodině‘. A ta mu na oplátku nedlužila vůbec nic a on se mohl odvolávat jedině na svou ‚potřebnost‘. A tak musel veřejně žebrat, aby mu druzí pomohli s jeho potřebami, jako nějaký příživník a darmošlap. Musel přede všemi vypočítávat všechny své trable a svízele, od nedovírajících se šuplíků po manželčinu rýmu, a doufat, že mu ‚rodina‘ hodí nějakou almužnu. Musel se odvolávat na své trable, protože těmi se najednou platilo místo práce. A tak se všechno zvrhlo na přetahovanou šesti tisíců somráků, z nichž každý tvrdil, že je potřebnější než ostatní. Jinak to přece ani nešlo. Umíte si představit, jaký typ lidí byl zticha, protože se styděl, a jaká sorta si žila nejlépe? Ale to nebylo všechno. Na té první schůzi jsme zjistili ještě něco jiného. Objem výroby klesl o čtyřicet procent za ten první půlrok, a tak se rozhodlo, že někdo nepracoval podle všech svých ‚schopností‘. Kdo, ptáte se? Jak se to pozná? Inu, ‚rodina‘ o tom hlasovala. Hlasovali jsme, kdo z nás jsou nejlepší pracanti, a ti pak byli odsouzeni k přesčasům, každý večer, po dalších šest měsíců. K neplaceným přesčasům, protože jeden druhého jsme neodměňovali podle výkonu, ale podle potřebnosti. Mám dodávat, co se dělo dál? A v jaké stvůry se začali měnit dříve slušní lidi? Začali jsme tajit své schopnosti, zvolnili jsme tempo a sledovali ostřížím zrakem, jestli nepracujeme rychleji než ostatní. Co jiného jsme mohli dělat, když jsme věděli, že kdybychom pro ‚rodinu‘ pracovali ze všech sil, nedočkali bychom se díků ani odměny, ale trestu? Věděli jsme, že za každého povaleče, který by nadělal zmetky z celé várky motorů – ať už z nedbalosti, protože nebyl za nic zodpovědný, nebo z opravdové neschopnosti – by ti schopní museli vzniklou škodu odpracovat po večerech a nedělích. A tak jsme se ze všech sil přetvařovali, že nic neumíme. Pamatuju na jednoho mladého dělníka, který u nás zrovna začínal, plný nadšení pro vznešený ideál, chytrý kluk, sice bez diplomu, ale hlavu měl plnou nápadů. První rok vymyslel výrobní postup, který nám ušetřil tisíce člověkohodin. Daroval ho ‚rodině‘. Nechtěl za to nic. Sice by stejně nic nedostal, ale to mu nevadilo. Je to pro dobrou věc, prohlásil. Když pak ale ostatní odhlasovali, že je jedním z našich nejschopnějších, a odsoudili ho k nekonečným přesčasům, asi protože nám toho dal málo, kluk zavřel pusu a přestal myslet. Asi vám došlo, že další rok už nic převratného nevymyslel. Cože nám to pořád opakovali o konkurenci v ziskovém režimu, kde musí člověk soutěžit s druhými o to, kdo odvede nejlepší práci? Že je bezohledná, krvelačná? To jste ale měla vidět, jaké to bylo, když jsme spolu museli soutěžit, kdo odvede tu nejhorší možnou práci. Nejistější cesta, jak zničit člověka, je postavit ho do situace, kdy se nesmí o nic snažit, kdy musí pracovat, jak nejhůř dokáže, den za dnem. To ho zlikviduje rychleji, než kdyby se dal na pití nebo ztratil práci úplně nebo se živil přepadáním bank. My zkrátka neměli na vybranou, museli jsme předstírat neschopnost. Nejvíc ze všeho jsme se děsili toho, že nás někdo začne podezírat ze šikovnosti. To bylo jako hypotéka, kterou člověk nemůže nikdy splatit. A nač by se taky snažil? Svou základní almužnu dostal tak jako tak, ať už pracoval, nebo ne – říkalo se jí ‚příspěvek na bydlení a výživu‘ – a nic navíc by si ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
232:V roce 2010 se Adam Grant, profesor managementu na Wharton School of Business na University of Pennsylvania a autor knihy Dávat a brát: Skrytá dynamika úspěchu, rozhodl zkoumat efektivitu fundraisingového oddělení, které vedl jeho kolega, a porozumět tomu, co funguje a co ne. Práce byla jednoduchá: zaměstnanci obvolávali absolventy a snažili se je přesvědčit, aby věnovali peníze do stipendijního fondu pro mimořádné studenty, jejichž rodiny si nemohou dovolit platit za vysokou školu. Volající byli instruováni, aby popsali zoufalou finanční situaci univerzity a působivé úspěchy budoucích příjemců. Absolventi se dozvídali, že univerzita potřebuje více investovat například do informatiky nebo manažerských oborů, aby vychovala novou generaci lídrů. Koneckonců, jde o budoucí pracovní sílu nové ekonomiky, vysvětlovali volající. Podle všeho byla tato prezentace docela inspirující. I přes veškeré své úsilí však fundraiseři měli jen malý úspěch. Jejich čísla se nezlepšila, ani když vysvětlovali, jak těžce recese postihla rozpočet univerzity. Jejich práce navíc připomínala běžnou práci – zahrnovala opakující se úkoly, dlouhé hodiny sezení a občas také nepříjemné zákazníky. Netřeba dodávat, že fluktuace pracovníků tohoto oddělení byla mimořádně vysoká, což pracovní morálku jen zhoršovalo. Proto Grant přišel s nápadem, jak efektivitu volajících zlepšit… a trvalo to jen pět minut. Profesor Grant zařídil, že studenti, kteří obdrželi stipendia, přijdou do kanceláře a během pěti minut fundraiserům popíší, jak obdržené stipendium změnilo jejich život. Studenti jim řekli, jak moc si cení jejich těžké práce. Přestože lidé, na jejichž životy měla práce oddělení dopad, s volajícími pobyli jen krátce, výsledky byly ohromující. V následujícím měsíci fundraiseři zvýšili svůj průměrný týdenní příjem o více než 400 procent. V jiné podobné studii volající zvýšili čas strávený na telefonu o 142 procent a o 171 procent výši získaných finančních prostředků. Jako sociální zvířata potřebujeme vidět skutečný, hmatatelný dopad našeho času a úsilí, aby práce měla smysl i pro nás, abychom byli motivováni se zlepšovat. Tato logika se zdá být v souladu s Milgramovými zjištěními, v tomto případě je však výsledek pozitivní. Pokud jsme schopni fyzicky vidět pozitivní dopad našich rozhodnutí nebo práce, nejen že máme pocit, že naše práce stojí za to, ale také nás inspiruje k usilovnějšímu výkonu. Kontrolní skupina, kterou studenti nenavštívili, nevykazovala zlepšení prodeje ani netrávila na telefonu více času. Třetí skupina, která si prostě vyslechla manažera, jak moc stipendium pro studenty znamenalo, svou výkonnost také nijak nezvýšila. Jinými slovy, když nám šéf řekne, jak je naše práce důležitá, zdaleka se to nevyrovná tomu, uvidíme-li to sami. Na úvěrovém oddělení Wells Fargo Bank měli podobnou zkušenost. Když pozvali zákazníky do banky, aby popsali, jak jim úvěr změnil život – jak jim umožnil koupit si dům nebo splatit dluh – mělo to dramatický vliv na motivaci zaměstnanců banky, aby pomohli i dalším lidem. Na vlastní oči viděli, jaký dopad měla jejich práce na něčí život. Jedná se o významný posun v tom, jak zaměstnanci vnímají svou práci, že má skutečně smysl. Aniž by si toho nutně byli vědomi, mnozí pak přestali chodit do práce, aby prodávali úvěry, ale aby pomáhali lidem. Další důkaz toho, jak moc se kvalita naší práce zlepšuje, můžeme-li si výsledky spojit s lidskou bytostí, byl pozorován ve studii, která zjistila, že radiologové velmi zpřesnili svá zjištění, pokud rentgeny, které zkoumali, byly doplněny o fotografii pacienta. Adam Grant uskutečnil jinou studii mezi záchranáři v jednom rekreačním stře ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
233:Notatka kpt. Pietruczuka w sprawie lotu Tu-154 12 sierpnia 2008 r. do Azerbejdżanu71 Informuję, że w dniu 11.08.2008 dowódca 36. splt płk Tomasz Pietrzak postawił mi zadanie dotyczące wylotu do Tallina (Estonia) oraz wylotu Prezydenta RP w dn. 12.08.2008 r. do Ganji (Azerbejdżan) przez Simferopol (Ukraina). Osobiście postawiłem zadania przydzielonej na ten wylot pozostałej załodze tj.: kpt. Arkadiuszowi PROTASIUKOWI – II pilot, mjr. Robertowi GRZYWNIE – nawigator, chor. Arturowi KOWALSKIEMU – technik pokładowy. Podczas odtwarzania gotowości samolotu do lotu z Simferopola do Ganji zostałem poproszony przez Szefa Biura Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego Pana W. Stasiaka oraz Szefa Gabinetu Prezydenta RP Pana M. Łopińskiego o rozważenie zmiany trasy lotu i lotniska docelowego z Ganji na Tbilisi. O fakcie tym poinformowałem telefonicznie płk Pietrzaka (dowódcę 36 splt) i przystąpiłem do analizy możliwości wykonania zadania. (…) Po wylądowaniu samolotu z Prezydentem Ukrainy, skontaktowałem się z dowódcą załogi samolotu ukraińskiego i zapytałem jakie posiadają informacje na temat sytuacji ruchowo-nawigacyjnej w obszarze Gruzji. Zostałem poinformowany, że załoga Ukraińska nie posiada żadnych informacji o sytuacji w Gruzji. Załoga samolotu ukraińskiego poinformowała mnie również, że w przypadku lotu do Tbilisi mogą polecieć wyłącznie za Mną (nie jako pierwszy samolot). (…) Na podstawie posiadanej wiedzy na temat aktualnej sytuacji w Gruzji uznałem, iż lot do Tbilisi będzie zbyt niebezpieczny dla prezydentów poszczególnych państw oraz dla pozostałych pasażerów. Na pokładzie znajdowały się wówczas 74 osoby. (…) O sytuacji poinformowałem Pana Ministra Stasiaka oraz Pana Ministra Łopińskiego, którzy poinformowali o tym Pana Prezydenta L. Kaczyńskiego, przebywającego wraz z innymi Głowami Państw w salonie VIP w porcie lotniczym. Pan Min. Stasiak prosił, aby znaleźć jakieś rozwiązanie w celu wykonania lotu bezpośrednio do Tbilisi argumentując to względami politycznymi. Przekazał mi informację, że do Tbilisi wybiera się Pan Prezydent Sarkozy i musimy być w Tbilisi przed nim. Poinformowałem Pana Min. Stasiaka, że nie mamy wiedzy, jakim samolotem udaje się Prezydent Sarkozy i jakiej długości pas jest potrzebny w tym przypadku do lądowania (w przypadku częściowego uszkodzenia pasa przez bombardowanie) oraz jaką wiedzę na temat sytuacji na lotnisku w Tbilisi posiadają piloci Prezydenta Sarkozego. Samolot Tu-154 przy swojej masie potrzebuje praktycznie całego – nienaruszonego – pasa startowego. (…) Podczas postoju na lotnisku w Symferopolu, odbyłem również rozmowę telefoniczną z pełniącym obowiązki Dowódcy Wojsk Lotniczych Panem Gen. Załęskim. Pan Gen. Załęski próbował nakłonić mnie do zmiany decyzji i odbycia lotu bezpośrednio do Tbilisi. Kiedy przedstawiłem wszystkie argumenty uniemożliwiające wykonanie lotu i odmówiłem, Pan Generał spytał czy II pilot kpt. A. Protasiuk może objąć moje obowiązki i wykonać lot do Tbilisi. Poinformowałem Gen. Załęskiego, iż kpt. Protasiuk nie jest w pełni wyszkolony w charakterze dowódcy załogi na samolocie Tu-154M i zgodnie z obowiązującymi przepisami nie może objąć moich obowiązków. O swojej decyzji po raz kolejny poinformowałem telefonicznie Płk Pietrzaka, który poparł moje argumenty i decyzję, aby dalszy lot odbywał się zgodnie z wcześniej postawionym zadaniem. Płk Pietrzak poinformował mnie, Że Pan Gen. Załęski wystawi pisemny rozkaz wykonania lotu. Podczas kolejnej rozmowy z Panem Płk. Pietrzakiem, poinformowano mnie, iż pan Gen. Załęski przysłał faksem pisemny rozkaz polecający wykonanie zadania, zawierający błędne dane. Z przekazanych mi informacji dowiedziałem się, że treść rozkazu brzmi „Polecam wykonać lot z Ganji do ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
234:Na zlomeček věčnosti oběma lodím nic nebránilo ve volné střelbě na protivníka a v tom okamžiku dva různé počítače odstartovaly své palebné plány.
Žádný lidský smysl nedokázal postřehnout, co se odehrálo potom; žádný lidský mozek by si to neuměl přebrat. Vzájemná vzdálenost činila dvacet tisíc kilometrů a řízené střely, lasery a grasery dštily zkázu přes tu miniaturní propast vakua jako rozzuření démoni.
Ahmed zavrávoral, když jeho bočním štítem bez námahy prošel první graserový svazek. Jeho boky byly opatřeny metrovým pancířem z nejtvrdší slitiny keramiky a kompozitu, jakou se člověk doposud naučil odlévat, a přesto se jí graser prodral pohrdavě snadno. Od strašlivé rány se rozlétly obrovské úlomky a vzájemný pohyb lodi změnil to, co by bývalo kruhovým otvorem, v dlouhou zející trhlinu. Paprsek rozpáral bok lodi, jako když vyvrhovací nůž rozpáře žraloka, a z rány vytryskl vířící cyklon vzduchu, trosek a lidských těl.
Ale to byl pouze jeden z osmi takových graserů. Všechny do jednoho zaznamenaly přímé zásahy a na bitevním křižníku nikoho ani ve snu nenapadlo, že by přestavěná obchodní loď mohla nést takové zbraně. Zatímco si zuřivý úder Poutníka s křižníkem pohrával, komunikační obvody zahlcovala kakofonie výkřiků bolesti, šoku i hrůzy a potom se přihnaly řízené střely Q lodě a znovu a znovu křižník probodávaly jednorannými lasery, aby dokončily strašlivé dílo graserů. Zbraňová stanoviště se rozlétala na kusy, výboje bláznivě sršely a kabely syčely, pukaly a explodovaly. Příďová místnost gravitoru vybuchla, když jeden graser zasáhl naplno generátory, a tlaková vlna změnila sto metrů pancéřovaného trupu v pokroucené trosky. Všechny tři fúzní jednotky se automaticky nouzově zastavily a po celé lodi se zavírala vzduchotěsná vrata. Ale v příliš mnoha případech neměla ta vrata v čem zadržovat vzduch, neboť grasery Poutníka se propálily naskrz celým trupem a křižník se převaloval v prostoru jako umírající bezmocný vrak. Ale nezahynul sám. Poutník vypálil o zlomek sekundy dříve než Ahmed - ale jen o zlomeček a na rozdíl od Ahmeda neměl žádný pancíř a žádná hermeticky uzavíratelná oddělení. Byla to obchodní loď, jenom tenká slupka kolem obrovského prázdného prostoru pro náklad, a to nemohla žádná přestavba změnit. Zbraně, které přežily, aby se mohly zakousnout do jeho trupu, byly mnohem lehčí než ty, jež rozpáraly Ahmeda, ale proti tak zranitelnému cíli byly děsivě účinné.
Celý pravobok od přepážky třicet jedna dozadu po přepážku šedesát pět byl na padrť. Prázdné doky LAC se rozlétly jako rozšlápnuté sklenice. Zásobníky dva a čtyři byly roztrhány na kusy, stejně jako všechny výmetnice kromě čísla dva. Šest z osmi graserových stanovišť vybuchlo a prakticky celá jejich obsluha zahynula. Jeden laser se prořízl až k jádru lodě, zničil fúzní reaktor jedna a prorazil palubní vězení, z něhož už Randy Steilman a jeho druhové nikdy neměli vyjít před soud, a další se prořízl až na samotnou velitelskou palubu. Můstek zametla tlaková vlna, přepážky a podélníky se trhaly jako papír a zuřící hurikán vytrhl Jennifer Hughesovou navzdory tlumícímu postroji z křesla a odnesl ji do prostoru mimo loď. Její tělo už nikdo nikdy nenajde, ale na tom sotva záleželo, protože svištící příval atmosféry s ní udeřil o okraj trhliny v trupu a na místě jí roztříštil přilbu. John Kanehama zaječel do interkomu, když ho jako oštěp probodla dlouhá letící tříska slitiny. Staršího seržanta O’Haleyho přesekl vejpůl plochý úlomek, dlouhý jako on sám, a Aubrey Wanderman se pozvracel do přilby, když tentýž úlomek prolétl mezi osazenstvem jeho stanoviště a roztrhal Carolyn Wolcotovou a poručíka Jansena.
Tento výjev z pekla se po obrovském trupu Poutníka opakoval znovu a znovu. Další výbuchy a odletující trosky zasahovaly lidi, které minula palba Ahmeda, jako by se umírající loď mstila posádce za to, do čeho ji přivedla, a HMS Poutník se potácivě převaloval pryč s nefunkčním pohonem, zničeným hypergenerátorem a s osmi sty mrtvými a umírajícími lidmi v rozbitých odděleních. ~ David Weber,#NFDB
235:Cestování není nikdy otázkou peněz, nýbrž odvahy
*Jestliže mám cestovat v čase, proč je potřeba putovat v prostoru?
*Požehnej a bude ti požehnáno
*Štěstí jednoho se promění v radost všech.
*Tradice praví, že v poslední vteřině před smrtí si každý uvědomí pravý důvod existence. A v tom okamžiku se objeví Peklo, nebo Ráj. Peklo znamená pohlédnout v tom zlomku vteřiny zpět a zjistit, že jsme promarnili příležitost oslavit zázrak života. Ráj znamená moci v té chvíli prohlásit: “Dopustil jsem se některých chyb, ale nebyl jsem zbabělec. Prožil jsem svůj život a učinil jsem, co jsem měl.”
*Tak jedná správný bojovník: Chápe, že vůle a odvaha nejsou totéž. Odvaha může vyvolávat starch a pochlebování, ale síla vůle vyžaduje od člověka trpělivost a důslednost. Muži a ženy velmi silné vůle jsou obvykle svobodní, protože z nich čiší chlad. Hodně lidí si myslí, že Monica je trochu chladná, ale nemůžou se víc mýlit: v srdci jí žhne skrytý oheń, stejně intenzivně jako v době našeho setkání v oné kavárně. Přes všechno, čeho dosáhla, vůbec nikdy neztrácí nadšení
*Exil, který jsem si sám uložil, mi sice pomohl odhalit v sobě některé velice důležité věci, ale zároveň měl vážný vedlejší účinek: zlozvyk samoty. Můj svět se omezil na několik málo přátel v horách, na odpovědi na dopisy a na emaily a na iluzi, že všechen zbývající čas je můj.Prostě život bez přirozených problémů vyplývajících ze soužití s jinými lidmi
*Žádný život není úplný bez špetky bláznovství. Jestliže dokážu pochopit, co se děje ve světě, pochopím i to, co se děje ve mně
*Zapomeň na pohodlí a jdi hledat svoje království
*Jak krásné bylo stát se znovu dítětem. Žít znamená něco zkoušet, a ne přemýšlet o smyslu života
*Já jsem však rozený poutník. Můžu cítit nesmírnou lenost nebo stesk po domově, ale jakmile učiním první krok, zmocní se mě smysl cesty. Když na nádraží v Jaroslavli přecházím na páté nástupiště, uvědomuji si, že nikdy nedojdu, kam chci, zůstanu-li pořád na jednom místě. Se svou duší dokážu rozmlouvat, jen když jsem v pouštích, ve městech, na horách, na silnicích
*Zapomeň, že to budeš vyprávět druhým Čas je tady. Využij toho
*Jestliže se budete příliš snažit odhalit, co je u vašeho bližního dobré nebo zlé, zapomenete na svou vlastní duši a nakonec vás umoří a zdolá energie, kterou jste promrhali při posuzování druhých
*Slzy jsou krví duše
*Život je vlak, nikoliv nádraží.
*V Bibli se píš o jednom okamžiku během poslední večeře Páně, kdy Ježíš řekne jednou větou toto: „Jeden z vás mne zapře a druhý mne zradí.“ Staví oba zločiny na roveň, jako stejně těžké Jidáš ho zradí a sužován vinou se nakonec oběsí. Petr ho zapře – ne jednou, ale třikrát. Měl dost času o tom přemýšlet, a setrval ve své chybě. Ale místo aby se za to potrestal, využil svou slabost jako sílu; stal se prvním velkým hlasatelem poselství toho, jehož opustil v okamžiku, kdy nejvíc potřeboval jeho podporu
*Přestože je talentovaná houslistka a bojovnice znalá umění dosáhnout všeho, co chce, nikdy nepřestane být dítětem, stejně jako jím nepřestanu být já a všichni ti, kdo si doopravdy přejí to nejlepší, co může život nabídnout. To dokáže jen dítě
*Cesta míru plyne jako řeka, a protože řeka se ničemu nebrání, zvítězí hned na počátku. Umění míru je nezdolné, jelikož nikdo proti nikomu nebojuje, bojuje pouze sám se sebou. Přemoz sám sebe a přemůžeš svět
*Žít znamená cvičit
*Utrpení pramení z touhy, nikoliv z bolesti.
*Bojovníka, který jde za svým snem inspiruje to, co dělá, a ne to, co si představuje
*Z hranice strach nemám. Vy však máte strach ze svého rozsudku
*Život bez cíle zůstane planý
*Umět ocenit a ctít své odpůrce je postoj naprosto odlišný od postoje pochlebníků, slabochů nebo zrádců.
*Důležité je dát se do boje jen z úcty k soupeři
*Už na úsvitu dějin lidé tušili přítomnost nějaké vyšší síly, důvodu života a smrti, aniž si to dokázali vysvětlit,odkud přichází
*Stejně jako přetváříš život svůj, přetvářej také život lidí kolem sebe
Znám dost lidí,kteří se snaží pomáhat druhý ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
236:An Hymne In Honour Of Love
Love, that long since hast to thy mighty powre
Perforce subdude my poor captived hart,
And raging now therein with restlesse stowre,
Doest tyrannize in everie weaker part,
Faine would I seeke to ease my bitter smart
By any service I might do to thee,
Or ought that else might to thee pleasing bee.
And now t'asswage the force of this new flame,
And make thee more propitious in my need,
I meane to sing the praises of thy name,
And thy victorious conquests to areed,
By which thou madest many harts to bleed
Of mighty victors, with wide wounds embrewed,
And by thy cruell darts to thee subdewed.
Onely I fear my wits, enfeebled late
Through the sharp sorrowes which thou hast me bred,
Should faint, and words should faile me to relate
The wondrous triumphs of thy great god-hed:
But, if thou wouldst vouchsafe to overspred
Me with the shadow of thy gentle wing,
I should enabled be thy actes to sing.
Come, then, O come, thou mightie God of Love!
Out of thy silver bowres and secret blisse,
Where thou dost sit in Venus lap above,
Bathing thy wings in her ambrosial kisse, 25
That sweeter farre than any nectar is,
Come softly, and my feeble breast inspire
With gentle furie, kindled of thy fire.
And ye, sweet Muses! which have often proved
The piercing points of his avengefull darts,
And ye, fair Nimphs! which oftentimes have loved
The cruel worker of your kindly smarts,
Prepare yourselves, and open wide your harts
For to receive the triumph of your glorie,
That made you merie oft when ye were sorrie.
52
And ye, faire blossoms of youths wanton breed!
Which in the conquests of your beautie bost,
Wherewith your lovers feeble eyes you feed,
But sterve their harts, that needeth nourture most,
Prepare your selves to march amongst his host,
And all the way this sacred hymne do sing,
Made in the honor of your soveraigne king.
Great God of Might, that reignest in the mynd,
And all the bodie to thy hest doest frame,
Victor of gods, subduer of mankynd,
That doest the lions and fell tigers tame,
Making their cruell rage thy scornfull game,
And in their roring taking great delight,
Who can expresse the glorie of thy might?
Or who alive can perfectly declare
The wondrous cradle of thine infancie,
When thy great mother Venus first thee bare,
Begot of Plenty and of Penurie,
Though elder then thine own nativitie,
And yet a chyld, renewing still thy yeares,
And yet the eldest of the heavenly peares?
For ere this worlds still moving mightie masse
Out of great Chaos ugly prison crept,
In which his goodly face long hidden was
From heavens view, and in deep darknesse kept,
Love, that had now long time securely slept
In Venus lap, unarmed then and naked,
Gan reare his head, by Clotho being waked:
And taking to him wings of his own heat,
Kindled at first from heavens life-giving fyre,
He gan to move out of his idle seat;
Weakly at first, but after with desyre
Lifted aloft, he gan to mount up hyre,
And, like fresh eagle, made his hardy flight
Thro all that great wide wast, yet wanting light.
Yet wanting light to guide his wandring way,
53
His own faire mother, for all creatures sake,
Did lend him light from her owne goodly ray;
Then through the world his way he gan to take,
The world, that was not till he did it make,
Whose sundrie parts he from themselves did sever.
The which before had lyen confused ever.
The earth, the ayre, the water, and the fyre,
Then gan to raunge themselves in huge array,
And with contrary forces to conspyre
Each against other by all meanes they may,
Threatning their owne confusion and decay:
Ayre hated earth, and water hated fyre,
Till Love relented their rebellious yre.
He then them tooke, and, tempering goodly well
Their contrary dislikes with loved meanes,
Did place them all in order, and compell
To keepe themselves within their sundrie raines,
Together linkt with adamantine chaines;
Yet so as that in every living wight
They mix themselves, and shew their kindly might.
So ever since they firmely have remained,
And duly well observed his beheast;
Through which now all these things that are contained
Within this goodly cope, both most and least,
Their being have, and daily are increast
Through secret sparks of his infused fyre,
Which in the barraine cold he doth inspyre.
Thereby they all do live, and moved are
To multiply the likenesse of their kynd,
Whilest they seeke onely, without further care,
To quench the flame which they in burning fynd;
But man, that breathes a more immortall mynd,
Not for lusts sake, but for eternitie,
Seekes to enlarge his lasting progenie.
For having yet in his deducted spright
Some sparks remaining of that heavenly fyre,
He is enlumind with that goodly light,
54
Unto like goodly semblant to aspyre;
Therefore in choice of love he doth desyre
That seemes on earth most heavenly to embrace,
That same is Beautie, borne of heavenly race.
For sure, of all that in this mortall frame
Contained is, nought more divine doth seeme,
Or that resembleth more th'immortall flame
Of heavenly light, than Beauties glorious beam.
What wonder then, if with such rage extreme
Frail men, whose eyes seek heavenly things to see,
At sight thereof so much enravisht bee?
Which well perceiving, that imperious boy
Doth therewith tip his sharp empoisned darts,
Which glancing thro the eyes with countenance coy
Kest not till they have pierst the trembling harts,
And kindled flame in all their inner parts,
Which suckes the blood, and drinketh up the lyfe,
Of carefull wretches with consuming griefe.
Thenceforth they playne, and make full piteous mone
Unto the author of their balefull bane:
The daies they waste, the nights they grieve and grone,
Their lives they loath, and heavens light disdaine;
No light but that whose lampe doth yet remaine
Fresh burning in the image of their eye,
They deigne to see, and seeing it still dye.
The whylst thou, tyrant Love, doest laugh and scorne
At their complaints, making their paine thy play;
Whylest they lye languishing like thrals forlorne,
The whyles thou doest triumph in their decay;
And otherwhyles, their dying to delay,
Thou doest emmarble the proud hart of her
Whose love before their life they doe prefer.
So hast thou often done (ay me the more!)
To me thy vassall, whose yet bleeding hart
With thousand wounds thou mangled hast so sore,
That whole remaines scarse any little part;
Yet to augment the anguish of my smart,
55
Thou hast enfrosen her disdainefull brest,
That no one drop of pitie there doth rest.
Why then do I this honor unto thee,
Thus to ennoble thy victorious name,
Sith thou doest shew no favour unto mee,
Ne once move ruth in that rebellious dame,
Somewhat to slacke the rigour of my flame?
Certes small glory doest thou winne hereby,
To let her live thus free, and me to dy.
But if thou be indeede, as men thee call,
The worlds great parent, the most kind preserver
Of living wights, the soveraine lord of all,
How falles it then that with thy furious fervour
Thou doest afflict as well the not-deserver,
As him that doeth thy lovely heasts despize,
And on thy subiects most doth tyrannize?
Yet herein eke thy glory seemeth more,
By so hard handling those which best thee serve,
That, ere thou doest them unto grace restore,
Thou mayest well trie if they will ever swerve,
And mayest them make it better to deserve,
And, having got it, may it more esteeme;
For things hard gotten men more dearely deeme.
So hard those heavenly beauties be enfyred,
As things divine least passions doe impresse;
The more of stedfast mynds to be admyred,
The more they stayed be on stedfastnesse;
But baseborne minds such lamps regard the lesse,
Which at first blowing take not hastie fyre;
Such fancies feele no love, but loose desyre.
For Love is lord of truth and loialtie,
Lifting himself out of the lowly dust
On golden plumes up to the purest skie,
Above the reach of loathly sinfull lust,
Whose base affect, through cowardly distrust
Of his weake wings, dare not to heaven fly,
56
But like a moldwarpe in the earth doth ly.
His dunghill thoughts, which do themselves enure
To dirtie drosse, no higher dare aspyre;
Ne can his feeble earthly eyes endure
The flaming light of that celestiall fyre
Which kindleth love in generous desyre,
And makes him mount above the native might
Of heavie earth, up to the heavens hight.
Such is the powre of that sweet passion,
That it all sordid basenesse doth expell,
And the refyned mynd doth newly fashion
Unto a fairer forme, which now doth dwell
In his high thought, that would it selfe excell;
Which he beholding still with constant sight,
Admires the mirrour of so heavenly light.
Whose image printing in his deepest wit,
He thereon feeds his hungrie fantasy,
Still full, yet never satisfyde with it;
Like Tantale, that in store doth sterved ly,
So doth he pine in most satiety;
For nought may quench his infinite desyre,
Once kindled through that first conceived fyre.
Thereon his mynd affixed wholly is,
Ne thinks on ought but how it to attaine;
His care, his ioy, his hope, is all on this,
That seemes in it all blisses to containe,
In sight whereof all other blisse seemes vaine:
Thrice happie man, might he the same possesse,
He faines himselfe, and doth his fortune blesse.
And though he do not win his wish to end,
Yet thus farre happie he himselfe doth weene,
That heavens such happie grace did to him lend
As thing on earth so heavenly to have seene,
His harts enshrined saint, his heavens queene,
Fairer then fairest in his fayning eye,
Whose sole aspect he counts felicitye.
57
Then forth he casts in his unquiet thought,
What he may do her favour to obtaine;
What brave exploit, what perill hardly wrought,
What puissant conquest, what adventurous paine,
May please her best, and grace unto him gaine;
He dreads no danger, nor misfortune feares,
His faith, his fortune, in his breast he beares.
Thou art his god, thou art his mightie guyde,
Thou, being blind, letst him not see his feares,
But carriest him to that which he had eyde,
Through seas, through flames, through thousand swords and speares;
Ne ought so strong that may his force withstand,
With which thou armest his resistlesse hand.
Witnesse Leander in the Euxine waves,
And stout Aeneas in the Troiane fyre,
Achilles preassing through the Phrygian glaives,
And Orpheus, daring to provoke the yre
Of damned fiends, to get his love retyre;
For both through heaven and hell thou makest way,
To win them worship which to thee obay.
And if by all these perils and these paynes
He may but purchase lyking in her eye,
What heavens of ioy then to himselfe he faynes!
Eftsoones he wypes quite out of memory
Whatever ill before he did aby:
Had it beene death, yet would he die againe,
To live thus happie as her grace to gaine.
Yet when he hath found favour to his will,
He nathemore can so contented rest,
But forceth further on, and striveth still
T'approch more neare, till in her inmost brest
He may embosomd bee and loved best;
And yet not best, but to be lov'd alone;
For love cannot endure a paragone.
The fear whereof, O how doth it torment
His troubled mynd with more then hellish paine!
And to his fayning fansie represent
58
Sights never seene, and thousand shadowes vaine,
To breake his sleepe and waste his ydle braine:
Thou that hast never lov'd canst not beleeve
Least part of th'evils which poore lovers greeve.
The gnawing envie, the hart-fretting feare,
The vaine surmizes, the distrustfull showes,
The false reports that flying tales doe beare,
The doubts, the daungers, the delayes, the woes,
The fayned friends, the unassured foes,
With thousands more then any tongue can tell,
Doe make a lovers life a wretches hell.
Yet is there one more cursed then they all,
That cancker-worme, that monster, Gelosie,
Which eates the heart and feedes upon the gall,
Turning all Loves delight to miserie,
Through feare of losing his felicitie.
Ah, gods! that ever ye that monster placed
In gentle Love, that all his ioyes defaced!
By these, O Love! thou doest thy entrance make
Unto thy heaven, and doest the more endeere
Thy pleasures unto those which them partake,
As after stormes, when clouds begin to cleare,
The sunne more bright and glorious doth appeare;
So thou thy folke, through paines of Purgatorie,
Dost beare unto thy blisse, and heavens glorie.
There thou them placest in a paradize
Of all delight and ioyous happy rest,
Where they doe feede on nectar heavenly-wize,
With Hercules and Hebe, and the rest
Of Venus dearlings, through her bountie blest;
And lie like gods in yvory beds arayd,
With rose and lillies over them displayd.
There with thy daughter Pleasure they doe play
Their hurtlesse sports, without rebuke or blame,
And in her snowy bosome boldly lay
Their quiet heads, devoyd of guilty shame,
After full ioyance of their gentle game;
59
Then her they crowne their goddesse and their queene,
And decke with floures thy altars well beseene.
Ay me! deare Lord, that ever I might hope,
For all the paines and woes that I endure,
To come at length unto the wished scope
Of my desire, or might myselfe assure
That happie port for ever to recure!
Then would I thinke these paines no paines at all,
And all my woes to be but penance small.
Then would I sing of thine immortal praise
An heavenly hymne such as the angels sing,
And thy triumphant name then would I raise
Bove all the gods, thee only honoring;
My guide, my god, my victor, and my king:
Till then, drad Lord! vouchsafe to take of me
This simple song, thus fram'd in praise of thee.
~ Edmund Spenser,#NFDB
119 Poetry
111 Integral Yoga
67 Fiction
56 Occultism
33 Christianity
26 Philosophy
23 Psychology
7 Integral Theory
6 Science
4 Mythology
3 Mysticism
2 Sufism
2 Kabbalah
2 Islam
2 Baha i Faith
1 Yoga
1 Thelema
1 Philsophy
1 Education
1 Alchemy
100 Sri Aurobindo
53 H P Lovecraft
50 The Mother
37 Satprem
37 Aleister Crowley
21 Nolini Kanta Gupta
20 Carl Jung
17 William Wordsworth
17 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
17 Percy Bysshe Shelley
12 Saint Augustine of Hippo
12 Friedrich Nietzsche
11 Saint John of Climacus
9 Friedrich Schiller
6 Robert Browning
6 Jorge Luis Borges
6 John Keats
5 James George Frazer
5 George Van Vrekhem
5 A B Purani
4 Walt Whitman
4 Lucretius
4 Jordan Peterson
4 Edgar Allan Poe
3 Rainer Maria Rilke
3 Rabindranath Tagore
3 Plotinus
3 Paul Richard
3 Aldous Huxley
2 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
2 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
2 Ovid
2 Nirodbaran
2 Muhammad
2 Ken Wilber
2 Joseph Campbell
2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2 Baha u llah
2 Anonymous
2 Al-Ghazali
53 Lovecraft - Poems
35 Savitri
19 Magick Without Tears
17 Wordsworth - Poems
17 Shelley - Poems
12 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
12 The Life Divine
12 Liber ABA
12 Collected Poems
11 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
9 The Synthesis Of Yoga
9 The Divine Comedy
9 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
9 Schiller - Poems
8 Agenda Vol 01
7 The Phenomenon of Man
7 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 On the Way to Supermanhood
6 Mysterium Coniunctionis
6 Keats - Poems
6 Crowley - Poems
6 Browning - Poems
5 The Golden Bough
5 The Future of Man
5 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
5 Preparing for the Miraculous
5 Prayers And Meditations
5 Labyrinths
5 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
5 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
4 Whitman - Poems
4 The Practice of Psycho therapy
4 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
4 Poe - Poems
4 Of The Nature Of Things
4 Maps of Meaning
4 Hymn of the Universe
4 City of God
4 Agenda Vol 10
3 Words Of Long Ago
3 The Perennial Philosophy
3 The Human Cycle
3 Tagore - Poems
3 Rilke - Poems
3 Questions And Answers 1954
3 Letters On Yoga IV
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
3 Aion
3 Agenda Vol 08
3 Agenda Vol 07
2 Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit
2 Words Of The Mother II
2 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
2 The Red Book Liber Novus
2 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
2 The Alchemy of Happiness
2 Sex Ecology Spirituality
2 Quran
2 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
2 On Education
2 Metamorphoses
2 Letters On Yoga I
2 General Principles of Kabbalah
2 Faust
2 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
2 Essays Divine And Human
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
2 Agenda Vol 13
2 Agenda Vol 04
2 Agenda Vol 02
2 5.1.01 - Ilion
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
TRULY to the conquest of the new. The 'new' is painful, discouraging, it resembles nothing we know! We cannot hoist the flag of an unconquered country - but this is what is so marvelous: it does not yet exist. We must MAKE IT EXIST. The adventure has not been carved out: it is to be carved out. Truth is not entrapped and fossilized, 'spiritualized': it is to be discovered. We are in a nothing that we must force to become a something. We are in the adventure of the new species. A new species is obviously contradictory to the old species and to the little flags of the alreadyknown. It has nothing in common with the spiritual summits of the old world, nor even with its abysms - which might be delightfully tempting for those who have had enough of the summits, but everything is the same, in black or white, it is fraternal above and below. SOMETHING ELSE is needed.
'Are you conscious of your ceils?' She asked us a short time after the little operation of spiritual demolition She had undergone. 'No? Well, become conscious of your cells, and you will see that it gives TERRESTRIAL results.' To become conscious of one's cells? ... It was a far more radical operation than crossing the Maroni with a machete in hand, for after all, trees and lianas can be cut, but what cannot be so easily uncovered are the grandfa ther and the grandmo ther and the whole atavistic pack, not to mention the animal and plant and mineral layers that form a teeming humus over this single pure little cell beneath its millennial genetic program. The grandfa thers and grandmo thers grow back again like crabgrass, along with all the old habits of being hungry, afraid, falling ill, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, which is still the best of an old mortal habit. All this is not uprooted nor entrapped as easily as celestial 'liberations,' which leave the teeming humus in peace and the body to its usual decomposition. She had come to hew a path through all that. She was the Ancient One of evolution who had come to make a new cleft in the old, tedious habit of being a man. She did not like tedious repetitions, She was the adventuress par excellence - the adventuress of the earth. She was wrenching out for man the great Possible that was already beating there, in his primeval clearing, which he believed he had momentarily trapped with a few machines.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The abyss
The Word is broken up.
--
Chokmah, Binah, in the First Triad; Daath, in the abyss; Chesed,
Geburah, Tiphareth, in the Second Triad; Netzach, Hod and
--
The abyss of Hallucinations has Law and Reason;
but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of
--
Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the abyss
of Hallucinations.
There is no silence in that abyss: for all that men
call Silence is Its Speech.
This abyss is also called "Hell", and "The Many".
Its name is "Consciousness", and "The Universe",
--
is an illusion, or so it appears in the abyss, which is
thus identified with consciousness, the many, and both;
--
They are above The abyss, and contain all con-
tradiction in themselves.
--
Cast down through The abyss is the Light, the Rosy
Cross, the rapture of Union that destroys, that is
--
of its manifested side. Those which are above the abyss
are therefore said to live in the Night of Pan; they are
--
Now, below the abyss, the manifested part of the
Master of the temple, also reaches Samadhi, as the
--
above the abyss, comprehended under the title of the
First.
--
the abyss, the student will succeed in bringing his
reason under control.
--
Also, since below the abyss Reason is Lord, let men
seek by experiment, and not by Questionings.
--
This desert is the abyss wherein the Universe.
The Stars are but thistles in that waste.
--
Brings him across The abyss, they say.
Neglect not the dawn-meditation!
--
Dive deeper, ever deeper, into the abyss of Mind,
until thou unearth the fox THAT. On, hounds!
--
Binah, becomes the abyss, and the Qliphoth arise.
The only sense which abides is that of loss, and the
--
PERDURABO, O Lamp in The abyss? Thou hast
the Keystone of the Royal Arch; yet the
--
he is actually crossing the abyss; the student must consult the account of this
given in "The Temple of Solomon the King".
--
The abyss that stretches between THAT and
NOT.
--
Y?, the abyss.
No, the refusal to be content with any of this.
--
And lo! thou art past through the abyss.
[166]
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
between You and me like a frightening abyss. I am not
satisfied; from where does this dissatisfaction come?
01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The abysm of the unbodied Infinite;
A fathomless zero occupied the world.
--
A narrow movement on Time's deep abysm,
Life's fragile littleness denied the power,
--
Inflicting on the heights the abysm's law,
It sullies with its mire heaven's messengers:
--
A guardian of the unconsoled abyss
Inheriting the long agony of the globe,
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A lightning from the heights on our abyss.
3.30
--
And called her to fill with her vast self the abyss.
4.11
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A traveller between summit and abyss,
She joined the distant ends, the viewless deeps,
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And fill the abyss that is the universe.
Here meanwhile at the Spirit's opposite pole
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
From Matter's abysses to the Spirit's peaks.
Above were the Immortal's changeless seats,
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to the intellect; but perhaps it is a necessary stage in conversion. At least we can conclude that Pascal had to pass through such a stage; and it indicates the difficulty his brain had to undergo, the tension or even the torture he made it pass through. It is true, from Reason Pascal went over to Faith, even while giving Reason its due. Still it seems the two were not perfectly synthetised or fused in him. There was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not possess the higher, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates successfully between the physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind and the vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness there lay this chasm. Indeed,Pascal's abyss (l' abme de Pascal) is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to have very often the vision of an abyss about to open before him and he shuddered at the prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be an experience of the Infinity the Infinity to which he was so much attracted and of which he wrote so beautifully (L'infiniment grand et l'infiniment petit)but into which he could not evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain was cold, firm, almost rigid; his heart was volcanic, the faith he had was a fire: it lacked something of the pure light and burned with a lurid glare.
And the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core, original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest, the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is this difference that an animal or a tree is unconscious, while man knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness there is no other. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what he is that is the only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on the subject:
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother, but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realization,most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda1 which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divines Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe.
Sri Aurobindo, The Mother
0 1958-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
9) The greatest insincerity is to carve an abyss between ones body and the truth of ones being.
10) When an abyss separates the true being from the physical being, Nature immediately fills it with all the hostile suggestions, of which the most deadly is fear and the most pernicious, doubt.
I wrote that before reading Sri Aurobindos aphorism on the sentinels of Nature.1 I found it very interesting and I said to myself, Well! Thats exactly what came to me!
0 1958-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Scarcely had these words been formulated when there I was, at the bottom of the hole! And it was absolutely as if a tremendous, almighty spring were there, and then (Mother hits the table) vrrrm! I was cast out of the abyss into a vastness. My body immediately sat straight up, head on high, following the movement. If someone had been watching, this is what he would have seen: in a single bound, vrrrm! Straight up, to the maximum, my head on high.
And I followed all this without objectifying it in the least; I was not aware of what it was nor of what was happening, nor of any explanation at all, nothing: it was like that. I was living it, thats all. The experience was absolutely spontaneous. And after this rather painful descent, phew!there was a kind of super-comfort. I cant explain it otherwise, an ease,4 but an ease to the utmost. A perfect immobility in a sense of eternity but with an extraordinary INTENSITY of movement and life! An inner intensity, unmanifested; it was within, self-contained. And motionless (had there been an outside, it would have been motionless in relation to that) and it was in a life so immeasurable that it can only be expressed metaphorically as infinite. And with an intensity, a POWER, a force and a peace the peace of eternity. A silence, a calm. A POWER capable of of EVERYTHING. Everything.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is such an abyss between what one truly is and what we are that at times it is dizzying. But one must not let oneself become dizzy. One must not yield. One must remain like a rock until it passes.
Karma: positive (or negative) consequences of actions performed in past lives (every action is endowed with a self-perpetuating dynamism).
0 1960-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Im a bit discouraged. Every night I slip into a black abyss from which I wake up in the morning drained. Not one second of conscious sleep. It takes me an hour to recuperate from my sleep. In fact, I am constantly on edge and the least thing exhausts my body.
But thats nothing. I would bear all the exhaustion quite willingly if there were at least a touch of something conscious. But nothing, as if I were as thick as a Paris concierge!
Mother, there is hardly an instant of my conscious life that I am not aspiring for more consciousness but theres still this abyss I slip into at night, as if nothing existed!
Pardon my grumblings. If only at least I knew what I could do to change all this.
0 1960-07-26 - Mothers vision - looking up words in the subconscient, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Coming at the end of the night as it did, it means that its an exploration in some part or another of a subconscious mental activity. And you can make so many discoveries there it is unbelievable! But its lovely. And rarely unpleasant. There was a time when it was very unpleasant, oppressive, full of effort and resistance. I would want to go somewhere, but it would be impossible; I toiled and struggled, but everything would go wrong the straight paths would suddenly plunge into an abyss, and Id have to cross the abyss. For years it was like that. Just recently, I looked back over this whole period But now it is over. Now its something its lovely, its enjoyable, its a little it has a childlike simplicity.
However, its not a personal subconscient, but a its more than the Ashram. For me, the Ashram is not a separate individualityexcept in that vision the other day,1 which is what surprised me. Its hardly that. Rather, it is still this Movement of everything, of everything that is included. So its like entering into the subconscient of the whole earth, and it takes on forms which are quite familiar images to me, but they are absolutely symbolic and very, very funny! It took a moment to see that vainquons is spelled q-u-o-n-s. And I wasnt sure! I meant to ask Pavitra for a dictionary which gives verb conjugations, for then if Im stuck on something while writing, I can look it up.
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Theres also this old idea rooted in religions of Chaldean or Christian origin of a God with whom you can have no true contactan abyss between the two. That is terrible.
That absolutely has to stop.
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
So I understood that this must correspond to a certain realm of experience; I understood all those who say, If it has to be like this, if it can never be otherwise, then (this opposition, this abyss between a TRUE life, a TRUE consciousness, a TRUE activity, something living, powerful, fulfilling and life as it now is), if there must always be this difference between the physical expression as it is or as it can be in the present circumstances, and the true life, then For if despite everythingdespite this tremendous distance Ive covered in my life (these memories go back more than sixty years) and all the evolutionary effort upwards I have made since that time IN MATTER (Im not speaking of leaving Matter behind, but IN MATTER, IN action)if that doesnt further reduce this gap between the true consciousness and the possible material realization, then I understand I understand why people say, Its hopeless. (Of course, this hopeless is meaningless to me.)
But I (how can I put this?) I lived their experience, I lived it; and even events which seem quite extraordinary when seen from afar, which is the way they appear to most people, even historical things which have furthered the earths transformation and its upheavals the crucial events, the great works, you might sayare woven from the SAME fabric, they are the SAME thing! When you look at all this from afar, on the whole it can make an impression, but the life of each minute, of each hour, of each second is woven from this SAME fabric, drab, dull, insipid, WITHOUT ANY TRUE LIFEa mere reflection of life, an illusion of lifepowerless, void of any light or anything that resembles joy in the least. Oh! if it has always to remain like that, then we dont want any of it.
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And thats not all. This J.M., who thinks herself highly intelligent, has written a letter saying, It is exactly the same teachingexactly. Its always exactly the same teaching! They are abysmally ignorant.
(Satprem:) They jumble everything up.
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I truly have the impression of a kind of abyss between the X I can sense, who attracts me, and the outer man.
I dont know the outer X, I have been very careful not to enter into contact with him! But from the first day I sensed a gap.
0 1962-09-18, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its powers have come from the eternal heights And plunged into the inconscient dim abyss And risen from it to do their marvelous work.
***
0 1963-01-14, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ive had this experience even just recently. All that comes to me from people who have dedicated their lives to spiritual life, people who do a yoga in the traditional way, who are very solemn, who see adversaries everywhere, obstacles everywhere, taboos everywhere, prohibitions everywhere, oh, how they complicate life and how far they are from the Divine! I saw this the other day with someone you know. With that kind of people, you should not do this, should not do that, should not At such and such time you must not do this, on such and such day you must not do that; you should not eat this, you should not And then, for heavens sake, dont you go mixing your daily life with your sacred life!thats how you dig an abyss.
Its the exact, exact opposite of what I feel now: no matter what happens something wrong in the body, something wrong with people, something wrong in circumstancesinstantly, the first movement: O my sweet Lord, my Beloved! And I laugh! And then all is well. I did this the other day (its spontaneous and instantaneous, it isnt thought out or willed or plannednone of itit just happens), it happened the other day (I dont recall the details but it was over a circumstance that hardly seemed sacred): I saw myself, and I started laughing. I said, But look! I dont need to be serious, I dont need to be solemn!
0 1963-06-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It must be to reach subconscient and inconscient depths. Thats always what gives difficultiesan abyss.
I havent yet tried to take the plunge. So far, nothing ever pushed me to plunge downseveral times I did find an unexpected way, but there was never the impulsion: Too bad, Ill throw myself off.
0 1964-01-08, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother is not referring to an intellectual and human negation, but to a material fact that one finds at the very roots of life, in the most material consciousness, and which shows itself as an abyss of black and stifling basalt. It is intimately linked with death. It is the very secret of death.
***
0 1966-01-31, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem's letters to Mother having disappeared, he does not remember what caused the "sadness" Mother refers to here, probably certain ways of being in life that he found hard to accept, or perhaps his own incapacity to tolerate life in the world as is it and his tendency to dart off to the heightsunless it was the abyss. Satprem then asked Mother if he should not start writing a new book, "The Sannyasin," in which he would attempt to exorcize a certain refusal of life as it is.)
Tell me, why do you feel sad?
0 1966-12-07, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And there is a real grace there, its that it keeps you in a certain state as a result of which life as it is, things as they are, do not appear worse after those few seconds. There isnt, after them, that sort of horror of falling back into an abyss: there isnt that, you dont have that feeling. The memory is only a sort of dazzling burst of light.
"There are these three powers [governing life on earth]: (1) The Cosmic Law, of Karma or what else; (2) the Divine Compassion acting on as many as it can reach through the nets of the Law and giving them their chance; (3) the Divine Grace which acts more incalculably but also more irresistibly than the others."
0 1966-12-21, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Truth or the abyss.
***
0 1967-03-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
"Men, countries, continents! The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss."
***
0 1967-05-20, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All morning I reviewed all kinds of movements of consciousness (not a recollection in thought or sensation or vision, but a recollection in the consciousness) of whole periods of life, especially life with Sri Aurobindo, because at the time, I felt I was relying on the divine Consciousness and acting under its pressure (already); so its interesting that it should now look like an abyss of imbecility. And then, you wonder what Sri Aurobindohe who was consciouswhat he must have felt? How he must have seen all that around him, all those people bustling and acting and moving around him (Mother takes her head in her hands). You say to yourself that if he had the consciousness which is here now (he surely had it! He had that consciousness), well, it was a marvel of patience. Thats my conclusion.
You see, an undeniable goodwill, a will to do the right thing (Mother is speaking about herself), an attitude that seemed as good as possible, and already the sense of a surrender and an effort to express not at all personal movements, but the guiding Willall that, that whole attitude (which at the time seemed quite good), seen with todays consciousness! (Mother takes her head in her hands) So its easy to think that
0 1967-05-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the New Year message: "Men, countries, continents! The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss." A disciple asks Mother, "What is the meaning of ' abyss' in your New Year message?" Mother's reply, in English:)
Right now there is a great tension. They have all taken positions as if to start war. It is the blind passion that men put into their international relations.
At the base of it all there is fear, general distrust, and what they believe to be their interests (money, business)a combination of these three things. When these three lowest passions of humanity are brought into play, that is what I call the abyss.
When someone has decided to consecrate his life to the seeking for the Divine, if he is sincere, that is to say, if the resolution is sincere and carried out sincerely, there is absolutely nothing to fear, because all that happens or will happen to him will lead him by the shortest way to this realisation.
0 1969-02-08, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This morning, it went on for three hours like that. In reality, it stopped only when I started seeing people, because naturally And in the night its the same thing, it goes on. Its like a supereducation of the body, of the bodys CONSCIOUSNESS, with illustrations. This story Ive told of Bluebeard, its like an illustration to make the body understand clearly, because it then FELT the state of consciousness it was in at the time. And having felt that, it understoodit was as if put in front of an abyss. It said, How?! An abyss of unconsciousness. And its very general. So then, there was the vision of the past, the vision of the present condition, and a beginning of (gesture like a curve forward), the DIRECTION in which were moving, and a sort of opening (gesture in the distance). A vision ahead, far ahead, of the Harmony, here, which will manifest.
But then, at a certain point, the body wondered, Who or what is it that takes pleasure in this immense unfolding which started with something so obscure and moves towards something so luminous? All of a sudden, the body wondered, Why? And then (Mother holds her hands open upward, in suspense) there was no answer In fact, it was made to feel, Not yet. You arent yet ready, not yet. You cant understand.
0 1969-04-09, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had felt your reaction. It does not surprise me. It is precisely one of the general difficulties to be conquered. Perhaps the most hardened one (it seems especially localized in France): the intellectual difficulty It is really a veil that blocks ones view and makes one read or understand things on a very narrow range. It almost seems as if people are looking through a slit and catch a thin layer, tiny and bright, and all the rest eludes them: mountaintops are cut off, abysses are filled, and there remains one pure line. And if one happens to try and open them to a broader view, the line of sight gets lost in the mists or muggy vapors you mention. A curious phenomenon. I do not know if you trust me, but I will tell you that every sentence of Sri Aurobindo is the expression or translation of a precise experience, and not only is it like a world enclosed in a few words, but it also contains the vibration of the experience, almost the quality of light of the particular world he contacts; and through the words one contacts, or can very well contact, the experience. I tell you, Sri Aurobindo is full of marvelspure marvelsand I discover new ones every time I read his texts again, I say to myself, Oh, how well he saw this! And if there happens to be some haziness, I am sure a discovery remains to be made there. Sri Aurobindo never used one word too much. As soon as he comes to the mentally obviouswhat would be for you precisely the starting point of a brilliant developmen the cuts off. He smiles and leaves you hanging in midairoh, he is surprisingly discreet, as you yourself put it, for a man who wrote thousands of pages!
You have not stepped into Sri Aurobindo. On the other hand, I quite understand if intellectuals so easily step into Zen! But I do not want to compare merits. With Sri Aurobindo, I am content to see and smile. You have better understood my book, you say it has brought you more than Sri Aurobindo but of course! That does not surprise me, I am afraid: I simply entered the regions of the mentally obvious he neglected, I climbed down a number of degrees. The lines of force you felt are simply the little strings I hung here and there to try and hook people on to the true lines of force that seem to elude them completely, because they see and feel just at the level of the mental slit. But I will tell you again, if you have the least trust in me, that Sri Aurobindo is a tremendous giant and not one word of his is without a full meaning. Some time ago I wanted to have a music lover (a Westerner nurtured on true music like myself, formed in music) listen to a music of genius composed by an Indian; well, this poor boy could make no sense of it! He could not hear! His musical slit was open at one particular level, and he literally could not hear what was abovea true marvel, immense streams of music flowing straight from the Origin of Music.6 For him, it had no structure, it was shapeless musicwhereas I saw, I could see that marvel, I knew where it was coming from, I could touch that world, and as soon as that high musical tension slackened in the least, I instantly felt that it came down to touch a center on a lower level. It was the same thing in Egypt. For weeks I lived in an ecstatic state in Upper Egypt; I was with people who were looking at ruins, seeing beautiful statueswhile for me those statues were living, those places talked to me, those so-called ruins were full of overflowing life.
0 1969-10-11, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What happened is that a television reporter went there without knowing what was happening (he went there for something else), and he came upon that. He was so horrified, you know, so disgusted that he resolved to make it stop. And for maybe two years, he has been campaigning all over the worldthrough television and all sorts of means for people to intervene. There was a strong pressure on the prime minister (its in northern Canada and northern Norway, I think, on perpetually frozen islands), and they obtained from Canadas prime minister (charming people!) that instead of clubbing the b aby seals supposedly to death, they would throw diesel oil on them, because that asphyxiates them fast. But people found it too costly (such unbelievably low depths, you know!), so they went to the prime minister and asked him to lift his ban and he did it! He allowed them to be slaughtered like that. It seems the mothers (theyve just given birth, you see, theyre suckling the pups) try to defend themso to prevent them from seeing what goes on, they put out their eyes. Well, when I was told that, I saw a humanity sinking into an abyss of ignominy.
Then they brought cards to me (theyre preparing a new movement), cards with big photosthose little ones, if you knew how sweet they are! And intelligent! Theyre first-rate. And I saw the photo before knowing anything of the story; I looked and said, Oh, what a lovely little one! I instantly saw: receptive, admirable, an admirable kid! So there are photos of those little ones, theres a portrait of the crook who arranges the whole thing, a portrait of the reporter, and cards with the portrait of one of those little ones, with at the top, in French and in English, Let b aby seals live. Like that. And a place for ones name and signature. And at the back, a place to add something if one wants to. They asked me if I wanted to sign. I said yes. There was one card addressed to Norways fisheries minister, one to Canadas fisheries minister, and one to Canadas prime minister. So I put my stamp: The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I didnt add anything, I left the sentence and signed. And well send them.
0 1969-11-22, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Here its an abyss, money goes away like
I have something for next February: I received certain things regarding money and whats going on there, in Delhi.1 The government is shaky; so far, things are all right. Everything tends towards the dissolution of the Congress, but that was foreseen and willed. But then, the Congress president2 is on one side and the prime minister is on the other, each looking at the other Anyway, I think things will work out. But all that is mostly because of money: the most powerful party against the present government, against Indira, is that of financiers. Theyre furious. So then, in this connection, I took up again what I had said long ago:
0 1972-03-29a, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In your reply to the Swedish magazine, you emphasize, The major obstacle to tolerance is not agnosticism but Manichaeism. That is also why religions will never be able to unite humanity, because they have remained Manichaean in their principle, because they are founded on morality, on a sense of good and evil, necessarily varying from one country to the next. Religions will not reconcile men with one another any more than they have reconciled men with themselves, or reconciled their aspiration to be with their need for action and for the same reasons, for in both cases they have dug an abyss between an ideal good, a being they have relegated to heaven, and an evil, a becoming, which reigns supreme in a world where all is vanity. I would like to quote here a passage from Sri Aurobindos Essays on the Gita which throws a clear light on the problem: To put away the responsibility for all that seems to us evil or terrible on the shoulders of a semi-omnipotent Devil, or to put it aside as part of Nature, making an unbridgeable opposition between world-nature and God-Nature, as if Nature were independent of God, or to throw the responsibility on man and his sins, as if he had a preponderant voice in the making of this world or could create anything against the will of God, are clumsily comfortable devices in which the religious thought of India has never taken refuge. We have to look courageously in the face of the reality and see that it is God and none else who has made this world in his being and that so he has made it. We have to see that Nature devouring her children, Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures. We have to see that God the bountiful and prodigal creator, God the helpful, strong and benignant preserver is also God the devourer and destroyer. The torment of the couch of pain and evil on which we are racked is his touch as much as happiness and sweetness and pleasure. It is only when we see with the eye of the complete union and feel this truth in the depths of our being that we can entirely discover behind that mask too the calm and beautiful face of the all-blissful Godhead and in this touch that tests our imperfection the touch of the friend and builder of the spirit in man. The discords of the worlds are Gods discords and it is only by accepting and proceeding through them that we can arrive at the greater concords of his supreme harmony.2 I believe that the characters of your books would not be seeking sacrifice and death so intensely if they did not feel the side of light and joy behind the mask of darkness in which they so passionately lose themselves.
Sri Aurobindo has constantly stressed that, through progressive evolutionary cycles, humanity must go beyond the purely ethical and religious stage, just as it must go beyond the infrarational and rational stage, in order to reach a new spiritual and suprarational ageotherwise we will simply remain doomed to the upheavals, conflicts and bloody sacrifices that shake our times, for living according to a code of morality is always a tragedy, as one of the characters in Hope notes.
0 1972-04-12, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Human stupidity is abysmal. abysmal.
Its as if the Force I mentioned before1 wanted to go like this (gesture like a power drill), deeper and deeper into the subconscient.
02.01 - The World-Stair, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
As once the abysmal leap to earth and life.
His call had reached the Traveller in Time.
02.02 - The Kingdom of Subtle Matter, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Convincing the abyss by heavenly form,
A covering of its immortality
--
She faced no peril of sky or of abyss,
She knew no vistas and no mighty dreams,
02.03 - The Glory and the Fall of Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Beneath was the gloomy trance of the abyss,
An opposite pole or dim antipodes.
02.03 - The Shakespearean Word, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Against midnight's dumb abysses piled in front
A columned shaft of fire and light she rose. ||136.38||
02.05 - The Godheads of the Little Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
To the abyss or through the bog and mire:
Or else with a goad of hard dry lusts they prick,
--
Renouncing servitude to the dim abyss,
It shall learn at last who lived within unseen,
--
Make the abysm a road for Heaven's descent,
Acquaint our depths with the supernal Ray
02.06 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And reconcile the Eternal and the abyss.
Her pragmatism of the transcendent Truth
--
Half-way between God's silence and the abyss.
This knowledge in our hidden parts we keep;
02.07 - The Descent into Night, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And the abyss whence our beginnings rose.
Behind appeared a grey carved mask of Night
--
Him the heights missioned, him the abyss desired:
None stood across his way, no voice forbade.
--
Allured to their abyss the spirit's fall.
Across his field of sight she multiplied
--
The filth and festering secrets of the abyss:
This it called positive fact and real life.
--
The pride of its abysmal absolute.
A lone discoverer in these menacing realms
--
And the abyss rising to claim his soul.
Then ceased the abodes of creatures and their forms
02.08 - The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Embodied the dark Ideas of the abyss.
A shadow substance into emptiness came,
--
Then Life first touched the insensible abyss;
Awaking the stark Void to hope and grief
--
And wallowed in its fell abysm of might.
These passions even objects seemed to exude, -
--
In footless battlefields of the abyss
Fought shadowy combats in mute eyeless depths,
--
Into the abysmal secrecy he came
Where darkness peers from her mattress, grey and nude,
02.09 - The Paradise of the Life-Gods, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And gazed into abysms of beauty and bliss.
Around him was a light of conscious suns
02.10 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And fears as if a deadly abyss the unknown.
68.8
02.10 - Two Mystic Poems in Modern Bengali, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The cry of our poet is a cry literally deprifundis, a deep cavernous voice surging, spectral and yet sirenlike, out of the unfathomed underground abysses.
The cry has nothing in it, very evidently, like the thrill of a skylark's throat.
02.12 - The Heavens of the Ideal, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Below, the Inconscient's sullen dim abyss,
Between, behind our life, the deathless Rose.
02.15 - The Kingdoms of the Greater Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The obscure abyss exposed its monstrous rule.
All but the ultimate Mystery was his field,
03.01 - The Pursuit of the Unknowable, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
When it was there, the heart's abyss was filled;
But when the uplifting Deity withdrew,
--
In an abysmal lapse of all things built
Transcending every perishable support
03.02 - The Adoration of the Divine Mother, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Thou hast leaped into a glad divine abyss;
But where hast thou thrown Self's mission and Self's power?
03.03 - The House of the Spirit and the New Creation, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The more its abysses we insist to sound,
The more it stretches, stretches endlessly.
03.10 - Hamlet: A Crisis of the Evolving Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The crisis then is the revelation to the aspiring dream-lifted soul that the original and aboriginal humanity that seemed to have been traversed and transcended and left far behind is not wholly obliterated; indeed it is still there in its stark reality. The light and air and space and colour of the high dreaml and are reared upon dark and dingy abysses, "this brave oerhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire" is none other than" a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours 2 . All the wisdom and culture and virtue and apparent beauty in human nature cannot prevent a man from becoming an arrant knave and a woman from being a whore, even if she were one's own mother.
This disillusionment is the crisis at which the soul has arrivedthis tearing down of the painted arras that hid the naked horror of man's beastly nature and the ugly vanity and stagy show that the world is. The revelation was so sudden and stunning to the innocent and aspiring soul that it lost for the moment all its bearings, its natural strength and capacity and will, and fell from its high status into the slough of dark and despondent impotency.
04.01 - The Birth and Childhood of the Flame, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Impose heaven-sentience on the obscure abyss
And make dumb Matter conscious of its God.
04.01 - The March of Civilisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
That is how the spirit of progress and evolution has worked and advanced in the European world. And one can take it as the pattern of human growth generally; but in the scheme described above we have left out one particular phase and purposely. I refer to the great event of Christ and Christianity. For without that European civilisation loses more than half of its import and value. After the Roman Decline began the ebbtide, the trough, the dark shadow of the deepening abyss of the Middle Ages. But even as the Night fell and darkness closed around, a new light glimmered, a star was born. A hope and a help shone "in a naughty world". It was a ray of consciousness that came from a secret cave, from a domain hidden behind and deep within in the human being. Christ brought a leaven into the normal manifest mode of consciousness, an otherworldly mode into the worldly life. He established a living and dynamic contact with the soul, the inner person in man, the person that is behind but still rules the external personality made of mind and life and body consciousness. The Christ revelation was also characteristic in the sense that it came as a large, almost a mass movementthis approach of the soul personality to earthly life. The movement faded or got adulterated, deformed like all human things; but something remained as a permanent possession of man's heritage.
This episode links up with the inner story of mankind, its spiritual history. The growing or evolving consciousness of man was not only an outgoing and widening movement: it was also a heightening, an ascent into ranges that are not normally perceived, towards summits of our true reality. We have spoken of the Grco-Roman culture as the source and foundation of European civilisation; but apart from that there was a secret vein of life that truly vivified it, led it by an occult but constant influence along channels and achievements that are meant to serve the final goal and purpose. The Mysteries prevalent and practised in Greece itself and Crete and the occult rites of Egyptian priests, the tradition of a secret knowledge and discipline found in the Kabbalah, the legendary worship of gods and goddesses sometimes confused, sometimes identified with Nature forcesall point to the existence of a line of culture which is known in India as Yoga. If all other culture means knowledge, Yoga is the knowledge of knowledge. As the Upanishad says, there are two categories of knowledge, the superior and-the inferior. The development of the mind and life and body belongs to the domain of Inferior Knowledge: the development of the soul, the discovery of the Spirit means the Superior Knowledge.
04.03 - Consciousness as Energy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now this superconsciousness is the true origin of creation, although the apparent and objective creation starts with and is based upon Unconsciousness. All norms and archetypes belong to the superconsciousness; for the sake of material creation they are thrown down or cast as seed into the Unconscious and in this process they undergo a change, a deformation and aberration. All the major themes of dream myths and prehistoric legends which the psychologists claim to have found imbedded in man's subconscient consciousness are in fact echoes and mirages of great spiritualsuperconscientrealities reflected here below. The theme of the Hero of the Dual Mother (Dark and Fair), of Creation and Sacrifice, these are, according to Jung, dramatisations of some fundamental movements and urges in the dark subconscient nature. Jung, however, throws a luminous suggestion in characterising the nature of this vast complex. The general sense, Jung says; is that of a movement forward, of a difficult journey, of a pull backward and downward, of yawning abysses that call, of a light that beckons. It is an effort, a travail of what lies imbedded and suppressed to come out into the open, into the normal consciousness and thus release an unhealthy tension, restore a balance in the individual's system. Modern psychology lays great stress upon the integration of personality. Most of the ills that human nature suffers from, they say, are due to this division or schism in it, a suppressed subconsciousness and an expressed consciousness seeking to express a negation of that subconsciousness. Modern psychology teaches that one should dive into the nether regions and face squarely whatever elements are there, help these to follow their natural bent to come up and see the light of the day. Only thus there can be established a unitary movement, an even consistency and an equilibrium throughout the entire consciousness and being.
So far so good. But two things are to be taken note of. First of all, the resolution of the normal conflict in man's consciousness, the integration of his personality, is not wholly practicable within the scope of the present nature and the field of the actual forces at play. That can give only a shadow of the true resolution and integration. A conscious envisaging of the conflicting forces, a calm survey of the submerged or side-tracked libidos in their true nature, a voluntary acceptance, of these dark elements as a part of normal human nature, does not automatically make for their sublimation and purification or transformation. The thing is possible only through another force and on another level, by the intervention and interfusion precisely of the superconsciousness. And here comes the second point to note. For it is this superconsciousness towards which all the strife and struggle of the under-consciousness are turned and directed. The yearning and urge in the subconsciousness to move forward, to escape outside into the light does not refer merely to the march towards normal awareness and consciousness: it has a deeper direction and a higher aimit seeks that of which it is an aberration and a deformation, the very origin and source, the height from which it fell.
04.03 - The Call to the Quest, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Fate is unwilling and the abyss denies;
The Inconscient's mindless waters block all done.
04.04 - To the Heights IV, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
And were my wild senses to turn back, they would face the abysmal silence of the soul.
The cry of the heart shoots up like a column of silence
04.07 - Readings in Savitri, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A guardian of the unconsoled abyss
Inheriting the long agony of the globe,
04.19 - To the Heights-XIX (The March into the Night), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The abyss seems fathomless,-
Only to the spirit that ventures with its own lantern;
05.03 - The Body Natural, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The body, precisely because of its negative natureits dumb inertia, as it is calledprecisely because it has no axe of its own to grind, that is to say, as it has no fancies and impulsions, plans and schemes upon which it can pride itself, precisely because of this childlike innocence, it has a wonderful plasticity and a calm stability, when it is not troubled by the mind or vital. Indeed, the divine qualities that are secreted in the body, which the body seeks to conserve and express are a stable harmony, a balance and equilibrium, capable of supporting the whole weight of all the levels of consciousness from the highest peak to the lowest abysses even as physically it bears the weight of the entire depth of the atmosphere so lightly as it were, without feeling the burden in the least.
***
06.01 - The Word of Fate, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And Love that broods within the dim abyss
And waits the answer of the human heart,
--
And, tireless of the sweet abysms of Time,
Deep possibility always to love.
06.02 - The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
He must call light into its dark abysms,
Else never can Truth conquer Matter's sleep
--
In whose abysm spirit must disappear:
A darkened Nature lived and held the seed
--
The soul attracted leaned to the abyss:
It longed for the adventure of Ignorance
07.01 - The Joy of Union; the Ordeal of the Foreknowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Vainly she fled into abysms of bliss
From her pursuing foresight of the end.
--
The unplumbed abyss of her deep passionate want.
All of his speeding days that he could spare
07.02 - The Parable of the Search for the Soul, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
He scales the Unseen, his depths dare the abyss;
A whole mysterious world is locked within.
--
Or they call the inhabitants of the abyss,
Invite the instincts to forbidden joys,
07.03 - The Entry into the Inner Countries, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
If mind is cast away into the abyss?
For body without mind has not the light,
--
Its sinkings towards the darkness and the abyss,
Its honey of tenderness, its sharp wine of hate,
07.06 - Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This was the sun before abysmal Night.
Once as she sat in deep felicitous muse,
--
An abyss yawned suddenly beneath her heart.
A vast and nameless fear dragged at her nerves
--
Out of an abysmal deep of grief and fear
Imagined by some blind regardless self,
--
The cry of the abyss drew Heaven's reply,
A might of storm chased by the might of the Sun.
--
She saw the Powers that stare from the abyss
And the wordless Light that liberates the soul.
--
God's summits look back on the mute abyss.
So man evolving to divinest heights
--
Saw too its abysmal unreality.
It watched the figure of the cosmic game,
08.16 - Perfection and Progress, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In any case, that is what I mean by sincerity. That is to say, if you regard the new realisation as the only thing truly worth living for, if what is is intolerable, not only for oneself, perhaps not so much for oneself as for the whole world, one feels the need of it if one is not small and egoistic; one feels that the present has lasted too long and one can do nothing but take up all that one is, all that one can do and hurl oneself completelyhead foremost, without looking backward, without considering what may happen or notinto the adventure. It is far better to jump into the abyss, than to stand on the brink shivering.
***
09.01 - Towards the Black Void, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
One brooded over abysses who was she.
As in a choric robe of unheard sounds
--
But Death pealed forth his vast abysmal cry:
"O mortal, turn back to thy transient kind;
--
Against midnight's dumb abysses piled in front
A columned shaft of fire and light she rose.
09.02 - The Journey in Eternal Night and the Voice of the Darkness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The Woman first affronted the abyss
Daring to journey through the eternal Night.
--
And to abysmal loneliness she fell,
Even from herself cast out, from love remote.
10.01 - The Dream Twilight of the Ideal, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
That once had lodged in some abysmal heart.
Passed was the heaviness of the eyeless dark
10.02 - The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Persuading the insensible abyss
To lend eternity to perishing things,
10.03 - The Debate of Love and Death, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
His abysms of bliss became insensible deeps,
Eternity a blank spiritual Vast.
--
Of the grapes of Heaven and the flowers of the abyss,
Of the flame-stabs and the torment-craft of Hell
--
Wanders in his errors, dares the abyss's brink,
It climbs in his climbings, wallows in his fall.
--
For this the Spirit came into the abyss
And charged with its power Matter's unknowing force,
10.04 - Lord of Time, #Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The intense joy of joy is in the abysmal heart
Boss to play Pusiya, boy God 6
10.04 - The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And plunged into the inconscient dim abyss
And risen from it to do their marvellous work.
--
Into the abyss of his stupendous seas.
Lo, how all shakes when the gods tread too near!
--
But reason is poised above a dim abyss
And stands at last upon a plank of doubt.
--
Confronts the mind with unsolved abysms of Thought.
Darkness below, a fathomless Light above,
1.00a - Introduction, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Those chapters of The Book of Lies quoted in my last letter*[H1] do throw some light onto this abyss of self-contradiction; and there is meaning much deeper than the contrast between the Will with a capital W, and desire, want, or velleity. The main point seems to be that in aspiring to Power one is limited by the True Will. If you use force, violating your own nature either from lack of understanding or from petulant whim, one is merely wasting energy; things go back to normal as soon as the stress is removed. This is one small case of the big Equation "Free Will = Necessity" (Fate, Destiny, or Karma: it's all much the same idea). One is most rigidly bound by the causal chain that has dragged one to where one is; but it is one's own self that has forged the links.
Please refrain from the obvious retort: "Then, in the long run, you can't possibly go wrong: so it doesn't matter what you do." Perfectly true, of course! (There is no single grain of dust that shall not attain to Buddhahood:" with some such words did the debauched old reprobate seek to console himself when Time began to take its revenge.) But the answer is simple enough: you happen to be the kind of being that thinks it does matter what course you steer; or, still more haughtily, you enjoy the pleasure of sailing.
1.00 - Preliminary Remarks, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
As it will be seen later, the vision of God, or Union with God, or Samadhi, or whatever we may agree to call it, has many kinds and many degrees, although there is an impassible abyss between the least of them and the greatest of all the phenomena of normal consciousness.
To sum up, we assert a secret source of energy which explains the phenomenon of Genius. 1 We do not believe in any supernatural explanations, but insist that this source may be reached by the following out of definite rules, the degree of success depending upon the capacity of the seeker, and not upon the favour of any Divine Being. We assert that the critical phenomenon which determines success is an occurrence in the brain characterized essentially be the uniting of subject and object. We propose to discuss this phenomenon, analyse its nature, determine accurately the physical, mental and moral conditions which are favourable to it, to ascertain its cause, and thus to produce it in ourselves, so that we may adequately study its effects.
10.10 - A Poem, #Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Do not hold the immovable abyss secret
Grcheta Mahasindhu Amapya Yaejan
1.01 - Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
of divinity in India and the abysms of Taoist philosophy in
China just as once before the heart and mind of the men of
1.01 - BOOK THE FIRST, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry
And water's dark abyss unnavigable.
No certain form on any was imprest;
1.01 - Introduction, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
How often have the predestined messengers of knowledge, the circumstances privileged to bring to us supreme teachings, passed before our eyes, teaching us nothing? The very abyss has opened without revealing to us the secret of its depths. We weep before a tomb. The sensations of our egoistic nature compel us to suffer where we might have thought and our affliction remains to us a barren experience. It has torn from us what we loved, but what it brought to us, we did not know how to receive. The tumult of the heart prevents the mind from learning these eternal verities, "There is no death; there is no night."
All is light, a lustre which blinds instead of enlightening us because it is too puissant for our gaze; for all the veils in which our vision is enveloped, are only veils of dazzlement. There are for our eyes excessive splendours as well as insufficient gleams. The measure of every obscurity is the imperfection of our vision and the night is the symbol of our ignorance.
1.01 - MAPS OF EXPERIENCE - OBJECT AND MEANING, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
the earth were separated by the act of a deity? We do not know. Our abysmal ignorance in this regard has
not been matched, however, by a suitable caution. We appear to have made the presumption that stories
1.01 - On knowledge of the soul, and how knowledge of the soul is the key to the knowledge of God., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
Know, thou seeker of divine mysteries! that there is no end to the wonderful operations of the heart. For, to pursue the same subject, the dignity of the heart is of two kinds; one kind is by means of knowledge, and the other through the exertion of divine power. Its dignity by means of knowledge is also of two kinds. The first is external knowledge, which every one understands: the second kind is veiled and cannot be understood by all, and is extremely precious. That which we have designated as external, refers to that faculty of the heart by which the sciences of geometry, medicine, astronomy, numbers, the science of law and all the arts are understood; and although the heart is a thing which cannot be divided, still the knowledge of all the world exists in it. All the world indeed, in comparison with it, is as a grain compared with the sun, or as a drop in the ocean. In a second, by the power of thought, the soul passes from the abyss to the highest heaven, and from the east to the west. Though on the earth, it knows the latitude of the stars and their distances. It knows the course, the size and the peculiarities of the sun. It knows the nature and cause of the clouds and the rain, the lightning and the thunder. It ensnares the fish from the depths of the sea, and the bird from the end of heaven. By knowledge it subdues the elephant, the camel and the tiger. All these kinds of knowledge, it acquires with its internal and external senses.
The most wonderful thing of all is, that there is a window in the heart from whence it surveys the world. This is called the invisible world, the world of intelligence, [23] or the spiritual world. People in general look only at the visible world, which is called also the present world, the sensible world and the material world; their knowledge of it also is trivial and limited. And there is also a window in the heart from whence it surveys the intelligible world. There are two arguments to prove that there are such windows in the heart. One of the arguments is derived from dreams. When an individual goes to sleep, these windows remain open and the individual is able to perceive events which will befall him from the invisible world or from the hidden table of decrees,1 and the result corresponds exactly with the vision. Or he sees a similitude, and those who are skilled in the science of interpretation of dreams understand the meaning. But the explanation of this science of interpretation would be too long for this treatise. The heart resembles a pure mirror, you must know, in this particular, that when a man falls asleep, when his senses are closed, and when the heart, free and pure from blameable affections, is confronted with the preserved tablet, then the tablet reflects upon the heart the real states and hidden forms inscribed upon it. In that state the heart sees most wonderful forms and combinations. But when the heart is not free from impurity, or when, on waking, it busies itself with things of sense, the side towards the tablet will be obscured, and it can view nothing. For, although in sleep the senses are blunted, the imaginative faculty is not, but preserves the forms reflected upon the mirror of the heart. But as the perception does not take place by means of the external senses, but only in the imagination, the heart does not see them with absolute clearness, but sees only a phantom. But in death, as the senses are completely separated and the veil of the body is removed, the heart can contemplate the invisible [24] world and its hidden mysteries, without a veil, just as lightning or the celestial rays impress the external eye.
1.01 - the Call to Adventure, #The Hero with a Thousand Faces, #Joseph Campbell, #Mythology
genitive, demiurgic powers of the abyss. He comes up with the
golden sun ball, his dark deep waters having just taken it down:
1.01 - The Mental Fortress, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
That is where we are. The illusion is not dead; it even rages with unprecedented violence, equipped with all the arms we have so obligingly polished up for it. But these are the last convulsions of a colossus with feet of clay which is actually a gnome, an oversized, overoutfitted gnome. The ancient sages of India knew it well. They divided human evolution into four concentric circles: that of the men of knowledge (Brahmins), who lived at the beginning of humanity, in the age of truth; that of the nobles and warriors (Kshatriya), when only three fourths of the truth was left; that of the merchants and middle class (Vaishya), who had only half of the truth; and finally ours, the age of the little men, the Shudra, the servants (of the machine, of the ego, of desire), the great proletariat of regimented liberties the Dark Age, Kali Yuga, when no truth is left at all. But because this circle is the most extreme, because all the truths have been tried and exhausted, and all possible roads explored, we are nearing the right solution, the true solution, the emergence of a new age of truth, the supramental age Sri Aurobindo spoke of, like the buttercup breaking its last envelope to free its golden fruit. If the parallel holds true between the collective body and our human body, we could say that the center governing the age of the sages was located at the level of the forehead, while that of the age of the nobles was at the level of the heart, that of the age of the merchants, at the stomach, and the one governing our age is at the level of sex and matter. The descent is complete. But that descent has a meaning a meaning for matter. Had we stayed forever at the forehead level of the divine truths of the mind, this earth and body would never have been changed, and we would have probably ended up escaping into some spiritual heaven or nirvana. Now, everything must be transformed, even the body and matter, since we are right in it. Ironically, this is the greatest service this dark, materialistic and scientific age may have rendered us: to compel such a plunge of the spirit into matter that it had either to lose itself in it or to be transformed with it. Absolute darkness is but the shadow of a greater Sun, which digs its abysses in order to raise up a more stable beauty, founded on the purified base of our earthly subconscious and seated erect in truth down to the very cells of our bodies.
O Force-compelled, Fate-driven earth-born race,
1.01 - The Path of Later On, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Owls, crows and bats fly out in all directions, screeching and circling around the head of the poor traveller who, dazed, downcast, overwhelmed, stands rooted to the spot, unable to move; suddenly, horror of horrors, he sees rising up before him terrible phantoms who bear the names of Desolation, Despair, Disgust with life, and amidst the ruins he even glimpses Suicide, pallid and dismal above a bottomless gulf. All these malignant spirits surround him, clutch him, propel him towards the yawning chasm. The poor youth tries to resist this irresistible force, he wants to draw back, to flee, to tear himself away from all these invisible arms entwining and clasping him. But it is too late; he moves on towards the fatal abyss. He feels drawn, hypnotized by it. He calls out; no voice answers to his cries. He grasps at the phantoms, everything gives way beneath him. With haggard eyes he scans the void, he calls out, he implores; the macabre laughter of Evil rings out at last.
The traveller is at the edge of the gulf. All his efforts have been in vain. After a supreme struggle he falls... from his bed. A young student had a long essay to prepare for the following morning. A little tired by his day's work, he had said to himself as he arrived home, "I shall work later." Soon afterwards he thought that if he went to bed early, he could get up early the next morning and quickly finish his task. "Let's go to bed," he said to himself, "I shall work better tomorrow; I shall sleep on it." He did not know how truly he spoke. His sleep was troubled by the terrible nightmare we have described, and his fall awoke him with a start. Thinking over what he had dreamt, he exclaimed, "But it's quite clear: the path is called the path of 'later on', the road is the road of 'tomorrow' and the great building the castle of 'nothing at all'." Elated at his cleverness, he set to work, vowing to himself that he would never put off until tomorrow what he could do today.
1.01 - THE STUFF OF THE UNIVERSE, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
the infinitely small to the infinitely big : Pascal's two abysses
44
--
of a trunk whose roots plunge down into the abyss of an un-
fathomable past, and whose branches rise up somewhere to a
1.022 - The Pilgrimage, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
31. Being true to God, without associating anything with Him. Whoever associates anything with God—it is as though he has fallen from the sky, and is snatched by the birds, or is swept away by the wind to a distant abyss.
32. So it is. Whoever venerates the sacraments of God—it is from the piety of the hearts.
10.23 - Prayers and Meditations of the Mother, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Of what use would be man if he was not made to throw a bridge between That which eternally is, but is not manifested, and that which is manifested; between all the transcendences, all the splendours of the divine life and all the obscure and sorrowful ignorance of the material world? Man is the intermediary between that which has to be and that which is; he is a bridge thrown over the abyss, he is the great X in the cross, the quaternary link. His true abode, the effective seat of his consciousness, should be in the intermediate world at the joining point of the four arms of the cross, where all the infinity of the Unknowable comes to take precise form for being projected into the multitudinous manifestation. .
How many and different are the degrees of consciousness! This word should be reserved for that which, in a being, is illumined by Thy Presence, identifies itself with Thee and participates in Thy absolute Consciousness, for that which has knowledge, which is "perfectly awakened" as says the Buddha.
10.24 - Savitri, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking into by-lanes and blind alleys. There is a great corruption and perversion of natural movements towards Truth: falsehoods and pretensions, arrogance of blindness reign here in various degrees. Ashwapati sought to know the wherefore of it all. So he goes behind, dives down and comes into a region that seems to be the source and basis of all ignorance and obscurity and falsehood. He comes into the very heart of the Night, the abyss of consciousness. He meets there the Mother of Evil and the sons of darkness. He stands before
. . the gate of the false Infinite,
--
Thou hast leaped into a glad divine abyss;
But where hast thou thrown self's mission and self's power?||80.4||
1.02 - MAPS OF MEANING - THREE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
fecundated womb and the protective cave of earth and mountain gapes the abyss of hell, the dark hole of
the depths, the devouring womb of the grave and death, and darkness without light, of nothingness. For
--
herself. To unveil her is to risk madness, to gaze over the abyss, to lose the way, to remember the repressed
trauma. She is the molestor of children, the golem, the bogey-man, the monster in the swamp, the rotting
1.02 - The Development of Sri Aurobindos Thought, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
Into the abysmal secrecy he came ...
And stood on the last locked subconscients floor
1.02 - The Doctrine of the Mystics, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
We create for ourselves by the sacrifice and by the word shining seers, heroes to fight for us, children of our works. The Rishis and the Gods find for us our luminous herds; the Ribhus fashion by the mind the chariots of the gods and their horses and their shining weapons. Our life is a horse that neighing and galloping bears us onward and upward; its forces are swift-hoofed steeds, the liberated powers of the mind are wide-winging birds; this mental being or this soul is the upsoaring Swan or the Falcon that breaks out from a hundred iron walls and wrests from the jealous guardians of felicity the wine of the Soma. Every shining godward Thought that arises from the secret abysses of the heart is a priest and a creator and chants a divine hymn of luminous realisation and puissant fulfilment. We seek for the shining gold of the Truth; we lust after a heavenly treasure.
The soul of man is a world full of beings, a kingdom in which armies clash to help or hinder a supreme conquest, a house where the gods are our guests and which the demons strive to possess; the fullness of its energies and wideness of its being make a seat of sacrifice spread, arranged and purified for a celestial session.
1.02 - The Eternal Law, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
ourselves before Sekmeth in the silence of abydos on the Nile, or face to face with Kali behind the peristyle of Dakshineshwar, we do feel something; we suddenly gape before an unknown dimension, a "something" that leaves us a little stunned and speechless, which is not at all there in our Western art. There are no secrets in our cathedrals!
Everything is there for every outer eye to see, all neat and tidy, open to the four winds; yet, there are many secrets. The intent here is not to weigh one form of art against the other that would be rather absurd
1.02 - THE NATURE OF THE GROUND, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
Among the Sufis, Al Haqq, the Real, seems to be thought of as the abyss of Godhead underlying the personal Allah, while the Prophet is taken out of history and regarded as the incarnation of the Logos.
Some idea of the inexhaustible richness of the divine nature can be obtained by analysing, word by word, the invocation with which the Lords Prayer beginsOur Father who art in heaven. God is oursours in the same intimate sense that our consciousness and life are ours. But as well as immanently ours, God is also transcendently the personal Father, who loves his creatures and to whom love and allegiance are owed by them in return. Our Father who art: when we come to consider the verb in isolation, we perceive that the immanent-transcendent personal God is also the immanent-transcendent One, the essence and principle of all existence. And finally Gods being is in heaven; the divine nature is other than, and incommensurable with, the nature of the creatures in whom God is immanent. That is why we can attain to the unitive knowledge of God only when we become in some measure Godlike, only when we permit Gods kingdom to come by making our own creaturely kingdom go.
1.02 - THE QUATERNIO AND THE MEDIATING ROLE OF MERCURIUS, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
[8] The double quaternio or ogdoad stands for a totality, for something that is at once heavenly and earthly, spiritual or corporeal, and is found in the Indian Ocean, that is to say in the unconscious. It is without doubt the Microcosm, the mystical Adam and bisexual Original Man in his prenatal state, as it were, when he is identical with the unconscious. Hence in Gnosticism the Father of All is described not only as masculine and feminine (or neither), but as Bythos, the abyss. In the scholia to the Tractatus aureus Hermetis39 there is a quaternio consisting of superius / inferius, exterius / interius. They are united into one thing by means of the circular distillation, named the Pelican:40 Let all be one in one circle or vessel. For this vessel is the true philosophical Pelican, nor is any other to be sought after in all the world. The text gives the following diagram:
[9] B C D E represent the outside, A is the inside, as it were the origin and source from which the other letters flow, and likewise the final goal to which they flow back,41 F G stands for Above and Below. Together the letters A B C D E F G clearly signify the hidden magical Septenary. The central point A, the origin and goal, the Ocean or great sea, is also called a circulus exiguus, very small circle, and a mediator making peace between the enemies or elements, that they may love one another in a meet embrace.42 This little inner circle corresponds to the Mercurial Fountain in the Rosarium, which I have described in my Psychology of the Transference. The text calls it the more spiritual, perfect, and nobler Mercurius,43 the true arcane substance, a spirit, and goes on:
1.02 - The Three European Worlds, #The Ever-Present Origin, #Jean Gebser, #Integral
This psychic inner-space breaks forth at the very moment that the Troubadours are writing the first lyric "I"-Poems, the first personal poetry that suddenly opens an abyss between man, as poet, and the world or nature (1250 A.D.). Concurrently at the University of Paris, Thomas Aquinas, following the thought of his teacher Albertus Magnus, asserts the validity of Aristotle, thereby initiating the rational displacement of the predominantly psychic-bound Platonic world.
And this occurred in the wake of Petrus Hispanus (PetrusLucitanus), the later Pope John XXI (d. 1277), who had authored the first comprehensive European textbook on psychology (De anima), introducing via Islam and Spain the Aristotelian theory of the soul. Shortly thereafter, Duns Scotus (d. 1308) freed theology from the hieratic rigors of scholasticism by teaching the primacy of volition and emotion. And the blindness of antiquity to time inherent in its unperspectival, psychically-stressed world (which amounted to a virtual timelessness) gave way to the visualization of and openness to time with a quantifiable, spatial character. This was exemplified by the erection of the first public clock in the courtyard of Westminister Palace in 1283,an event anticipated by Pope Sabinus, who in 604ordered the ringing of bells to announce the passing of the hours.
1.03 - THE EARTH IN ITS EARLY STAGES, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
As wc continue peering into the abysses of the past, wc can
sec its colour changing.
1.03 - The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. The, #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,
For glory none the damned would have from them."
1.03 - THE GRAND OPTION, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
there came the unveiling, behind us and ahead, of the abysses of
Past and Future. Finally, to complete the structure we became
1.03 - The Sephiros, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
The first three Sephiros, denominated the Supernals, transcend in every possible way all intellectual conceptions, and can only be realized by specialized training in medita- tion and practical Qabalah. The Supernals are separated by a great gulf, the abyss, from that which lies below them.
The Supernals are Ideal ; the other Sephiros are Actual ; the abyss is the metaphysical gap between. In one sense they have no connection or relation with the Inferiors, the lower seven Sephiros, reflected by them - just as Space itself is independent of, and unaffected by, whether there is or is not anything manifested within its emptiness.
The cause of the appearance of Keser, the first Sephirah, the central dimensionless Point, arouses tremendous prob- lems. Lao Tsu teaches us that : " Tao produced Unity,
--
Triad beyond the abyss. The three primary or elementary colours are attri buted to the Sephiros of this second trinity ; blue to Chesed, red to Geburah, and Yellow to
Tipharas.
1.04 - Descent into Future Hell, #The Red Book Liber Novus, #unset, #Zen
You thought you knew that abyss? Oh you clever people! It is another thing to experience it. Everything will happen to you. Think of all the frightful and devilish things that men have inflicted on their brothers. That should happen to you in your heart. Suffer it yourself through your own hand, and know that it is your own heinous and devilish hand that inflicts the suffering on you, but not your brother, who wrestles with his own devils. 97
I would like you to see what the murdered hero means. Those nameless men who in our day have murdered a prince are blind prophets who demonstrate in events what then is valid only for the soul. 98 Through the murder of princes we will learn that the prince in us, the hero, is threatened. 99 Whether this should be seen as a good or a bad sign need not concern us. What is awful today is good in a hundred years, and in two hundred years is bad again. But we must recognize what is happening; there are nameless ones in you who threaten your prince, the hereditary ruler.
1.04 - GOD IN THE WORLD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
That Nirvana and Samsara are one is a fact about the nature of the universe; but it is a fact which cannot be fully realized or directly experienced, except by souls far advanced in spirituality. For ordinary, nice, unregenerate people to accept this truth by hearsay, and to act upon it in practice, is merely to court disaster. All the dismal story of antinomianism is there to warn us of what happens when men and women make practical applications of a merely intellectual and unrealized theory that all is God and God is all. And hardly less depressing than the spectacle of antinomianism is that of the earnestly respectable well-rounded life of good citizens who do their best to live sacramentally, but dont in fact have any direct acquaintance with that for which the sacramental activity really stands. Dr. Oman, in his The Natural and the Supernatural, writes at length on the theme that reconciliation to the evanescent is revelation of the eternal; and in a recent volume, Science, Religion and the Future, Canon Raven applauds Dr. Oman for having stated the principles of a theology, in which there could be no ultimate antithesis between nature and grace, science and religion, in which, indeed, the worlds of the scientist and the theologian are seen to be one and the same. All this is in full accord with Taoism and Zen Buddhism and with such Christian teachings as St. Augustines Ama et fac quod vis and Father Lallemants advice to theocentric contemplatives to go out and act in the world, since their actions are the only ones capable of doing any real good to the world. But what neither Dr. Oman nor Canon Raven makes sufficiently clear is that nature and grace, Samsara and Nirvana, perpetual perishing and eternity, are really and experientially one only to persons who have fulfilled certain conditions. Fac quod vis in the temporal world but only when you have learnt the infinitely difficult art of loving God with all your mind and heart and your neighbor as yourself. If you havent learnt this lesson, you will either be an antinomian eccentric or criminal or else a respectable well-rounded-lifer, who has left himself no time to understand either nature or grace. The Gospels are perfectly clear about the process by which, and by which alone, a man may gain the right to live in the world as though he were at home in it: he must make a total denial of selfhood, submit to a complete and absolute mortification. At one period of his career, Jesus himself seems to have undertaken austerities, not merely of the mind, but of the body. There is the record of his forty days fast and his statement, evidently drawn from personal experience, that some demons cannot be cast out except by those who have fasted much as well as prayed. (The Cur dArs, whose knowledge of miracles and corporal penance was based on personal experience, insists on the close correlation between severe bodily austerities and the power to get petitionary prayer answered in ways that are sometimes supernormal.) The Pharisees reproached Jesus because he came eating and drinking, and associated with publicans and sinners; they ignored, or were unaware of, the fact that this apparently worldly prophet had at one time rivalled the physical austerities of John the Baptist and was practising the spiritual mortifications which he consistently preached. The pattern of Jesus life is essentially similar to that of the ideal sage, whose career is traced in the Oxherding Pictures, so popular among Zen Buddhists. The wild ox, symbolizing the unregenerate self, is caught, made to change its direction, then tamed and gradually transformed from black to white. Regeneration goes so far that for a time the ox is completely lost, so that nothing remains to be pictured but the full-orbed moon, symbolizing Mind, Suchness, the Ground. But this is not the final stage. In the end, the herdsman comes back to the world of men, riding on the back of his ox. Because he now loves, loves to the extent of being identified with the divine object of his love, he can do what he likes; for what he likes is what the Nature of Things likes. He is found in company with wine-bibbers and butchers; he and they are all converted into Buddhas. For him, there is complete reconciliation to the evanescent and, through that reconciliation, revelation of the eternal. But for nice ordinary unregenerate people the only reconciliation to the evanescent is that of indulged passions, of distractions submitted to and enjoyed. To tell such persons that evanescence and eternity are the same, and not immediately to qualify the statement, is positively fatalfor, in practice, they are not the same except to the saint; and there is no record that anybody ever came to sanctity, who did not, at the outset of his or her career, behave as if evanescence and eternity, nature and grace, were profoundly different and in many respects incompatible. As always, the path of spirituality is a knife-edge between abysses. On one side is the danger of mere rejection and escape, on the other the danger of mere acceptance and the enjoyment of things which should only be used as instruments or symbols. The versified caption which accompanies the last of the Oxherding Pictures runs as follows.
Even beyond the ultimate limits there extends a passageway,
1.04 - On Knowledge of the Future World., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism
Suppose a person, a prince, had been passing his life in banqueting and pleasure, and every one around him had been submissive and obedient to his orders. But an enemy comes and deprives him of his principality, enslaves his wife and servants, and they plunder him of his money and property before his eyes. His pearls and jewels are wasted upon trifles, and his beautiful studs of horses and his retinue are dispersed. He becomes a subject in his own city, is compelled to wear coarse clothing in the presence of his former servants, and is appointed to guard and feed the dogs. Can you in any wise appreciate the misfortune into which the prince has fallen, and how deeply he must be a prey to anguish ? Probably he exclaims many times in a [89] day, "Would rather that I had fallen into the abyss of the earth and perished!" The severity of his torture is in proportion to the amount of sensual enjoyments in which he had participated while he was a prince. And it is plain that this torture is not inflicted on the body, but upon only the spirit, and that it is more excruciating than any pains of the body would be.
So long as a man is attached to the things of this world engrossed with the care of his body, and gives over his nature to intercourse with sensual enjoyments, he will not care for the warnings his spirit receives in this world, nor for the torment that it will incur in the future world. A sick man for example will not be so excessively despondent about his malady in the day time, because his senses are interested in other things, and aa his heart follows in their train, he in some measure forgets his malady. In the night, however, when his senses have nothing to be employed about, his thoughts about his malady do not leave his mind free for one moment, and his pain increases. So also in death, the cares and thoughts of the world and the external senses cease entirely to operate on account of the torment of the spirit, and then the perfect torment of the spirit becomes manifest.
The second kind of torment in hell, beloved, is the fire of ignominy and shame. In illustration this, suppose that a prince receives in to his friendship a poor'and humble man, treating him with great honor and making'him the favorite among all his confidential servants. He gives into his hands the keys of all his treasuries/commits his honor and wife and family to his care, and in short confides all his affairs into his hands, in full reliance upon him. Then, suppose that the poor man, after being elevated to this high rank, should be puffed up with pride, and should be disposed to betray the honor of the prince,- that he should begin to indulge in unworthy conduct with his wife [90] and servants, and should open his coffers and spend his property for his own pleasures. Suppose farther that he should even be consulting with the prince's enemy who has designs upon the principality, and should enter in to a compact with him. Just at this point the prince from a concealed retreat espies his conduct in his family, and learns how he has wasted his money and his possessions, and in short becomes acquainted with everything he has done. The man also learns that for some time the prince has been aware of his course of conduct, but that the reason of his delaying and postponing punishment was that he might see what other crimes he would commit, that he might punish him accordingly. In these circumstances the reflecting can easily appreciate what would be the confusion and mortification of this individual. He would think it a thousand times better to fall from a precipice and be dashed to pieces, or that the earth should open and he sink into the abyss, than that he should continue to live. So also is it with you. How many actions you perform, of which you say, "it is in private and no one sees it," or of which Satan cloaks over the guilt from your mind, by persuading you that it is all right and fair. But at last, when death comes and makes your sin manifest, then the fire of ignominy and shame makes you captive to fierce torments and long continued misery....
Suppose you should throw a stone over against a wall, and some one Should come and inform you that the stone had hit your own house; and had put out the eye of your son. When you rush to your house and find that it is even so, can you conceive of the fire of repentance and anguish you will have to meet? ...
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Know, farther, that inanimate objects are the lowest in rank in the quantity and degree of happiness they obtain, and it is a happiness which knows no change. The place of beasts is in the lowest abyss and there is no path by which they can ascend out of it. The mansion of the angels is in the highest heavens where they ever continue in the same condition, there is neither abasement or ascent from their place. And God also says in his eternal word, "And what have we except for each one a certain and appointed habitation."2 The position of man is between the rank of angels, and that of animals, because he partakes of the qualities of both. No other rank except man accepted the deposit of the true faith, and indeed no [99] other had the qualities and capacities necessary for the acceptance of it. In accepting the deposit man became bound at the same time to accept the dangers and penalties connected with it.
The doctors of the law have not commented upon these topics to the people in general. But this is not to be wondered at, when we consider that the mass of the people regard themselves as fixed in their character and position, and not as pilgrims and travellers to a higher state. There is no possibility of unveiling the things of truth, to those who settle down without desiring to make any progress, and who are contented with the first stages and degrees of the sensible world and of the world of fancy. They can neither attain to a spiritual state, nor understand spiritual laws and precepts. We have ventured, however, to unveil a little of the mysteries, as a type of the knowledge belonging to the future state, so that men might be prepared to understand the questions and affairs relating to that state. But if we had entered into any farther developments, they would not have been able to understand us, for none but those who are endowed with penetration and experience can by any possibility understand the topics to which we have alluded.
1.04 - SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
first discovered the abyss of time that lies behind
him, and therefore the abyss that lies ahead,
his first feeling was a tremendous hope, a sense
1.04 - THE APPEARANCE OF ANOMALY - CHALLENGE TO THE SHARED MAP, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
unknown from the abysmal forces of the Great and Terrible Mother, from unbearable affect itself
evolved to structure social relationships and render them predictable, to provide a goal and the means to
--
we have seen, this movement might be represented as descent from the precipice into the abyss, as the
collapse of the idol with feet of clay, as dissolution to constituent bodily or material elements, as journey to
--
spread over an abysmal pit.
Gone vision-like is the external world,
1.04 - The First Circle, Limbo Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble Castle of Philosophy., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
Of the abysmal valley dolorous,
That gathers thunder of infinite ululations.
--
The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss.
There, as it seemed to me from listening,
1.04 - The Paths, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
By reference to the chart, it will be found that this Path joins the first to the sixth Sephiros, crossing the abyss which, in Qabalistic symbology, is conceived to be a barren desert of sand wherein die the thoughts and empirical egos of men, " birth-strangled babes ", as the expression goes.
72
1.04 - The Sacrifice the Triune Path and the Lord of the Sacrifice, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
There is another basic realisation, the most extreme of all, that yet comes sometimes as the first decisive opening or an early turn of the Yoga. It is the awakening to an ineffable high transcendent Unknowable above myself and above this world in which I seem to move, a timeless and spaceless condition or entity which is at once, in some way compelling and convincing to an essential consciousness in me, the one thing that is to it overwhelmingly real. This experience is usually accompanied by an equally compelling sense either of the dreamlike or shadowy illusoriness of all things here or else of their temporary, derivative and only half-real character. For a time at least all around me may seem to be a moving of cinematographic shadow forms or surface figures and my own action may appear as a fluid formulation from some Source ungrasped as yet and perhaps unseizable above or outside me. To remain in this consciousness, to carry out this initiation or follow out this first suggestion of the character of things would be to proceed towards the goal of dissolution of self and world in the Unknowable,Moksha, Nirvana. But this is not the only line of issue; it is possible, on the contrary, for me to wait till through the silence of this timeless unfilled liberation I begin to enter into relations with that yet ungrasped Source of myself and my actions; then the void begins to fill, there emerges out of it or there rushes into it all the manifold Truth of the Divine, all the aspects and manifestations and many levels of a dynamic Infinite. At first this experience imposes on the mind and then on all our being an absolute, a fathomless, almost an abysmal peace and silence. Overpowered and subjugated, stilled, liberated from itself, the mind accepts the Silence itself as the Supreme. But afterwards the seeker discovers that all is there for him contained or new-made in that silence or through it descends upon him from a greater concealed transcendent Existence. For this Transcendent, this Absolute is not a mere peace of signless emptiness; it has its own infinite contents and riches of which ours are debased and diminished values. If there were not that Source of all things, there could be no universe; all powers, all works and activities would be an illusion, all creation and manifestation would be impossible.
These are the three fundamental realisations, so fundamental that to the Yogin of the way of Knowledge they seem ultimate, sufficient in themselves, destined to overtop and replace all others. And yet for the integral seeker, whether accorded to him at an early stage suddenly and easily by a miraculous grace or achieved with difficulty after a long progress and endeavour, they are neither the sole truth nor the full and only clues to the integral truth of the Eternal, but rather the unfilled beginning, the vast foundation of a greater divine Knowledge. Other realisations there are that are imperatively needed and must be explored to the full limit of their possibilities; and if some of them appear to a first sight to cover only Divine Aspects that are instrumental to the activity of existence but not inherent in its essence, yet, when followed to their end through that activity to its everlasting Source, it is found that they lead to a disclosure of the Divine without which our knowledge of the Truth behind things would be left bare and incomplete. These seeming Instrumentals are the key to a secret without which the Fundamentals themselves would not unveil all their mystery. All the revelatory aspects of the Divine must be caught in the wide net of the integral Yoga.
1.05 - Adam Kadmon, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
The upper Sephiros may be considered as real and ideal, and the seven lower ones as actual, and the gap between the mental conception of ideal and actual may be said to correspond to the abyss wherein all things exist in poten- tiality - but without meaning in themselves. The abyss is the source of all impressions, and the storehouse, so to speak, of phenomena.
100 A GARDEN OF POMEGRANATES
Below the abyss is the Ruach, the Intellect, that part of one's individualized consciousness which becomes aware of things, desires them, and tries to attain them. It is a
" machine " created, evolved, or invented by the Self for
--
Both Hume and Kant demonstrated its inherent self-con- tradictory nature, but the former did not apprehend a permanent integrating principle running through impres- sions. He therefore argued - with his Ruach, which is in- competent to argue on such a point, since its nature is self- contradictory - that the Soul, not being an impression or a sensation, nor an entity to which one can point holding it there for analysis when introspecting, did not exist, for- getting all the time, or unaware perhaps of the fact, that it is the Soul, or as the Qabalists would say, the Real Man above the abyss, who is introspecting and examining the contents of its own Ruach.
The Ruach is the false or empirical ego. It is that part of us which names itself " I ", and it is just that principle which is not " I ". Its moods change with the passing of the years. More, its contents are never the same from one minute to another. The destruction of the glamorous bondage which the Ruach exerts over us, thus permitting the light of the Nescharnah and the higher principles to shine through to illumine our minds and our daily lives, is one of the all-important tasks of Mysticism. In fact, the abnegation of this false ego ( bitol hoyesh) is the essential accomplishment of all spiritual development.
--
Knowledge, as being the child of Binah and Choltmah, or a sublimation of the Ruach, supposed to appear in the abyss in the course of man's evolution as an evolved faculty. It is a false Sephirah, however, and the Sepher Yetsirah, in anticipation, most emphatically warns us that " Ten are the ineffable Sephiros. Ten and not nine. Ten and not eleven.
Understand with Wisdom, and apprehend with care It is a non-existent Sephirah because, for one thing, Know- ledge when examined contains within itself - as the progeny of Ruach - the same element of self-contradiction, and being situate in the abyss, dispersion and so of self-destruction.
ADAM KADMON 103
1.05 - On painstaking and true repentance which constitute the life of the holy convicts; and about the prison., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
It is impossible for us who have fallen into the pit of iniquities ever to be drawn out of it, unless we sink into the abyss of the humility of the penitents.
The sorrowful humility of penitents is one thing; the condemnation of the conscience of those who are still living in sin is another; and the blessed wealth of humility which the perfect attain by the action of God is yet another. Let us not be in a hurry to find words to describe this third kind of humility, for our effort will be in vain. But a sign of the second is the perfect bearing of indignity. Previous habit often tyrannizes even over him who deplores it. And no wonder! The account of the judgments of God and our falls is shrouded in darkness, and it is impossible to know which are the falls that come from carelessness, and which from providential abandonment, and which from Gods turning away from us. But someone told me that in the case of falls which come to us by Divine Providence we acquire a swift revulsion from them, because He who delivers us does not allow us to be held for long. And let us who fall wrestle above all with the demon of grief. For he stands by us at the time of our prayer, and by reminding us of our former favour with God, he tries to divert our attention from prayer.
1.05 - Splitting of the Spirit, #The Red Book Liber Novus, #unset, #Zen
103. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche wrote: who fights with monsters should talce care that he does not in the process become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes back into you (tr. Marion Faber [Oxford: Oxford University Press], 1998, 146, p. 68).
104. Black Book 2 continues: ''Are you neurotic? Are we neurotic?" (p. 53).
1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
existence in the hellish abyss. Rejection of fact means alienation from God, from meaning, from truth and
life without meaning is suffering without recourse, worthy of nothing but destruction, in accordance with
--
(watery abyss, cavern, forest, island, castle, etc.) can one find the treasure hard to attain (jewel, virgin,
life-potion, victory over death).640 Jung ends his commentary:
--
universally exemplified in the myth of the hero is to show that only in the region of danger (watery abyss, cavern,
forest, island, castle, etc.) can one find the treasure hard to attain (jewel, virgin, life-potion, victory over death. Jung,
1.05 - The Magical Control of the Weather, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
ground. The people of Egghiou, a district of abyssinia, used to
engage in sanguinary conflicts with each other, village against
1.05 - THE NEW SPIRIT, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
mal and temporally from the abyss of the past to the abyss of the
future. On the other hand, in this endless and indivisible network,
1.05 - To Know How To Suffer, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
As the rays of thy glory penetrated and illumined all my being, I clearly perceived the path to follow, the use that can be made of suffering; I understood that the sorrow that held me in its grip was but a pale reflection of the sorrow of the earth, of this abysm of suffering and anguish.
Only those who have suffered can understand the suffering of others; understand it, commune with it and relieve it. And I understood, O divine comforter, sublime Holocaust, that in order to sustain us in all our troubles, to soo the all our pangs, thou must have known and felt all the sufferings of earth and man, all without exception.
1.05 - True and False Subjectivism, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Witness Egypt, Ireland, India, and afterwards abyssinia, Spain, Chinawherever still man tries to dominate by force over man or nation over nation.
***
1.05 - War And Politics, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
We used to have discussions on the international political situation from the very start. Hitler's insane lust for power, England's political bankruptcy, America's suicidal policy of non-intervention, Russia's shrewd Machiavellian diplomacy: all were subjects of the verbal to-and-fro in Sri Aurobindo's room. Chamberlain's ill-famed peace mission, Colonel Beck's militant interview with Hitler, France's betrayal of Czechoslovakia evoked vigorous protests or praises from us. Sri Aurobindo observed how one nation after another was hypnotised by Hitler's asuric my and submitted to his diabolical charm, how the intellectuals did not raise any voice against the Hitlerian menace. On seeing a photograph of Chamberlain and Hitler taken during their meeting at Munich, Sri Aurobindo said that Chamberlain looked like a fly before a spider, on the point of being caught and he actually was caught! Of course, the German dictator had already put Mussolini in his pocket. Only Colonel Beck seemed to have kept some manly individuality. Many other issues Sri Aurobindo discussed with us, as will be evident from the book Talks with Sri Aurobindo, as though we were all keen-sighted states-men and generals; and the talks were usually enlivened by Sri Aurobindo's genial humour. In these talks he imparted to us a clear vision of the issues at stake, but never imposed his views. When we dared to differ or failed to follow him, he patiently explained to us where we were wrong. His physical nearness made us realise, with an extraordinary lucidity, what terrible inhuman forces were trying to overcast the world with an abysmal darkness from which a supreme Divine Power alone could save it.
For all the war-news we had to depend on the daily newspapers, since members of the Ashram were not supposed to have radios. Somebody in the town began to supply us with short bulletins; when the War had taken a full-fledged turn, the radio news was transmitted to Sri Aurobindo's room so he might follow the war-movements from hour to hour. Here we find a notable instance of the spiritual flexibility of his rules and principles. What had been laid down for a particular time and condition, would not be inviolable under altered circumstances. Sri Aurobindo, who was once a mortal opponent of British rule in India, came to support the Allies against the threat of world-domination by Hitler. "Not merely a non-cooperator but an enemy of British Imperialism", he now listened carefully to the health bulletins about Churchill when he had pneumonia, and, we believe, even helped him with his Force to recover. It is the rigid mind that cries for consistency under all circumstances. I still remember Sri Aurobindo breaking the news of Hitler's march and England's declaration of war. For a time the world hung in suspense wondering whether Hitler would flout Holland's neutrality and then penetrate into Belgium. We had very little doubt of his intention. It was evening; Sri Aurobindo was alone in his room. As soon as I entered, he looked at me and said, "Hitler has invaded Holland. Well, we shall see." That was all. Two or three such laconic but pregnant remarks regarding the War still ring in my ears. At another crucial period when Stalin held a threatening pistol at England and was almost joining hands with Hitler, we were dismayed and felt that there would be no chance for the Divine, were such a formidable alliance to take place. Sri Aurobindo at once retorted, "Is the Divine going to be cowed by Stalin?" When, seeing Hitler sweeping like a meteor over Europe, a sadhak cried in despair to the Guru, "Where is the Divine? Where is your word of hope?" Sri Aurobindo replied calmly, "Hitler is not immortal." Then the famous battle of Dunkirk and the perilous retreat, the whole Allied army exposed to enemy attack from land and air and the bright summer sun shining above. All of a sudden a fog gathered from nowhere and gave unexpected protection to the retreating army. We said, "It seems the fog helped the evacuation." To which Sri Aurobindo remarked, "Yes, the fog is rather unusual at this time." We, of course, understood what he meant. It was after the fall of Dunkirk and the capitulation of France that Sri Aurobindo began to apply his Force more vigorously in favour of the Allies, and he had "the satisfaction of seeing the rush of German victory almost immediately arrested and the tide of war begin to turn in the opposite direction".
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"'My ardent request to India is that she should not reject it. She must not make the same mistake that France has done recently and that has plunged her into the abyss.'
"As soon as She had finished speaking She hurried back to Her dressing room, without a word or a look at anybody. Later, on the same day, the first of April, 1942, when She returned from the Prosperity after the distribution, She disclosed that, Sri Aurobindo had already sent a telegram to Sir Stafford, and the latter had reciprocated very heartily, and both the telegrams were being put on the notice board by Nolini. We then read the messages and were very much encouraged.
1.06 - Being Human and the Copernican Principle, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
cause hell, the abyss or bottomless pit, was always felt to
be located below the earthly life. And Lovejoy quotes John
1.06 - On remembrance of death., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
Just as some declare that the abyss is infinite, for they call it a bottomless place, so the thought of death brings chastity and activity to a state of incorruption. The above-mentioned saint confirms the truth of what has been said. For such men, unceasingly adding fear to fear, do not stop until the very strength of their bones is spent.
Let us rest assured that the remembrance of death, like all other blessings, is a gift of God; since how is it that often when we are at the very tombs we are left tearless and hard; and frequently when we have no such sight, we are full of compunction?
1.06 - Quieting the Vital, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
much as joy, deprivation as much as abundance, hatred as much as love, torture as much as ecstasy. It thrives in every case. This is because it is a Force, the same Force in pain as in pleasure. We are thus bluntly confronted with the absolute ambivalence of all the feelings that make up the niceties of our frontal personality. Every one of our feelings is the reverse of another; at any moment it may change into its "opposite": the disillusioned philanthropist (or, rather, the disillusioned vital in the philanthropist) becomes a pessimist, the zealous apostle retires to the desert, the staunch unbeliever becomes a sectarian, and the virtuous man is scandalized by all the things he does not dare to do. Here we uncover another feature of the surface vital: it is an incorrigible charlatan,71 a shameless impersonator. (We are not even sure that our own mother's death escapes its pleasure.) Each time we cry in disapproval or in pain (any crying at all), there is a monkey snickering in us. We all know this, yet we remain as sentimental as ever. To top it all, the vital excels in befogging everything. It is fog incarnate; it mistakes the force of its feelings for the force of truth, and substitutes for the heights a smoky volcano summit in the abyss.72
Another observation, which follows from the first, becomes plainly apparent: that of the utter powerlessness of the vital to help others, or even simply to communicate with others, except when there is a meeting of egos. There is not a single vital vibration emanating from us, or relayed by us, that cannot immediately change into its opposite in the other person. We need only wish someone well for the corresponding ill feeling or resistance or opposite reaction to awaken automatically, as if it were being received at the same time as the other; the process seems as spontaneous and inevitable as a chemical reaction. Indeed, the vital does not seek to help, it always seeks to take, in every possible manner. All our feelings are tainted with grabbing. Our feeling of sadness any sadness at a friend's betrayal,
1.06 - The Ascent of the Sacrifice 2 The Works of Love - The Works of Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
heart, a passionate will ignorant yet but sincere may break the lid that shuts off that Higher from this Lower Nature and open the floodgates. A little of the Divine Person may reveal itself or some Light, Power, Bliss, Love out of the Infinite. This may be a momentary revelation, a flash or a brief-lived gleam that soon withdraws and waits for the preparation of the nature; but also it may repeat itself, grow, endure. A long and large and comprehensive working will then have begun, sometimes luminous or intense, sometimes slow and obscure. A Divine Power comes in front at times and leads and compels or instructs and enlightens; at others it withdraws into the background and seems to leave the being to its own resources. All that is ignorant, obscure, perverted or simply imperfect and inferior in the being is raised up, perhaps brought to its acme, dealt with, corrected, exhausted, shown its own disastrous results, compelled to call for its own cessation or transformation or expelled as worthless or incorrigible from the nature. This cannot be a smooth and even process; alternations there are of day and night, illumination and darkness, calm and construction or battle and upheaval, the presence of the growing Divine Consciousness and its absence, heights of hope and abysses of despair, the clasp of the Beloved and the anguish of its absence, the overwhelming invasion, the compelling deceit, the fierce opposition, the disabling mockery of hostile Powers or the help and comfort and communion of the
Gods and the Divine Messengers. A great and long revolution and churning of the ocean of Life with strong emergences of its nectar and its poison is enforced till all is ready and the increasing
1.06 - The Four Powers of the Mother, #The Mother With Letters On The Mother, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
13:There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realisation, - most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divinest Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe. But human nature bounded, egoistic and obscure is inapt to receive these great Presences or to support their mighty action. Only when the Four have founded their harmony and freedom of movement in the transformed mind and life and body, can those other rarer Powers manifest in the earth movement and the supramental action become possible. For when her Personalities are all gathered in her and manifested and their separate working has been turned into a harmonious unity and they rise in her to their supramental godheads, then is the Mother revealed as the supramental Mahashakti and brings pouring down her luminous transcendences from their ineffable ether. Then can human nature change into dynamic divine nature because all the elemental lines of the supramental Truth-consciousness and Truth-force are strung together and the harp of life is fitted for the rhythms of the Eternal.
14:If you desire this transformation, put yourself in the hands of the Mother and her Powers without cavil or resistance and let her do unhindered her work within you. Three things you must have, consciousness, plasticity, unreserved surrender. For you must be conscious in your mind and soul and heart and life and the very cells of your body, aware of the Mother and her Powers and their working; for although she can and does work in you even in your obscurity and your unconscious parts and moments, it is not the same thing as when you are in an awakened and living communion with her. All your nature must be plastic to her touch, - not questioning as the self-sufficient ignorant mind questions and doubts and disputes and is the enemy of its enlightenment and change; not insisting on its own movements as the vital in man insists and persistently opposes its refractory desires and ill-will to every divine influence; not obstructing and entrenched in incapacity, inertia and tamas as man's physical consciousness obstructs and clinging to its pleasure in smallness and darkness cries out against each touch that disturbs its soulless routine or its dull sloth or its torpid slumber. The unreserved surrender of your inner and outer being will bring this plasticity into all the parts of your nature; consciousness will awaken everywhere in you by constant openness to the Wisdom and Light, the Force, the Harmony and Beauty, the Perfection that come flowing down from above. Even the body will awake and unite at last its consciousness subliminal no longer to the supramental superconscious Force, feel all her powers permeating from above and below and around it and thrill to a supreme Love and Ananda.
1.07 - On mourning which causes joy., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
Do not cease to picture and scrutinize the dark abyss of eternal fire, and the merciless servants, the unsympa thetic and in exorable Judge, the bottomless pit of subterranean flame, the narrow descents to the awful underground chambers and yawning gulfs, and all such things, so that the sensuality in our soul may be checked by great terror and give place to incorruptible chastity, and itself receive the shining of the immaterial light which radiates beyond any fire.
During prayer and supplication stand with trembling like a convict standing before a judge, so that both by your outward appearance as well as by your inner disposition you may extinguish the wrath of the just Judge; for He will not despise a widow soul standing before Him burdened with sorrow and wearying the Unwearying One.3
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The abyss of mourning has seen comfort, and purity of heart has received illumination. Illumination is an ineffable activity which is unknowingly perceived and invisibly seen. Comfort is the solace of a sorrowing soul which, like a child, at once both whimpers to itself and shouts happily. Divine intervention is the renewal of a soul depressed by grief which in a wonderful way transforms painful tears into painless ones.
Tears over our departure produce fear; and when fear begets fearlessness, joy dawns. And when joy is unfailingly obtained, holy love bursts into flower.
1.07 - The Fourth Circle The Avaricious and the Prodigal. Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;
Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought
1.07 - The Infinity Of The Universe, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry
The nature of room, the space of the abyss
Is such that even the flashing thunderbolts
1.07 - The Literal Qabalah (continued), #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
Ego (Keser) found it to possess knowledge, thought, and consciousness. He claimed that thinking is not the essence of the Ego, but merely one of its activities (below the abyss, the Qabalah would add), and so he arrived, by an examina- tion of the act of thought, at his first three principles. By means of the dialectic, acknowledging the Self (Keser- - the Crown) as a starting-point, involving whatever one knows and experiences, he attempted to overcome the
Kantian dualism, which separated the phenomenal from the noumenal worlds, and made the latter " unknowable ".
1.07 - The Three Schools of Magick 2, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Then rose she up from the abyss of Ages of Sleep, and her body embraced me. Altogether I melted into her beauty and was glad.
The river also became the river of Amrit, and the little boat was the chariot of the flesh, and the sails thereof the blood of the heart that beareth me, that beareth me.
1.08 - Adhyatma Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
29. Be cautious. Be vigilant. Be diligent. Be alert. The senses are very turbulent. They will hurl you down into the abyss of ignorance at any moment. Always do Japa, do Kirtan. Meditate ceaselessly.
30. Sin is only a mistake. Knowledge of Self will burn all sins. The Name of the Lord will destroy all sins. Therefore, repeat His Name and attain Wisdom of Atman.
1.08a - The Ladder, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
ritualistic rhythm of the year in human life. Noncon- formity, with skill, put the finishing touches to the abysmal crime. Now, to demonstrate the grandeur of modern pro- gress, we have a poor, miserable, disconnected populace with nothing but American films, politics, and empty vacations to satisfy the ever-present human need of living in harmony with the universal spiritual forces underlying nature and all phenomena.
The Initiates, realizing that man had never lived not by bread alone but in the consciousness of the ever-living Gods, and by the spirit of the Sun and Moon and Earth in their revolutions, restored in secret the sacred days and feasts, almost as the Greek pagans had them, with the sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight pauses for worship - the four great daily stations of the Sun. Then the ancient cycle of
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It exalts the soul as no other method can to the impersonal and divine sublimity beyond the abyss which is the pre- cursor of success in Union. It enlarges the scope of the mind, too, removing arbitrary limitations, giving it mastery of every subtle plane of Nature, affording adequate material for the ecstatic consummation of the " divine kiss ", or the hisdabekus, as the Chassidim term it.
There are some who, while fully alive to the advantages of the mystical state and to the manifold benefits which it confers, are appalled or frightened by what appear to them to be dangers in its development.
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the experience be spontaneous and ennobling, one can never be reasonably certain that there will occur the desired and longed for event, which comes as the gracious calm such as one sees in a tropical country after a heavy and violent rain. In the second case, the same landscape or the manifold sensations of dark secret woods with the impression of the convocations of the hosts of the mighty, the singing streams and rivulets, and the carefree chirping of birds aloft in the empyrean - all these are like the mnemonic basis of Ritual, creating of necessity what we may term a Magical effect. That is, they overwhelm the recipient mind in boundless ecstasy of delight and joy, and the individual Ruach transcends temporarily its inhibiting barriers of custom, taboo, and restriction, and wings its way towards its Tsureh above the barren desert abyss ; or else it falls into a sublime union with the Soul of Universal
Nature. Further comparisons cannot be undertaken now, but an example of the type of Nature-experience referred to may advantageously be given in a rather lengthy quotation from Miss Clare Cameron's splendid work, Green Fields of
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Death), he must decide upon the second and major critical operation of his career - the crossing of the abyss, and the destruction of his separate ego. The necessity for this arises from a realization that he cannot remain an Adept for ever, being hurled on by the irresistible momentum of his own inner nature. The essential attainment consists in the absolute annihilation of the bonds of the Buach limiting and repressing Yechidah. This is the paradox of the Path.
After incredible difficulties and struggles to perfect himself
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It is infinitely more than a rational decision to integrate oneself to a higher level of consciousness and to see that level in all things, for the change has been entirely due to the shattering experience that the centre of gravity, so to speak, lies beyond the abyss. The Great Work itself consists of a simple operation - this changing of viewpoint, the slaying of the slayer of Reality - the Mind. But through aeons of evolutionary effort towards the development of a highly complex organization and constitution through which to contact the " external " universe for the obtaining of experience, we are unable to realize this simplicity and accomplish this operation at the outset, and so are obliged to struggle painfully through these difficult tasks in order to obtain the right degree of simplicity and penetrate the veil, to find our selves, spiritual centres of force, Yechidos, radiant with life and purpose and divinity.
Prof. Martin Buber, in his splendid work on Jewish
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Adepti, then it is utterly impossible to describe those grades of Mastership above the abyss, for nothing that could be
160
1.08 - Departmental Kings of Nature, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
Among tribes on the outskirts of abyssinia a similar office exists
and has been thus described by an observer: "The priesthood of the
1.08 - Sri Aurobindos Descent into Death, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
Into the abysmal secrecy he came
Where darkness peers from her mattress, grey and nude,
1.08 - The Depths of the Divine, #Sex Ecology Spirituality, #Ken Wilber, #Philosophy
Which brings us to the topic of the yet deeper or higher structures (beyond the ego), and whether the whole developmental process will ever actually culminate in a genuine and utter End of all possible History. For that is what is implied in the millenarian themes of Timewave Zero: the absolute Omega of all omegas, the End of all ends, the evaporation of disunity, the disappearance of appearance into the utter abyss, the restaurant at the end of the universe, where the truly Last Supper will finally be served. . . .
Recall that, in figure 5-1, I included the developments in the four quadrants up to visionlogic/centauric/planetary, which is, as it were, the leading edge of the World Soul's evolution at this point in time (or so I would maintain). And thus, at this point, any higher developments, in all four quadrants, have to occur through an individual's own efforts (UL), evidenced in individual bodily transformations (UR), practiced in a micro-community or sangha of the similarly depthed (LL), with its own microsocial structure (LR).
1.08 - The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations, #On Education, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At the beginning of this manifestation, in the purity of its origin, love is composed of two movements, two complementary poles of the urge towards complete oneness. On one hand there is the supreme power of attraction and on the other the irresistible need for absolute self-giving. No other movement could have better bridged the abyss that was created when in the individual being consciousness was separated from its origin and became unconsciousness.
What had been projected into space had to be brought back to itself without, however, annihilating the universe which had thus been created. That is why love burst forth, the irresistible power of union.
1.08 - The Supreme Discovery, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Listen, my little child, you who today feel so broken, so fallen perhaps, who have nothing left, nothing to cover your misery and foster your pride: never before have you been so great! How close to the summits is he who awakens in the depths, for the deeper the abyss, the more the heights reveal themselves!
Do you not know this, that the most sublime forces of the vasts seek to array themselves in the most opaque veils of Matter? Oh, the sublime nuptials of sovereign love with the obscurest plasticities, of the shadows yearning with the most royal light!
1.09 - The Secret Chiefs, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Yes and no: the system which was given to me to put forward is only one of many. "Above the abyss" all these technical wrinkles are ironed out. One man whom I suspect of being a Secret Chief has hardly any acquaintance with the technique of our system at all. That he accepts The Book of the Law is almost his only link with my work. That, and his use of the Ophidian Vibrations: I don't know which of us is better at it, but I am sure that he must be a very long way ahead of me if he is one of Them.
You have already in these pages and elsewhere in my writings examples numerous and varied of the way in which They work. The list is far from complete. The matters of Ab-ul-Diz and of Amalantrah show one method of communication; then there is the way of direct "inspiration," as in the case of "Hermes Eimi" in New Orleans.*[AC21]
11.01 - The Eternal Day The Souls Choice and the Supreme Consummation, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
An abyss of sapphire; sunlight visited eyes
Which suffered without pain the absolute ray
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Imprisoned in its dark and dumb abyss
A little consciousness it lets escape
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Cast down desire's abyss into the gulfs.
For ever rescued out of Nature's shapes
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To meet me in the abyss and on the heights,
To feel me in the tempest and the calm,
1.101 - The Shocker, #Quran, #unset, #Zen
9. His home is the abyss.
10. Do you know what it is?
1.1.02 - Sachchidananda, #Letters On Yoga I, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This is the crucial point in the question, what is consciousness, whether it is a temporary phenomenon of Nature or a reality in itself fundamental to existence. The first is the conclusion that is drawn, and must be drawn, from normal experience on the surface. The other is at best a metaphysical speculation or an instinctive feeling in humanity unless we go beyond the normal experience, deepen and widen the range of our present consciousness and test its inner depths and inferior abysses and supernormal heights, until we can touch its fundamental or its ultimate or its total reality as is done in Yoga. To judge from only normal and superficial experience as the ordinary mind does with phenomena is to miss the truth of things - we have to go behind the surface phenomenon to find the reality of what a
Sachchidananda
1.10 - Harmony, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
And the bubble grows. It takes in families, peoples, continents; it takes in every color, every wisdom, every truth, and envelops them. There is that breath of light, that note of beauty, the miracle of those few lines caught in architecture or geometry, that instant of truth that heals and delivers, that lovely curve glimpsed in a flash which links that star to this destiny, this asymptote to that hyperbola, this man to that song, this gesture to that effect and more men come, men by the thousands, who come puffing and inflating the little bubble, creating pink and blue and everlasting religions, infallible salvations in the great bubble, summits of light that are the sum of their compounded little hopes, abysses of hell that are the sum of their cherished fears; who come adding this note and that idea, this grain of knowledge and that healing second, this conjunction and that curve, that moment of effectiveness beneath the dust of the myriads of galaxies, chromatic temples, devising unquestionable medicines under the great bubble, irreducible sciences, implacable geometries, charts of illness, charts of recovery, charts of destiny. And everything twists and turns as the doctor willed it under the great fateful Bubble, as the scientist willed it, as that moment of coincidence among the countless myriads of lines in the universe has decided it for the eternity of time. We have seized a minute of the world and made it into the huge amber light that blinds and suffocates us in the great mental bubble. And there is nothing of the kind not one single law, not one single illness, not one single medical or scientific dogma, not one single temple is true,, not one perpetual chart, not one single destiny under the stars there is a tremendous mental hypnotism, and behind, far, far behind, and yet right here, so much here, immediately here, something impregnable, unseizable by any snare, unrestricted by any law, invulnerable to every illness and every hypnotism, unsaved by our salvations, unsullied by our sins, unsullied by our virtues, free from every destiny and every chart, from every golden or black bubble a pure, infallible bird that can recreate the world in the twinkling of an eye. We change our look, and everything changes. Gone is the pretty bubble. It is here if we want.
When the bubble bursts, we begin to enter supermanhood. We begin to enter Harmony. Oh, it does not burst through our efforts; it does not give way through any amount of virtues and meditation, which on the contrary further harden the bubble, give it such a lovely shine, such a captivating light that it indeed takes us captive, and we are all the more prisoners as the more beautiful the bubble is, held more captive by our good than by our evil there is nothing harder in the world then a truth caught in our traps; it does not care at all about our virtues and accumulated merits, our brilliant talents or even our obscure weaknesses. Who is great? Who is small and obscure, or less obscure, beneath the drifting of the galaxies that look like the dust of a great Sun? The Truth, the ineffable Sweetness of things and of each thing, the living Heart of millions of beings who do not know, does not require us to become true to bestow its truth upon us who could become true, who would become other than he is, what are we actually capable of? We are capable of pain and misery aplenty; we are capable of smallness and more smallness, error garbed in a speck of light, knowledge that stumbles into its own quagmires, a good that is the luminous shadow of its secret evil, freedom that imprisons itself in its own salvation we are capable of suffering and suffering, and even our suffering is a secret delight. The Truth, the light Truth, escapes our dark or luminous snares. It runs, breathes with the wind, cascades with the spring, cascades everywhere, for it is the spring of everything. It even murmurs in the depths of our falsehood, winks an eye in our darkness and pokes fun at us. It sets its light traps for us, so light we do not see them; it beckons us in a thousand ways at every instant and everywhere, but it is so fleeting, so unexpected, so contrary to our habitual way of looking at things, so unserious that we walk right past it. We cannot make head or tail out of it; or else we stick a beautiful label on it to trap it in our magic. And it still laughs. It plays along with our magic, plays along with our suffering and geometry; it plays the millipede and the statistician; it plays everything it plays whatever we want. Then, one day, we no longer really want; we no longer want any of all that, neither our gilded miseries, nor our captivating lights nor our good nor our evil, nor any of that whole polychromatic array in which each color changes into the other: hope into despair, effort into backlash, heaven into prison, summit into abyss, love into hate, and each wrested victory into a new defeat, as if each plus attracted its minus, each for its against, and everything forever went forward, backward, right and left, bumping into the wall of the same prison, white or black, green or brown, golden or less golden. We no longer want any of all that; we are only that cry of need in our depths, that call for air, that fire for nothing, that useless little flame that goes along with our every step, walks with our sorrows, walks and walks night and day, in good and evil, in the high and the low and everywhere. And this fire soon becomes like our drop of good in evil, our bit of treasure in misery, our glimmer of light in the chaos, all that remains of a thousand gestures and passing lights, the little nothing that is like everything, the tiny song of a great ongoing misery we no longer have any good or evil, any high or low, any light or darkness, any tomorrow or yesterday. It is all the same, miserable in black and white, but we have that abiding little fire, that tomorrow of today, that murmur of sweetness in the depths of pain, that virtue of our sin, that warm drop of being in the high and the low, day and night, in shame and in joy, in solitude and in the crowd, in approval and disapproval it is all the same. It burns and burns. It is tomorrow, yesterday, now and forever. It is our one song of being, our little note of fire, our paradise in a little flame, our freedom in a little flame, our knowledge in a little flame, our summit of flame in a void of being, our vastness in a tiny singing flame we know not why. It is our companion, our friend, our wife, our bearer, our country it is. And it feels good. Then, one day, we raise our head, and there is no more bubble. There is that Fire burning softly everywhere, recognizing all, loving all, understanding all, and it is like a heaven without trouble; it is so simple that we never thought of it, so tranquil that each drop is like an ocean, so smiling and clear that it goes through everything, enters and slips in everywhere it plays here, plays there, as transparent as air, a nothing that changes everything; and perhaps it is everything.
We are in the Harmony of the new world.
Some poets and sages have touched this Harmony, some rare musicians have heard it and attempted to translate a few notes of that singing vastness. It flows on high, on the summits of consciousness, an endless rhythm without high or low, through blue eternities, flowing and flowing like a joy that would sing itself, rolling its immense flood over eternal hills, carrying those heavenly bodies and all those earths and seas, carrying everything in its blazing and tranquil surge an unutterable sound that would contain all sounds and all notes in one, a fusion of music, a golden outburst one single time of a cry of love or a cry of joy issuing from the abyss of time; a pure triumph that has seen all those worlds and ages in a glance, and the sorrow of a child on the bank of that blue river and the softness of the paddy fields and the death of that old man, the tiny tranquillity of a leaf quivering in the south wind, and others, countless others that are always the same, that go up and down the great river, cross here or there, pass without ever passing, grow up and disappear in the distance, into a great golden sea whence they came, carried by a little rhythm of the great rhythm, a little spark of the great undying golden fire, a persisting little note that pervades all lives, all deaths, all sorrows and joys; an ineffable blue expansion of space that fills the lungs with a sort of eternal air, a sort of resurrection; a bursting out of music everywhere as if space were nothing but music, nothing but singing azure a powerful, triumphant flowing that carries us on forever, as if wrapped in its wings of glory. And all is fulfilled. The universe is a miracle.
But the earth, the little earth, reels below, reels in its pain. It does not know or see the joy upholding it, and which it is for how could anything be without that joy which holds everything, that persistent memory of joy which pulls at the heart of things and beings?
1.10 - THE FORMATION OF THE NOOSPHERE, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
contact with other thinking planets, across the abysses of space and
time, some day to become integrated within an organized complex
1.10 - Theodicy - Nature Makes No Mistakes, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
descent the one thing unknown was the depth of the abyss,
the possibilities of the Divine in the Ignorance and Incon-
--
And it took the plunge into the abyss, thrilled by the
adventure of consciousness that would be the effort of the
1.10 - The Three Modes of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Tamas is replaced by a divine peace and tranquil eternal repose out of which is released from a supreme matrix of calm concentration the play of action and knowledge. There is no rajasic kinesis, no desire, no joyful and sorrowful striving of action, creation and possession, no fruitful chaos of troubled impulse. Rajas is replaced by a self-possessed power and illimitable act of force, that even in its most violent intensities does not shake the immovable poise of the soul or stain the vast and profound heavens and luminous abysses of its peace. There is no constructing light of mind casting about to seize and imprison the Truth, no insecure or inactive ease. Sattwa is replaced by an illumination and a spiritual bliss identical with the depth and infinite existence of the soul and instinct with a direct and au thentic knowledge that springs straight from the veiled glories of the secret Omniscience.
This is the greater consciousness into which our inferior consciousness has to be transformed, this nature of the Ignorance with its unquiet unbalanced activity of the three modes changed into this greater luminous supernature. At first we become free from the three gunas, detached, untroubled, nistraigun.ya; but this is the recovery of the native state of the soul, the self, the spirit free and watching in its motionless calm the motion of
1.11 - BOOK THE ELEVENTH, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry
Down sinks the ship within th' abyss below:
Down with the vessel sink into the main
1.11 - The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of the Inferno and its Divisions., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,
We drew ourselves aside behind the cover
1.11 - The Kalki Avatar, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
rather with the opposite of things; it is in the abyss that I
29 Sri Aurobindo: Essays on the Gita, pp. 157, passim.
1.11 - The Reason as Governor of Life, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
But behind all this continuity of failure there has persisted a faith that the reason of man would end in triumphing over its difficulties, that it would purify and enlarge itself, become sufficient to its work and at last subject rebellious life to its control. For, apart from the stumbling action of the world, there has been a labour of the individual thinker in man and this has achieved a higher quality and risen to a loftier and clearer atmosphere above the general human thought-levels. Here there has been the work of a reason that seeks always after knowledge and strives patiently to find out truth for itself, without bias, without the interference of distorting interests, to study everything, to analyse everything, to know the principle and process of everything. Philosophy, Science, learning, the reasoned arts, all the agelong labour of the critical reason in man have been the result of this effort. In the modern era under the impulsion of Science this effort assumed enormous proportions and claimed for a time to examine successfully and lay down finally the true principle and the sufficient rule of process not only for all the activities of Nature, but for all the activities of man. It has done great things, but it has not been in the end a success. The human mind is beginning to perceive that it has left the heart of almost every problem untouched and illumined only outsides and a certain range of processes. There has been a great and ordered classification and mechanisation, a great discovery and practical result of increasing knowledge, but only on the physical surface of things. Vast abysses of Truth lie below in which are concealed the real springs, the mysterious powers and secretly decisive influences of existence. It is a question whether the intellectual reason will ever be able to give us an adequate account of these deeper and greater things or subject them to the intelligent will as it has succeeded in explaining and canalising, though still imperfectly, yet with much show of triumphant result, the forces of physical Nature. But these other powers are much larger, subtler, deeper down, more hidden, elusive and variable than those of physical Nature.
The whole difficulty of the reason in trying to govern our existence is that because of its own inherent limitations it is unable to deal with life in its complexity or in its integral movements; it is compelled to break it up into parts, to make more or less artificial classifications, to build systems with limited data which are contradicted, upset or have to be continually modified by other data, to work out a selection of regulated potentialities which is broken down by the bursting of a new wave of yet unregulated potentialities. It would almost appear even that there are two worlds, the world of ideas proper to the intellect and the world of life which escapes from the full control of the reason, and that to bridge adequately the gulf between these two domains is beyond the power and province of the reason and the intelligent will. It would seem that these can only create either a series of more or less empirical compromises or else a series of arbitrary and practically inapplicable or only partially applicable systems. The reason of man struggling with life becomes either an empiric or a doctrinaire.
1.11 - The Second Genesis, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
But if nothing but the spontaneity of desire can explain the principle and characteristics of the actual manifestation we observe, if, as we shall see, the very spectacle of its progressive evolution, the history of the cosmic epos, the memory of the dark abysses and brutal origins whence life was born, bear witness to and unceasingly confirm the truth that the first law was that of a blind and violent impulsion, yet can it not be affirmed that other laws and other principles have not combined with it and even been present in it to help in forming the worlds.
***
1.12 - Love The Creator, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
With these two abstractions, as with all those by which the mind tries to cross the abyss between the absolute reality and the facts of the relative, it is only in their opposition to each other that we can form any clear idea of them and they have no meaning except in regard to each other. In relation to desire love is all that has not egoistic desire, that does not resolve to be separated, distinct, individual, that does not manifest itself for its own sake, that does not tend towards exclusive consciousness, that does not know any other self than the Self universal and unique. It is therefore all that in the being appears and affirms itself least, that remains most invisible, most hidden, that does not know itself; everything that in this world of blindness, division, conflict, pain tends towards the light of unity and the joy of harmony. Or rather it is the principle in which all that egoism transforms into suffering, is changed back into joy.
Therefore the suffering of the creature is a witness to the fact that the desire which formed it is only a deformation of love, and that from the beginning in the heart of immense desire there lived already, yet more immense, the aspiration of love. Certainly it was not love that took the initiative of that beginning, but without love that beginning would never have come to an end.
1.12 - The Left-Hand Path - The Black Brothers, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
For the decision which determines the catastrophe confronts only the Adeptus Exemptus 7 = 4. Until that grade is reached, and that very fully indeed, with all the buttons properly sewed on, one is not capable of understanding what is meant by the abyss. Unless "all you have and all you are" is identical with the Universe, its annihilation would leave a surplus.
Mark well this first distinction: the "Black Magician" or Sorcerer is hardly even a distant cousin of the "Black Brother." The difference between a sneak-thief and a Hitler is not too bad an analogy.
--
"Now Master!" (What reproach in the tone of your voice!) All right, all right! Keep your hair on! I know that is the precise term used in The Vision and the Voice, to describe the Great White Brother or the Babe of the abyss; but to him it means victory; to the Left-Hander it would mean defeat, ruin devastating, irremediable, final. It is exactly that which he most dreads; and it is that to which he must in the end come, because there is no compensating element in his idea of structure. Nations themselves never grow permanently by smash-and-grab methods; one merely acquires a sore spot, as in the case of Lorraine, perhaps even Eire. (Though Eire is using just that formula of Restriction, shutting herself up in her misery and poverty and idiot pride, when a real marriage with and dissolution in, a real live country would give her new life. The "melting-pot" idea is the great strength of America.)
Consider the Faubourg St. Germain aristocracy now hardly even a sentimental memory. The guillotine did not kill them; it was their own refusal to adapt themselves to the new biological conditions of political life. It was indeed their restriction that rotted them in the first instance; had Lafayette or Mirabeau been trusted with full power, and supplied with adequate material, a younger generation of virtue, the monarchy might still be ruling France.
--
Unless your Universe is perfect and perfection includes the idea of balance how can you come even to Atmadarshana? Hindus may maintain that Atmadarshana, or at any rate Shivadarshana, is the equivalent of crossing the abyss. Beware of any such conclusions! The Trances are simply isolated experiences, sharply cut off from normal thought-life. To cross the abyss is a permanent and fundamental revolution in the whole of one's being.
Much more, upon the brink of the abyss. If there be missing or redundant even one atom, the entire monstrous, the portentous mass must tend to move with irresistible impact, in such direction as to restore the equilibrium. To deflect it well, think of a gyroscope! How then can you destroy it in one sole stupendous gesture? Ah! Listen to The Vision and the Voice.
Perhaps the best and simplest plan is for me to pick out the most impor- tant of the relevant passages and put them together as an appendix to this letter. Also, by contrast, those allusions to the "Black Brothers" and the "Left-hand Path." This ought to give you a clear idea of what each is, and does; of what distinguishes their respective methods in some ways so confusingly alike. I hope indeed most sincerely that you will whet your Magical Dagger on the Stone of the Wise, and wield most deftly and determinedly both the White-handled and the Black-handled Burin. In trying to express these opinions, I am constantly haunted by the dread that I may be missing some crucial point, or even allowing a mere quibble to pass for argument. It makes it only all the worse when one has become so habituated by Neschamic ideas, to knowing, even before one says it, that what one is going to say is of necessity untrue, as untrue as it is contradictory. So what can it possibly matter what one says?
--
The egg of the spirit is a basilisk egg, and the gates of the understanding are fifty, that is the sign of the Scorpion. The pillars about the Neophyte are crowned with flame, and the vault of the Adepts is lighted by the Rose. And in the abyss is the eye of the hawk. But upon the great sea shall the Master of the Temple find neither star nor moon.
And I was about to answer him: "The light is within me." But before I could frame the words, he answered me with the great word that is the Key of the abyss. And he said: Thou hast entered the night; dost thou yet lust for day? Sorrow is my name and affliction. I am girt about with tribulation. Here still hangs the Crucified One, and here the Mother weeps over the children that she hath not borne. Sterility is my name and desolation. Intolerable is thine ache, and incurable thy wound. I said, 'Let the darkness cover me;' and behold, I am compassed about with the blackness that hath no name. O thou, who hast cast down the light into the earth, so must thou do for ever. And the light of the sun shall not shine upon thee and the moon shall not lend thee of her luster, and the stars shall be hidden because thou art passed beyond these things, beyond the need of these things, beyond the desire of these things.
What I thought were shapes of rocks, rather felt than seen, now appear to be veiled Masters, sitting absolutely still and silent. Nor can any one be distinguished from the others.
--
Their sandals were the pure light, and they have taken them from their feet and cast them down through the abyss; for this Aethyr is holy ground.
Herein no forms appear, and the vision of God face to face, that is transmuted in the Athanor called dissolution, or hammered into one in the forge of meditation, is in this place but a blasphemy and a mockery.
--
This is thy wine, who wast drunk upon the wine of Iacchus. And for bread shalt thou eat salt, O thou on the corn of Ceres that didst wax fat! For as pure being is pure nothing, so is pure wisdom pure *[AC24], and so is pure understanding silence, and stillness, and darkness. The eye is called seventy, and the triple Aleph whereby thou perceivest it, divideth into the number of the terrible word that is the Key of the abyss.
I am Hermes, that am sent from the Father to expound all things discreetly in these the last words that thou shalt hear before thou take thy seat among these, whose eyes are sealed up and whose ears are stopped, and whose mouths are clenched, who are folded in upon themselves, the liquor of whose bodies is dried up, so that nothing remains but a little pyramid of dust.
And that bright light of comfort, and that piercing sword of truth, and all the power and beauty that they have made of themselves, is cast from them, as it is written, "I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven." And as a flaming sword is it dropt though the abyss, where the four beasts keep watch and ward. And it appeareth in the heaven of Jupiter as a morning star, or as an evening star. And the light thereof shineth even unto the earth, and bringeth hope and help to them that dwell in the darkness of thought, and drink of the poison of life. Fifty are the gates of Understanding, and one hundred and six are the seasons thereof. And the name of every season is Death.
(The Vision and the Voice. 14th thyr.)
--
And for this is BABALON under the power of the Magician, that she hath submitted herself unto the work; and she guardeth the abyss. And in her is a perfect purity of that which is above, yet she is sent as the Redeemer to them that are below. For there is no other way into the Supernal mystery but through her and the Beast on which she rideth; and the Magician is set beyond her to deceive the brothers of blackness, lest they should make unto themselves a crown; for it there were two crowns, then should Ygdrasil, that ancient tree, be cast out into the abyss, uprooted and cast down into the Outermost abyss, and the Arcanum which is in the Adytum should be profaned; and the Ark should be touched, and the Lodge spied upon by them that are not masters, and the bread of the Sacrament should be the dung of Choronzon; and the wine of the Sacrament should be the water of Choronzon; and the incense should be dispersion; and the fire upon the Altar should be hate. But lift up thyself; stand, play the man, for behold! there shall be revealed unto thee the Great Terror, the thing of awe that hath no name.
(Ibid. 3rd thyr)
--
Yet must he that understandeth go forth unto the outermost abyss, and there must he speak with him that is set above the four-fold terror, the Prince of Evil, even with Choronzon, the mighty devil that inhabiteth the outermost abyss. And none may speak with him, or understand him, but the servants of B abylon, that understand, and they that are without understanding, his servants.
Behold! it entereth not into the heart, nor into the mind of man to conceive this matter; for the sickness of the body is death, and the sickness of the heart is despair, and the sickness of the mind is madness. But in the outermost abyss is sickness of the aspiration, and sickness of the will, and sickness of the essence of all, and there is neither word nor thought wherein the image of its image is reflected.
And whoso passeth into the outermost abyss, except he be of them that understand, holdeth out his hands, and boweth his neck, unto the Chains of Choronzon. And as a devil he walketh about the earth, immortal, and be blasteth the flowers of the earth, and he corrupteth the fresh air, and he maketh poisonous the water; and the fire that is the friend of man, and the pledge of his aspiration, seeing that it mounteth ever up- ward as a Pyramid, and seeing that man stole it in a hollow tube from Heaven, even that fire he turneth into ruin, and madness, and fever, and destruction. And thou, that art an heap of dry dust in the city of the Pyramids, must understand these things.
Beware, therefore, O thou who art appointed to understand the secret of the Outermost abyss, for in every abyss thou must assume the mask and form of the Angel thereof. Hadst thou a name, thou wert irrevocably lost. Search, therefore, if there be yet one drop of blood that is not gathered into the cup of B abylon the Beautiful: for in that little pile of dust, if there could be one drop of blood, it should be utterly corrupt; it should breed scorpions, and vipers, and the cat of slime.
And I said unto the Angel: "Is there not one appointed as a warden?"
1.12 - The Sociology of Superman, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
The child of that City will be born with a flame, consciously, voluntarily, without having to undo millennia of animality or abysses of prejudice. He will not be told incessantly that he has to earn a living, for nobody will earn a living in the City of the Future, nobody will have money. Living will be devoted to serving the Truth, each according to his capacity or talent, and the only earnings will be joy. He will not be deluged with musts and must-nots; he will only be shown the immediate sadness of not listening to the right little note. He will not be tormented with the idea of finding a job, being a success, outranking others, passing or failing grades, for nobody succeeds or fails in the City of the Future, nobody has a job, nobody takes precedence over anybody; one does the one job of pursuing a clear little note that lights up everything, does everything for one, takes care of everything for one, unites everything in its tranquil harmony, and whose only success is to be in accord with itself and with the whole. He will not learn to depend on a teacher, a book or a machine, but to rely on that little flame inside, that sprightly little flowing that guides his steps, prompts a discovery, leads by chance to an experience and brings out knowledge effortlessly. And he will learn to cultivate the powers of his body the way others today cultivate the powers of push buttons. His faculties will not be confined in ready-made forms of vision and comprehension; in him will be fostered a vision that has nothing to do with the eyes, a comprehension that is not from books, dreams of other worlds that prepare tomorrow's, direct communications and instant intuitions and subtle senses. And if machines are still used in the City of the Future, he will be told that they are temporary crutches until we find in our own heart the source of the pure Power which will one day transmute matter as we now transmute a blank sheet of paper into a green prairie with the stroke of a pencil. He will be taught the Look, the true and potent look, the look that creates, that changes everything he will be taught to use his own powers and to believe in his power of truth, and that the purer and clearer he is, in harmony with the Law, the more matter responds to Truth. And, instead of entering a prison, the child will grow up in an atmosphere of natural oneness, free of you, me, yours or mine, where he will not have been taught constantly to put up screens and mental barriers, but to be consciously what he unconsciously has been since the beginning of time: to extend himself into all that is and lives, to feel in all that feels, to comprehend through an identical more profound breathing, through a silence that carries everything, to recognize the same little flame everywhere, to love the same clear little flowing everywhere, and to be the self everywhere, behind a thousand different faces and in a thousand musics that are a single music.
Then there will be no more boundaries inside or outside, no more I want, I take, no more lack or absence, no more confined and lonely self, no more against or for, good or evil. There will be one single supreme Harmony in thousands of bodies, plucking its chord in this one and that one, this circumstance and that accident, this gesture and that one, unifying everything in one single movement whose every second is perfect and every act true, every word exact, every thought right, every line rhythmical, every heart in unison and Truth will mold matter according to its right vision. And this little city without boundaries will radiate by its simple power of truth, attracting what must be attracted, discarding what must be discarded, simply by its own force of concentration, touching this point of the universe or that one, this soul or that one, answering thousands of invisible calls, continuously emitting its high, clear note which will brighten the world and lighten hearts, unbeknownst to all.
1.13 - And Then?, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
Born from abysmal depths on highest heights to float,
It carried all sorrow that the souls of creatures share,
1.13 - Conclusion - He is here, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
The shock and desolation, however, that we felt can be more imagined than described. Though we could see the Master only four times a year, his Presence was vibrant in the very air we breathed, in our sleep, in every moment of our life; particularly after the accident, even physically he seemed to have come nearer. So the sudden absence was felt like a yawning abyss ready to engulf our very existence. I wonder what would have happened to the vast life qf the Ashram, if the Mother was not there to envelop all of us, the whole earth, in the embrace of her infinite love and compassion. Yet, have we any measure of knowing what she must have felt, though she is the Divine? Just as he "worked, struggled, suffered", so did she suffer and bear. We witnessed it in the early period of the accident; but the command was upon her from the Lord to carry on his work. And the immense vacuum that was created could be filled by her alone. From these verses in Savitri in a different context we get such an indication:
The dubious godhead with his torch of pain
--
And called her to fill with her vast self the abyss.
That it was a voluntary withdrawal has been rendered sufficiently clear from the foregoing account.
1.13 - Gnostic Symbols of the Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
"lower" water, the aqua abyssi, where the darknesses are, and
where dwell the Prince of this world and the deceiving dragon
1.1.3 - Mental Difficulties and the Need of Quietude, #Letters On Yoga IV, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
People are exceedingly silly but I suppose they cant help themselves. The more I observe humanity, the more that forces itself upon me the abysses of silliness of which its mind is capable.
***
1.13 - The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da Sant' Andrea., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss.
It falls into the forest, and no part
1.13 - Under the Auspices of the Gods, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
and Rimbaud fled to the abyssinian desert; we know the fate of the Fourierists, of nonviolence; the Cathars wound up at the stake. History keeps turning like a Moloch. We may now appear to be a "triumph"
after many failures, but of what other greater triumph are we not the failure? Is this a chronology of victories or of defeats? Life seems made of a hopelessly distorting substance; everything gets swallowed up in it as in the sands of Egypt, leveled by some irresistible gravitational pull. It is clear, Sri Aurobindo remarked, that Mind has not been able to change human nature radically. You can go on changing human institutions infinitely and yet the imperfection will break through all your institutions. . . . It must be another power that can not only resist but overcome that downward pull.210
1.14 - FOREST AND CAVERN, #Faust, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
Leaps, maddened, into the abyss's breast!
And side-wards she, with young unwakened senses,
1.14 - The Secret, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
For error is really a half truth that stumbles because of its limitations; often it is Truth that wears a disguise in order to arrive unobserved near to its goal.236 If a single thing in this world were totally wrong, the whole world would be totally wrong. Thus, if the seeker sets out with this premise a positive premise and ascends step by step, each time accepting to take the corresponding step downward in order to free the same light237 hidden under every mask, in every element, even in the darkest mud, the most grotesque mistake or sordid evil, he will gradually see everything becoming clearer before his eyes, not only in theory but tangibly, and he will discover not only summits but abysses of Truth.238 He will realize that his Foe was a most diligent helper, most concerned with ensuring the perfect effectiveness of his realization, first, because each battle has increased his strength, and then because each fall has compelled him to free the truth below instead of escaping alone to empty summits. Ultimately, he will understand that his particular burden was the very burden of our Mother the Earth, also striving toward her share of light. The Princes of Darkness are already saved! They are at work, the scrupulous exactors of an all-inclusive Truth, rather than a truth that excludes everything:
Not only is there hope for godheads pure;
1.14 - The Structure and Dynamics of the Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
same degree. He was separated from evil by an abyss. This
attitude was powerfully reinforced by the immediate expecta-
1.14 - The Victory Over Death, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
Hence, it is not through an arbitrary and morbid decision of his own that the seeker will undertake this dark descent for a long time he has stopped willing anything, he only obeys the little rhythm, the flowing that is growing in him, and directs it here or there according to where it presses. The descent takes place gradually, almost unknown to him, but it is accompanied, as it were, by certain phenomena which become increasingly clear and define the psychological conditions of the descent. These psychological conditions are threefold. There is that little flowing we have often spoken about, there is that rhythm, and there is that fire of being which opens the doors of the new world. One may be tempted to think that this is a poetic fiction, an imagery for children, but it is nothing of the sort, and the whole world is a poem becoming true, an image becoming clear, a rhythm taking body. Little by little, a Child looks at the world with eyes of Truth and discovers the lovely Image that was always there; he listens to an undying Rhythm and, attuned to that Rhythm, he enters the immortality he had never ceased to be. That flowing actually grows, that rhythm becomes clearer, that fire intensifies as the first mental and vital layers are clarified. In fact, it is no longer simply a flowing but a sort of continuous current, a descending mass that envelops first the crown of the head and the nape of the neck, then the chest, the heart, the solar plexus, the abdomen, the sex organs, the legs, and which even seems to reach under the feet, as if there were an extension of being all the way down there, an abyss of existence. The farther the current descends, the warmer and more compact and denser, almost solid, it becomes it feels like an unmoving cataract. The descent is proportionate to our degree of clarification and the downthrust of the Force (which grows as we become clearer). No mental or psychoanalytical machinery has the power to reach those deeper layers. The movement is irresistibly powerful, sometimes even doubling one over, as if crushing one under the pressure. But at the same time as the power grows so does the stability, as if finally, at the end of the descent, there were a motionless mass of energy or with such an intense vibration, so swift and instantaneous, that it seems solidified, immobile, yet moving unbelievably fast in place a powdering of warm gold, says Mother. That is what Sri Aurobindo called the supramental Force. It would almost seem as if it became supramental, or acquired supramental qualities, as it descends into matter (that is to say, as we consent to let it go through, as the resistances fall away under its pressure and it victoriously penetrates all the way down to the bottom). We say supramental, but it is the same with this word as with everything else: there is only one Force, as there is only one moon, which gradually becomes full to our vision, but the moon was always full and the Force always the same. It is our receptivity which changes and makes it look different from what it always was. It is that flowing which spontaneously, automatically, without any will or decision on our part (all our wills add more confusion), effects the descent, overturns obstacles, exposes falsehoods under its relentless searchlight, exposes the gray elf, brings to light all our hiding places, cleanses, purifies, widens and brings infinity to each level and into each cranny and does not give up, does not stop for a second until everything, down to the least detail, the smallest movement, is restored to its original joy, its infinity, its light, its clear vision, its right will and divine acquiescence. This is the Force of the yoga, the Consciousness-Force Sri Aurobindo spoke of. It is the one which forges the superman, the one which will forge the supramental being the one which will forge itself in that forgetfulness of itself.
Thy golden Light came down into my brain
--
It is indeed a resistance. Death is a resistance to the law of Truth, to the ever-renewed flow of Harmony. Deep down, we are founded on the rock of the Inconscient45 the Vedic Rishis spoke of, the rock that is perhaps the first moment when the great Energy solidified, turned into matter, plunged into a dark contraction of itself, sank into an inert stillness of its triumphant flow, lost itself in a black, motionless ecstasy that was like the inversion of its solar ecstasy on the summits. Those who have had the experience of descending into the material Inconscient know that the image of the Vedic Rishis is not just an image but a rather formidable reality to go through. It is truly a rock immense and seemingly bottomless a sheer drop into a basalt chasm, which cannot even be termed black because there is not one spark of blackness there, not one glimmer that would permit one to call it black it is the Blackness, absolute, without one breath, without one vibration of anything whatever: an instantaneous suffocation, a mortal stifling, a world utterly still, utterly closed, as if strangled on itself, without a sound, without a movement, without an echo of anything whatsoever. An utter void, and yet like a black, asphyxiating existence, something that is in spite of everything but is like a density of absolute negation, a tremendous refusal which raises its walls of basalt and plunges, plunges like an abyss into an abyss, like a death into a death. To descend there is in fact like dying. It is death. It is the Inconscient. One cannot be there; one must not be there. It is like a supreme repudiation of everything that moves and breathes, everything that bears a particle of light making it possible to live. It does not move. It does not breathe. It is a NO. A tremendous NO to everything and of everything, which swallows you or expels you or forces you to summon a light greater than that Darkness.
And there is only one light greater than that thick, stifling Blackness: the supreme Light, the Great Sun of Truth.
1.15 - Index, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
aqua, 160; abyssi, 215; doctrinae,
159, 180, 185, 187, 188, 215, 241;
1.15 - On incorruptible purity and chastity to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
As we have said before, some people in hermitages suffer far more severe attacks from the enemies. And no wonder! For the demons haunt such places, since the Lord in His care for our salvation has driven them into the deserts and the abyss (of hell). Demons of fornication cruelly assail the solitary in order to drive him back into the world, as having received no benefit from the desert. Demons keep away from us when we are living in the world, that we may go on staying among worldly-minded people because we are not attacked there. Hence we should realize that the place in which we are attacked is the one in which we are certainly waging bitter war on the enemy; for if we ourselves are not waging war, the enemy is presenting himself as our friend.3
When we are in the world for some justifiable reason, we are protected by the hand of God, perhaps through the prayer of our spiritual father, that the Lord may not be blasphemed through us.4 And sometimes we are protected through our insensitivity and through having had long experience of the sights of the world and its subjects of conversation and all its doings. And sometimes it is because the demons go away of their own accord and leave us only the demon of conceit which takes the place of all the rest.
1.15 - The Transformed Being, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
But this is still a negative way of saying things, for the traveler of the sunlit path seeks neither hells nor Night, nor the tiny flash-deaths, though they sometimes befall him in a cry of suffocation. He seeks to remain always tuned in to the great flow of Harmony and Light and Truth, in everything he does, his every function, every breath of air he takes, every heartbeat. He is a meticulous colonizer of the Light. He pushes it into every nook and cranny of his body, into his sleep as well as his waking, into every activity, every movement, every dark alley of the body, as in the past on the boulevards outside, and he gains ground step by step, cell by cell. He lights the fire of need need for truth, need for light, need for space in every one of those infinitesimal fortresses and pushes back ever farther the line of unconsciousness. Illnesses befall him, his strength declines,49 death smirks for an instant, but this is no longer even a trap or a fall, for he has his eyes wide open and sees that an infallible Hand has led him into this abyss so he can light a fire of truth there, too, a cry for help, a need of space and infinity and the second the true cry bursts out, everything vanishes; illness, death, all are gone in a split second, like an unreal dream. He learns the unreality of death. It is the supreme unreality; it crumbles in the twinkling of an eye under a single little breath of truth. But if we believe in it, it is instantaneous death. The implacable flow of basalt swallows us up into its nothingness which is nothing really, nonexistent; the cry of a child pierces it effortlessly! There is but one reality, which is the immortal Truth, the eternal Sun, the great and soft flowing that moves the worlds and bodies if we want to believe in it, want to let ourselves be carried by It; if we consent to the sunlit path. It is the only Reality. Death does not exist; it is only the forgetting of That. A second of recall, and everything sparkles in the sun again everything has never ceased sparkling in the sun. There was never any shadow, never any death; there was that false look. Death is a false look. The world is growing toward its true Look, which will change everything into what it really is; it is growing toward its Fire, which will transmute everything into what it really is. The Truth of one point will unveil the Truth of all points; the Truth of matter will act on every fragment of matter and death and the shadow and the NO buried in the heart of the world will reveal their immortal face, their eternal light, their consenting and glorious YES, because they will have touched their supreme bottom and completed their mission, which was to take us to the gates of the Sun, in our body and upon an earth of truth.
But tracking down falsehood and unconsciousness in the body would still not bring us immortality. It would only prolong life at will. And who would care to wear one coat for a hundred years or be confined in one narrow and changeless lodging unto a long eternity, said Sri Aurobindo.50 To perpetuate life in its present, coarse functioning would indeed be a dreadful burden, which we would soon wish to be rid of. Thus, this prolongation of life at will is only a first operational step to give us the time to build the supramental being in our body. Doing it takes time; it is a race between the swiftness of death and the speed of the transformation. Sri Aurobindo estimated that it would take three hundred years to form that being. But it does seem that the movement is accelerating more and more, and perhaps that supreme transformation does not depend so much on the length of time of individual preparation as it does on the preparation of the earth body as a whole and on its ability to accept the new world. And the Force of the New World is pounding the earth mercilessly; it is advancing with giant strides. The seams are cracking, and what seemed like a distant peal is becoming a thunderous death knell, which hides the next resurrection. We are touching rock bottom; we are before the gate of the deep Night which veils the unexpected.
1.16 - Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
He cast it down into that deep abyss.
"It must needs be some novelty respond,"
1.16 - Man, A Transitional Being, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
Now we are before two poles. At the top, a supreme Negative (or Positive, depending upon one's personal bias), where Force seems annihilated in a luminous Nothingness, a gulf of peace without a ripple, where everything is self-contained, and there is no need for even the slightest movement in order to be it is. At the other pole, a supreme Positive (or Negative, if we prefer), where Consciousness seems to be engulfed in an obscure Nothingness, an abyss of blind Force forever engrossed in its own dark whirl an inexorable and ceaseless becoming. This is the first duality from which all others follow: the One and the Innumerable, the Infinite and the Finite,
Consciousness and Force, Spirit and Matter, the Formless and a frenzy of forms He and She. Our whole existence is caught between these two poles, some of us wishing to see only the Transcendent, which is then called the supreme Positive, and dismissing Matter as a kind of temporary falsehood while the rest of us swear by Matter alone,
--
has first touched minute fragments, molecules, genes, protoplasms; it has settled psychologically around a separate and fragmentary ego; it does not see very well, groping in the darkness; it, too, is doubly "involved," and it perceives things only through a narrow mental shutter between an abysmal subconscient and a vast superconscient. It is this childish fragmentation for it really belongs to our human childhood that is the cause of all our errors and sufferings; all our woes proceed from this narrowness of vision, which is a false vision of ourselves and of the world. For in truth, the world and each cell of our body is Sat-chit-ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss; we are light and joy. Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision's limited range. 329 All is joy: "For who could live or brea the if there were not this delight of existence as the ether in which we dwell?" says the Upanishad. 330 It is our faulty vision that hides from us the happiness absolute in the heart of
327
1.17 - DOES MANKIND MOVE BIOLOGICALLY UPON ITSELF?, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
of totalization is leading us toward what summit, or what abyss?
2. The Second Point (which now emerges):
--
what looks like a rush to the abyss; or we can yield to it and actively
DOES MANKIND MOVE BIOLOGICALLY 255
1.17 - Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the Abyss of Malebolge., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
object:1.17 - Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the abyss of Malebolge.
"Behold the monster with the pointed tail,
--
Then was I still more fearful of the abyss;
Because I fires beheld, and heard laments,
1.18 - Mind and Supermind, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
6:Mind, first, the chained and hampered sovereign of our human living. Mind in its essence is a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer. Even with what exists only as obvious parts and fractions, Mind establishes this fiction of its ordinary commerce that they are things with which it can deal separately and not merely as aspects of a whole. For, even when it knows that they are not things in themselves, it is obliged to deal with them as if they were things in themselves; otherwise it could not subject them to its own characteristic activity. It is this essential characteristic of Mind which conditions the workings of all its operative powers, whether conception, perception, sensation or the dealings of creative thought. It conceives, perceives, senses things as if rigidly cut out from a background or a mass and employs them as fixed units of the material given to it for creation or possession. All its action and enjoyment deal thus with wholes that form part of a greater whole, and these subordinate wholes again are broken up into parts which are also treated as wholes for the particular purposes they serve. Mind may divide, multiply, add, subtract, but it cannot get beyond the limits of this mathematics. If it goes beyond and tries to conceive a real whole, it loses itself in a foreign element; it falls from its own firm ground into the ocean of the intangible, into the abysms of the infinite where it can neither perceive, conceive, sense nor deal with its subject for creation and enjoyment. For if Mind appears sometimes to conceive, to perceive, to sense or to enjoy with possession the infinite, it is only in seeming and always in a figure of the infinite. What it does thus vaguely possess is simply a formless Vast and not the real spaceless infinite. The moment it tries to deal with that, to possess it, at once the inalienable tendency to delimitation comes in and the Mind finds itself again handling images, forms and words. Mind cannot possess the infinite, it can only suffer it or be possessed by it; it can only lie blissfully helpless under the luminous shadow of the Real cast down on it from planes of existence beyond its reach. The possession of the Infinite cannot come except by an ascent to those supramental planes, nor the knowledge of it except by an inert submission of Mind to the descending messages of the Truth-conscious Reality.
7:This essential faculty and the essential limitation that accompanies it are the truth of Mind and fix its real nature and action, svabhava and svadharma; here is the mark of the divine fiat assigning it its office in the complete instrumentation of the supreme Maya, - the office determined by that which it is in its very birth from the eternal self-conception of the Self-existent. That office is to translate always infinity into the terms of the finite, to measure off, limit, depiece. Actually it does this in our consciousness to the exclusion of all true sense of the Infinite; therefore Mind is the nodus of the great Ignorance, because it is that which originally divides and distributes, and it has even been mistaken for the cause of the universe and for the whole of the divine Maya. But the divine Maya comprehends Vidya as well as Avidya, the Knowledge as well as the Ignorance. For it is obvious that since the finite is only an appearance of the Infinite, a result of its action, a play of its conception and cannot exist except by it, in it, with it as a background, itself form of that stuff and action of that force, there must be an original consciousness which contains and views both at the same time and is intimately conscious of all the relations of the one with the other. In that consciousness there is no ignorance, because the infinite is known and the finite is not separated from it as an independent reality; but still there is a subordinate process of delimitation, - otherwise no world could exist, - a process by which the ever dividing and reuniting consciousness of Mind, the ever divergent and convergent action of Life and the infinitely divided and self-aggregating substance of Matter come, all by one principle and original act, into phenomenal being. This subordinate process of the eternal Seer and Thinker, perfectly luminous, perfectly aware of Himself and all, knowing well what He does, conscious of the infinite in the finite which He is creating, may be called the divine Mind. And it is obvious that it must be a subordinate and not really a separate working of the Real-Idea, of the Supermind, and must operate through what we have described as the apprehending movement of the Truth-consciousness.
12.01 - The Return to Earth, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
OUT OF abysmal trance her spirit woke.
Lain on the earth-mother's calm inconscient breast
1.21 - WALPURGIS-NIGHT, #Faust, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
Hold fast, lest thou be hurled down the abysses there!
The night with the mist is black;
1.22 - On the many forms of vainglory., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
One who had the gift of sight told me what he had seen. Once, he said, when I was sitting in assembly, the demon of vainglory and the demon of pride came and sat beside me, one on either side. The one poked me in the side with the finger of vain-glory and urged me to relate some vision or labour which I had done in the desert. But as soon as I had shaken him off, saying: Let them be turned back and put to shame who plot evil against me,3 then the demon on my left at once said in my ear: Well done, well done, you have become great by conquering my shameless mother. Turning to him, I made apt use of the rest of the verse and said: Let them be turned back and put to shame who said to me: Well done, well done.4 And to my question: How is vainglory the mother of pride? he replied: Praises exalt and puff one up; and when the soul is exalted, then pride seizes it, lifts it up to heaven and casts it down to the abyss.
There is a glory that comes from the Lord, for He says: Those who glorify Me, I will glorify.5 And there is a glory that dogs us through diabolic intrigue, for it is said: Woe, when all men shall speak well of you.6 You may be sure that it is the first kind of glory when you regard it as harmful and avoid it in every possible way, and hide your manner of life wherever you go. But the other you will know when you do something, however trifling, hoping that you will be observed by men.7
--
The beginning of the conquest of vainglory is the custody of the mouth and love of being dishonoured; the middle stage is a beating back of all known acts of vainglory; and the end (if there is an end to an abyss) consists in trying to behave in the presence of others so that we are humbled without feeling it.
Do not hide your sins with the idea of removing a cause of stumbling from your neighbour; although perhaps it will not be advisable to use this remedy in every case, but it will depend on the nature of ones sins.
1.22 - The Necessity of the Spiritual Transformation, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The first result of this imperfect awakening seemed likely to be a return to an older ideal, with a will to use the reason and the ethical mind better and more largely in the ordering of individual, of national and of international life. But such an attempt, though well enough as a first step, cannot be the real and final solution; if our effort ends there, we shall not arrive. The solution lies, we have said, in an awakening to our real, because our highest self and nature,that hidden self which we are not yet, but have to become and which is not the strong and enlightened vital Will hymned by Nietzsche, but a spiritual self and spiritual nature that will use the mental being which we already are, but the mental being spiritualised, and transform by a spiritual ideality the aim and action of our vital and physical nature. For this is the formula of man in his highest potentiality, and safety lies in tending towards our highest and not in resting content with an inferior potentiality. To follow after the highest in us may seem to be to live dangerously, to use again one of Nietzsches inspired expressions, but by that danger comes victory and security. To rest in or follow after an inferior potentiality may seem safe, rational, comfortable, easy, but it ends badly, in some futility or in a mere circling, down the abyss or in a stagnant morass. Our right and natural road is towards the summits.
We have then to return to the pursuit of an ancient secret which man, as a race, has seen only obscurely and followed after lamely, has indeed understood only with his surface mind and not in its heart of meaning, and yet in following it lies his social no less than his individual salvation,the ideal of the kingdom of God, the secret of the reign of the Spirit over mind and life and body. It is because they have never quite lost hold of this secret, never disowned it in impatience for a lesser victory, that the older Asiatic nations have survived so persistently and can now, as if immortal, raise their faces towards a new dawn; for they have fallen asleep, but they have not perished. It is true that they have for a time failed in life, where the European nations who trusted to the flesh and the intellect have succeeded; but that success, speciously complete but only for a time, has always turned into a catastrophe. Still Asia had failed in life, she had fallen in the dust, and even if the dust in which she was lying was sacred, as the modern poet of Asia has declared,though the sacredness may be doubted,still the dust is not the proper place for man, nor is to lie prostrate in it his right human attitude. Asia temporarily failed not because she followed after things spiritual, as some console themselves by saying,as if the spirit could be at all a thing of weakness or a cause of weakness,but because she did not follow after the spirit sufficiently, did not learn how entirely to make it the master of life. Her mind either made a gulf and a division between life and the Spirit or else rested in a compromise between them and accepted as final socio-religious systems founded upon that compromise. So to rest is perilous; for the call of the Spirit more than any other demands that we shall follow it always to the end, and the end is neither a divorce and departure nor a compromise, but a conquest of all by the spirit and that reign of the seekers after perfection which, in the Hindu religious symbol, the last Avatar comes to accomplish.
1.23 - On mad price, and, in the same Step, on unclean and blasphemous thoughts., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
27. A monk has an abyss of humility into which he has plunged and suffocated every evil spirit.
28. Forgetfulness of our sins is the result of conceit, for the remembrance of them leads to humility.
--
There is only one thing in which we have no power to meddle; and we shall tell you this, for we cannot bear your blows: If you keep up a sincere condemnation of yourself before the Lord you can count us as weak as a cobweb. For prides saddle-horse, as you see, is vainglory on which I am mounted. But holy humility and self-accusation laugh at both the horse and its rider, happily singing the song of victory: Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has He been glorified: horse and rider He has thrown into the sea1 and into the abyss of humility.
1 Exodus xv, 1
1.24 - On meekness, simplicity, guilelessness which come not from nature but from habit, and about malice., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
Malice is a perversion of honesty, a deceitful way of thinking, falsely screened by affability, false oaths, ambiguous words, dissimulation of heart, an abyss of cunning, deceit that has become a habit, conceit turned into nature, a foe to humility, a pretence of penitence, diminution of mourning, hostility to confession, wilfulness, an agent of falls, a hindrance to resurrection, a smiling at offences, affected frowning, false reverence, diabolical life.
1 Psalm xxiv, 9.
1.25 - Fascinations, Invisibility, Levitation, Transmutations, Kinks in Time, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
But most certainly I shall say nothing here. Yes, indeed, nothing was ever more sternly forbidden than prattle on subjects like this! Look! It goes right on: "There is great danger in me; for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason." (v. 27) The pit is of course the abyss: see The Vision and the Voice, Xth Aethyr. A very sticky or rather, unstuck! finish; so 'ware Hawk!
To business! Fascination No! Invisibility, is obviously penny plain S.A.
1.25 - On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual feeling., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
26. Humility is a divine shelter to prevent us from seeing our achievements. Humility is an abyss of self-abasement, inaccessible to any thief. Humility is a strong tower against the face of the enemy.1 The enemy shall not prevail against him, nor shall the son, or rather, the thought of iniquity do him evil: and he will cut off his enemies from his face and will conquer them that hate him.2
27. Besides all the distinguishing properties indicated above, the great possessor of this wealth also has others in his soul. And all these properties except one are visible signs of this wealth. You will know with certainty that you have this holy possession within you by an abundance of unspeakable light, by an unutterable love for prayer; and before this is attained, by a heart that does not judge the faults of others. And the precursor of what has been said is hatred of all vainglory.
--
68. Humility is a heavenly siphon which from the abyss of sins can raise the soul to heaven.
69. Someone saw in his heart the beauty of humility and, seized with amazement, asked her to tell him the name of her parent. Smiling joyfully and serenely at him, humility replied: How is it you are in a hurry to know the name of my parent? He is nameless, and I cannot tell you until you possess God. To Him be the glory for ever and ever! Amen.
1.25 - SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
I say, then, that introversion must be rejected, because extraversion must never be admitted; but one must live continuously in the abyss of the divine Essence and in the nothingness of things; and if at times a man finds himself separated from them (the divine Essence and created nothingness) he must return to them, not by introversion, but by annihilation.
Benet of Canfield
--
The chief impediments in the way of taking up the practice of some form of mental prayer are ignorance of the Nature of Things (which has never, of course, been more abysmal than in this age of free compulsory education) and the absorption in self-interest, in positive and negative emotions connected with the passions and with what is technically known as a good time. And when the practice has been taken up, the chief impediments in the way of advance towards the goal of mental prayer are distractions.
Probably all persons, even the most saintly, suffer to some extent from distractions. But it is obvious that the distractions of one who, in the intervals of mental prayer, leads a dispersed, unrecollected, self-centred life will have more and worse distractions to contend with than a person who lives one-pointedly, never forgetting who he is and how related to the universe and its divine Ground. Some of the most profitable spiritual exercises actually make use of distractions, in such a way that these impediments to self-abandonment, mental silence and passivity in relation to God are transformed into means of progress.
1.26 - On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
Perilous, truly perilous is the sea that we humble monks are crossing, a sea in which there are many winds, rocks, whirlpools, pirates, hurricanes, shallows, monsters and waves. A rock in the soul we may consider to be fierce and sudden anger. A whirlpool is hopelessness which seizes the mind and strives to drag it to the depths of despair. A shallow is ignorance which accepts what is bad as good. A monster is this heavy and savage body. Pirates are the most dangerous servants of vainglory who rifle our cargo and the hard-won earnings of the virtues. A wave is a swollen and burdened stomach which by its greed hands us over to the beast. A hurricane is pride that casts us down from heaven, that carries us up to the sky and then down to the abyss.
Those engaged in education know what studies are suitable for beginners, what for the intermediate and what for teachers. Let us take sensible precautions not to prolong our study and stop in the beginners lessons. For to see an old man going to a childrens school is a great disgrace.
--
(B) perfect love (N) abyss of knowledge
(C) a well of humanity (O) house of mysteries
1.26 - The Ascending Series of Substance, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
5:All who have at all sounded those abysses are agreed and bear witness to this fact that there are a series of subtler and subtler formulations of substance which escape from and go beyond the formula of the material universe. Without going deeply into matters which are too occult and difficult for our present inquiry, we may say, adhering to the system on which we have based ourselves, that these gradations of substance, in one important aspect of their formulation in series, can be seen to correspond to the ascending series of Matter, Life, Mind, Supermind and that other higher divine triplicity of Sachchidananda. In other words, we find that substance in its ascension bases itself upon each of these principles and makes itself successively a characteristic vehicle for the dominating cosmic self-expression of each in their ascending series.
6:Here in the material world everything is founded upon the formula of material substance. Sense, Life, Thought found themselves upon what the ancients called the Earth-Power, start from it, obey its laws, accommodate their workings to this fundamental principle, limit themselves by its possibilities and, if they would develop others, have even in that development to take account of the original formula, its purpose and its demand upon the divine evolution. The sense works through physical instruments, the life through a physical nerve-system and vital organs, the mind has to build its operations upon a corporeal basis and use a material instrumentation, even its pure mental workings have to take the data so derived as a field and as the stuff upon which it works. There is no necessity in the essential nature of mind, sense, life that they should be so limited: for the physical sense-organs are not the creators of sense-perceptions, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic sense; the nervous system and vital organs are not the creators of life's action and reaction, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Life-force; the brain is not the creator of thought, but itself the creation, the instrument and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Mind. The necessity then is not absolute, but teleological; it is the result of a divine cosmic Will in the material universe which intends to posit here a physical relation between sense and its object, establishes here a material formula and law of Conscious-Force and creates by it physical images of Conscious-Being to serve as the initial, dominating and determining fact of the world in which we live. It is not a fundamental law of being, but a constructive principle necessitated by the intention of the Spirit to evolve in a world of Matter.
1.27 - On holy solitude of body and soul., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
29. In all the sciences, as everyone knows, there are differences of opinion and aim. For everything is not perfect in all, either from want of industry or from lack of strength. Therefore some enter this harbour,5 or rather this sea, or perhaps this abyss, because they lack control of their tongue or because of a past habit of the body; others because they are without control of their temper and the poor wretches cannot overcome this in crowded society; others because out of conceit they have judged it better to sail at their own discretion than under direction; others because amidst material things they cannot abstain from such; some with the intention of cultivating zeal by solitude; others to torment themselves secretly for their faults; and some in order to acquire glory for themselves from it; others again (if only the Son of Man when He comes may find such on earth) are wedded to holy solitude out of a delightful thirst for the love and sweetness of God, but they do not achieve this union before they have divorced all despondency; because fellowship with despondency would seem like adultery to anyone who is united with God.
30. As far as my meagre knowledge permits (for I am like an unskilled architect) I have constructed a ladder of ascent. Let each look to see on which step he is standing: Is it self-will, or human glory, or weakness of tongue, or hot temper, or too great attachment? Is it to atone for faults, or to grow more
1.28 - Need to Define God, Self, etc., #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Well, I suppose it's a gift to stir Hell to its most abysmal horror with one small remark slipped in at the end. Scorpion!
"Higher self" "God within us."
1.29 - What is Certainty?, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Dive deeper, ever deeper, into the abyss of Mind, until thou unearth that fox THAT. On, hounds! Yoicks! Tally-ho! Bring THAT to bay!
Then, wind the Mort!
1.30 - Adonis in Syria, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
overhanging dreadful abysses, down which it turns the head dizzy to
look and see the eagles wheeling about their nests far below. One
1.30 - Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
7. Love, by reason of its nature, is a resemblance to God, as far as that is possible for mortals; in its activity it is inebriation of the soul; and by its distinctive property it is a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, a sea of humility.
8. Love is essentially the banishment of every kind of contrary thought for love thinks no evil.1
--
35. Love bestows prophecy; love yields miracles; love is an abyss of illumination; love is a fountain of firein the measure that it bubbles up, it inflames the thirsty soul. Love is the state of angels. Love is the progress of eternity.
36. Tell us, fairest of virtues, where thou feedest thy flock, where thou restest at noon.1 Enlighten us, quench our thirst, guide us, take us by the hand; for we wish at last to soar to thee. Thou rulest over all. And now thou hast ravished my soul. I cannot contain thy flame. So I will go forward praising thee. Thou rulest the power of the sea, and stillest the surge of its waves and puttest it to death. Thou hast humbled the proud the proud thoughtlike a wounded man. With the arm of thy power thou hast scattered thy enemies,2 and thou hast made thy lovers invincible.
1.31 - The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. Descent to Cocytus., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up
Judas with Lucifer, he put us down;
1.33 - The Golden Mean, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
James Hilton has a most amusing Chinese in his Lost Horizon. When the American 100% he-man, mixer, joiner, and go-getter, agrees with him about broadmindedness in religious beliefs, and ends "and I'm dead sure you're right!" his host mildly rebukes him, saying: "But we are only moderately sure." Such thought plumbs the abysses of Wisdom; at least, it may quite possibly do so. Forgive me if I emulate the teacher!
But this is not as simple as it sounds. There is great danger in this Golden Mean, one of whose main objects is to steer clear of shipwreck, Scylla being as fatal as Charybdis. No, this lofty and equable attitude is worse than wrong unless it derives from striking the balance between two very distant opposites. One of the worst perils of the present time is that, in the reaction against ignorant bigotry, people no longer dare to make up their minds about anything. The very practice, which the AA so strongly and persistently advocates, tends to make people feel that any positive attitude or gesture is certainly wrong, whatever may be right. They forget that the opposite may, within the limit of the universe of discourse, amount to nothing.
1.34 - Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. The Ascent., #The Divine Comedy, #Dante Alighieri, #Christianity
"Ere from the abyss I tear myself away,
My Master," said I when I had arisen,
1.35 - The Tao 2, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
As for ,[64] which superficially might seem the best translation of Tao as described in the text, it is the most misleading of the three. For To On possesses an extensive connotation implying a whole system of Platonic concepts, than which nothing can be more alien to the essential quality of the Tao. Tao is neither "being" nor "not being" in any sense which Europe could understand. It is neither existence, nor a condition or form of existence. Equally, TO MH ON gives no idea of Tao. Tao is altogether alien to all that class of thought. From its connection with "that principle which necessarily underlies the fact that events occur" one might suppose that the "Becoming" of Heraclitus might assist us to describe the Tao. But the Tao is not a principle at all of that kind. To understand it requires an altogether different state of mind to any with which European thinkers in general are familiar. It is necessary to pursue unflinchingly the path of spiritual development on the lines indicated by the Sufis, the Hindus and the Buddhists; and, having reached the trance called Nerodha-Sammapati, in which are destroyed all forms soever of consciousness, there appears in that abyss of annihilation the germ of an entirely new type of idea, whose principal characteristic is this: that the entire concatenation of One's previous experiences and conceptions could not have happened at all, save by virtue of this indescribable necessity.
I am only too painfully aware that the above exposition is faulty in every respect. In particular, it presupposes in the reader considerable familiarity with the subject, thus practically begging the question. It must also prove almost wholly unintelligible to the average reader, him in fact whom I especially aim to interest.
1.38 - The Myth of Osiris, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
multiplied. His head, for example, was at abydos as well as at
Memphis, and his legs, which were remarkably numerous, would have
--
other was abydos in Upper Egypt, which gloried in the possession of
his head. Encircled by the nimbus of the dead yet living god,
--
remains to abydos, there to tarry for a short time, and then to be
brought back by river and interred in the tombs which had been made
1.38 - Woman - Her Magical Formula, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Leaving out nearly everything, the only way to simplify it is to call Hadit the "Point-of-view," and "Anywhere" to be the radix of all possible "Point-Events," or "experiences," or "phenomena;" Nuit is the complement, the total possibilities of any such radix. You can only get this properly into that part of your mind which is "above the abyss," i.e. Neschamah: even so, Neschamah must be very thoroughly fertilized by Chiah, and illuminated by Jechidah, to make any sort of a job of it.
But to come down from the contemplation of Abstract Reality (which, being static and "infinite," is ultimately immeasurable) to these Ideas in their interaction (and thus directly observable), it is easy enough to understand the Magical Formula of their interaction. Of course, whatever I say can be no more than a rough approximation, even a suggestion rather than a statement; but I cannot help the nature of the case. Nuit is the centripetal energy, infinitely elastic because it must fit over the hard thrust directed against it; Hadit, the centrifugal, ever seeking to penetrate the unknown. Nuit is not to dissimilar from the Teh described in Lao-Tze.
1.39 - Prophecy, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
For when the time came, and the Key was found, the finder's name in the Order was and had been from the moment of his admission as a probationer Achad, the Hebrew word for "One." And he came "after him" in the precise technical sense, that he was in fact the next person to undertake the Adventure of the abyss.
I hope you are not getting the idea that my Prophetic ambit is limited to these high-falutin' metaphysical masterpieces of Runic Lore. In case you do, I now propose to break your "seven green withs that were never dried" altogether, Delilah; for I shall keep my hair on. I shall go forth to war! From 1920 to 1923 my abode for a season was the house called the Horsel of the Abbey of Thelema that lieth upon Santa Barbara, overlooking the town of Telepylus see Homer and Samuel Butler II, but called later by the Romans Cephaloedium, and now Cefal. There did I toil to expand my little Part III of Book 4 to the portentous volume now more generally known as Magick in Theory and Practice. After numerous misadventures, it was published in 1928.[78]
1.39 - The Ritual of Osiris, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
the great equatorial lakes and the mountains of abyssinia. Hence the
rise of the river has always been watched by the inhabitants with
--
the several cities, the ritual of abydos, for example, differing
from that of Busiris. Without attempting to trace all the
1.4.01 - The Divine Grace and Guidance, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
- a regular abyssinia. It is why we always express depreciation of mental constructions and vital formations - because they are the defence works mind and vital throw up against their capture by the Divine. However the first thing is to become conscious of all that as you have now become, - the next thing is to be firm in knocking it all down and making a tabula rasa, a foundation of calm, peace, happy openness for the true building.
No Insistence on the Grace
1.42 - This Self Introversion, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
So what? Ah me, nothing for it but to plunge head foremost into the hybrid abyss of Babu-Blavatsky bak-abak!
Brahman don't confuse with the Brahma of the Trimurti, so so many Nippies and Clippies are but too liable to do is the macrocosmic Negative Absolute, when cross-examined; its microcosm is Purusha or Atma. Very near our own Qabalistic Zero Nought in no dimensions equals Infinity (air connu). Then comes Buddhi, which curates, bookmakers' clerks, miners and Privy Councillors so often mistake for Buddha (Ha! Ha!), the faculty of discrimination. Pretty much like the 0 = 2 equation in our system.
--
You will discover the truth of these remarks when you approach the Frontier of the abyss. Well, now, if that isn't too funny! The text of this stupendous sermon was AL II, 22. I take this verse in its most obvious and ordinary sense; for instance, the following sentence: "... The exposure of innocence is a lie. ..."; for that means clearly enough Hypocrisy. So "... It is a lie, this folly against self. ..." only means, "To hell with sentimental altruism, with false modesty, with all those most insidious fiends, the sense of guilt, of shame in a word, the 'inferiority complex' or something very like it." The whole tenor of The Book of the Law, is to this effect. The very test of worth is that one should be aware of it and not afraid to sock the next man on the jaw if he disputes it!
Love is the law, love under will.
1.50 - A.C. and the Masters; Why they Chose him, etc., #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
It is most necessary that you should understand what happens when on goes from Adeptus Exemptus 7 = 4 to Magister Templi 8 = 3. As you see from a glance at the Tree of Life, this advance entails the Crossing of the abyss; and there is no Path. That means that one must jump. You must get rid of "all that you have, and all that you are" that is one way to put it.
The Vision and the Voice, Aethyrs XVI end, gives an immense amount of detail; it must be studied intensely, with diligence, with Will, and with imagination. Not only the attainment of the grade, but the events which go with, or come after, it; all these are described as actual Experience. Even so, it is all extraordinarily difficult until you have been through it yourself.
1.52 - Family - Public Enemy No. 1, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
To cross the abyss, you have to give up "all that you have and all that you are." This Oath is unconditional: see The Vision and the Voice for details.
But for the present so much is neither desirable nor possible: in fact, you cannot genuinely realize what it means.
1.68 - The God-Letters, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
But that comes later: meanwhile, practise pronouncing these names, as also English words such as Do, Deed, Dare, Drive, Doubt, Dig, Dog, Dive, Duck, Dub while exploring the abyss of your mind, and see whether you do not soon associate the D-sound with a swift, hard, definite, fertile and completed act. For a fair test, take only the oldest and simplest words, words which might naturally be wanted in the Stone Age.
The next sound-group to be considered may conveniently be N. Here at once we have innumberable Gods and Goddesses flocking up: Nu, Nuit, Ann, Noah, John, Oannes, On, Jonah, et al. With the exception of On, a special case, all these divine or semi-divine Beings refer to the Night, the Starry Heavens, the Element of Water, the North, the Mother-Goddess, as appears when we consider their legends and rituals. N, Nun, means a fish and refers to the water sign of Scorpio. (Note, later when we reach Sh, that Joshua was the Son of Nun.) To me the sound gives the idea of a continuum, an eternal movement; and this is of course our Thelemic conception of the Universe, the "Star Sponge," of which I have elsewhere written at such length.
1.71 - Morality 2, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
What blasphemy more hideous could be penned? What lie so base, so false, so nasty, what so devilish and deadly a doctrine? I feel contaminated by the mere fact of being in a world where such filth is possible to conceive. I am all but in tears to think of my beloved sister tortured by so foul a denizen of the abyss. Cannot you see in this the root of all your toadstool spawn of miseries, of doubts, of fears, of indecisions?
As an Artist you are a consecrated Virgin Priestess, the Oracle of the Most High. None has the right to approach you save with the most blessed awe, with arms outstretched as to invoke your benediction. By "spiritually" you mean no more than "according to the lower and middle-middle-class morality of the Anglo-Saxon of the period when Longfellow and Tennyson were supposed to be poets, and Royal Academicians painters."
1.74 - Obstacles on the Path, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
This is, of course, absurd in itself, because if they had crossed the abyss, they would understand why it is impossible. It would be like "destroying Electricity," or "debunking" the Venus of Milo. The maximum of success possible in such an operation would be to become a "Black-Brother;" but what happens in practice, so far as my own experience goes, is complete dispersion of the mental faculties amounting to suicide; I could quote no less than four cases in which actual physical self-murder was the direct result.
[ back to TOC ]
1.78 - Sore Spots, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Now, from this schoolboy level, let us rise and put the case a little more strongly. Let us quit the shallows of social backchat for the gloomy and horrific abysses of a murder trial!
To every man and woman that has not seen Sex as it is, faced it, mastered it you will find elsewhere in these letters sufficient on this matter it is his secret guilt. Imagine, then, how at any reference however remote, the "sinner" quails, his inmost mystery laid bare, his evil conscience holding up a tarnished mirror to his deformed and hideous face!" Often enough, he does not mind gross jests which admit complicity on the part of the other; but any allusion to the Truth, and his soul shrieks: I am found out!" Then apoplectic Fear puts on the mask of Indignation and Disgust.
18.04 - Modern Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Crumble down, huge abysses fade out:
Decline or fall effaced in a moment.
1.83 - Epistola Ultima, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
I must conclude with a warning. So many of these branches of magick are so fascinating that any one of them is liable to take hold of the Magician by the short hair and upset his balance completely. It should never be forgotten for a single moment that the central and essential work of the Magicians is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Once he has achieved this he must of course be left entirely in the hands of that Angel, who can be invariably and inevitably relied upon to lead him to the further great step crossing of the abyss and the attainment of the grade of Master of the Temple.
Anything apart from this course is a side issue and unless so regarded may lead to the complete ruin of the whole work of the Magician.
1914 01 08p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let us shun the paths that are too easy and ask no effort, the paths which give us the illusion of having reached our goal; let us shun that negligence which opens the door to every downfall, that complacent self-admiration which leads to every abyss. Let us understand that however great may have been our efforts, our struggles, even our victories, compared with the distance yet to be travelled, the one we have already covered is nothing; and that all are equalinfinitesimal grains of dust or identical starsbefore Eternity.
But Thou art the conqueror of all obstacles, the Light that illumines all ignorance, the Love that vanquishes all pride. And no error can persist in front of Thee.
1914 08 18p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let me turn to Thee in a profound and silent contemplation; let me place this integral being and its multiple activities at Thy feet as an offering; let me stop all the play of these forces, unify all these consciousnesses, so that one alone may persist, the one which is able to hear Thy comm and and understand it; let me plunge again into Thee as in a sovereignly beneficent sea, that which purifies from all ignorance. I feel as if I have gone down very deep into an unfathomable abyss of doubt and darkness, as if I am exiled from Thy eternal splendour; but I know that in this descent is the possibility of a higher ascent which will enable me to span a vaster horizon and draw a little nearer to Thy infinite heavens. Thy light is there, steady and guiding, shining without intermission in the depths of the abyss as in the luminous splendours; and a serene confidence, a calm indifference, a tranquil certitude dwell permanently in my consciousness. I am like a boat which has long enjoyed the delights of the port and, despite the dark storm-laden clouds which hide the sun, unfurls its sails to launch forth into the great unknown, towards shores unheard of, towards new lands.
I am Thine, Lord, without any restriction or preference; may Thy will be done in all its rigorous plenitude; all my being adheres to it with a joyous acceptance and a calm serenity.
1914 08 21p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
O Lord, Lord, the whole earth is in an upheaval; it groans and suffers, it is in agony all this suffering that has descended upon it must not be in vain; grant that all this bloodshed may produce a swifter germination of the seeds of beauty and light and love which must blossom and cover the earth with their rich harvest. Out of the depths of this abysm of darkness the whole being of the earth cries to Thee that Thou mayst give it air and light; it is stifling, wilt Thou not come to its aid?
O Lord, what must we do to triumph?
1914 08 29p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What would be the use of man if he were not created to throw a bridge between That which is eternally but is unmanifested and that which is manifested, between all the transcendences and splendours of the divine life and all the dark and sorrowful ignorance of the material world? Man is the link between What must be and what is; he is the footbridge thrown across the abyss, he is the great cross-shaped X, the quaternary connecting link. His true domicile, the effective seat of his consciousness should be in the intermediary world at the meeting-point of the four arms of the cross, just where all the infinitude of the Unthinkable comes to take a precise form so that it may be projected into the innumerable manifestation.
That centre is a place of supreme love, of perfect consciousness, of pure and total knowledge. There establish, O Lord, those who can, who must and truly want to serve Thee, so that Thy work may be accomplished, the bridge definitively established, and Thy forces poured unwearyingly over the world.
1929-04-14 - Dangers of Yoga - Two paths, tapasya and surrender - Impulses, desires and Yoga - Difficulties - Unification around the psychic being - Ambition, undoing of many Yogis - Powers, misuse and right use of - How to recognise the Divine Will - Accept things that come from Divine - Vital devotion - Need of strong body and nerves - Inner being, invariable, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are two paths of Yoga, one of tapasy (discipline), and the other of surrender. The path of tapasy is arduous. Here you rely solely upon yourself, you proceed by your own strength. You ascend and achieve according to the measure of your force. There is always the danger of falling down. And once you fall, you lie broken in the abyss and there is hardly a remedy. The other path, the path of surrender, is safe and sure. It is here, however, that the Western people find their difficulty. They have been taught to fear and avoid all that threatens their personal independence. They have imbibed with their mothers milk the sense of individuality. And surrender means giving up all that. In other words, you may follow, as Ramakrishna says, either the path of the b aby monkey or that of the b aby cat. The b aby monkey holds to its mother in order to be carried about and it must hold firm, otherwise if it loses its grip, it falls. On the other hand, the b aby cat does not hold to its mother, but is held by the mother and has no fear nor responsibility; it has nothing to do but to let the mother hold it and cry ma ma.
If you take up this path of surrender fully and sincerely, there is no more danger or serious difficulty. The question is to be sincere. If you are not sincere, do not begin Yoga. If you were dealing in human affairs, then you could resort to deception; but in dealing with the Divine there is no possibility of deception anywhere. You can go on the Path safely when you are candid and open to the core and when your only end is to realise and attain the Divine and to be moved by the Divine.
1929-04-21 - Visions, seeing and interpretation - Dreams and dreaml and - Dreamless sleep - Visions and formulation - Surrender, passive and of the will - Meditation and progress - Entering the spiritual life, a plunge into the Divine, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Spiritual experience means the contact with the Divine in oneself (or without, which comes to the same thing in that domain). And it is an experience identical everywhere in all countries, among all peoples and even in all ages. If you meet the Divine, you meet it always and everywhere in the same way. Difference comes in because between the experience and its formulation there is almost an abyss. Directly you have spiritual experience, which takes place always in the inner consciousness, it is translated into your external consciousness and defined there in one way or another according to your education, your faith, your mental predisposition. There is only one truth, one reality; but the forms through which it may be expressed are many.
What was the nature of Jeanne dArcs vision?
1931 11 24p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thus, my prayer rushed up towards Thee; and, from the depths of the abyss, I beheld Thee in Thy radiant splendour; Thou didst appear and Thou saidst to me: Lose not courage, be firm, be confident,I COME.
***
1951-02-17 - False visions - Offering ones will - Equilibrium - progress - maturity - Ardent self-giving- perfecting the instrument - Difficulties, a help in total realisation - paradoxes - Sincerity - spontaneous meditation, #Questions And Answers 1950-1951, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Once you have understood this, many worries come to an end and you are very happy, very happy. If one finds one has very black holes, one says, This shows I can rise very high, if the abyss is very deep, I can climb very high. It is the same from the universal point of view; to use the Hindu terminology so familiar to you, it is the greatest Asuras who are the greatest beings of Light. And the day these Asuras are converted, they will be the supreme beings of the creation. This is not to encourage you to be asuric, you know, but it is like thatthis will widen your minds a little and help you to free yourself from those ideas of opposing good and evil, for if you abide in that category, there is no hope.
If the world was not essentially the opposite of what it has become, there would be no hope. For the hole is so black and so deep, and the inconscience so complete, that if this were not the sign of the total consciousness, well, there would be nothing more to do but pack up ones kit and go away. Men like Shankara, who did not see much further than the end of their nose, said that the world was not worth the trouble of living in, for it was impossible, that it was better to treat it as an illusion and go away, there was nothing to be done with it. I tell you, on the contrary, that it is because the world is very bad, very dark, very ugly, very unconscious, full of misery and suffering, that it can become the supreme Beauty, the supreme Light, the supreme Consciousness and supreme Felicity.
1953-08-26, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At the beginning of this manifestation, Love is, in the purity of its origin, composed of two movements, two complementary poles of the impulsion towards complete fusion. On one side, it is the supreme power of attraction and on the other the irresistible need of absolute self-giving. No other movement can do better in throwing a bridge over the abyss that was dug in the individual being when its consciousness separated from its origin and became inconscience.
What was projected into space had to be brought back to itself without, however, destroying the universe so created. Therefore Love burst forth, the irresistible power of union.
1954-04-14 - Love - Can a person love another truly? - Parental love, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After that you have said: No other movement could have better bridged the abyss that was created when in the individual being consciousness was separated from its origin and became unconsciousness.
Yes, because the moment the individual consciousness broke off from the divine Consciousness, from its divine source, it created the see of separation. The moment the individual consciousness ceased to follow, did not remain identified with the movement of the divine Consciousness, this produced a separation. The divine Consciousness follows its own movement, and if the individual consciousness does not remain united and does not follow or changes the course or slows down on the way, this creates a separation. And it is this separation that is the cause of all misery. All the miseries in the universe are the result of this separation of the individual consciousness, which, for some reason or other, did not remain identified with the primal Consciousness, its origin, and separated from it. Separated it did not deliberately separate itself, but it did not remain identified. So, not remaining identified, while the divine Consciousness followed one particular movement, it followed another, and naturally this caused them to move farther and farther away from each other. Let us take an illustration: one goes forward with a certain movement, a certain speed, and the other, not having remained united, is unable to follow and consequently, little by little, falls farther and farther behind, far, far, very far; the first one goes ahead and the other is left behind. It goes limping along while the first one flies; it takes one step while the other leaps. So this brings about a greater and greater separation. And it is this separation which has created all other separations, and it is all these separations which have caused universal miseryor in any case the misery on earth, the one we know. It began by a separation of consciousness and finished with a separation of worlds and of the elements of matter. It began by a division of consciousness and ended with the kind of division we see (Mother points at those around her). There are thousands of things all separated from one another and it is due to this that there are all these miseries. If they had remained united in consciousness, there would have been no misery. But as the consciousness was separated, this separation of consciousness caused the separation of forms and the separation of forms produced all the miseries.
1954-08-25 - Ananda aspect of the Mother - Changing conditions in the Ashram - Ascetic discipline - Mothers body, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother, but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realisation,most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divinest Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe.
Sweet Mother, what Personality is this and when will she manifest?
1954-12-22 - Possession by hostile forces - Purity and morality - Faith in the final success -Drawing back from the path, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But these things happen to everyone on the path, all the time, perhaps even daily. There are small things, there are things a little bigger. The small ones one can turn, you see, by chance the right way. For the big ones one must first have a kind of instinct. One must pay attention and do the right thing in the right way. But there are other things still. When one is at a critical moment of his development, and it is absolutely necessary to cross the step in order to go forwardat that moment, there are always two possibilities: that of crossing the step, and then one immediately makes a terrific progress; or else to become slack, and then this indeed is more than a halt, even more than a set-back, it can be a very serious fall into a chasm. There are abysses from which one does not come up again; and so, in this case it means a life lost.
But if one has within, besides the part that has given way and fallen, if somewhere one has a very ardent flame, if one is ready for anything, all possible suffering, all possible effort, all possible sacrifices to redress what one has done, in order to climb back from the bottom of the abyss, to find the path again, one can do it. This flame has the power to call the Grace. And with the Grace there is nothing impossible. But it must be a real flame, something very powerful, because when one is at the bottom of the hole it is not easy to come out of it. Between the first kind, which is simply a little halt on the way and which makes the next step just a little more difficult, and the last one I am speaking about, there are many degrees; and so one cant say that if one leaves the path it is for a lifetime. That would be only an extreme case.
But if one leaves the path, it is even very difficult to find it again. What is strange is that in leaving it one loses it. There are legends of this kind in all countries: of people who have left the path and then later searched for it and never found it again. It was as if it had vanished. They lost it and this truly is a very sad thing.
1955-10-12 - The problem of transformation - Evolution, man and superman - Awakening need of a higher good - Sri Aurobindo and earths history - Setting foot on the new path - The true reality of the universe - the new race - ..., #Questions And Answers 1955, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In any case what I call being sincere is this: if one thinks that this new realisation is the only thing which is truly worth being lived; if what is, is intolerablenot only for oneself, perhaps not so much for oneself but still, if one is not absolutely selfish and mean, one feels that, truly, it has lasted long enough, that one has had enough of it, that it must changewell, when one feels like that, one takes everything, all that one is, all that one can, all that one has, and one throws oneself into it completely without ever looking behind, and come what may! I indeed feel that it would be preferable even to plunge into an abyss in this way than to be on the shore, trembling and wondering, What will happen to me tomorrow if I take this rather rash step? There we are.
It is preferable to buck up a little, as they say familiarly, and chance it! Thats my opinion.
1956-11-28 - Desire, ego, animal nature - Consciousness, a progressive state - Ananda, desireless state beyond enjoyings - Personal effort that is mental - Reason, when to disregard it - Reason and reasons, #Questions And Answers 1956, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Reason is a very respectable person. Like all respectable people it has its limitations and prejudices, but that does not prevent it from being very useful. And it keeps you from making a fool of yourself. You would do many things if you did not have reason, things which would lead you straight to your ruin and could have extremely unfortunate consequences, for your best means of discernment until you have attained higher levels is reason. When one no longer listens to reason, one can be led into all sorts of absurdities. Naturally, it is neither the ideal nor the summit, it is only a kind of control and a guide for leading a good life, it keeps you from extravagances, excesses, inordinate passions and above all from those impulsive actions which may lead you to the abyss. There you are.
One must be very sure of oneself, quite free from the ego and perfectly surrendered to the divine Will to be able to do safely without reason.
1957-03-27 - If only humanity consented to be spiritualised, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The hand of the divine Artist works often as if it were unsure of its genius and its material. It seems to touch test and leave, to pick up and throw away and pick up again, to labour and fail and botch and repiece together. Surprises and disappointments are the order of his work before all things are ready. What was selected, is cast away into the abyss of reprobation; what was rejected, becomes the cornerstone of a mighty edifice. But behind all this is the sure eye of a knowledge which surpasses our reason and the slow smile of an infinite ability.
God has all time before him and does not need to be always in a hurry. He is sure of his aim and success cares not if he break his work a hundred times to bring it nearer perfection. Patience is our first great necessary lesson, but not the dull slowness to move of the timid, the sceptical, the weary, the slothful, the unambitious or the weakling; a patience of a calm and gathering strength which watches and prepares itself for the hour of swift great strokes, few but enough to change destiny.
1957-12-18 - Modern science and illusion - Value of experience, its transforming power - Supramental power, first aspect to manifest, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Give yourself generously and with a perfect disinterestedness and from the deeper point of view nothing bad will ever happen to you. Try to take and you will be on the brink of the abyss.
***
1958-03-19 - General tension in humanity - Peace and progress - Perversion and vision of transformation, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One thing seems obvious, humanity has reached a certain state of general tensiontension in effort, in action, even in daily lifewith such an excessive hyperactivity, so widespread a trepidation, that mankind as a whole seems to have come to a point where it must either break through the resistance and emerge into a new consciousness or else fall back into an abyss of darkness and inertia.
This tension is so complete and so widespread that something obviously has to break. It cannot go on in this way. We may take it as a sure sign of the infusion into matter of a new principle of force, consciousness, power, which by its very pressure is producing this acute state. Outwardly, we could expect the old methods used by Nature when she wants to bring about an upheaval; but there is a new characteristic, which of course is only visible in an lite, but even this lite is fairly widespreadit is not localised at one point, at one place in the world; we find traces of it in all countries, all over the world: the will to find a new, higher, progressive solution, an effort to rise towards a vaster, more comprehensive perfection.
1958-05-07 - The secret of Nature, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the earliest stages of evolutionary Nature we are met by the dumb secrecy of her inconscience; there is no revelation of any significance or purpose in her works, no hint of any other principles of being than that first formulation which is her immediate preoccupation and seems to be for ever her only business: for in her primal works Matter alone appears, the sole dumb and stark cosmic reality. A Witness of creation, if there had been one conscious but uninstructed, would only have seen appearing out of a vast abyss of an apparent non-existence an Energy busy with the creation of Matter, a material world and material objects, organising the infinity of the Inconscient into the scheme of a boundless universe or a system of countless universes that stretched around him into Space without any certain end or limit, a tireless creation of nebulae and star-clusters and suns and planets, existing only for itself, without a sense in it, empty of cause or purpose. It might have seemed to him a stupendous machinery without a use, a mighty meaningless movement, an aeonic spectacle without a witness, a cosmic edifice without an inhabitant; for he would have seen no sign of an indwelling Spirit, no being for whose delight it was made. A creation of this kind could only be the outcome of an inconscient Energy or an illusion-cinema, a shadow-play or puppet-play of forms reflected on a superconscient indifferent Absolute. He would have seen no evidence of a soul and no hint of Mind or Life in this immeasurable and interminable display of Matter. It would not have seemed to him possible or imaginable that there could at all be in this desert universe for ever inanimate and insensible an outbreak of teeming life, a first vibration of something occult and incalculable, alive and conscious, a secret spiritual entity feeling its way towards the surface.
The Life Divine, SABCL, Vol. 19, pp. 848-49
1958 10 17, #On Thoughts And Aphorisms, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One who would break the law must be above the law. One who would ignore conventions must be above conventions. One who would despise all rules must be above all rules. And the motive of this liberation should never be a personal, egoistic one: the desire to satisfy an ambition, aggrandise ones personality, through a feeling of superiority, out of contempt for others, to set oneself above the herd and regard it with condescension. Be on your guard when you feel yourself superior and look down on others ironically, as if to say, Im no longer made of such stuff. Thats when you go off the track and are in danger of falling into an abyss.
When one truly attains wisdom, the true wisdom, the wisdom Sri Aurobindo is speaking of here, there is no longer higher and lower; there is only a play of forces in which each thing has its place and its importance. And if there is a hierarchy it is a hierarchy of surrender to the Supreme. It is not a hierarchy of superiority with regard to what is below.
1.ac - Leah Sublime, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Raw cunt, the abyss,
Spend spouting the tide
1.ac - Logos, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Constant my heart through the abyss unknown,
Its glory my sole guide while space surge
1.ac - The Buddhist, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The abysses of my heart!
There no dawn breaks; no sunlight penetrates
1.ac - The Five Adorations, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
I praise Thee, God, whose purple heart is hidden in the abyss
afar:
1.ac - The Garden of Janus, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Stood in the abyss,
Belching a Law for "That" more awful than for "This."
1.ac - The Wizard Way, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Of the resolute abyss!"
Wonder-weft the wizard heard
1.anon - Song of Creation, #Anonymous - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The kindling ray that shot across the dark and drear abyss-
Was it beneath? or high aloft? What bard can answer this?
1.at - If thou wouldst hear the Nameless (from The Ancient Sage), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Original Language English If thou would'st hear the Nameless, and wilt dive Into the Temple-cave of thine own self, There, brooding by the central altar, thou May'st haply learn the Nameless hath a voice, By which thou wilt abide, if thou be wise, As if thou knewest, tho' thou canst not know; For Knowledge is the swallow on the lake That sees and stirs the surface-shadow there But never yet hath dipt into the abysm, The abysm of all abysms, beneath, within The blue of sky and sea, the green of earth, And in the million-millionth of a grain Which cleft and cleft again for evermore, And ever vanishing, never vanishes, To me, my son, more mystic than myself, Or even than the Nameless is to me. And when thou sendest thy free soul thro' heaven, Nor understandest bound nor boundlessness, Thou seest the Nameless of the hundred names. And if the Nameless should withdraw from all Thy frailty counts most real, all thy world Might vanish like thy shadow in the dark. 'And since -- from when this earth began -- The Nameless never came Among us, never spake with man, And never named the Name' -- Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son, Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in, Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone, Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone, Nor canst thou prove that thou art both in one: Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no Nor yet that thou art mortal -- nay my son, Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee, Am not thyself in converse with thyself, For nothing worthy proving can be proven, Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise, Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt, And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith She reels not in the storm of warring words, She brightens at the clash of 'Yes' and 'No', She sees the Best that glimmers thro' the Worst, She feels the Sun is hid but for a night, She spies the summer thro' the winter bud, She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls, She hears the lark within the songless egg, She finds the fountain where they wail'd 'Mirage'! [2490.jpg] -- from The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, Edited by D. H. S. Nicholson / Edited by A. H. E. Lee <
1.bts - Invocation, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
English version by H. R. James Original Language Latin Maker of earth and sky, from age to age Who rul'st the world by reason; at whose word Time issues from Eternity's abyss: To all that moves the source of movement, fixed Thyself and moveless. Thee no cause impelled Extrinsic this proportioned frame to shape From shapeless matter; but, deep-set within Thy inmost being, the form of perfect good, From envy free; and Thou didst mould the whole To that supernal pattern. Beauteous The world in Thee thus imaged, being Thyself Most beautiful. So Thou the work didst fashion In that fair likeness, bidding it put on Perfection through the exquisite perfectness Of every part's contrivance. Thou dost bind The elements in balanced harmony, So that the hot and cold, the moist and dry, Contend not; nor the pure fire leaping up Escape, or weight of waters whelm the earth. Thou joinest and diffusest through the whole, Linking accordantly its several parts, A soul of threefold nature, moving all. This, cleft in twain, and in two circles gathered, Speeds in a path that on itself returns, Encompassing mind's limits, and conforms The heavens to her true semblance. Lesser souls And lesser lives by a like ordinance Thou sendest forth, each to its starry car Affixing, and dost strew them far and wide O'er earth and heaven. These by a law benign Thou biddest turn again, and render back To thee their fires. Oh, grant, almighty Father, Grant us on reason's wing to soar aloft To heaven's exalted height; grant us to see The fount of good; grant us, the true light found, To fix our steadfast eyes in vision clear On Thee. Disperse the heavy mists of earth, And shine in Thine own splendour. For Thou art The true serenity and perfect rest Of every pious soulto see Thy face, The end and the beginningOne the guide, The traveller, the pathway, and the goal.
1f.lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
over some accursed ultimate abyss. That seething, half-luminous
cloud-background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal
--
abyss of the great barrier range. Certainly, this was above all a
region of caves, gulfs, and underground secrets beyond human
--
abyss without visible means of descent. Now and then we had a chance to
study the petrified wood of a surviving shutter, and were impressed by
--
on the walls of a frightful abyss below even the ancient ground levela
cavern perhaps 200 feet square and sixty feet high, which had almost
--
fearsome quality despite the intervening abyss of untold ages. The Old
Ones had used curious weapons of molecular disturbance against the
--
digging a deeper abyss. Finally its whole bulk emptied into the hollow
hills and left the old bed toward the ocean dry. Much of the later city
--
neighbouring black abyss of subterrene waters.
In the end it seems to have been the neighbouring abyss which received
the greatest colonisation. This was partly due, no doubt, to the
--
tunnels from the ancient metropolis to the black abysssharply
down-pointing tunnels whose mouths we carefully drew, according to our
--
The abyss, it seems, had shelving shores of dry land at certain places;
but the Old Ones built their new city under waterno doubt because of
--
lightless and unplumbed abysses of earths deepest waters? Those things
had seemingly been able to withstand any amount of pressureand men of
--
the great abyss; down whose side adequate paths, improved by the Old
Ones, led to the rocky shore of the hidden and nighted ocean. To behold
--
hence in order to make the abyss trip we must give up all further mural
deciphering. Of course we intended to revisit the place for days and
--
abyssward aperture opened.
The torch, flashing over the grotesquely carven walls of the blocked
--
unexpectedly choked way to the abyss.
Let me be plain. The scattered objects were, so far as substance was
--
time have found the other neighbouring entrance to the abyss, and have
passed within to whatever night-black fragments of the past might await
--
abyss itself, though there was interposed a new goal in the form of
that great circular place shewn on the crumpled sketches we had found.
--
neighbouring gate to the abyss would lie beyond that. I need not speak
of our journeyduring which we continued to leave an economical trail
--
about the northward tunnel and the abyss so soon after our sombre
discovery, and I am not prepared to say that we would have immediately
--
that other tunnel to the vast abyss. The presence of a living
water-bird in such a directionin a world whose surface was one of
--
planned to return after their scouting trip toward or into the abyss;
yet we had now discarded all caution concerning them as completely as
--
slits. That their present habitat was the vast abyss we sought, was not
for a moment to be doubted; and this evidence of the gulfs continued
--
have survived in the abyss below as long as any of the Old Ones
remained. Regrettingin a flareup of the old spirit of pure
--
shortly left them to their squawking and pushed on toward the abyss
whose openness was now so positively proved to us, and whose exact
--
height of nearly fifteen feet. It was the entrance to the great abyss.
In this vast hemisphere, whose concave roof was impressively though
--
entities on their way back from the abyss. The nameless scent of such
things was very distinct. Doubtless it was suicidally foolish to
--
abyss, but our previous wanderings had shewn us that matters of scale
were not wholly to be depended on.
--
sea-cliffs of the great abyss. Then, quite unexpectedly, we saw certain
obstructions on the polished floor aheadobstructions which were quite
--
entities as it surged out of the black abyss with great clouds of
frantic penguins squawking and scurrying ahead.
--
penguin-fringed abyss, whence even now a sinister curling mist had
begun to belch pallidly as if in answer to Danforths hysterical
--
mountain of slime-spewing protoplasm whose race had conquered the abyss
and sent land pioneers to re-carve and squirm through the burrows of
--
abyss-vapour. It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any
subway traina shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly
--
escaped; of that, and of the blasphemous, horror-fostering abyss whence
all such vapours came.
1f.lovecraft - Beyond the Wall of Sleep, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
desire. In order to reach it, he said, he would soar through abysses of
emptiness, burning every obstacle that stood in his way. Thus ran his
1f.lovecraft - Celephais, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
the abyss where all the village and all the world fell abruptly into
the unechoing emptiness of infinity, and where even the sky ahead was
--
abyss down which one must float silently; then the rift appeared again,
and he beheld the glittering minarets of the city, and saw the graceful
--
ends in the abyss of dream. Kuranes had previously entered that abyss
only at night, and wondered what it would look like by day; so he
--
draperies. The abyss was now a seething chaos of roseate and cerulean
splendour, and invisible voices sang exultantly as the knightly
1f.lovecraft - Collapsing Cosmoses, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abysses.]
At the sound, [which was something like that of a rusty sewing-machine,
1f.lovecraft - Dagon, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
enormous magnitude, and its position in an abyss which had yawned at
the bottom of the sea since the world was young, I perceived beyond a
1f.lovecraft - Discarded Draft of, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
incalculable abyss. For certain reasons I take great satisfaction in
these occurrences, even the first of which seems to me a blessing
--
hinted of remote spaces and unimaginable abysses, and the aquatic
nature of the occasional pictorial items added to the general
1f.lovecraft - Facts concerning the Late, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
of abysmal treasure-vaults and inconceivable catacombs. Especially was
it unwise to rave of the living things that might haunt such a place;
1f.lovecraft - Herbert West-Reanimator, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
retorts, and vaulting madly into the starred abyss of the rural night.
I think we screamed ourselves as we stumbled frantically toward the
--
had seen beyond the unfathomable abyss.
West was a materialist, believing in no soul and attributing all the
1f.lovecraft - H.P. Lovecrafts, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
fright, as if some subtile & bodiless emanation from the abyss were
ingulphing my spirit; but the blackness was too great for me to
--
of fright, as if some subtle and bodiless emanation from the abyss were
engulfing my spirit; but the blackness was too great for me to perceive
1f.lovecraft - Hypnos, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
arially along shocking, unlighted, and fear-haunted abysses, and
occasionally tearing through certain well-marked and typical obstacles
--
through the measureless abysses of aether. All at once my feverishly
sensitive ears seemed to detect a new and wholly distinct component in
--
of abysmal space and unshackled time, when my friend had pushed behind
the barrier to those secret, innermost, and forbidden caverns of
1f.lovecraft - Medusas Coil, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
vast pageantry of shapes from forgotten abysses, and makes me want to
paint incredible things whose outlines vanish the instant I try to
1f.lovecraft - Nyarlathotep, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill
currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a
1f.lovecraft - Out of the Aeons, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
brink of a monstrous abyss of unplumbed blacknessbut mostly it was the
expression of crazed fear on the puckered, prognathous, half-shielded
--
still there, wallowing and burrowing in unsuspected abysses beneath the
megalithic walls. There were always those who believed that sacrifices
must be made to Ghatanothoa, lest it crawl out of its hidden abysses
and waddle horribly through the world of men as it had once waddled
1f.lovecraft - The Alchemist, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
all were his eyes; twin caves of abysmal blackness, profound in
expression of understanding, yet inhuman in degree of wickedness. These
1f.lovecraft - The Book, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
to be cut off from my body and from the earth in unknown abysses whence
I could never return.
1f.lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
whose utter strangeness and air of genuinely abysmal antiquity hinted
so potently at unopened and archaic vistas. No recognised school of
--
no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such
eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order. A
--
the sinking whilst within his black abyss, or else the world would by
now be screaming with fright and frenzy. Who knows the end? What has
1f.lovecraft - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abyssinian, although they do not recognise the word. None of these
epistles was ever delivered to Curwen, though the disappearance of
--
what noxious thing might be lurking in that abyss, but in a moment
mustered up the courage to peer over the rough-hewn brink; lying at
--
unnerved in the abysmal blackness and horror, and crushed with a memory
he never could efface. Beneath him dozens of those things still lived,
--
and told him a few of the things it means in the dark abyss of sleep.
It was the sign of Koth, that dreamers see fixed above the archway of a
--
found carved. Weird and menacing in that abyss of antique blasphemy
rang his voice; its accents keyed to a droning sing-song either through
--
of the Great abyss. Again Mr. Ward asked, But where did it go? It
brought you here, you know, and it sealed up the hole somehow. And
--
burst free of its trammels and sink to cavernous abysses of uncanny
resonance. Willett, gifted with a flash of inspiration, believed he saw
--
magiclet the outcome shew how well the lesson of the abyss had been
learned! So in a clear voice Marinus Bicknell Willett began the second
1f.lovecraft - The Challenge from Beyond, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
space-explorers across stupendous galactic abysses. Received in one of
the machines to which each cube was attuned, the captured mind would
--
He who sought your body in the abysses of Time will occupy an
unresponsive tenement, said the red god. No spawn of Yekub can
1f.lovecraft - The Colour out of Space, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
brittle globule found imbedded in the stone from the abyss. The samples
in this analysis case gave the same odd bands at first, though later
1f.lovecraft - The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
wholly to abysmal nothingness and shoot through the empty spaces toward
other worlds and other stars and the awful voids outside the ordered
--
shapelessnesses that lurk and caper and flounder in the abyss. Before
he fully realised what had happened he was back in his familiar room at
--
lesser crags and sterile abysses of lava which marked the olden wrath
of the Great Ones. There was unfolded, too, a vast expanse of country
--
inconceivable abysses in a whirling, giddying, sickening rush of dank,
tomb-like air; and Carter felt they were shooting into the ultimate
--
ghoul of some prominence in abysses nearer the waking world. A greenish
elderly ghoul offered to conduct him to Pickmans present habitation,
--
trap-door of stone with an iron ring connects the abyss of the
earth-ghouls with the enchanted wood, and this the gugs are afraid to
--
So the ghoul that was Pickman advised Carter either to leave the abyss
at Sarkomand, that deserted city in the valley below Leng where black
--
watch there murderously for those denizens of the upper abyss who hunt
and prey on them. The ghasts try to come out when the gugs sleep, and
--
real light, they can endure the grey twilight of the abyss for hours.
So at length Carter crawled through endless burrows with three helpful
--
overland to spectral Sarkomand with its lion-guarded gate to the abyss.
Mighty was the straining of those three ghouls at the stone of the door
--
gate of the abyss, though of how to get there they knew nothing. Carter
recalled that it lies in the valley below Leng, and recalled likewise
--
for his eyes after the things he had seen and walked with in the abyss.
He was glad to see his venerable friend and one-time rescuer at the
--
eternally the steps that lead down from dreamland to the Great abyss.
Other views shewed the gaunt grey peaks dividing Leng from Inganok, and
--
those mindless guardians of the Great abyss whom even the Great Ones
fear, and who own not Nyarlathotep but hoary Nodens as their lord. For
--
abyss, and these dark ruins were in truth primordial Sarkomand.
Carters first act was to close and barricade the archway in the cliff
--
faithful trio which had guided him safely from the abyss and had
thereafter set out from the enchanted wood to find Sarkomand and the
--
the abyss, might be guarded by flocks of night-gaunts; but he did not
fear these faceless creatures now. He had learned that they are bound
--
into the Great abyss, to be distributed impartially amongst the bholes,
gugs, ghasts, and other dwellers in darkness whose modes of nourishment
--
back to the abyss; bearing their noisome prey to appropriate
destinations in the dark, from which not much would emerge alive.
--
night-gaunts had left for Sarkomand and the Great abyss with their
doomed burdens, the galley put back into the harbour betwixt the grey
--
all, but hoary and immemorial Nodens, Lord of the Great abyss.
All these things Carter glibbered to the assembled ghouls, and
--
of unseen pitfalls that even the night-gaunts dislike; abysmal
influences centring in certain white hemispherical buildings on curious
--
the outermost abysses; leaving behind the stars and the realms of
matter, and darting meteor-like through stark formlessness toward those
1f.lovecraft - The Dreams in the Witch House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Gilman's dreams consisted largely in plunges through limitless abysses
of inexplicably coloured twilight and bafflingly disordered sound;
--
The abysses were by no means vacant, being crowded with indescribably
angled masses of alien-hued substance, some of which appeared to be
--
sound which permeated the abysses was past all analysis as to pitch,
timbre, or rhythm; but seemed to be synchronous with vague visual
--
alien abysses of dream.
The dreams were meanwhile getting to be atrocious. In the lighter
--
felt that the twilight abysses around him were those of the fourth
dimension. Those organic entities whose motions seemed least flagrantly
--
was half-involuntarily moving about in the twilight abysses with the
bubble-mass and the small polyhedron floating ahead, when he noticed
--
neighbouring prism-clusters. In another second he was out of the abyss
and standing tremulously on a rocky hillside bathed in intense,
--
in the twilight abysses. Geometrical shapes seethed around him, and he
fell dizzily and interminably. At last he woke in his bed in the
--
the twilight amorphousness of the vague abysses seething around him.
But that moment was very brief, for presently he was in a crude,
--
suggestions of the vague, twilight abysses, and of still vaster,
blacker abysses beyond them- abysses in which all fixed suggestions of
form were absent. He had been taken there by the bubble-congeries and
--
space. Again the infinitude of the shrieking twilight abysses flashed
past him, but in another second he thought he was in a dark, muddy,
--
The screaming twilight abysses flashed before him, and he felt himself
helpless in the formless grasp of the iridescent bubble-congeries.
--
The passage through the vague abysses would be frightful, for the
Walpurgis-rhythm would be vibrating, and at last he would have to hear
1f.lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
the vacant abyss overhead there came a disquieting suggestion of
rhythmical surging or lapping, as of the waves on some level beach. The
--
universe; some vague abyss out of which only the most accursed rites of
human blasphemy could ever have called him for a moment on the hills.
1f.lovecraft - The Electric Executioner, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
brought me close to the edge of the unknowns black abyss.
In 1889 I was an auditor and investigator connected with the Tlaxcala
1f.lovecraft - The Festival, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
that flowed from abysses frightful and unsuspected to join the blackest
gulfs of immemorial ocean.
1f.lovecraft - The Green Meadow, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
traverse the vast abysses which were inaccessible to my body. I
conjured up ancient blasphemies, and terrible delvings into the papyri
--
Mediterranean were poured down an unfathomable abyss. It was toward
this sound that my shrinking island was drifting, yet I was content.
--
abyss. . . .
[At this point the text becomes illegible.]
1f.lovecraft - The Haunter of the Dark, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
black abyss.
After the policeman had gone Blake stood staring at the sullen steepled
--
a long dose of light would have sent it back into the abyss whence the
crazy stranger had called it. During the dark hour praying crowds had
--
abyss of night wherein whirled suns and worlds of an even profounder
blackness. He thought of the ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at
--
Shining Trapezohedron . . . send it through the horrible abysses of
radiance. . . .
1f.lovecraft - The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
ruler of Zeth. It obviously belonged somewhere in the outer abyss, but
had blundered into Zeth one night and suffered capture by the shamith
1f.lovecraft - The Horror at Martins Beach, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
my ears from some abysmal sunken waste the faint and sinister echoes of
a laugh.
1f.lovecraft - The Horror at Red Hook, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
act of plunging into the polyglot abyss of New Yorks underworld a
freak beyond sensible explanation? What could he tell the prosaic of
--
abyss to abyss, none knows whence or whither, pushed on by blind laws
of biology which they may never understand. As of old, more people
1f.lovecraft - The Horror in the Museum, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
often wondered about those strange rays from the unplumbed abyss which
scintillate before us in the absence of all earthly illumination, but
1f.lovecraft - The Hound, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
amulet. Accordingly I sank into the nethermost abysses of despair when,
at an inn in Rotterdam, I discovered that thieves had despoiled me of
1f.lovecraft - The Loved Dead, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
gods of the nethermost abysses to bring swift, sure death upon the
residents of the city.
1f.lovecraft - The Lurking Fear, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
laughed titteringlyeven that would have relieved the abysmal
hideousness. But it was so silent. It had rested a heavy arm or fore
--
whose roots reached into illimitable pasts and fathomless abysms of the
night that broods beyond time.
--
abysmal earth; pawing, twisting, wheezing; scrambling madly through
sunken convolutions of immemorial blackness without an idea of time,
--
abysses of haunted hillside forest; leaping, screaming, panting,
bounding toward the terrible Martense mansion. I recall digging
1f.lovecraft - The Mound, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abysses and monsters, of terrible carvings and statues, of inhuman
captors and grotesque tortures, and of other fantastic abnormalities
--
key to unknown elder worlds and abysses beyond time. Almost
immediately, however, the unrolling of one end shewed that the
--
the Spaniard and myself was one of such abysmal timelessnessof such
unholy and unearthly eternitythat the scant four hundred years between
--
pillars in the path of the primordial abyss-denizens. The Indian,
however, had broken through these; so that Zamacona did not find his
--
menis the one precious metal of the blue-lighted abyss. None knows
what it is or where it occurs in Nature, and the amount of it on this
--
underground world, which stretched down to unfathomable abysses and
which included besides the blue-litten region a red-litten region
--
the abyss. Charging Buffalo knew of Zamaconas journey into the earth.
Would he tell Coronado, or somehow let a report get to the great
--
Nkais black abyss with their great atom-power searchlights they found
living thingsliving things that oozed along stone channels and
--
to Yoth to find the closed gate of the black abyss and see what might
still lie beneath. But they could not find the gate, nor could any man
--
doubted that any abyss had ever existed, but the few scholars who could
still decipher the Yothic manuscripts believed that the evidence for
--
persistent curiosity regarding the ultimate abyss of Nkai, beneath
red-litten Yoth, whose existence the dominant religious cults of
--
abyss, but it is not dematerialised. The padding grew more distinct,
and from the mechanical cast of the tread I knew it was a dead thing
1f.lovecraft - The Music of Erich Zann, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
seething abysses of clouds and smoke and lightning. And then I thought
I heard a shriller, steadier note that was not from the viol; a calm,
--
for this or for the loss in undreamable abysses of the closely written
sheets which alone could have explained the music of Erich Zann.
1f.lovecraft - The Nameless City, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
had been seeking, the opening to those remoter abysses whence the
sudden wind had blown; and I grew faint when I saw that it was a small
--
abyss. Once when the descent grew amazingly steep I recited something
in sing-song from Thomas Moore until I feared to recite more:
--
As in that Palaeozoic and abysmal place I felt of such things as
polished wood and glass I shuddered at the possible implications. The
--
Reaching down from the passage into the abyss was the head of a steep
flight of stepssmall numerous steps like those of the black passages I
--
fear; for the luminous abyss and what it might contain presented a
problem worthy of the greatest explorer. That a weird world of mystery
--
dread I felt at the abysmal antiquity of the scene and its soul. An
ancientness so vast that measurement is feeble seemed to leer down from
--
of the abyss each sunset and sunrise, one of which had indeed served to
reveal the hidden tunnels to me. I looked at my watch and saw that
--
phosphorescent abyss. Such fury I had not expected, and as I grew aware
of an actual slipping of my form toward the abyss I was beset by a
thousand new terrors of apprehension and imagination. The malignancy of
--
saw outlined against the luminous aether of the abyss what could not be
seen against the dusk of the corridora nightmare horde of rushing
1f.lovecraft - The Night Ocean, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abysses of my own spirit, I was ridden by a feeling which was not of
fear or despair, or anything akin to these, but was rather a perception
1f.lovecraft - The Other Gods, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abysses . . . That cursed, that damnable pit . . . Merciful gods of
earth, I am falling into the sky!
1f.lovecraft - The Rats in the Walls, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
rained down on the stinking abyss and fell to devouring beasts and man
alike.
1f.lovecraft - The Shadow out of Time, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
object which wouldif real and brought out of that noxious abysshave
formed irrefutable evidence. When I came upon the horror I was
--
blindly through time from some unsuspected abyss in Nature? Were these
faint cases monstrous, sinister experiments of a kind and authorship
--
natural agesforms always, despite the abysmal horrors often unveiled,
the supreme experience of life.
--
screaming as I plunged madly up from the abyss of sleep.
Only after weeks of hideous repetition did I grow half-reconciled to
--
earths inner abysses to the variable, storm-ravaged surface, since
light meant nothing to them. Perhaps, too, they were slowly weakening
--
nether abysses and against whose wind-like, invisible forces the
trap-doors were sealed and the sleepless sentinels posted.
--
devoutly hope, that hellish abyss is never found.
Wingate took me to Perth July 20, though declining to abandon the
--
doubtful abyssand at a time when ones whereabouts were unknown to any
living soulseems like the utter apex of insanity. Perhaps it wasyet
--
Onward through the blackness of the abyss I leaped, plunged, and
staggeredoften falling and bruising myself, and once nearly shattering
--
trap-door with the cool, damp wind, yawning unguarded down to abysses
past imagination.
--
world if it truly existedif the whole abyss truly existedif I, and
the world itself, truly existed.
--
silent panic past the draught-giving abyss and those lurking
suggestions of prints. I lessened my precautions as I climbed up the
--
black abysses below the chasm.
My wavering torch was growing feeble, but I could tell by some obscure
--
an abyss beneath it, a monstrous revelation from the past, and a
nightmare horror at the endbut how much of this was real? My
--
Had there been such a caseor any abyssor any mound? Raising my head,
I looked behind me, and saw only the sterile, undulant sands of the
--
that abyss was real, then the Great Race was realand its blasphemous
reachings and seizures in the cosmos-wide vortex of time were no myths
--
weakening in black abysses while varied shapes of life drag out their
multimillennial courses on the planets age-racked surface?
I do not know. If that abyss and what it held were real, there is no
hope. Then, all too truly, there lies upon this world of man a mocking
--
it in that frightful megalithic abyss, I saw that the queerly pigmented
letters on the brittle, aeon-browned cellulose pages were not indeed
1f.lovecraft - The Shadow over Innsmouth, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
downward in the marine abyss just beyond Devil Reef. That item,
gathered by chance in a haunt of sailors, seemed indeed rather
--
unimaginable abysses in time and space, and the monotonously aquatic
nature of the reliefs became almost sinister. Among these reliefs were
--
into unnamable abysses of blackness and alienage; and the process told
heavily on me. My health and appearance grew steadily worse, till
--
brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to
Cyclopean and many-columned Yha-nthlei, and in that lair of the Deep
1f.lovecraft - The Shunned House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abysmal loneness; with hostility surging from all sides upon some
prison where I lay confined. I seemed bound and gagged, and taunted by
1f.lovecraft - The Strange High House in the Mist, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
ancient door of nail-studded oak beyond which lay only the abyss of
white cloud. Olney started in fright, but the bearded man motioned him
--
abyss, and the seeker of dreams must take care not to stir up or meet
the wrong ones.
--
primal Nodens, Lord of the Great abyss. And the conches of the tritons
gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on
1f.lovecraft - The Temple, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
darkness, remoteness, antiquity, and mystery of the oceanic abysses.
His mind was tired, but I am always a German, and was quick to notice
--
for as the temple drew me more and more, I feared its aqueous abysses
with a blind and mounting terror. Returning to the submarine, I turned
1f.lovecraft - The Thing on the Doorstep, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
to abysses of nighted secrets, of complex angles that lead through
invisible walls to other regions of space and time, and of hideous
--
intrusion of some sort from the black abyss.
He did not speak until we were on a dark stretch of road, and when he
--
There was a hint of the abysmally sardonic in everything the creature
saidthe Asenath-like eyes lent a special and baffling mockery to
1f.lovecraft - The Transition of Juan Romero, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
heaved as in a tempest. Upon investigation it was seen that a new abyss
yawned indefinitely below the seat of the blast; an abyss so monstrous
that no handy line might fathom it, nor any lamp illuminate it.
--
few yards ahead of me. I had arrived at the abyss, which was now redly
aglow, and which had evidently swallowed up the unfortunate Romero.
--
caused extensive caving in, and had completely closed the deep abyss
which had created so much apprehension the day before. When I asked the
1f.lovecraft - The Whisperer in Darkness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
winging its way across unimaginable abysses from unimaginable outer
hells. It is more than two years now since I last ran off that
--
inhabits strangely organised abysses wholly beyond the utmost reach
of any human imagination. The space-time globule which we recognise
--
with the vast outsideto come close to the nighted and abysmal secrets
of the infinite and the ultimatesurely such a thing was worth the risk
--
the monstrous abyss. I wondered what beings he had talked with since
his last letter to me, and whether many of them had been as human as
--
yourself, and to shew them the great abysses that most of us have had
to dream about in fanciful ignorance. It may seem strange at first to
--
I knew that I was under the same roof with nameless things from abysmal
space; for those two voices were unmistakably the blasphemous buzzings
1f.lovecraft - The White Ship, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
down to abysmal nothingness. Then did the bearded man say to me with
tears on his cheek: We have rejected the beautiful Land of Sona-Nyl,
1f.lovecraft - Through the Gates of the Silver Key, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
abyss of unnamable Devourers. For HE isUMR AT-TAWIL, the Most Ancient
One, which the scribe rendereth as THE PROLONGED OF LIFE.
--
earths dimensional extension, but now the hush of the abyss seemed to
fall upon everything. Despite his intimations of body, he had no
--
the unknown and formless cosmic abyss beyond the Ultimate Gate. And
elsewhere, in a chaos of scenes whose infinite multiplicity and
--
substance he flung into the abyss:
I accept. I will not retreat.
--
the PRESENCE in the limitless abyss, and all the other Carters his
fancy or perception envisaged.
--
abyssformless, ineffable, and guessed at only by rare dreamers on the
low-dimensioned worlds. Chief among such was this informing BEING
--
ultimate abyss he was equidistant from every facet of his
archetypehuman or non-human, earthly or extra-earthly, galactic or
--
the all-petrifying cold of the ultimate abyss. Bands and rays of colour
utterly foreign to any spectrum of our universe played and wove and
--
You have found these things of the abyss hard to believe, he said,
but you will find the tangible and material things ahead still harder.
--
just awaked from a dream. The ultimate abyssthe BEINGan entity of
absurd, outlandish race called Randolph Carter on a world of the
--
The now inaccessible BEING of the abyss had warned him to be sure of
his symbols, and had doubtless thought he lacked nothing.
--
lore of Yaddith in finding a way back to the abyss and the omnipotent
ENTITY. With his new knowledge he could have done much toward reading
--
aeon-long flight through fathomless abysses. He knew, too,
thatassuming his voyage succeededhe must immunise himself to the
1f.lovecraft - Under the Pyramids, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
and abysmal pharaonic heart.
Then the dream-faces took on human resemblances, and I saw my guide
--
I nearly forgot the horrors of the abysmal descent and cavernous
swinging which had so lately reduced me to a coma. My present thought
--
abysses, which only winged invisible kas and soulless mummies may visit
and return unscathed.
--
any terrible shaft, measureless abyss, or interminable rope. Was I
after all in the gateway temple of Khephren beside the Sphinx, and had
--
entrance to the abyss, I strove to keep track of this landmark and to
walk consistently toward it.
--
which began with the shock of my descent into that abyss and ended with
the healing balm of the outer air and of the rising sun which found me
--
of the Dead, which licks its colossal chops in the unsuspected abyss,
fed hideous morsels by soulless absurdities that should not exist. The
1.fs - Cassandra, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
When is seen its dark abyss?"
"With her heart in vision burning,
1.fs - Fridolin (The Walk To The Iron Factory), #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
And point into the fell abyss:
"He's cared forall is at an end!
1.fs - Hero And Leander, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
The cliffs of fair abydos rise
Afarher lover's home.
1.fs - Parables And Riddles, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
That hangs within the dark abyss.
In the same moment they can ne'er
1.fs - Pompeii And Herculaneum, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
What yieldest thou?is there life in the abyss
Doth a new race beneath the lava dwell?
1.fs - The Alpine Hunter, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
O'er the chasm's dark abyss
Leaps with spring of daring might;
1.fs - The Lay Of The Mountain, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
To the solemn abyss leads the terrible path,
The life and death winding dizzy between;
1.fs - The Proverbs Of Confucius, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
Thou must tempt the dark abyss
Wouldst thou prove what Being is.
1.fs - The Walk, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
Into the mountain's abyss boldly the miner descends.
Mulciber's anvil resounds with the measured stroke of the hammer;
1.jk - Endymion - Book I, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
Alone preserved me from the drear abyss
Of death, for the fair form had gone again.
1.jk - Endymion - Book II, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
Curves hugely: now, far in the deep abyss,
It seems an angry lightning, and doth hiss
--
And down some swart abysm he had gone,
Had not a heavenly guide benignant led
1.jk - Endymion - Book III, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
To watch the abysm-birth of elements.
Aye, 'bove the withering of old-lipp'd Fate
--
My strange love cameFelicity's abyss!
She came, and thou didst fade, and fade away
1.jk - Endymion - Book IV, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
I saw parch'd abyssinia rouse and sing
To the silver cymbals' ring!
1.jk - Isabella; Or, The Pot Of Basil - A Story From Boccaccio, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
"A Seraph chosen from the bright abyss
"To be my spouse: thy paleness makes me glad;
1.jk - Song Of The Indian Maid, From Endymion, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
I saw parch'd abyssinia rouse and sing
To the silver cymbals' ring!
1.jlb - The instant, #Borges - Poems, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
Between dawn and night there is an abyss
of agonies, of lights, of cares;
1.lovecraft - Nemesis, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
--
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
1.lovecraft - Revelation, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Heav'ns abyss I sought to scale,
Ever wiser, ever sadder,
1.lovecraft - The Poe-ets Nightmare, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
To spheres of darkness, to abysmal voids
That know the pulses of disorder'd force.
1.pbs - Alastor - or, the Spirit of Solitude, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Down the abyss? Shall the reverting stress
Of that resistless gulf embosom it?
--- Overview of verb aby
The verb aby has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts)
1. expiate, aby, abye, atone ::: (make amends for; "expiate one's sins")
--- Grep of noun aby
aby moritz warburg
aby warburg
abydos
abyla
abysm
abyss
abyssal zone
abyssinia
abyssinian
abyssinian banana
abyssinian cat
baby
blue baby
bush baby
bushbaby
common wallaby
crybaby
hare wallaby
low-birth-weight baby
lullaby
nail-tailed wallaby
newborn baby
premature baby
preterm baby
rock wallaby
sassaby
test-tube baby
tree wallaby
wallaby
war baby