The reintegration of Man is a wide process: Man has to achieve unity within himself, and also unity with the Universe: 'They know not why they love nor wherefore they sicken and die. Calling that holy love which is Envy, Revenge and Cruelty Which separated the stars from the mountains, the mountains from man, and left Man, a little grovelling Root outside of himself.' (Keynes, I Vol., 580)." (From Denis Seurat's Introduction to his book, God's of the people, London: John Westhouse Publishing Ltd,1947.)

"The truth is that Christ did not send me forth to baptize you but to proclaim the gospel. Moreover, it was not to be a wisdom relying on mere words that I was to employ in so doing, as I wanted to avert all danger that Christ's cross might be emptied of all meaning."   _{1 Cor 1:17}

THE   TSUNAMI   AND   THE   ABORIGINES

Anwar Ahmad Khan's complaint will, no doubt, strike a chord in many hearts: "That our emergency responses are still predicated on a decision-making process centred in meetings around a conference table in this day and age is worse than absurd - it is criminal." Crime or not, however, the present and pressing need is for solutions to problems and difficulties; recriminations are unlikely to prove helpful.

According to India's Union Tribal Affairs Minister P. R. Kyndiah, speaking in New Delhi on 14 January 2005, all the aborigines of Andaman and Nicobar Islands were safe though some tribes, including the Nicobaris, Sentinelese and Shompen, had been hit by the deadly tsunami waves on 26 December last. "All tribes including Ongei, Sentinel and Jarwa in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are safe," he said. "There is no question of extinction of any tribe. The natural instinct of the local tribes also helped them find safe shelter just before the Tsunami waves struck."

The Nicobaris were the worst hit with 26,156 of the total population of 42,068 taking shelter in camps. In Andaman, out of a total of three lakh, 37,264 were now living in camps. Central government and the local administration's main concern was to rehabilitate the affected people before the likely onset of the monsoon at the end of April. They had already "fine-tuned and streamlined the entire relief operations in the islands," he claimed, adding that a total of 1,400 tribals had lost their lives, while about 5,000 were still missing, 4354 from Katchal Island alone. "Of the total 319 islands only 38 islands are inhabited; the most affected have been Car Nicobar and Katchal Islands."

If what I saw for myself on television is anything to go by, the Sentinelese were especially fortunate. Not only are they safe, they appear to have experienced none of the traumatic consequences of the tsunami itself - even though the wave swept right over them! Clearly, their particular traditional brand of natural instinct harmonises even today with their own local variety of "common-sense" to a much greater degree than did that of Noah's compatriots with theirs in those far off Old Testament times of Universal Flood the Book of Genesis describes for us in detail.

I+N The Name of G-d, the Merciful & Compassionate Lord of Might & Majesty, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Praise Be to The Most Holy Trinity with Whose Praise through, with & I+N Jesus-I+N-Mary every communication and each word commences. Amen.

Dear Sister-&-Brothers I+N Jesus-I+N-Mary,

Prayerful Greetings & Best Wishes!

The PRIMORDIAL TRADITION, as my anonymous Predecessor wisely confirmed in 1965 in entrusting to Us, in his Last Will & Testament, the joyful task of freely transmitting that same Hermetic Legacy to future generations, “lives not thanks to organisations, but rather in spite of them” (Meditations On The Tarot, Element Books 1991, p.569). Rudyard Kipling was also sensitively attuned to this essential truth of daily experience, and a deep and concerned appreciation of its ever present importance obliged another Friend of Creativity House, the now Ascended Mistress of the Rainbow Program, Joan D'Arcy Cooper, shortly before her own death in 1982 orally to express real reservations about the value of any written documents - particularly those which she herself had written (cf. Plato's Seventh Letter, translated by R. S. Bluck, in Plato's Life and Thought, London, 1949 and the quasi-parallel remarks of Saint Thomas Aquinas, shortly before his death, cited in P. Mandonnet “La Canonisation de S. Thomas d'Aquin”, in Mélanges Thomistes, 1923).

Attempts to subordinate the important to the urgent are unwise, since “the fundamental principle of HERMETICISM - as the synthesis of MYSTICISM, GNOSIS, MAGIC & PHILOSOPHY - is non-specialisation”. That is why, as has been written: “The planetary influences and the days and hours of these influences have given way to a power of a higher order. It is true that the day Sunday is the day of the Sun with respect to the human psycho-physical organism, but nowadays it is the day of RESURRECTION, with respect to man's psycho-spiritual life. Saturday is still the day of Saturn, but it is so only with regard to the natural, lower part of the human being. For the soul which turns towards the spirit and for the human spirit itself, Saturday is the day of the HOLY VIRGIN. And the influence of Venus has given way to Calvary, to CHRIST CRUCIFIED - Friday. Tuesday is no longer the day of Mars - for the soul that aspires to the spirit, or for spiritual personages - it is the day of the Archistrategist MICHÆL. Similarly, with respect to the soul turned towards the spirit and with respect to the lives of spiritual personages, Monday is the day of the HOLY TRINITY, instead of being that of the Moon… Wednesday is the day of the human pastors of mankind, instead of Mercury… and Thursday is the day of the HOLY SPIRIT, instead of Jupiter.

Consequently, sacred magic of the present day uses formulæ and signs which correspond to the supernatural power of the day and not to the natural planetary influence of the day, although, I repeat, the latter remain valid in a restricted domain - more restricted than in the past - and remain of practical value in this domain…” (Meditations..., p.458). More generally, I+N the interests of Peace & of a True, Primordially Catholic Ecumenism all Constitutions, Legal Codes, Regulations & other Institutional Enactments devised for the Common Good (The Ten Commandments not excepted) are here and now* pronounced to be valid only as and when so interpreted I+N such a sense as fully to conform to The Neith Network Core-Program for Planet Earth. (The Preliminary LibrArian emeritus initiated this self-evidently valid proclamation in 1997, when he also invited other signatories to circulate further copies of this document in any language or format is found helpful .)

So Mote It Be! Thus we discern, approve, determine, order, sanction and resonate, anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

(signed) Shivananda
Creativity House, EXETER.
Saint Valentine's Day: Saturday, 14 February 1998
________________

* Note: As is transparently clear, the contrast here made between “now” or “nowadays” and “in the past” does not primarily point to any particular more or less evidently established chronological difference between publicly and conventionally accepted temporal periods before and after the historical Advent of Jesus of Nazareth. My immediate Predecessor consistently respected and honoured both established science and established religion, and all his words were - and still are - inspired by, spoken in and addressed directly to each prepared Individual in the private forum of that person's conscience…
“Resurrection is not an all-powerful divine act, but rather the effect of the meeting and union of Divine Love, Hope & Faith with human love, hope and faith” (Meditations on the Tarot, pp.571-2).

 

WRITE

|

RITE  -  WRI+THE -  RIGHT

|

WRIGHT

The Preliminary LibrArian's Mandala

 

Write

KA: Write

(Double, Mind, The Body of Experience)

 

Rite Writhe Right

KHU: Rite HAIDIT: Writhe SÂHU: Right

(Magical Body) (Shadow) (Spiritual Body)

 

Wright

AUFU: Wright

(The Physical Body)

Note: For a detailed explanation of COLIN JAMES HAMER's Mandala, as illustrated above, cf his series of three articles in the Writers' Review. For a helpful account of Ancient Egyptian traditional teaching as regards both the differentiation of two souls (the perishable SOKHIM and the practically immortal BA) and the integration of five bodies within the sphere of influence of One Life Force (SA) cf ROBERT MASTERS, The Goddess Sekhmet - The Way of the Five Bodies (New York: Amity House 1988).
Masters there mentions two common shortcomings of present-day Yoga, viz., its bias againstsiddhis and its inadequate attention to chakras. JOAN D'ARCY COOPER's The Ancient Teaching of Yoga and The Spiritual Evolution of Man (London, Research Publishing Co., 1979) is excellent on the chakras and her account of kundalini is, Colin believes, better than that which Masters provides.
For siddhis Colin particularly recommends FRANKLIN JONES, The Method of the Siddhas (Los Angeles: Dawn Horse Press 1973).
MAX FREEDOM LONG's What Jesus Taught in Secret - A Huna Interpretation of the Four Gospels (DeVorss Publications, Marina del Rey, CA, 1983, 6th printing 1999) is psychologically, if not theologically, helpful.

Metalogue - The Vision Thing: InciteYoga

METHOD I+N THEOLOGY

"Graciously hear us,   Lord,   holy Father,  almighty eternal G-d, and   deign to
send your holy Angel from heaven, to guard, cherish, protect, visit and defend
all residents in this tiny dwelling-place"   _{.... i.e., the manifest cosmos}

See the thunder; hear the lightning…

Many current attitudes, beliefs and practical approaches widely reputed to be
well established have, in fact, long been in need of radical and urgent rethinking.

A   T R E A S U R Y   O F   B O O K S

This edition copyright © COLIN JAMES HAMER 2006
All cited quotations copyright © the copyright-owners

The Neith Network Library: Policy Statement
Colin James Hamer's Nuptial Theology
Euphobia in the Rift Valley by J. D. Solomon

Preface      Abbreviations      Introduction
Letter to Shirley Williams      Prologue & Preliminaries      The Preliminary Letter

     

The Declaration of Arbroath

Canon M. T. COOMBE, The Plumb Line - Short Lenten Reflectionss (Ilfracombe: Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd, 2005).
Thirty-three Preliminary Readings for Comment, Meditation-Mediation and Discussion
A List of Colin's Writings      Bibles & other Sacred Books      The Lady of All Nations
Women's Studies, Feminist Theology, Mary Magdalen (Leonarda da Vinci, Rennes-le-Château, Rosslyn, The Grail Quest…)
St. Paul's Shipwreck & Prehistoric Malta      Religion & Life in the times of Jesus Christ

"What does the Bible actually say about Noah's Great Flood?" - Genesis 5:28-8:22
Pre-History, Earth Studies, Numbers & Sacred Geometry
Universal Deluge: Gilgamesh, Noah's Flood, Tsunamis & other Inundations
Pyramids, Megaliths, Stonehenge, Ley-Lines & Landscape Zodiacs
History & Myth, Science & Religion of & in Ancient Times
Atlantis, Tiahuanaco & Titicaca      Malta, Gozo & Menorca      Ancient Egypt, Akhenaton & The Exodus

Extra-Terrestrials & The Garden of Eden
Buddhists, Hindu, Islamic, Tao…
Conspiracy Theories, Globalisation, Creativity & The New World Order
St. Malachy, Nostradamus & other Prophetic Spirits

Poetry, Prayer, Music & Dance
Avatars, Bhoddisattvas, Gurus, Saints & Other Venerables
Nature's Way: Shamans, Druids, Alternative & Complementary Medicine
Acupuncture, Shiatsu, T'ai Chi, Feng-Shui, & The Tao
Ayurveda, Huna & inciteYoga
Warlocks, Witches, Wizards & the Pagan Dawn      Robin Hood in Myth, History & Legend
Where is Glastonbury?      Mysticism, Gnosis, Magic & Hermetic Philosophy      Freemasonry
Eroticism & Sexuality - Normal, Deviant & Problematic       Occult & Esoteric Approaches

Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy & Divinity      The Question of Method
Reading, Writing and All about Books      Ready Reference
Primary & Quasi-Primary Souces      General Reference
Recapitulation, Second Reminders & Titles Recently Added

The present Preliminary LibrArian's Mandala very briefly explained.
The Neith Network Library Primordial Wisdom Collection & The Creativity House Archive.
Financial Contributions to help our Rainbow Programme grow…
Acknowledgments and Copyright Notice       Prior Arrangement

THIRTY-THREE READINGS FOR COMMENT, MEDITATION-MEDIATION AND DISCUSSION

• (o) THE DECLARATION OF ARBROATH Translated by Agnes Mure Mackzenie and here published [with added notes] honour, respect and thank all good fighting men and women, living or dead.
• (i) SRI AUROBINDO, “Out of the voiceless mystery of the past” from Savitri - A Symbol & a Legend, Canto 3 (4th revised edition, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram 1988).
• (ii) Millennium Prayer (Matthew James Publishing Ltd., 1997).
• (iii) Dies Irae, English version from Missale Anglicanum - The English Missal, third edition (London: W. Knott & Sons Ltd., 1934), p.620, with the Preliminary LibrArian's annotations, typographic highlighting, and preferred spelling of “G-d”.
• (iv) The Neith Network Whole Earth Approved Policy Statement.
• (v) The Preliminary LibrArian's Nuptial Theology:
• (vi) Euphobia in the Rift Valley by J. D. Solomon
• 0. JAMES GLEICK, Nature's Chaos (Cardinal Books 1991), Photographer Eliot Porter's Foreword, pp. 6-7:
• 1. HEINZ W. CASSIRER, God's New Covenant - A New Testament Translation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1989), pp.267-9, “The Apostles And Their Deeds” - Ac 26:1-32.
• 1*. ERICH AUERBACH, translated by Willard R. Trask, Mimesis - The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (Princeton University Press, 1953, 2003). Originally written in Istanbul between May 1942 and April 1945, first published in Switzerland in 1946, still widely admired and studied.
• 2. JOSÉ ARGÜELLES, Surfers of the Zuvuya (Santa Fe: Bear & Company 1989) includes “Merlyn - A Song of the Crystal Earth”, received 25 March and transcribed 28 March 1988 by the faithful servant of the Zuvuya, Uncle Joe.
• 3. HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XII, “Broadcast Appeal for Peace, August 24, 1939”, English translation in Documents (Miscellaneous No.9, 1939) concerning German-Polish Relations and the Outbreak of Hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939 (Cmd. 6106, London: HMSO 1939), pages190-2.
• 4. RUDYARD KIPLING, “The Disciple” in The Complete Verse (revised edition, London: Kyle Cathie Limited 1996), pages 642-3.
• 5. JOHN NORRIS, To Darkness.
• 6. J. H. LEIGH HUNT, Abou Ben Adhem.
• 7. ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER, A Weaving Song.
• 8. THOMAS CHILD, “The New Church, commonly called Swedenborgian” in Religious Systems of the World - A Contribution to the Study of Comparative Religion, a collection of Addresses delivered at South Place Institute now revised and in some cases rewritten by the authors, together with some others specially written for this volume (ninth edition, London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, Limited, July 1908), pages 652-6.
• 9. PHILLIP A. HISLOP, “Of Man” in his Danger at the Edge of Time (1995), pages 2-4.
• 10. BERNARDUS LONERGAN S.I., Divinarum Personarum conceptionem analogicam evolvit (editio altera ad usum auditorum, Romæ: apud Aedes Universitatis Gregorianæ 1959), pp.7-9.
• 11. CESARE MOLINARI, Teatro - Lo spettacolo drammatico nei momenti della sua storia dalle origini ad oggi (Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore 1972), p.14; translated from the Italian by Colin Hamer as Theatre through the ages, (London: Cassell 1975), pp.13-14.
• 12. MICHÆL SOKOLOFF, Préface à MITSOU NASLEDNIKOV (MA ANAND MARGO), Le Chemin de l'Extase - Tantra: vers une nouvelle sexualité (Paris: Albin Michel 1981), p.4.
• 13. J. MURRAY ALLISON, “On Advertising - some facts about selling through advertisements which will enable the lay reader to understand its principles and acquire a better understanding of its value” in the special Daily Dispatch edition of the British Empire Universities Modern English Dictionary containing illustrations in colour and in monochrome, maps in colour, and the latest census, with a reference library & treasury of facts, revised after the best and latest authorities on language, under the chief editorship of the Reverend Edward D. Price, editor of Hazell's Annual Cyclopædia (1886-01), The Student's Imperial Dictionary (1904), The Pearl Cyclopædia of Universal Information (1892), Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (1904 edition), and W. G. Hartog, MA, LittD, FRSL (London: The Sydicate Publishing Company 1924), page *a.
• 14. BONNIE GAUNT, “The Language of the Universe” in Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid - Window on the Universe (510 Golf Avenue, Jackson, Michigan, 1993), pages 1-3.
• 15. ALAN S. DUTHIE, “Opening up the question” in How To Choose Your Bible Wisely (2nd revised edition, Swindon: Bible Society 1995), pp.11-13.
• 16. MORTIMER J. ADLER, How to Read a Book - a Guide to Self-Education (London: Jarrolds 1939), pp.15-17.
• 17. GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection" in SACRED CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP, The Divine Office - The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite (3 volumes, London & Glasgow: Collins, Sydney: E.J.Dwyer, Dublin: Talbot, 1974), Vol.1: Advent, Christmastide & Weeks 1-9 of the Year, pp.609*-10*; Vol.2: Lent and Eastertide, pp.637*-38*; Vol.3: Weeks of the Year 6-34, pp.802*-03*.
• 18. HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI, Letter in Sagrada Biblia - version directa de las lenguas originales, Hebrea y Griega, al Castellano (36th edition, Madrid: Biblioteca de Auctores Cristianos 1979), pp.vii-viii.
• 19. ARNOLD TOYNBEE, Foreword to MARCEL DUNAN, General Editor, with JOHN BOWLE, English Advisory Editor, Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History (London: Paul Hamlyn 1963), p.10.
• 20. LEO SHERLEY-PRICE, S. Francis of Assisi - His Life and Writings as recorded by his contemporaries: a new version of The Mirror of Perfection together with a complete collection of all the known writings of the Saint, translated into English (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Limited 1959), pp.125-7.
• 21. GESHE LHARAMPA NGAWANG DHARGYEY, A Commentary on the Kalacakra Tantra, as presented at Sakya Tegchen Choling, Seattle, Washington, 3 April - 12 June 1982, and translated by Allan Wallace (Gelong Jhampa Kelsang), a manual to be read only by those who have received the Kalacakra Initiation (Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives 1985), pp.5-6.
• 22. DIANE WOLKSTEIN & SAMUEL NOAH KRAMER, Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth - Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (Harper & Row 1983), pp.4-9.
• 23. REINHOLD STECHER, “Challenge to the Church”, translation of a recent letter from the Bishop of Innsbrück published in The Tablet (20/27 December 1997, pp.1668-9), by gracious permission.
• 24. BERNARD LONERGAN, S.J., "A Supplementary Note", from Method in Theology (Darton, Longman & Todd 1972), pp. 265-66. Does this imply an "enstatic conversion", as I first suggested on 12 July 1995?
• 25. FOSTER BAILEY, The "Ancient Landmarks", in The Spirit of Masonry (Lucis Trust 1957), pp.60-63, 65-67.

What does the Bible actually say about Noah's Great Flood? - Genesis 5:28-8:22

The Declaration of Arbroath

Translated by Agnes Mure Mackenzie [with added notes] and here published to
honour, respect and thank all good fighting men and women, living or dead.

"To our Lord and very Holy Father in Christ, Lord John, the Supreme Pontiff, by G-d's Providence, of the Most Holy Roman and Catholic Church, his humble and devoted sons" - here follow the names of the Nobles and Commons in Parliament assembled [The Arbroath letter went in the names of eight earls (Fife, Moray, March, Strathearn, Lennox, Ross, Caithness, Sutherland), Walter the Stewart, William de Soules the butler, James Douglas, Roger de Moubray, David Brechin, David Graham, Ingram de Umfraville, John Menteith, tutor of the earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay the Constable, Robert Keith the Marischal, Henry Sinclair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton, William Abernethy, David Wemyss, William Muschet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsay, William Mowat, Alan Murray, Donald Campbell, John Cameron, Reginald Cheyne, Alexander Seton, Andrew Leslie, Alexander Straiton, the remaining barons and freeholders, and the whole community of the realm of Scotland - deliberately, the clergy were not mentioned separately but implicitly, as within the community.] and "other barons and freeholders, with the whole Commons of the Kingdom of Scotland. With all filial reverence devoutly do we kiss your blessed feet.["Reign" closer to Latin sense than "Kingdom".]

From the deeds alike and the books of our forefathers, we understand, most Holy Lord and Father, that among other noble nations our own, the Scottish, grows famous for many men [no gender-discrimination nor lack of consideration for children's dignity implied]of wide renown. The which scottish nation, journeying from Greater Scythia by the Tyrrhene Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, could not in any place or time or manner be overcome by the barbarians, though long dwelling in Spain among the fiercest of them. Coming thence, twelve hundred years after the transit of Isræl, with many victories and with many toils they won that habitation in the West, which, though the Britons have been driven out, the Picts effaced, and Norwegians, danes and English have often assailed it, they hold now, in freedom from all vassalage [excluding, therefore, any dependence on multinational corporations or other alien interests of any kind - Afghans, Iraqis, autochthonous Palestinians and people of Cornwall, please note. ]: and as the old historians bear witness, have ever so held it. In this kingdom have reigned [exactly; not "ruled".]a hundred and thirteen kings of their own Blood Royal, and no man foreign has been among them. Of their merits and their noble qualities we need say no more, for they are bright enough by this alone, that though they were placed in the furthest ends of the earth, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the King of Kings, called them among the first to His most firm faith, after His Passion and His Resurrection. Nor did He choose to confirm them in the Lord's Faith by any one less than His own first Apostle (although he stands second or third in order of rank) the most gracious Andrew, brother of Peter's self, whom ever since he has established their Patron.

Bearing all these things carefully in mind, those holiest of fathers, your predecessors, have adorned and fortified this kingdom and people, as belonging specially to Peter's brother, with many favours and many privileges. Thus our nation till now has lived under their protection in peace and quiet, till the Magnificent Prince, Edward King of the English [nothing like present U.S. and U.K. seemingly fully official lack of courteous respect for Saddam Hussein, still a widely acknowledged Head of State], the father of the Edward that now is, did, under cover of alliance and friendship, invade and occupy as an enemy our kingdom and people ["and" here emphasises that, land, people and, normally, king are, like St Patrick's shamrock, three yet one.], who then had no head, who had in mind no evil towards him, and who then were unused to war or sudden invasion. What that king has done in wrongs and slaughter and violence, in imprisonings of the leaders of the Church, in burning and looting of religious houses and the massacre of their communities, with his other outrages on the Scottish people (sparing neither sex nor age nor priestly orders) is something that is not to be comprehended save by those who know these things from their own experience.

Yet, at last, by His help Who heals and sains ["heals" by making both "whole" and, so, "naturally holy", in the sense of also ecologically integrated - no alien vibes, electronic or otherwise! ] the wounded, we are freed from these innumerable evils by our most valiant Sovereign, King, and Lord, King Robert, who to set free his heritage and his people faced, like a new Maccabeus or Joshua, with joyful heart, toil, weariness, hardship, and dangers. By the Providence of G-d, the right of succession, those laws and customs which we are resolved to defend even with our lives, and by our own just consent, he is our King: and to him who has brought salvation to his people through the safeguarding of our liberties [like H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama], as much by his own deserving as by his rights, we hold and choose in all things to adhere. Yet Robert himself, should he turn aside from the task that he has begun, and yield Scotland or us to the English King and people, we should cast out as the enemy of us all, as suvberter of our rights and of his own, and should choose another king to defend our freedom: for so long as a hundred of us are left alive, we will yield in no least way to English dominion. We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honours; but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life [These sentiments echo those voiced, according to Sallust the historian, by one of Catiline's colleagues].

Because of these things, most reverend Father and Lord, praying earnestly from our hearts that before Him as Whose Vicar on Earth you reign, before Him to whom there is but a single weight, Who has one law [in the Ancient Egyptian sense: maat, the Tao - not Magna Carta or the North American Constitution or Canon Law…] for Jew and Greek and for Scots and English - before Him will with honesty consider the manifold anguish and tribulation which we and the Church [kinship, not tribalism is here focussed] have suffered through the English [Edward was not to blame; he was a fellow-victim of that structural sin which flows from Magna Carta], and will look upon us with a father's eye. We pray you to admonish the King of England (to whom his own possessions may well suffice, since England of old was enough for seven Kings or more) that he should leave us in peace in our little Scotland, since we desire no more than is our own ["Each plant best flowers in native earth" - St Francis of Sales.], and have no dwelling-place beyond our borders: and we on our part, for the sake of peace, are willing to do all within our power.

Most Holy Father, it is your part to do this, or surrender to the barbarity of the heathen, let loose for the sins of Christians on the Faithful, and daily forcing the bounds of Christendom, and you know it would mar the security of your fame if you looked unmoved on anything which in your time should bring dishonour on any part of the Church. [Although, as Thomas Bokenkotter has noted, Pope Boniface VIII's Bull, Unam Sanctam, of 18 November 1302, "set forth no new doctrines, … but merely reiterated in resounding trumpet blasts of Latin the traditional claim of the papacy to the ultimate sovereignty over the Christian European social order", in today's world, such functions as those of a Dalai Lama, Pope, Great British Sovereign, or Paramount Chief, are, as is already quite generally agreed and as, in fact, we said on 11 February last, appropriately complemented by this Webmaster (in retirement) & Master I+N The Sacred Page's present Office.] May Your Holiness therefore admonish those Christian princes who falsely claim that their own wars with their neighbours now hinder them from relieving the Holy Land: though indeed they are hindered only by their belief that they will find more profit and less toil in crushing neighbours smaller than themselves, who appear to them alser weaker than themselves. He Who knows all knows that if the King of the English would leave us in peace, we and our own Lord King would go joyfully thither; which thing we solemnly testify and declare to the Vicar of Christ and to all Christian people. But if too readily, or insincerely, you put your faith in what the English have told you, and continue to favour them, to our confounding, then indeed shall slaying of bodies, yea and of souls, and all those evils which they shall do to us, or we to them, be charged to your account by the Most High.

We are always bound to you [by the golden chains of kith-&-kindred loving kindness, amorevolezza and spirito di famiglia - if today's Mafia is bad, it is only because corruptio optimi pessima; millennia ago, omertà served all well…], as G-d's Viceregent, to please you by a son's obedience in all things. We remit our cause to the Highest King and Judge, casting our care on Him, in the hope and faith that He will grant to us both strength and valour, and bring about our enemies' overthrow.

May the Most High preserve for many years Your Serene Highness to His Holy Church.

Given at the Monaster of Arbroath in Scotland the sixth day of April in the year of Grace one thousand three hundred and twenty, and in the fifteenth year of the King named above." [Although this letter was penned by Abbot Bernard de Linton and sent from Arbroath to Pope John XXII, who was then in Avignon, in April 1320, it is believed that its terms were decided earlier that year during a council at the Cistercian abbey of Newbattle in Lothian. For helpful discussion cf G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1965.]

Savitri - A Symbol & A Legend: Canto III, 4th revised edition, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram 1993.

I+N appreciating Sri Aurobindo's promotion of some higher synthesis, the Preliminary LibrArian also wishes to thank Da Free John for wisely teaching us that that of Narcissus is the primary myth to be transcended - cf The Knee of Listening, San Rafæle: Dawn Horse Press 1973, reprinted 1988.

• (ii) Tantus Labor non sit cassus!

G-d of all ages, Lord of all times, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the origin and goal of everything that lives, yet you are ever close to those who call on you in faith. We look with expectant joy to the Jubilee of your Son's coming among us, two thousand years ago. We thank you for the years of favour with which you have blessed your people. Teach us to share justly the good things which come from your loving hand; to bring peace and reconciliation where strife and disorder reign; to speak out as advocates for those who have no voice; and to rejoice in a bond of prayer and praise with our sisters and brothers throughout the world. When Christ comes again in glory may he find us alive and active in faith, and so call us to that Kingdom where, with you and the Holy Spirit, he is G-d, to be praised, worshipped and glorified, both now and for ages to come. Amen.         (Millennium Prayer, Matthew James Publishing Ltd., 1997)

• (iii) Dies Iræ:

English version from Missale Anglicanum - The English Missal, third edition, London: W. Knott & Sons Ltd., 1934,, p.620, with the Preliminary LibrArian's annotations, typographic highlighting, and preferred spelling of “G-d”.

• 0. JAMES GLEICK, Nature's Chaos (Cardinal Books 1991, from Photographer Eliot Porter's Foreword, pp. 6-7):

"When I started selecting photographs for the book from the various places I had been... I discovered that I had many more photographs relevant to the concept than I had originally thought. In fact, there were so many appropriate images that it was difficult to reduce the selection to an acceptable number... I made a preliminary selection of 250 photographs. James Gleick reviewed the transparencies we had selected and, with his help and that of Eleanor Caponigro, the book's designer, we reduced the number of photographs to about 103 - 96 of which are previously unpublished. At that point it seemed virtually impossible to eliminate any more without discarding some that we considered especially appropriate and important for illustrating the idea. At the same time, the selection process seemed somewhat like a game of chance: it seemed to make little difference whether we eliminated a picture that was among our final selections and substituted one that we had excluded previously. This fact seemed to underscore how valid the concept of nature's chaos was in connection with these photographs…"

• 1. HEINZ W. CASSIRER, God's New Covenant - A New Testament Translation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1989), pp.267-9, “The Apostles And Their Deeds” 26:1-32 -
• ‘26 “You are permitted,” Agrippa said to Paul, “to speak on your own behalf.” Upon this, Paul stretched out his hand and began his defence:
• ²“As I set out, King Agrippa, to make my answer to all the charges brought against me by the Jews, I consider myself most fortunate that the man in whose presence I am about to make my defence today should be yourself, ³particularly since you are an expert in all matters Jewish, both our customs and our controversies. I therefore beg you to be patient and hear me out.
• ⁴“My manner of life from my youth up, the life which from the very beginning I led among my own people in Jerusalem, is common knowledge among the Jews. ⁵They, having known me for a long time, could easily testify, if they only would, that I lived in conformity with what is laid down by the strictest sect of our religion. In other words, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁶Moreover, if I am here on trial, it is by reason of the hope which I entertain that G-d will make good the promise he made to our forefathers, ⁷the very promise our twelve tribes hope to see fulfilled, as they are offering their service to G-d, with the greatest fervour, by day and by night. The matter stands like this then, your gracious majesty, that it is because of my entertaining the hope of which I have spoken that I am being called to account by the Jews. ⁸Why should that be so? Do you really consider it a thing past belief that G-d should raise the dead to life?
• ⁹“As for myself, there was a time when I became convinced in my own mind that it was my bounden duty to do many things in opposition to the very name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰And this is how I acted during my stay in Jerusalem. Many of those dedicated to G-d were thrown into prison by me - this being done on the authority of the chief priests - and when the question was whether they were to be sentenced to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹Moreover, in synagogue after synagogue I took frequent occasion to subject them to punishment and to force them into uttering blasphemies. And so great was my fury against them that I even pursued them into foreign cities.
• ¹²“On one such occasion I was travelling to Damascus, authorized and commissioned by the chief priests, ¹³when, your gracious majesty, in the middle of the day, as I was proceeding on my way, a light more brilliant than the light of the Sun made its appearance from the sky. And that light shone all around me and my travelling companions. ¹⁴We all fell to the ground and then I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you, kicking against the goad like this.’ 15‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked; and the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, the man whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶Enough of this: (Ezk 2:1) rise up and stand on your feet. For if I have appeared to you, that was for the purpose of appointing you as my servant and my witness, that you might testify to what you have seen of me and to what you shall yet see in the future. ¹⁷ (Jr 1:7) I shall bring you deliverance from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, ¹⁸that you may (Is 35:5; 42:7.16) open their eyes, and make them turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to G-d, so that, because of their trust in me, they may be granted forgiveness of their sins and receive a place by the side of those whose lives have been consecrated to G-d.’
• ¹⁹“In view of all this, King Agrippa, I had to be obedient to what had been told by the vision from heaven which I had seen. ²⁰I addressed myself first of all to the people of Damascus, and later to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and indeed, to all those living in the Judæan countryside, making proclamation to them as well as to the Gentiles that they were to repent, that they were to turn to G-d, and that their deeds were to be such as to be in keeping with a state of repentance. ²¹This is why the Jews apprehended me in the temple and sought to make an end of me. ²²However, I have G-d by my side to succour me, and so it is that, to this day, I stand upright, testifying to great and small alike. At the same time my assertions do not in any way go beyond what the prophets and Moses had foretold, ²³namely, that G-d's anointed one was bound to undergo suffering, and that he, being the first to rise from the dead, was destined to proclaim a light-bringing message to both the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
• ²⁴When Paul had come to this point in making his defence, Festus cried out in a loud voice, “Paul, you are mad; that great learning of yours is driving you into madness!” ²⁵“I am by no means mad, most noble Festus,” said Paul. “On the contrary, I am speaking nothing but the sober truth. ²⁶The king understands about these things, and that is why I am addressing myself to him, speaking out boldly. Indeed, I am convinced that the king cannot but be aware of these things, since it is not in some remote corner that they have been done. ²⁷Do you have faith in the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you have.” ²⁸“But a short time will pass,” was Agrippa's reply to Paul, “and you will be setting yourself the task of persuading me to turn Christian.” ²⁹“Be it short, be it long,” replied Paul, “my prayer to G-d is that not only you but also all those who have been listening to me today should become what I am - with the sole exception of these chains.”
• ³⁰The king then rose, and the Governor with him, as well as Bernice and the rest of the company. ³¹After they had left the auditorium they spoke these words, on having discussed the matter with one another: “This man has done nothing deserving of death or of a prison sentence.” ³²As for Agrippa, the words he addressed to Festus were these: “It would be permissible to set this man free but for the fact that he has appealed to the Emperor.” ’

• 1*. ERICH AUERBACH, translated by Willard R. Trask, Mimesis - The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (Princeton University Press, 1953, 2003). Originally written in Istanbul between May 1942 and April 1945, first published in Switzerland in 1946, still widely admired and studied; Edward W. Said's new introduction enhances the 2003 edition, which includes a never before translated into English essay in which Auerbach, who died in 1957, replied to various criticisms of the original work - a fascinating and detailed discussion not of "authors", but of a selection of partly biblical but for the most part non-biblical "texts" (almost all reproduced both in their original language and in English translation) by Homer, Petronius, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, St. Jerome, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Gregory of Tours, Chrétien de Troyes, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, Dante, Benvenuto da Imola, Boccaccio, Antoine de la Sale, Rabelais, Michel de Montaigne, Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, La Bruyère, Molière, Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Bossuet, the Abbé Prévost, Voltaire, Saint-Simon, Schiller, Gœthe, Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert, Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, Émile Zola, Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust, together with extracts from the Acta Sanctorum, the Chanson de Roland, the Chanson d'Alexis, the Mystère d'Adam, the fablel Du prestre qui ot mere a force and the Quinze Joyes de Mariage. I quote from the 1953 edition, pp. 326-8:

'All the terrible things which Macbeth has done and which he has suffered because of what he has done, have made him hard and fearless. He is no longer easily affrighted ("I have supp'd full with horrors"). Furthermore all his strength is concentrated for a last stand. At this moment comes the news of the death of his wife - the companion who first drove him into crime and yet in whom the strength to live has failed before it has in him -and plunges him, though only for a moment, into sombre brooding; it is a slackening of the tension, but one which can only lead to hopelessness, heaviness, and despair; yet it is heavy with humanity and wisdom too. Macbeth has become heavy with a self-acquired wisdom which has arisen for him from his own destiny, he has grown ripe for knowledge and death. This final ripeness he now attains, at the moment when his last and only human companion leaves him. As here from horror and tragedy, so, in another instance, it is from the grotesque and ridiculous that the man in all his purity arises, the man as he was really intended to be and as in fortunate moments he may possibly have realized himself. Polonius is a fool, he is silly and senile; but when he gives his blessing and final advice to his departing son (1, 3), he has the wisdom and the dignity of age.

But something else is to be noted here besides the great variety of phenomena to which we have referred above and the ever-varied nuances of the profoundly human mixture of high and low, sublime and trivial, tragic and comic. It is the conception, so difficult to formulate in clear terms although everywhere to be observed in its effects, of a basic fabric of the world, perpetually weaving itself, renewing itself, and connected in all its parts, from which all this arises and which makes it impossible to isolate any one event or level of style. Dante's general, clearly delimited figurality, in which everything is resolved in the beyond, in G-d's ultimate kingdom, and in which all characters attain their full realization only in the beyond, is no more. Tragic characters attain their final completion here below when, heavy with destiny, they become ripe like Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear. Yet they are not simply caught in the destiny allotted to each of them; they are all connected as players in a play written by the unknown and unfathomable Cosmic Poet; a play on which He is still at work, and the meaning and reality of which is as unknown to them as it is to us. Let me adduce in this connection a few lines from The Tempest (4, 1):

                                          ... these our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capp' towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind; we are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

• 2. JOSÉ ARGÜELLES, Surfers of the Zuvuya (Santa Fe: Bear & Company 1989) includes “Merlyn - A Song of the Crystal Earth”, received 25 March and transcribed 28 March 1988 by the faithful servant of the Zuvuya, Uncle Joe -

‘Merlyn
Nightseer
Who writes the crystal script
whose spectral robe
is the spiralling filament staircase
down which the 13 galactic rays descend
into Camelot's subterranean lake
where untold fragments of the one dream
swirl in numinous self-absorption
emitting strange electrical charges
attracting to each other
their own forgotten sources

Merlyn
surrendering to you
following you
I arrive at last
at the deepest point of your realm
the innermost Earth
which is also
the flight room of the mighty crystal ship
Excalibur

And there
in the Temple
called Refuge of the Dragon and the Grail
Merlyn's apprentices
Andor, the dragon-witted warrior
And Vi-El, the Grail-weaving far starborn princess
Stir the cauldron of unconditional love
no common mix
and yet this brew
pulsing with the harmony
of all the stars we have ever called home
bubbles and seeps through
the portholes connecting the larger collective soul-body
of this dear Earth
to its myriad individual dream-bodies
ourselves
now caught in our postures
of aggression, conflict and confusion

"Stir! Stir! Stir!"
Merlyn cries
"Make sure the recipe is correct
Mix in it the formulæ
that will register in the dreamers
as the alchemy of love
and the desire for magic
as ceremonial
as the Sun is pure!
Stir! Stir! Stir!"

This Earth is aching breaking shaking
its dream dragon body restless to emerge
crouches at the edge of the known
waiting for that ripe moment
to appear in all its rainbow wonder

O you apprentices of the crystal flight room
of Excalibur
Refuge of the Dragon and the Grail,
Andor and Vi-El,
I call to you from my sleep
on behalf of all the dreamers
of this planet
stir the potion well
that the Grail may appear
from within the dragon's
coiled tail
its cloud banks bursting
with light never before seen
by eyes of flesh

O Merlyn
from the rocks of Earth's far-flung island realms
appear simultaneously
in all of your shape-shifting forms
speaking the dawn
writing the power of the dream
with your crystal script
now
I call upon you
now
to cast your pan-harmonic spell
to wake the dreamers all
and stop their march
through this living hell

O Andor and Vi-El
cook in glee
the potion that returns
all memory for now I must awake with all
into the greater dream
or not awake at all.’

• 3. HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XII, “Broadcast Appeal for Peace, August 24, 1939”, English translation in Documents (Miscellaneous No.9, 1939) concerning German-Polish Relations and the Outbreak of Hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939 (Cmd. 6106, London: HMSO 1939), pages190-2 -
• ‘Once again a critical hour strikes for the great human family; an hour of tremendous deliberations, towards which our heart cannot be indifferent and from which our spiritual authority, which comes to us from G-d to lead souls in the ways of justice and peace must not hold itself aloof.
• Behold us then with all of your, who in this moment are carrying the burden of so great a responsibility, in order that through our voice you may hear the voice of that Christ from Whom the world received the most exalted example of living, and in whom millions and millions of souls repose their trust in a crisis in which His word alone is capable of mastering all the tumultuous disturbances of the Earth.
• Behold us with you, leaders of peoples, men of State and men of arms, writers, orators of the radio and of the public rostrum and all those others who have the power to influence the thought and action of their fellow-men for whose destiny they are responsible.
• We, armed only with the word of Truth and standing above all public disputes and passions, speak to you in the name of G-d from “Whom all paternity in Heaven and Earth is named” - in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who desired that all men be brothers - in the name of the Holy Spirit, Gift of G-d most High, inexhaustible source of love in the hearts of men.
• To-day, notwithstanding our repeated exhortations and our very particular interest, the fear of bloody international conflict becomes more excruciating; to-day, when the tension of minds seems to have arrived at such a pass as to make the outbreak of the awful scourge of war appear imminent, we direct with paternal feeling a new and more heartfelt appeal to those in power and to their peoples; to the former that, laying aside accusations, threats, causes of mutual distrust, they may attempt to resolve their present differences with the sole means suitable thereto, namely, by reciprocal and trusting agreements; to the latter that in calm tranquillity, without disordered agitation they may encourage the peaceful efforts of those who govern them.
• It is by force of reason and not by force of arms that Justice makes progress; and empires which are not founded on Justice are not blessed by G-d. Statesmanship emancipated from morality betrays those very ones who would have it so.
• The danger is imminent but there is yet time.
• Nothing is lost with peace; all may be with war. Let men return to mutual understanding. Let them begin negotiations anew. Conferring with goodwill and with respect for reciprocal rights they will find that to sincere and conscientious negotiators, an honourable solution is never precluded.
• They will feel a sense of greatness - in the true sense of the word - if by silencing the voice of passion, be it collective or private, and by leaving to reason its rightful rule, they will have spared the blood of their fellow men and saved their country from ruin.
• May the Almighty grant that the voice of this Father of the Christian family, of this Servant of servants, who bears amongst men, unworthily, indeed, but nevertheless really, the person, the voice and the authority of Jesus Christ, find in the minds and in the hearts of men a ready and willing reception.
• May the strong hear us that they may not become weak through injustice; may the powerful hear us if they desire that their power be not a destruction but rather a protection for their peoples and a safeguard to tranquillity in public order and in labour.
• We beseech them by the blood of Christ, whose conquering force in the world was His mildness in life and in death. And beseeching them we know and we feel that we have with us all those who are upright of heart; all those who hunger and thirst after justice - all those who already suffer every sorrow through the evils of life. We have with us the heart of mothers which beats as one with ours; the fathers who would be obliged to abandon their families; the lowly who labour and do not understand; the innocent upon whom weighs heavily the awful threat; the young men, generous knights of the purest and noblest ideals. And with us also is the soul of this ancient Europe which was the product of the faith and of Christian genius. With us all humanity seeks justice, bread, freedom; not steel which kills and destroys. With us that Christ, Who has made His one, solemn commandment - Love of One's Brother - the very substance of His religion and the promise of salvation for individuals and for nations.
• Recalling finally that human efforts are of no avail without Divine assistance, we invite all to raise their eyes to Heaven and to beseech the Lord with fervent prayer that His divine grace descend in abundance upon this world in its upheaval, placate dissensions, reconcile hearts and evoke the resplendent dawn of a more serene future.
• To this end and with this hope we impart to all, from the heart, our paternal Benediction.’

• 4. RUDYARD KIPLING, “The Disciple” in The Complete Verse (revised edition, London: Kyle Cathie Limited 1996), pages 642-3 -

• 5. JOHN NORRIS, To Darkness -

‘Hail, thou most sacred, venerable thing!
What muse is worthy thee to sing -
Thee, from whose pregnant, universal womb
All things, even Light, thy rival, first did come?
What dares he not attempt that sings of thee,
Thou first and greatest mystery?
Who can the secrets of thy essence tell?
Thou, like the light of God, art inaccessible.

Before great Love this monument did raise,
This ample theatre of praise;
Before the folding circles of the sky
Were tuned by Him who is all harmony;
Before the morning stars their hymn began,
Before the council held for man,
Before the birth of either time or place,
Thou reign'st unquestioned monarch in the empty space.

Thy native lot thou didst to Light resign,
But still half of the globe is thine.
Here, with a quiet but yet awful hand,
Like the best emperors thou dost command.
To thee the stars above their brightness owe,
And mortals their repose below;
To thy protection fear and sorrow flee,
And those that weary are of Light find rest in thee.

Though light and glory be the Almighty's throne,
Darkness is His pavilion;
From that His radiant beauty, but from thee
He has His terror and His majesty:
Thus, when He first proclaimed His sacred law,
And would His rebel subjects awe,
Like princes on some great solemnity,
He appeared in His robes of state, and clad Himself with thee.’

• 6. J. H. LEIGH HUNT, Abou Ben Adhem -

• 7. ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER, A Weaving Song -

‘The weaver weaves with many a colour,
And some are dark and some are gay;
But while the seamy side grows duller
The pattern brightens day by day.
We learn, as we perceive him taking
The different threads diversely dyed,
Designs the darkest in the making
Are brightest on the other side.

The web of life with threads is furnished
Which trace a picture in the loom;
And some like gold are brightly burnished,
And some are deeply tinged with gloom.
Through chance and change we pass believing
That, whatsoever ills betide,
The pattern darkest in the weaving
Is brightest on the other side.’

• 8. THOMAS CHILD, “The New Church, commonly called Swedenborgian” in Religious Systems of the World - A Contribution to the Study of Comparative Religion, a collection of Addresses delivered at South Place Institute now revised and in some cases rewritten by the authors, together with some others specially written for this volume (ninth edition, London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, Limited, July 1908), pages 652-6 -
• ‘It may be asked, “Have we not enough of Churches, and why another one calling itself the New Church?” Well, there never was a new movement which did not begin as a Church; the more secular fraternities of the politician and the reformer are to them as Churches are in religious matters. And as regards the New Church our claim is that it explains the problems which have so long vexed mankind.
• Turning then first to the Philosophical Aspect of New Church teaching, our primary attitude is not things as they are, but my relation to them; not, “Do things exist?” but, “What must I, as a rational human begin, from the constitution and laws of my nature, believe?” Not primarily whether my belief is answered or matched by existing things, but, “What is it that I am constituted, and thus that reason compels me, to believe?” This is our starting-point. The facts of human nature are the best interpreters of man; if we come down to them and let them speak for themselves, we shall get clear and explicit answers. But men seldom allow reason, as such, to speak, or the facts of their own nature to declare, as they would with unmistakable voice, the things that are true for it, and which that nature is bound, because constituted, to believe. Primarily, for example, I am not concerned with whether G-d exists, but with whether I ought to believe that G-d exists as the outcome of my constitution. Afterwards, the question may come as to whether my conception answers to the facts. You may always be sure, however, that what a man acknowledges himself as bound to believe, he will equally declare to be an existing fact. Man then must have a creed, because he has a nature; he has a right to know what his nature can tell him, and he is bound to follow its teachings, whatever they be and wherever they lead him.
• Materialists say: “Some things we know. We know that a man is matter. We don't know that he is anything else.” But have we a right to assume that, inasmuch as we do not see mind acting without matter, therefore mind is the result of matter? We have no such right. These two are simply, so far as we can tell, co-existent; and, being so, scientific inquiry should itself prevent us confounding things that differ. Nobody knows, as a matter of fact, that mind comes from matter.
• But what is it that constitutes matter or substance? “Qualities! qualities!!” the materialists say. “Destroy a man's organism, _ put him in the fire, for instance, _ and where is he? What then are these things you call soul, immortality? They are myths. Don't you see that when you destroy the qualities the man is gone, and gone for ever?”
• I accept the position. Qualities constitute “things”; and the qualities of a material thing constitute a material thing, and the qualities of an immaterial thing constitute an immaterial thing; and there's the end of it. Take the principle and follow it up, and where does it lead? To spiritual organization. How is that? In this way. The qualities of a stone constitute a stone; of a chair, a chair. Suppose you take the qualities from the chair. How can you do that? Put it in the fire; the chair and the qualities have gone. Of course there is a residue of dust and gas, having the qualities of their own; but the point is, whether the destruction of the qualities of any body is not the destruction of the body itself. Reason and fact answer, “Yes.” In man there are two forms of substance. “No,” says the materialist, “I deny that.” Well, look at the facts, so far as reason can show them. Abstractly speaking, immaterial properties or qualities, if there be such, constitute immaterial things, just as material qualities constitute material things. But are there any such qualities as immaterial qualities? Surely neither thoughts nor feelings are material. They are not subject to the laws of gravity or cohesion; they cannot be weighed nor measured; and they do not admit of being seen, smelled, tasted, heard, or felt. They are, therefore, immaterial properties or qualities, no matter whence they exist as to origin. A series of qualities, known as material, constitute material substance; and (we must not hesitate) a series of qualities known as mental, constitute mental substance. Mental and material qualities are side by side in man.
• The mental _ or, if you do not object, the spiritual _ directs the material; the directed matter is the agent, the means by which the mind works here in a material sphere. Man is a spiritual being at work in a material environment. It appears then that the materialistic position is really undermined, and that another position has taken its place. You put it in a nutshell thus: Qualities constitute substance. There are immaterial qualities; therefore there is immaterial substance.
• In what way are we to think of the Infinite Cause, or G-d? Our only idea must be anthropomorphic _ we cannot help ourselves: in the very nature of the case it must be so. Man is bound to think that G-d must be as man is. Don't you know that if a dog could think of G-d, it would think of Him as a dog, and that a horse would think of Him as a horse? And if you are thinking of G-d, once more our point is, “What am I, as a human creature, bound to think and believe concerning this Cause, but that He is essentially like me, that He is not less than human _ that He is infinitely what I am finitely.” Yes; and your reason declares that G-d is like you. You have emotions and feelings; and G-d has these, has intellect, has energy. G-d is the origin of man. “G-d created man in His own image and likeness.”
• It was from an efflux of the Divine nature passing forth to the external world, and fitting there to itself a material organism taken from dust, that man was brought forth.
• Is this transcendent? It is rational. Nothing is more transcendent than the simplest facts of life.
• Well, but He may not exist after all; it may be only my idea! Trust the idea which your nature impels you to hold, and all else will come right. Be loyal to the facts of reason, and things as they are will not be far from reason's way.
• But I hear another voice, which cries, “You say the mind declares for cause, and you lead the mind up to G-d as the Cause of all. Then what caused G-d? Is not G-d caused too?” No; there is a mistake in the reasoning. Sequence is simply succession. Cause is the stoppage of succession; and your idea that G-d may be caused is really a denial of cause and a reintroduction of sequence. You take nature's idea of sequence and read it into Cause. In cause there can be no such succession; there is the beginning of successions. When, therefore, man declares that there is a cause of these successions, the last for him has been reached; and he cannot now, to be true to his nature and reason, apply the law of succession to the Cause, for therein he will be denying what he has already affirmed.
• Men have had religion after its kind; and now men have science after its kind; but the two must go together, if there is to be any religion or science worth the name. What evidence, then, does the scientist demand for the knowledge any man would confer upon him? In brief, the evidence of experience, his own or another's.
• Turning now to our second point (the Spiritual Aspect of the New Church, that is, the sort of evidence which the New Church presents concerning man's future, _ the evidence of the senses). I have not seen into that other world, I cannot let you see it; but such is the evidence given. The Lord, as we think, when He would unfold Heaven to Earth, unfolded it, as He must and could only do, through a man prepared for that purpose. He made it known through that man. I know that it is a risky thing to say here, but I am bound to tell you what I believe. Swedenborg, the man I speak of, says: “I have for thirty years been in open communication, by the Lord's mercy, with the spiritual world.” And he gives us its laws; and, curiously enough, the facts interpret the laws, and the laws the facts; and a study of these things impresses the mind with the conviction that here there is no crazy enthusiast, but a man of science, prepared through his science, through all the knowledge the world could give him, for this wider emancipation, this opening of thought and knowledge into the interior sphere, that he might bring forth the facts from thence, and make them known. And now they stand in black and white for the men of to-day to read and ponder and comprehend.
• The New Church, then, believes that there is a G-d acting through the spiritual world into the natural world. Where is the spiritual world? It is in the natural world as the soul is in the body; and as the soul is the centre and source of all human activity, so is the spiritual world the source and centre of all natural growth and life. The idea of the spiritual world in the natural world affords a key to much which the isms of the day leave out. The mission of Swedenborg was to lay open the spiritual world _ the causal world _ to our apprehension, so that the world of causes and the world of effects might alike be unfolded to the rational apprehension of humanity. Swedenborg explained the facts and laws of both worlds, and the results are at hand for our study.
• Third. The Doctrinal Aspects of the New Church. The Bible is not to us as to others. We do not accept it because it is literally true, because the miracles are established, because the prophecy is conclusive. It is not rational that such external things should produce belief, which is an internal matter; it is not rational to perform a miracle to make one believe. Swedenborg has been the means of unfolding this book, the Bible, to us in a way which has never been done before; he says that there is in the books constituting the Scriptures proper _ not in all the books which are now bound up with the Bible _ a real coherence from one end to the other, and such as could never have been in a merely human construction. Our Church holds the doctrine of the “spiritual sense of the word” which is discerned as men progress from being, spiritually, “big boys” to “grown-up men”. If revelation was closed ages ago, we are now “left out in the cold.” To the very questions disturbing men now there may be found an answer in the “spiritual sense of the word.” [The difference between the literal and the spiritual meaning of Scripture was illustrated by referring to a casket with a beautiful exterior, but the gems which the interior held appeared far more beautiful.] On the lines thus laid down, the Bible was provable to be G-d's book, but on no other lines.
• As to the doctrines derived from the Bible, they consider that there is nothing in the Bible to warrant the belief in a Trinity of Persons in the G-dhead; that is simply impossible; it is an absurdity; three in one is a thing contrary to reason. A trinity of essentials, however, there may be in G-d. There is a likeness to this in nature; e.g. from the Sun emanates heat, light, and energy; and there is a trinity of powers in man. The New Church considers the Father to be the Divine Love; the Son the Thought and Wisdom by means of which all things proceed; and the Holy Spirit the Energy sustaining all things. It wholly disclaims the ordinary idea of the “Atonement.” The Atonement properly means “at-one-ment,” i.e. reconciliation of G-d and man, not the reconciliation of G-d to man, but man to G-d; and this was brought about when G-d assumed humanity as the Son, and led men from matter to spirit, from death to life. This is an awful thing to say, but the conception possesses rational harmony. The “resurrection of the material body” we do not believe in, inasmuch as when men go into the spiritual world they will never want a material body more. A spiritual substance is inevitably a spiritual body.
• Fourth. The Practical Aspect of the New Church _ which may be summed up in the sentence, “All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good.” That is the practical embodiment of the New Church teaching. It does not deal with mere doctrines, but its motto is, Doctrine in Life.
• What must that future religion be that will satisfy man? It must be a union of science and religion. A religion capable of being scientifically proved, because organically, humanly based, is the only religion that the future could possibly accept. And it is because this is exactly true of the New Church throughout her universal grasp of facts and principles, because she can give a rational reason for the facts of life and what she alleges in regard to them, because she meets man wholly and explains him through and through, that she stands out distinctive as the exponent of this new era of the world. If the New Church is not a philosophical and spiritual interpretation of man and his surroundings, it is nothing.’

• 9. PHILLIP A. HISLOP, “Of Man” in his Danger at the Edge of Time (1995), pages 2-4 -

• 10. BERNARDUS LONERGAN S.I., Divinarum Personarum conceptionem analogicam evolvit (editio altera ad usum auditorum, Romæ: apud Aedes Universitatis Gregorianæ 1959),pp.7-9 -
• ‘Cum scientia sit certa rerum per causas cognitio, qui scientiam tamquam finem prosequitur, duo intendat necesse est. Si enim causarum cognitionem ita appetit ut certitudinem nullatenus assequatur, exercet sane ingenium sed de ipsis rebus nihil addiscit. Si autem certitudinem tam magni æstimat ut rerum rationes et causas, quippe semper dubias, considerare nolit, crudam quamdam atque indigestam rerum notitiam ita accumulare potest, ut ad veri nominis scientiam numquam perveniat. Nam sicut essentia et esse ita inter se cohærent, ut alterum sine altero inveniri non possit, ita duæ nostri intellectus operationes, quæ quæstionibus quid sit et an sit respondeant, tam arcte connectuntur ut altera adhibita et altera neglecta laboretur frustra.
• At omnis duorum coniunctio, quantumvis necessaria, veram quamdam atque realem distinctionem præsupponit; nequi cuipiam obscurum arbitror quam diversis procedatur methodis, etiam in naturalibus scientiis, nunc ad theorias inveniendas atque expoliendas, nunc autem ad certa proferenda iudicia. Quæ sane methodorum differentia in theologica scientia adeo non minuitur ut maxime augeatur. Cum enim veritates supernaturales nisi per divinam revelationem nobis innotescere non possint, ex auctoritate atque fide certitudo theologica gignitur. Cum autem earundem veritatum intelligentia nisi pie, sedulo, sobrie inquirentibus concedi non soleat, ratio humana per fidem illustrata exerceatur necesse est (DS 3016). Quæ duo et quantum inter se distent et quam arcte cohærent, luculenter exposuit Aquinas.
• “… quilibet actus exsequendus est secundum quod convenit ad suum finem. Disputatio autem ad duplicem finem potest ordinari.
• Quædam enim disputatio ordinatur ad removendam dubitationem an ita sit; et in tali disputatione theologica maxime utendum est auctoritatibus, quas recipiunt illi cum quibus disputatur…
• Quædam vero disputatio est magistralis in scholis, non ad removendum errorem, sed ad instruendum auditores ut inducantur ad intellectum veritatis quam intendit: et tunc oportet rationibus inniti investigantibus veritatis radicem, et facientibus scire quomodo sit verum quod dicitur: alioquin, si nudis auctoritatibus magister quæstionem determinet, certificabitur quidem auditor quod ita est; sed nihil scientiæ vel intellectus acquiret, sed vacuus abscedet”(Quodl., IV, a.18).
• Quam finis atque methodi differentiam non solum explicita doctrina inculcavit Aquinas sed etiam clarissimis illustravit exemplis. Nam ut cætera omittam, in libro quarto Contra Gentiles diversis capitibus mutuo sibi succedunt tum disputationes quæ de certitudine facti ex auctoritatibus procedunt (C.Gent., IV, 2-9, 15-18, 27-39, etc.), tum disputationes magistrales in quibus adhibetur ratio ad intelligentiam assequendam (Ibid., 10-14, 19-26, 40-49, etc.).’

• 11. CESARE MOLINARI, Teatro - Lo spettacolo drammatico nei momenti della sua storia dalle origini ad oggi (Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore 1972), p.14 -
• ‘Se nel concetto di teatro comprendiamo non solo il lato espressivo, linguistico e culturale del fenomeno, ma anche quello sociale e organizzativo, è importante, per capirne la collocazione all'interno di un determinato gruppo umano, individuare il “quando” delle sue manifestazioni. Ora, presso molti popoli, prevalentemente presso quelli agricoltori, le manifestazioni teatrali, che coinvolgono l'intera comunità, sono legate al ricorso dei cicli stagionali. Questa connessione assume, nel caso specifico, un chiaro significato rituale e propiziatorio, la rappresentazione intendendo celebrare e favorire il rinnovarsi del ciclo alla cui regolarità è legata la sopravvivenza della comunità.
• Presso i Nahuatl, un popolo oggi estinto dell'America centrale, il ritorno dell'estate era celebrato con uno spettacolo che rappresentava e propiziava il rinnovarsi della fertilità: al centro del villaggio veniva piantato un palo alto circa quindi metri, sulla cui sommità era posta l'immagine vivacemente colorata del dio della fertilità, e sotto, su una piattaforma, stavano due ragazzi legati per la vita ad una lunga corda avvolta al palo. Nello spiazzo sottostante si svolgeva una frenetica danza condotta da settanta uomini, una parte dei quali vestiti da donna. Ad un tratto la danza si interrompeva e i due ragazzi si gettavano nel vuoto per scendere con acrobatica lentezza, seguendo lo svolgersi della corda, fino a terra, ove la danza si riaccendeva gioiosa: la fertilità era ritornata nei campi.
• Il significato rituale di questi spettacoli periodici non è però sempre così chiaro: a volte si è attenuato sino a perdersi del tutto, a volte la connessione era fin dall'inizio solo cronologica. Né d'altra parte sono i soli popoli agricoltori a legare al ricorso stationale le loro più intense manifestazioni spettacolari: lo fanno anche alcuni popoli cacciatori, soprattutto quelli dell'estremo Nord, che intendono così celebrare non già il ritorno delle messi, ma la fine della lunga notte polare. Così fanno gli Eschimesi che abitano il delta del fiume Copper con un dramma piuttosto complesso in cui, per mezzo di un narratore, di attori che agiscono mimicamente e di un coro femminile, si rappresenta prima il furto e poi la liberazione delle fonti di luce.’
•  
• 11A. CESARE MOLINARI, Theatre through the ages, translated from the Italian by Colin Hamer (London: Cassell 1975), pp. 13-14 -
• ‘The concept of theatre embraces social and organisational factors as well as elements which concern culture, language and self-expression. So to understand the place of theatre within any particular human group, it is necessary to specify the different moments of its emergence. For instance, among many peoples, especially those with an agricultural economy, theatrical occasions, involving the entire community, are linked with the recurring cycle of the seasons. In a specific instance this connection may assume some definite ritual meaning of atonement. The performance aims both to celebrate and promote the renewal of that cycle whose regularity is crucial for the community's own survival.
• The Nahuatl, a Central American people, celebrated the return of summer with a show to represent and render propitious a renewal of fertility. A pole about fifty feet high was set up in the centre of the village, with a brightly coloured image of the fertility god on top of it and, on a platform underneath, two boys attached at the waist to the ends of a long rope wrapped round the pole. In the clearing below, seventy men, half of them dressed as women, engaged in a frenzied dance. This would be abruptly interrupted and the two boys would throw themselves off the platform and climb down to the ground with a slowness that called for great acrobatic skill, following the coils of the rope round and round the pole. The dance was then joyfully resumed _ fertility had been restored to the fields.
• The ritual meaning of such periodic spectacles is not always equally obvious. At times it has dwindled away to vanishing-point and at others there has never been anything more than a chronological link. In any case, agricultural communities are not alone in connecting their principal theatrical shows with the returning seasons. A few hunting peoples, especially those in the Arctic regions, do the same, not to herald the harvest, but to celebrate the end of the long Polar night. Thus the Eskimos living in the Copper River delta have a rather complex drama to represent both the theft and the subsequent liberation of the sources of light. This involves a narrator, male miming actors and a chorus of women.’

• 12. MICHÆL SOKOLOFF, Préface à MITSOU NASLEDNIKOV (MA ANAND MARGO), Le Chemin de l'Extase - Tantra: vers une nouvelle sexualité (Paris: Albin Michel 1981), p.4 -
• ‘Comment préfacer un livre présenté comme une méthode susceptible de dépasser les contradictions entre l'individu et la société, à travers un sujet aussi tabou que celui de la sexualité?
• Mon expérience du Tantra m'a amené à l'évidence qu'il n'existe pas de “recette miracle” pour accéder à una vérité absolue. C'est pourquoi j'éprouve une certaine réticence à présenter un ouvrage destiné à vulgariser une philosphie et une pratique qui ne peuvent être saisies que dans le contexte culturel qui leur a donné naissance _ le danger étant que les massmédia l'interprètent comme un nouveau traité de sexologie.
• Le mystère de la vie se vit au plus profond de nous-mêmes et chacun de nous peut seul en apprécier la saveur, même si, apparemment, nous mangeons la même pomme. L'homme est un animal symbolique à la recherche de son identité. Le Tantra est une des tentatives de l'être humain per se situer dans cet espace insondable qui l'entoure et le constitue. L'Inde a donné naissance à une multitude de systèmes de pensée et de pratiques destinés à mener l'homme à son épanouissement. Le Tantra est une aventure où le sexe apparaît symboliquement comme le lieu et l'instant où les règles peuvent être transgressés et faire place à l'expérience du divin, non pas en tant que concept mais en tant que réalité totale (corps, sensation et connaissance). Tantra signifie la voie qui permet d'aller au-delà de la conscience. Ce qui est au-delà de la conscience ordinaire ne peut dans cette approche exister hors de l'Amour. L'INITIATION TANTRIQUE C'EST LA SACRALISATION DU SEXE QUI PERMET AUX DEUX JOUEURS DE SE FONDRE DANS L'INVISIBLE COURANT QUI CIRCULE ENTRE EUX. À LA FIN DE LA REPRÉSENTATION, LES DANSEURS SONT DEVENUS LA DANSE COSMIQUE…
• Ce qui me touche dans la démarche de Margo, c'est sa quête à la recherche d'une identité qu'elle n'a pu trouver dans son milieu social. Plutôt que d'accepter une normalité intolérable pour elle, elle est partie à la recherche d'elle-même, et sa quête s'est cristallisée autour du Tantra. C'est cet aspect qui me questionne, au-delà des critiques que je pourrais faire au niveau épistémologique, ou au niveau de la récupération commerciale qui s'ensuivra inexorablement.
• J'ai la conviction qu'un auteur écrit pour tenter de résoudre l'énigme qu'il est à lui-même. C'est pourquoi, ne lisez pas ce livre, vivez-le, et si, soudain, de la profondeur de l'être surgit votre génie créateur, la pratique du Tantra deviendra votre propre création, et non pas celle d'une croyance rassurante.’

• 13. J. MURRAY ALLISON, “On Advertising - some facts about selling through advertisements which will enable the lay reader to understand its principles and acquire a better understanding of its value” in the special Daily Dispatch edition of the British Empire Universities Modern English Dictionary containing illustrations in colour and in monochrome, maps in colour, and the latest census, with a reference library & treasury of facts, revised after the best and latest authorities on language, under the chief editorship of the Reverend Edward D. Price, editor of Hazell's Annual Cyclopædia (1886-01), The Student's Imperial Dictionary (1904), The Pearl Cyclopædia of Universal Information (1892), Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (1904 edition), and W. G. Hartog, MA, LittD, FRSL (London: The Sydicate Publishing Company 1924), page *a -
• ‘Advertising has claimed public interest because it has demonstrated itself as a force which acts for public benefit.
• It is not long since advertising emerged from an atmosphere of suspicion, for many people regarded advertising as one of the wiles of the artful dodger, whose aim was by sheer force of publicity to beguile the unsuspecting into purchasing goods which were not worth the price asked.
• This idea was probably fostered by the shopkeeper who not only did not sell advertised goods, but stocked substitutes for them which he sold to unsophisticated buyers on the strength of his own personal assurance that they were better than the advertised goods, and cheaper because “you don't have to pay for the advertising.”
• This last expression is the greatest fallacy ever launched, and it has been shown that advertising, instead of increasing cost, actually reduces it. This will be explained later.
• His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, has put advertising in its right place. In his opening address at the great International Advertising Convention held at Wembley, July 14, 1924, he said:
• “Advertising… is certainly both a science and an art… its general aim is to provide throughout the world a more full exchange of commodities at a lower cost of distribution. The attainment of this aim would undoubtedly result in the elimination of unnecessary waste and the consequent reduction of prices and unemployment.”
• In these few words, which are but an extract from a vigorous speech, are crystallised the fundamental forces of advertising. There is, however, yet another fact which emerges from the analysis of the power of advertising, and it is this: advertising maintains a quality standard in the product sold through its instrumentality.
• The International Advertising Convention, the deliberations of which were made public through every newspaper that the public might know the TRUTH, swept away for ever the cloud of doubt and suspicion which has so long obscured its real and true purpose. It proved conclusively that advertising is a public boon _ a method of “making known” which serves all for the public good. Advertising is merely salesmanship. Its outstanding advantages over oral salesmanship are these :-
• It enables those who employ it to spread the news of their produce or their service throughout the whole country, into every town, village, and hamlet within a few hours. In one day an advertiser can, by the aid of newspaper advertising, make his wares known to everyone. What other means is there by which such rapid and such effective dissemination of news could be accomplished? None.
• It enables the producer or manufacturer to present to every potential buyer of his product a full and complete story of the benefits his product can confer. He presents his arguments logically and convincingly. He is able to create desire and thus induce his audience to ask for his product of the retailer.
• It enables the producer or manufacturer to effect distribution to the retailer rapidly and with less canvassing by travelling salesmen. The salesman who is engaged in winning the cooperation of the retailer in selling goods that are not advertised has an uphill task and a slow one. The cost of selling is greatly increased if a big staff of salesmen have to be employed continually hammering away at and urging retailers to carry his goods. Distribution will be slow _ the cost of accomplishing it heavy. The cost of such work has to be met out of profits. Selling costs are often heavier than production costs. The man who advertises cuts his distribution costs and thus is able to sell at a lower price to secure his margin of profit.
• It enables the producer or manufacturer to produce more cheaply. This will not perhaps be so obvious as is the case with distribution. This is how it works. Quantity production is the key to cheap production. The article that goes through a factory in small quantities must cost more than that which goes through in large quantities. This because in the latter case the overhead charges are spread over a larger number of articles _ and overhead charges are a big item of factory cost. Ford, the American car maker, knew this and worked on a system of organised production which actually reduced his overhead burden by the elimination of unproductive labour and waste motion.
• These facts show how by lowered production costs and lowered selling or distribution costs the advertised article costs less to the consumer.
• There is yet another and very important fact: Advertising upholds quality. An advertised product must not fall below its original established standard. Should it do so the public would immediately notice the fact and cease buying, with the result that the advertiser's goodwill, built up by advertising and sterling worth, would be lost. An advertised product cannot afford to fall below par _ mostly it rises above it as the maker incorporates improvements. An advertised product is standard _ the quality is the same wherever it is sold. It is dependable always. It is the reason why every day more and more people buy advertised goods.
• Advertising is, as his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales said, both a science and an art. All advertising is good advertising because even the poorest advertisement must produce results. But advertising calls for discrimination, not only in the design and production of the advertisement itself, but in the choice of the newspapers in which it is placed…’

• 14. BONNIE GAUNT, “The Language of the Universe” in Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid - Window on the Universe (510 Golf Avenue, Jackson, Michigan, 1993), pages 1-3:
• ‘In A.D. 1963, astronomers in Green Bank, West Virginia pointed a giant saucer-shaped antenna at two remote stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. They were indeed listening for a message from outer space.
• These were not visionary amateurs. The project was a sincere attempt to receive a message _ if one was there _ from extraterrestrial beings.
• If such un-earthly beings did exist, and if they did attempt to communicate to earthlings, what language would they use? After pondering the problem, they concluded that the only language that would make sense to all intelligent forms of life, anywhere in the universe, would be a mathematical one.
• Mathematics, they said, is not so much a body of knowledge as it is a special kind of language _ one so perfect and abstract that it could be understood by any intelligent creatures, existing anwhere. The grammar of the language is simple logic, and the vocabulary of the language are simple symbols _ basically, numerals, that represent numbers.
• As children we were taught numerals as if they were dead symbols of amount. Their function as a language was not part of our journey through the three R's. Thus, their function as language does not find in us a response of recognition. And for this we are the poorer.
• Not so in ancient times, Pythagoras, the 5th century B.C. mathematician said “Numbers are the language of the universe.” And he taught his students their importance as a language. Indeed, numbers are the very building blocks of creation _ but they are more than this. They are a language that communicates through time and space _ an external language _ a language of beginning.
• Plato perceived the language of numbers and some of its messages planted in the universe. And he was aware of its source. “G-d ever geometrizes,” he wrote. Sir James Jeans, the British physicist declared, “The Great Architect of the universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.”
• He does not send us a “beep-beep-beep” or a “dot-dot-dash” from somewhere in the heavens, but he has left his great catalogue of sacred information for us, concealed in number, planted in the universe, and in his written word.
• “To whom then will ye liken G-d? or what likeness will ye compare to him…? Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understanding from the foundation of the Earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the Earth…; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in… Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number…” (Is 40:18-26).
• In the writings of the ancient philosphers there is common agreement that the purpose of number is for the investigation of the universe. From the atom to the galaxy in the heavens, the same unchanging laws apply _ the laws of arithmetic, the language of number.
• Just as the hand of G-d spread the vast expanse of the heavens by number, so too his written word can be reduced to number; and those who have tried it have stood in awe of the intricacy and beauty of its design. It was an intentional design.
• In the year 547 B.C. a man named Daniel, a Hebrew captive in Babylon, was given a vision which carried him into the vast unknown future. At the conclusion of the vision he saw two un-earthly creatures who spoke concerning the time when the vision would be fulfilled. One of these creatures was identified by the name Palmoni. It is a Hebrew word which means The Wonderful Numberer, or the Numberer of Secrets. Daniel, being a Hebrew, would have been aware of the importance of the name. He was also aware of the language of number that was a vital part of his native tongue.
• Hebrew is probably the oldest language known to man. It was a “dual character system” _ a meaning of sound and a meaning of number. It is the language of the Old Testament. Thus that wonderful old book, owned by nearly every Christian the world over, is not only an historical record of man's relationship with his Creator, it is also a storehouse of secrets, locked up in number. The Numberer of Secrets who spoke to Daniel knew and used the language of number, the language of the universe…’

• 15. ALAN S. DUTHIE, “Opening up the question” in How To Choose Your Bible Wisely (2nd revised edition, Swindon: Bible Society 1995), pp.11-13 -
• ‘Moslems have always had a fundamental reluctance to translate their scriptures and prayers out of the Arabic language; for them, there is only one scripture - in the original Arabic.
• The Christian Old and New Testaments were respectively written in the Hebrew and Greek languages, while Jesus himself probably spoke Aramaic in a Roman colonial environment. Nevertheless, for many centuries, the Catholic Church in Europe also had a fundamental reluctance to translate the Bible and their liturgy out of the Latin language; for them, there was only one scripture - the Latin Vulgate. So, right up till the fourteenth century, there was no whole-Bible translation into English at all!
• Nowadays, those who have little contact with the Christian faith may be aware of only one version of the Bible: the one that is always bound in black, carried by church-goers. This is the version with the distinctive “Bible English”, which sounds impressive as a literary monument of the past.
• Some churches use a written liturgical form of service, with the result that their readings from the Bible have to harmonize with these liturgies; so the Anglicans use the King James Version and the Catholics now use the New Jerusalem or the New American Bible. So again, for many Anglicans and for Catholics, there seems to be only one version in regular use. Those who think that every nation should have its own national church also require that there should be one national version of the Bible.
• Those churches which came into existence as a result of the Protestant Reformation at first strongly preferred the Geneva Bible. But nowadays such wholehearted allegiance has been transferred to the King James Version, which is said to be the product of “an age of faith”. Indeed, some less-informed church members imagine that the “St James Version”, as they call it, is the original Bible! Contrary to the wish of its translators, it “has become crystallized and frozen in the minds of so many as to be G-d's last word, if not G-d's only word, to his people” (J. L. Jones, But which Bible?, London: Bible Reading Fellowship 1978, 1981 - pp.14-15). With an attitude like that, every other Bible version over the centuries becomes automatically a “corruption”, if not “perversion” of that “original”!
• Some leaders of churches, fellowships, ministries and Christian organizations, especially newly-founded ones which seem vibrant and growing, tend to make constant use of that Bible version, thereby giving such a strong impression to all members that those who wish to be recognized as fully-approved in that social group must use that same version, at least during meeting or service times.
• So, for a number of different groups of people, whether by lack of information leading to ignorance of the issues involved, or by formal or informal pressure to conform to the norms of a social group, some minds have already been closed on the question of “which Bible to choose?”.
• Since hardly anybody can read the Bible in the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek originals of the Bible, a programme of education in these languages could be instituted for all Christians to enable them to do so! But that would be beyond the reach of most Christians of any educational level and would make intellectual achievement into a prerequisite for spiritual growth. A teaching programme like this is what Moslems regularly mount for their members all over the world who are not Arabic speakers. It may also have happened in some places where Christian missionaries from Europe taught their converts English or French so that they could read the Bible in these languages. But your ability to learn languages should have no bearing at all on your ability to grow as a Christian.
• It has, however, seriously been proposed that Christians, especially new believers, should be educated into the archaisms and intricacies of a Bible version like the King James Version so that they can understand the full traditional terminology of the Christian faith. Again, this puts an intellectual brake on spiritual progress which is entirely unnecessary in view of the wide variety of English versions of the Bible currently available to suit every educational level.’

• 16. MORTIMER J. ADLER, How to Read a Book - a Guide to Self-Education (London: Jarrolds 1939), pp.15-17 -
• ‘This is a book for readers who cannot read. That may sound rude, though I do not mean it to be. It may sound like a contradiction, but it is not. The appearance of rudeness and contradiction arises only from the variety of sense in which the word “reading” can be used.
• The reader who has read thus far can certainly read, in one sense of the word. You can gather, therefore, what I must mean. It is that this book is intended for those who can read in one sense of “reading” but not in others. There are many kinds of reading and degrees of ability to read. It is not contradictory to say that this book is for readers who want to read better or want to read in some other way than they now can.
• For whom is this book not intended, then? I can answer that question simply by naming the two extreme cases. There are those who cannot read at all or in any way: infants, imbeciles, and other innocents. And there may be those who are masters of the art of reading _ who can do every sort of reading and do it as well as is humanly possible. Most authors would like nothing better than to write for such persons. But a book such as this, which is concerned with the art of reading itself and which aims at helping its readers to read better, cannot solicit the attention of the already expert.
• Between these two extremes we find the average reader, and that means most of us who have learned our ABC's. We have been started on the road to literacy. But most of us also know that we are not expert readers. We know this in many ways, but most obviously when we find some things too difficult to read, or have great trouble in reading them; or when someone else has read the same thing we have and shown us how much we missed or misunderstood.
• If you have not had experiences of this sort, if you have never felt the effort of reading or known the frustration when all the effort you could summon was not equal to the task, I do not know how to interest you in the problem. Most of us, however, have experienced difficulties in reading, but we do not know why we have trouble or what to do about it.
• I think this is because most of us do not regard reading as a complicated activity, involving many different steps, in each of which we can acquire more and more skill through practice, as in the case of any other art. We may not even think there is an art of reading. We tend to think of reading almost as if it were something so simple and natural to do as looking or walking. There is no art of looking or walking.
• Last summer, while I was writing this book, a young man visited me. He had heard what I was doing, and he came to ask a favour. Would I tell him how to improve his reading? He obviously expected me to answer the question in a few sentences. More than that, he appeared to think that, once he had learned the simple prescription, success would be just around the corner.
• I tried to explain that it was not so simple. It took many pages of this book, I said, to discuss the various rules of reading and to show how they should be followed. I told him that this book was like a book on how to play tennis. As written about in books, the art of tennis consists of rules for making each of the various strokes, a discussion of how and when to use them, and a description of how to organize these parts into the general strategy of a successful game. The art of reading has to be written about in the same way. There are rules for each of the different steps you must take to complete the reading of a whole book.
• He seemed a little dubious. Although he suspected that he did not know how to read, he also seemed to feel that there could not be so much to learn. The young man was a musician. I asked him whether most people, who can hear the sounds, know how to listen to a symphony. His reply was: “Of course not.” I confessed I was one of them, and asked whether he could tell me how to listen to music as a musician expected it to be heard. Of course he could, but not in a few words. Listening to a symphony was a complicated affair. You not only had to keep awake, but there were so many different things to attend to, so many parts of it to distinguish and relate. He could not tell me briefly all that I would have to know. Furthermore, I would have to spend a lot of time listening to music to become a skilled auditor.
• Well, I said, the case of reading was similar. If I could learn to listen to music, he could learn to read a book; but only on the same conditions. Knowing how to read well was like any other art or skill. There were rules to learn and to follow. Through practice good habits must be formed. There were no insurmountable difficulties about it. Only willingness to learn and patience in the process were required.
• I do not know whether my answer fully satisfied him. If it didn't, there was one difficulty in the way of his learning to read. He did not yet appreciate what reading involved. Because he still regarded reading as something almost anyone could do, something learned in the lower classes, he may have doubted still that learning to read was just like learning to listen to music, to play tennis, or to become expert in any other complex use of one's senses and one's mind.
• This difficulty is, I fear, one that most of us share. That is why I am going to devote the first part of this book to explaining the kind of activity reading is. For unless you appreciate what is involved, you will not be prepared (as this young man was not when he came to see me) for the kind of instruction that is necessary.’

• 17. GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection" in SACRED CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP, The Divine Office - The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite (3 volumes, London & Glasgow: Collins, Sydney: E.J.Dwyer, Dublin: Talbot, 1974), Vol.1: Advent, Christmastide & Weeks 1-9 of the Year, pp.609*-10*; Vol.2: Lent and Eastertide, pp.637*-38*; Vol.3: Weeks of the Year 6-34, pp.802*-03* -

‘Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows |flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-
built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs |they throng; they glitter in marches.
Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, |wherever an elm arches,
Shivelights and shadowtackle in long |lashes, lace, lance, and pair.
Delightfully the bright wind boisterous |ropes, wrestles, beats earth bare
Of yestertempest's creases; |in pool and tut peel parches
Squandering ooze to squeezed |dough, crust, dust; stanches, starches
Squadroned masks and manmarks |treadmire toil there
Footfretted in it. Million-fuelèd, |nature's bonfire burns on.
But quench her bonniest, dearest |to her, her clearest-selvèd spark
Man, how fast his firedint, |his mark on mind, is gone!
Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark
Drowned. O pity and indig |nation! Manshape, that shone
Sheer off, disseveral, a star, |death blots black out; nor mark
Is any of him at all so stark
But vastness blurs and times |beats level. Enough! the Resurrection,
A heart's-clarion! Away grief's gasping, |joyless days, dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone
A beacon, an eternal beam. |Flesh fade, and mortal trash
Fall to the residuary work; |world's wildfire, leave but ash:
In a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am all at once what Christ is, |since he was what I am and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, |patch, matchwood, immortal diamond
Is immortal diamond.’

• 18. HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI, Letter in Sagrada Biblia - version directa de las lenguas originales, Hebrea y Griega, al Castellano (36th edition, Madrid: Biblioteca de Auctores Cristianos 1979), pp.vii-viii -

• ‘Con profundo agradecimiento recibimos de manos del señor cardenal Angel Herrera y Oria, obispo de Màlaga, el artìstico y rico presente de la colecciòn completa de la Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, por ti tan dignamente regida y orientada durante los cuatro lustros de su fecunda actividad.
• A la vista de esta magna obra, nuestro paterno reconocimiento corre parejo a la admiraciòn sincera hacia el esfuerzo, siempre vibrante, de cuantos colaboran contigo en el encomiable afàn de proporcionar a los lectores hispànicos temas basilares para una sòlida formaciòn cristiana. Sois asì fieles al sugestivo emblema que abre y cierra vuestros libros y que simboliza el generoso deseo de ofrecer al hombre moderno _ figurado en la elocuente imagen de un ciervo fatigado y sediento _ el agua viva de los màs altos ideales.
• Nada de extraño, pues, que nervio vital de la diversas secciones en que habéis fraccionado vestras labores sea la divulgaciòn de la Biblia, proponiéndola como primordial y genuina fuente escrita de la divina Verdad. Haber difundido durante estos dos decenios màs de un millòn de Biblias y haber casi duplicado esta cifra en la difusiòn del Nuevo Testamento es un dato che, superando la frialdad del càlculo estadìstico, se convierte en ìndice de una doble realidad consoladora: mientras por una parte denota hambre de recia espiritualidad en los lectores de lengua española, manifiesta por otra que la Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos ha sabido ofrecerles cumplida satisfacciòn por medio de dignas traducciones bìblicas al castellano, ilustradas por competentes y seguros conocedores del pensamiento de la Iglesia y asequibles a la posibilidades econòmicas de todas las clases sociales.
• Ut sermo Dei currat et clarificetur _ que la Palabra de Dios se difunda y El sea glorificado (2 Tes 3:1)_. Este deseo apostòlico se ha hecho vida en vestra vida, ha arraigado en vuestras nobles intenciones y se ha convertido en alma de una operante acciòn, por cuya fructuosa prosecuciòn formulamos férvidos votos. Nos es grato pensar que esta fundamental actividad bìblica puede ser ocasiòn propicia para que en muchas personas y en muchos hogares se encienda o avive esa llama de la verdad revelada, làmpara _ en el decir del salmista _ que ilumina los pasos del hombre peregrino (Sal 118:105).
• Haciendo, como habéis hecho, de los Sagrados Textos el primer anillo de la àurea cadena de vuestras restantes publicaciones, éstas adquieren el caràcter de eslabones que, con firmeza de auténtica y recta doctrina, muestran al creyente un seguro sendero intelectual hacia Dios. Como luz que a través de un prisma se refracta en mùltiples colores, vuestra Biblioteca se distingue, en efecto, por el serio empeño de hacerse eficaz vehìculo de fe por medio de la difusiòn de tantas autorizadas y preciosas obras del pensamiento cristiano. Ellas se presentan, por la solidez doctrinal que las caracteriza, como armonioso arco de acceso a través del cual sacerdotes y seglares pueden adentrarse confiadamente en el amplio y estupendo paisaje de la tradiciòn y de las ideas cristianas.
• A ti y a cuantos te asesoran con ejemplar denuedo en esta benemérita empresa sea nuestra bendiciòn apostòlica testimonio de paternal benevolencia y aliento para seguir sirviendo a Dios en ese repartir _ sobre la mesa acogedora de la Iglesia, Madre y Mæstra _ “el pan de la cultura catòlica”.
• Del Vaticano, 29 de junio, festividad de San Pedro y San Pablo, de 1965.’
• PAULUS, PP. VI

•  19.ARNOLD TOYNBEE, Foreword to MARCEL DUNAN, General Editor, with JOHN BOWLE, English Advisory Editor, Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History (London: Paul Hamlyn 1963), p.10 -
• ‘… We are living in an age in which, for the first time in history, the whole human race, over the whole surface of our planet, is growing together into a single world-society. We have, indeed, to become a single world-family. In the atomic age, this is the only way of banishing the present danger that we may commit mass-suicide. Mankind intends to survive, and therefore we are committed to following the path of unification resolutely to its goal. This is difficult for human beings, because, till now, our paramount loyalty has been given to fractions of mankind, not to mankind as a whole. We have been, first and foremost, adherents of some local nation, civilisation, or religion. In future, our paramount loyalty has to be transferred to the whole human race. This means that the different sections of the human race must learn to know each other and, more than that, learn to appreciate and love both each other and each section's particular contribution to the common stock of mankind's cultural heritage. This, in turn, means that we must become familiar with each other's history. If and when the unification of mankind is achieved, the significance and value of our local histories will be seen, in retrospect, to lie in their rôle as preludes to a universal history of mankind as a whole…’

• 20. LEO SHERLEY-PRICE, St. Francis of Assisi - His Life and Writings as recorded by his contemporaries: a new version of The Mirror of Perfection together with a complete collection of all the known writings of the Saint, translated into English (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Limited 1959), pp.125-7 -
• ‘After blessed Francis had composed The Praises of the Creatures, which he called The Song of Brother Sun, a serious dispute happened to arise between the Bishop of Assisi and the Mayor. As a result, the Bishop excommunicated the Mayor, and the Mayor issued an order forbidding anyone to sell anything to the Bishop, to buy anything from him, or to make any agreement with him.
• Although blessed Francis was ill when he heard of this, he was deeply grieved on their account, especially as there was no one to make peace between them. And he said to his companions, “It brings great disgrace on us when the Bishop and Mayor hate one another in this way, and no one can make peace between them.” So he immediately wrote a verse to be included in the Praises for this occasion, and said:

  Praise to Thee, my Lord, for those who pardon one another
  For love of Thee, and endure
  Sickness and tribulation;
  Blessed are they who shall endure it in peace,
  For they shall be crowned by Thee,
  O Most High.

  Then he called one of his companions and said, “Go to the Mayor, and ask him from me to go the the Bishop's house with the city councillors and any others he can bring with him.” And when this friar had left, he said to two other companions, “Go and sing The Song of Brother Sun before the Bishop, the Mayor, and those who are with them. I trust that the Lord will at once humble their hearts, and that they will return to their former affection and friendship.”

  So when the whole company had assembled in the cloister-garth of the Bishop's house, the two friars rose, and one of them said, “Blessed Francis in his sickness has composed a Praise of the Lord in His Creatures, in order to praise the Lord and edify his fellow men, so he asks you to listen to it with great devotion.” And they began to recite and sing it.

  At once the Mayor rose and clasped his hands, listening with the greatest devotion, as though he were hearing the Lord's Gospel; and he wept profusely, for he had great faith in blessed Francis and a great devotion to him. And when the Praises of the Lord were ended, the Mayor said before the whole company, “I solemnly assure you that I forgive the Lord Bishop, and wish to acknowledge him as my lord. And even if some man had slain my brother or my son, I would forgive him.” With these words, he cast himself at the Bishop's feet, and said to him, “See now, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His servant blessed Francis I am willing to offer any amends that you please.” But the Bishop took him by the hands and raised him, saying, “My office requires me to be humble, but I am quick-tempered by nature; I therefore beg you to forgive me.” So they embraced and kissed one another with great kindness and affection.

  The friars were astonished and overjoyed when they saw that the reconciliation which blessed Francis had foretold had been thus fulfilled to the letter. And all present regarded it as a great miracle, and attributed it wholly to the merits of blessed Francis, that the Lord had moved them so swiftly, and that without uttering a word they had turned back from great discord and scandal to complete harmony.

  But we who were with blessed Francis testify that whenever he said of anything, “This is so,” or “This will be,” it always took place to the letter. And we have seen this happen so often that it would take us a long time to write or describe it.’

• 21. GESHE LHARAMPA NGAWANG DHARGYEY, A Commentary on the Kalacakra Tantra, as presented at Sakya Tegchen Choling, Seattle, Washington, 3 April - 12 June 1982, and translated by Allan Wallace (Gelong Jhampa Kelsang), a manual to be read only by those who have received the Kalacakra Initiation (Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives 1985), pp.5-6 -
• ‘In the Supreme Yoga Tantra, there are the male tantras and the female tantras. The Kalacakra Tantra is a female tantra. What is the general distinction between the male and female tantras? The female tantras particularly emphasize wisdom, that is, the emptiness aspect. Translating into tantric terms, this refers to the “clear light.” The male tantras emphasize the method aspect, which refers specifically to the “illusory body.”
• Individuals who have not yet entered the path toward enlightenment, and those who are fundamentally capable of attaining full enlightenment in one life with one body, must be born from a womb and be endowed with six factors (Tibetan: khams. drug). In essence, this means that one must be a human being of this realm (Sanskrit: jambudvipa). There are different ways of describing the six factors. According to one, the blood, flesh and skin are received from the mother, and the bones, marrow and white bodhicitta from the father. Another presentation is that of the four elements (earth, water, fire and air), plus the channels of energy (Skt. nadi; Tib. rtsa) and the “drops” (Skt. bindu; Tib. thig. le).
• A lot of information is being given here and we hear a lot of words. But it is insufficient to simply leave it at that and say, “Here, now I have this information.” The point is that this teaching should be meditated upon. One needs to engage in the practice not only for some days, but for weeks and months. The mind is gradually transformed in this way. Likewise, the emergent mind (renunciation), the awakening mind (bodhicitta), and the realistic view (the view of the middle way) should be cultivated. We have minds which are fit for the cultivation of all of them. They, as well as our own minds, are impermanent phenomena. Given the proper causes and conditions, these three aspects can arise in one's own continuum. So, it is very important to put these teachings into practice. The people who are receiving these instructions are not simply here to gather some intellectual knowledge but, having received the empowerment, have come here to receive the teachings in order to put them into practice. It is very important that we really apply what we hear.
• There are two very different ways of receiving the teachings. One is the worldly way, simply gathering information to gain greater knowledge and also greater reputation and position, and so forth. In tantra, this type of attitude or motivation is totally unsuitable. The point here is to receive the teachings in order to transform one's own mental continuum.
• In order to practice the Kalacakra, first of all, it is absolutely essential to receive the empowerment. Furthermore, the master from whom one receives the empowerment should be a fully qualified tantric master who bears the 20 qualities signifying such a master. These 20 include ten outer qualities and ten inner qualities. Furthermore, for the empowerment one needs to have a completely accurate mandala made exactly the right way.^* What is required of the practitioners? The disciples must be well trained in the common path… and have both a very firm faith and enthusiasm for tantra.’
• _______________
• * From the base of the mandala in some other tantras there are successive mandalas of three elements: the wind or energy-mandala, the water-mandala, the earth mandala. The fire-mandala is not explicitly present; its existence is implied because it occurs by the combination of the wind, the water and the earth. In the Kalacakra, on the other hand, from the base of the mandala there are the wind, the fire, the water and the earth mandalas. Thus, the fire is explicitly there. This is one among many distinctions found in this particular tantric system.

• 22. DIANE WOLKSTEIN & SAMUEL NOAH KRAMER, Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth - Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (Harper & Row 1983), pp.4-9 -

THE HULUPPU-TREE

‘In the first days, in the very first days,
In the first nights, in the very first nights,
In the first years, in the very first years,
In the first days when everything needed was brought into being,
In the first days when everything needed was properly nourished,
When bread was baked in the shrines of the land,
And bread was tasted in the homes of the land,
When heaven had moved away from Earth,
And Earth had separated from heaven,
And the name of man was fixed;
When the Sky God, An, had carried off the heavens,
And the Air God, Enlil, had carried off the Earth,
When the Queen of the Great Below, Ereshkigal, was given the underworld for her domain,
He set sail; the Father set sail,
Enki, the God of Wisdom, set sail for the underworld.

Small windstones were tossed up against him;
Large hailstones were hurled up against him;
Like onrushing turtles,
They charged the keel of Enki's boat.
The waters of the sea devoured the bow of his boat like wolves;
The waters of the sea struck the stern of his boat like lions.

At that time, a tree, a single tree, a huluppu-tree
Was planted by the banks of the Euphrates.
The tree was nurtured by the waters of the Euphrates.
The whirling South Wind arose, pulling at its roots
And ripping at its branches
Until the waters of the Euphrates carried it away.

A woman who walked in fear of the word of the Sky God, An,
Who walked in fear of the word of the Air God, Enlil,
Plucked the tree from the river and spoke:
“I shall bring this tree to Uruk.
I shall plant this tree in my holy garden.”

Inanna cared for the tree with her hand.
She settled the earth around the tree with her foot.
She wondered:
“How long will it be until I have a shining throne to sit upon?
How long will it be until I have a shining bed to lie upon?”

The years passed; five years, then ten years.
The tree grew thick,
But its bark did not split.

Then a serpent who could not be charmed
Made its nest in the roots of the huluppu-tree.
The Anzu-bird set his young in the branches of the tree.
And the dark maid Lilith built her home in the trunk.

The young woman who loved to laugh wept.
How Inanna wept!
(Yet they would not leave her tree.)

As the birds began to sing at the coming of the dawn,
The Sun God, Utu, left his royal bedchamber.
Inanna called to her brother Utu, saying:

“O Utu, in the days when the fates were decreed,
When abundance overflowed in the land,
When the Sky God took the heavens and the Air God the Earth,
When Ereskigal was given the Great Below for her domain,
The God of Wisdom, Father Enki, set sail for the underworld,
And the underworld rose up and attacked him…
At that time, a tree, a single tree, a huluppu-tree
Was planted by the banks of the Euphrates.
The South Wind pulled at its roots and ripped at its branches
Until the waters of the Euphrates carried it away.
I plucked the tree from the river; I brought it to my holy garden.
I tended the tree, waiting for my shining throne and bed.

Then a serpent who could not be charmed
Made its nest in the roots of the tree,
The Anzu-bird set his young in the branches of the tree,
And the dark maid Lilith built her home in the trunk.
I wept.
How I wept!
(Yet they would not leave my tree.)”

Utu, the valiant warrior, Utu,
Would not help his sister, Inanna.

As the birds began to sing at the coming of the second dawn,
Inanna called to her brother Gilgamesh, saying:
“O Gilgamesh, in the days when the fates were decreed,
When abundance overflowed in Sumer,
When the Sky God had taken the heavens and the Air God the Earth,
When Ereskigal was given the Great Below for her domain,
The God of Wisdom, Father Enki, set sail for the underworld,
And the underworld rose up and attacked him.
At that time, a tree, a single tree, a huluppu-tree
Was planted by the banks of the Euphrates.

The South Wind pulled at its roots and ripped at its branches
Until the waters of the Euphrates carried it away.
I plucked the tree from the river; I brought it to my holy garden.
I tended the tree, waiting for my shining throne and bed.
Then a serpent who could not be charmed
Made its nest in the roots of the tree,
The Anzu-bird set his young in the branches of the tree,
And the dark maid Lilith built her home in the trunk.
I wept.
How I wept!
(Yet they would not leave my tree.)”

Gilgamesh, the valiant warrior, Gilgamesh,
The hero of Uruk, stood by Inanna.
Gilgamesh fastened his armour of fifty minas around his chest.
The fifty minas weighed as little to him as fifty feathers.
He lifted his bronze axe, the axe of the road,
Weighing seven talents and seven minas, to his shoulder.
He entered Inanna's holy garden.

Gilgamesh struck the serpent who could not be charmed.
The Anzu-bird flew with his young to the mountains;
And Lilith smashed her home and fled to the wild,uninhabited places.
Gilgamesh then loosened the roots of the huluppu tree;
And the sons of the city, who accompanied him, cut off the branches.

From the trunk of the tree he carved a throne for his holy sister.
From the trunk of the tree Gilgamesh carved a bed for Inanna.
From the roots of the tree she fashioned a pukku for her brother.
From the crown of the tree Inanna fashioned a mikku for Gilgamesh, the hero of Uruk.’

• For a very differently poetic rendering or, rather, paraphrase of the Epic of Gilgamesh, cf. DERREK B. HINES, Gilgamesh (London: Chatto & Windus, 2002), which begins: "Here is Gilgamesh, king of Uruk: two-thirds divine, a mummy's boy, zeppelin ego, cock like a trip-hammer, and solid chrome, no-prisoners arrogance."

• 23. REINHOLD STECHER, “Challenge to the Church”, translation of a recent letter from the Bishop of Innsbrück published in The Tablet (20/27 December 1997, pp.1668-9), by gracious permission, the full text is here reprinted:

Challenge to the Church:

‘A highly critical letter by Bishop Reinhold Stecher of Innsbruck has aroused huge controversy in the Church in Austria and beyond. The translation below, first published in The Tablet (vol.251, no.8211/12, 20/27 December 1997), is here reproduced by gracious permission -

Since I have resolved to criticize the Church, where criticism is needed, while still in office, rather than leaving it till I was retired, I feel compelled to express my thoughts about the recent Roman decree on lay ministers before I hand on the pastoral staff to my successor. I am not much concerned about the details in the document. Many are reminders of things that are necessary and important. Authorisation to celebrate the Eucharist belongs to priests alone; no lay minister may assume or confirm this authority. And admittedly there have been abuses in this regard.

In speaking about the difference between priests and laity, however, we should not throw everything into the same pile. Defending the priestly power to celebrate the Eucharist need not mean that only priests may preach. When an elderly priest is brought in from outside at the last moment to celebrate the Eucharist - as happens today in many places - it is difficult to see why a theologically educated and dedicated lay minister should be forbidden to preach at such a Mass.

Certainly anyone who preaches at the liturgy must be authorised by the Church to do so. But to omit the homily at Mass because it must be given by an ordained priest is quite another matter. No one in our communities can understand such a ban when the alternative is to go without having a homily at all.

This brings me to my real difficulty with this restrictive decree, which treats extraordinary ministers of communion, and lay ministers generally, as at best stand-ins for a few functions if there is no other way at all. My real concern is the refusal to recognise the actual pastoral situation in so many countries the world over and the refusal to recognise the theological importance of the Eucharist for the Christian community and for the Church.

A recent crisis in health care here in Tyrol may illuminate the dilemma. There are no longer enough fully trained hospital nurses to give insulin injections to diabetics at home or in nursing homes. Understandably the nurses' professional organisation defended the sole right of their members to give these injections. Confronted, however, with a genuine crisis in public health, the nurses agreed that nurses' aides could also give injections. The children of this world are indeed wiser than the children of light.

The Church too is concerned with health - not just for this life but for eternity. Our fully qualified ministers of health (priests) are getting fewer - and older. Moreover, it is clear that as long as we continue to insist on willingness to live a life of consecrated celibacy the number of priests will continue to decline. Priestly celibacy requires that those who undertake it do so in a positive and healthy manner, not merely doing without sexual and human intimacy but dedicating all their powers - spiritual, pastoral, social, intellectual - to creative ministry. This remains the responsibility of “those who can accept it”. And there is not the slightest suggestion in the words of Jesus himself that the number of those so gifted will be sufficient for the pastoral and theological needs of a vital Church.

Problems inevitably arise when we ignore G-d's desire for universal salvation, and the most profound theological and sacramental reality, in order to treat human regulations as though they were absolute.

The decree on lay ministers is concerned entirely with defending the rights of the ordained. It shows no concern for the health of the community. For some time now we have been offering people, tacitly but in reality, a non-sacramental way of salvation. Those familiar with scholastic theology can only shake their heads in disbelief. For that theology strongly emphasises the necessity for salvation of the Eucharist, penance, and anointing of the sick.

The difficulty arises because instead of making provision for the Eucharist based on the spiritual health of the Christian community we concentrate on purely human laws about who is authorised to do what - laws which ignore G-d's will that all should be saved as well as the essentially eucharistic structure of the community. Everything is sacrificed to a definition of church office for which there is no basis in revelation.

Not long ago a bishop renowned for his conservatism said to me with a smile: “In our diocese every priest has three parishes - and things run splendidly.” That most reverend gentleman has never had responsibility for even one parish - let alone for three. If he had, he could hardly have made such a light-hearted remark. In France I have met worn-out, exhausted priests who have to attend to seven or even ten parishes. Even if such priests have the best theological qualifications, their voices will never be heard in the Church's higher councils. Such priests are not made bishops. Few bishops know what these priests face - with the result that their experiences and frustrations are never represented at the Church's highest level. The best we bishops can do is to sigh sympathetically about the difficulties our priests face and utter moving complaints about the shortage of Christian families capable of producing celibate vocations. At a higher level still all energies are devoted to defending the existing rules - as in this latest decree. The Church's real needs are never considered.

I say all this not because I am opposed to celibacy or because I imagine that all our difficulties would be solved if we were to ordain married men as priests. That would inevitably bring fresh difficulties. Nor do I question the value of celibacy for the sake of the kingdom. That is beyond dispute. What distresses me most - painful as this is to confess - are the theological and pastoral deficiencies of the Church's present leadership. In the biblical view church office-holders are not sacred functionaries existing for themselves. They are ministers of salvation. They cannot be simply indifferent when millions upon millions are unable to receive the sacraments of salvation; and when the Eucharist, which in Scripture and dogma is at the centre of life in the Christian community, can no longer be experienced in a properly human manner. As we say in the creed, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven”. He did not come down from heaven “for our authority and for the strict preservation of our ecclesiastical structures”.

The tendency to place human laws and traditions above our divine commission is the most shocking aspect of many church decisions at the end of this millennium. It seems, for instance, to disturb no one at the highest level of the Church that literally hundreds of millions of Catholics are unable to come to the sacraments of forgiveness, which are morally necessary for salvation - and because they now cannot come, in a generation they will not want to come. At a time when health care is directing greater attention to the whole person, there is a wonderful opportunity for the anointing of the sick. Millions are unable to encounter Christ the good physician in this sacrament, however, because we insist that it can be administered only by a celibate priest. The Church's central authority remains completely undisturbed when the widespread amalgamation of parishes makes compassionate sacramental ministry to the sick impossible. And what is at stake is not only people's physical health but their eternal salvation.

The most disturbing example, for me, of neglecting divine commands is our treatment of priests who have married. In my own experience, requests for laicisation forwarded with the bishop's urgent endorsement, for pastoral and human reasons, lie unread for 10 years and even more. The most recent decree brings only marginal improvement. Consider that what is being requested is simply reconciliation with G-d and the Church, the possibility of having a Christian marriage and, in some cases, being admitted to non-priestly ministries. Here too all we hear is a merciless “no”. What did Jesus say? Did he not make the duty of forgiveness and reconciliation the highest duty in all his words, parables, and deeds right up to his final prayers on the cross? Didn't he impose the strictest sanctions on this duty of forgiveness? Didn't he say, “Whoever does not forgive will not be forgiven”? Didn't he tell Peter that he must forgive not seven times a day but 70 times seven? This text never appears in Roman decrees, however, only “Thou art Peter” of Matthew 16:18.

How many Catholics today emphasise their love of the Pope and want to be praised for their loyalty to him. Should they not tremble before the judge of all the world when a Pope dies with thousands of petitions and requests unanswered? What do we do when someone who is dying refuses reconciliation? Don't we do everything in our power to soften the person's attitude, since a soul's eternal salvation is at stake? What would we say about a priest who told a penitent in the confessional, “With a sin like yours, come back in 10 years - maybe then I'll feel inclined to grant you forgiveness”? Doesn't our theology tell us clearly that the refusal of forgiveness and reconciliation is a far worse sin than the violation of celibacy? The latter violates a human law and is a sin of weakness; the former violates G-d's law and is a sin of hard-heartedness. Or do we suppose that the Church's juridical decisions are exempt from Jesus's command? Do we suppose that on the day of judgement those with desk jobs will get off more lightly than those who have sinned in various details?

Here too we see the oft-repeated tendency to subordinate Jesus' teaching to administrative practices and the exercise of human authority.

This is the real reason for the decline in papal authority. This authority, which is vitally necessary for the Church, derives its force from agreement with Christ - as we see in the case of papal infallibility. History shows, however, that in practice even the Church's highest office-holder can stray from Christ. The current treatment of individual sinners contradicts the spirit of Jesus quite as much as past interdicts and bans imposed on whole cities and nations. And I know that many priests and lay people who take their faith seriously suffer under these contradictions and long for a Pope for our times who will embody kindness before all else. As things now stand, Rome has lost the image of mercy and assumed the image of harsh authority. Such an image will win the Church no tricks in the third millennium - despite all the pompous celebrations and many beautiful words devoted to the millennium's celebration. We need fundamental changes of emphasis in crucial aspects of our pastoral practice, both with regard to Jesus' command to bring the Gospel to all, and our treatment of the individual sinner.

We cannot have a Church in which those in the highest positions worry about every speck in the eyes of people in the local communities but not at all about the plank in their own.

I have spoken openly about the defects of those who lead the Church today, comparing them with the Pharisees whom Jesus condemned. I have undiminished hope, however, in the Spirit's power and the future of Jesus' Gospel. But we must become more sensitive to the Gospel's real demands. Their neglect has brought grave consequences in the past. The millennium summons us to ponder these things and achieve fresh insight.†

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† Editorial note quoted from The Tablet: The letter, of which the above translation was made by an American reader of The Tablet, was first made public on 13 December, only hours before Stecher's successor [Alois Kothgasser] was due to hold his first press conference… The new Bishop of Innsbrück [now Archbishop of Salzburg] astonished many when he spontaneously declared that he fully shared Stecher's concerns…’ Additional note by the Preliminary LibrArian emeritus: Archbishop Alois Kothgasser and Doctor Colin James Hamer studied theology together for four years, and were, with thirty-one others, ordained priests in the Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians, in Turin on the same day: 9 February 1964.

           
St. Paul was shipwrecked 300 yards off the Maltese coast, here, in late October or early November 59 A.D.
He probably embarked for Rome from Gozo on 10 February in A.D. 60.   _{Acts 27:39-28:11}

• 24. BERNARD LONERGAN, S.J., "A Supplementary Note", from Method in Theology (Darton, Longman & Todd 1972), pp. 265-66. Does this imply an "enstatic conversion", as I first suggested on 12 July 1995?

ENSTATIC CONVERSION?

"We have distinguished four realms of meaning: common sense, theory, interiority, and transcendence. We have had occasion to distinguish such differentiations of consciousness as the resolution of common sense into common sense and theory and the further resolution of common sense and theory into common sense, theory, and interiority. But our remarks on transcendence as a differentiated realm have been fragmentary.

What I have referred to as the gift of G-d's love, spontaneously reveals itself in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control. In undifferentiated consciousness it will express its reference to the transcendent both through sacred objects, places, times, and actions, and through the sacred offices of the shaman, the prophet, the lawgiver, the apostle, the priest, the preacher, the monk, the teacher. As consciousness differentiates into the two realms of common sense and theory, it will give rise to special theoretical questions concerning divinity, the order of the universe, the destiny of mankind, and the lot of each individual. When these three realms of common sense, theory, and interiority are differentiated, the self-appropriation of the subject leads not only to the objectification of experiencing, understanding, judging and deciding, but also of religious experience.

Quite distinct from these objectifications of the gift of G-d's love in the realms of common sense and of theory and from the realm of interiority, is the emergence of the gift as itself a differentiated realm. It is this emergence that is cultivated by a life of prayer and self-denial and, when it occurs, it has the twofold effect, first, of withdrawing the subject from the realm of common sense, theory, and other interiority into a 'cloud of unknowing' and then of intensifying, purifying, clarifying the objectifications referring to the transcendent whether in the realm of common sense, or of theory, or of other interiority.

It is to be observed that, while for secular man of the twentieth century the most familiar differentiation of consciousness distinguishes and relates theory and common sense, still in the history of mankind both in the East and the Christian West the predominant differentiation of consciousness has set in opposition and in mutual enrichment the realms of common sense and of transcendence."
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Webmaster's note: Reading the above in Father Lonergan's Method in Theology when it first appeared in 1972, even though I already knew his Insight well, I failed to notice that the comma printed immediately after "clarifying" in the published version of that second last paragraph was a typographical error; I have removed it.

• 24. FOSTER BAILEY, The "Ancient Landmarks", The Spirit of Masonry (Lucis Trust 1957), pp.60-63, 65-67.

  THE "ANCIENT LANDMARKS"

"That the 'Ancient Landmarks' exist is of general Masonic recognition; that they must never be altered, is likewise conceded. But just exactly how many and what they are, and how they have come to be, remains the subject of the widest speculation. Therefore what is said in this connection may seem limiting to some and too broad in its implications to others. Yet the breadth of the subject is its greatest safeguard, and in the wide range of landmarks enumerated and considered by Masonic authorities lies their true preservation. Let us seek to determine first of all just what is the origin of the frequently used phrase the 'Ancient Landmarks', and consider certain suggestions which may somewhat clarify the minds of the students. Let us consider also what it means to preserve such landmarks, why they are preserved and finally, what constitutes a landmark, and which, out of the many suggested, are probably the true landmarks.

Some authorities trace the origin of the idea to the Bible, and as one wise student of the Masonic Mystery writes:

'In my opinion, this expression was adopted into the Masonic ritual from the Old Testament by Anderson and others, who were left to compile the ritual. Anderson was a Presbyterian minister, and his Biblical knowledge enabled him to appropriate many such phrases into the ritual, as he did also from Shakespeare and Milton. The Old Testament references are:-

• 1. "Remove not the ancient landmarks" (Prov 22:28).
• 2. "Remove not the old landmarks" (Prov 23:10).
• 3. "Thou shalt not remove they neighbour's landmark" (Deut 19:14).
• 4. "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark" (Deut 27:17).
• 5. "Some remove landmarks" (Job 24:2).
  Compare: "See that thou never change the native names, for there are names in every nation, given by the Gods, possessed of power, in mystic rites, which no language can express." (Quoted in Mead's Chaldean Oracles, Vol.2, p.42).
  The Masonic "Ancient Landmarks" have never been officially defined. What they are is a matter of guessworks, various opinions giving quite different lists from Mackey onwards. If the phrase "Ancient Landmarks" was, as I believe, lifted from the Bible, it can only be taken as an abstract statement and not as referable to a specific set of rules. It probably means (in the Bible and elsewhere), "do not alter the basic principles of initiation, (e.g., the three degrees) which are common to all systems of the Mysteries, though differently expressed in each".'

His remarks are incorporated here as it is a wise summation of the situation, and of value to all who read these papers. That we have inherited this phrase from the Jews is undoubtedly true, but the origin of the idea is far older than the Jewish dispensation, and the 'Ancient Landmarks' long antedate that period.

Some students trace the idea back to the Mysteries and rites and ceremonies which are older far than the story of Masonry, as we find it outlined for us in the Old Testament. A few, the real esotericists and investigators of the symbolism, trace the concept back to a far distant time in the history of mankind, when a certain tradition and teaching was imparted to infant humanity. Certain inspired teachers were the custodians of a revelation from G-d, and gave it to mankind. They laid down those landmarks and those signposts which could, and would, lead the race of men, then groping in the darkness of ignorance, out into the light of knowledge and guide them towards an eventual glorious resurrection. Thus, from this point of view, Masonry is as old as humanity itself. Perhaps it antedates all the great religious systems and holds within itself all that man needs to know to reach his goal.

There are, therefore, four major theories as to the origin of the 'Ancient Landmarks,' viewing this phrase as a symbolic expression, embodying the basic truths of Masonry.

• 1. The strictly modern uninspired and academic idea that Masonry originated about two hundred years ago, and was simply a resurrection of certain old guilds and their modes of work and of initiation. Very few Masons today regard this as the whole theory or as adequate to account for the interest, the symbolism and the significance of the rites. The material is not, per se, great enough to account for the growth of the movement.
• 2. The theory that Masonry originated under the Jewish dispensation, was a secret organisation or fraternity, embodying, possibly, an older tradition, and that modern Masonry is a revival of that ancient organisation.
• 3. The theory that Masonry has always existed, and was inherited from age to age by humanity, finding its expression through the ancient Mysteries. These Mysteries preserved throughout the centuries the same fundamental rites, symbols, and enacted dramatic truths which constitute the 'Ancient Landmarks'. These must not be altered or changed in any way but must be preserved intact. Modern Masonry has inherited them without recognising the origin, or seeing the inner spiritual significances.
• 4. The least recognised theory, but a theory which is gaining increased precedence, is the one which states that the origin of the idea, passed on into the Mysteries and preserved in the Jewish Masonic tradition, was the precipitation on earth of certain cosmic and universal archetypal plans, which are to be found preserved for us in Heaven, where the pattern of all things exists. The Jews, as a linking race between the ancient East and the modern West, were the natural custodians of the tradition and the teaching of the Mysteries. Hence the Jewish colouring given to the modern form of the Mysteries which will eventually constitute the Modern way into the Holy place." "(pp.60--63)

"The system of allegory and symbol which has been perpetuated for us in modern Masonry, goes further back by far than the Seventeenth centuryu, further than its many expressions during the past two thousand years, further than the Semitic revelation (with the utilisation of the Jews as a distributing agency for the Lodge on High), or the Mysteries which antedated that Jewish dispensation, to that distant time when infant humanity was taught by Teachers, sent by G-d. These gave to men the outer symbols which were the first great landmarks, but they gave them no interpretation for their minds were too underdeveloped to grasp any significances. They saw only the outer crude dramatic forms; they built only huge and shapeless Temples, but built them true to the symbolic design, watching the rites and ceremonies carried on in thos temples by the initiate-priests as those who watch an interesting story which has no relation to them and for them no real meaning. Because of their very simplicity and lack of complex thought, they preserved the 'Ancient Landmarks' for us in their purity and essential form, and a right understanding of the temples and places of initiation, found scattered up and down our planet (such as Stonehenge, certain caves in India and the Pyramids of Egypt and South America), would indicates to us the origin of the phrase the 'Ancient Landmarks'... What is seen on earth has its counterpart and origin in heaven, and does not exist only in the minds of men." (pp.65-67)
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Webmaster's Note: 1. Freemasonry researcher Stephen Knight has signally failed to notice that the name Jah-Bul-On need not be understood pejoratively. His second edition of The Brotherhood omitted to mention that any Masonic ritual use of that particular name had been by then already officially discontinued.
2. As David Ovason has indicated, some fusion of operative and symbolic masonry is clearly and visibly expressed for all in Limerick to see on Baal's Bridge which dates from 1507; to suppose that "until the 17th century, there were only 'operative Masons' " is to be mistaken.
3. Helpful, though brief, is W. BROTHER REVEREND ALLAN V. W. BEECHING, P.M., "Freemasonry - Whence come you? Whither are you directing your course?" (Christchurch, New Zealand: Lodge Idris 452, January 1999).

• 25. "What does the Bible actually say about Noah's Great Flood?" - Genesis 5:28-8:22

THE UNIVERSAL DELUGE

5 28, 29 “When Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old he fathered a son. •He gave him the name Noah because, he said, ‘Here is one who will give us, in the midst of our toil and the labouring 30 of our hands, a consolation out of the very soil that Yahweh cursed.’ •After the birth of Noah, 31 Lamech lived for five hundred and ninety-five years and fathered sons and daughters. •In all, Lamech lived for seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.

32 When Noah was five hundred years old he fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth.

6 1, 2 When people began being numerous on earth, and daughters had been born to them, •the sons of God, looking at the women, saw how beautiful they were and married as many of them as they 3 chose. •Yahweh said, ‘My spirit cannot be indefinitely responsible for human beings, who are only 4 flesh; let the time allowed each be a hundred and twenty years.’ •The Nephilim were on earth in those days (and even afterwards) when the sons of God resorted to the women, and had children by them. These were the heroes of days gone by, men of renown [Z. Sitchin translation reads not "men of renown" but "people of the rocket-ships"].

5 Yahweh saw that human wickedness was great on earth and that his heart contrived nothing but 6 wicked schemes all day long. •Yahweh regretted having made human beings on earth and was 7 grieved at heart. •And Yahweh said, ‘I shall rid the surface of the earth of the human beings whom I created - human and animal, the creeping thing and the birds of heaven - for I regret having made 8 them.’ •But Noah won Yahweh's favour.

9 This is the story of Noah:

10 Noah was a good man, an upright man among his contemporaries, and he walked with God. •Noah 11 fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. •God saw that the earth was corrupt and full of 12 lawlessness. •God looked at the earth: it was corrupt, for corrupt were the ways of all living things on earth.

13 God said to Noah, ‘I have decided that the end has come for all living things, for the earth is full of 14 lawlessness because of human beings. So I am now about to destroy them and the earth. •Make 15 yourself an ark out of resinous wood. Make it of reeds and caulk it with pitch inside and out. •This is how to make it: the length of the ark is to be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its 16 height thirty cubits. •Make a roof to the ark, building it up a cubit higher. Put the entrance in the side of the ark, which is to be made with lower, second and third decks.

17 ‘For my part I am going to send the flood, the waters, on earth to destroy all living things having 18 the breath of life under heaven; everything on earth is to perish. •But with you I shall establish my covenant and you will go aboard the ark, yourself, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives along 19 with you. •From all living creatures, from all living things, you must take two of each kind aboard 20 the ark, to save their lives with yours; they must be a male and a female. •Of every species of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that creeps along the ground, two must go with 21 you so that their lives may be saved. •For your part, provide yourself with eatables of all kinds, and 22 lay in a store of them, to serve as food for yourself and them.’ •Noah did this; exactly as God commanded him, he did.

7 1 Yahweh said to Noah, ‘Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone of your 2 contemporaries do I see before me as an upright man. •Of every clean animal you must take seven pairs, a male and its female; of the unclean animals you must take one pair, a male and its female 3 (and of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, a male and its female), to preserve their species 4 throughout the earth. •For in seven days' time I shall make it rain on earth for forty days and forty 5 nights, and I shall wipe every creature I have made off the face of the earth.’ •Noah did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, the waters over the earth.

7 Noah with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives boarded the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 (Of the clean animals and the animals that are not clean, of the birds and all that creeps along the 9 ground, •one pair boarded the ark with Noah, one male and one female, as God had commanded 10 Noah.) •Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth day of the month, that very day all the springs of the great deep burst through, and the sluices of heaven opened. 12 And heavy rain fell on earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 That very day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth boarded the ark, with Noah's wife and 14 the three wives of his sons, •and with them every species of wild animal, every species of cattle, every species of creeping things that creep along the ground, every species of bird, everything that 15 flies, everything with wings. •One pair of all that was alive and had the breath of life boarded the 16 ark with Noah, •and those that went aboard were a male and female of all that was alive, as God had commanded him.

Then Yahweh shut him in.

17 The flood lasted forty days on earth. The waters swelled, lifting the ark until it floated off the 18 ground. •The waters rose, swelling higher above the ground, and the ark drifted away over the 19 waters. •The waters rose higher and higher above the ground until all the highest mountains under 20 the whole of heaven were submerged. •The waters reached their peak fifteen cubits above the 21 submerged mountains. •And all living things that stirred on earth perished; birds, cattle, wild 22 animals, all the creatures swarming over the earth, and all human beings. •Everything with the least 23 breath of life in its nostrils, everything on dry land, died. •Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, people, animals, creeping things and birds; they were wiped off the earth and 24 only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. •The waters maintained their level on earth for a hundred and fifty days.

8 1 But God had Noah in mind, and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the 2 ark. God sent a wind across the earth and the waters began to subside. •The springs of the deep and 3 the sluices of heaven were stopped up and the heavy rain from heaven was held back. •Little by 4 little, the waters ebbed from the earth. After a hundred and fifty days the waters fell, •and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters gradually fell until the tenth month when, on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain tops appeared.

6, 7 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark •and released a raven, 8 which flew back and forth as it waited for the waters to dry up on earth. •He then released a dove, to 9 see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. •But the dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting 10 out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. •After waiting

11 seven more days, he again released the dove from the ark. •In the evening, the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! So Noah realised that the waters were 12 receding from the earth. •After waiting seven more days, he released the dove, and now it returned to him no more.

13 It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the waters began drying out on earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry!

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15,16 Then God said to Noah, •‘Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives 17 with you. •Bring out all the animals with you, all living things, the birds, the cattle and all the creeping things that creep along the ground, for them to swarm on earth, for them to breed and 18, 19 multiply on earth.’ •So Noah came out with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives. •And all the wild animals, all the cattle, all the birds and all the creeping things that creep along the ground, came out of the ark, one species after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and, choosing from all the clean animals and all the clean 21 birds he presented burnt offerings on the altar. •Yahweh smelt the pleasing smell and said to himself, ‘Never again will I curse the earth because of human beings, because their heart contrives evil 22 from their infancy. Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. •As long as earth endures: seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ ”

Note: Although scholars are agreed that this account is very largely based on a number of earlier, longer and much more detailed texts, only some of which have survived, it is, nevertheless, long in comparison with the Bible's opening accounts of G-d's work of creation culminating in that of “the Adam”, of his subseqent planting of “a garden in Eden, which is in the east”, and of his transfer of man to this garden where “woman” was then fashioned to live with him in a naked state as “his wife”. The biblical description of Eve, “the mother of all those who live” being “tempted” by “the snake”, and of Yahweh's subsequently banishing both her and “the man become like one of us in knowing good from evil” from the garden in order to till the soil elsewhere is also considerably shorter than this account of the Universal Deluge. In such circumstances it would be less than wise to neglect Hamlet's Mill or to assume this to be the description of what was, in fact, no more than a local event!

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