Humour!
Oh humour is a really great thing!..
A person can do miracles with that virtue!
One can bring al the kind of smiles to all points on Earth with a good mood and when we have friends that are able to make us smile we can have them as friends forever!
It's a gift,it's light, it's the most perfect way to live a life.
Smiling.Laughing .
From all those who never could give any pleasure to anyone!....
Let's laugh then!
And smile!:))
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 6:29 PM MEST
Webring
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 3:21 PM MEST
The Gift
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 5:08 AM MEST
My blogging soul
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 5:06 AM MEST
Destiny
Destiny is what is there waiting
for me
I must run,
must go away from the statues
I'm trying to reach
another day
trying to build a new creation of my own.
Destiny is smilling,
so sure is he of my eternal presence,
I must run
trying to reach that day in wich my spirit
can finally be perfect
and go home.
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 4:25 AM MEST
..To someone i love
Dedicated to
you are my memory
my hope of love
my soul,
you are the perfume
the smiling child
the song,
you are the world
the movement
the sign
the dancing of flowers
the flying birds,
the life.
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 4:12 AM MEST
Eliphas Levy
SOLUTION OF THE SECOND PROBLEM
TRUE RELIGION
Eliphas Levy
RELIGION exists in humanity, like love.
Like it, it is unique.
Like it, it either exists, or does not exist, in such and such a soul; but, whether one accepts it or denies it, it is in humanity; it is, then, in life, it is in nature itself; it is an incontestable fact of science, and even o reason.
The true religion is that which has always existed, which exists to-day, and will exist for ever.
Some one may say that religion is this or that; religion is what it is. This is the true religion, and the false religions are superstitions imitated from her, borrowed from her, lying shadows of herself!
One may say of religion what one says of true art. Savage attempts at painting or sculpture are the attempts of ignorance to arrive at the truth. Art proves itself by itself, is radiant with its own splendour, is unique and eternal like beauty.
The true religion is beautiful, and it is by that divine character that it imposes itself on the respect of science, and obtains the assent of reason.
Science dare not affirm or deny those dogmatic hypotheses which are truths for faith; but it must recognize by unmistakable {72} characters the one true religion, that is to say, that which alone merits the name of religion in that it unites all the characters which agree with that great and universal aspiration of the human soul.
One only thing, which is to all most evidently divine, is manifested in the world.
It is charity.
The work of true religion should be to produce, to preserve, and to spread abroad the spirit of charity.
To arrive at this end she must herself possess all the characteristics of charity, in such a manner that one could define her satisfactorily, in naming her, "Organic Charity."
Now, what are the characteristics of charity?
It is St. Paul who will tell us.
Charity is patient.
Patient like God, because it is eternal as He is. It suffers persecutions, and never persecutes others.
It is kindly and loving, calling to itself the little, and not repulsing the great.
It is without jealousy. Of whom, and of what, should it be jealous? Has it not that better part which shall not be taken away from it?
It is neither quarrelsome nor intriguing.
It is without pride, without ambition, without selfishness, without anger.
It never thinks evil, and never triumphs by injustice; for all its joy is comprehended in truth.
It endures everything, without ever tolerating evil.
It believes all; its faith is simple, submissive, hierarchical, and universal. {73}
It sustains all, and never imposes burdens which it is not itself the first to carry.
{Illustration on page 74 described:
This is titled below: "GREAT PENTACLE FROM THE VISION OF ST. JOHN"
The figure is contained within a rectangle of width a bit less than half height. The figure itself is taken from Revelations Chapter 10 and is roughly divisible into four parts. The top contains a human head and upraised left hand in a shaded semi-circle under an arch of three curved lines. The hand is palmer, thum out, first and middle fingers upright and two remaining fingers to palm. "MICROPROSOPUS" is written horizontally above the arch, "Gnosis" to the left and "Atziluth" "Jezirah" "BRIAH" "Sulphur" to the right in rows. Following the arch outside to the left is "EIS THS". Following the arch outside to the right is
"GR:alpha-iota-omega-nu-alpha-sigma Alpha-mu-eta-nu" --- Greek is difficult to tell from Latin letters here, and the first part looks very much like "aiwvas", almost Crowley's "Aiwass" and very possibly a subconscious inspiration for it. There is a suggestion of a nimbus about the head. The section next down is contained largely within a cloud. To the left, outside "Psyche". To the right outside in rows "Aziah"
"JEZIRAH" "Mercury". In the center is a book held open by a right hand flat against the left page and open, palm to book, fingers extending to base of right page. At the top of this portion, just below the chin of the upper section head is the word " GR:eta delta-omicron-xi-alpha" (the glory). Immediately below this and above the spine of the book is an unrecognizable character a little like GR:mu or Mem from the Alphabet of the Magi, although this is the normal place for "Alpha". Immediately below the book is "GR:eta delta-upsilon-nu-alpha-mu-iota -sigma" (the power). There is a strange character below this, at th bottom of this section and like that noted above --- even harder to recognize, but this is the usual position for "Omega". The third section from the top and second from the bottom has two pillars issuing from the cloud. These have fluted capitols and ringed bases extending to form trapezoidal forms. The pillar to the left is black and marked at center with "B", while that to the right is white with "J". To the left is "Hyle".
To the right in rows "Briah" "AZIAH" and a small rectangle. There is a crescent moon between the bases of the drums, horns angled right and slightly upward. The lowest portion shows feet issuing from the bases of the pillars and cocked outward on a mass of rock to the left and a sea to the right. " GR:eta beta-alpha-sigma-iota- lambda-epsilon-iota-alpha" (the kingdom) is written on the base of this rock. The
rectangular frame is broken at the bottom to admit crude Hebrew letters, evidently Yod-Shin-Heh-Vau-Heh or something similar with the doubt being on the HB:Heh 's looking like HB:Chet 's. Below this is what appears to be GR:Omicron-tau-iota omicron-delta epsilon-delta-iota-nu, but the poor penmanship makes certain identification impossible. The entire figure gives the impression of a man with head in heaven and feet on earth.}
Religion is patient --- the religion of great thinkers and of martyrs.
It is benevolent like Christ and the apostles, like Vincent de Paul, and like Fenelon.
It envies not either the dignities or the goods of the earth. {74} It is the religion of the fathers of the desert, of St. Francis, and of St. Bruno, of the Sisters of Charity, and of the Brothers of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu.
It is neither quarrelsome nor intriguing. It prays, does good, and waits.
It is humble, it is sweet-tempered, it inspires only devotion and sacrifice. It has, in short, all the characteristics of Charity because it is Charity itself.
Men, on the contrary, are impatient, persecutors, jealous, cruel, ambitious, unjust, and they show themselves as such, even in the name of that religion which they have succeeded in calumniating, but which they will never cause to life. Men pass away, but truth is eternal.
Daughter of Charity, and creator of Charity in her own turn, true religion is essentially that which realizes; she believes in the miracles of faith, because she herself accomplishes them every day when she practises charity. Now, a religion which practises charity may flatter herself that she realizes all the dreams of divine love. Moreover, the faith of the hierarchical church transforms mysticism into realism by the efficacy of her sacraments. No more signs, no more figures whose strength is not in grace, and which do not really give what they promise! Faith animates all, makes all in some sort visible and palpable; even the parables of Jesus Christ take a body and a soul. They show, at Jerusalem, the house of the wicked rich man!! The thin symbolisms of the primitive religions overturned by science, and deprived of the life of faith, resemble those whitened bones which covered the field that Ezekiel saw in his vision. The Spirit of the Saviour, the spirit of faith, the spirit of {75} charity, has breathed upon this dust; and all that which was dead has taken life again so really that one recognizes no more yesterday's corpses in these
living creatures of to-day. And why should one recognize them, since the world is renewed, since St. Paul burned at Ephesus the books of the hierophants? Was then St. Paul a barbarian, and was he committing a crime against science? No, but he burned the winding-sheets of the resuscitated that they might forget death. Why, then, do we to-day recall the qabalistic origins of dogma? Why do we join again the figures of the Bible to the allegories of Hermes? Is it to condemn St. Paul, is it to bring doubt to believers? No, indeed, for believers have no need of our book; they will not read it, and they will not wish to understand it. But we wish to show to the innumerable crowd of those who doubt, that faith is attached to the reason
of all the centuries, to the science of all the sages. We wish to force human liberty to respect divine authority, reason to recognize the bases of faith, so that faith and authority, in their turn, may never again proscribe liberty and reason. {76}
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 4:03 AM MEST
ELIPHAS LEVI
FIRST ARTICLE
SOLUTION OF THE FIRST PROBLEM
THE TRUE GOD
BY ELIPHAS LEVI
GOD can only be defined by faith; science can neither deny nor affirm that He exists.
God is the absolute object of human faith. In the infinite, He is the supreme and creative intelligence of order. In the world, He is the spirit of charity.
Is the Universal Being a fatal machine which eternally grinds down intelligences by chance, or a providential intelligence which directs forces in order to ameliorate minds?
The first hypothesis is repugnant to reason; it is pessimistic and immoral.
Science and reason ought then to accept the second.
Yes, Proudhon, God is an hypothesis, but an hypothesis so necessary, that without it, all theorems become absurd or doubtful.
For initiates of the Qabalah, God is the absolute unity which creates and animates numbers.
The unity of the human intelligence demonstrates the unity of God.
The key of numbers is that of creeds, because signs are {12} analogical figures of the harmony which proceeds from numbers.
Mathematics could never demonstrate blind fatality, because they are the expression of the exactitude which is the character of the highest reason.
Unity demonstrates the analogy of contraries; it is the foundation, the equilibrium, and the end of numbers. The act of faith starts from unity, and returns to unity.
{Illustration on page 13 described:
This is titled below: "THE SIGN OF THE GRAND ARCANUM G.'. A.'."
The figure is contained within a rectangle of width about half height. The main element is a circle, bottom half shaded, pierced through on the vertical diameter from below by a vertical sword or baton. The "sword" has a right hand holding the pommel below, issuing from a cloud to lower right. The hilt is not evident simply, but suggested by two tails of serpents crossing just below the lower limit of the circle. To either side of the pommel beneath the snake tails are the letters "FIN" to left and "AL" to right. The point of the sword above the upper limit of the circle is buttoned by a fleur-de-lis. The two serpents are entwined about the sword to form a caduceus with two circles vertically circumscribed within the greater circle. These serpents are billed. There are two shaded bands on the two horizontal diameters of the serpent circles. Five Hebrew letters are along the sword, only the topmost upon the blade and the others beneath: Top quarter --- HB:Yod , next quarter --- HB:Aleph , center --- HB:Shin , next quarter is probably but not certainly HB:
Mem, bottom quarter is an inverted HB:Heh . The upper half of the upper serpent circle has Aleph-Heh-Yod-Heh just above the diameter bar, and the lower quarter of the lower serpent circle has the same inverted just below the diameter bar. There is an "X" of thin line diameters across the large circle. At the horizontal diameter of the large circle, just above to the left "THROSNE" and to the right "DE JVSTICE". Oriented about the circle to be read from the center are the following words: At left outside "COVRONNE", at top and split "MED" "IATE", at right
"ECLESIASTIQVE", at bottom and split "DIR" "ECTE". Two words in italics extend just above the horizontal diameter in invisible extensis and through the rectangle: to left "HARMONIE", to right "CEELESTE". Above the button of the sword is a small circle, and to the left of that "Tzaddi-Dalet-Qof", to the right "Peh-Lamed-Kophfinal" (possibly "Mem-Lamed-Kophfinal" or "Samekh-Lamed-Kophfinal"). Below this, interrupted by the button are two texts: to the right: "(?)Aleph-Samekh-Peh-Kophfinal Bet-Shin-Vau-Shin-Nunfinal Heh-Bet-Yod-Resh " (First word doubtful, text referred to Dan. 8, where it must
be altered from Dan. 8, 2: "Vau-Aleph-Nun-Yod Bet-Shin-Vau-Shin-Nunfinal Heh-Bet-Yod-Resh-Heh" "I was in Shushan castle". This variant could be translated as "sheath in Shushan castle".) Beneath this: "DANIEL ch. 8." The text to the left cannot be rendered accurately owing to similarity of letter shapes and no direct bearing to the text cited. It looks like: "Aleph-Taw-Tet-Dalet-Resh-Vau-Shin Samekh-Resh-Vau-Koph-Yod", but that is not likely to be even close. Beneath this is the citation "Nehemie ch.1 v.1" which does not contain any part of this versicle, but which does mention the castle at Shusah, cited in the versicle to the right. Possibly the whole thing is a continuation of a paraphrase of Daniel 8, 2, with
the text unclear because of letter shapes poorly written. Lastly, to the left outside of the upper serpent circle: "SENS"; and to the right inside the same: "RASON" --- both oriented to be read from the center.}
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 4:00 AM MEST
Nature of Symbols
Symbol is one of those words that is often used in a confusing manner. The confusion is increased by different scholars using the word to mean very different things. Most obviously, General Semantics (Alfred Korzybski, S. I. Hayakawa) use symbol for to designate what other writers call a sign.
In the usage I prefer, sign designates something which stands for something else. Any content-word in the language is a sign, being a spoken or written vehicle for an immaterial meaning that refers to some experience.
A symbol is a sign which has further layers of meaning. In other words, a symbol means more than it literally says. (Signs are literal; symbols are not).
Notice that a symbol can have more than one layer of further meaning. The more profound the symbol, the greater the complexity of the layers of meaning (although the symbol itself may be quite simple).
When the author of Ecclesiastes (9.4) tells his readers that it is better to be a living dog than a dead lion, he uses the literal significance of "dog" and "lion," coupled with their cultural associations, to refer to conditions of human life.
There are three layers (at least) in this saying:
* the literal meaning of "lion" and "dog"--two different species of mammal;
* the cultural associations of both animals--the lion is noble, strong, courageous; the dog is ordinary, weak, cowardly.
* the application to human character: The cultural associations are transferred from dogs and lions to human beings; the application makes a point about life.
Symbols can have three kinds of association; often a symbol will have all three. The associations are
* Personal: We all have associations with things in our experience. One person may have strong affection for dogs while another person may fear them intensely.
* Cultural: Different symbols may have quite different meanings in different cultures. A lion can represent Christ in Christian culture; in Sumerian culture, the sun represents the god Marduk. In Chinese culture, dogs represent devotion and faithfulness; in Islamic culture, they represent impurity.
* Universal: Jungian psychology, along with other theories, argues that some symbols have universal meaning. Lions suggest deity in a variety of cultures, for instance. Trying to discern and express the universal meaning of a symbol is tricky.
Posted by mariaalgarve
at 3:42 AM MEST
