mélange
Sage
The federal debt stands around 21 trillion dollars, not including state and local debt, nor
does it include agency debt…or about 65,000 per person…
“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.”
― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
No act of kindness, however small, is wasted.”
-- Aesop
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“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
“Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by
unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with
others.”
“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice
as much as we speak.”
- Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus
The
word
Deuteronomy
literally
means,
repeated
law
and
it
was
the
fifth
book
of
the
Old
Testament.
It
is
believed
that
is
represents
a
series
of
speeches
on
law
given
by
Moses.
These
sermons
on
the
law
were
prior
to
the
Israelites
entrance
into
the
land
of
Canaan.
Canaan
is
a
region that lies between Jordan, The Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, known now as Palestine.
The
Israelites
were
intrigued
by
the
religion
of
the
Canaanites
with
its
coarse
form
of
nature
worship
and
desecrated
polytheism.
The
Canaanites
religion
was
centered
on
agriculture
and
fertility
and
they
had
their
own
Gods
and
Goddesses
they
worshiped.
The
Canaanites
included
various
Semitic
people
and
as
such
were
a
unique
blend
of
cultures
and
were
responsible
for
the
alphabetic system of writing.
“But
thus
shall
ye
deal
with
them”
seems
to
be
an
order
that
these
people,
or
the
people
of
Canaan
needed
to
be
confronted
and
taken
over.
There
didn’t
seem
to
be
any
indication
that
there
should
be
cooperation
with
these
people
but
in
essence
taking
them
over.
“Ye
shall
destroy
their
alters
and
break
down
their
images”
would
lead
me
to
believe
that
any
religious
images
they
had
needed
to
be
destroyed
and
completely
removed.
“Cut
down
their
idols
and
burn
their
carved
images
with
fire”
is
referring
to
the
religious
or
cultural
paraphernalia
the
Canaanites
had
on
display
and
how
it
needed
to
be
eliminated.
The
idols
or
carved
images
would
seem
to
be
Asherim,
the
Semitic
Goddess that the Canaanites worshiped.
God
wanted
nothing
superstitious
to
interfere
with
worshiping
him
and
having
idols
and
other
carved
images
present
distracted
the
followers.
There
is
only
one
God
and
to
have
images
of
false
Gods
present
was
not
to
be
tolerated.
Worship
should
be
pure
and
complete
devotion
to
one
God
was crucial.
It
seems
little
changes
as
time
goes
by
in
terms
of
religion.
We
certainly
have
religious
freedom
and
we
are
free
to
practice
what
we
believe,
yet
there
still
seems
to
be
the
belief
that
“my
religion”
is
the
only
right
religion.
It
would
seem
that
the
instructions
in
this
passage
are
too
severe,
but
perhaps
they
believed
as
some
do
today,
that
there
can
be
no
unity
unless
there
is
a
shared
moral
base.
- SFG
We have all taken notice as to how the lexicon seems to change almost daily; many of the
new words added to the dictionary have to do with social media…here are a few that have
been added recently……
Adorbs- cute I guess cute has become passé.
Awesomesauce- it means awesome but I guess with more emphasis.
Bestie-best friend
Frenemy-adversary you keep tabs on.
Selfie-no explanation necessary.
Slay-greatly impress.
Rap – Sesame Street…for the illiterate.
The philosophy of Stoicism differs from other schools of philosophical thought in that it is
not merely intellectual in nature it has a practical application in daily life. It is based on
behavior rather than words and reminds us there are things we can’t control in life yet we
do have control over our own actions and we need to strive to overcome destructive
emotions. The three leaders of Stoic thought were; Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and
Seneca. All three took the time to keep a daily journal and Marcus Aurelius wrote about
restraint, compassion and humility-things we could all reflect upon.
- SFG
The Wharf-Sapir hypothesis states that certain thoughts of individuals in one
language may not necessarily be interpreted the same way by people with a
different language. The way we think is affected by out native language or
the structure of language can strongly influence our world view.
