Learn to Learn

If you do nothing else with your life, learn to learn.

You have been taught how not to learn. You have been taught how to compile data, but you have not learned how to learn.

There are three descending levels of Knowledge:

Wisdom

Understanding

General Knowledge or Know-How

The level of general knowledge is the level of know-how and technical knowledge. It can be as simple as knowing how to tie one's shoes or as complicated as rocket science, but it is no more than the compiling, collating and disseminating of data.

The second level is higher. Here one understands the meaning of the data that one has compiled, understands the moment of it, appreciates the value of it, considers it with awe and knows how to apply it for the good.

Wisdom is the ability to see into the Soul of matter. There is not much to say about this level of Knowledge because it is the substrate from which all mathematics and linguistics proceed, therefore it does not avail itself of description. It is That which is caught, not taught.

I have said that the levels of Knowledge above are in descending order. They also encompass and contain one another. When one has Wisdom, one has Understanding and knows the basis of General Knowledge. It does not work in reverse. One may be a rocket scientist, a physicist, a physician, but not understand the data at all and be a wholly unwise person.

Most scientists are stuck on the lowest level of General Knowledge. Do not be fooled by their claims to being committed to verification by empirical proofs and their loyalty to "science". No matter how high-falutin' this sounds, it exists on the lowest rung of cognition. They understand very little and are not wise people.

Learn from those who have dedicated their lives to acquiring Wisdom, not hoarding data.

When you meet a person like this, if there is Wisdom within you, you will know them. You will resonate with them. They will reach you on the deepest levels of your being. They will not attempt to teach you by browbeating or by insults or by appeals to authority. They will be gentle in touching your mind and your Spirit. They will not trample on your Humanity and your dignity. They will teach by example, and not demand that you believe them and accept everything they say. They will be so subtle in teaching that you may not even realize that it is their intention to guide you. You will simply be riveted by how they relate to other beings and how they comport themselves.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Genuine Kabbalah vis-a-vis Lurianic Pseudo-Kabbalah

Query: I'm confused regarding your views.

My response: Oh, good! That makes it unanimous then!

Query: Could you clarify please?

Doreen shimmies out of her goofball get-up and gets serious:

I will attempt to do so in brief. The subject rightly deserves a book-length treatise, not a post.

Let it be said at the outset that often counterfeits are quite valuable in their own right. They are forgeries nonetheless, but are often the products of considerable knowledge and know-how. This is the case with Lurianic Kabbalah vis-a-vis authentic Kabbalah.

Interlocutor: I thought you considered the traditional kabbalah to be non-sense and superstition.

Much the same technique that was employed in making up Christianity was employed by the Lurianic Kabbalists. A heady potion was made of a few drops of truth mixed into a rather copious amount of a viscous medium of half-truth, lies and damn lies. To this, a goodly splash of superstitions that the Jews from the Maghreb had picked up from the indigenous peoples was added. The few grains of truth confer some measure of authority to Lurianic Kabbalah and seem to lend credibility to the dross.

I would not care of Madonna busied herself with such innocuous concerns as the meanings of color according to Lurianic Kabbalah, asdescribed on this URL: http://www.therapeuticsource.com/color.html,or attempting to determine a person's psychological make-up by examining the letters that constitute their name (can't find a URL for that just now) and the like. Those are the pastimes of those who will never enter the inner truth of the authentic Kabbalah and which constitute the bulk (and bane?) of Lurianic Kabblah. (That was a joke, it is not my intention to aliken Lurianic Kabbalah to String theory). In fact, they are the flashy and attractive distractions put up in order to keep those who should never enter the Garden out, by keeping them busy with the baubles and beads that delight their minds and emotions. If she would just relegate herself to those concerns, it would keep her off the streets and out of trouble.

What I detest is Madonna, a woman who painstakingly cultivated a vulgar image and made a fortune in so doing, cavorting in revealing costumes on stage with the Tetragrammaton in large neon lights behind her. I read somewhere that she has "Kabbalistic" tattoos as well. I cannot in the space of one post explain all of the reasons why something like this must not be done and how horrendous it is that her "teachers" don't censure her for doing so. It's certainly not the first time that someone with rudimentary knowledge of moral/spiritual matters sold out. I consider those who "taught" her far more reprehensible than she is.

Query: Which, if any, kabbalah is a genuine valuable esoteric tradition?

Surprisingly, it is the "heretical" Karaites, particularly the dynasty of ben Asher, who were the Masters of Hebrew and whose version of the Bible, HaMasorah, was (reluctantly) accepted by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (the Ramba"m) due to its incontrovertible accuracy. Their understanding of Torah was much in keeping with that which would later be discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The works of Abraham ben Shmu'el Abulafia, ca. 1240-1292, a student and proponent of the rational, as opposed to the far more irrational stream of Kabbalah, i.e., Lurianic, were hidden away and dispersed in almost every main library and archive in Europe. Some have been released for publication in the last seven years or so. More manuscripts still are in the Vatican. In their largesse, the Vatican now allows some selected researchers to view the writings of Rabbi Abulafia that they still hold, but not reprint them. I believe that both the Rabbinical establishment and the Catholic Church colluded in hiding the works of Rabbi Abualfia from the public.

HaRav Abulafia's writings, great as they were for his time and generation, were of reduced understanding of Torah. So much had been lost by his time and the Rabbis had supplanted that which was lost with a good deal of improvisation. There were two reasons for this: the Temple ritual no longer existed and they knew something had to fill the void and they wished to fill that void by bolstering their power and position. Rabbi Abulafia was firmly under the influence of the Pharisaic-Rabbinic stream of Judaism. There was no other option during his time.

It was very convenient that the saintly and ascetic Rabbi Moshe Cordevero (the Rama"k), who knew of no "spirituality" without morality and who was in possession of the Kabbalistic tradition from Spain, died at the age of forty-eight, just one year after the Ari (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), who he took on as a student, arrived inTzfat.

It is the Dead Sea Scrolls *in the original Hebrew, which cannot betranslated*, that reveal the most authentic form of ritual Judaism and, though I hate to use these terms when referring to interpretation of Torah, the correct methods of exegesis andhermeneutics.

A great deal of obfuscation is inevitable when we are dealing withthe moral/spiritual dimension of being. The super-rational, thelevel upon which moral and spiritual truths reside, is a level above grammar and syntax and so it sounds very much like the irrationalwhen we try to convey it. The laws of mathematics and linguistics that we use to create the worlds we inhabit, each of us according to our ability to do so, descend from and are derivatives of these spiritual/moral laws. The pure laws of spiritual morality truly are caught, not taught. This leaves the moral/spiritual open to the abuses of those who, knowing that the super-rational and the irrational sound about the same to the uninitiated, trap the gullible with spiritual-sounding mumbo-jumbo.

I am most wary of anyone who would offer himself or herself as a teacher the Kabbalah. If they do so for a price, I would run for dear life from that person. There simply is no being taught the Kabbalah. TheKabbalah means 'receiving', i.e., receiving directly from God, gratis, or not at all.

Interlocutor: Thank you !

My response: Pleasure. No charge.

Doreen (getting her goofball suit back on)

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Only two weeks 'til the Feast of Lughnasadh!

In honor of the sacred Festival, and in order to impress the coven, we have redecorated. The dungeon has been done in Wicca furniture. Crystal chandeliers have been added in the Sanctuary to lend ambiance and to swing from when the holy rites swing into high gear.

Be there or be square.

High Priestess Doryn

Comic Book Character Tintin Feted in Bruxelles

http://tinyurl.com/dhwty


Why can't I be like that?! Why, I ask you? WHY?

Why can't I get all excited about going to lavish galas celebrating 'toons? Are they not national treasures? Are they not the woof that warps the very fabric, nay tapestry, of society?

Why must I spend a miserable existence ridden with angst and tormented by anomie? I could be sipping sweet martinis at a 'toon fete in Bruxelles, and getting an apathy is beatific buzz on.

This too too heavy genetic lode is too too heavy a load to bear.

I want to be an airhead too!

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

CHOMSKY VS. MOZESON

Someone wrote: "Transformational grammar is hard-wired."

I responded: I'm glad you wrote this.

Disagreeing with deconstructionist and postmodern criticisms of science, Chomsky writes:

"I have spent a lot of my life working on questions such as these, using the only methods I know of; those condemned here as "science," "rationality," "logic," and so on. I therefore read the papers with some hope that they would help me "transcend" these limitations, or perhaps suggest an entirely different course. I'm afraid I was disappointed. Admittedly, that may be my own limitation. Quite regularly, "my eyes glaze over" when I read polysyllabic discourse on the themes of poststructuralism and postmodernism; what I understand is largely truism or error, but that is only a fraction of the total word count. True, there are lots of other things I don't understand: the articles in the current issues of math and physics journals, for example. But there is a difference. In the latter case, I know how to get to understand them, and have done so, in cases of particular interest to me; and I also know that people in these fields can explain the contents to me at my level, so that I can gain what (partial) understanding I may want. In contrast, no one seems to be able to explain to me why the latest post-this-and-that is (for the most part) other than truism, error, or gibberish, and I do not know how to proceed."

I interpret this to mean that Chomsky is admitting that he did not succeed in applying scientific method to linguistics and that he is not particularly apt in math or physics. It was his intention to apply scientific method to linguistics, but he failed. I assume he wished to do so in order to lend a greater air of respectability to his theories.

Rather than torture physics, math and linguistics to say what they do not (by appropriating and misapplying a term such as 'transformational' for instance) he should have developed a method of the study of language that is appropriate to language. Language does not admit of analysis by scientific method.

By his own account, though he applied himself assiduously to thestudy of Hebrew, he never plumbed the depths of Hebrew either (see: http://tinyurl.com/7m3tf)

Add to this the fact that Chomsky has revised his theory of language radically a number of times. By the mid-1990s the "deep structure" and "surface structure" elements of his theory of language that made him famous in the 1960s have been supplanted by his "minimalism". If I'm going to be perfectly frank, and I am, "my eyes glaze over" when I read Chomsky's pseudo-scientific "gibberish", "and I do not know how to proceed".

It's OK that Chomsky failed in applying scientific method to the study of language, because that was an exercise in futility. It is not OK that he refuses to recognize the validity of the work of someone who has succeeded in applying the correct method. The correctness of Isaac Mozeson's conclusions and method are, in sharp contradistinction to Chomsky's put-on, eminently clear.

It is no wonder that Mozeson poses the threat to Chomsky that he does.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Pseudo-Anarchists Making Dorks of Themselves

I am abashed by the imbecilic antics of soi-disant "anarchist" groups like the WOMBLES (White Overalls Movement Building Libertarian Effective Struggles) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOMBLES and the People’s Golfing Association - http://www.tao.ca/~wrench/dist/g8/pga.html. Not only will their presence at the G-8 summit conference not bring the meetings into disrepute, they will, by looking and acting even more stupid than do the leaders of the G-8, lend an air of dignity to the G-8. One must conclude that they are being paid well to do exactly that.

True anarchism is so very threatening to the established order that they infiltrated the anarchist movement and planted professional "dumb downers" to take the movement in directions it was never intended to go in by its intellectual "hyper-moral" founders. Having turned "anarchy" a fun day free for all, the establishment made it attractive to assorted and sundry dorks, who are now a sizable part of the movement. They are also the part of the movement that makes the most noise and attracts media attention, quite naturally.

Additionally, the term "Libertarian" has been arrogated and applied to as many movements and fringe groups at cross purposes as need be to create optimum confusion. (Much the same has been done with the term 'Conservative', but I digress.)

I feel compelled to speak up in the name of true anarchy to those intellectually and morally gifted enough to be able to understand our true purpose and spirit.

These, in contradistinction to the jerks in the White overalls and black face masks, were the true anarchists and leftist-Libertarians:

http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/libertarians.html

Their brilliant and incisive thought and sublime intentions are the heart and soul of true anarchy. They set the tone of the movement.

It behooves us to add Albert Einstein to the list of pro-Socialist thinkers. He too was one of us, as he amply demonstrated in this article, first published in May 1949: http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm.

The following excerpt, to my mind, represents the aim, spirit and method of authentic anarchism:

THE BENEFITS OF NON-CLASS STRUGGLE ANARCHISM TO THE MOVEMENT AS A WHOLE

Revolution is a process ever going. Like a river it flows; changing shape, altering its course, sometimes slowing down, sometimes becoming a rapid. At times we lose sight of it behind the dogma of some ideology or another. But it can never be stopped. Since the first slave said 'no', since the first people rose up against the tyrants, since the concept of Freedom was formed, the Revolution has always been there. As a comrade wrote to me, "Revolution is a process, not an historical event". The nature of the Revolution stems from the forces it encounters, the aspirations of those within it, and the strength of the reaction. If it can progress unrestrained, then it is likely to be peaceful. The ends will never justify the means, they are inextricably bound together and what better way is there of taking someone's freedom than by killing them. Violence is the basis upon which government stands, and as such it is the counter Revolution. From the writings of Kropotkin up to Colin Ward there have been attempts to hi-light points in existing society where the river may flow - worker co-ops, food co-ops, alternative welfare and education, and countless examples of how order is spontaneous, and springs up from the very act, and point of association itself: "What kept us together was our work, our mutual interdependencies in this work, our factual interests in one gigantic problem with its many specialist ramifications. I had not solicited co-workers. They had come of themselves. They remained, or they left when the work no longer held them. We had not formed a political group, or worked out a programme of action...Each one had made his contribution according to his interests in the work...There are, then objective biological work functions capable of regulating human co-operation. Exemplary work organises its forms of functioning organically and spontaneously, even though only gradually, gropingly and often making mistakes. In contra-distinction, the political organisations, with their 'campaigns' and 'platforms' proceed without any connection with the tasks and problems of daily life".

Like the fishermen in Brixham, or the miners in Durham or Brora, Scotland, workers co-operatives provide small, rare examples of how a task provides its own point of association, and provides the associates with a focus, that transcends any necessity for coercive pressure. In short, the act of society provides its own order internally, whereas all ' governments attempt to impose it externally, stifling and smothering the social instinct. These examples exist in modern society. They are not memories of an age before the nation-state, but are modern facts. Paul Goodman once described anarchism as both conservative and radical, for we must attempt to conserve those places where liberty may be developed in full, as well as create new ones. Gustav Landaur also wrote along the same lines "The state is not something which can be destroyed by a revolution, it is a condition of human behaviour; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by behaving differently". Even, according to the film 'Michael Collins', the Irish Republican leader Eamon de Valera spoke along the same lines by claiming roughly that "We defeat the British Government by ignoring it".

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

The Duct Tape and WD-40 of Enlightenment - All You'll Ever Need

People ask whether or not God exists because they think of God in the third person, singular or plural depending upon their religion, only.

When we understand God in the first, second and third persons singular and plural concomitantly the question of whether or not God exists becomes far clearer.

Extant beings are God in Its imminence. There are levels of existence: potential existence, quasi-existence, semi-existence and then there's really and sincerely existent. The last of these is full existence. The key word is not 'really', but rather 'sincerely', because we are only real insofar as we are sincere. It is when we lie to ourselves and others and are not other-directed that we become uncertain of our own existence and, in fact, fall to a lower level of existence.

On the level of imminence God is struggling to become.

God in Its transcendence has no qualities whatsoever and there is nothing that can be attributed to God.

On the level of transcendence God is playing being imminent. This is a game of peek-a-boo with Itself. It is not an entirely lighthearted game. God creates forgetfulness of Self within Itself and creates the illusion of being extant beings within Itself because endless Aloneness is intolerable.

The kindness that we do to God is to be kind to "others", to go along with the game of believing there are others and to express love to them. In doing this we are allowing God the illusion of believing that there is really another to love. This is a paradox. We become really and sincerely real when we go along with the illusion God creates for Itself that there are others "out there" to love.

The fun begins when we can go back and forth between the two phases, i.e., transcendence and imminence, at will. Then we can wink in and out of existence and basically write our own ticket as to who and what we want to embody ourselves as. Paradoxically too, it is at this point that we come to accept being ourselves and do so of pure free choice.

God cannot be said to exist on the level of Its transcendence. Even existence cannot be ascribed to God in and of Itself. It wills and enables Itself to exist on the level of Its imminence. That's us. This more often than not involves a forgetting of What we really are – that for the sake of the illusion of other which exists in order to be able to love.

The substratum of all reality is mathematical/linguistic/moral phonemes. We create our realities in accordance with our awareness of these phonemes and our mastery of them.

The mathematical component of the phonemes allows for infinite substitution values. Therefore, there are infinite equivalent, but not identical, versions of anything that may be created by the mind. We eventually arrive at a level whereupon we can choose how and what to perceive, as well as to be, but when we arrive at that level we find that we delight in allowing others to create us in their consciousness as they will.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Lexicon of Internet English in the Post-Traumatic Orthographic Era


I've always been a firm believer in the maxim I made up a couple of hours ago: If you can't beat 'em, legitimize 'em.

With the undertaking of this Lexicon I hereby officially attest and confirm that I have given up all hope of ever expecting to find standardized English on the internet. I've undertaken to compile this Lexicon to the purpose of conferring a measure of acceptability and respectability to the patois that we encounter on the internet simply because there are more of them than us.

Kindly allow me to proffer the following gems for starters:

Carnelian - Posted on a message board by a fundamentalist neo-con when describing the drives that motivate homosexuals and other "pervs" (see below). A compound word that has been contracted and simplified into a single word. My guess is that it is carnal + anal + alien. (See my post "Spacegirls").

Could/ Should/ Would of – An ubiquitous error made by the linguistic have-nots.

Discusting and its variant form Descusting - These revolting misspellings of the inflected verb 'disgusting', as it used to be spelled in the English we once knew and loved, are often encountered on the internet. Since no amount of spelling bee tutorials seem to have helped the people who insist upon regurgitating these misspellings on message boards; a nice hot cup of ginger tea might soothe those of us who see what's wrong with this picture.

Fluxuate – This is either a misspelling of 'fluctuate' or relates to noxious effluents.

Hostel-Hostile used interchangeably - Perhaps the people who do not know the difference between 'hostel' and 'hostile' are being held hostage at the Hotel California.

Insightful-Inciteful used interchangeably – Taking the metaphor of a smoldering gaze way too far.

Insinewate – Being bound by that which one implies.

Mellowdramatic – Should be the synonym, but becomes the antonym of 'histrionic' when spelled this new and innovative way.

Morphon – This is an insult. This appears to be another case of a compound word that has been contracted and simplified into one word. I think it is a contraction of moron + morphologically deformed. The irony of the fact that this word was coined and is much bandied about by a semi-literate does not escape the Editor of this Lexicon.

Bozon – The appellation applied by the Editor of this Lexicon to the person who calls people 'morphons'. The term means that he is a little clown in a spin who doesn't matter much.

Oh, contrare! – I love it when you speak French, Morticia!

Perv or its variant spelling pev - An abbreviation of the English noun 'pervert'. Only the good Lord knows why the noun is alternatively abbreviated without the letter 'r'.

It is my hope that the compilation of this Lexicon will be an ongoing project. Please feel free to add any and all misspellings, misstatements and/or malapropisms that you have encountered on the internet which so irk you that you have to spit them out and get them out of your system.

New Additions:

Broach-Brook used interchangeably – This mistake was recently made by the Editor of this Lexicon. For whatever the reason may be, I'm having a good deal of trouble coming up with a funny quip about the provenance of this particular error.

Candidness – This is actually the correct form of the noun. The candor is a large Andean vulture that is in danger of extinction. It is already as dead as the dodo in cities like New York and London, where the candor was overtaken entirely by far more sophisticated, and deadly, predatory foul.

Digustment – This is the form of 'disgust' employed by those who wish to state categorically that that the noun is intended, not the transitive or intransitive forms of the verb. See also: Discusting and Descusting above.

Earily – Hearing odd things.

Except-Accept used interchangeably – The acceptionally linguistically challenged experience a great deal of trouble utilizing the terms 'except' and 'accept' appropriately. These people seem to be legion on the internet. It is a very common error and one we are simply going to have to learn to except.

Explane – A plane that came under the influence of a gravitational field. Also the description of a being that makes no contact with any ground whatsoever.

Hocked up-Hopped up (on drugs) used interchangeably –This is someone so strung-out on drugs that they are under the influence most of the time and have pawned all of their belongings in order to pay for drugs.

Independance – The White man's response to the Ghost Dance.

Moot-Mute used interchangeably – This is a point that it would have been far better had the person who made it shut up rather than stating it.

Parsing an acronym – The Editor of this Lexicon was amused no end to read a Braggadocio of Mensa who claimed that there is nary an acronym that she cannot parse.

Them selves – This should, of course, be those selves.

Vicous - Not sure if this is vicious or viscous. It may be either, or both, as the social circumstances dictate.


Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

QUEEN DOREEN OF IRELAND

Just a couple of days ago a friend from the States wrote to me that he has, after decades of profound political consideration, come to the conclusion that what is best for America is a monarchy. He, quite naturally, sees himself as the monarch best suited to the US's current needs.

Serendipitously another friend from Scotland was also lamenting the fact that there is no Queen of Scots presently and stated categorically that she intends to apply for the job.

That got me to thinking. I wannabe a queen too. Ireland immediately sprung to mind. It's certainly a modest enough fiefdom, being the dinky island that it is, wherein alcoholism and zaniness are rife among the sparse population. I don't ask for much. A humble and magnanimous autocrat I would be!

Queen Doreen. Yes! It even rhymes. Queen Doreen of Ireland. The vision began to take shape. It seemed so right. After all, my father, who hails from Ireland, emigrated to the County of Queens. He lived most of his life there until he met my mother. Then they both moved to the County of Kings, where I was born in Kings County Hospital. My claim to the throne of Ireland is solid, irrefutable. Being Queen Doreen of Ireland is my manifest destiny!

Elatedly enthusiastic I told my friend: "This is gonna be really kewl. Ye shall be the Queen of Scots and I shall be Queen Doreen of Ireland."

She looked at me levelly and pronounced: "You can't be the Queen of Ireland, Doreen. You're not vapid enough."

Not vapid enough! Disqualified because I am not vapid enough! It cannot be true! Her words echoed in my mind, a bleak sentence. I was stricken. I was crestfallen. I was, like, really bummed out.

I realized she was right though. I wonder if there's a finishing school where prospective monarchs can acquire and cultivate the requisite level of vapidity to be a queen, the Queen of Ireland in particular. I do so wannabe.

I think I'm going to consult with that nationalistic Irish group who claim that the Celts are the aboriginals of North America and were the citizens of Atlantis. They certainly seem to have the goods.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Us Through The Eyes of Our Guinea Pigs


Grrrrrrgr: Psssst. Hey, you. The one they call "Gomez". What's your real name?

Grrrr: Grrrr. And yours?

Grrrrrrgr: Grrrrrrgr. You didn't think that my name is really Buster, did you?

Grrrr: That's a long name! I'll try to remember it. I hope I can pronounce it.

Grrrrrrgr: Yeah (laughing, good-naturedly), my parents were from India.

Grrrr: Ah. That explains it. So, how do you find living with the humans?

Grrrrrrgr: Well, I'll tell ya, I was told that they're vicious and can be very dangerous to guinea pigs, but they seem too slow-moving and dull-witted to be capable of doing any real harm.

Grrrr: Yeah, they certainly aren't the rocket scientists of the primate kingdom. We'll have them trained in no time. Actually, I find them kind of amusing.

Grrrrrrgr: That they are. Which one is your favorite?

Grrrr: I like the older male. He's gentle and docile. Good work that he's a vegetarian too. It's so funny how he eats vegetables for breakfast every morning, keeping the middle part for himself and gives us the best part – the trimmings and leaves. He thinks he's giving us the leftovers (tittering).

Grrrrrrgr: I'm partial to the dominant female. She's so cute, with her long white fur and beady brown eyes. Adorable as she is, she can be fiercely protective of her cubs. Kinda reminds me of my Mom.

Grrrr: They do such funny things. Remember a few days ago the female painted the "bathroom" of their hutch "purple"? I didn't get the whole bit. First of all, why do they need a special burrow in their hutch called a "bathroom"? What do they have to bathe so much for? What are they, birds? Why don't they just lick their front paws and spruce up their fur a bit? And, what's "purple"?

Grrrrrrgr: Ah, purple is one of the colors we can't see. It's not a primary color. They say that it's red and blue mixed together. We can see red and blue, so try to imagine them mixed together.

Grrrr: Yuck.

Grrrrrrgr: Hahaha. Yeah, it does sound kind of repulsive, but they seem to like it and contented pets are easily disciplined. So, let's indulge them.

Grrrr: Good thinking.

Grrrrrrgr: I like to watch the dominant female on her toys, you know, the things they call the "treadmill" and the "stationary bicycle". Hamsters and rats just get wheels. These guys get really fun toys. Maybe they'll let us play on them sometime.

Grrrr: Yeah, but why does she jump up and down and flap and swing her arms all around after she gets off those things? I hope that doesn't happen to us!

Grrrrrrgr: No, no. It doesn't just happen. She does that on purpose. Goodness only knows why.

Grrrr: They're a riot! Funnier than a barrel of monkeys (peals of laughter).

Grrrrrrgr: And the male cub. Did you see how he walks to his room on his front paws in protest when they send him to his burrow early?

Grrrr: Yeah, he drags the toes of his back paws along the low ceiling where the, what's it called, "attic"? is and leaves his toe prints up there. The dominant female gets mad and yells at him (guffaws).

Grrrrrrgr: All in all I think we're pretty lucky to have gotten these guys. They seem to really love us. They take good care of us and they're easily enough managed. I think we must be living on what the humans call "Easy Street".

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

MORAL GIFTEDNESS


A quick review of the Seven Types of Intelligence as defined by Harvard Guru Howard Gardner as background can be found on the following URL:

http://tinyurl.com/axvkn

Note that none of those categories of intelligence pose any particular challenge (to be read 'threat') to society, and so there was no reason for the scientific and mental health mafias to reject them. They're eminently useful categories for defining what the ideal person in non-anarchic societies, structured variously as they are at this point in history, should be.

I posit that there is another type of intelligence: Moral Intelligence. I further posit that there are and always have been people who are gifted in Moral Intelligence to the point of being preternaturally so gifted.

It is dismaying to me that despite the fact that there are, and always have been, gifted and hyper-gifted geniuses of morality throughout history, this type of intelligence is not so much as recognized in the list as existing. It is subsumed under the more manageable and affable Interpersonal and Intrapersonal categories of ability. We know, however, that the morally gifted usually don't, and didn't historically, get along well either with others, or themselves.

It is the people who are exquisitely aware of distortions of morality and ethics and who are fearless about speaking out about the injustice and describing it articulately who are the most likely to be the ones who are given the medicines that artificially induce "desirable" traits like complacency, malleability, indifference in the face of suffering, the inability to pinpoint who the perpetrators of moral wrongs are, etc. In fact, psychotropic drugs have been formulated to do just this; these are not the side effects of the drugs, these are the target effects. Psychotropic drugs are not considered to having taken effect, or be administered in sufficient doses, until the recipient of them evinces these traits (i.e, becomes a zombie like your average workday citizen). This demonstrates that despite the fact that moral giftedness is ignored by the scientific and mental health communities, i.e., they do not want the public-at-large to be aware that it exists or to validate it in any way, they themselves are very much aware of the fact that it exists and that it has the potential to bring about change in the status quo. Vast sums of money and effort have been invested in keeping moral intelligence under control. Thus, we can be certain that those whose hands are on the money levers know they have a great deal to lose if moral intelligence were to express itself freely. The research goes on.

The severely morally gifted are those most likely to be institutionalized and/or to die an early and often brutal death as a direct result of their gift. Their suffering is generally in direct proportion to the greatness of their gift.

In addition to the traditional societal methods of suppressing the expression of the morally gifted and inhibiting their courage to express themselves, a new method has been devised for the world-wide internet community. The moniker "rant" (as in what the mad do) is applied to impassioned posts on subjects of morality and ethics. A person who has posted on a moral or ethical topic is expected to partake in a sin offering ceremony. She or he must keep the post as short as possible, apologize for having written the post and end with the mealy-mouthed cliché "getting off the soapbox now."

The state does not generally have to intervene when one of its citizens hyper-moralizes and becomes obstreperous, not anymore, not since the late 1960s or early 1970s. Most people have been programmed by the media so well (TV and radio shows are called 'programs', after all) that they themselves will attack the miscreant on the ground and they usually succeed in beating him or her emotionally into submission sooner or later.

Geschwind's Syndrome, considered to be the interictal behavior of those sufferers of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) who demonstrate the "Epileptic Personality", is now believed to be the reason why some individuals demonstrate behaviors such as:

Emotionality
Mania
Depression
Guilt
Humorlessness
Altered sexual interest
Aggression
Anger and hostility
Hypergraphia (excessive writing)
Religiosity
Philosophical interest
Sense of personal destiny
Hyper-moralism
Dependency
Paranoia
Obsessionalism
Circumstantiality
Viscosity (the quality of being socially "sticky")
Hyper-philosophical
Emotionally volatile
Obsessively detail-oriented

As we can see from the list above, the traits of the hyper-morally gifted are described not only in uncomplimentary terms, but in pathological terms, as the effects of brain damage.

We must ask very basic questions in order not to be drawn in by the assumptions inherent in some of the terms describing the "symptoms" of Geschwind's Syndrome. What is "hyper-moralism"? At what point does a person become too moral for comfort in non-anarchic society? The same might be asked about being philosophical. At what point is someone considered pathologically philosophical in non-anarchic society? We must assume that to be moral and/or philosophical is considered desirable only up to a limited degree in non-anarchic society. We do not hear about individuals being hyper-beautiful or hyper-handsome. Even if adjectives like these were to be coined and applied to individuals, they would not signify and sort of aberration or symptom of disease. Quite the contrary, they would be considered supreme compliments.

Professor Eric Altschuler, a neuroscientist at the University of California in San Diego, has "diagnosed" the prophet Yechezkel as having been a sufferer of Geschwind's Syndrome. He bases his "diagnosis" of a man who lived about 2,600 years ago, inter alia, on the fact that the Book of Yechezkel is the longest Book in Torah. Thus, the prophet, in Dr. Altshuler's opinion, demonstrates the hypergraphia symptomatic of Geschwind's Syndrome. Moreover, the Book of Yechezkel is concerned with moral excellence and the lack thereof. This, in Dr. Altschuler's opinion, reveals that the prophet demonstrated the symptom of hyper-morality as well. Dr. Altschuler goes on to describe the prophet Yechezkel as pedantic (probably because he described the perfected Temple in the minutest detail), aggressive and suffering from delusions. And so it becomes clear in the good Dr. Altschuler's mind that the prophet was ill with Geschwind's Syndrome. "Scientific" conclusion: a person who tenaciously ("viscously" in neuroscientific jargon) clings to the moral principles that are apparent to him or her as being the basis of healthy society, and who takes up the pen because he or she knows it to be mightier than the sword is demented.

Other famous figures in history that have been retrospectively "diagnosed" as having suffered from Geschwind's Syndrome or TLE-related hypergraphia include Van Gogh, Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolfe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Franz Kafka, Lord Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron and Petrarch. One can only imagine how much poorer the world would have been had psychotropic drugs been in existence in their time and had they been administered to them.

Hyper-morality, then, is the result of encephalopathy and thus can, and should, be "treated" in the opinion of neuroscientists like the good Professor Altschuler. The severely moral should be relieved of their suffering. Likewise, society-at-large should be relieved of their viscous aggressiveness and incessant harping on that annoying subject.

People who go mad in the face of injustice and steadfastly, persistently and undauntedly voice their moral outrage, particularly those who do so in the form of writing treatises and books on the subject, are doing nothing more than exhibiting the symptoms of the neurological illness from which they suffer.

By grouping being hyper-moral with symptoms that are accepted as being symptomatic of various anti-social personality and psychological disorders, as they are defined in non-anarchic societies, the mega-message is clear to the public-at-large: Only those who concern themselves overmuch with morality are demented, suffering as they are from a pitiful disease of the brain.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Yisra'el

The Biochemistry of Abuse

The biochemistry of abuse is higly addictive. Both those who abuse and those who are abused get addicted and build up a resistance to the chemicals that the brain produces during violent episodes, to wit: dopamine, adrenaline, corticosterone and more.

When we undergo any kind of experience a neural pathway is created in the brain. If we have the same experience again and again or if we do the same thing again and again the neural pathway is all the more deeply ingrained with each time the event occurs or the action is taken. That causes us to repeat the action or set up the event again and again. That is what an addiction is.

The result of all this is violent episodes necessarily become more frequent and escalate. Seek help now. Do not make the mistake of thinking that if you're a "good girl" you can prevent your father from getting angry at you and hurting you. There is no such thing as lying low enough with an abuser. They will look for excuses to get triggered when they need a violence "fix".

Long before you were born the person abusing you got addicted to the biochemistry of addiction. Don't let yourself get addicted to it too.

Being addicted to a particular biochemistry is the worst kind of addiction. You don't have to purchase it. You don't have to wait to get it. You don't have to connect with a pusher. All you have to do is get yourself and the people around you worked up and the hormones flow.

B"H

To My Son: WAR

The first time I held him to nurse him after the birth he was five hours old. I said to him: "Eat my child. Grow big and strong. One day they will come and take you out of my arms and send you to war. So eat now and grow big and strong." And I cried.

My child has grown big and strong. He will be going off to war soon.

We have armed him with the following teaching: Do not hate your enemy because the enemy that God brings you is always that which you must battle in yourself. The worst in you is projected "out there" onto the screen of "reality". It is that which you must do war with. If you will battle your dark aspects within they will not harm you from without. Neither will you harm them.

This is the true teaching of Torah: When God commanded us to do war with the seven nations that inhabited the Land, we were being given a choice.

Either make war on Peoples too great for you to conquer -OR-

Do battle with your own seven deadly sins.

The wise among us took the latter road.

Only those who do not know this basic lesson think their enemies are objectively real and shoot at themselves.

A Good Reason To Make Aliyah NOW

The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared recently in the Canadian media.

"A business-backed task force issued a 48-page report calling for a single market encompassing Canada, the United States and Mexico with a common security perimeter. Just as it was being released, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach crossed the floor, becoming the newest minister in the Liberal cabinet.

Tom d'Aquino, vice-chair of the task force and president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, did his best to grab a ray of the spotlight. "The very fact that 26 eminent men and women representing widely different interests and backgrounds have agreed on these recommendations sends a powerful and unmistakable signal to elected representatives in all three countries," he declared.

But the report received almost no news coverage.

It would be tempting to conclude that continental integration has fallen off the political agenda.

But no one who has watched d'Aquino work the corridors of power — or followed the free trade debate for the last 20 years — would make such an assumption.

Nationalist groups aren't letting down their guard. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is hosting a conference in Ottawa tomorrow entitled Living with Uncle: Canada-U.S. Relations in a Time of Empire. Its goal is to mobilize civil society to resist the drive toward continental integration.

But the battle lines are no longer as clear as they once were and the business lobby has found new allies.

Its latest manifesto bears the imprimatur of three prominent public figures: former deputy prime minister John Manley of Canada, former governor William Weld of Massachusetts and former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe. Its signatories include diplomats, academics and trade analysts.

It stops short of calling for an institutional framework like the European Union with its own parliament, constitution and currency. But it urges decision-makers in Ottawa, Washington and Mexico City to move quickly to open their borders, co-ordinate their defences, share their resources and create a "seamless" continental market.

Specifically, it proposes:

The establishment of a North American security perimeter by 2010.

The adoption of a common external tariff.

The development of a North American energy strategy.

The harmonization of visa and asylum regulations.

The elimination of restrictions on labour mobility between Canada and the U.S. and later Mexico.

The sharing of intelligence about foreign nationals entering and leaving each country.

The expansion of NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) to include land and naval forces.

A review of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to see whether sectors that were excluded from the 1994 pact can now be brought in.

At first glance, many of these recommendations seem quite innocuous. Few Canadians would object to visa-free access to the American job market or expedited border-crossing procedures.

But on closer examination, the stakes are higher than they look. Reopening NAFTA, for example, would mean exposing Canadian culture to the full brunt of competition from the American entertainment industry.

Sharing intelligence with U.S. security officials could put more Canadians at risk of an ordeal like the one faced by Maher Arar. Three years ago, the Ottawa computer engineer was pulled off a flight in New York by U.S. authorities and shipped to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge. A public inquiry is still trying to determine what role Canadian police and security agents played in his deportation.

Bringing Canada's refugee rules into conformity with those of the U.S. could leave Ottawa powerless to help people who now qualify for asylum, such as women fleeing abusive relationships."

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This does not augur well. There is nothing innocuous about this plan. This is a plan (in addition to the obvious advantages it will give the US, as there is no parity between the US and Canada and certainly not between the US and Mexico) to prevent Americans who wish to escape the present trends in the US by going to Canada from doing so. After 2010 it will avail them nothing to emigrate to or to be domiciled in Canada.

American borders will effectively be all of North America and the US government will control who goes in and who gets out on the entire continent.

The potential threat to Jews is written on the wall.

If the US is eliminating its citizens' ability to opt out of US policy by taking control of Candada, will they continue to allow Jews to emigrate to Israel at will?

This is the time to leave the US. The next five years may be too late.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

Which Half Of Me Is The Real Ubermensch?

Within just a few days I was directed by Israeli extremists to the first site shown below and by Irish extremists to the second site shown below.

Note that they posit the identical theory and base it on the very same claims.

The Jewish site claims that the Celts are descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes.

The Irish site claims that the Celts are the aboriginal settlers of not only Europe, but the Americas as well and are the true Aryans (Eireann).

http://www.britam.org/

http://www.galacforums.com/nafiannaeireann/viewforum.php?f=2

Oh, deary me! I'm really in a quandary now. I don't know which half of me really is the Ubermensch and progenitor of Western Europe and the Americas.

Imagine how I feel being told that on the one hand I hold the right to Western Europe because I am the true Aryan, while on the other I am told that the Celts (Eireann) are descendants of the Semitic Jews.

Anyone else see the irony in this?

To someone who is Jewish the claims on the first site will seem perfectly reasonable and natural.

To someone who is Irish the claims on the second post will seem perfectly reasonable and natural.

To me, being both, I see that the claim asserted by both is beyond ethnocentric and foolish. It is insane.

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Decide which is funnier: a response that I got to this post from a Jewish Israeli nationalist fanatic:

"Unless Doreen believes in the kabbalistic concept that she is a reincarnated male soul in a female body, she should really consider herself an "uberfrau" rather than an "ubermensch"! An examination of Yair Davidy's site (he himself is an Australian convert to Orthodox Judaism) www.britam.org shows that it's important to know if Doreen goy father was an Eire Catholic or an Ulster Protestant, as the two come from different lineages (the symbol of the latter is a red Star of David!). Davidy makes some daring claims, but he does seem to have some controversial historical evidence. Needless to say, contemporary sallow-skinned religious Semite Jews of today are none too plussed at the idea that your average uncircumcised, uncouth, none-too bright "Bog Irishman" red-nosed Guinness-downing Murphy is not a white Japhetite, but is from the Lost Tribes of Israel!"

OR:

A response that I got from an Irish nationalistic fanatic in response to my question as to whether or not I would be a welcome repatriate if he had his druthers in Ireland:

"Now it is well recorded that the Eire ruled over its subject people all across the world, what is not greatly publicised is that nearly every ancient text that refers to our race records the origin legends of the Sacred Isle (Eire). It was the belief of our people that only those who were of the Noble and pure Celtic stock should ever reside in the motherland of the master race, and as Genetics has proven this was the case up untill the Norman invasions of our country. I would ask you, do you believe that you if you are only 50% or 75% of Celtic stock should you get preference to reside here over the people who are 100% Celtic stock. Would you accept that like the thorough breeding of animals you should set to breed out the bad blood from your genes and restore the virtue of your ancient origin. Would you accept that in a class system, you are below those of absolute purity, and that those above you should be cherished for being the centre of gravity for your nations. Also would you consider that as a Celt who has being tainted genetically (even if only very poorly maybe even 1% or less), that you should be to the forefront of building new Celtic colonies across the world and urging that your motherland be kept free and sacred from foreign migrants. Finally since our country is sadly run by the politics of democracy who would have veto over the supreme ruling and sovereignty of our country. The race mixers or the pure nobles of absolute Celtic stock."

B"H

LACHMA ANYA

For years I used to buy "shmurah matzah" wanting to be the best Jew I could. We bought hand made shmurah matzah, sometimes paying as much as 120 kilos for it. Something about spending about 80-120 Shekels a kilo on "lachma anya" (bread of poverty) gnawed at me though. I knew I was kidding myself and not acting in the true spirit of Pesach. I came to the conclusion that this is a travesty. Shmurah matzah is just one of the "chidushim" (religious innovations) of recent times aimed at keeping the religious communities dependent upon the Rabbis by povertizing them.

The packages that are delivered to the poor in Israel before Pesach contain regualar, store-bought matzah. If that lachma anya is good enough for them, it's good enough for us.

I bought regular matzah this year and intend to do so in the future.

Regular matzah also make the best k'neidlach, BTW :0).

Chag Kasher, Same'ach and Ken (Honest)
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat

B"H

LOTS OF HAUTE JEWISH SCHOLARSHIP ON THE CHEAP

Available at: http://www.publishersrow.com/IM/MS18a.htm

I purchased this some months ago and am absolutely delighted with it.

Upon purchase, you will be shown how to access the books at once. You will also receive disks that will allow you to copy the library onto your hard drive in a couple of weeks.

You must have a recent version of Adobe Acrobat downloaded to read the books. If you do not, you can download it from the Adobe site within seconds (on an ADSL modum, a few minutes on a slower modum) for free.

Copying the material onto your hard drive is a bit more complicated than copying ordinary disks, but well worth the effort. You will be receiving 100 major works, some in more than one volume, and the Jewish Encyclopedia in 12 volumes.

Just follow the directions you are given carefully and copying the disks will be accomplished without undue difficulty.

You can contact the company for support, if you need it.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat

The Difference Between Faith and Knowledge of God

There is a way of thinking about God that inevitably leads nowhere. It is the thinking of God only in the third person. It is the belief that some great Being other than and outside of oneself has the power to affect your life. What is paradoxical is that you believe that this Power that isn't you has the power to affect your life as you would want it to be affected. That is magical thinking. Essentially, it is the substitution of one addiction for another, and it always fails in the end leaving us utterly bereft of hope. You are setting yourself up for a terrible let down. None are more disillusioned than those who thought of God this way and found it isn't true. They are left with nothing and they hit a terrible bottom.

There is another way of thinking about God that does work. It is the knowledge that God is the first person, second person and third person, singular and plural. That means simply that you experience, not believe but experience, everything as an expression of God - you, others, everything around you. Surely God is also transcendent to everything in creation, but this type of experience also allows you to experience your own awesome Holy Power and that of other Human beings, as well as everything in creation. You will not be disillusioned if you see things this way.

You will come to understand prayer as not being a plaint to another Being, but as a call to and mobilization of God within you and within all creation for good. Everything in creation has the ability, right and even the responsibility to send out this clarion call to the All to come to fight for the right. It is the same Power within you, within us and within every created thing. You cannot fail this way.

This is the difference between faith and Knowledge of God.

B"H

I've read this statement a number of times since the Pope passed away in similar form:

Quote: "I don't agree with all his ideas but I still think the world will miss him."

How amazing that the Catholics have matured to the point that they can express disagreement with some of what the Pope did or said or believed!

For a very long time in history that was unthinkable.

It is still unthinkable for many Chassidic Jews who attribute absolute infallibility to their Rabbis. There are many ultra-Orthodox Jews today who would not dare to say that they do not agree with their Rabbis.

It is still unthinkable for many Muslims too.

Although I do not accept the tenets of Catholicism, I do see them as a model of spiritual and moral and intellectual growth to be learned from. The Catholics have come far, very far. Far enough for me to let go of some of the anger I feel for them for the excesses of their past. They are showing true repentance, and should be forgiven in direct proportion to their letting go of their absolutism.

Doreen Dotan, Tzfat

POSTS ON THE NET AS LITERATURE

I've only been using a computer for about four years. Before using the computer I used to be an avid reader of physical books and I wrote a good deal too.

Coming from the pre-computer age, I always thought of books as the most "respectable" form of literature. Anyone who was really serious, reasonably gifted in writing and had something worthwhile to say wrote a book, or wanted so. So I thought.

For quite a while I thought that it is a "pity" that so many people, me most definitely included, are doing so much posting on the net. I felt as though we are dilettantes who, if we were serious and reasonably talented writers, would be writing books. Some people have thousands of posts on the net. I always thought that it is a shame that they do not invest that same time writing books.

It suddenly hit me just the other day (wake up and smell the coffee, Doreen) that the writing that is going on on the net is every bit as "legitimate" and "respectable" as writing books - and it's often just as high-quality as the material that is published in physical form as well. Peoples' personal archives comprise books.

To be sure, there are still physical books, and many of them have been put into PDF format, but we, those of us who post on the net and have extensive personal archives, have invented a new form of literature that deserves to be called literature in every sense of the word.

As any editor knows, few writers have impeccable spelling and grammatical skills. I, for sure, do not, not by an editor's standards. That is what editors are for. In fact, an editor once told me that editors like work handed to them that is not perfect. It makes them feel necessary - keeps the bread and butter coming in. I agree that the quality of the English is not what it could or should be on the net; but just as there are editors in the physical printing business, there can be editors or work mostly on the net. Spell checkers and even the grammar checkers on Word are not nearly enough to produce good, clean writing, for that we need the unerring eye of skilled editors.

In general people today do not write as well as they did a generation ago. I wouldn't presume to dare to compare my English to the rigorous standards that my mother was taught to write with in the States in her time.

Yes, there are certainly bugs to work out, as with all new developments. We are learning how to interact in new ways by trial and error. We are developing a whole new form of society and mode of communication on the net. A vast new vocabulary is developing. It's exciting!

There are those who would argue with my contention that posts on the net constitute literature in every sense of the word. I think they are holding on to an idea of what constitutes literature that is dated, and therefore not appreciating the fact that new genres are developing with the advent of the computer age. I too was caught up in the old way of thinking of literature, and that is precisely why I could not see the new developing before my eyes. Literature need not be scholarly, ponderous or printed. A literary work need not be a continuum. It can be written in installments or in diary form or even in dribs and drabs of free-flowing association. A given post of two or three lines is probably not literature in and of itself, granted, but when taken together with many other posts a given author has made on the net it becomes part of a work.

There are people who have hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands of posts on the board. We would see those posts forming pieces of literature if we were to collate and edit them, pick out the salient points in them and cull the extraneous. Of course, the "spellos" and grammatical errors would need to be cleaned up as well.

Think of individual posts as pieces in a mosaic. The beauty is that the individual posts can be inlaid in the mosaic in various ways, thus creating many works, or a kaleidoscopic work. Literature on the net is far more dynamic than literature in print.

Often that which was culled from given posts on a decided-upon topic would constitute a separate work, or more than one.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel