Are you GameStation’s slave?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 ’Iyyar 5770 (Parashath Thazria‘-Meṣora‘).

Today’s holidays:  Day 17 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Friday of the Second Week of Easter (Roman Catholicism), St. Messalina/All Hookers’ Day (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Help Eliminate Measles Worldwide - Take Action Today @ The Child Health Site” and “Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) | Co-sign our open letter to Republican Leader Boehner”.

Topic 1:  Silly anti-Semitism:  “UK Bans Western Wall from Israel Tourism Ads”.  The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority has prohibited Israel from claiming or implying in tourism advertisements that eastern Jerusalem is part of Israel.  This is despite Israel annexing the territory in 1967.  Or Jews having being in Jerusalem for millennia.  Or the fact that the Advertising Standards Authority does not have any real authority to dictate what territory belongs to which state.  Note the logical fallacy of proof by assertion:  anti-Semites claim enough that eastern Jerusalem (or any part of Israel) does not belong to Israel (or is not Jewish), expecting this to be taken as the truth.  Of course, reality does not work this way.  I could claim billions of times that the Sun is purple, and the Sun would never turn purple.

Also notable on anti-Semitism:  “Not quite free” (on Europe covertly sticking its nose into Israeli politics through funding nongovernmental organizations) and “A dangerous silence” (on the hypocrisy of the US government treating Israel shabbily while coddling Muslim dictatorships, with little in the way of protest).

Topic 2:  “7,500 shoppers unknowingly sold their souls” and “GameStation: "We own your soul"”.  In a twist on the classic Faustian bargain, GameStation added a clause to their terms and conditions of sale asserting that they owed on-line purchasers’ souls unless they opted out.  88% of such purchasers did not opt out, strongly suggesting that few people read such contracts.  (They are pretty dull and too long.)  The point proved, GameStation nullified this clause.

I would like to note my puzzlement at the notion of selling one’s soul.  One’s soul is not merely a part of oneself; it is oneself.  Literally selling one’s soul would thus be tantamount to selling oneself into slavery.  There is also the question of what the buyer would do with a soul.  If the buyer is Satan (as in the classic Faust story), then one is going to Hell.  However, if the buyer is mortal, like the people at GameStation, then it is unclear what he/she could do with a soul, especially if there were no body still attached with it.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Basement Cat”:


Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

He REALLY isn’t the Maitreya you’re looking for

Greetings.

Jewish date:  9 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast of Priapas (Thelema), Student Day (Scientology).

NOTE:  Yesterday I created an iCal calendar for Scientology holidays.  iCal calendars for holidays of religions I am not currently tracking would be appreciated.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Take Action: No stolen elections in Sudan | Save Darfur” and “ColorOfChange.org:  Tell the GOP: Stop inciting and supporting hate”.

Questionably worthy cause of the day:  “A Ticket For Rush!”.  (Submitted by Barry.)  Apparently Rush Limbaugh said on the air that if health care reform passed, he would go to Costa Rica.  This site is trying to raise money for his ticket.  While I would not be saddened by Limbaugh leaving the United States, I do not wish to inflict him on another country.

Topic 1:  Yesterday I posted on how Share International thought that author/activist Raj Patel is Maitreya, a Mashiaḥ/Messiah-like figure.  Someone calling himself “Dave” left a comment on that post denying that Share International actually thinks that Patel is Maitreya, claiming that it is all just a rumor started by Christian fundamentalists.  A bit of searching revealed that Share International makes no mention of Patel at all on their Web-site, and I wrote to Share International for further confirmation.  This is what they wrote back:

Thanks for visiting the Share International website and for your query.

A pity the media doesn't check the validity of these 'facts' as well, before
publishing. But, yes, the "Patel is Maitreya" claim is indeed "only a
spurious rumor".

Why Christian fundamentalists (or anyone else) would start such a rumor or why anyone is bugging Patel, I do not know.  Maybe someone got annoyed at both Share International and Patel and decided to be mischievous towards both.  But the moral of the story is not to blindly trust everything in the news.

Topic 2:  “Super-sizing the "Last Supper"”:  Just something curious reported recently.  Apparently the portion sizes in paintings of the Last Supper have increased over time.

Topic 3:  I had long heard of a strange claim popularly mocked that if one were photographed one’s soul would be stolen in the process.  Only recently did I learn who actually believed it:  Crazy Horse (of the Battle of Little Bighorn fame).  He apparently took this belief seriously enough that there are no known photographs of him in existence.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor:  “Happy Passover LOLCat Graphic”:



Yes, that is a scarf the cat is wearing, not a ṭallith.

Peace.

Aaron

Parashath Noaḥ and The Golden Compass

Greetings.

Jewish date:  5 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Topic 1:  In the interest of staying topical, I would like to note that I have done two reviews relevant to this week’s parashah:  one for Evan Almighty and another for the horrifically bad made-for-television movie Noah’s Ark.

Topic 2:  Chapters 14 and 15 of The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman.  In these plot-intensive chapters, the heroine Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon Pantalaimon reach the facility where the General Oblation Board is holding the missing children.  The children are kept in fairly comfortable conditions and regularly measured for a much mentioned microscopic particle known as “Dust” which is somehow connected with other worlds.  Lyra and Pantalaimon get to play heroes by rescuing a number of dæmons which have been separated from their children for purposes which still have to be explained, and they plan on breaking the captive children and their dæmons from the facility.  Severed dæmons could be a reflection of the concept of ghosts.  What any of the rest of this has to do with religion as conceived or practiced by real people is still up in the air.

Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Inspiration and The Golden Compass

Greetings.

Jewish date:  3 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Today’s holiday:  Wednesday of the Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Civic Action: Stay off FOX” and “Save the Internet: Take Action!:  FCC: Stand Firm for Net Neutrality”.

Topic 1:  “Rabbis - the ultimate life coaches”:  Rav Boteach in his latest article complains about rabbis becoming spiritually irrelevant, relegated to announcing page numbers at services and making rulings on ritual matters.  He is correct that there is a lot of practical wisdom in Judaism (e.g., Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Pirqe ’Avoth, not to mention a host of colorful characters to draw upon).  Since rabbis are supposed to be conduits of Jewish tradition, it makes plenty of sense that they should be doing a lot of the inspiring, too.  Remember, people:  religion is not just about rituals.  It encompasses all of life.

Topic 2:  Chapter 13 of The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman.  The more I read of this trilogy, the less I think Mr. Pullman has a clue of what the soul is.  We see more of the previously mentioned “intercissed” child, i.e., now dæmonless.  The boy is clearly traumatized, and he does not survive very long, but his mind is still present.  Even stranger is the case of the armored bears.  The bears make their armor, yet the armor is their soul.  Clearly Mr. Pullman does not identify soul with mind, but so far he has not made it clear what “soul” means to him.

Peace.

Aaron

The cross, censorship, and The Golden Compass

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Birth of the Báb (Bahá’í Faith), Feast Day of Sir Richard Francis Burton (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Keep Children Safe When They're at Child Care”.

Topic 1:  “Supreme Court debates cross”:  Seventy-five years ago, a cross was set up in memory of US soldiers killed in World War I on public land in the Mojave National Preserve.  Presumably this was done with the noblest of intentions, but considering that the cross is a specifically Christian symbol, there is naturally a valid issue of separation of church and state.  For some reason Justice Antonin Scalia does not understand or refuses to understand something which should be so obvious.

Topic 2:  “The American Library Association’s Stealth Jihad Against Free Speech”:  There is an irony in censoring someone in a celebration of Banned Book Week.

Topic 3:  I have now read chapter 12 of The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, book 1), and I am crying foul.  We finally learn what the devious, dastardly thing the Church is doing to the kidnapped children is:  intercission, which severing a human from his/her dæmon.  Why anyone would want to do such a thing is not yet revealed; I presume that Pullman will reveal that later.  But the results of intercission are inaccurate.  Intercission does not leave the human part of the victim unable to function.  In real life, a human without a soul is brain dead and may only be considered alive by technicality.  For all a human is is contained within the brain; if it were not so, then brain damage would never affect behavior and memory.  The idea of intercised children wandering around and some even surviving is therefore at best based on a bad interpretation of the soul.

Peace.

Aaron

The Goldstone Report, appeal to force, and The Golden Compass

Greetings.

Jewish date:  1 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Ro’sh Ḥodhesh (Judaism), Bhai Duj (Diwali, Day 5; Hinduism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Enforce Lower CO2 Emissions to Stop Ocean Acidification”.

Topic 1:  “Exposed: Goldstone & the UN Farce”.  This article on the continuing scandal of the Goldstone Report.  Even Goldstone himself admits that the quality of information in the report leaves much to be desired, e.g., uncritical acceptance of the claims of terrorists, and this information would not be accepted in court.  As such acting upon the Goldstone Report is not justified.

Topic 2:  “Forced Islamization of Christian Conscripts in the Egyptian Army”.  Major rule:  One cannot force people to believe anything, no matter how much one threatens them (appeal to force).  Beating up and killing those who refuse to believe does nothing to prove one’s beliefs are correct.  Lying about what happened afterwards does not help either.

Topic 3:  I have completed chapter 11 of The Golden Compass (Book 1 of His Dark Materials).  Seriously emphasized is this trilogy’s depiction of souls.  I have mentioned before that every human in this world is accompanied by a “dæmon” in animal form, which is some sort of manifestation of the human’s soul.  The form of the dæmon reflects the nature of the human.  Children’s dæmons regularly change shape at will.  Adults, who are more set in their ways, have dæmons limited to a single form.  Usually dæmons are of the sex opposite that of their humans.  (Intuition suggests this may be a veiled reference to sexual preference.)  Dæmons can never get more than a few yards away from their humans, though there is an exception to this rule:  the dæmons of witches can get arbitrarily far away from them.  This may reflect the mystical/occult notion of astral projection, in which the soul is said to separate from the body.  Another species is also depicted as having souls:  polar bears.  For these the soul manifests as thick metallic armor.  Why Philp Pullman chose to have humans and polar bears have physically manifested souls, I have no idea; I am not aware of any religion which holds by such dramatic conceptions of the soul.  Increasingly this book seems less and less to be discussing any real religion and more and more diving into fantastic conceptions.

Peace, and have a happy new month.

Aaron