(no subject)

I am a citizen of the cosmic tribe.

"Cosmic tribe" is a phrase I have chosen to translate he^ basileia twn ouranwn.

It is not a very literal translation, unfortunately. "Cosmos" of course does not match "Ouranos," and a "tribe" is barely the same as a "kingdom." But the problem is that squatters have already laid claims to all the connotations on "kingdom of heaven" and the phrase is now too loaded. Also, in modern parlance a tribe is something that one can join voluntarily. To join a kingdom one has to get a visa, apply for citizenship, etc. (Holding my tongue in my cheek has no affect on my typing speed. Hmm.)

"Cosmos" implies a guiding order behind the "way of things." I do not believe the universe is ordered in the classic sense, but I do believe there is a guiding principle that directs it without taking direct action. (Anyone still reading this rant and wondering what I mean is referred to in the "Commentary" in this post.)

YES, I know it sounds hokey and new-agey. That's the reason I chose it -- it's impossible to take it seriously. But it also captures, IMO, the sense of what it was that the early Christians envisioned and aspired to.

Metanoew, the word commonly translated "Repent!," might be translated "I think with." Or, IOW, "my thinking is aligned." This could easily be an esoteric term referring to a kind of mental discipline, wherein the mind becomes aligned to the watercourse way. Or it could simply mean "get with it!"

So the message of Jesus is perhaps not "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It is "Get with it and join the cosmic tribe!"

A spiritual manifesto.

We the members of the human race demand spiritual teachings that:

1. Direct us towards compassionate action.
2. Nurture our psyches and spirits.
3. Heal the rifts within and between us.
4. Challenge us to think.
5. Push us to confront that which is unethical.
6. Exemplify that which is noble about humanity.
7. Can withstand the scrutiny of reason and experience.
8. Drive us from complacency and guide us as we become more than we already are.

(no subject)

Acording to Morty the death's head, I will die on January 29, 2046. I will be 76.

Why we'll never see fiscal responsibility in government.

Pretend you are a member of Congress. You face re-election next year. The President is clamoring for tax cuts, but the budget is already in a deficit. So you must vote to cut benefits for one of the following. Which do you choose?

o Little old ladies on fixed incomes (and lose their votes)
o Medicare benefits for developmentally disabled children (and be depicted in the media as a cad)
o The military (and lose many, many votes)
o Subsidies for [insert industry of your choice] (and lose their campaign contributions)
o I don't like any of these choices. Let's just go with the tax cuts and leave the debt for Generation X to worry about. They're too busy playing with their X-Boxes to notice anyway.

(no subject)

During my lunch break I thought of a new word.

cosmeme.

A cosmeme is a unit of cosmos. That is, a microcosm that mirrors the template of the cosmos in miniature; any discernable "thing" that has an inherent "sympathetic antipathy" that drives it away from equilibrium towards new forms; a soliton; a homonculus.

The concept of the cosmeme supposes a distinct structural self-similarity in the universe.

Anything you can think of is a cosmeme. Many things you can't think of because words do not exist to describe them are also cosmemes.

The cosmeme is similar to "atomos" as imagined by the ancient philosophers, but is different because it can itself be divided (it can be seen to be made up of component cosmemes), and is primarily a unit of information, of form and not of essence.