“A grammar is a description of a set of symbols and how to combine them to create well-informed sentences. A Grimoire is, appropriately enough, a description of a set of magickal symbols and how to combine them properly.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/.
eppur si muove (Hebrews 4:12-13)
“The widespread failure to replicate findings has afflicted physics, chemistry, geology, and other real sciences. Ten years ago a Stanford researcher named John Ioannidis published a paper called “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” “For most study designs and settings,” Ioannidis wrote, “it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true.” He used medical research as an example, and since then most systematic efforts at replication in his field have borne him out. His main criticism involved the misuse of statistics: He pointed out that almost any pile of data, if sifted carefully, could be manipulated to show a result that is “statistically significant.” … Publication bias, compounded with statistical weakness, makes a floodtide of false positives. “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue,” wrote the editor of the medical journal Lancet not long ago. Following the Reproducibility Project, we now know his guess was probably too low, at least in the behavioral sciences. The literature, continued the editor, is “afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance.”
Aarts, Alexander A, Christopher J Anderson, Joanna Anderson, Marcel A L M van Assen, Peter R Attridge, Angela S Attwood, Jordan Axt, et al. 2015. “Reproducibility Project: Psychology.” Open Science Framework. October 1. osf.io/ezcuj. Caution: Not to be taken seriously by the weighty or the well-connected, suitable only for satirical half-wits, miscreants, and hypocrites @ http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/making-it-all_1042807.html.
I’m so confused, am I a normal person?
You know, I can’t tell if I’m a normal person, it’s true
I think I’m cool enough, but am I cruel enough?
Am I cruel enough, for you?
Arcade Fire, “Normal Person,” Reflektor (Merge/Sonovox/Mercury/Virgin EMI/Universal, 2013)
The New York Times, SundayReview|Opinion, Mark Lynas (Oct.24, 2015): http://nyti.ms/1Wb2MCa. :
With G.M.O. (Genetically Modified Organisms) Policies, Europe Turns Against Science
“Call it the ‘Coalition of the Ignorant’. By the first week of October, 17 European countries — including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland — had used new European Union rules to announce bans on the cultivation of genetically modified crops.
“These prohibitions expose the worrying reality of how far Europe has gone in setting itself against modern science…. [T]he chilling effect on biotech science in Europe will be dramatic… In effect, The Continent is shutting up shop for an entire field of human scientific and technological endeavor. This is analogous to America’s declaring an automobile boycott in 1910, or Europe’s prohibiting the printing press in the 15th century.
“The worldwide scientific consensus on the safety of genetic engineering is as solid as that which underpins human-caused global warming. Yet this inconvenient truth on G.M.O.s — that they’re as safe as conventionally cultivated food — is ignored when ideological interests are threatened…. In the public sector, the European Academies Science Advisory Council, the leading voice of science in Europe, lamented in 2013: ‘The E.U. is falling behind international competitors in agricultural innovation and this has implications for E.U. goals for science and innovation.’
“The new anti-G.M.O. policy aligns Europe with some unsavory allies. Russia has proudly proclaimed a prohibition on G.M.O. crops. So has Zimbabwe, where anti-Western conspiracy theories about biotech companies have become part of the ruling party’s ideology…. Following Europe’s lead, no country in sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa currently permits the cultivation of G.M.O. food crops. Yet from drought-tolerant maize to virus-resistant cassava, many biotech traits are being developed that could quickly improve the livelihoods of poorer African farmers.
“Thanks to Europe’s Coalition of the Ignorant, we are witnessing a historic injustice perpetrated by the well fed on the food insecure. Europe’s stance, if taken up internationally, risks marginalizing a critically important technology that we must surely employ if humanity is to feed itself sustainably in an increasingly difficult and challenging future.”
Mark Lynas is the political director for the Cornell Alliance for Science at Cornell University and a co-author, most recently, of “An Ecomodernist Manifesto.”
Is anyone as strange as a normal person?
Is anyone as cruel as a normal person?
What if the camera
Really do
Take your soul
Oh no
What if the camera
Really do
Take your soul
Oh no
Hit me with your flashbulb eyes
Hit me with your flashbulb eyes
You know I’ve got nothing to hide
You know I got nothing
No I got, nothing
Arcade Fire, “Flashbulb Eyes,” Reflektor (Merge/Sonovox/Mercury/Virgin EMI/Universal, 2013)
“Our age is essentially one of understanding and reflection without passion, momentarily bursting into enthusiasm, and shrewdly relapsing into repose. There is no more action or decision in our day than there is perilous delight in swimming in shallow waters.
“More and more people renounce the quiet and modest tasks of life, that are so important and pleasing to God, in order to achieve something greater; in order to think over the relationships of life in a higher relationship till in the end the whole generation has become a representation, who represent…it is difficult to say who; and who think about these relationships…for whose sake it is not easy to discover.”
Søren Kierkegaard, The Present Age and the Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle, trans. by Alexander Dru (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1940)
“Therefore, unbelief in the most real, historical sense of the word is the only sin against the Spirit of the true religion, whose heart is in heaven and whose heaven is in the heart. The mystery of Christian holiness consists not in services, sacrifices and vows, which God demands of men, but rather in promises, fulfillments and sacrifices, which God has done and achieved for the benefit of men; not in the great and huge commandment that He imposed, but in the highest good, which He gave as a gift; not in legislation and moral doctrines, which concern merely human sentiments and human actions, but in execution of divine decrees by means of divine deeds, works and institutions for the salvation of the whole world.”
“Belief and doubt affect man’s capacity to know; as fear and hope affect his instinctual appetite. Truth and untruth are tools of the understanding: (true or untrue) representations of good and evil are tools of the will. All our knowledge is imperfect, and all human grounds of reason consist either in belief in truth and doubt in untruth or in belief in untruth and doubt in truth…. But if the understanding believes in lies and finds that tasty, and doubts truths and finds them sickening like bad food, then the light in us is darkness and the salt has lost its savor — Religion is a pure church parade — philosophy, an empty display of words, superannuated opinions without meaning, obsolete rights without power! Therefore skepticism with regard to the truth and gullibility about self-deception are just as inseparable symptoms as chills and warmth in a fever. The one who believes himself to be farthest removed from this sickness of the soul and fervently wishes to be able to cure it in all his fellow-men himself confesses to have so often performed this cure on himself and tried it on others that he has become aware of how difficult it is and how small the chances of success are, — woe to the unfortunate wretch who dares to find fault with these inoffensive, purified words!
“What is truth? A wind that blows where it wills, whose sound one hears, but does not know: whence? and whither? — a Spirit whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, and does not know Him.
“Devoted reader, what does the peace which the world gives have to do with you and me? We know for certain that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them — May the God of the peace which passes all understanding sanctify us wholly; that our spirit and soul and body may be kept blameless in the time to come —
“‘He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon!’ Amen!”
Written by a Preacher in the Wilderness (1784), Johann Georg Hamann, Just another nobody talking nothing about the one thing that means everything to me. Translated by Stephen N. Dunning in The Tongues of Men, Hegel and Hamann on Religious Language and History (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1979).
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Literally, the literal reading of the Bible is not a real enough method for grasping by faith God’s work of grace in history. God’s working in history with His chosen people, the Jews, makes of His people His chosen visual corporate aide for instructing the church as it goes out into the world and preaches the gospel to all creation even as the church is His chosen visual corporate aide in manifesting His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities still occupying as squatters the heavenly places (Romans 11:1–5; 15:1-13; Ephesians 2:11-22; 3:8-12, 20; 6:10-12). The church should honor God’s territorial covenant with the Jews as much as the demons should either submit to God’s rule or emigrate from His realm.
The Magus of the North said for the soul stretched out between Golgotha and Scheblimini neither reason nor law should be handled as a “palladium for equalization,” as an idol that lifts us up to equal standing with God, giving us we presume His view through human eyes so we think we see Him on terms of our own making. It is not enough that He has descended to be among us, we insist our intellectual prowess propels us up to be on equal standing with Him. We have become those who pray to themselves, thanking God that we are not like others, viewing with contempt the sorcerers, necromancers, soothsayers, alchemists and astrologers, the dowsers and binders, warlocks and witches, the numerologists and palm-readers, date-setters and familiarizers of all things futile, defeated and forbidden. We too easily and too often trust that we think, do and sacrifice as we should. When we do this we harden and deaden ourselves. We obliterate any self-awareness of how vain we have become. We deceive ourselves into thinking we no longer know how to measure how far off the mark our soul is not right within us, and, under the influence of this deception, we take pride in our trust having been so misplaced! Our habit of mind taken hostage to this tendency indulges unrestrained complacency, as if the next time we behold the Man of Sorrows He will come to us with His crown of thorns in hand. We have deceived ourselves into forgetting that all things beautiful and practical both in principle and contrivance before faring into our arts and duties are first found in the word of God.
Who stands their guard post? Who still stations themselves on the rampart? Who keeps watch to see what God will speak to us so we may know how to read it fluently in order to give good reply when we are reproved? Forgive us Father, we cannot redeem one another, or give you ransom for our well-being, for the redemption of our soul is too costly. We are but futility without rest forever. How can we secure eternity and not see corruption and suffer decay forever? Punish Lord the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. Put an end to the arrogance of the proud, bring low the haughtiness of the ruthless; abase the self-elevation and exaltation of tyrants and despots. Save us Lord, we are not wise, mighty or noble. Take us, count us a part in your share of the things of this world that you have chosen, the foolish things, the weak things and the base things of the world and the despised; things you have chosen that are not that you might nullify the things that are. Yes Lord, even as dogs feed on the children’s crumbs falling from their Father’s table, help us Lord, cast out the demons that haunt and hurt our loved ones.
Have mercy on us. Blessed are the merciful, they shall receive mercy because they do good to their own soul. Let mercy boast against judgment. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. We have inherited from our forefathers a futile way of life. They actually taught us to rely upon reason and law to lift ourselves up to the level of the Godhead, even as we considered you as uncalled-for while we entertained questions over whether or not you exist. Forgive us Father. This is sin, filling our heads with wrangling follies and volleys over words, worldly and empty chatter advancing further progress in ungodliness, flooding our hearts with foolish and ignorant speculations producing fights; all of which distract us from treasuring you word with all our heart, looking upon it, delighting in it, meditating upon it and not forgetting it. O Father, open our eyes that we might behold wonderful things from your word that we might meditate on your wonders.
O Lord that my soul might weep with grief that you would strengthen me according to your word. Enlarge my heart Lord that I might run the course you have set before me according to your word. O Lord, establish your word in me as the forge, endowment and frame of my life, which produces reverence for you. Do not take the word of truth from out of my mouth, let me have your word as an answer for whoever reproaches me for I trust in your word. I love your words of promise and command in which you have made me hope. Let your word be my song, let me sing with those who fear you. May those who fear you see me and be glad, because I hope in and wait for your word. May my soul languish for your salvation because I wait for your word, may my eyes fail with longing for your word. Revive me Lord according to your lovingkindness, so I may keep the testimony of your mouth. Forever, O Lord, let the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places hear it, forever your word is settled and stands firm in heaven. Your word is exceedingly broad, stretching beyond the limit and end to all perfection. O Lord, let me taste how sweet your word is to the palate of my soul, as the joy of my heart may your word be a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path for the unfolding of your word gives light. Establish my footsteps in your word. Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your statutes. May my eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law. Your word is pure, teach your servant to love it. Your word is truth, give me understanding that I may live it. Make my flesh tremble for fear of you that I may be afraid of your judgments. Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me according to your word. Great and many are your mercies, O Lord; revive me according to your word. Revive me, O Lord, according to you lovingkindness. The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. My heart stands in awe of your word, I rejoice at your word, give me understanding according to your word. Let my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your word. Let my lips utter praise, for you teach me your statues. Let my tongue sing of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness. Help me Lord, for I have chosen your word. Let my soul live that it may praise you. When I go astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not want to forget your word.
All this I confess and yet, nevertheless, when has my soul at any time been crushed with longing after the word of God? I am too busy for that absorbed as I am with the kind of thinking that siphons from our faith the kindness that nourishes gentleness, dumping it into the septic-storing nether regions of our heart, giving free reign to strife, arousing selfish ambition, making prayer peripheral and weakening our confidence in you as the God who grants repentance, inducing us to forget who you are, that even as you led us into the knowledge of truth so too might the richness of your kindness and forbearance and patience lead these remaining sons of disobedience to repentance, who, as unbelievers, the god of this world has blinded. Lord we believe little in the blindness of others and believe less in our own blindness. Lord, let us see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Save them Lord who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, let them come to their senses so they too may escape from the snare of the devil, for they too have been held captive by him to do his will. Keep us from abusing the gifts you have given us for worship and for service, for wonder and celebration, for instruction, rebuke, correction, and training in righteousness, for having our senses trained to discern good and evil, for having mercy on those who are doubting, for snatching others out of the fire, for others having mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh, for turning sinners from the error of their ways, for keeping fervent in our love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. For it is written, “Hatred stirs up strife, but he who covers a transgression seeks love and love covers all transgressions.”
John 13:34-35/1 John 5:21
The Great Day of His Wrath 1851-3 John Martin 1789-1854 Purchased 1945 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N05613
Fruit of His Lips 
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