Voices from Russia

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

19 July 2016. A Thing of Beauty and Grace

00 Byodo-In Temple, Oahu, Hawaii. 180716

Byodo-In Temple in O’ahu (Valley of the Temples)

Penny Adams

2010s

Real Orthodox Christians live in peace with all others of good will. Full stop. Truly, the hate spewed by Anglo konvertsy on the web has to stop…

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The Byodo-In Temple is at the foot of the Ko’olau Mountains in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It opened 7 June 1968, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. The Byodo-In Temple in O’ahu is a small-scale replica of the over 950-year-old Byodo-In Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uji, Japan. The Byodo-In Temple is a non-denominational Buddhist shrine, which welcomes all people to worship, meditate, or simply appreciate its beauty. It isn’t a functioning temple in the proper sense; it doesn’t host a resident monastic community or an active congregation. Hawaiians and Japanese visitors often use the temple grounds for wedding and other family events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byodo-In_Temple

This is the temple website

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I’ve visited religious sites of other faiths many times. I’ve never made a rumpus nor tried to proselytise anyone. I’m a Christian… that’s what we do. We respect others for what they are. I apologise for the unfounded, hateful, and unreasonable posts by “Orthodox” konvertsy on the web. It’s just too much of a muchness…

BMD

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Sunday, 1 December 2013

Moral Corruption Leads to Recession

01 Mammon

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Our world saw many economic crises. Between 1820 and 1929 alone, 13 crises seriously rocked the global economy. The financial crisis that began in the US economy in August 2007 and that later spread to all western economies turned into a major global economic crisis. At first, people thought it’d end very quickly, but over a six-year period, several countries went to the brink of bankruptcy. Our modern-day crisis is termed the “Great Recession”, and the world is literally in a state of helplessness. One shocking and disastrous result has been that there has been a sharp rise in the number of suicides in the wake of this recession. In the USA, for example, according to RT.com, they quoted the Centers for Disease Control as saying, “Suicide rates from 1999 to 2010 ‘increased significantly’ across all four geographic areas and in 39 states. The state of Wyoming recorded the highest increase in suicides with a 78.8 percent jump (31.1 per 100,000), whilst even the sunny state of Hawaii saw a 61.2 percent increase (21.9 per 100,000)”.

Many nations at the brink of ruin seek technical solutions such as printing paper money to ease the tidal wave of economic sufferings they face; yet, they’re unable to resolve them. The crisis continues, despite countries’ direct interventions. For example, the Bush administration recommended a 700 billion USD (23.22 trillion Roubles. 744 billion CAD. 768 billion AUD. 516 billion Euros. 428 billion UK Pounds) financial rescue package. The subsequent legislation gave the government wide authority to assume responsibility for those debts that financial institutions couldn’t repay. Many called it the largest financial rescue plan since the Great Depression of 1929. Clearly, neoliberal economic orthodoxy shaped today’s world and this opened the door to excessive greed, which leaves no room for spirituality. In such a system, the individual or economic unit/entity looks out for themselves, acting selfishly. People in this system live in a constant state of fear; they feel that they can’t trust anyone, knowing that others are just as selfish as they are.

This materialistic state of mind where everyone fights over resources, puts them in deep trouble, with them being none the wiser. It sets up a vicious circle of selfishness, fear, and greed, and in such an environment, positive creative abilities don’t fully bloom. Generosity, humanity, and spirituality suffer, as people can’t feed their soul with peace. Being depressed and in a state of fear all the time takes its toll. Feelings of love and gentleness toward others wither, whilst loneliness and negative feelings toward others rise. People are taught and deluded into thinking that living this way is the only option, and they think that they will be wealthier or be happier living this lifestyle, but in reality, they couldn’t be more wrong. When one starts acting in this way, the world starts striking back, as if taking revenge for not living love. Financial problems or health problems, losing one’s job or losing one’s family; things just start to go downhill and it might look like one could never get out from under that mess, hence, the rise in the number of suicides. People become further depressed, their health more compromised, so, the things they own will lose all meaning.

An attitude of survival of the fittest develops between people; animosity grows, fuelling hatred toward others. Deep fear of losing their investments, their cash savings, and livelihood drives people to horde assets, limiting the supply and speed of money circulating in the economy. This is one of the main reasons behind the stagnation. This view of crushing others, as people care for themselves alone, leads to a decrease in the amount of circulating currency. They don’t even consider acting selflessly, as they believe that the most important thing is their own interests, and making sacrifices would mean they’d lose or be viewed as weak. In order to end this tragedy in society, we must do away with the hatred that people feel for one another. Forgiveness, love, and compassion, derived from sound morality, needs to rise.

Spiritual and moral collapse leads to an appalling collapse of supply when people don’t live according to ethical principles. We no longer see the high levels of production we used to… aesthetics and arts suffer; in our time, we don’t find artists of the same calibre as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Raphael. We no longer produce famous composers such as Beethoven, Bach, or Chopin. Even scientists have lost the urge to make new discoveries; they content themselves with doing minor research around existing discoveries. They’re unable to make impressive discoveries. The economic crisis is like a bottomless pit. Beauty and prosperity can only appear with better morality and social ethics freeing us from selfishness and egoism. The awaited regeneration in the markets will come when we restore a spirit of coöperation, and the result would be wealth the like of which no one has ever seen before.

30 November 2013

Ece Koc

Arab News

http://www.arabnews.com/news/485686

Editor’s Note:

Let’s keep it simple. The Republican Party believes in Social Darwinism, NOT Christianity. It bows down before Almighty Mammon. That’s the long and the short of it… if you vote Republican, you vote for an ideology condemned by most responsible Christian leaders. Oh, you say that Evangelicals praise it to the skies? Ponder this… Evangelicals aren’t really Christians. Go to any of their services and you’ll see that it lacks any resemblance to a liturgy or a mass. In short, it ain’t Christian. If it doesn’t look Christian, if it doesn’t sound Christian, it isn’t Christian, and that’s that. The Eucharist is the centre of all true Christian liturgy… and if it’s missing on an ordinary Sunday, then, Christianity is missing, too.

Reflect on that, if you would…

BMD

Saturday, 22 December 2012

22 December 2012. Senator Daniel Inouye… A Man of Honour, A Man of Respect… and A Principled Man Thirsty for Justice

00 Sen Daniel Inouye. 22.12.12

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Vigilance abroad doesn’t require us to abandon our ideals or the rule of law at home. On the contrary, without our principles and without our ideals, we’ve little that’s special or worthy to defend.

Daniel Inouye

US Senator (D-HI)

President pro tempore of the US Senate

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We remember a man who inspired all of us with his courage, and moved us with his compassion, that inspired us with his integrity and who taught so many of us… including a young boy growing up in Hawaii… that America has a place for everyone. May God bless Daniel Inouye. May God grant us more souls like his.

Barack Obama

President of the United States of America

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I remember introducing my children to [Inouye] and telling them, “I wish I could be more like that man. He’s a better man than I am”. I think his physical courage was matched by his moral courage. I don’t know anybody else that I can say that of.

Joseph Biden

Vice President of the United States of America

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Daniel Inouye advocated for the rights of all Americans… regardless of the colour of their skin, or where their parents were born, or what their religion was. He was blessed. He had work to do here amongst us, and he stayed until that work was done. As Ecclesiastes says, there’s “a time to every purpose”, and this was Dan’s time. The 24th Psalm asks, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart”. That’s Daniel Inouye… pure of heart, clean of hand.

During his 1968 convention speech, Dan taught the nation that “aloha” doesn’t just mean “hello”, and it doesn’t just mean “goodbye”. It also means, “I love you”. “Aloha” was Dan’s last word. So, I say to my friend in return, “Daniel Ken Inouye, aloha. I love you… and goodbye until we meet again”.

Harry Reid

US Senator (D-NV)

Majority Leader of the US Senate

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Senator Inouye devastated the loudmouthed liar Oliver North at the Iran-Contra hearings with simple truth and decency. I wonder why Fox News didn’t tell you that about their “news star?” Senator Inouye had a love of fairness, truth, and justice… that led him to be leftist on social issues, but strong on military preparedness and law-and-order, too. That is, leftists aren’t only patriots, but also strong and heartfelt patriots, much more so than the rightwing loudmouths who send their money abroad to avoid legit taxation, who send jobs abroad to fatten their profits, and who refuse to serve in the wars that they advocate so stridently.

The rightwing lies have to cease… but they won’t. I’ve come to the conclusion that the teabaggers and greedsters are beyond the reach of rational discussion… the only thing that decent people can do is to oppose them at every juncture, with all that God has given us in the way of talent. We must face them down at the barricades… that’s what Senator Inouye would’ve done… and show them no quarter until their evil programme lies in the dust, dead and gone… the good Senator would’ve done that too. That’s how we can honour Senator Dan’s legacy… and I’m NOT alone in thinking that way.

Jonathan del Arco wrote in the HuffPost (don’t lecture me about del Arco being gay… I know it… what of it? The truth’s the truth, no matter who speaks it):

The nation has no idea yet what a great leader and cornerstone of our democracy we’ve lost this week. As it was also his style not to call too much attention to himself, he tended to flow under the radar of DC politics. Rest in peace, Senator. You were a great man for all the ages, and I hope we can carry your example of bravery, integrity, and patriotism.

Truer words were never spoken… there’s nothing to add to that. Aloha, Senator Dan… may God receive you.

BMD

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