“God is more real to me than any thought or thing or person. I feel his presence positively, and the more as I live in closer harmony with his laws as written in my body and mind. I feel him in the sunshine or rain; and awe mingled with a delicious restfulness most nearly describes my feelings. I talk to him as to a companion in prayer and praise, and our communion is delightful. He answers me again and again, often in words so clearly spoken that it seems my outer ear mist have carried the tone, but generally in strong mental impressions. Usually a text of Scripture, unfolding some new view of him and his love for me, and care for my safety. I could give hundreds of instances, in school matters, social problems, financial difficulties, etc. That he is mine and I am his never leaves me, it is an abiding joy. Without it life would be a blank, a desert, a shoreless, trackless waste.“
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience. “The Reality of the Unseen”
Categories: excerpt · religion
The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison inmates, and death finally runs the robustest of us down. And whenever we feel this, such a sense of the vanity and provisionality of our voluntary career comes over us that all our morality appears but as a plaster hiding a sore it can never cure, and all our well-doing as the hollowest substitute for that well-being that out lives ought to be grounded in, but, alas! Are not.
And here religion comes to our rescue and takes our fate into her hands. There is a state of mind, known to religious men, but to no others, in which the will to assert ourselves and hold our own has been displaced by a willingness to close our mouths and be as nothing in the floods and waterspouts of God. In this state of mind, what we most dreaded has become the habitation of our safety, and the hour of our moral death has turned into our spiritual birthday. The time for tension in our soul is over, and that of a happy relaxation, of calm deep breathing, of an eternal present, with no discordant future to be anxious about, has arrived. Fear is not held in abeyance as it is by mere morality, it is positively expunged and washed away.
William James The Varieties of Religious Experience. “Circumscription of the Topic”
Categories: Psychology · excerpt · religion
Russia or Georgia, not quite sure, looking over the border to the other side.
It’s the Machiavellian Game: Georgia does need to veil their own governing idioti-cy; responding to Russian power games allows this. Russia knows this so Russia can push and prod Georgia by increasing military in the Russian-claimed independent states because Georgia will buy into this game for such reasons and Russia can flex their power muscle at these regions to gain regional political support and not piss off any other major political power in the world.
It has been argued that Russia does not want political control of Georgia or they would have swept in and taken it last year with military force: I find this a laughable argument. Had Russia done this they would have committed quite a political suicide move; NATO, the international court, the west in general would have responded with political might against Russia had this happened. And Russia cannot deal with that; right now they need to present themselves as powerful and influential to keep their political influence growing.
I have also read some complaints that the USA needs to step in and do something about this; militarily speaking. (1) this has little to do with the USA outside of NATO; (2) for a large part that would be a stupid political move; of course right-winged Americans would presumably thoroughly enjoy this; (3) I believe they had done enough last time by giving Georgia the go-ahead to attack and by rather immediately stepping up in the Baltic with a mass of Navy for a “routine military rotation” for “humanitarian aid.”
Words of Wisdom!
I find the foreseeable to be another conflict where fingers can again be pointed at both. Russia will probably receive more support, unless they do something stupid; for more political gain will perceivably be gained by supporting Russia than Georgia; though we shall see. Russia will respond with might because they need to look strong and in control, to spread their influence and gain more support from the “independent states”; Georgia will try to respond with might to veil their contemporary, teetering government and to attempt to gain support of the people and perhaps other governments by fighting for a united Georgia and “protecting” Georgians from Russian control. NATO may step in, especially if the conflict lasts long enough. Following the conflict the Russian-claimed independent states will still not be declared as independent by most anyone else. And people will die being used as political pawns in the Machiavellian game of politics!
<http://www.topix.com/us/2009/06/chances-rising-for-fresh-georgia-russia-war>
<http://www.azernews.az/site/shownews.php?news_id=12993>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_war>
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081600502_pf.html>
<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wr2009_web.pdf>
<http://www.mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2008/item3/article1/>
<http://www.isdp.eu/files/publications/pp/08/0808Georgia-PP2.pdf>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/europe/07georgia.html?_r=1>
Categories: News · journal · politics
