Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
There is little question in my mind poor Edgar Allen Poe, after what he must have gone through in his final years, could only have ended up a good and proper Christian -- and gladly.
With tomorrow being Good Friday, here's a bit of trivia for you. Did you know that for the Romans, Friday was "Dies Veneris" or "Venus' Day," and upon askng a Jewish friend of mine what Friday was for Jews, they told me "'Shabbat' begins at sundown Friday, and is a 'she' rather than an 'it'...Shabbat is also associated with the Shekhinah, the feminine Divine Presence, referred to in the Talmud. Friday [then] is the 'Day of the coming of the Bride.' As the daylight fades on Friday, Sabbath like a treasured guest is welcomed and there are 'blessing' said over; candles, wine, meal, and the children."
Woohoo!!! Who'd have ever guessed they'd top that dead bodies show at the Seattle Art Museum of a few years back? Well, guess again, they have! Why even as I speak there's ANOTHER space-alien-Star Wars exhibit at the Pacific SCIENCE Center! Though whether it will do as well as the one they had on Harry Potter recently may be open to question. (I LOVE Star Wars!!!)
And come to think of it, E.T. and Yoda do (kinda) look like Einstein (What will they think of next?)
To see the world in chaos and upheaval as sometimes if not infrequently we do, it is no great wonder to then find ourselves bemoaning the human condition and its future. Yet if it be true that spirit people and their henchmen -- over the course of generations -- assassinate, persecute, and displace the good among us; while empowering and placing the corrupt, incompetent, and mediocre into positions of outstanding prominence and wealth; outlawing right reason and justice and to then substitute for these spirit people autocracy and illiterate group-think -- why then should one marvel and be mystified that things should be ever as bad as they are?
["The Moody Blues - Breaking Point"]
If a given spirit person is uncleand or literally dirty, as I myself know can very much so be the case from first hand experience dealing with them, then it would seem they are more likely to have and or carry some disease. Hence, the ancient and primitive, but now conventionally rejected, idea that spirits bring sickness may turn out to be true after all. And, by the same token, while such as a shaman, medicine man, or tribal doctor may have been mistaken as to what would work as a cure for an individual illness, they may have been not so far off the mark in ascribing its cause.
In this portion of Against Celsus, Origen's arguments are far from irrefutable, yet some curious and thought eliciting points are raised here by both he and his "Epicurean" antagonist.
"[Chapter 18]
"...seeing none of those who formerly professed to effect a cure [of man's rational soul] could accomplish so much as that soul [i.e., that of Jesus] showed it could do, by what it performed, even by voluntarily descending to the level of human destinies for the benefit of our race. And the Divine Word, well knowing this, speaks to that effect in many passages of Scripture, although it is sufficient at present to quote one testimony of Paul to the following effect: 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.' [Philippians 2:5-9]..."
"[Chapter 54]
"But as in the words which I quoted from Celsus, which are a paraphrase from the Timaeus [of Plato], certain expressions occur, such as, 'God made nothing mortal, but immortal things alone, while mortal things are the works of others, and the soul is a work of God, but the nature of the body is different, and there is no difference between the body of a man and that of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog; for the matter is the same, and their corruptible part alike,' [Celsus, Origen avers, likens humans to bats, worms, ants and frogs] -- let us discuss these points for a little; and let us show that Celsus either does not disclose his Epicurean opinions, or, as might be said by one person, has exchanged them for better, or, as another might say, has nothing in common save the name, with Celsus, the Epicurean. For he ought, in giving expression to such opinions, and in proposing to contradict not only us, but the by no means obscure sect of philosophers who are the adherents of Zeno of Citium, to have proved that the bodies of animals are not the work of God, and that the great skill displayed in their construction did not proceed from the highest intelligence. And he ought also, with regard to the countless diversities of plants, which are regulated by an inherent, incomprehensible nature, and which have been created for the by no means despicable use of man in general, and of the animals which minister to man, whatever other reasons may be adduced for their existence, not only to have stated his opinion, but also to have shown us that it was no perfect intelligence which impressed these qualities upon the matter of plants. And when he had once represented (various) divinities as the creators of all the bodies, the soul alone being the work of God, why did not he, who separated these great acts of creation, and apportioned them among a plurality of creators, next demonstrate by some convincing reason the existence of these diversities among divinities, some of which construct the bodies of men, and others -- those, say, of beasts of burden, and others -- those of wild animals? And he who saw that some divinities were the creators of dragons, and of asps, and of basilisks, and others of each plant and herb according to its species, ought to have explained the causes of these diversities. For probably, had he given himself carefully to the investigation of each particular point, he would either have observed that it was one God who was the creator of all, and who made each thing with a certain object and for a certain reason; or if he had failed to observe this, he would have discovered the answer which he ought to return to those who assert that corruptibility is a thing indifferent in its nature; and that there was no absurdity in a world which consists of diverse materials, being formed by one architect, who constructed the different kinds of things so as to secure the good of the whole...
"[Chapter 55]
"But I maintain that, if he had the patience (to use his own expression) to listen to the writings of Moses and the prophets, he would have had his attention arrested by the circumstance that the expression 'God made' is applied to heaven and earth, and to what is called the firmament, and also to the lights and stars; and after these, to the great fishes, and to every living thing among creeping animals which the waters brought forth after their kinds, and to every fowl of heaven after its kind; and after these, to the wild beasts of the earth after their kind, and the beasts after their kind, and to every creeping thing upon the earth after its kind; and last of all to man. The expression 'made,' however, is not applied to other things; but it is deemed sufficient to say regarding light, 'And it was light;' and regarding the one gathering together of all the waters that are under the whole heaven, 'It was so.' And in like manner also, with regard to what grew upon the earth, where it is said, 'The earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind and after its likeness, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself, after its kind, upon the earth.' He would have inquired, moreover, whether the recorded commands of God respecting the coming into existence of each part of the world were addressed to one thing or to several; and he would not lightly have charged with being unintelligible, and as having no secret meaning, the accounts related in these books, either by Moses, or, as we would say, by the Divine Spirit speaking in Moses, from whom also he derived the power of prophesying; since he 'knew both the present, and the future, and the past,' in a higher degree than those priests who are alleged by the poets to have possessed a knowledge of these things...
"[Chapter 65]
After this Celsus continues: 'It is not easy, indeed, for one who is not a philosopher to ascertain the origin of evils, though it is sufficient for the multitude to say that they do not proceed from God, but cleave to matter, and have their abode among mortal things; while the course of mortal things being the same from beginning to end, the same things must always, agreeably to the appointed cycles, recur in the past, present, and future.' Celsus here observes that it is not easy for one who is not a philosopher to ascertain the origin of evils, as if it were an easy matter for a philosopher to gain this knowledge, while for one who is not a philosopher it was difficult, though still possible, for such an one, although with great labour, to attain it. Now, to this we say, that the origin of evils is a subject which is not easy even for a philosopher to master, and that perhaps it is impossible even for such to attain a clear understanding of it, unless it be revealed to them by divine inspiration, both what evils are, and how they originated, and how they shall be made to disappear. But although ignorance of God is an evil, and one of the greatest of these is not to know how God is to be served and worshipped, yet, as even Celsus would admit, there are undoubtedly some philosophers who have been ignorant of this, as is evident from the views of the different philosophical sects; whereas, according to our judgment, no one is capable of ascertaining the origin of evils who does not know that it is wicked to suppose that piety is preserved uninjured amid the laws that are established in different states, in conformity with the generally prevailing ideas of government. No one, moreover, who has not heard what is related of him who is called 'devil,' and of his 'angels,' and what he was before he became a devil, and how he became such, and what was the cause of the simultaneous apostasy of those who are termed his angels, will be able to ascertain the origin of evils. But he who would attain to this knowledge must learn more accurately the nature of demons, and know that they are not the work of God so far as respects their demoniacal nature, but only in so far as they are possessed of reason; and also what their origin was, so that they became beings of such a nature, that while converted into demons, the powers of their mind remain. And if there be any topic of human investigation which is difficult for our nature to grasp, certainly the origin of evils may be considered to be such.
"[Chapter 66]
"Celsus in the next place, as if he were able to tell certain secrets regarding the origin of evils, but chose rather to keep silence, and say only what was suitable to the multitude, continues as follows: 'It is sufficient to say to the multitude regarding the origin of evils, that they do not proceed from God, but cleave to matter, and dwell among mortal things.' It is true, certainly, that evils do not proceed from God; for according to Jeremiah, one of our prophets, it is certain that 'out of the mouth of the Most High proceeds not evil and good.' But to maintain that matter, dwelling among mortal things, is the cause of evils, is in our opinion not true. For it is the mind of each individual which is the cause of the evil which arises in him, and this is evil (in the abstract); while the actions which proceed from it are wicked, and there is, to speak with accuracy, nothing else in our view that is evil..."
~ Origen (c.185–254), Against Celsus, Book 4, Chs. 54, 55, 65, 66.
Now here's ever a great song that we always liked, only the Linda Ronstadt version is so well known; how about something a little different?
["Susanna Hoffs - Different Drum"]
Again -- you can't get to the Father but through the Son. What that means is (among other things) that if you think you met God or had God speak to you and you weren't already in the company of Jesus, not to mention the Holy Spirit, who or what it was wasn't and could not have been God.
"Temperance" and "moderaton," in practice tend to be rhetorical platitudes; for even among the most wise and virtuous it is not uncommon to go to one extreme in order to balance or offset its opposite -- in the interest of temerance and moderation. Somewhat likewse are "infinity" and "eternity" which, again in practice, we inevitably end up seeing as all one.
One rarely if ever hears (i.e., and or has communicated to oneself) a trouble-making spirit person lamenting how they went wrong or else blaming "Satan" (or someone else) for having turned them to a life of rabid and egregious wrong-doing. Yet there are occasionally times (if not so frequent as one might wish) when they do exhibit a wish and desire to behave rightly and do good -- if but they could.
Also related and of interest, i.e., psychologically speakng, their overweening pride invariably causes them to be blind to and in denial of their errors. For such, it is better to persist in error, and even go to Hell for it, than admit a fault in ther pride, and in this way and for this reason are persistent in keeping up and mantaining a confident front in vying with you. Yet the absurdity of this attitude never ceases to amaze given that we never really ever saw it workng for them (doing things their way); while their actions and history make them out to be utterly ludicrous and risible to those not otherwise inclined to pity them.
Note that sometimes in dealng with such an one, it will be made to seem that "Heaven," as it were, stands behind or justifies them somehow. But an intelligent person will know and understand that faking Heaven is common trick with certain puissant and sophisticated kinds of spirit people.