Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
"Jerry [i.e., Jerry Bruckheimer of the spirit world/realm] needs our help everyone! So keep doing the wrong thing!"
How came such and such civilization to perish? It seems very plausible and probable to me that in a given instance and what may have happen is that a group of criminal spirit people made their home that culture's midst, not unlike a disease making a home for itself in a host. The host unable and or unwilling to eject the disease then ended up being destroyed by it.
Though the worst of offenders, he sees himself as the one most entitled to punish sin.
[ch. 22]
... For the exertion of the intellect by exercise is prolonged to a perpetual exertion. And the perpetual exertion of the intellect is the essence of an intelligent being, which results from an uninterrupted process of admixture, and remains eternal contemplation, a living substance. Could we, then, suppose any one proposing to the Gnostic whether he would choose the knowledge of God or everlasting salvation; and if these, which are entirely identical, were separable, he would without the least hesitation choose the knowledge of God, deeming that property of faith, which from love ascends to knowledge, desirable, for its own sake. This, then, is the perfect man's first form of doing good, when it is done not for any advantage in what pertains to him, but because he judges it right to do good; and the energy being vigorously exerted in all things, in the very act becomes good; not, good in some things, and not good in others; but consisting in the habit of doing good, neither for glory, nor, as the philosophers say, for reputation, nor from reward either from men or God; but so as to pass life after the image and likeness of the Lord.
~ Clement of Alexandria (c.150–c.215), The Stromata, Book 4.
["Mozart - Requiem - Rex tremendae" - La Chappelle Royale Collegium Vocale, Orchestre des Champs Elysees, Phillippe Herreweghe]
[ch. 15]
...And especially is it incumbent on those entrusted with such a dispensation to exhibit to disciples a pure example. “For though I be free from all men, I have made myself servant to all,” it is said, “that I might gain all. And every one that strives for mastery is temperate in all things.” [1 Corinthians 9:19-25] “But the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” [1 Corinthians 10:26]...
~ Clement of Alexandria (c.150–c.215), The Stromata, Book 4.
After all that has transpired, it easy to forget how originally the Vietnam war was in the minds of many a moral crusade to help the poor, innocent, and (by the admission of some of the Vietnamese themselves) naive people of Southeast Asia. But like the Trojan War, not everyone who ended up being drawn into the conflict ever really cared about the justness of the cause to begin with, and it was these latter ironically, not the former, who ended up largely determining the purpose of and how the war ended up actually being fought.
["Special Forces: The Hidden War in Vietnam 1963 US Army; James Arness; The Big Picture TV-562 "]
[ch. 14]
How great also is benignity! “Love your enemies,” it is said, “bless them who curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you,” [Matthew 5:44-45] and the like; to which it is added, “that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven,” in allusion to resemblance to God. Again, it is said, “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him.” [Matthew 5:25] The adversary is not the body, as some would have it, but the devil, and those assimilated to him, who walks along with us in the person of men, who emulate his deeds in this earthly life. It is inevitable, then, that those who confess themselves to belong to Christ, but find themselves in the midst of the devil's works, suffer the most hostile treatment. For it is written, “Lest he deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officers of Satan's kingdom.” “For I am persuaded that neither death,” through the assault of persecutors, “nor life” in this world, “nor angels,” the apostate ones, “nor powers” (and Satan's power is the life which he chose, for such are the powers and principalities of darkness belonging to him), “nor things present,” amid which we exist during the time of life, as the hope entertained by the soldier, and the merchant's gain, “nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,” in consequence of the energy proper to a man—opposes the faith of him who acts according to free choice...
~ Clement of Alexandria (c.150–c.215), The Stromata, Book 4.
I saw Klaus Kirschner's "Mozart: A Childhood Chronicle" (1974) at a University of Washington screening back in the 1980s; when just the other day I rediscovered it on YoutTube, in 8 part installments. A superb film if you love Mozart, classical music, and authentic, honest to God cinema. (The opening credits here are a bit jittery, so if you watch you will want to fast forward a bit.)
Wonderful Anglo-Saxon narrative (from the Exeter Book) of an early English saint's war and confrontation with devils. Beautiful stuff!
See: https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/guthlac-a/
[“Guthlac A: The Life and Trials of St. Guthlac of Crowland”]
