why say? you are in our prayers – say we are the light pourquoi dire ? vous êtes dans nos prières - dites nous sommes la lumière Richard Vallance Bahá'í logo for world religions = le logo des Bahá'í des religions du monde To my mind, there are really no religions, there is only God and ourselves. So we do not need to pray, because we are in essence prayer. To love God and to love one another is the only thing that matters. Selon moi, il n'y a pas de religions, il y a seulement Dieu et nous-mêmes. Donc nous n'avons pas besoin de prier, parce que nous sommes essentiellement la prière. La seule chose qui compte, c'est d'aimer Dieu et les uns les autres.
Tag Archive: religion
summer haiku = virgin of the sea, in Mycenaean Linear B, ancient Greek, English and Frenchvirgin of the sea, the priestess of the winds blesses our fleet vièrge de la mer, la prêtresse des vents bénit notre flotte Richard Vallance
The Blue MosqueIn Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, Allah’s shrine of Holy shrines, invokes his Love for all who visit her but once, His holy sign for every faith, to those who heed the call; Yes, raise your eyes on high, and view her vaults and Carian columns so fairly nuanced you’ll fall on your knees... where?... in Allah’s sight, whose Mind is in our humblest minds ensconced. And if you sense that Jesus too is there and Moses from the Mountain has returned, how can the world ignore your every prayer, how can we fail if love is never spurned? Religions of the world must reunite since this, our holy shrine, reveals the Light. Richard Vallance February 28 2019 I was profoundly blessed when I had the great good fortune to visit the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, on April 29 2012. Never in my entire life have I ever ever seen a religious shrine as lovely as this. I was utterly overwhelmed by its sheer glory. If you ever get the chance to visit the Blue Mosque, you should not pass it by. You will be so deeply moved and graced by it that you will never regret for an instant your having visited it. The photo you see here is my own. J’ai été profondément béni d’avoir la chance inestimable de visiter la Mosquée Bleue à Istanbul le 29 avril 2012. Je n’ai jamais vu de la vie un lieu saint aussi beau que celui-ci. J’ai été complètement bouleversé par sa gloire imposante. Si vous aurez jamais l’occasion de la visiter, vous ne devez pas la laisser s’échapper. Vous serez tellement ému que vous ne regretterez jamais un seul instant une telle visite. C’est ma propre photo que vous voyez ici.
No Isis, a sonnet lambasting the disgusting ISIS movement!No Isis, a sonnet lambasting the disgusting ISIS movement! The radical ISIS movement is an appalling insult to the hallowed memory of the great immortal Egyptian gods, Isis and Osiris! I make no apologies whatsoever for writing this scathing sonnet, because, no matter what the religion, Christianity, Islam or any other religion, fundamentalists are a scourge on the eternal Love of Almighty God.
summer haiku d’ été − saffron goddess = déesse du safran saffron goddess arrayed in white moiré in her sanctuarydéesse du safran habillée en blanc moiré dans son sanctuaire Richard Vallance
Senryu – lotus illuminated = lotus illuminé Bahá’i temple all humankind lotus illuminatedtemple Bahá’i l’humanité lotus illuminé Richard Vallance Set in the Andean foothills, just beyond Santiago, Chile, the Bahá’i Temple of South America is a domed, luminous structure echoing the rolling typography of the mountains where it is located. This senryu is based on the famous quote of Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892), founder of the Bahá’i religion, whose name means “The Glory of God”, as follows: “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.” What is a senryu? A Senryu (also called human haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. A Senryu is usually written in the present tense and only references to some aspect of human nature or emotions, or a Japanese poem similar in structure to haiku, but more concerned with human nature, and is often humorous or satiric -- usually in three lines of seventeen kana. This senryu is concerned with human emotion, or more accurately, human spirituality. It is not meant to be humorous or satirical. Unlike haiku, senryu do not contain season words = kigo.
Translation of a very tricky Linear B tablet, Knossos KN 913 D k 01 by Rita Roberts:
The decipherment of this tablet is far from clear-cut, and all because of 1 word, paro, the first on both lines 1 and 2. This word very likely corresponds to the ancient Greek pa/loj (palos) = a lot (cast), meaning a lot cast by one or more people to decide who is obliged to do something, and in this case, which is apparently a religious context, that something is the sacrifice of a billy goat and a she goat. Etowono got the lot for the ram, probably the long stick, if that is what it was, given that we are dealing with a ram here. Komawete got the short one for the she goat. It kind of makes sense, and in fact there would seem to be no other rational interpretation of this tablet. It is one of the trickiest I have ever assigned to Rita, and this aroused her suspicions in the first place. Because she could not possibly have recognized the (archaic or ancient) Greek for paro, I had to delve into that word. Otherwise, her translation is highly commendable, and deserves a full 100 %.
Free translation of Linear A tablet KH 5 (Khania) concerning the shipping of wine by sea?
If this tablet, KH 5 (Khania) is inscribed in Mycenaean-derived New Minoan, then it would appear that it deals with the shipping of wine by sea. The fact that the floor boards are apparently level would imply that the shipment was carried out successfully in calm seas. On line 1, adakisika, which is Mycenaean-derived New Minoan with orthography adapted to Old Minoan, translates as “and adorned with ivy”, which implies that the cargo has been blessed by a priest(ess). If this is the case, there is text missing before this phrase, which after all ends with “and”, hence possibly “and adorned with ivy (blessed by a priest(ess))”. If NA references nauwi, i.e. “on a ship”, then the mention of “on a level wooden floor (i.e. deck)” makes sense in context. This decipherment may be largely correct, but there is no way of verifying this with any certainty. Finally, if PA is the first syllabogram of pa3ni (paini), which I interpret as Old Minoan for “amphora”, then the wine is being shipped in amphorae, the only way wine could have been shipped in Minoan times. As if…
Haghia Triada roundels & noduli:From: The Haghia Triada administrative documents: http://www.aegean-museum.it/musint2/en/crete/documents.inc.php Descriptions from this site (quoted): Although the writing has not been deciphered neither the language has been interpreted (sic, poor grammar) various data may be obtained from the tablets. First of all, a list of Linear A signs may be hypothesized, which, with its 97 symbols, reveals a syllabic script of a simple typology (consonant + vowel and vowels): the signs are, in fact, too many, to represent a complex syllabic system (as the Near Eastern Cuneiform and the Aegyptian Hieroglyph). To these syllabic signs a long series of "logograms", representing each one a word, are added. Types of seals represented:
Roundels: The roundel is a characteristic document of the Neopalatian Minoan [1] administration, beside the tablet. It is a round clay disk (classified as Wc) with seals impressions along the edge - from one to six impressions - and, on most cases, one inscription on one or both sides. Frequently the inscription consists of a logogram, sometimes also of a sign-group. It seems to represent the last act [2] of an administrative transaction and probably functioned as a receipt. The seals stamped on roundels fully coincide with seals stamped on the other different documents. At Haghia Triada 22 roundels have been found, one of them being without (an) inscription. Nodules: It is (sic, They are) the most widespread Aegean Bronze Age document, both geographically and chronologically. These clay small object (sic, objects) (defined as noduli by J. Weingarten) were not always inscribed but only sealed. They appear in two shapes: dome (classified as We) (fig. 4) and disk (classified as Wf) (fig. 5). At Haghia Triada 54 noduli have been found, in dome shape, and only 7 are inscribed. Types: 1 Flat-based nodule: This type of document is rarely inscribed but regularly sealed. Its characteristic is the negative impression on its reverse (or base) which shows that it had been placed upon a folded piece of parchment around which a thin thread was wound which was also wound into the clay. It appears in two different shapes: standing (fig. 6) or recumbent (fig. 7) (both classified as Wb). At Haghia Triada 76 flat-based nodules have been found, only 2 having a carved inscription. 2 Hanging nodule [3]: This small clay piece is characterized by string holes which show that it was fastened to another object by a string. They may present one or two holes. Those with two holes (classified as Wd) have an elongated shape (fig. 8), while those with one hole (classified as WA) present five slightly different shapes: pendant, pyramid, cone, dome, pear (fig. 9) [4]. At Haghia Triada 936 single-holes have been found, 851 being inscribed, and 11 two-hole, only 2 being inscribed. Comments by Richard Vallance: [1] Neo-palatial Minoan administration: This is the Minoan administration at Haghia Triada dating from the Middle Minoan MM ca. 1750-1550 BCE & Late Minoan LM1A, ca. 1550-1500 BCE. Documents in Linear A inscribed during the LM1A period may have been inscribed in Mycenaean-derived New Minoan. [2] “the last act”. This is ambiguous English. Does it refer to the “the most recent” of the Haghia Triada administration? And if so, does this mean the act or acts date from the Late Minoan LM1A period? And if so, are these acts inscribed in Mycenaean-derived New Minoan? [3] The nodules illustrated in my decipherment of Figure 9 above are hanging nodules. [4] See my 3 decipherments in Figure 9 at the outset of this post. If the syllabogram SI is the first syllable of a Mycenaean-derived New Minoan word, it could represent any of the 3 decipherments I have proposed. If on the other hand, SI represents any Old Minoan word, it is indecipherable.
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Decipherment of the Linear B seal BE Zg2:
This decipherment is straightforward. It certainly makes sense that a Linear B seal could deal with 5 torches, more than likely in the context of a religious or royal rite.
Second of 6 Linear A fragments from Phaistos in New Minoan = matere = to Mother (Earth)?This second of 6 Linear A fragments from Phaistos appears to bear the inscription 2. = matere, which would be Mycenaean Greek dative for “to mother”, with right-truncated text possibly following being waiaia or gaiaia = genitive singular = “of Earth”, i.e. “to Mother Earth”. The inscription tagged 1. consists of what appears to be an unidentifiable right-truncated syllabogram on the left, followed by the 2 ideograms identified. It would thus appear that this fragment is at least partially inscribed in New Minoan, with the word “to mother” being derived from Mycenaean. There is a greater likelihood than might have otherwise been the case that this fragment is in New Minoan, since its provenance is Phaistos, where a large number of Linear B tablets, many of them quite detailed and lengthy, have been unearthed. So in view of this, it would appear that this fragment (of a larger tablet) was probably inscribed in the Linear A syllabary immediately prior to its abandonment and replacement by the new official syllabary, Linear B. Hence its date of composition would probably have been ca. 1450 BCE, and no earlier.