A beautiful day here today . I want to be thankful for mild August ,September and for pleasant start of October as they allowed us easy and light days free of intense sweat and hard core struggle for survival.
I also want to thank you all of you my sweet and kind beautiful blogging friends who strengthened me with their support when it was much needed. Hubby has recovered speedily by the grace of God and today he has gone to hospital for check up with same kind childhood friend if everything is fine and further medicine prescription.
I finished "God" by Reza Aslan . The internet issues gave me time to finish it soon and i am happy i could do it.
I really liked the book .Writer has shared his research upon topic how people of paleolithic age (2.5 million years ago) also believed in presence of supernatural or divine force who run the world . They expressed their knowledge about Divine conceived by their senses on walls of caves and trunk of trees etc. For them God was not one though but for everything and every emotion they had God who was invisible spirit .
Ten to twelve years ago when Neolithic period began and humans started agriculture and made houses people made temples for God who can protect them and their colonies.
According to Reza humans have always tried to see God in their own personal perspective and no one can elevate above it . There is very detailed talk over how the oldest religion of Jews worshiped Yahweh who's father in law was worshiper of El which in Bible is referred as God and In Quran as Allah . I will cut short and only few points by Aslan that according to his research because of main role of a religious scholar Maricon of Sinop who set up the foundations of new testaments and prompted the new Sect of Christianity.After long period of differences between various sects they all finally settled on Trinity .
Aslan puts that unlike revived version of Islam that starts with Mouhammed who came down from Hira mountain and claimed God as sole Deity in whole universe 14000 years ago , ancient Arabs believed in personalized deities as God. Although his declaration was not new nor offensive he made two innovations first he firmly embrace the connotations of monotheistic system ,it was not enough to worship sole Allah but they had to deny all other deities .Second innovation was that Muhammed identified Allah Yahweh .
In short Muhammed was trying to dehumanized God with all the verses that supported the idea of Gad is unique and has no image.
At the final section of the book Aslan mentions Sufism and the way they revitalized Islamic theology to reconcile God's unity with God's creative power .
This is good that Reza plays safely through his intense research work and takes no one's side . I like this most about the book because i myself also believe that Whoever has created this universe and put us here with his "light" to see and understand everything is want us to be one so we can be able to find One behind it all .
Reza ends his book by supporting the pantheism that Reality ,universe and everything within it is identical to " Divinity" which means God is one but and it means "Oneness" means everything is Him .
Just like science say this today after all it's research .
Thanks for bearing with me friends !
health peace and joy to all of you and to all you love!
The book sounds well researched
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds well researched
ReplyDeletethanks dear Christine
DeleteWe should ask God who He is.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. I am a simple woman in a simple world, not so simple really, but I believe I know Him, the Creator of the Universe. I know God. You can too.
dear Sandi you know God because you listen to your inner voice ,your instinct installed in your gens . why humans have sensed God since then they did not knew what and why are they looking for ?
DeleteThe answer is simplest my friend because we are self aware creatures ,when we are aware that we exist then next come all the related questions in mind .what is mind ? of course "light" given to us to follow the sign and reach God.
many of us like you find the God .Just i numerous time mentioned i don't give credit for all the goodness i had experienced within me or tried to spread around because i just know it is because of Him the God whom i could sense when i could hardly knew anything .that one realization accompanied me whole life that i Have Him .this is strange for me as well because i born in the era of scientific revolution and i want to find out more and more about Him as practical person on the other hand .Though my spiritual eyes find Him everywhere all the time
I am glad your husband is doing well. I'm sure you were concerned and now can relax to know he will be fine.
ReplyDeletedespite he went through surgery he hardly stayed on bed completely ,it is not his thing actually so i could see dear Emma how happy he was when left for office .all men love to be out more probably :)
DeleteI'm glad your husband is recovering well; that must be a relief for both of you and for your sons. That sounds like a very good book. It's good sometimes when the computers don't work - we get other things done! I find the same :)
ReplyDeleteit is great relief to see him participating in routine of life like before dear Jenny .His medication will continue for more than one week but according to doctor healing process has been completely fine ,so hubby headed to office today thankfully after one week .
Deleteso true that book is really well researched and appeals much when writer adds strength to his words with his research . actually we all know such topic like religion are highly sensitive and can offend anyone with less enlightment so i appreciate how Reza has kept this in mind and stayed careful throughout the book .this makes it worth reading more
i agree that when power or internet are interupted many due jobs are done specially by housewives like me i must say . The world of internet provide whole world at your click and once you are after something particular there is hardly a way out to it which has dark side as well .
si i am really happy i could finish the book earlier . my next pick is Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Glad to hear your husband is doing well. I hope his appointment today continues the good news,
ReplyDeletethanks dear Marie
DeleteSo pleased to read that your husband has had a speedy recovery, good news :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
thanks dear Jan
DeleteThis is grace of God !
I'm glad your husband is doing so well! Also happy you enjoyed the book on God.
ReplyDeletethank you dear Debra i am glad i could find this read .
DeleteI'm also pleased to read your husband is coming along nicely after surgery. It is so wonderful to have such a good friend who helps out when needed.
ReplyDeleteSeems you enjoyed the book - you do read some indepth ones Baili, and good on you for doing so...Take care.
Thank you for your thoughts on this book. Very insightful. Glad you guys are having great weather too. All the best to your husband's health as well as for yours too. May you guys have a lovely month. All the best to your reading list. Thanks for being here.
ReplyDeletethank you dear Ellie for all the kind best wishes ,hubby is feeling lot better with grace God !
Deletei have started to read book after more than twenty years so i am quite slow reader and find chance to read some paragraphs during break from household which makes it fragments actually still i am thankful for your best wishes for reading particularly
same here
I am glad your dear husband feels better.
ReplyDeleteThe book looks interesting .
Baili, I was so happy to read that your husband is back home again and that his procedure went well.
ReplyDeleteGod is great indeed dear Christine ,he has recovered within a week and few for which i am grateful
ReplyDeleteHi Baili! I didn't know about your husband but so happy to hear he is doing well! Hugs! ♥
ReplyDeletethanks for dropping by dear Rain and thanks for kind words he is quite better now
DeleteDear Baili, Thanks for telling us about Reza Aslan’s book, God: A Human History. The interesting thing to me is Aslan’s concept of God is very much like what I’ve been finding to be my own philosophy about God resulting from studying spirituality together with the evolution of humanity. Every human being will have to reach their own understanding of God. Reaching that understanding is not a simple task. I admire you, Baili, for your efforts to find that meaning of God for yourself and for sharing possibilities with all of us. As your fellow human, I say Thank You Baili! John
ReplyDeleteGreetings Baili, I am happy to hear your husband is doing well. The book sounds very interesting. Thank you for sharing it and have a very happy and blessed weekend.
ReplyDeletethank you dear Denise for best wishes and sweet words ,heartfelt best wishes for you and family!
DeleteHi, Baili! I've gone back and read the posts that I missed. I'm sorry I missed so much, but I'm in a much better place now. I'm glad that your husband had his surgery and is healing well. Even though I haven't been commenting with you, I keep you and Ali and your three sons in my thoughts and prayers every day.
ReplyDeleteI've bookmarked your video on light, and I will watch it. I loved all the beautiful flowers you shared. And I was delighted to see that your eldest son visited Mont St. Michel in France. That is a place I've always wanted to see. He is making the most of his opportunities!
It's great that your youngest son could help you with your computer and blogger. I'm always getting help from my nieces and nephews. They are much more at home with technology that I will ever be.
I love the beautiful words you shared about how your feel about your husband I feel very blessed to have a kind and caring husband too ~ one of the best men possible and certainly the one for me. We both found our soulmates!
My sister Donnie called me in the middle of writing this comment. She is my sister who is fighting cancer. She finally getting somewhere with her treatment and cancer drugs. She's looking good and feeling good. Her doctors cleared her to fly to London in the UK this fall and visit her daughter, her partner Dean, and baby Jackson. So Donnie's mental outlook is much better.
I have the book "God" by Reza Aslan by my computer right now. I'm going to take it and read it on our cruise. I've just finished reading a long and difficult philosophy book "This Life: Secular Life and Spiritual Freedom" by a Swedish philosopher Martin Hägglund. It took me forever because I had so much happening which kept me from reading, and I had to read some parts over and over.
He is an atheist, and his basic argument was this is the only life we have and it has meaning because it is fragile, we depend on each other and our lives end in death. The big question becomes what do we do with our limited time. The book was an odd combination of religious philosophy and economic philosophy with a detailed criticism of capitalism. Hägglund thinks one of the things we should do with our limited time is to change our society and economy to give everyone the opportunity to be free and to live their lives in a way that is meaningful to them. I found the section on Martin Luther King Jr. most interesting because he had religious faith but was committed to improving the lives of all people while he was alive. Hägglund did not win me over to atheism.
Please take care of yourself. I'm glad this summer was less hot and hard to deal with. I don't know how you manage to survive the typical heat. Hugs and love to you, my special, thoughtful friend! xoxox
hi precious and wonderful friend Louise ! despite i crave for your insightful and warm words i felt bit sad that you took time and wrote even when you are not feeling well .God know knowing this breaks my heart ! thank you for keeping me and family in mind same is here that you seems live to within my own self as each time i pray and believe me my breathes are beaded with prayers since kinds got away so you rise in my mind since i learnt you are having health issues. God will surely shower his grace and bless you with perfect health my friend inshallah!
Deletethanks for updating about your dear sister ,i know how close you are to your family and this is what i love so much about you .I wish her safe travel to London and happy times with her daughter and family !
my eldest son traveled to Germany two weeks (almost) back and returned on Friday .He went to meet his friends who had baby recently .Two couple actually with same good news :)
I feel so happy when you mention same book i read dear Louise because it makes me feel more close to you as despite i am far low wit i think we are on same track of chasing truth .i longed for such friend for whole life so i am grateful you honor me with your words of wisdom and share your insights about things like life ,faith and universe .
the book you mentioned by Martin Haggulund sounds i left writing comment and ran to download pdf but it's my password that causes issue and hold me from dong anything like this at all .my younger son had sent me all passwords possible and i tried but nothing working since almost one year :(
the ideology of atheisam makes me feel uncomfortable to great extent . It feels like somebody is talking by closing his eyes and senses and trying to approach that nothing exist .This is hard to digest for even an ignorant woman like me .My faith is not made by any kind of circumstances .It was always there .A strong feeling of having someone around which kept me not just doing anything wrong but even thinking about it. If i take such faith as stupidity there are other factor such as finding joy in other happiness and an strong urge to do good to others so on . above everything now when i am an old lady with little bit knowledge of books and science i feel everything specially science is revealing and everything i read in my holy book resemble greatly . one the other hand my observations and experiences support that reality as well.
I don't know about God whether what or how he is but i see order in things pattern in events of life whether long term or short the way it evolved and how things took shape and each for specific reason . My senses are unable to deny what i see and feel .
I believe that just God's word through his man that "our intentions provide base for what our life becomes" similarly science proves that
"world is probabilistic and once our though turn to any direction universe leads it further to accomplish what we thought .just Like God says
"once you intend to do something this is my habit to make it happen "
i feel truth hidden in this .
please you too Take Great Care in all Possible ways!!!!
my heart is with you always ! sending love hugs and healing energy!
É sempre um prazer vir aqui ler o que escrever. Que tudo corra bem com a sua famÃlia e consigo.
ReplyDeleteUma boa semana.
Um beijo.
I like to have fun with people and what I do. I am a personal business coach, public speaker and author.Personal development coaching Houston
ReplyDeletea beautiful poet Grace it is always a pleasure to have you here ,best wishes for you and loved ones
ReplyDeleteI am glad that your hubbie is feeling better.
ReplyDelete