Tag Archives: Animals

by Guestspeaker | 2023/01/28 · 1:22 pm

My earth, your earth..

My Earth, our Earth..

What have we done to you?
Beautiful Earth.
We have destroyed the great forest, polluted the great seas and lakes
Took ancient people from their home without real guilt.
Many of the free animals are extinct.
Kind Earth.
Please forgive the greed of man.
He had no common sense.
We need the gift of fresh water and life giving trees.
I pray we learn. We must protect Earth.
She is our water and life of bread.

Coyote/John Castellenas

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About a fleshless diet

Normally the Divine Creator provided enough food in the vegetable world.

However, not all fruits were to be eaten like that either. God had provided two trees in the Garden of Eden that man had to keep away from. But the mannin or 1st woman found this difficult and wished to be like God and be able to do things He could. She also tempted her husband, who went along with her story. They ate of the fruit of the “Tree of Knowledge of good and evil” (or Tree of moral) and gained insight into their futility and fragility. After they became aware of their mistake they hid from God at first, but after He found them and gave them another chance to be honest He placed them out of the Garden of Eden. From then on, it was not so easy for man to earn a living and he had to work for his food. At that time though, man was still aware that he should not inflict harm on any sentient creature.

As time progressed, humans began to crave more and/or become more greedy. Man was no longer content to just eat fruit and vegetables, and longed to eat things with flesh and blood. After some time man wanted also to eat ‘living beings‘ by which he first went for animals. In later years, certain peoples also came to eat other human beings, though that is not what God wanted.

The wrong ideaa lot of people have about the People of God is that because they offered sacrifices that they would have eaten regularly meat. But that is not so. The offerings of pigeons and lambs in the Old Testament were done as an act of repenting, giving to God what He had given to them, showing that they could take distance from it and showing gratitude to the Elohim, but this also in a way that they showed respect for life.

Ascetic Jewish groups and some early Christian leaders disapproved of eating meat as gluttonous, cruel and not according to the Torah. Some Christian monastic orders ruled out flesh eating, and its avoidance has been, for several centuries, a penance and a spiritual exercise even for laypersons.

Today for many people, it is very difficult to go back to the origin of God’s Wishes. In a certain way, it would not be bad for man himself and for nature, when we would come to eat again those things the Elohim had in mind for our food.

Because man wanted to eat more and more meat, the flesh or other edible parts of animals, he had to replenish his meat supply and watched his livestock grow bigger and bigger, with those animals eating grass from deforested fields and thus being less able to purify the air, while their pee and poo polluted the air more. Thus, the world was burdened to a great extent, which would not have happened had he kept to God’s first thought.

The 17th and 18th centuries in Europe were characterized by a greater interest in humanitarianism and the idea of moral progress, and sensitivity to animal suffering was accordingly revived. There were several philosophes, and Protestant groups that came to promote and adopt a fleshless diet as part of the goal of leading a perfectly sinless life.

In the late 18th century the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham asserted that the suffering of animals, like the suffering of humans, was worthy of moral consideration, and he regarded cruelty to animals as analogous to racism.

It should not surprise us that the first vegetarian society was formed in England in 1847 by the Bible Christian movement, founded by William Cowherd in Salford, North West England in 1809. Those Bible Christians put great emphasis on the independence of mind and freedom of belief, stating that they did not presume

“to exercise any dominion over the faith or conscience of men.”

Their idea of and believe in free will and that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection, made many consider the Bible Christian Church to be a sect. The Bible Christian Church (1815) was a dissident group of Wesleyan Methodists desiring effective biblical education, a presbyterian form of church government, and the participation of women in the ministry. The group, having a Pelagian approach, originated in Devonshire and spread to Canada (1831), the United States (1846), and Australia (1850), although O’Bryan left the society over administrative differences and began an itinerant evangelism in the United States (1831). The Bible Christians joined with other dissident Methodist groups in 1907 to form the United Methodist Church.

Today, vegetarianism and veganism have changed roles for many.

Veganism denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. It also promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment.

writes Hesh Goldstein in the NaturalNewsBlogs about health: How and why I chose veganism. She continues

The word “vegan” is newer and more challenging than “vegetarian”. “Vegan” includes every sentient being in its circle of concern and addresses all forms of unnecessary cruelty from an essentially ethical perspective. With a motivation of compassion rather than health or purity, “vegan” points to an ancient idea that has been articulated for many centuries, especially in the world’s spiritual traditions.

“Vegan” indicates a mentality of expansive inclusiveness and is able to embrace science and virtually all religions because it is a manifestation of the yearning for universal peace, justice, wisdom and freedom. {How and why I chose veganism}

We as humans should not think that everything is just ours and can be used by us as we see fit. We must realise that the Creator of the universe has loaned us the world. We are allowed to name and use things there ourselves. But that use should be done with respect. Just killing animals does not show respect at all.

We are therefore expected to have the right attitude towards how we treat things around us.

It is nice to see that there is a new trend and that the contemporary vegan movement is founded on loving-kindness and mindfulness of our effects on others. Hesh Goldstein finds it revolutionary

because it transcends and renounces the violent core of the “herding culture” in which we live. It is founded on living the truth of interconnectedness and thereby minimizing the suffering we impose on animals, humans and bio-systems; it frees us all from the slavery of becoming mere commodities. {How and why I chose veganism}

We must recognise it has become time we reorganise ourselves and find ways to come back in balance with nature.

The suppression of awareness required by our universal practice of “commodifying”, enslaving, and killing animals for food generates the built-in mental disorder of denial that drives us toward the destruction, not only of ourselves, but of other living creatures and systems of this earth.

Because of this practice of exploiting and brutalizing animals for food has come to be regarded as normal, natural and unavoidable, it has become invisible. Eating animals is thus an unrecognized foundation of consumerism, the pseudo-religion of our modern world. Because our greatest desensitization involves eating, we inevitably become desensitized consumers devoid of compassion and caring little of how what is on our plate got there. {How and why I chose veganism}

Preceding

A bird’s eye and reflecting from within

Warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates

Less… is still enough

Away with it oh no! – Weg er mee, oh neen

Grain for the heart

Looking at man’s closest friend

Weight loss that works

Having a problem with wonkiness…

Do you feel or love writing about Food

Is Organic food even safe?

Community Farming

Find also to read

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Filed under Ecological affairs, Food, Health affairs, Lifestyle, Nature, Religious affairs, Welfare matters

Tagged as Animal suffering, Animals, Bible Christian Church, Bible Christians, Creator God, Cruelty to animals, Divine Creator, Eating meat, Exploiting animals, Exploiting nature, Fleshless diet, Freedom of belief, Fruit, Herding culture, Hesh Goldstein, Human nature, Human perfection, Independence of mind, Jeremy Bentham, Loving-kindness (chesed or covenant loyalty), Mannin or 1° woman, Meat supply, Methodism, Offering, Original sin, Pelagianism, People of God, Racism, Sacrificial offering, Salford (city + metrop. borough Greater Manchester - UK), Sinless life, Suffering of animals, Suffering of humans, Tree of Knowledge, United Methodist Church, Vegetarian society, Vegetarianism, Wesleyan Methodists, William Cowherd

by Marcus Ampe | 2021/10/18 · 11:53 am

Us and climate change – We can do much more than we think

Already some decades now, people are confronted with unpredictable weather situations and getting to see how glaciers melt, countries have to battle either droughts or floods. This year, Belgium and Germany got so hard hit, thousands of people have lost their houses and private goods. Also, this summer we could witness, with brutal clarity, a world of lush forests, bountiful croplands, liveable cities, and survivable coastlines under threat.

For sure we on our own can not change the situation in such a way that we can turn back the clock and get better weather again. The climate crisis is too big to tackle alone.

The problem with our society is that most leaders and citizens are more concerned about earning and saving as much money they can do.

Do you know, you too, even when you think you are just a tiny spot in the ocean, can get the stone rolling to bring the necessary changes to avoid further global warming. We cannot stay at the sideline. We should talk about the situation with as many people as we can and push our politicians in the right way so that they shall dare to act for the world, which can not speak for itself. Our leaders must have the courage to act now to limit climate change and protect nature.

Though there are still lots of people who do not want to see it, science is clear:

we are damaging our climate and destroying our biodiversity.

We not only have to see the signs, it is very important to respond to the signs and take action! Practical steps right now!

After the lockdown, we may face now shortages in the shops. This might be a blessing in disguise encouraging us to plan for an end of year celebration focused on people rather than lots of food and presents. Think about what you most enjoy about celebrating Christmas, are how you can contribute to the sustainment of our planet in the Holiday Season.

On Saturday 6th November there is the Global Day of Action. Midway through COP26 it is not a bad moment to let your voice be heard. The politicians coming together in Glasgow have to know citizens are concerned with what happens to our planet and how we want them to take the necessary measures now, to do something against global warming and the need to protect people from the disasters of nature, like droughts and floods. If we do not call that global warming to a halt, that climate change shall bring a lot of people to lose their habitat and being forced to find other places to live so that we shall have a huge increase of climate refugees.

Photo by Barbara Barbosa on Pexels.com

At home, you can contribute with sorting, buying local and ecological (bio) products, making an effort not to use chemicals and unnecessary products. It is already a first step in the right direction when you try to reduce the ecological footprint. When you love to eat meat, think about certain animals suffering needlessly in factory farming. Avoid buying meat of animals in cages. Also, remember that by reducing meat consumption, you can help to reduce methane gases in the air and animal waste in the environment.

Demand your politicians that we, the richer nations and businesses, should act justly in response to the climate crisis. They are the ones who can push the negotiators at the COP26 in the right direction to make it work this year, to come to the right decision protecting our planet and its citizens! Ask your politicians that they invest money into proven solutions, green jobs & clean, renewable energy for everyone.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Find also to read and to do

Cop26 presidency run from within the UK Cabinet Office

What Did We Do?

Support Climate Legislation

COP26 Petition

Preceding

Health Ranger apocalypse warnings already given in 2012

The natural beauties of life

How to make sustainable, green habits second nature

Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery

Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change

It’s a New Year!

Building a low-carbon world: the sixth industrial revolution

UK Politicians willing to tear up decades of environmental protections

Africa’s human existence and development under threat from the adverse impacts of climate change

A dangerous turning point – Earth facing the collapse of everything

155 million people across 55 territories suffering from severe food insecurity

Earth’s pandemic and T-shirts for young people

Four ways to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises simultaneously

Streams caused by temperature differences

Time for world to ‘grow up’ and tackle climate change, says Boris Johnson

Additional reading

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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Announcement, Crimes & Atrocities, Ecological affairs, Health affairs, Lifestyle, Nature, Political affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as Animal waste, Animal welfare, Animals, Climate crisis, Climate refugee(s), Consumption, Ecological footprint, Global Day of Action, Global warming, Holiday season, Meat, Meat consumption, Meat-heavy diet, Planet earth, Shortage, to Eat meat, to Protect nature, to Protect people, UN Cop26 climate change summit

by Guestspeaker | 2019/05/08 · 1:47 pm

High Recognitions . . . We must enrich the Earth with love and kindness.

We are not the owners of this world, but as renters and permitted users we have to take care of what is given to us to live in and to share our love.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Hoge herkenningen. . . We moeten de aarde verrijken met liefde en vriendelijkheid.

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Preceding

Looking forward to a year full of Kindness

Kindness to Yourself

Where It All Needs to Start

The smallest act of kindness…..

Constant kindness can accomplish much.

. . . he who plants kindness gathers love.

The world needs a bit more Kindness and Compassion

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The earth

It’s A Small World After All

Despondency Act 3: Earth Disheveled

Who’s Space is it anyway?

When Polluters Cannot Hide

You are an outcome of the places you have traveled to…

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Elements: Earth (Part 3)

1 Million

big blue

Researchers can’t tell if any newfound worlds could sustain life – Axios

Recover health, hope and happiness with the help of trees — guest post

Evolution

Purplerays

22310634_1940800839521347_6632206227739500372_n

“We must enrich the Earth with love and kindness.
We must hold our hands over plants and animals and protect them,
for we are servants, guardians, protectors,
and consequently masters on Earth!”

– Roselis von Sass(The Truth About the Incas)

Text & image source: Garden of Illumination https://web.facebook.com/Garden-of-Illumination-1433140463620723/

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Ghosts of the mountains endangered big cat

In many countries certain animals are still being considered a threat for the population or for their food. Lots of people consider wild animals as a menace instead of looking for a way to live in harmony with them.

Central Asia knows their “ghosts of the mountains” which are killed by farmers in retaliation for attacks on livestock and 20% are trapped by snares set for other creatures. Another 20% are killed for the illegal fur trade, though pelts from snow leopards killed for other reasons are often sold on.

Poachers aren’t the main problem for the snow leopard – Munkhtogtokh Ochirjav, WWF Mongolia

Figure of 220-450 annual deaths could be even higher, as killings by poachers or farmers often go undetected in the remote mountains of central Asia

As few as 4,000 snow leopards are thought to remain in the mountains of central Asia. Photograph: Klaus Honal/Getty Images/age fotostock RM

Hundreds of snow leopards are being killed every year across the mountains of central Asia, threatening the already endangered big cat, according to a new report.

Numbers have fallen by a fifth in the last 16 years, making it that there are only an estimated 4,080-6,590 snow leopards in the wild, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because their population is suspected to have declined by 20% over the past 16 years in the 12 mountainous Asian countries they inhabit.

Rishi Sharma, leader of wildlife charity WWF’s snow leopard programme and co-author of the global wildlife trade monitoring network non-governmental organisation Traffic says

“It’s a completely new insight, and provides a very important point for discussion on how to ensure snow leopards are protected.”

She warns

“More than half the killing is not for illegal trade as such, so as long as we don’t address these issues affecting local communities, it will continue.”

But between 220 and 450 are killed each year, found the report from , the wildlife trade monitoring network, published on Friday ahead of a meeting on the crisis at the UN in New York. The number could be much higher, the NGO warned, as killings in remote mountain areas often go undetected.

WWF works to reduce human-leopard conflict, increase anti-poaching efforts, and protect the fragile snow leopard habitat.

The snow leopards have evolved to live in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. They scale the great, steep slopes of mountains in Central Asia,including the Himalayan Mountains, with ease, blending into the landscape. But these majestic, endangered cats face many threats including habitat loss from climate change, reduced prey, poaching, and retaliatory killings.

a snow leopard on a mountain

Pelts are sold by both hunters and herders – Tessa McGregor

Skins being the main Snow Leopard product type in trade (78%), the primary motive for

buyers appears to be for display, with some observations of skins hanging on walls in homes and

restaurants, as well as stuffed taxidermy specimens.

Priced in the thousands of US dollars, skins have been described as a “symbol of wealth and power.” However, there probably exists very little in the way of a definable consumer segment deliberately seeking out such items. They are most likely

purchased opportunistically – “impulse buys” – and most consumers probably only buy one in their lifetime. Once in a home, the illegal possession has very low probability of detection, and moreover law enforcement authorities may be reluctant to investigate in such situations. The purchase itself also has a low probability of detection, as indicated by the sharp decline in observed numbers of Snow Leopard skins being offered for sale. While growing personal wealth in Asia has been highlighted as a primary driver of illegal wildlife trade, poverty is also recognized as a driver, and the Snow Leopard trade may be more driven by rural people in Snow Leopard habitat attempting to make money and make up for livestock losses to predators than by wealthy people placing orders for luxury household decorations. Unlike the demand-driven Tiger trade (Annex 2), to which it otherwise bears many similarities, the market for Snow Leopards may be more a function of supply, and actions should focus on the communities living near Snow Leopards to reduce incentives to poach and sell. This notion is reflected in the aphorism behind the title of this report: an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure. Preventing livestock losses, offsetting the costs of losses and improving community support for Snow Leopard conservation are the most important approaches to tackling the problem of Snow Leopard trafficking.

Snow leopards their thick grey and yellow-tinged fur, with solid spots on their head, neck and lower limbs and rosettes over the rest of the body attracts many women, who love to wear that warm skin. for the design they should know there are other alternatives with modern synthetic yarn. The natural breathing warmth, we do agree can not yet be brought by the synthetic material, but here in the West such deep warmth is not necessary because it doe snot get so cold.

Argali (Ovis ammon), the largest living wild sheep, native to the highlands of Central Asia. Argali is a Mongolian word for “ram.” There are eight subspecies of argali. {Encyclopaedia Britannica}

These beautiful wild cats are known as the “ghost of the mountains” because of their solitary and elusive nature. Since it is so rare to see two snow leopards together, there actually is no term for a group of snow leopards. They are capable of killing prey up to three times their own weight and eat blue sheep, Argali wild sheep, ibex, marmots, pikas, deer and other small mammals. The animals which snow leopards typically hunt — such as the Argali sheep — are also hunted by local communities.

Lots of people do forget that it is often by their own actions that wild animals come closer to the human habitat or come to find food by people. In Central Asia like in other parts of the world wild animals their natural prey becomes harder to find because man over-hunting. Snow leopards are often forced to kill livestock for survival, in many cases leading to retaliatory killings of snow leopards by local farmers or herders.

Machhapuchhare, a peak in the Great Himalaya Range, north-central Nepal.

Hunting, habitat loss, retaliatory killings, poaching and climate change are the biggest threats that snow leopards face. Snow leopard habitat range continues to decline from human settlement and increased use of grazing space. An other factor where humans are the cause of the disturbance in nature is pollution and climate change. Climate change poses perhaps the greatest long-term threat to snow leopards. Impacts from climate change could result in a loss of up to 30% of the snow leopard habitat in the Himalayas alone.

It is not because we are living far away from their habitat we can not do anything to help those endangered species.

People all over the world could let their voice been heard. They could ask governments in the 12 countries across the leopard’s range to increase the funds available to compensate herders whose animals are killed and to educate them, showing good ways of keeping nature in balance. all over the world people could help to build up funds to protect the animals and to help the population to receive extra materials to strengthen the pens, or corrals, where they keep their animals at night.

Focusing on herders – the bedrock of the local economy – also makes sense in regions where it is hard for rangers to protect leopards.

“These are very remote areas, so getting information on what’s going on and enforcement is very difficult,”

says Sharma.

“That’s why we need to focus more on community-based models, not just enforcement.”

David_lawson_wwf_uk

Snow leopards play a key role as both top predator and as an indicator of the health of their high-altitude habitat. If snow leopards thrive, so will countless other species.

WWF’s work focuses on reducing human-leopard conflict and rural development, education for sustainable development, stopping mining in fragile snow leopard habitat, and the control of illegal wildlife trade. WWF also works with local communities to curb retaliatory kills by providing innovative solutions to mitigate human-snow leopard conflict.

Learn more about snow leopards.

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Adopt a Snow Leopard

You can support WWF (WWF Europe) which works with local people and supports research and habitat conservation projects to protect these beautiful cats throughout their range.

Make a symbolic snow leopard adoption to help save some of the world’s most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF’s conservation efforts. In Belgium you may deduct your contribution from your income and for the adoption of an animal you can give once whatever you like or contribute a certain amount monthly.

Save Europe’s nature

The EU Nature Directives protect over 26,000 nature areas and 1,000 species. They are under scrutiny since October 2013, when European Commission announced the fitness check. Here’s what is at stake

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Please do find to read:

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Sensitive trees for insensitive man

even, dense and old stand of beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) prepared to be regenerated (watch the young trees underneath the old ones) in the Brussels part of the Sonian Forest (Forêt de Soignes – Zoniënwoud) in Belgium (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For years already, I claim we should treat plants and animals as subjects but also as living beings created by the Divine Creator, who has given them for our use but not mis-use or maltreatment. I always claimed they too have feelings and ways of communicating. In the 1970ies I followed many scientists who tried to proof and did proof how plants also have feelings and communicate with each other.

Though at regular times people seem to be reminded of it. Because too often man forgets that he is not alone having feelings and able to communicate with others of their own sort properly.

It is long known to biologists that trees in the forest are social beings. They can count, learn and remember; nurse sick neighbours; warn each other of danger by sending electrical signals across a fungal network known as the “Wood Wide Web”; and, for reasons unknown, keep the ancient stumps of long-felled companions alive for centuries by feeding them a sugar solution through their roots.

The German Peter Wohlleben studied forestry and spent over twenty years as a civil servant in the forestry commission. For him trees are his life and for that reason he also gave up his job by the state forestry because he wanted to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He now runs an environmentally friendly municipal piece of woodland in the village of Huemmel, holds lectures and seminars and has written books on subjects pertaining to woodlands and nature protection so those interested can accompany him through the forests of his homeland and the whole world.

The Hidden Life of Trees describes how trees are like human families. We as human beings only think of ourselves being able to make a nice family, though many make a mess of it, and when watching Danish television series I even wonder if there are normal Danish people walking around in the North, who can have a normal family life. In the series we come to see they all seem to be unfaithful.

In nature we see better build ups. Tree parents living together with their children, communicating with them, and supporting them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warning each other of impending dangers. With their newfound understanding of the delightfully complex life of trees, readers will never be able to look at a walk.

The deep dark forest One of the tracks through Pantmaenog Forest. There are prehistoric tumuli marked on the map here but they are difficult to find among the dense conifers. The trees here were planted after Bellstone quarry closed in 1908 and some of the old quarry workings are also concealed by the forest: human beings making their mark on the landscape in a variety of ways. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since it first topped best-seller lists last year, Mr. Wohlleben has been spending more time on the media trail and less on the forest variety, making the case for a popular reimagination of trees, which, he says, contemporary society tends to look at as “organic robots” designed to produce oxygen and wood.

Though duly impressed with Mr. Wohlleben’s ability to capture the public’s attention, some German biologists question his use of words, like “talk” rather than the more standard “communicate,” to describe what goes on between trees in the forest. But no matter how you want to call that communication we should come to understand that it is really communicating, no matter if you want to call it talking or something else.

It is also different with human beings who think they communicate and are on social media, thinking they have so many friends, but in reality do not have many friends nor comrades and do not really have any real communication going on between all those people. We did not mind to run around in that what God had created us and did not have to hide anything for others, always able to keep faithful to the one we loved and where we choose for. But to day they want to shine and glitter in fashion clothes but are fast to take those cloths of in the hidden to do things we would have found inappropriate when there was not a strong connection with each other. But to day they seem to change of girl like they change of underpants, and often there is not much conversation going on and lots of time it is just a one night stand with no further communication at all. They have become worse than animals. (Are am I looking at it too pessimistic?)

Whilst I do believe those trees have much more communication going on than their human counterparts who are not afraid to kill more and more of those air-cleaners, not seeing that they are polluting more and more their own environment, making it poorer and poorer. Even those Germans who are reputed to have a special relationship with the forest are a kind of a cliché and it can well be that those Germans do not love their forest more than Swedes or Norwegians or Finns.

When I lived and worked in Germany, for relaxation I went into the woods around Köln and went swimming in open air. Then I could encounter many like minded nature lovers who wanted to be one with it and, like me searched for ways to respect it and to make properly use of feeding us in a clean and appropriate way. No chemicals, no additives, all pure whole grain and pure natural food.

Young musicians living in a shared community in Amsterdam.

Though when I look at how enthusiast we where in the 1960–70ies and had so many dreams, being called ‘flower power‘ people, many not understanding our idea of sharing and love and making a collective community, kibbutz or commune, many of them have gone far away from their idealism and the last few months we see many things we fought for, being undone in a very short time.

Though might we see somewhere some light shining in the dark, perhaps getting back some younger ones again being interested in nature and how we should behave in it? Can it be that there are again seeds planted for people willing to reconsider our human behaviour in the big universe?

For sure it is high time that people are going to understand the need of forests and green spaces around our busy roads and living estates. Yesterday it was again on the news that in the Kempen 122 ha of woods has to be offered for sand-winning, as if it is nothing. Man also thinks it is alright to artificially space out trees, but forget that shall not give the same intensification as wooded areas. The plantation forests that make up most of West Europe’s woods ensure that trees get more sunlight and grow faster. But, naturalists say, creating too much space between trees can disconnect them from their networks, stymieing some of their inborn resilience mechanisms.

Intrigued, Mr. Wohlleben began investigating alternate approaches to forestry. Visiting a handful of private forests in Switzerland and Germany, he was impressed.

“They had really thick, old trees,”

he said.

“They treated their forest much more lovingly, and the wood they produced was more valuable. In one forest, they said, when they wanted to buy a car, they cut two trees. For us, at the time, two trees would buy you a pizza.”

But where are all those very thick trees gone, I wonder. In Belgium some years ago you could find also many places where you could enjoy the view of masterly or kingly majestic trees. The last two years , in the region where I live now (Leefdaal, Flemish Brabant), we have seen hundreds of trees being cut and not replaced.

Deep in the forest something stirred Go Ape, a series of aerial walkways, swings and zip slides in the forestry land north of Aberfoyle. Note – human beings included for a sense of scale. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mr Wohlleben had also difficulties with the ministry of forestry but it turned out that Mr. Wohlleben had won over the forest’s municipal owners. 10 years ago, the municipality took a chance. It ended its contract with the state forestry administration, and hired Mr. Wohlleben directly. He brought in horses, eliminated insecticides and began experimenting with letting the woods grow wilder. Within two years, the forest went from loss to profit, in part by eliminating expensive machinery and chemicals.

We should enjoy those trees going to grow in all sorts of shapes, creating all sorts of designs in the air. When we look at ourselves, we should see that we also do not have a life going in straight lines. We also not all grow up straight. Why should trees have to grow up in those particular straight lines indicated by people in the office. The same as the right 25 cm cucumbers, the bananas with the drawn out moon shape, the tomatoes and apples which may not be too big or flat… everything should be according to the book and numbers indicated, … but life is not according the book of man … but should be according the Book of life …. with not everything exactly the same, and not always according to the books of man….

When is man going to see we should come back to being close to nature and to be part of nature again? And when is he going to understand we do need much more green around us … to have a colourful life full of health and joy?

Please also find to read:

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Filed under Ecological affairs, History, Lifestyle, Nature, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as 1960s, 1970s, Animals, Belgium, Biologists, Book of life, Books of man, Campine or Kempen, Collective, Collective community, Commune, Commune (social enterprise or way of living), Communicating, Community, Comrades, Danish people, Danish television, Divine Creator, Ecology, Environmentally friendly living space, Family life, Feelings, Flower power, Flower power people, Forest, Forestry commission, Friends, Germany, Hidden Life of Trees, Huemmel, Human beings, Idealism, Kibbutz, Leefdaal, Love, Making a community, Mother nature, Naturalists, Nature, Oxygen production, Peter Wohlleben, Plants, Relationship between human beings, Sand-winning, Sharing, Social beings, Social media, Social media friends, Switzerland, to be Unfaithful, to Communicate, Trees, Wood production, Woods

by Marcus Ampe | 2015/11/19 · 5:28 pm

Autumn is in the land

Last weekend there was a huge storm in a glass of water. Whilst in Paris several people found an end to their life by terrorist actions in Europe others found an end to their life by the season which reminds many of death.

Storm came over Europe and let us feel again why this season is called Autumn. Still today it is warmer than usual but we have the rain and wind to accompany us and even break our umbrellas. But it does not break our souls, for the warm glue of the changing colours overpowers us.

Autumn fields, Leefdaal, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, European Union

Considered the last month of autumn it looks like only now the season got from the ground swept up by the first heavy winds.
Some may never been a fan of this November or Autumn month. For lots of people November is the month of the dead, and used allusively with reference to the short, damp, cold, or foggy days regarded as characteristic of the northern hemisphere. For those fearing the cold winds of Canada and the warm breezes of the South fighting with each other, around the Great Lakes, may find themselves left in such misery. For those who are having migraines regularly they very well know when it is going to storm or when snow is going to come. That is not a very pleasant feeling and if one has to work it is a very (damn) nuisance.

We have entered a season which may be even more unique than Spring Season. We also may see more different shades of colours than in Spring.

It should not make us sad but should get us up onto our feet, going out to show the winds that we are stronger than they. Though I do agree I am not an hero to go out in the bad weather, and was it not for the dog, I perhaps waited sometimes a bit longer before having a stroll.

I am not a good photographer, so for looking at nice photos I would recommend to go and look at Cindy Knoke and Chae H. Bae their site and some other photographic WordPress sites. But this is the time I use my eyes to linger and to bring a fantasy world to life. No wonder so many writers found enough inspiration in this season and for crime or who-dun-it authors this season is a gold mine.

Aurora borealis by permus by Chae H. Bae

After the Summer holiday most people are back at work and the retired folks who took their Summer vacation at a sunny place somewhere further from home, it is time now to sit at home cosy warm and enjoying some music, film or documentary or entertaining program on television. Hopefully they also will take some time to enjoy the biggest life show on earth. The ever changing colours the big kaleidoscope of nature world.

Behind the glorious red, yellow and orange of the seasons’ leaves many may find a message of death, but often they forget it is all a message of an abundant life where water was taken from deep under the ground and the warmth of the sun was enjoyed and had caressing the tree-trunk, making it grow and glow.

Trees are telling us after all that sun and pleasure it is time to meditate on what went on and on where to go. They are calling to come to a stand still in our rushing world which does not seem to have much space for the wonders of nature. This time the red and yellow are the screaming colours which ask for attention whilst the wind shouts it out load. We can’t ignore the call of our surrounding nature.

At certain places where there are still enough trees in Europe, the elk makes sure that we can hear it is time to find a renewal of intimacy. It is time to come closer to each other again. Be it by the fireplace or by some extra light in the darkness of this season.

Winter is coming. More and more older people are running away from it and going to spend their Wintertime in the South of Europe. But the coldest season of the year does not frighten many youngsters who love to go skying or snowboarding. For many the “old man wrapped in cloak” may bring an invitation to go outdoors again after all the storms and heavy rain of the Autumn months. After that season that looks forward to barrenness and bleakness, the white eiderdown will attract many to go out again to brave the cold.

At moments this season may also be a moment to be in tears for seeing how certain North Americans boast so much they killed a huge bull elk.

A new video with a recent elk hunt in Utah shows how hard work this work may be and how it pays off for some.

From the video maker:

“After years and years of trying, plenty of opportunities and hundreds of miles hiked, I was finally able to fill my over the counter, general season, archery elk tag. This has proven to be one of the most challenging hunts I have ever been on. He is my biggest bull to date by a country mile and I couldn’t be happier with him. Not a lot of action in this video, it has mostly my reaction to the incredible situation I found myself in. All Kuiu, all the time.” {Video: Bowhunting for Bull Elk in Utah}

**

**

Dan Agnew killed a bull in Columbia Co., Wash., after making an impressive 250-yard shot

I agree to be able to have enough winter-meals prepared, for man living in this world, we need hunters and we have to agree some may be hunted. And meat from animals living in the wild always taste better than from farm-animals. As long as those people who want elk antlers to hang on a wall, hunt respectfully for those forest kings it is acceptable and will keep some balance in the forest as well.

We are so closed in, that those animals able to run in the wild, may remind us what man has sacrificed for more comfort and material gadgets they do not always need. So many people have become a slave of their materialism they even do not notice it any more. Now the gusty winds are calling them to remind them that there is life there outside they are missing.

The swaying trees whistle and tell the stories of the past Summer but also of the things to come, calling animals to shelter for the coming Winter.

Preceding articles:

You’re Lighter Than Air~

Family happiness and little things we do

Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world

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The I Am to explore

When looking at the world man and animal can be seen moving around, sometimes men going about more than wild beasts.

In that universe where everybody in his worldly life is so busy with working and with earning money to be able to buy as many gadgets as they would like and to make their material dreams realised, lots of people consider those who have faith in a Supreme Being to be loosers or people who live in fantasy worlds. Lots of them do believe that when in faith you just have to accept everything blindly. For them and many faith is a mystery, where you need to ask any questions.

It is true that we mortals can not understand everything. We could even say that we should not even try to understand everything. Question is if you may look at faith on a rational way. Can you believe in a Higher Being Which or Who created everything. And do you have to approach all the saying about It/Him rationally?

Portrait of René Descartes, dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, after Frans Hals c. 1648 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last few years focus has been on the rationale. René Descartes with many followers could say “I think, therefore, I am”, and we can only agree because when you are not in existence you can not “be“. When born and not able to think the being of that person is also like as if without life and can not do anything. To be able to do something a creature (animal or man) has to think or to use its/his/her brains. Without the use of the brain, without letting the ‘electricity’ go through the nerves, creature shall not be able to do much. It has to receive something, analyse it, act and react to it. But before it can go into action and reaction it has to have knowledge of the self. It has to have a working ‘I am‘ and has to feel as an ‘I am‘.

Though man faces some problems.
First there is the “I am”, the “Self” which it has to come to face and has to try to understand.
Secondly it has to come to see that the “I am” is only part of a bigger part of “I Am”. When it comes to know that it can go searching for that Bigger “I Am” and hopefully shall come to recognise the “I Am Who Is” without nothing can exist.
Thirdly each little “I am” has to recognise that manifesting the “I am” demands interaction, but that such interaction is never ending. One word only points to another word and never to reality itself. Having brains thinking, receiving interpretations and having to make interpretations itself, it shall have to come to the conclusion that no one interpretation can ever be regarded as final.

As in interpretation, so in life: everything becomes undecidable.

Now there is a difference between all who want to understand and try to approach the many “I ams” in this world. Into this decidedly undecided world, there are people who have opened their eyes and have come to see what is behind the ordinary “I am”. They have found The Bigger “I Am.” They might have found it by listening to their inner voice or by coming to read, see and hear the Word of God. For them the curtains have gone open and the biblical message as reasonable thinking person has come to them with common sense. They have come to see and understand that Faith and logic are not really opposites.

Genesis 1 tells us that man was created in God’s image (Genesis 1: 26-27).

“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27 NAS)

Diagram from one of René Descartes’ works. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being created in the image of God, means also each person we see around us has something which might be found also in God. Each person we do encounter can carry something from God with him or her and can share it with others. The person who has come into the faith, believing there is a Creator Deity, and who has seen the Works of that God (Source of knowledge) shall also come to the understanding of the importance of sharing the knowledge of that “I am” with others. For the one with faith it is like being with child, incredible exiting and giving lots of energy. It is as an extra breath given to you.

In the past many man of all sorts of professions have already felt the special awareness and consequences for them of having faith in the Elohim, Divine Creator of heaven and earth. The “I Am Who Is” or the “I Am that I am” is the Most Almighty God of gods, Who overshadows any other god or “I am”. He is also One God Who demands recognition for His important Pole Position. He does not like to see that His creatures do love other gods more than Him. Believers, man of faith, should recognise that and take it into account, worshipping only that One and Only One True God.

To help us to understand that Bigger “I Am” and our own “I am” This Eternal Being has given His Words and let it hem be notated by the many faithful men. All those writings about the “I Am” are bundled in the Book of books, the Bible, the infallible Word of God.

In the several books of the Bible we can find a.o. the Book of Psalms in which we can find the answers:

God gave us the Psalms and other Books of the Bible

as a prayer book for our lives.

to show the friends of God.

to learn through poetry and song.

to experience the transcendence and the imminence of God at once

to affirm the mystery of life

to educate and to exhort ourselves

to show us our sins

to remind us of the brevity of life

to remind us of the necessity to live the right way

to show us the way to a better and easier life

to express our heartfelt longings

to discover God His Character

to discover God His Will for our lives

to learn to direct ourselves to the utmost important things in life

to learn how to behave

to learn to pray aright

to reveal His sovereign grace to us

to show us the Way to Salvation

to show us and give comfort in finding the Way to the Kingdom of God

Created in the image of God, the image of the Big “I Am” this is not just an outward likeness, for God is Spirit, and is only for our understanding presented in a description which is derived from that of a human. Upon further reading in the Book of books, the Bible, we can see that God’s Word reveals that humans, unlike animals, are provided with rational. Man can think and reason logically, but above all he is able to know God; and the latter goes. An animal has no sense of higher values, let alone God, a man does. But that is also exactly what sets him apart. A man who does not have these capabilities, or does not use them, is indeed no more than an animal:

“Man in [his] pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:20 NAS)

In fact, it is precisely this ability to abstract reasoning that,

according to the apostle Paul, makes the infidel shall not go unpunished because when he looks around himself he should be able to see the many things God provided. It might be true that the invisible things of God can not be seen, but even his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived since the creation of the world are working with the mind, so that they are without excuse.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20 NAS)

Preceding articles:

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”Find Inspiration and Follow Your Dreams

Believe in your greatness

Believe in yourself!

Be Kinder to Yourself

Be realistic, do not pretend

The world starts with yourself

Little i

Additional readings:

Love: Reuniting the objective and subjective… (thosecatholicmen.com)
The modern world has fallen into a dualism of body and soul in many ways. Descartes, a founding father of modern philosophy described the soul as a “ghost in a machine.” It is only too easy to focus on the body in an animalistic fashion, focused on pleasure and gratification. The opposite extreme is to fall into emotionalism or even a spiritualism that sees no compelling connection to the body.
Descartes and the Begining of Modern Philosophy (joshpcb.wordpress.com)
n the 17^th and 18^th century Western philosophy was in strife – split between British empiricism (figures such as Locke and Bacon) and continental rationalism (such proponents as Leibniz and Spinoza), both camps disagreed with one another on the topic of epistemology and metaphysics.

Important to add to the context is that in this time, scholasticism was the most prestigious method of education; it entailed Aristotelian values with a significant religion input. Scholasticism used logical methodology to deduce and then resolve contradictions. It was also qualitative, looking at objects and people and how they worked behaved, i.e., their qualities, and it was this manner in which Descartes was educated
Last lecture of the semester: Foucault and Derrida on Madness (foucaultnews.com)
We need a history of that other trick that madness plays—that other trick through which men, in the gesture of sovereign reason that locks up their neighbor, communicate and recognize each other in the merciless language of non-madness; we need to identify this moment of that expulsion before it was definitely established in the reign of truth, before it was brought back to life by the lyricism of protestation. To try to recapture, in history, this degree zero of the history of madness, when it was undifferentiated experience, the still undivided experience of the division [of madness and reason] itself. To describe…[what] allows Reason and Madness to fall away, like things henceforth foreign to each other, deaf to any exchange, almost dead to each other. (my emphases)

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Tagged as Almighty, Animals, Answers from God, Belief in self, Bible, Biblical message, Book of books, Brain, Eternal Power, Eternal Spirit God, Faith, God's Voice, I Am, I Am that I am, I Am Who Is, In the image of God, Inner voice, Interpretations, Interpreting, Knowledge, Man, Non-human values, Only True God, Questions, René Descartes, Self, Supreme Being, Thinking, Thoughts of man, to Be, To know God, to Think, to Understand, Understanding, Universe, Works of God

by Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten | 2014/12/02 · 1:17 pm

112314 – A Peculiar People

In Belgium lots of protests are going on against the measures taken by the government, bringing all burden onto the less earning people while the rich are saved and do not have to contribute to the economical crisis, have lower taxes than most people and even have companies or CEO’s not having to pay taxes.
In other countries battles on the streets are delivered or for the injustice which is done on social or juridical matters.

Some may think Christians may not higher their voice and have to let everything happen. But you can also wonder if a Christian does not have to come up for those who have no voice, like animals and plants and for those who are done injustice.

In certain states, like the United States of America, the injustice of treatment, the in-equality of race, and certain political decisions are used to create scenes of rioting, looting, and burning private and public properties. This is totally against the Law of God. Also a few weeks ago in Belgium some fighters used the national march against the government to make hammock and damage a lot of private goods and to seriously wound many cops. They misused and disordered the otherwise peaceful march.
The way we want to react to those “protestors” blocking roads and impeding the flow of traffic of travellers, who have no connection with the cause for which the protesters, aka anarchists, are mounting in their charge against decency, is important and gives the other person an opportunity to show other ways to get justice and to get the voice of the people resounding.
There may be people who do not like it that there are also “people who have decided to make a statement for their cause by lying down on department store floors and interfering with people who just wanted to buy some goods at those stores.” Those who object we have to ask what their reason of objection is. Often we hear selfish reasons, like that they can not get where they want to be in the time they want to be. Or that they are hindered because they can not get what they want. when they react to the protesters, not showing empathy for their cause, they often show their own selfishness and their exclusion for coming to understanding for what the protesters want to give a voice.

Both parties can be doing the wrong thing. Both parties can go much to far in their reaction against the other.

In such turmoil the true inner side of a person can come unto the surface. In such occasions where people feel their frustration can not receive a valve of expression, they can go much too far and loose all boundaries of respect and decency.
It is in such instances a Christian has to be careful not to chose the wrong site or not to give the impression he does not want to do with it at all.

It may be true that in certain cases (not all) some may consider this “peculiar” to relate to “such unlawful actions”. Some might also think it are only anarchists who are “truly odd and strange in the way that they go about life”. They seem to forget that lots of human beings do strange things and more than once go out of the boundaries of the “normal”.

Of course, the word “peculiar” can find its way into biblical scripture, like “the Jews were said to be a peculiar people because they were chosen by God to bring the Messiah into the world (Deuteronomy 14:2). Those of us who have come to saving faith through Jesus, the Messiah, are also said to be “peculiar” people.”

Certainly today those following the Laws of God are called peculiar or weird figures. Often they are considered to be fools, believing in fairy tales.

Jesus even told his followers it would not be easy for those who wanted to follow him, and that they would be shunned and would be hated in different circles, even in the family they would find members who would oppose them.
Those who show the outside world that they love God and have chosen to follow His son’s ways, are ridiculed, but know that they should not worry so much. They know they should fear God and not the human beings. But that does not mean they just do have to let everything happen what other human beings decide. We always should show our praise for God and His Creation. As such we shall have to show the world our respect for that creation and should make others aware of the value of that creation which we are allowed to use, but may not try to destroy. So, we do have to take care of mother earth and also do have to come up for it. We can not allow others to continuously rob it and destroy the life chances of animals, plants but also for other human beings. Therefore contrary many Christians may think, we should give a voice to the ones who do not seem to have a voice or who are pushed in the corner.

We, as believers in Christ, may also appear to the anarchists as being “odd” and “strange” because we don’t embrace their methods of “bringing about change” in our nation, but we can show to them other ways to demonstrate peacefully and to use other ways to give a voice for the right cause in righteousness.

Not reacting at all can give opportunities to silence the democratic system and to have other human beings using their power to oppress others. We should give dictatorship and oppression no chance. We also should avoid that others get the means, like weapons to oppress others.

++

Of interest:

Voice for the plebs

The Y generation in conflict with itself

To Work Longer or Die Younger

Depression Economics and Paul Krugman

Anti-Crisis anger calling out

Ability for a community to come back from a crisis

Violence or an other way to win

Justififiable anger or just anarchism

Shame on American police

A dangereous way of censorship

Democratic downfall

Censor looming around the UK corner?

Internet absurdities

The Protester named Person of the Year 2011 by Time Magazine

Catherine Ashton on the EU annual report on human rights

Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America at war

Ukrainians should be free to shape the future of their country

Person of the year

Journal for and from bothered citizens

Re-Creating Community

Chinese Village in Revolt

‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protesters Gain Strength

Busting Protesters, not Bankers

UK Protesters Charged as Organized Criminals

Thai Court Sides with Protesters

+++

Related articles

Are you looking? (hopeofglory.typepad.com)
This one nation under God has experienced a losing of itself under its present “leadership”. Focused on things not familiar orpreviously welcomed in this United States of America, these things have allowed many to lose their way.Believers associate this loss with a turning away from God. It’s a judgment of sorts on the abandoning of God and country, morality and responsibility, faith and respect. A sad commentary on the ease with which some will forfeit independence for dependence, goodness for wickedness, apology for justification. None of it typical of the America we used to know and love.

Calmness is Settling in Over Ferguson (fggam.org)
We continue to be in constant prayer for Ferguson and the United States of America, America, Bless God!

Boko Haram: Nigeria berates US over ‘no weapon deal’ (sundiatapost.com)
Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States of America, Prof. Ade Adefuye has chided the United States of America for refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria to effectively contain the Islamic insurgency in Northern Nigeria.
He said the war against the insurgency would have been won long ago, had the US agreed to sell weapons to Nigerian government.

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 (wdeaver.wordpress.com)
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

The Constitution of the United States of America, 19th Amendment (nesaranetwork.com)
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Eternity

Psalm 8 King James Version (KJV)

The Glory of the Lord in Creation

1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts…

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by Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten | 2014/05/02 · 10:50 am

Warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates

BIRDS

Birds are warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates and are oviparous, that is, egg laying. There are some 300 references to birds in the Bible, with about 30 different varieties being specifically named. Reference is made to their flight, often in escaping their enemies (Ps 11:1; Pr 26:2; 27:8; Isa 31:5; Ho 9:11); their roosting in trees (Ps 104:12; Mt 13:32); their nesting (Ps 84:3; Eze 31:6); their uses, particularly young pigeons and turtledoves, in sacrifice (Le 1:14; 14:4-7, 49-53) and as food (Ne 5:18), including their eggs (Isa 10:14; Lu 11:11, 12); and God’s provision and care for them.

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

26 Observe intently the birds of heaven;+ they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? (Matthew 6:26)

29 Two sparrows sell for a coin of small value,* do they not? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.+ (Matthew 10:29; compare De 22:6, 7).

Birds were among the earliest living souls on earth, coming into existence on the fifth creative “day” along with the marine creatures.

20 Then God said: “Let the waters swarm with living creatures,* and let flying creatures fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”*+21 And God created the great sea creatures* and all living creatures* that move and swarm in the waters according to their kinds and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters of the sea,+ and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)

Of the general terms used in the Bible that apply to birds, the most frequent Hebrew word is ʽohph, basically meaning “flying creature” (Ge 1:20), which may include not only birds but also winged insects. (Compare Le 11:13, 21-23.) The Hebrew tsip·pohr′ also occurs in a large number of texts and is a generic term applying to birds in general. (Ge 7:14) A third Hebrew term, ʽa′yit, is applied solely to the birds of prey.

Bird – Seagull enjoying the sunset (Photo credit: blmiers2)

The following terms are found in the Greek Scriptures: or′ne·on, meaning simply “bird” (Re 18:2); pe·tei·non′ and pte·nos′, both literally meaning “flier.” (Ro 1:23; 1Co 15:39; compare Int.) At Acts 17:18 Athenian philosophers referred to the apostle Paul as a “chatterer.” The Greek word here (sper·mo·lo′gos) was applied to a bird that picks up seeds, while figuratively it was used of a person who picks up scraps by begging or stealing, or, as in the case cited, one who repeats scraps of knowledge, an idle babbler.

A thoughtful study of birds gives convincing proof of the Biblical teaching that they are of divine creation. While birds and reptiles are both oviparous, reptiles are cold-blooded, often sluggish, whereas birds are warm-blooded and among the most active of all earth’s creatures; they also have an unusually rapid heartbeat. The evolutionary view that reptilian scales and front limbs eventually developed into feathered wings is both fanciful and baseless. The fossils of birds called by scientists Archaeopteryx (or, ancient wing) and Archaeornis (or, ancient bird), though showing teeth and a long vertebrated tail, also show that they were completely feathered, had feet equipped for perching, and had fully developed wings. No intermediate specimens, exhibiting scales developing into feathers or front legs into wings, exist to give any semblance of support to the evolution theory. As expressed by the apostle Paul, birds are of a distinct “flesh” from others of earth’s creatures.

Bird – Duck – Mallard (Photo credit: blmiers2)

39 Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one of mankind, there is another flesh of cattle, another flesh of birds, and another of fish. (1Corinthians 15:39).

The psalmist called upon the “winged birds” to praise Jehovah (Ps 148:1, 10), and birds do this by their very structure and their complex design. A single bird may have from 1,000 to over 20,000 feathers. Yet each feather is composed of a shaft from which branch out hundreds of barbs forming an inner web, each barb containing several hundred smaller barbules and each barbule having hundreds of barbicels and hooklets. A single six-inch wing feather of a pigeon is thus estimated to contain some hundreds of thousands of barbules and literally millions of barbicels. The aerodynamic principles built into birds’ wings and body design surpass in complexity and efficiency that of modern-day aircraft. A bird’s hollow bones contribute to its lightness, and thus the skeleton of a frigate bird with a 2-m (7 ft) wingspan may weigh only about 110 g (4 oz). Certain wing bones of large soaring birds even have trusslike supports, like the struts inside airplane wings, within the hollow portions.

At the time of the Flood, Noah introduced into the ark for preservation pairs of birds “according to their kinds.”

7 So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, man together with domestic animals, creeping animals, and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.” … 19 And bring into the ark two of every sort of living creature+ in order to preserve them alive with you, a male and a female;+ 20 of the flying creatures according to their kinds, the domestic animals according to their kinds, and all creeping animals of the ground (Genesis 6:7, 19-20)

3 also of the flying creatures of the sky by sevens,* male and female, to preserve their offspring alive over all the earth.+ …

23 So He wiped every living thing from the surface of the earth, including man, animals, creeping animals, and the flying creatures of the sky. They were all wiped off the earth;+ only Noah and those with him in the ark survived.+ (Genesis 7:3, 23)

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is no certain way of knowing how many different “kinds” of birds then existed, some types of birds having become extinct even in recent times. However, it is of interest to note that the listing of birds according to present-day scientific classification presented in The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1985, Vol. 15, pp. 14-106) gives a total of only 221 bird “families,” including some that are now extinct or known only in fossil form. There are, of course, thousands of varieties included within these “families.” {Note}

Following the global Flood, Noah offered up “clean flying creatures” along with animals as a sacrifice. (Ge 8:18-20) Birds were thereafter made allowable by God for inclusion in man’s diet, as long as the blood was not eaten. (Ge 9:1-4; compare Le 7:26; 17:13.) The ‘cleanness’ of certain birds at that time therefore evidently relates to some divine indication of acceptableness for sacrifice; the Biblical record shows that, as regards their being used as food, none of the birds were designated as “unclean” until the introduction of the Mosaic Law. (Le 11:13-19, 46, 47; 20:25; De 14:11-20) The factors determining which birds were designated ceremonially “unclean” are not expressly stated in the Bible. Thus, while most of those so designated were birds of prey or scavengers, not all of them were. This prohibition was lifted following the establishment of the new covenant, as God made evident to Peter by a vision.

9 The next day as they were continuing on their journey and were approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour* to pray. 10 But he became very hungry and wanted to eat. While they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance+11 and saw heaven opened and something* descending like a great linen sheet being let down by its four corners on the earth; 12 and in it were all sorts of four-footed animals and reptiles* of the earth and birds of heaven. 13 Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, because I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.”+15 And the voice spoke again to him, the second time: “Stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” (Acts of the apostles 10:9-15).

Birds (Photo credit: Emyan)

The identification of the birds specifically named in the Bible presents a difficult problem in some cases. Lexicographers generally are guided by the root meaning of the name, since this is usually descriptive, by indications in the context as to the bird’s habits and habitat, and by observation of the birds known to be found in the Bible lands. In many cases the names are believed to be onomatopoeic, that is, imitating the sound produced by the bird.

The diverse topography of Palestine, ranging from cool mountain peaks to deep sweltering valleys and from arid deserts to maritime plains, all together near the SE corner of the Mediterranean Sea, makes it a focal point for a great variety of bird types. Mount Hermon, in the N, is snowcapped for much of the year, while the region about 200 km (125 mi) to the S along the lower Jordan Valley and near the Dead Sea is hot and tropical. Each of these zones contains birds peculiar to its own environment, either alpine or tropical, as do also the temperate zones and the desert regions. (Ps 102:6; 104:16, 17) Additionally, Palestine is on one of the major migrational routes followed annually by birds (storks, turtledoves, quail, swifts, swallows, bulbuls, cuckoos, and others) traveling N from Africa in the spring or S from Europe and Asia in the fall. (Ca 2:11, 12; Jer 8:7) Thus it is estimated that about 470 varieties of birds may be found in Palestine at some time during the course of a year. In view of the deterioration of Palestinian forests and vegetation over the centuries, it is likely that in Biblical times the bird population was even greater.

Particularly notable are the great numbers of birds of prey (Heb., ʽa′yit) found in Palestine, including eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, and vultures. Back in Abraham’s time, birds of prey tried to descend upon Abraham’s sacrifice of certain animals and birds, obliging him to drive them off until the sun began to set. (Ge 15:9-12; compare 2Sa 21:10.) In their search for food these birds rely on their powerful telescopic sight, rather than on their relatively weak sense of smell.

The well-known sight of a cluster of scavenger birds gathered around a carcass often served as the basis for an ominous warning to an enemy (1Sa 17:44, 46), and repeatedly formed part of divinely inspired prophetic warnings to the nation of Israel and its rulers (De 28:26; 1Ki 14:11; 21:24; Jer 7:33; 15:3) as well as to foreign nations. (Isa 18:1, 6; Eze 29:5; 32:4) Thus, the one used by Jehovah to execute judgement was figuratively represented by “a bird of prey.” (Isa 46:11) Desolation of a city or land was depicted by its becoming the habitat of certain birds of solitary nature (Isa 13:19-21; compare Re 18:2) or by the disappearance of all bird life. (Jer 4:25-27; 9:10; 12:4; Ho 4:3; Zep 1:3) The proclamation calling all the birds to gather to feast upon the dead bodies of Gog of Magog and his crowd (Eze 39:1-4, 17-21) is paralleled by that recorded in Revelation in which the bodies of national rulers and their armies become food for “all the birds that fly in midheaven” as a result of the executional work of Christ Jesus as King.

11 I saw heaven opened, and look! a white horse.+ And the one seated on it is called Faithful+ and True,+ and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.+12 His eyes are a fiery flame,+ and on his head are many diadems.* He has a name written that no one knows but he himself, 13 and he is clothed with an outer garment stained* with blood, and he is called by the name The Word+ of God. 14 Also, the armies in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. 15 And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword+ with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron.+ Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.+16 On his outer garment, yes, on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.+

17 I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven:* “Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God,+18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of military commanders and the flesh of strong men+ and the flesh of horses and of those seated on them,+ and the flesh of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.”

19 And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the one seated on the horse and against his army.+20 And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet+ that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast+ and those who worship its image.+ While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulfur.+21 But the rest were killed off with the long sword that proceeded out of the mouth of the one seated on the horse.+ And all the birds were filled with their flesh.+ (Revelation 19:11-21; contrast this with God’s comforting words to his people, at Ho 2:18-20).

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals of the field,+ And with the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground;+ I will rid the land of the bow and the sword and war,+ And I will make them lie down* in security.+19 I will engage myself to you forever; And I will engage myself to you in righteousness and in justice, In loyal love and in mercy.+ 20 I will engage myself to you in faithfulness, And you will certainly know Jehovah.’+ (Hosea 2:18-20)

Worship of birds as representing the true God was prohibited to the nation of Israel (De 4:15-17) but was prominent among the pagan nations, particularly in Egypt. (Ro 1:23) Hundreds of bird mummies have been found in Egyptian tombs, principally of birds such as the falcon, the vulture, and the ibis, all of which were sacred among the Egyptians. Egyptian hieroglyphics contain some 22 different bird signs.

Bird (Photo credit: DeusXFlorida (5,003,637 views) – thanks guys!)

{Note}: The “kinds” of animals selected had reference to the clear-cut and unalterable boundaries or limits set by the Creator, within which boundaries creatures are capable of breeding “according to their kinds.” It has been estimated by some that the hundreds of thousands of species of animals today could be reduced to a comparatively few family “kinds”—the horse kind and the cow kind, to mention but two. The breeding boundaries according to “kind” established by Jehovah were not and could not be crossed. With this in mind some investigators have said that, had there been as few as 43 “kinds” of mammals, 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles in the ark, they could have produced the variety of species known today. Others have been more liberal in estimating that 72 “kinds” of quadrupeds and less than 200 bird “kinds” were all that were required. That the great variety of animal life known today could have come from inbreeding within so few “kinds” following the Flood is proved by the endless variety of humankind—short, tall, fat, thin, with countless variations in the colour of hair, eyes, and skin—all of whom sprang from the one family of Noah.

Sleeping Caribbean Flamingo at the Metro Toronto Zoo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Additional reading:

+++

Pterosaurs cast a giant shadow over today’s biggest winged creatures (theguardian.com)

A man walks under the shadow of a model pterosaur. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

Look at the birds outside your window: little feathery things that beg for crumbs and make cute chirpy noises. What if they were nine metres across and could fold up their wings and walk on all fours? Not so cute. Long ago, just such hulking creatures ruled the skies.

Pterosaurs were Earth’s first flying vertebrates. Although birds and bats have taken wing in the 66m years since their extinction, we don’t have any flying creatures that approach the size of the biggest pterosaurs. The largest known specimen, Quetzalcoatlus, had a 10-metre wingspan. An immense vertebra recently found in Romania suggests that pterosaurs may have grown even bigger than that. The largest flying animals today, such as the wandering albatross and the Andean condor, average a wingspan of around three metres.
Birds (milliesmindofmadness.wordpress.com)
Birds are a symbol of freedom and liberty. Then why, I ask, did a bird poo on me yesterday when I was walking my dogs? Why? Could the bird not have the decency to poo somewhere else other than my face. I know that it was multi-tasking but that bird needs to think of others before it let’s loose it’s poo on me. Furthermore, where I was walking was a nice pleasant area so to quote my dad, I got pooed on by a posh bird.
Bird (kyle861.wordpress.com)
Birds (class Aves or clade Avialae) are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrate animals. With around 10,000 living species, they are the most specioseclass of tetrapod vertebrates.
Rise of Animals: David Attenborough explores evolution of vertebrates (thisismoney.co.uk)
David Attenborough has visited new paleontological hotspots to fill in evolutionary gaps of how vertebrates came to rule the Earth and how their evolution defines our own human bodies.
In a new two-part documentary, Rise of Animals: Triumph of the vertebrates, the naturalist explores the origins of the backbone by studying a tiny prehistoric animal and a living fossil living in the south of England.Sir David takes a 500-million-year evolutionary journey to study animals including a newly discovered ‘missing link’ from China, a shallow water predator that swam like a fish but took its first steps on land, giant ancient animals and the famous fossil of the feathered dinosaur.
Zoology: Using Animals to Enrich Your World (rebekahloper.wordpress.com)
Animals serve many purposes. They are a vital part of the ecosystem, they offer companionship, and theycan be sources of food.And creating animals can honestly be one of the most fun parts of worldbuilding. But as always, there are things to consider!
A fallen feather (raoulpop.com)
The birds we seldom notice, unless they muck up our freshly washed cars, are able to do something no human being has been able to do so far, without the aid of an engineered mechanism. They’re able to take flight, freely, and soar high above the ground, surveying all they can see, while humans are stuck on the ground.
Doahugou Biota: Study Describes 30 Species from Jurassic of China (sci-news.com)
Over the last two decades, huge numbers of fossils have been collected from the western Liaoning Province and adjacent parts of northeastern China, including exceptionally preserved feathered dinosaurs, early birds, and mammals. Most of these specimens are from the Cretaceous Period, including the famous Jehol Biota.However, in recent years many fossils have emerged from sites that are 30 million years earlier, providing an exceptional window on life during the Jurassic period, about 160 million years ago.
Poachers dump bodies of nine eagles in ditch near Kamloops (calgaryherald.com)
The remains of eight bald eagles and one golden eagle have been found in a ditch near Kamloops, B.C.Officials with the Conservation Officer Service say the carcasseswere discovered last month in the ditch beside a well-used public road.Heads, feet, tail feathers and wings of all nine birds had been removed.

8 Comments

Filed under History, Nature, Religious affairs

Tagged as Animals, Apostle Paul, Apostle Peter, Birds, Birds of prey, Blood, Chatterer, Creation, Executional work of Christ Jesus, Food, Fossils, Global Flood, Judgement, King Jesus, Messiah Jeshua (Christ Jesus), Mosaic Law, Palestine, Praise God, Reptiles, the Flood, Worship of birds

by Guestspeaker | 2014/05/01 · 4:27 pm

A bird’s eye and reflecting from within

Can you imagine flying birds travelling for miles and miles, crossing habitat regions and places where nearly no human being tramples on the ground.

metropolis (Photo credit: jonfeinstein)

From high above those birds can see how those earthlings destroy their own habitat. They see them wanting to live in their own dirt.

Those birds look down at those creatures who so often dream about what they can do and worry so much about the day of tomorrow. They do not imagine the life those people want, though many of them might imagine wonderful things.
Those beings down there spent lots of their time focusing on gathering all sorts of material gadgets. Their world seems to turn more around money than on getting food. Though we must be honest lots of them also focus their intention toward realizing their deepest desires and dreams.

How many of those people dare to go up in the sky and go forward to that one goal, thousands of miles away?

How many would begin to believe those dreams, aims and goals were possible?

A Soul Talk questions:

If you gave your attention to those things in your mind that spoke of your great beauty and talent, would you start to believe and have confidence in yourself again? If life all around you is simply a reflection of those thoughts you most focus on, wouldn’t you be more careful of what you repeated over and over again to yourself?

When we look in nature we do see that the seasons decide what shall going to happen. The animals do not doubt. They are not going to wait and see if it will be worthwhile to take off or to settle down.

The birds can often see man as a fish which fails to see the water it swims in. They have a brain but use it strangely and are so often more concerned about figuring things out. they all think they are able to make and control their own world. Most of them want to play for God. Everything they do becomes calculated. Modern mind has become more and more calculating.

The calculative exactness of practical life which the money economy has brought about corresponds to the ideal of natural science: to transform the world into an arithmetic problem, to fix every part of the world by mathematical formulas. Only money economy has filled the days of so many people with weighing, calculating, with numerical determinations, with a reduction of qualitative values to quantitative ones. (“The Metropolis and Mental Life” p.412)

They all look for consistent and reliable formulas to how life works. For them formulas are re-assuring, such as

“be a banker/lawyer/accountant/doctor, because these jobs translate into big numbers, and these big numbers mean success”.

Success is something which they can count and measure. They have their eyes focused on those pieces of papers with heads and figures on it, but do not see where they are flying at.

Eddie Tay on Hong Kong lucida writes:

Of course, there are many successful bankers/lawyers/accountants/doctors who lead meaningful lives and who enjoy their jobs. I’m only arguing against the confusion between quality and quantity. Quality cannot be easily quantified. Sometimes we play this soundtrack too readily. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

Hong Kong Kowloon Panorama Victoria Peak 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the birds it may look like life for man is oh so infinitely easy, and everything seems to lie at their fingertips. They have their big nests, buildings which want to compete with the trees and air around, hoping to be the tallest one. They have their educational institutions, in the wonders and comforts of space-conquering technology, in the formations of community life, and in the visible institutions of the state. They offer themselves fantasies and create fro themselves an overwhelming fullness of crystallized and impersonalized spirit that the personality, so to speak, cannot maintain itself under its impact. From all sides they allow ideas coming up to them, in the hope they can become a personality like by the others. From the others they want to receive stimulations and interests. They all are consumed by time.

They carry the person as if in a stream, and one needs hardly to swim for oneself. On the other hand, however, life is composed more and more of these impersonal contents and offerings which tend to displace the genuine personal colorations and incomparabilities. This results in the individual’s summoning the utmost in uniqueness and particularization, in order to preserve his most personal core. He has to exaggerate this personal element in order to remain audible even to himself. (“The Metropolis and Mental Life” p. 422)

Eddie Tay finds this to be rather depressing.

The modern concern with the uniqueness of our personality emerges out of an anxiety. Now that everything is for sale, we’re compelled to be “unique”, “autonomous” and “individual” so as to differentiate ourselves from other cogs in the giant capitalist machine. “Look at me I’m so unique and interesting,” I tell myself and others, knowing that there are tens of thousands of people around me (and many with blogs like this) saying precisely the same thing. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

Many more people should be aware that

We are surrounded by things we buy with numbers. And these things, whether tangible or intangible, which we buy and sell, turn us into who we are. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

http://hongkonglucida.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/img_20140327_0045-640.jpg

Photo from Eddie Tay, Honk Kong lucida

We make ourselves, by what we consume for our mind and for our mind. Stomach and brain take up the food what we present it, we can either make it healthy or poison it. When you look at certain markets, it seems that people can not get enough of material, but also are drowning themselves by it. Too many people forget what impact all those things around them can have on their life.

We all should better take a moment to transfer ourselves in a bird and look at ourselves from way up there in the sky. We should take some distance, now and then, from what we do and want to do, and reflect on what we did, want to do and on what we would like to succeed and which goal we would like to make.

With Spring time we should not only do our Spring cleaning but we could take a new start. You too, can start today to believe that you can impact your external world by placing your focus on images of love, kindness, and joy and you will truly be surprised by what you attract to yourself.

Start today to live in consciousness as to what is happening within you, you will then have the grand opportunity to create what is happening around you in a more remarkable and enjoyable way. {Simply a reflection from within!}

The mother of Soul talk has learned her lesson from the wise song of her toddler which continues to ring true- in the face of adversity “Never give up never never give up!”.

Keep the faith and you shall persevere- I have learned this very difficult lesson recently and can tell you your only choice is to keep the faith and move forward-the alternative is not so appealing- I can promise you that-your biggest break can be just around the corner and if you did not move towards it you would never know. {Never give up!}

Every year again the birds make their nest. They never seem to be tired to do it over and over again. We should also continue trying to do the things we really want to do.

There are millions of people who do not know they have a security key in their own hands. They themselves have been given, by birth, the key to knowledge and inner peace. All being created in the image of the Divine Creator we do have elements from this Eternal Spirit. He acknowledges our being, but we ourselves are not willing to see our own being in relationship with Him. There lies the biggest problem of humankind.

In case we would accept the Creator of our being, and accept that He has to be the Most High Master, than we could find fulfilment and guidance by following His instructions which He has given to the whole world.

In the Garden of Eden He has given man the right to take care of the world himself. But He always was prepared to help those who wanted Him next to them. Those who want His Guidance He is willing to give.

As adults, we build upon the hopes of our parents and the fertile imaginations of our youth. We continue to foster the dreams that were born in our hearts on our first day of life, yet now have the tools to bring those dreams forth into our realities. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

That is not bad. We all should have dreams and continue to make dreams. We should try to build up our life by dreams coming through. We have to foster our dreams and have to build up courage to see them through.

The courage to step beyond our fears of failure. The courage to meet doubt head on. The courage to pursue the ideas that were born in us, given to us, to be discovered by us to enjoy the fantastic world that begs for us to explore. The courage to make all our dreams come true. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

In case we would accept the Guiding Hand of the Creator and dare to ask Him to help us, He will be there for us.

If we ask, believe, and have the courage to act, and begin to receive, the life we have imagined can be the life we are living. When we start to believe and have faith in all that is possible for us, then we align with the hopes of our parents, the child within who dared to be whomever she wanted to be, and the adult whose courageous acts of faith allow those dreams to become a reality. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

We often forget just to take some time to be with that Mightier Being. We mostly trust to much those who are of this earth, instead of counting on the one in heaven.

Why not trying to take a turning point? Why not simply taking the time each day to focus on those positive attributes and intentions that give you great happiness? Putting on the right mind shall help us but also those around us, on the right track and bring them in the right mood. When we do take a positive attitude we may rest assured that people and things will start to show up in your life that will greatly add to your happiness.

Let it be said that a person who feels good on the inside will experience that good on the outside. A person who looks at life with a glass half full mentality, will eventually have their cup runneth over. Your world is but a mirror of what is happening inside of you. So before you start your day, promise yourself that you will take a moment or two to reflect on what you are grateful for to charge those positive emotions, then set out to experience your own something wonderful when you start from that joyous place within. If your world is simply a reflection from within, wouldn’t it be in you best interest to make it the best reflection of a well lived life that you could ever imagine! {Simply a reflection from within!}

Preceding articles:

Birds, Birds Everywhere

Birds’ Eye

Food for Thought-Birds of Caution

Additional reading:

+++

Chris Packham: Malta is a bird hell (theguardian.com)
When Chris Packham announced he was heading to Malta to report on the island’s annual spring bird shoot as if he was a war correspondent covering a conflict, even his admirers probably thought he was guilty of hyperbole.But after a week in which the naturalist has detained by police for five hours, shoved to the ground by gunmen and witnessed the illegal killing of dozens of endangered birds, his mission to raise awareness of the annual slaughter of migratory birds has been more like a battle than he imagined.
Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge (gardenwalkgardentalk.com)
Since Earth Day just passed, I was thinking why can’t everyday be Earth Day? You visit places like this and wonder why can’t there be more wild spaces to enjoy. After all, without these wild and natural spaces, we would not have much of a world.
Birds Slam Into Windows, Leave Long Island Couple Lying Awake (newyork.cbslocal.com)
It has been a full week of rude awakenings for a Long Island couple, who said their home has been under siege by a group of birds slamming into their windows over and over again.As CBS 2’s Elise Finch reported Monday, the problem that Peter and Lisa Kersich of Holbrook have been experiencing is common at this time of year.The loud thumps have been waking them up morning after morning.
Fly like a bird (lovingmefirstblog.wordpress.com)
1) how do we know the bird hasn’t flown (are we worried about other’s achievements more than our own and we view this bird as a solitary soul who hasn’t taken the leap of faith?)
2) what if the bird has flown but it feels most comfortable where it sits now? (maybe the world isn’t as amazing as we think it is)
3) what if the bird is hurt, alone, lost or perhaps needs a push?
Dream-Like Song Created From Birds Perched On Electric Wires Proves Nature Is Perfect (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
“Reading the newspaper one morning, I saw this picture of birds on the electric wires,” says video creator Jarbas Agnelli.”I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.”
Garden Birds – Indigo Bunting (roadsendnaturalist.wordpress.com)
If, as Thoreau says, the bluebird carries the sky on its back, the Indigo Bunting may sometimes be carrying storm clouds. These common open space birds are now arriving back in NC from their tropical winter homes and the males have dressed for the occasion.
+
I see them every year along the power line corridor, but I hope to spend a little more time this summer listening for their distinctive calls (the male sings all day, even in the heat of summer) and enjoying their brilliant blue attire.
+
Garden Birds – Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
I often describe these active birds as looking and behaving like a tiny mockingbird. They are always fun to watch as they hop through the branches, or hover beneath one, snatching an insect meal. And their small size, white eye ring, blue-gray coloration, and exaggerated tail, make them easy to identify.
Not Just Sparrows and Pigeons: Cities Harbor 20 Percent of World’s Bird Species (allaboutbirds.org)
Rock Pigeons, House Sparrows, and European Starlings are widely known as “city birds,” and with good reason. These three species (plus Barn Swallow) occur in more than 80 percent of cities according to the first-ever global study of biodiversity in urban areas, published earlier this year in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. But there’s more to cities than this narrow cast of avian urbanites: cities also retain more of their region’s native diversity than previously thought, according to the study’s analyses of bird and plant census data. So take heart, your next city stroll has much more to offer than just a few ubiquitous species.In fact, at least 2,041 species—20 percent of all known bird species—live in the world’s cities, according to the research. Unlike previous studies, which have focused on single cities or regions, this study spanned six continents, compiling data on birds from 54 cities and plants from 110 cities. The researchers themselves hailed from North America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.
Look to the skies to spot the bounty of birds returning to Saskatchewan (metronews.ca)
This is likely the most exciting time to cast our eyes upward and behold some of the beauty we take for granted in the skies.The birds that soar above are not here by chance. Indeed, it is of their own will that they come back to Saskatchewan.
Two Birds 114/365 Side A (theyearofdreamingdangerouslymardilinane2014.wordpress.com)
two birds / floated over / the canyon / floated in circles
10 Incredible Bird Photography Tips for Beginners (digital-photography-school.com)
What is the most important factor in getting your bird photographs noticed by a large audience? Is it the camera or the lens or the bird?

15 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Economical affairs, Knowledge & Wisdom, Lifestyle, Social affairs, Spiritual affairs

Tagged as Aim, Animals, Attention, Birds, Birds' eye view, Courage, Desires, Dreams, Eternal Spirit God, Focus, Focusing, Food, Fulfilment, Giving attention, Giving up, Goals, Inner peace, Institutions, Man, Materialism, Parents, Personality, Playing for God, Security, Spring season, Success, Supreme Being, Tomorrow, Uniqueness

by Guestspeaker | 2014/04/30 · 12:15 pm

Birds, Birds Everywhere

You may Look Who Came to Call on the Hummingbirds Today!, or even try to look the birds in the eye.

Cindy Barton Knoke, who can not resist taking pics of Hummingbirds,has good reasons to think birds understand more about us than we do about them. When you look at her photographs several of those animals seem to look at the world with compassion and understanding how foolish human beings can be. Many of those birds and other animals seem to have us figured out.

Many birds may be curious and willing to conquer their fear. Corvids like ravens, crows and magpies, may remember the faces of people who do bad things to them for years.

Cindy Barton Knoke writes:

Most wild birds must be quite accustomed to a human before they will let you get anywhere near them. Smart birds. Starlings like this Superb Starling are capable of understanding grammatical rules and are being studied by linguists because their vocal recognition abilities surpass those of Tamarin monkeys. {Look Me in the Eye: Birds~}

Acorn Woodpecker – Photography: Cindy Knoke

You can not say man of fine looks and attitudes ‘flock together’ but the eye of the (probably) patient photographer shows us that birds of fine feather flock together!The writer of the blog Cindy Knoke tells us also that the San Diego Zoo houses the largest collection of bird species in the United States and manages there to take more than one a picture-taking paradise!
Today she also seems to have enough spare time to make some nice trips where she can play with the photographic lens and can capture the incredibly rich in wild bird life.
She admits to be no expert on bird identification, but for sure I find she has a good eye for them and also a good relation with creation.

She also remembers us that Hummingbirds were revered in many native cultures.

In Peru the Aztecs carved a Hummingbird figure in stone visible from the foothills.
They believed that Hummingbirds spread life, which is certainly true, as they are major cross pollinators. Their God of the Sun and War was called Hitziloppchti {Huitzilopochtli (Aztec god)} and he was known as The Hummingbird Wizard. {I Can’t Resist Taking Pics of Hummingbirds!}

What is also interesting is to see the many colours the birds have and see how they are reflected in other things in nature and in creations made by man or even more interesting by fossilization in nature itself: Ancient Creatures & Living Jewels~

One can look at those beautiful prints made by the ‘pressure of time’, but one shall not be able to capture the essence of objects.

Lots of human beings could learn from the smart birds and other animals the Creator has provided. People should also come to understand that when they do not see how to cope any more in this life, they would do better to look at the birds and to go out in the wide and wild nature, to let themselves be carried away by the colours and the movement of the other creatures than human beings. We can learn so much from them, but they also are also able to give us so much, even when we do not give them anything.

Next day you go out in the fields, have a better look and try to find the hidden birds as well. Enjoy Natures Jewels!

And let us at the same time remember, that of nature we do know very little. And the more we learn, the more we know how little we know!!

***

Headshot of a Victoria Crowned Pigeon, taken in Jurong Bird Park, Singapore. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Birds, Birds Everywhere

Birds, birds everywhere,
flying through the sky without care.
Reminding us how graceful life can be,
as they fly from tree to tree.
Singing so very happily.

– Suzae Chevalier = Suzanna Christina Chevalier
(Born Suzanna Christina Chevalier on April 18,1966 in Elizabeth New Jersey. Suzae always loved to write poems as a child. Writing poetry in the dark late at night. Now as an adult she has published 5 children picture books under name Sue Chevalier, but soon to be released under Suzae Chevalier. Her children’s picture books rhyme as well. Find her children poetry at http://www.puppetpoems.com and wwww.puppetpoets.com as well as http://www.suechevalier.com http://www.purplepoems.com and http://www.razelrhymes.com. She has another poetry alias that is more popular for it has more realistic poems about life on the planet-the alias is Christina Sunrise and visit her website http://www.christinasunrise.com and on poemhunter as well. )

Female House Sparrow, Bairnsdale Australia. Taken in September 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

***

Preceding articles:

God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace

The Blues Can Make You…….Happy!

Please find also:

Beeps, Cheeps & A Chuckle for Your Friday!
Don’t Ever Go With Your Husband to the Barber Shop!
Okay, Okay. IF I Post Any More Hummingbirds, I’ll Facilitate and Attend My Own Therapy Group for People Who Compulsively Photograph Hummingbirds!
(For anyone who reads this and does struggle with compulsive issues, laughter is one of the best healers. Have a good laugh and please know you are far from alone. Compulsive difficulties can be very successfully treated. I recommend you look for a therapist with expertise in this area and a good sense of humor!)
Some Wild Birds Around the World!
The Migration is on at The Holler!
Have You Ever Been Stared at by a Hummingbird?
Humingbirds Visiting The Holler Today!
The Baby Hummer Who Crashed Into Glass!
La Lengua del Colibrí
Although hummingbirds are at The Holler year round, the spring migration brings greater numbers of hummers to The Holler.
Holler Birds Put On Their Holiday Coats for You!
Feathered Tuesday:Holler Hummingbirds, Hawks, Golden Eagles (and sweet little finch!)
Hummingbirds, Snapdragons & Tigertails!
The Hummingbirds are Becoming Tame!
The Holler Birds Said Welcome Home!
Rural Resident Overfeeds Wild Birds!
Eagle Owl!
Anza Avian Refuge!
Hawk Headed Parrot!
Red Shoulders and Red Tails!
Hanging Out with the Hawks Pt I (of III): Red Tails
Hanging Out with the Hawks: Pt. II (of III) The Harris Hawks!
The Birds of Patagonia! Wow!
Patagonian Birds!
The Birds Prepare for Shelter as the Moon Rises, Late in the Patagonian Night!
The Glorious Birds of Australia!
Pelis-Can Do…..
Hhh! (Last Post on Topic for Awhile)

+++

Accents in schools and tools of survival against aliens

In Belgium and most parts of Europe the schools give a lot of attention to mathematics. Everything in the world seems to turn around ciphers. Not much space is given to emotions. Even at the age of two and a half, when kids enter school and you would think much of the basic social skills still have to be learned not so much time is invested to teach the children to live and work with each other.
Not only the “West” does not spend time into the spiritual welfare of its younger population. Software engineer, in an MNC in Gurgaon, India, Samir Mishra notices in his own country, which we associate with spiritual gurus:

It’s quite ironic that no education system teaches us how to use the tools of life when it’s life that turns out as the best teacher, mentor and guide for the rest of your life. {Subjects in Distress}

It looks like the world is gone far away from the basic skills a human being has to learn. All focus is placed on measurable things, matters of competitive skills and not of sharing issues. Our society does not give much attention any more on what we should consider the most essential valuable matters in the world of mammals. Perhaps man thought it should make itself totally different of animals, so would have to cut the behaviour education. In nature animals spend time at first to teach their young how they have to behave and what the order is in the way of life of their sort. They learn the basic skills to live in this world and to manage a good life.

Most people industrialised countries can say the same as Samir Mishra:

Even more ironic and rather sad is, none of the skills I learned in my school or college are helping me make my living. {Subjects in Distress}

Today we all may learn how to get the skills for a certain job to make money. In the fifties and sixties boys and girls in Belgium learned how to nit and sew. The children learned to work and to play together. Now not many play any more. Before and after school they are kept quiet in front of the television screen. Nobody learns needle work at school when he is a youngster. Most works for mother-day and father-day are mainly prepared by the teacher. The kids only bring the final touches, but they and the parents do believe they made it.

Nobody learns to give honour on the right person or to give respect to others.
Though:

Nothing helps except humanity and respect. Rest all are mere tools of survival against aliens, angry animals and foolish humans. {Subjects in Distress}

Lots of schools have become big institutions which manage to bring children in distress with ‘boredom’, filling up their brains with lots of words and ciphers which do not seem to contribute much to life-skills. Children feel this and therefore do not feel it is giving them the right thing, so they loose interest and get bored. They need to feel the direct link to their way of living, their own environment.

US Navy 041127-N-8801B-079 Culinary Specialist Seaman Barbara E. Rodriguez, assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), spends time on a community relations visit to the Dubai Center for Special Needs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of children like Tonkadella may have a great memory and can easily remember stories and names, but from their educational period, the many years they sat on the school benches, they cannot remember numbers, dates and years. Is it perhaps not because lots of things are not any more presented in a nice frame, a good story? Children would remember nice stories, those stories that touch them, stories with deeper emotional meaning, not political. Not wars, conflicts, revolutions and battles. Though a great deal of the children might like the ‘wargames’, because they look incredible fancy moments. But for others it is all just a violence and crime to them. People suffering and fighting all the time, lesson by lesson.

Strange to find people to become bored in history class,such an interesting subject?

I was getting tired and bored in history classes. I found my teacher uninspiring and that affected my learning. All I did in history classes was daydreaming, which helped me to escape the stress reality of humankind history. Sometimes I would just simply stare at those pictures shown by my teacher, thinking of those pretty clothes, hairstyles and jewellery people used to wear. Sometimes, I would just try very hard to stay awake. {The History I don’t Know}

In Belgium it looks like the government does not find it necessary to the inhabitants to know what happened. Not much time is sped to history and geography, just now when so many can travel around. all focus is on mathematics.

“They” always said, “Write it down,” but when it came to math, that was poor advice for me. It got so excruciating that in eleventh grade, when my very nice algebra teacher said, “We’re starting imaginary numbers next week,” I actually cried. He asked what was wrong and I said, “I can’t get the right answer with real ones. What will I be able to do with imaginary ones?” By then I’d developed such a complex over the whole “right answer” thing that I was blind. I thought the little ‘i’ in front of a number denoting it being imaginary was an upside-down-exclamation mark, you know, like for Spanish? (I didn’t realize it was an ‘i’ (eye) until about ten years ago when a bunch of my students explained it! I’d have felt chagrined, but some of them couldn’t do long division on paper. 😉 ) {Imagined Irrationality of Numbers}
What a nightmare! {The History I don’t Know}

The children from early age onwards got their heads stuffed full with ciphers. They are not allowed to dream, they even do not learn it any more. They also do not learn to read stories any more. No time is spend to go through the literary works of the past. By leaving the on the bookshelves not many get to master their own language or to play with words.

Today we only can find a few people who still can say:

I also read, in their entirety, every single book that was required reading for my A.P. English class. And it was in that small classroom, in the north wing of my high school, where I flourished, plodding my way through the likes of Steinbeck, Dickens and Bronte. It’s where I fell in love with Conrad and Flaubert; where I became enthralled with Homer and Tolstoy; where I learned I didn’t care for Hemingway or Bradbury; learned that I could adore Fitzgerald’s Gatsby and a few weeks later be bored stiff by his other works. And, it’s where I learned that I could write words to make people understand – to take them down the road I wished them to go. {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

But more than remember what I learned, or even wished I’d learned back then, sometimes I think about those past teachers – not all of them, but some. And I wonder about their lives now and then. What did they do when they weren’t at school? Did they have families? What were their hobbies? Did they like teaching? Were they happy? I wouldn’t have known any of those things back then … but I wonder, if I would have known, would I have thought differently about any of them? {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

Children learn about health, fitness, safety (Photo credit: CherryPoint)

It seems the world did not want to let the person behind the subject been seen. Probably if pupils could see the person behind the subject more, they would get more respect for them. They also would probably remember more those teachers who personally managed to contribute something to their own life. The best teachers are those who give that extra, the little stories, the issues not registered in the syllabus.

One things for sure, to this day there are a few that I will always pay homage to for installing in me the craving for knowledge – because it’s only with knowledge that one can dream of all that’s possible in this life … and for that, I am thankful. {If you learn one thing, learn to dream –}

Those teachers who brought that extra to their subjects should be the ones to be remembered. Hopefully next generations can find ways to bring back sunshine in the hearts of many.

°°°

This post inspired by today’s Daily Prompt: Land of Confusion.
“Which subject in school did you find impossible to master? Did math give you hives? Did English make you scream? Do tell!”

Please do find to read:

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3 Comments

Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Cultural affairs, Educational affairs, Social affairs, Spiritual affairs

Tagged as 1950s, 1960s, Animals, Belgium, Children, Ciphers, Competitive skills, Education, Education systems, Emotions, Europe, Focus, Gurus, History, Honouring, Human beings, Making money, Mathematics, Reading books, Respecting, Samir Mishra, Skills, Social skills, Spiritual welfare, Teachers, to Learn, to Play, Way of life

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