New & Noteworthy - April 2025
SCHOPENHAUER
EVERY TRUTH passes through three stages before it is recognized.
In the first, it is ridiculed.
In the second it is opposed.
In the third it is regarded as self-evident.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
To feed the brain EATING FOOD—the fossil fuel of human energy—IS A MUST.
THE ENERGY of artificial intelligence IS ELECTRICITY: unplug—it is dead.
SALMAGUNDI:
A MIXTURE or ASSORTMENT of ITEMS;
ODDS AND ENDS; MEDLEY; MOTLEY.
POTPOURRI; RHAPSODY; SMORGASBORD; RATATOUILLE
SALMAGUNDI is a
large-plated SALAD of MANY different INGREDIENTS
SALADE NICOISE
In the 1960s, CHEESE dishes were en vogue: Swiss raclette; cheese soufflés; grilled cheese & tomato sandwiches, and cheese-platters that included pears, apples, and grapes. TODAY: the year 2025—day and night PIZZA!
JULIA CHILD, the doyenne of TV-chefs in the 1960s, is still revered. Cheers to Julia for updating herself on the latest cooking techniques shown by other chefs on TV-shows.
In this 21st century, food traveler ANTHONY BOURDAIN ate his way around the world on his TV-show. De rigueur are now vegetarian and vegan menus. With this “reverse” revolution our stomach juices must struggle: because for at least one million years our ancestors survived EATING MEAT: high in protein.
Peoples in Alaska, Canada, and northern Europe had no access to vegetables . . . but reindeer, buffalo, cattle, rabbits and fowl were abundant. When Europeans settled on the East Coast of America fruits and vegetables were “unavailable”. Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees; imagine life without apple pie! The potato was introduced to the native inhabitants [Amerindians] by European immigrants. The Spanish Conquistadores took the potato from Peru to the Old World; it was considered a novelty food. The potato famine is still remembered in Ireland.
Only in sub-tropical/tropical areas [and green-houses] can we grow legumes and green vegetables. And thanks to air transportation, these foods can be “shipped” around the world. It is only recently, since the mid-1950s, that we were able to buy in our super markets all these perishable products: bananas, lettuces, kiwis, tomatoes, and so on. The vegan menu: jungle food—chimp-- is back on the menu. No, thanks!
THE IRON AGE
SUFFERING has been the human condition from birth to the end of life. To end this suffering [fear/anxiety] one must end the cycle of “earthly attachments” by reincarnation of the soul—until it reaches nirvana: OBLIVION.
I was attracted to Zen Buddhism when I read that it was “attachments” that created anxiety. But then I began to think that this was selfish; counting beads is a way of soothing our nervous system. We would still be in the Iron Age World if we all concentrate on reaching nirvana—because much energy is instead forfeited towards improving our lives positively. Today yoga is in; giving relief from our chattering neurons in the brain. What we needed was peace of mind.
It was human “curiosity” –as well as greed—that took us to where we are now: the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
Reincarnation seems destined for another world altogether!
THE SHROUD OF TURIN [Italy]
According to Scripture, Jesus was crucified and buried [in a shroud] at Jerusalem circa 35 ce; circa 1250 a shroud was discovered of a crucified man. In 1390, Pope Clement VII declared it was NOT authentic. But CHURCH fathers vouched that it was Jesus; and it was a true miracle that the shroud had survived. On occasion the shroud was shown to the public [for a contribution]. But there were people who started “wondering”; whispering it was a fake. It is not a fake or forgery but Christian Art. According to the latest scientific study/knowledge, a bas-relief [a shallow carving] was used and not a human body.
It would be a miracle indeed . . . if Jesus was buried in a piece of cloth woven in the 13th century!
SALVATOR MUNDI –portrait of Jesus
Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci—the portrait was bought 2017 for $450-million by Saudi Arabia.
Rumors: is it a fake?
Louvre Abu Dhabi plans to show Salvator Mundi . . . [on loan by the owner]
My input: According to Islamic dogma, it’s forbidden—haram—to show images depicting infallible individuals: considered role models.
Cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad: Charlie Hebdo magazine, Paris,—terrorist attack killed 12 people at their office. Images of the prophet disappeared from museums worldwide. Salman Rushdie and his book The Satanic Verses were issued a fatwa: calling for the death of the author.
The magazine and book were considered BLASPHEMOUS.
KORAN 33:59
“Prophet, enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers to draw their veils close round them. That is more proper, so that they may be recognized and not molested.”
In the Near East in the 7th century, leather garments had been replaced with loom-woven cloth: wool and linen. There were no taboos regarding apparel. Without exception, women in Arabia wore garments/robes reaching the ground, and when venturing outdoors, they covered their shoulders with a long, rectangular shawl-veil. Boys being boys, male eyes lit up seeing in public places a woman they’d like to meet—molesting them with their admiration.
So Prophet Muhammad told his male believers not to molest women wearing a veil that covered their heads and shoulders because these women belonged to his household and it included their own wives.
Even today in the western world, Muslim women wear the hijab as an emblem/token of identification.
My input: if I go to Iran I must wear, though I’m not a Muslim, the hijab; if not, I will be “arrested”—another word for molested? In the western world women no longer have to worry of being “molested” as secular laws prevail.
The painter is an artist who
CREATES an IMAGE!
THE CUP OF THE COVENANT
The snake’s image represents IMMORTALITY
Snakes shed their skins and like magic emerge with a brand-new one!
THE GOSPEL OF MARK:
14:22/23/24—While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “I tell you the truth; I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”
THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW:
26:26/27/28—“Take and eat; this is my body.” “Drink from it, all of you.” “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Not obeying God is a sin? Is God the Father a control freak?
I was startled when I learned that snakes have no ear openings. How could this creature—in the Garden of Eden—talk/listen, communicate with Eve?
GENESIS 3
The serpent SAID to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman replied, ‘God did say you must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ The serpent SAID, ‘God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God: knowing GOOD and EVIL.
The serpent has a FORKED TONGUE
Like a sharp knife, the tongue KILLS without shedding blood
YOU BELIEVE SOMETHING—YOU ACTUALLY DO NOT KNOW
A RELIGION CANNOT BECOME A GLOBAL FAITH
WITHOUT BOOKS TO TEACH
RELIGION is part of our cultural and intellectual history. It was our first attempt at literature, at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at healthcare, believing in faith healing, and at philosophy. [Christopher Hitchens]
THE HEBREW BIBLE
The Bible comprises myth, history, law, poetry, council, and prophecy. Written by God on stone tablets, the TEN COMMANDMENTS were given to Moses by his God: Yahweh/The Lord.
THE CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMEN
The New Testament contains the [earliest] letters of St. Paul and other leaders of the apostolic age, as well as missionary activities of St. Paul, four versions—GOSPELS—of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and the Book of Revelation unveiling the imminent end of the world, and the second coming of Jesus the Messiah.
THE KORAN
Islam is the faith of a single sacred text: the Koran, and governs all aspects of life.
The Koran is for Muslims the infallible Word of God, a transcript of a tablet preserved in heaven, revealed to Prophet Muhammad by Angel Gabriel.
If the Koran has existed through all eternity, it clearly has an absolute and universal status that cannot be challenged in any way.
If the Koran was created at a certain point in time by God, then it can be interpreted, and even, conceivably, modified by new revelation or human investigation to suit changed circumstances.
TODAY IN AMERICA
We worship in Christian churches, synagogues, Mormon temples, mosques, Meeting houses: Quakers & Baha’i, Sikh temples, Buddhist stupa, Zoroastrian temple (Chicago), and the many esoteric religions founded since the 16th century with their places of worship.
CONGRATULATIONS
1975—2025
THE LENAPE CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Kudos to: MARY ELEANOR BRACE PITCAIRN
TO BE CONTINUED
I spin like a spider myriad reflections,
and embroider with strands of vivid observations.
I paint fantasies with frivolous conceptions,
and build in the air with luminous illusions . . .
brilliant tapestries and
scintillating castles.
By Olga Pitcairn
Email your feedback about the story to the author at rosecamelia@verizon.net.