I am reading Daymon Smith's Words of Them Liberated concurrently with Hugh Nibley's Enoch the Prophet.

In the introduction to the first Words book, Daymon incorrectly states that Tolkien used the name Azoyan for Numenor, adding his own interpretation of that name ("i.e., Zion") in parentheses. Every single word and ...

Last night I discovered Blue Sun Ben, a 1984 children's book by Jean and Claudio Marzollo.

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In "The Son of Righteousness, and the Talking Quartz of Kirtland," I report a sync in which a vivid fantasy about the Blue Sun of the Homeric age coincided with seeing the phrase "Son of Righteousness" -- a ...

This is:

Because "we" (the group with whom I identify) have, over many past generations, sunk so much effort, resources, sufferings into such-and-such aspects of the religion;

"Therefore" I/Now cannot possibly conclude that such activities and actions are here-and-now now useless, or harmful.

(Poor little me all ...

Joseph Smith reported that Moroni quoted to him a version of Malachi "with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles" (JS-H v. 36). Below are the King James Version and the version quoted by Moroni, with the differences italicized:

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the ...

Because being-a-Christian is essentially about resurrected eternal Heavenly life beyond mortal death; it may seem that - even if it were assumed to be a real and attainable possibility - this is not of any help in helping people deal with the sufferings of this mortal life.

And, after all, it is this-life and its ...

Anointed, I proclaim the yearOf favor, when the deaf shall hear When hearts shall mend, the blind shall see,And captive spirits shall go free,For such awaits us "in that day,"A certain seer was wont to say. I say the time to wait is past For all that holy prophet spake. This day, Isaiah's dawn at last shall ...

No, not today! I've all my lifeTo wonder-work, but now my wifeComes first. And what concern of mineIf these, omitting sprout and vineAnd vat, want drink who sowed no seed?True, Jesus -- yet behold the need! The secret is not often spoke, You'll hear it not in Sunday school: That always love partakes of broken ...

Elijah crossed this stream dry-shod,And where is now Elijah's God?He wades. He takes Elijah's hand,And both now bow to the commandOf One Elijah dimly sawAnd Joshua, beneath the Law. All dimly did they see that One, Those prophets over Jordan sent, Till Jesus Christ appeared and underwent.

His father's work? He timber takes,A thing that grew by laws its ownFrom seeds in First Creation sown,And something fit for purpose makes.And thus, in all he skills to build,The acorn's promise is fulfilled. The Son, for all his parents' fear, Has set himself his father's task, And so at learned feet must ...

William Wildblood is currently running a fascinating blog series based on a period in the early 1980s when he lived in India for several years, a period that included running a guesthouse in a "hill station".

This most recent post tackles the subject of the "Dark Gurus" who were a culturally prominent feature in the ...

In welcoming the Holy Child,Such is the hold of Moses' words,They take a pair of turtles mildAnd sacrifice the harmless birds.They keep the Law, they are devout,But Moses' time is running out. Now dawns the Age of Broken Heart. Oppression in his name shall cease. Let all the prophets now depart in peace

To those who say God cannot changeAnd make of him a lifeless fact,Isaiah says God's work is strange,And passing strange Jehovah's act.For what could the All-knowing know,Without the will to undergo? But having made himself a son, He by his own experience knows. The only God that lives is one that grows.

Previously in this series about my life in India during the 1980s I've written about Europeans we knew but not much about Indians except in passing. But, of course, we knew many and were friends with several. There was Krishnamurti the tailor who always wore a crisp white shirt and sharply pressed khaki trousers. ...

I've been thinking about the two-key sync theme. One repeated element of these syncs is that the keys are equated to crosses. I quote from my February 2024 post "What's the second key?":

On February 5, I was checking a few YouTube channels and found a video posted by the synchromystic channel LXXXVIII finis temporis ...

In the past - including in Western nations - there were religious wars, because religion was the primary motivator in many people's lives.

For example in the 16th and 17th century in the British Isles there were religious inter-national and civil wars between Christians. It is very evident that - whatever other ...

How is it each can recognize,These prophets as they meet midstream,What never has before his eyesAppeared, not even in a dream?If womb to womb, as face to face,Across the intervening space, They met on some prenatal day, Is that the key to how they knew? The key to every holy déjà vu?

Thou highly favored one, rejoice!Thou lady pure, thou virgin choice!The words are whispers, yet they makeThe earth beneath the maid to shakeAs round the angel, small and slight,The desert fills with ghostly light. The quakes subside, the earth is still, As Mary turns and can but stare, For hovering she finds ...

Last month, as documented in "Chil the Kite and the Day of Doom," I searched for a brief poem from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, clicked the link, and found that even though it was the right web address (which displayed the right poem when I refreshed), it was displaying something totally different: the 66th ...

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Sir John Fenwick's the flower amang them (variously titled) is a lovely, yearning air in 3/4 time, which I often used to play to myself on the accordion, or other instruments.

It is very simple; and it is easy to play the notes; although of course, it is never "easy" to play a great simple tune ...

It strikes me that different people want very different things from their religion - or (more often nowadays) their ideology*.

Many people now - and always, perhaps - understand their religion in terms of this-worldly benefit.

In other words, they believe (or, at least, hope) that the practice of the religion ...

My interest having been piqued by a mention of Bruce's blog, I tried to track down a digital copy of Wendy Berg's Red Tree, White Tree. Failing to find one, I instead downloaded the one Wendy Berg book I was able to find: Gwenevere and the Round Table. Scrolling through it rapidly first to get the lay of the land, I ...

As I was waking up this morning, there came to my mind a certain part of the Mormon temple ritual, in which the initiate, being asked by one representing God if he will give him certain key words, replies, "I will, through the veil." As I entered the fully waking state, I thought of the similarity to the dialogue with ...

In my last post, "Clavis avis, clavis Dav'is," I noted that I had posted an image of a bird with a small golden key in a post called "Update: Some additional pebbles have been seen," and I connected this with a scene in Johnny English Reborn in which Johnny compares the "small key" that will allow him to defeat his ...

Virtue in traditional Christianity, indeed in traditional religion, is about obedience to external deity - service to the will of a deity.

Creativity is in fact the product of deity; and it may be regarded as the monopoly of deity.

Traditional religion does not have a central place for creativity by ...

(Apologies for the genitive mutilation. It's called poetic license, okay?)

In "Clavis avis" -- Latin for "the bird's key" -- I posted this picture, noting that a third rhyme was provided by the last name of the artist, Davis.

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Despite that third rhyme, I did not immediately connect it with the ...

I started a post on my Book of Mormon blog -- gave it a title, "So as by fire," and pasted a list of scripture references I wanted to deal with -- and then saved the draft and went to teach my final class of the day. As I was writing today's date on the board, I thought, for no obvious reason, "March 25, so nine more ...

They kidnap us. Fly us halfway around the world in cages. Then put us on display. A spectacle for fevered little children of poor manners and bored little men with poor imaginations. But no one can cage ol’ Cappy for long, I’m not like other capybaras.

You don’t believe me, I can tell. If I’m ...

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Much as with UFOs; I have read a fair bit about ET contacts (and viewed documentaries or videos); and various of my penfriends have described their own ET contacts - so my attitude has been somewhat open to the reality of such things.

But this openness-in-principle has been modified by an ...

Last night I put on some music on my phone while washing dishes. Since my hands were wet, I just let the algorithm do its thing after the initial selection. The Metric song "Help I'm Alive," from their 2008 album Fantasies, came on:

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Appropriately given the album title, this song triggered mental ...