Church services resume Sunday September 11, 2011 at 10 a.m. in the Chrysalis Santuary on Mercer's Fernery Road in DeLand, FL
Pastor Skuli Thorallson will be officiating. All faiths are welcome. We offer a program based on the wisdom of the ages and every program is followed by an open discussion and question and answer period.
Home made refreshments are available, coffees of different flavors, and fresh fruits.
Welcome! Please join our small group of steadfast worshipers
Today's Affirmation
There is a Power and a Presence within me. It is all knowing, all caring, all loving, all powerful. It is the completeness of the Universe, individualized as me. It is who I am, It is what I am. It is God as me now.
Göbekli Tepe: Older Than Stonehenge, Pyramids, Anything
Saturday, 3 Jul 2010 — Contributed by KuncenWhen people think of ancient temples, they often think of Stonehenge, which most archaeologists agree was built about 5,000 years ago. But Stonehenge is actually trumped handily by a little-known site in modern-day Turkey called Göbekli Tepe, which is 11,500 years old. The site is composed of circular rings and T-shaped monoliths, many with carvings of animals on them.
Although Göbekli Tepe (which means “potbelly hill”) got a bit of press in 2008 when The Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine ran articles about its newly realized importance, it didn’t really receive the wider public acclaim and notice that it deserved. According to many archaeologists, this is one of the most exciting finds ever unearthed, a real game-changer in terms of our understanding of civilization, settlement, agriculture, and religion.
Previously, it was generally believed that humans settled, started farming, and built residential buildings before they built temples. That assumption is now being turned on its head, as it appears that Göbekli Tepe was built by hunter-gatherers as a place of worship, the world’s first temple. The Smithsonian article states:
"Scholars have long believed that only after people learned to farm and live in settled communities did they have the time, organization and resources to construct temples and support complicated social structures. But [excavation leader] Schmidt argues it was the other way around: the extensive, coordinated effort to build the monoliths literally laid the groundwork for the development of complex societies."Ian Hodder, Stanford University professor of anthropology, elaborates:
"Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilisations could build such monumental sites, and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture. Gobekli changes everything. It's elaborate, it's complex and it is pre-agricultural. That alone makes the site one of the most important archaeological finds in a very long time."To put it in context, Göbekli Tepe “predates pottery, metallurgy, and the invention of writing or the wheel,” as well as the Pyramids, the walls of Jericho, and just about every other ancient building found so far. Hodder continues, "Many people think that it changes everything … It overturns the whole apple cart. All our theories were wrong."
The exact function of the megalithic complex remains under investigation, as the excavation is ongoing and could take many more years. Klaus Schmidt, the German archaeologist leading the effort, believes that Göbekli Tepe was used by a death cult. Others suggest that it represents the beginning of cultivation of plants, especially grains.
Why did ancient pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers (who didn’t generally live in one place) build such a large structure? What did they use it for? Why was it intentionally buried by hundreds of cubic meters of soil in 8,000 BC? What does this discovery mean for our understanding of the timelines of agriculture and religion? Are the animal carvings, as Schmidt puts it, "the earliest representation of gods?"
“If you want to be happy, be.” — Leo Tolstoy
“In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”
— Leo Tolstoy
“Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.”
— Leo Tolstoy
“There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes. ”
— Leo Tolstoy
Each situation is stated; followed by the necessary elements for each situation.
Each situation is stated; followed by the necessary elements for each situation.
- Supplication
- a Persecutor; a Supplicant; a Power in authority, whose decision is doubtful.
- Deliverance
- an Unfortunate; a Threatener; a Rescuer
- Crime pursued by vengeance
- a Criminal; an Avenger
- Vengeance taken for kin upon kin
- Guilty Kinsman; an Avenging Kinsman; remembrance of the Victim, a relative of both
- Pursuit
- Disaster
- a Vanquished Power; a Victorious Enemy or a Messenger
- Falling prey to cruelty/misfortune
- an Unfortunate; a Master or a Misfortune
- Revolt
- a Tyrant; a Conspirator
- Daring enterprise
- Abduction
- an Abductor; the Abducted; a Guardian
- The enigma
- a Problem; an Interrogator; a Seeker
- Obtaining
- (a Solicitor & an Adversary who is refusing) or (an Arbitrator & Opposing Parties)
- Enmity of kin
- a Malevolent Kinsman; a Hated or a reciprocally-hating Kinsman
- Rivalry of kin
- the Preferred Kinsman; the Rejected Kinsman; the Object of Rivalry
- Murderous adultery
- two Adulterers; a Betrayed Spouse
- Madness
- a Madman; a Victim
- Fatal imprudence
- the Imprudent; a Victim or an Object Lost
- Involuntary crimes of love
- a Lover; a Beloved; a Revealer
- Slaying of kin unrecognized
- the Slayer; an Unrecognized Victim
- Self-sacrifice for an ideal
- Self-sacrifice for kin
- a Hero; a Kinsman; a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed
- All sacrificed for passion
- a Lover; an Object of fatal Passion; the Person/Thing sacrificed
- Necessity of sacrificing loved ones
- a Hero; a Beloved Victim; the Necessity for the Sacrifice
- Rivalry of superior vs. inferior
- a Superior Rival; an Inferior Rival; the Object of Rivalry
- Adultery
- two Adulterers; a Deceived Spouse
- Crimes of love
- a Lover; the Beloved
- Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one
- a Discoverer; the Guilty One
- Obstacles to love
- two Lovers; an Obstacle
- An enemy loved
- a Lover; the Beloved Enemy; the Hater
- Ambition
- an Ambitious Person; a Thing Coveted; an Adversary
- Conflict with a god
- a Mortal; an Immortal
- Mistaken jealousy
- a Jealous One; an Object of whose Possession He is Jealous; a Supposed Accomplice; a Cause or an Author of the Mistake
- Erroneous judgement
- a Mistaken One; a Victim of the Mistake; a Cause or Author of the Mistake; the Guilty One
- Remorse
- a Culprit; a Victim or the Sin; an Interrogator
- Recovery of a lost one
- a Seeker; the One Found
- Loss of loved ones
- a Kinsman Slain; a Kinsman Spectator; an Executioner
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| African Poetry |
Namaste
