re-member me

falling
entombed
rest, peace
do not let me forget,
re-member me.

born again
struggle
drowning
heading to the east,
re-member me.

meaning of life
truth, light
heart, wisdom, love
realizing my destiny,
re-member me.

equations, giants and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Do you remember a basketball player named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?  He was born with the name Lew Alcindor but as he matured he embraced Islam and changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  He starred in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. This guy was a giant at 7 feet, 2 inches tall!

You know what else is a giant?  The constellation Orion which dominates our winter sky is a giant.  You can't miss it in its nightly voyage across the southern night sky as he rises in the east and eventually sets in the west.  Many ancient cultures referred to Orion as a giant. To the Jews Orion was known as Gibbor, the giant who they considered Nimrod the great hunter, and this Nimrod was bound to the sky for rebellion against Yahweh.  The Syrians referred to Orion as Gabbara the giant and the Arabians knew Orion as Al Jabbar the giant.

We turn again to the Online Etymology Dictionary to start connecting some dots:

algebra
1550s, from M.L. algebra, from Arabic al jebr "reunion of broken parts," as in computation, used 9c. by Baghdad mathematician Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi as the title of his famous treatise on equations ("Kitab al-Jabr w'al-Muqabala" "Rules of Reintegration and Reduction"), which also introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The accent shifted 17c. from second syllable to first. The word was used in English 15c.-16c. to mean "bone-setting," probably from Arab medical men in Spain.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=algebra

So Algebra comes from the Arabic Al Jebr, refers to bone setting, and is etymologically correlative to Al Jabbar.  Those familiar with the ancient Egyptian story of Osiris and Isis will remember Osiris being hacked to pieces by his brother Set and then re-assembled by the love of his wife Isis.  How this all interestingly enough adds up is Osiris is equated many times in the Pyramid texts to Orion.  For example text 820 states  “Behold Osiris has come as Orion.”

The action of Al Jabbar refers to the setting of broken bones while the thing it refers to is a giant in the sky and that giant is Orion.  This is only scratching the surface as what we have just learned branches off in many interesting directions that are well worth following.  I'll just follow one branch for now and that is concerning the stars that make up the constellation of Orion and how they relate back to our friend Osiris.

In old Arabia the belt of Orion stood out in the night sky and was given the designation Al Jauzah, which was a term used to describe a black sheep with a white spot in the middle of its body.  The left leg of Orion, known to us as the star Rigel, was known as Rijl Jauzah al Yusrāʽ.  The right shoulder of Orion, known to us as Betelgeuse, was known as Ibt al Jauzah - "the armpit of the Central One."  In Egypt the Great Pyramid of Khufu along with the pyramids Khafre and Menkaure were built on a plateau that is called today the Giza Plateau and is known in Arabic as Al Jizah.  Somehow the Arabs that named this area Al Jizah knew what this sacred plateau represented, as Al Jizah easily correlates with Al Jauzah.  There is a popular theory about the three pyramids representing Orion's belt, made most famous by author Robert Bauval in his book "The Orion Mystery". This has been disputed by leading Egyptologists most likely because it didn't dawn on them first.  The pyramids are symbols of re-birth and to the ancient Egyptians this was part of becoming.  Re-birth was the vehicle that allowed you to fulfill this act of becoming.  The Pharaoh was a living Horus, which is telling us that the King had achieved a spiritual becoming while on earth and had the authority to rule as the enlightened one among us.  In physical death the Pharaoh would become Osiris again and await re-birth while being entombed in his great symbol.

Next I will follow the path that explains the setting of broken bones.

doing justice to Min

Maybe I'm a rube but this etymological situation puzzles me greatly. In ancient Egypt, there was this famous place called Wadi Hammamat which was utilized throughout the span of Egyptian greatness as a major centre for mining and quarrying activity. Gold mining and quarrying for bekhen stone were the chief activities; bekhen stone being prized for its colours, and utilized for making sculptures and sarcophagi. Wadi Hammamat connected the great ancient Egyptian city of Gebtu (Koptos in Greek, now called Qift) to the Red Sea coast. At Gebtu, the predynastic god Min had a cult site and caravans would depart from Gebtu on their way to and through Wadi Hammamat for mining, trade, and travel. Nowadays, the wadi is prized for the hieroglyphic and hieratic inscriptions left behind by these tradesmen of the great Egyptian civilization. Not surprisingly, Min was worshipped by the miners and masons doing their digging at Wadi Hammamat. Min was known here as "Min, the (foremost) Man of the Mountain" or "Min, the Male of the Mountain". Now, this mining activity went on here, as I intimated, for at least three thousand years. There are numerous texts and figures of an ithyphallic Min adorning the rocks here.

On the internet at dictionary.com, a mine is described as such:

an excavation made in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, precious stones, etc.

On the internet at dictionary.com, the action to mine is described as such:

to dig in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, etc.; make a mine.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mine

This is an apt description of what went on at Wadi Hammamat for thousands of years under the auspicious watch of the great Min.

One of my favourite sites on the internet, the Online Etymology Dictionary, gives this for the origin of the english word mine:

c.1300, from O. Fr. mine, probably from a Celtic source (cf. Welsh mwyn, Ir. mein "ore, mine"), from O.Celt. *meini-. Italy and Greece were relatively poor in minerals, thus they did not contribute a word for this to Eng., but there was extensive mining from an early date in Celtic lands (Cornwall, etc.). The verb meaning "to dig in a mine" is from c.1300.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mine

That's it, that's the best we can do in our modern research. Puzzled, I thought maybe the goods we are mining for, minerals, might help reveal some clues to the origin of the mine family of words. Nothing; a virtual dead end. One thing I have always been good at is math. I've always been confident and unshaken in the conclusion that 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 2 = 4 and so on, so when I see things that add up to reveal an answer I'm quite certain of the truthfulness of that answer despite what I might be taught. The ancient Egyptians dug and quarried for thousands of years at Wadi Hammamat for earth's treasures. This was overseen by Min. This place, the substance and the performing of the action preserves the power of this deity to this very day. You cannot convince me otherwise.

biblical ambivalence

I don't know what to make of the bible. I mean that in the sense of has it netted out a positive or a negative in terms of how it has helped humanity on its road to enlightenment?  Some of my favourite spiritual passages and meanings come from the book.

The path to the truth:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matt 7:14  KJV)

How ironic. Any mainstream Christians out there who have found that path?

The prodigal son:

'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' (Luke 15:31-32, NIV)

My dad called me the prodigal son one summer when I returned for a visit. That has stuck with me; it was apropos. There's the Sunday school interpretation of the story and how it's important to forgive. It's a lesson not lost. However, there's a deeper and profound meaning. The return is about the spirit, our life and light incarnating into matter and suffering the trials and tribulations which it brings. It's my story and it's your story. I was so lost. I've been disgusted with what I've gone through. I have been spiritually dead, acting only on carnal desires and animal instincts. I'm in the process of fighting through this. Maybe I'll make it to the other side, the east. Some call it Jerusalem. This passage tells me the enormity of this struggle is not lost on the eternal; if I make it, there will be much rejoicing!

I'm also deeply moved by Psalm 23.  Everyone knows this one:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." This is my journey and it all started when I overcame death and by that I mean the death of my spirit in matter. My spiritual coffin was nailed shut and tossed into the river but I have persevered and engendered a new life.

So why then my biblical ambivalence? I harbour no ill will towards the bible and the concept of the Christ; you might know him as the long-haired guy some call Jesus. It is a message that transcends our existence on earth and I'll emphasize again that I mean our spiritual self incarnated into matter. My ambivalence stems from how the bible has been used by those with intentions I call into question. This great message is manipulated and made into an idea that the only way to salvation and eternal life is through blind acceptance of some guy named Jesus. It is literalization of eternal truths which then make a mockery of these truths. What rational person is going to take these stories as literal truths? The effect of this is to turn people off the spiritual because it's so irrational. The atheist today is an atheist because of their reaction to our modern literal interpretations of knowledge held sacred and revered by the ancient practitioners of natural philosophy. In essence, the bible is used to turn people against ever contemplating the meaning of life or seeking a path to a higher truth. Thus my ambivalence.

i've always loved birds

Doesn't the ba bird as a pictograph of the soul (think spiritual manifestation) strike you as peculiar?  Do you not wonder how the Ancient Egyptians' assignment of the representation of the soul known as "Ba" to a migratory bird not lead you to question how we got the modern word bird from?  Have you ever sat outside at sunset and listened to birds soaring across the sky screaming out "ka ka ka"?  I often wondered why these Egyptians did not equate the bird with their concept of ka?  Until it struck me they had it right all along.  These birds were frantically searching for their ka.