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In some cultures, prayers are held to have an intrinsic meaning.
It is not the telling, or reciting of the prayer, the prayer exists on it's own, separate from the prayer (prayer, the recitation or written expression thereof, exists separately from the one who tells it...).
And this existence, the intrinsic existence of the prayer, influences the universe for the better, it can be replicated, multiplied and even mechanized.
The most notable examples are the Tibetans, with their branch of Buddhism that allows for prayer flags (prayers are carried from the flags by the winds), prayer wheels (spinning the wheel releases the prayer contained on both the outside and wound round the shaft of the wheel), there are other examples as well.
In Catholicism the saying of the rosaries would be equivalent, but only very roughly, for the church has not given sanction to machines to say rosaries, they must be said by the faithful, and the repetition of them, while apparently mechanical, is also contemplative and meditative. Whereas the blowing of flags by the wind, or spinning of unseen wheels by machines or people could not be said to be either.
I find this curious.
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I came across this one while surfing the net:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJfBSc6e7QQ&feature=youtu.be
Curious, as it's not something that one generally thinks of. Well, I have, but never to the point of making a video....
The point of it is this: The earth is expanding, which explains the similarities between fossils, etc.
Note that Pangea and the theory of Continental Drift also explains the same thing, the author of the video has merely taken the Big Bang theory and applied it to it's constituent parts, on a much reduced time scale.
Now the author doesn't explain (at least in his video) where the extra earth mass is coming from, or why it should be expanding, but these are merely trifles, if you're curious and need further explanation he does so via simple colorful cartoons at his website: http://www.nealadams.com. And if you were, even for a second, thinking he might be onto something the website should persuade you otherwise ...
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To renounce acquaintance. There are four sorts of cut -
- The cut direct is to stare an acquaintance in the face and pretend not to know him.
- The cut indirect, to look another way, and pretend not to see him.
- The cut sublime, to admire the top of some tall edifice or the clouds of heaven till the person cut has passed by.
- The cut infernal, to stoop and adjust your boots till the party has gone past.
There is a very remarkable Scripture illustration of the word cut, meaning to renounce: “Jehovah took a staff and cut it asunder, in token that He would break His covenant with His people; and He cut another staff asunder, in token that He would break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (Zech. xi. 7–14).
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898
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An interesting idea that has somewhat intrigued me.
The principal forms of prayer (as recognized by the Catholic church).
Blessing & Adoration
Basically worshiping God.
Petition
Asking God for favors.
Intercession
Asking God for favors on behalf of others.
Thanksgiving
Finally thanking God for all the things we have to be grateful for.
Praise
Telling G. what he/she already knows. See Blessing & Adoration or Thanksgiving.
Meditation
Simply meditating & contemplating God. Perhaps similar to Blessing & Adoration, but I don't think the blessings, our blessings, have any relevance. Simply put it is communion with God, similar in essence to the Buddhists view of meditation....
Now there are only 4 that I remember, yet somehow I have 7 listed. Blessing & Adoration, Praise, & Meditation might be placed all together...
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Listening to Radiolab, much fodder for the imagination. Like Benford's Law. For those not familiar, it basically states that "in lists of numbers from many (but not all) real-life sources of data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. According to this law, the first digit is 1 almost one third of the time, and larger digits occur as the leading digit with lower and lower frequency, to the point where 9 as a first digit occurs less than one time in twenty. This distribution of first digits arises logically whenever a set of values is distributed logarithmically."
Or, more precisely: "Benford's law states that the leading digit d (d ∈ {1, …, b − 1} ) in base b (b ≥ 2) occurs with probability:"
Source: Wikipedia
Now this is intriguing. It can be explained to some extent and in some instances by mechanisms of growth (eg: fibonocci sequence), or in other word most systems & organisms "grow" and so when measured exhibit typical growth patterns (eg: cities - addresses grow out from center, hence disproportionate number of addresses beginning with a 1..). But note the qualifier - that to some extent and in some instances. There are apparently as well instances of data that conform to Bedford's law yet in no ways could be considered "alive" or "organic". Which is curious.
And, to add to the curiosity, in the same program (radiolab, numbers), the point is raised that while the recognition of numbers is an ability we are all born with, it's not the observation of linear numbers and quantity as we know it, rather instead a logarithmic means of counting - meaning that a child will recognize double and quadruple amounts more readily and primitive tribes who have not developed the same perspective we have, if asked to choose the midway point between 1 and 9, for example, would choose 3, whereas we - by training and force of habit - would choose 5.
Which is very curious indeed. I've explained it poorly, but listen to the radiolab program to hear it explained more in depth and in a much more interesting fashion...