There are a thousand familiar disputes which reason can never decide. [A person’s] history is a thing hardly to be predicted, even from the completest knowledge of characteristics. For the tragedy of our lives is not created entirely from within. Chaos is the science of surprise, of the nonlinear and the unpredictable. While most traditional science deals with supposedly predictable phenomena like gravity, electricity, or chemical reactions, Chaos Theory deals with nonlinear things that are effectively impossible to predict or control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, and people’s emotions.  A man can no more resist the impulse of fate than a wheelbarrow can the force of its driver. These phenomena are often described by fractal mathematics, which captures the infinite complexity of nature. Many natural objects exhibit fractal properties, including landscapes, clouds, trees, rivers, and many of the systems in which we live exhibit complex, chaotic behavior. There is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does not send us heralds. Destiny is too wise or too cruel for that.

Recognizing the chaotic behavior, fractal nature of our World can give us new insight, power, and wisdom. If the best me do not draw the great prizes in life, we know it has been so settled by the Ordainer of the lottery. Basically series of events seems like they are not connected and random, but they are not. Like how drilling for oil is causing more Earthquakes. It can be difficult to tell from data whether a physical or other observed process is random or chaotic, because in practice no time series consists of a pure signal. There will always be some form of corrupting noise, even if it is present as round off or truncation error. Thus any real time series, even if mostly deterministic, will contain some (pseudo) randomness. However, many events are actually orchestrated to look random, and the more you investigate them, you begin to see a pattern and notice that the events are connected. A great example of this Chaos Theory displayed in the film, Chaos, starring Ryan Phillippe; while weak souls are crushed by fortune, the brave mind maketh the fickle deity afraid of it.

 

Let me entreat thee (my sweet Love) to take all in good part, for it is all my love to thee, and in my love I shall requite thee: I acknowledge, indeed, thou may justly sat to me, as Christ to the Pharisees, Hypocrite, first cast out the beam that is thine own eye and, for whatsoever, I may be in the opinion, yet mine own guilty heart tells me of  far greater things to be reformed in myself and yet I fear there is much more than in my own partial judgement I can discern; just because I have to complain of my pride, unbelief, hardness of heart, and impatience, vanity of mind, unruliness of my affections, stubbornness of my will, ingratitude, and unfaithfulness in the  Covenant of my God, and therefore, (by God’s assistance) I will endeavor that in myself, which I will also desire in thee. Let us search and try our hearts and turn to the Lord: for this is our safety, not our own innocence, but his mercy: If when we were enemies he loved us to reconciliation; much more, being reconciled will he save us from destruction. Lastly for my farewell (for thou sees my loatheness to part with thee makes me to be tedious) take courage unto thee , and clear up thy heart in the Lord, for thou knows that Christ they best husband can never fail thee: he never dies, so as there can be no grief at parting; he never changes, so as once beloved and ever the same: his ability is ever infinite, so as the dowry and inheritance of his sons and daughters can never be diminished. As for me a poor word, dust and ashes, a man full of infirmities, subject to all sins, changes and chances, which befall the sons of men, how should I promise thee anything of myself, or if I should, what credence could thou give thereto, seeing God only is true and every man a lair.

 Yet, so far as a man may presume upon some experience, I may tell thee, that my hope is, that such comfort as thou hast already convinced of my love toward thee, shall (through God’s blessing) be happily continued; his grace shall be sufficient for me, and his power shall be made perfect in my greatest weakness: only let thy godly, kind, and sweet carriage towards me, be as fuel to the fire, to minister a constant supply of meet matter to the confirming and quickening of my dull affection: This is one end why I write so much unto thee, that if there should be any decay in kindness and through my default and slackness  hereafter, thou might have some patterns of our first love by thee, to help the recovery of such diseases: yet let our trust be wholly in God, and let fist constantly follow him by our prayers, complaining and moaning unto him our own poverty, imperfections and unworthiness, until his fatherly affection breaks forth upon us, and he speaks kindly to the hearts of his poor servant, and handmade, for the full assurance of Grace and peace through Christ, to whom I now leave thee (my sweet Spouse and only beloved). God send us a safe and comfortable meeting on Monday morning. Farwell. Remember my love and duty to my Lady thy good mother, with all kind and due salutations to thy uncle E: and all thy brothers and sisters. They husband by promise. My father and mother salute thee heartily with my Lady and the rest. How brilliant and tender is the moon on this night. May your life be like this fantastic night filled with happiness and ecstasy. Without rhythm, there would be no poetry; without colors, could there be life? May Summer endow you with magnificent colors, boundless hopes, and a bright future!   If I had thought my letter would have run to half this length I would have made choice of a larger paper.

 

 

 

I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love. I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love. Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. However, if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away. You are a reflection of chivalry, heroism, action. First you give us an age of deeds, and then an age of computer programs. Someone as great as you comprehend all perfections. You have a soul that is quick to discern, no shade of quality escapes it, and you are so quick to feel, that discernment is but a hand playing with finely ordered variety on the chords of emotion, a soul in which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling flashes back as a new organ of knowledge. One may have that condition by fits only. Being long together makes us remember each other forever. May the flame of strong love spring up in our hearts. How is it that you have said so many fine things about your first love, and so few about the later love? There is a deal to be said, but cannot be put into words. The Early morning always has this touch…whisper…gleam…beat of wings of Eden.

 Last night, in the misty moonlight, I saw you off in secret. Hence there appears a little weeping star in the sky. Prose can paint evening and moonlight, but you are desired to sing the dawn. Missing is warm seabeach turning my missing to blessing and sends to you in the distance. After a passion is excited, there is a danger of tearing it to rags.  Attachment to a favorite system will make the best-informed mind blind. Love, when it is only the consequence of pride gratified, will vanish as soon as that pride is piqued; and will surrender up its place to aversion. When parting draws aside its curtain, when memory sleeps in the chest, it really breaks my heart to say goodbye. Only the dream remains sweet. A pure heart, whether in man or woman, will be always, in every company, on every occasion, pure. The spotless virgin fears not the roaring lion. The purity of hear heart prevents you from seeing the depravity. Who can prove that the enjoyment of the moment also is the purpose of the existence of that moment? If only you can find it, everything has a moral. Love is a rose that captivates the whole Universe. Love is a rose that lets the World prone before it, may you hold this rose! May we jointly open up a stretch of land of love where we will let the seed of fantasy bear real, sweet fruit. You like romance and you also pursue material; you are looking for life, while looking for a dream in your life. May you be happy and satisfactory! Please remember, tomorrow, my dear blessing will be in your solitary life and the song you have sung will be in my colorless years.

 You are a rare bird upon the Earth. By good and strong root, your graces hold to the firm soil of reality. If my wishes will drive your worries away, then, let them blow into your heart. My hopeful smile brings you my infinite love. Your song expresses my fantastic ideal, while the music from my instrument condenses your boundless aspiration. May we perform together a piece of music of happiness. You are like that unerring light within us which, when we are not blinded by passion, will always teach us to distinguish right from wrong. Our reason is our own. Our feelings we inherit. Delivery yourself by permit of your cheque on the Bank of Reason, and your account is increased instead of lessened. I will never forget you and please think of me and come to see me occasionally. May you be satisfactory and happy. Let the sun and blue sky move the clouds and wake up the hidden memory; several words in the letter bring my regards to the faraway lover. May every day turn into a sincere blessing to you. I do not know how to bless you with my eager heart. May you possess a warm smile unexpectedly on your voyage of life at the moment you turn back your head suddenly. There are dreamy flowers in the garden, they are much like a dream. May you dream like a beautiful flower; may the flower in your heart be like the beautiful dream. With your love and my affection, we will build an impeccably happy life.

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When a man gets a good berth, half the deserving must come after. My dear teacher, it is you who brings me out of the innocent World, teach me truth of life, purify my soul, enrich my mind, how can I reward you for all of that? We should not conclude that a man who strives earnestly for success does so with a strong sense of his own merit. He may see how little success has to do with merit, and his motive may be his very blessing. You come in by yourselves, without his direction, what a god is memory? To implore help itself the proof of underset of it. The holiest among us has but attained so far above his fellows as to discern more clearly the Mercy which looks down, and repudiate more utterly the phantom of human excellence which would look aspiringly upward. He that see inferior desert advanced above him will naturally impute that preference to partiality or caprice; and, indeed, it can scarcely be hoped that any man, however magnanimous by nature or exalted by condition, will be able to persist forever in the fixed and inexorable justice of distribution.

 There is a drowsy state, between sleeping and waking, when you dream more in five minutes with your eyes half open, and yourself half conscious of everything that is passing around you, than you would in five nights with your eyes fast closed, and your sense wrap in perfect unconsciousness. At such times, a mortal knows just enough of what his mind is doing, to form some glimmering conception of its mighty powers, it is bounding from Earth, and spurning time and space, when freed from the restraint of it corporeal associate. The heart loves repose and the soul contemplation, but the mind needs action. It is you who turns stone steps, so I step forward. Cutting the clouds as letter papers is not enough for me to write down my thanks. On this lofty platform, you are like a guide sign, directing people forward, one generation after another. Thank you for your guide. What does it matter where my body happens to be? My mind goes on working all the same.

 There is a curious want of system in the English mind. When we are not occupied in making machinery, we are (mentally speaking) the most slovenly people in the Universe. In vast cycles, age after age, the human mind marches on, like the ocean, receding here, but there advancing. In the crossroad of my life, it is you that stretch firmly your warm hands in front of me. The hands are guide signs, so I am firm and clear headed. Thank you forever, my beloved teacher. You are a hard-working cultivator. During a long time after we leave each other, your voice sounds respected. No waves can stop our youthful steps. May you be healthy and happy forever. Strength of mind is improvable, every man’s mind is his best friend, what has ever felt that all his thinking powers were absorbed, even by the most poignant mental misery that could occupy them? In moments of imminent danger, the mind can still travel of its own accord over the past in spite of the present, in moments there is a want of the English mind. Miracles seem impossible just because they break the laws of Nature. There seems something blasphemous in supposing that God can make His own order. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his way and loving toward all he has made.

 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears the cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name, Ryan Phillippe, forever and ever. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Roses spruces in Winter. Without sunshine, how can it have charming and delicate splendor? Oh, LORD, your teachings are more than the warm sunshine of Summer. In this World, no matter how many more years I will live, and how far I will further travel, what I can never forget is your encouragement and expectation. In these special days, dear LORD, how I wish I could once again listen to your endearing inculcation.  No condition, however destitute or degraded, out of which one has a fair prospect, or anything like a rational hope of rising, can justly be considered as utterly miserable.

 May our friendship be like a snowball that rolls further and further and bigger and bigger in the clean and clear snow field. Nothing in the World is better and more pleasing than friendship. Without friends in the World, the World would lose the Sun. Understanding yourself and others and then link the hearts with the understanding, a glutinous reagent, to form an unshakable friendship. May the seed of sincerity be sworn in the heart of your friend and may our friendship be in full bloom. It is suspense, it is hope, that make the food of misery; certainty is always endured, because known to be past amendment, and felt to give defiance to struggling. You are water. You are blue waves with rippled in clear summer, flowing happily. You flow liquor, then my heart is intoxicated. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Do you believe that your beauty is matchless, and everyone is infatuated with you? However, I love your soul more than your appearance.

 You are a flame of fire burning violently, brightening my life. I would like to plunge into your heart, melting the whole of myself. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Love, whose hope is in the LORD his GOD, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and everything in them, the LORD, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, and the LORD loves the righteous, the LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. Miseries have power over men, and not men over miseries. The patriotism is modified by an indisposition to generalize. No man is in love when he marries. He may have loved before; he has sometimes loved mistress, indeed, he may blush: for if there are any small failings there, his taste may be called in question. A wife is generally nothing more than a household superintendent. Those who marry from love may grow rich; but those who marry rich will never love.

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Can anyone paint the living, breathing soul of a very young and beautiful person? No! If a man had the genius to do so, the very enthusiasm which always attends it would throw him into a very unpainter like raptures at the sight of such a one. Why is beauty given us, unless it be like sunlight to bless a gladden World? Beauty is given to remind us that the soul should be kept as fair and perfect in its proportions as the temple in which it dwells. The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared. The mystery which underlies the beauty of a women is never raised above the reach of all expressions until it has claimed kindred with the deeper mystery in our own souls. Nothing in nature is there required to make a woman handsome, but eyes. I have the money and want the beauty; but as times go now, the first will do, so I have the better of my neighbors. Guard against the mischiefs which attend an early knowledge of your own beauty. If a young woman once thinks herself handsome, she never doubts the truth of any man that tells her he is in love with her. Beauty’s a portion, and good humor with it is a double portion. Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of youthful looks. Alas! How few of Nature’s faces are left alone to gladden us with their beauty!

 All beauty is sexless in the eyes of the artist at his work. There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles, from the desperate to the sheepish; but there is one order of beauty which seems made to turn the heads not only of men, but of all intelligent mammals, even of women. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle and to engage in conscious mischief, a beauty with which you can never be angry, but that you feel ready to crush for inability to comprehend the state of mind into which it throws you. Human feeling is like the mighty rivers that bless the Earth: it does not wait for beauty, it flows with resistless force and brings beauty with it. All honor and reverence to the divine of form! Let us cultivate it to the utmost in men, women, and children, it our gardens and in our houses. However, let us love that other beauty too, which lies in no secret of proportion, but in the secret of deep human sympathy. The beauty of a lovely woman is like music. That kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress, plainness has its peculiar temptations and vices quite as much as beauty. She did not see why women were to be told with a simper that they were beautiful, any more than old men were to be told that they were venerable.

 Much beauty will go long way with the judge and the jury. The vast power of exquisite beauty, which nothing can almost add to or diminish, is eternal. To withdraw admiration from exquisite beauty, or to feel no delight in gazing at it, is as impossible as to feel no warmth from the most scorching rays of the Sun. She was so far from regretting want of beauty, that she never mentioned that perfection without contempt. If thou hast seen things of beauty without knowing what a beauty is, thou hast no eyes; if without feeling its power, thou hast no heart. Fine girls are spoiled by foolish mothers, who are continually trumpeting beauty in their ears without taking any care of their principles and dispositions. Beauty is like lighting, lovely, but destructive. Perhaps to a woman it is almost as dreadful to think of losing beauty as of losing reputation. It is a woman’s duty to be as beautiful as she can. A sensible woman would rather lose her wits then her beauty. There never was a woman that step handsomer in her shoes than Aaliyah did. Descriptions of beauty are never satisfactory. The beauty and glory of a great picture are confined within itself. It is a woeful thing, a sad necessity, that any Christian soul should pass from Earth without once seeing an antique painted window, with the bright Italian sunshine glowing through it. Her beauty shone out and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.

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Love is the great magnet of life, and religion is love. Love is a flower that grows in any soil. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. It is my belief that the only power which can resist the power of fear is the power of love. The World’s greatest need…is mutual confidence. No human being ever knows all the secrets of another’s heart. Yet there is enough confidence between people to make social life a practical possibility. Confidence may be risky as mistrust. What is it you need help in relaxing and enjoying yourself? One cannot really learn to enjoy their leisure time by copying anyone. However, one can benefit tremendously by spending more time around people who seem to enjoy life and are fully mindful of their activities and interest. It is important to be around people who are vital, alive, and mostly happy in their outlook. Few things are more pleasure destroying than being around someone who is constantly down on themselves, and the World. Everyone has rough stages in life, but we have to try to do anything safe and in or power to stay happy and mindful. Also, people who like themselves tend to be accepting of other people. The secret to enjoying life is to like yourself. In it also important to be fully present with the people you spend time with. There are some rare and choice souls with whom you feel fully yourself. You know they understand you and accept you for yourself, even when you are weak, strong, silly, and wise. Honesty is the best policy.  Love and labor, two beautiful old fashions that began long ago, with the first pair in Eden; love and bottle were his taste. So fearful is love, so bashful is virginity, that neither has the courage to reveal what each languishes to make known.

The path of poetry is the direct road to love. Love, which softens the heart the most savage and obdurate tyrant, sometimes tempts the most generous mind to wander from the path that leads to virtue and honor. Love is of every age. Love, in general, arises from the pleasure which all men naturally take in whatever they judge or perceive to be good and perfect. To be wise and love is hardly granted to the gods above. Love is capricious and involuntary; reason cannot direct its choice. Love levels all distinction. Love is an encroacher. Charity and religion can be made to fit every shape. Every moment of time solicits to be employed in the important business of love. Love is an ingenious to torment as to flatter. My love is a subject to fear, but a stranger to suspicion. Antiquated people may talk of subjecting love to reason, young ones cannot. Self-love is our ruling passion. We are more able to direct the choice upon which our love is fixed than we can alter our taste for a pineapple, or a nectarine, into an aversion for those fruits, or into a liking or fondness for wormwood or rhubarb. Nothing can add to a woman’s looks like a lover. Love is the soul of harmony, the connecting chain that links the whole frame of being; it is the glory of nature, and the very perfection of humankind. A man to love one woman must love all women. The last test of highest love, passion without sensuality; love is not passion, for one may feel that for many women; not affection, for friendship demands that. Not even sympathy and comradeship; one can find either with men. As soon as a man awakens a woman’s passions, she begins to idealize him and there is no limit to the virtues he will be made to carry. If love is the very best thing in life, it is not the only thing. If a woman does not love at once, it takes a long time to teach her what love is.

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If love is a weakness, it is at least the noblest weakness we are liable to. Hades, the King of the Underworld, sat on his lonely throne one day and wished that something could make his World a nicer place to live. Tartarus was cold and dark and dreary, and the Sun never shined there. No one ever came to visit Hades because the gates of Tartarus were guarded by Cerberus, a huge, three headed dog. Cerberus looked so fierce that he scared everyone away. It made hades very grumpy to be the King of such a cold and lonely World. “I need a companion who will bring joy to this dark place,” said Hades. He decided to disguise himself as a poor traveler and go up to the Earth’s surface. As Hades came out of the ground, Cupid wanted to expand his empire, so he shot Hades with an arrow, to infect him with love. Hades was determined to find someone who could help him make the Underworld a happier place to live. Upon the Earth lived Ceres, the goddess of the harvest. Ceres had a beautiful daughter named Persephone. Persephone had long, golden hair and rosy cheeks, and happiness followed her wherever she went. Ceres loved her daughter very much, and she was always full of joy when Persephone was near.

 When the goddess of the harvest was happy, the whole World bloomed with life. The ground was moist and covered with flowers, and Spring reigned perpetually.  The fields and orchards were always full of crops to be harvested. Persephone loved to run through the fields and help Ceres gather food for the people of Earth. Proserpine was playing with her companions, gathering lilies and violets, and filling her basket and her apron with them.  However, best of all, Persephone loved to play in the apple orchards. There, she could climb the apple trees and pick large, juicy, sweet apples, which tasted better than candy. Finally, Persephone saw Hades standing nearby. In his tattered cloak, he looked like a poor and hungry traveler. Persephone was always generous, so she picked several large apples from the tree and climbed down to meet him. “Please,” said Persephone, “take these apples. They will keep you from being hungry on your journey.” Hades saw her, loved her, and thanked Persephone for the apples and went on his way. “I must bring her to the Underworld!” he thought to himself. “It could never be a gloomy place with such a kind beautiful queen as this!” and then Hades returned to the Tartarus.

 The next morning, Persephone decided to pick some apples for her mothers. She ran to her favorite orchard and began picking the ripest apples she could find. They were so red that they sparkled like rubies in the Sun. Suddenly there was a great rumble, and the ground split open before her. Hades carried her off in his chariot carried, which was pulled by two black horses. On the chariot rode Hades, wearing a black armor of the Tartarus. Proserpine scared for help to her mother and her companions; and when in her fright she dropped the corner of her apron and let the flowers and apples fall, childlike she felt the loss of them as an addition to her grief. The ravisher urged on his steeds, calling them each by name and throwing loose over their heads and necks his iron-colored reins. When Hades reached the River Cyane, and it opposed his passage, he struck the riverbank with his trident, and the Earth opened and gave him passage to Tartarus. Ceres sought her daughter all the World over. Bright-haired Aurora, when she came forth in the morning, and Hesperus, when he led out the stars in the evening, found Ceres still bust in the search. However, it was all unavailing. At length weary and sad, she sat down upon a stone, and continued sitting nine days and nights, in the open air, under the sunlight and moonlight and falling showers. It was where now stand the city of Eleusis, then the home of an old man named Celeus.

 Celeus was out in the field gathering acorns and black berries, and sticks for his fire. His little girl was driving home their two goats, and she passed the goddess, who appeared in the guise of an antiquated woman. The little girl said to the woman, “Mother”—and the name was so sweet to the ears of Ceres—“why do you sit here alone upon the rocks?” The little girl’s father, Helios, also stopped and, though his load was heavy and begged Ceres to come into his cottage, such as it was. She declined, and he urged her. “Go in peace,” Ceres replied, “and be happy in your daughter; I have lost mine.” As Ceres spoke, tears—or something like tears, for the gods never weep—fell down her cheeks upon her bosom. The compassionate man, Celeus,  and his child wept with her. Then said he, “Come with us, and despise not our humble roof; so may your daughter be restored to you in safety.” “Lead on,” said Ceres, “I cannot resist the appeal!” So she rose from the stone and went with them. As they walked, Celeus s told her that his only son, a little boy, lay very sick, feverish and sleepless. She stooped and gathered some poppies. 

As they entered the cottage, they found all in great distress, for the boy named Triptolemus, seemed past hope of recovery. Metanira, his mothers, received her kindly, and the goddess (Ceres) stooped and kissed the lips of the sick boy. Instantly paleness left his face, and healthy vigor returned to his body. The whole family were delighted—that is, the father, mother, and the little girl, for they were all; they had no servants. They spread the table and put upon it cruds and cream, apples, and honey in the comb. While they ate, Ceres mingled poppy juice in the milk of Triptolemus. When night came and all was still, she arose, and taking the sleeping boy, moulded his limbs with her hands, and uttered over him three times a solemn charm, then went and laid him in the ashes. His mother, who had been watching what her guest was doing, sprang forward with a cry and snatched Triptolemus from the fire. Then Ceres assumed her own form, and a divine splendor shone all around. While they “Mother, you have been cruel in your fondness to your son. I would have made him immortal, but you have frustrated my attempt. Nevertheless, he shall be great and useful. He shall teach men the use of the plough, and the rewards which labor can win from the cultivated soil.”

 Meanwhile, in Tartarus Persephone was sad and lonely, too. She tried to make her new home a more beautiful place, but nothing helped. The ground was too cold to planet seeds, and there was no sunshine to help them grown. Finally she asked Hades to let her return to Earth. “But you are the Queen of the Underworld. Not many girls have the chance to be a queen. I am sure you will be happy here if you only stay a while longer,” Hades replied. Persephone eventually became friends with Cerberus. Although he looked ferocious, he was lonely just like her. Sometimes he walked with her through the gloomy caves of the Underworld. However, even with her new friend, Persephone missed the sunny days and lush fields where she had played on Earth. Ceres continued to search for her daughter, passing from land to land, and across seas and rivers, till at length she returned to Sicily, whence she at first set out, and stood by the banks of the River Cyane, where Hades made himself a passage with his prize to his own dominions. The river nymph witnessed, but dared not, for the fear of Hades; so she only ventured to take up the girdle which Proserpine had dropped in her flight, and waft it to the feet of the mother. Ceres, seeing this, was no longer in doubt of her loss, but she did not yet know the cause and laid the blame on the innocent land. “Ungrateful soil,” she said, “which I have endowed with fertility and clothes with herbage and nourishing grain, no more shall you enjoy my favors.”

 Then the cattle died, the plough broke in the furrow, the seed failed to come up; there was too much sun, there was too much rain; the birds stole the seeds—thistles and brambles were the only growth. Seeing this, the fountain Arethusa interceded for the land. “Goddess, she said, “blame not the land; it opened unwillingly to yield a passage to your daughter. I can tell you of her fate, for I have seen her. This is not my native country; I came hither from Elis. I was a woodland nymph, and delighted in the chase. They praised me for my beauty, but I cared nothing for it, and rather boasted of my hunting exploits. One day I was returning from the woods, heated with exercise, when I came to a stream silently flowing, so clear that you might count the pebbles on the bottom. The willows shaded it, and the grassy bank sloped down to the water’s edge. I approached, I touched the water with my foot. I stepped in knee-deep, and not content with that, I laid my garments on the willows and went in. While I sported in the water, I heard an indistinct murmur coming up as out of the depths of the stream; and made haste to escape to the nearest bank. The voice said, “Why do you fly, Arethusa? I am sure; he was not more swift than I, but he was stronger, and gained upon me, as my strength failed. At least, exhausted, I cried for help to Diana. ‘Help me, goddess! Help your votary!’ The goddess heard and wrapped me suddenly in a thick cloud. The river god looked now this way and now that, and twice came close to me, but could not find me. ‘Arethusa! Arethusa!’ he cried. O, how I trembled—like a lamb that hears the wolf growling outside the fold. A cold swear came over me, my hair flowed down to the streams; were my foot stood there was a pool. In short, in less time than it takes to tell it I became a fountain. However, in this form Alpheus knew me, and attempted to mingle his stream with mine. Diana cleft the ground, and I, endeavoring to escape plunged into the cavern, and through the bowels of the Earth out here in Sicily. While I passed through the lower parts of the Earth, I saw your Proserpine. She was sad, but no longer showing alarm in her countenance. Her look was such as become a queen—the queen of Erebus; the powerful bride of the monarch of the realms of the dead.”

 When Ceres heard this, she stood for a while like one stupefied then turned to her chariot towards Heaven and hastened to present herself before the throne of Jove. She told her story of her bereavement, and implored Jupiter to interfere to procure the restitution of her daughter. Jupiter consented on one condition, namely, that Proserpine should not during her stay in the lower world have taken any food; otherwise, the fates forbade her release. Accordingly, Mercury was sent accompanied by Spring, to demand Proserpine of Hades. The wily monarch consented; but alas! Proserpine has eaten the food of the dead! The maiden had taken a pomegranate which Hades offered her, and had sucked the sweet pulp from a few of the seeds. This was enough to prevent her complete release; but a compromise was made, by which she was to pass half the time with her mother, and the rest with her husband Hades. Ceres allowed herself to be pacified with this arrangement and restored the Earth to her favor. Now she remembered Celeus and his family, and her promise to his infant son Triptolemus. When the boy grew up, she taught him the use of the plough, and how to sow the seed. She took him in her chariot, drawn by winged dragons, through all the countries of the Earth, imparting to mankind valuable grains, and the knowledge of agriculture. After his return, Triptolemus built a magnificent temple to Ceres in Eleusis, and established and worship of the goddess, under the splendor and solemnity of their observance, surpassed all other religious celebrations among the Greeks.

 There can be little doubt if this story of Ceres and Proserpine being an allegory. Proserpine signifies the virgin, which, when is cast into the World, lies there concealed—the is, she is carried off by the god of the underworld; it reappears—that is, Proserpine is restored to her mother, Spring leads her back to the light of day. Therefore, cherish what you have and stand guard. It may not seem like much to you know, but when you lose your virtue, it can throw your life and the lives of others out of balance. Keep waiting on that night in shinny armor and one day he will appear, but do not make him the center of your life. Stay focused so you do not get your heartbroken. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to realize how many assets and good features you really have. Many people discount most of their good qualities as unimportant, assume everyone has them, or fail to recognize them using this checklist, make an inventory of the assets you have. Not all those that apply to you, and others you can think of. 

 

Being alive and able to move

At least one living relative

Good health

At least one brother or sister

Parents who took care of you and did not abandon you

Parents who care about or love each other

Parents who wanted to marry each other

Parents who wanted children

Feeling accepted into your family

Feeling that your parents loved you

Parents who treat you with respect

Parents who love life

A home where you can express your feelings

Privacy and some personal possessions

Physical strength and vitality

A feeling of sexual identity

Sexual feelings and desires

Healthy sexual goals

Ability to function productively

An acceptable physical appearance

Exceptional good looks

A good sense of humor

A good mind and the ability to use it

The ability to read, memorize, and use concepts

The ability to understand your feelings and those of others

A good imagination

Awareness of the beauty of the World

Ability to create and be artistic

Ability to express yourself

Ability to complete a job or task

Ability to set and reach goals in your life

Some education

Ability to earn a living

Beneficial and/or creative ambitions

Realization of the advantage of your own age

Ability to tolerate at least some frustration

Ability to be alone and enjoy it

Ability to tolerate at least some anxiety

Ability to do things for yourself and others

Enough money to get alone

A liking for people

Honesty

Ability to encounter other people

Ability to be involved with other people

Ability to love and be loved

Ability to empathize with other people

Ability to feel intensely

Ability to feel contented

The capacity to develop new interest

Good judgment

Ability to assert yourself

A sense of humility

A sense of knowing your assets

 Many of these many not seem like real assets to you, because you may take them for granted. However, take a moment to go back over the items you checked and think how your life would be different if you did not have each asset. Now do the following: (a) list several assets that you do not have, but would like to develop; (b) describe how you might be able to develop them. Next, try to develop each of these assets one at a time. Real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune.

  The Winchester Mystery House

Over the past century, many terrifying incidents that researchers consider extremely paranormal have taken place in The Winchester Mystery House. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

 

The World’s most peaceful societies actively teach their children to be cooperative, non-violent, and helpful. One a personal level, psychologists have succeeded in teaching some people to control their anger and aggressive impulses. Anger control refers to personal strategies for reducing or curbing anger. The key to remaining calm is to define upsetting situation as problems to be solved. Therefore, to limit anger, people are taught to: Define the problem as precisely as possible. Make a list of the possible solutions. Rank the likely success of each solution. Choose a solution and try it. Assess how successful the solution was, and make adjustments if necessary. Taking these steps has helped many people to lessen tendencies toward child abuse, family violence, and other destructive outbursts. 

Large scale efforts have also had some success. For instance, a program called “Youth Against Violence: Choose to De-Fuse” was developed in New York City to help hood and ghetto youths resist violence. The program is focused on creating beneficial peer pressure for choosing non-violent solutions to conflict. The use of real-life situations, speech, and body language added to the effectiveness of the program. For the more immediate future, it is clear that we need more people who are willing to engage in prosocial behavior (actions that are constructive, altruistic, or helpful to others). Late one night, tenants of a Queens, New York, apartment building watched and listened in horror as a young woman named Kitty Genovese was murdered on the sidewalk outside. From the safety of their rooms, no fewer than 38 people heard the agonized screams as her assailant stabbed her, was frightened off, and returned to stab her again.

 Kitty Genovese’s murder took over 30 minutes, but none of her neighbors tried to help. None even called the police until after the attack ended. Perhaps it is understandable that no one wanted to get involved. After all, it could have been a violent lovers’ quarrel. Or helping might have meant risking personal injury. However, what prevented people from at least calling the police? Is this not an example of the alienation of city life? News reports treated this incident as evident of a breakdown in social ties caused by the impersonality of the city, or maybe because her neighbors were jealous of her? While it is true that living in the ghetto or the hood can be dehumanizing, as people act like ignorant ghetto trash, who just want to pop out an army of babies so they can get welfare, food stamps, and medi-cal. These hood rats, their goals in life are to smoke weed, smell like old chicken grease, eat barbecue, and watermelon, and drink Kool-aid out of jars, while they get their hair weaves, on the front steps, gossip, and perform oral sex for $5 in alley ways.  However, this does not fully explain bystander apathy (unwillingness of bystanders to offer help during emergencies). Many of them get off on violence and chaos.

 

 

 

 

A City of Sacramento, California employees files a sexual harassment claim against Sacramento Democratic Mayor, Kevin Johnson. Mayor Kevin Johnson States that the City of Sacramento hired an outside investigator, who found the allegations were unsubstantiated, and that the matter is closed. However, critics believe that they Mayor paid for the investigation and that it was biased. The Mayor claims that the incident never happened, and was filed prior to his second term as Mayor. The city employee says the Mayor invited her in his office, closed the door to his library, pressed his body against hers, hugged her, grabbed her torso, and asked if she could “feel it?”

In addition, there have been other claims of the same type filed against Kevin Johnson, who is a former NBA basketball player. There was a case in the 1990s involving the alleged molestation, of a girl, Kevin Johnson met when she was 15, which includes taped statements by Johnson that are, at the least, concerning. Kevin Johnson admits to hugging the girl an says “The hug was more intimate than it should have been”. Kevin Johnson settled the case out of court for $230,000.00. Even more concerning, Kevin Johnson runs St. Hope Academy, and there are recent reports of inappropriate sexual behavior on Johnson’s part towards five St. Hope students. These claims were uncovered during a financial investigation. An investigation by a federal oversight agency into the administration of federal funds at the St. Hope Academy says Johnson misused public funds and that some of the money was recovered in a settlement. Kevin Johnson is the same Mayor that spoke up against Donald Sterling and asked him to be banned from the NBA and said that he should be forced to sell his team. Many would like to see Kevin Johnson Resign.