In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth—the creation of the World is a problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest interesting of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which is as follows: Before the Earth, and Sea, and Heaven were created, all things worse one aspect, to which we give the name of Chaos—a confused and shapeless mass, nothing but dead weight, in which however, slumbered the seeds of things. Earth, Sea, and Air were all mixed up together, so Earth was not solid, the sea was not fluid, and the air was not transparent. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. God and Nature at last interposed and out an end to this discord, separating Earth from the Sea, and Heaven from both. And God said, let there be light.  

The fiery part, being the lightest, sprang up and formed the skies; he separated the light from the darkness, God called the light day and the darkness he called night. The air was next in weight and place. The Earth, being heavier, sank below, and the water took the lowest place, and buoyed up the Earth. Here, some god—it is not known which—gave his good offices in arranging and disposing of the Earth. He appointed rivers and bays,  like the Rio Grande, which separates Mexico from the United States of America, and The Bay Area, in California their places, and raised mountains such as Chisos Mountains in Big Bend, which includes 800,000 acres. God also scooped out valleys not one of my favorites, but Sacramento Valley (the people are extremely immature and rude). Then God distributed woods such as the Olympic National Park in Washington, which has red-legged frogs, owls, 300 different types of bird, deer, glacier-capped mountains and rugged coastlines. He created fountains, such as the Kilauea Volcano, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and fertile fields like the bush plane on Kahiltna Glacier, and stony plains like Denali in the Arctic National Park. The air being cleared, the stars began to appear, grizzly bears began foraging for food, salmon swam in nearby Brooks Falls and Lake Clark. A bush plain lands on Kahitlna Glacier at the 7,200-foot base camp of Mountain McKinley, which is 20,000 feet tall, North America’s tallest peak. And God saw that it was good.  

And God said, let the water teem with living creatures, and let bird fly above the Earth, across the expanse of the sky. So God created Glacier Bay with harbor seals. However, a nobler animal was wanted, and Man was made. God said, let us make man in our image, in the image of God, and he created him; male and female he created them. It is not known whether the Creator made him of divine materials, or whether in the Earth, so lately separated from Heaven, there lurked still some Heavenly seeds. Prometheus took some of this Earth, and kneading it up with water, made man in the image of the gods. He gave him an upright stature, so that while all other animals turn their faces downward and look to the Earth, he rises his to heaven and gazes on the stars. Prometheus was one of the Titans, a gigantic race, who inhabited the Earth before the creation of man. To him and his brother Epimetheus was committed the office of making man, and providing him and all other animals with the faculties necessary for their preservation. Epimetheus undertook to do this, and Prometheus was to overlook his work, when it was done. Epimetheus Theus accordingly proceeded to bestow upon the different animals the various gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, sagacity; wings to one, claws to another, a shelly covering to the third, etc.  Large flocks of roseate spoonbills, white pelicans, ibis and even the occasional flamingo can be seen in Everglades National Park, along with alligators, lurking in the water or sunning themselves just off the well-traveled path.  

Or you may see a grizzly bear cub walking through the tall grass by Brooks River. However, when man came to be provided for, who was to be superior to all other animals, Epimetheus had been so prodigal of his resources that he had nothing left to bestow upon him. In his perplexity he restored to his brother Prometheus, who with the help of Minerva, went up to Heaven, and lighted his torch at the chariot of the Sun and brought down fire to man,  and as a treat we were blessed with the Aurora borealis. With this gift, man was more than a match for all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons wherewith to subdue them; tools with which to cultivate the Earth; to warm his dwelling, so as to be comparatively independent of climate; and finally to introduce the arts and to coin money, the means of trade and commerce. Woman was not yet made. The story (absurd enough!) is that Jupiter made her and sent her to Prometheus and his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from Heaven; and man, for accepting this gift. The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in Heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to Earth and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his gifts.  

Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept certain noxious articles, for which, in fitting man for his new abode, he had no occasion. Pandora was seized with an eager curiosity to know what this jar contained; and one day she slipped off the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for hapless man—such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind—and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the lid; but, alas! The whole thing only excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope. So we see at this day, whatever evils are aboard, hope never entirely leaves us; and while we have that, no number of other ills can make us completely wretched. Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless man; that she was furnished with a box, containing her marriage blessing. She opened the box incautiously, and all the blessings escaped, hope only excepted. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God, as he was walking in the garden, in the cool of day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. However, the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” And God said, “Who told you where naked? Have you opened that box I commanded you not to touch?”  

Then the man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent aroused me, and I opened the box.” So the LORD God said to the serpent (man), because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock, and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.  To the woman God said, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. This story seems more probable then the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manners of evils, as in the former statement? The World being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age. Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any magistrate to threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessels, nor had men built fortifications round their towns.  There were no such things as swords, spears, or helmets. The Earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labor in ploughing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.   

Then succeeded the Silver Age, Jupiter shortened the spring and divided the year into seasons. God said because you listened to your wife, and ate from the box about which I commanded you to avoid at all costs, cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it, all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food, until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. Then first, men had to endure the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became necessary. Caves were the first dwellings, and leafy coverts of the woods, and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow without planting. The farmer was obligated to sow the seed, and the toiling ox to draw the plough. Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper and readier to the strife of arms yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and worst was the Iron Age. Crime burst in like a tornado super outbreak. All hell broke loose. Modesty, truth, and honor fled. In their places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain. Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of the ocean. The Earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into possessions.  

Men were not satisfied with what the surface had produced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals. Mischievous irons, and more mischievous gold, were produced. War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend’s house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives could not trust one another. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate. The Earth was wet with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea* alone was left, and finally she also took her departure. Jupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger. He summoned the gods to council. They obeyed the call and took the road to the palace of Heaven. The road, which anyone may see in a clear night, stretches across the face of the sky and is called the Milky Way. Along the road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods; the common people of the skies live apart, on either side. Jupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the frightful condition of things on Earth and closed by announcing his intentions to destroy the whole of its inhabitants, and provide a new race, unlike the first, who would be more worthy of life and much better worshippers of the gods.  

So saying he took a thunderbolt, and was about to launch it at the World, and destroy it by burning; however, recollecting the danger that such a conflagration might set Heaven itself on fire, he changed his plan and resolved to drown it. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on Earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, I will wipe mankind, who I have created, from the face of the Earth—men and animals and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them. The North wind, which scatters the clouds, was chained up; the South was sent out, and soon covered all the face of Heaven with a cloak of pitchy darkness. The clouds, driven together, resounded with a crash; torrents of rain fall; for forty days the flood kept coming on the Earth. The water rose greatly on the Earth, and all the high mountains under the entire Heavens were covered. The waters flooded the Earth for a hundred and fifty days. The year’s labor of the husbandman perishes in an hour. Jupiter, not satisfied with his own waters, calls on his brother Neptune to help him with his. He lets loose the rivers and pours them over the land. At the same time, he heaves the land with an Earthquake and brings in the reflux of the ocean over the shores. Flocks, herds, men and houses are swept away, and temples, with their sacred enclosures, profaned. If any edifice remained standing, it was overwhelmed, and its turrets lay hid beneath the waves.  

*The goddess of innocence and purity. After leaving Earth, she was placed among the stars, where she became the constellation Virgo—the Virgin. Themis (Justice) was the mother of Astraea. She is represented as holding aloft a pair of scales, in which she weighs the claims of opposing parties. It was a favorite idea of the old poets that these goddesses would one day return and bring back the Golden Age. Even in a Christian hymn, “The Messiah” of the Pope, this idea occurs. All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, Returning Justice lift aloft her scale, peace o’er the World her olive wand extend, and white-robed Innocence from Heaven descend. Meanwhile, now all was sea, sea without shore. Here and there an individual remained on a projecting hilltop, and a few, in boats, pulled the oar where they had lately driven the plough. The fishes swim among the treetops; the anchor of the ark was let down into a garden. Where the graceful lambs played, but now unwieldy sea calves’ gambol. The wolf swims among the sheep, the yellow lions and tigers struggle in the water. The strength of the wild boar serves him not, nor his swiftness the stag. The birds fall with weary wing into the water, having found no land for a resting place. These living beings whom the water spared fell a prey to hunger.  

Parnassus alone, of all the mountains, overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha, of the race of Prometheus, found refuge—he a just man, and she a faithful worshipper of the gods. Jupiter, when he saw none left alive but this pair, and remembered their harmless lives and pious demeanor, ordered the North winds to drive away the clouds, and disclose the skies to Earth, and Earth to the skies. Neptune also directed Triton to blow on his shell and sound a retreat to the waters. The waters obeyed, and the sea returned to its shoes, and the rivers to their channels. Then Deucalion thus addressed Pyrrha: Oh, wife, only surviving woman, joined to me first by a common danger, would that we possessed the power of our ancestor Prometheus, and could renew the race as he made it. However, as we cannot, let us seek yonder temple, and inquire of the gods what remains for us to do. They entered the temple, deformed as it was with slime, and approached the altar, where no fire burned. There they fell on prostrate on the Earth and prayed the goddess to inform them how they might retrieve their miserable affairs.  

The oracle answered: Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother. They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence: We cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of our parents. They sought the thickest shades of the wood, and resolved the oracle in their minds. At length Deucalion spoke: Either my sagacity deceives me, or the command is one we may obey without impiety. The Earth is the great parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; and I think this is what the oracle means. At least, it will do no harm to try. You noticed the children as not so quick to sale out their parents like Isaac so willingly did in Genesis 22.2. So Pyrrha and Deucalion veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and picked up stones, and cast them behind them. The stones (wonderful to relate) began to grow soft, and assume shape. By degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to human form, like a block half finished, in the hands of the sculptor. The moisture and slime that were about them became flesh; the stony part became bones; the veins remained veins, retaining their name, only changing their use. Those thrown by the hand of the man became men, and those by the women became women. It was a hard race, and well adapted to labor, as we find ourselves to be at this day, giving plain indications of our origin.  

The comparison of Eve to Pandora is too obvious to have escaped detection. More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods Endowed with all their gifts; and O, too like in sad event, when to the unwiser son of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged on him who had stole Jove’s authentic fire. Prometheus and Epimetheus were sons of Iapetus, which changes to Japhet. Prometheus has been a favorite subject with the poets. He is represented as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their behalf when Jove was incensed against them and who taught them civilization and the arts. However, as in doing so, he transgressed the will of Jupiter, he drew down on himself the anger of the ruler of gods and men. Jupiter had him chained to a rock on Mount Caucuses, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was renewed as fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he possessed a secret which involved the stability of Jove’s throne, and if he would have revealed it, he might have been at once taken into favor. However, that he disdained to do. He has therefore become the symbol of magnanimous endurance of unmerited suffering, and strength of will resisting oppression.  

Titan! To whose immortal eyes the suffering of mortality, seen in their sad reality, were not as things that gods despise, what was thy pity’s recompense? A silent suffering, and intense; the rock, the vulture, and the chain; all that the proud can feel of pain; the agony they do not show, the suffocating sense of woe. Thy godlike crime was to be kind; to render with the precepts less the sum of human wretchedness, and strengthen man with his own mind, and baffled as thou wert from high. Still, in the patient energy, in the endurance and repulse of thine impenetrable spirit, which Earth and Heaven could not convulse, a mighty lesson we inherit. Or, like the thief of fire from Heaven, Wilt thou withstand the shock? And share with him—the unforgiven—His vulture and his rock? After the last few chapters, I feel you are ready for more understanding, please watch “Queen of the Damned.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNXcXudqzv4

 

 

 

 

The creation of the World is problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which follows: The Greeks believed the Earth to be flat and circular, their own country occupying the middle of it, the central point being either Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, or Delphi, so famous for its oracle. The circular dis of the Earth was crossed from West to East, and divided into two equal parts by the Sea, as they called the Mediterranean, and its continuation the Euxine, the only seas with which they were acquainted. Around the Earth flowed the River Ocean, its course being from South to North, on the Western side of the Earth, and in a contrary direction, on the Eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable current, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea, and all the rivers on Earth, received their waters from it. The Northern portion of the Earth was supposed to be inhabited by a happy race named the Hyperboreans, dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of Hellas (Greece).

 Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Here is a Song of a Hyperborean beginning. I come from a land in the sun-bright deep, where golden gardens glow, where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep, their conch shells never blow. On the South side of the Earth, close to the stream of Ocean, dwelt a people happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans. They were named the Ethiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they were wont to leave at times their Olympian abodes and go to share their sacrifices and banquets. On the Western margin of the Earth, but the stream of Ocean, lay a happy place named the Elysian Plain, whither mortals favored by the gods were transported, without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss. This happy region was also called the Fortunate Fields and the Isles of the Blessed. We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real people except those to the East and South of their own country, or near the coast of the Mediterranean. Their imagination meantime peopled the Western portion of this sea with giants, monsters, and enchantresses, while they placed around the disk of the Earth, which they probably regarded as of no great width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of the gods and blessed with happiness and longevity.

 The Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon were supposed to rise out of the Ocean, on the Eastern side, and to drive through the air, giving light to gods and men. The stars also, except those forming the Wain or Bear, and others near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of Ocean. There the sun-god embarked in a winged boat, which conveyed him round by the northern part of the Earth back to his place of rising in the East. Now the gilded car of day, his golden axle doth allay, in the steep Atlantic stream, and the slope of the Sun his upward beam shoots against the dusky pole, pacing towards the other goal of his chamber in the East. The abode of the gods was on the summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly. A gate of clouds, kept by the goddesses named the Seasons, opened to permit the passage of the celestials to Earth, and to receive them on their return. The gods had their separate dwellings; but all, when summoned, repaired to the palace of Jupiter, as did also those deities whose usual abode was the Earth, the waters, or the underworld. It was also in the great hall of the palace of the Olympian kings that the gods feasted each day on ambrosia and nectar, their foods and drink, the latter being handed round by the lovely goddess Hebe.

 Here they conversed of the affairs of Heaven and Earth; and as they quaffed their nectar, Apollo, the god of music, delighted them with the tones of his lyre, to which the Muses sang in responsive strains. When the Sun was set, the Gods retried to sleep in their respective dwellings. So saying, Minerva, goddess azure-eyed, rose to Olympus, the reputed seat eternal of the gods, which never storms disturbs, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm the expanse and cloudless shines with purest day. There the inhabitants divine rejoice forever. The robes and other parts of the dress of the goddesses were woven by Minerva and the Graces, and everything of a more solid nature was formed of the various metals. Vulcan was architect, smith, armorer, chariot builder, and artist of all works in Olympus. He built of brass the houses of the Gods; he made for them the golden shoes with which they trod the air or the water and moved from place to place with the speed of wind, or even of thought. He also shod with brass the celestial steeds which whirled the chariots of the gods through the air, or along the surface of the sea. He was able to bestow o his workmanship self-motion, so that the tripods (chairs and tables) could move of themselves in and out of the celestial hall. He even endowed with intelligence the golden handmaidens whom he made to wait on himself. Jupiter, or Jove (Zeus*), though called the father of gods and men, had himself a beginning. Saturn (Cronos) was his father, and Rhea (Ops) his mother. Saturn and Rhea were the race of Titans, who were the children of Earth and Heaven, which sprang from Chaos, of which we shall give further account in our next chapter.

 There is another cosmogony, or account of the creation, according to which Earth, Erebus, and Love were the first beings. Love (Eros) issued from the egg of Night, which floated on Chaos. By his arrow and torch, he pierced and vivified all things, producing life and joy. Saturn and Rhea were not the only Titans. There were others, whose names were Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Ophion, males; and Themis, Mnemosyne, Eurynome, females. They are spoken of as the elder gods, whose dominion was afterwards transferred to others. Saturn yielded to Jupiter, Oceanus to Neptune, Hyperion to Apollo. Hyperion was the father of the Sun, Moon, and Dawn. He is therefore the original sun-god and is painted with the splendor and beauty which were afterwards bestowed on Apollo. Hyperion was known for his curly hair. Ophion and Eurynome ruled over Olympus till they were dethroned by Saturn and Rhea. Paradise lost—heathens seem to have had some knowledge of the temptation and fall of man. And fabled how the serpent, who they called Ophion, with Eurnome, (the wide Encroaching Eve perhaps,) had first the rule of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driven.

 The representations given of Saturn are not very consistent; for on the one hand his reign is said to have been the golden age of innocence and purity, and on the other he is described as a monster who devoured his own children.* Jupiter, however, escaped this fate, and when grown up espoused Metis (Prudence), who administered a draught to Saturn which caused him to disgorge his children. Jupiter, with his brothers and sisters, now rebelled against their father Saturn, and his brothers the Titans; vanquished them, and imprisoned some of them in Tartarus, inflicting other penalties on others. Atlas was condemned to bear up the Heavens on his shoulders. On the dethronement of Saturn, Jupiter with his brothers Neptune (Poseidon) and Pluto (Dis) divided his dominions. Jupiter’s portion was the Heavens, Neptune’s the ocean, and Pluto’s the realm of the dead. Earth and Olympus were common property. Jupiter was king of the gods, and men. The thunder was his weapon, and he bore a shield called Aegis, made for him by Vulcan. The eagle was his favorite bird and bore his thunderbolts. Juno (Hera) was the wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods. Iris, the goddess of the rain bow, was her attendant and messenger. The peacock was her favorite bird. *The inconsistency arises from considering the Saturn of the Romans the same with the Grecian deity Cronos (Time), which, as it brings an end to all things which have had a beginning, may be said to devour its own offspring. 

Vulcan (Hephaestos), the celestial artist, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was born lame, and his mother was so displeased at the sight of him that she flung him out of Heaven. Other accounts say that Jupiter kicked him out for taking part, with his mother, in a quarrel which occurred between them. Vulcan’s lameness, according to this account was the consequence of his fall. He was a whole day falling, and at last alighted in the Island of Lemnos, which was thenceforth sacred to him. From morn to noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, a Summer’s day; and with the setting sun, dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, on Lemnos, the Aegean isle. Mars (Ares), the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. Phoebus Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy, and music, was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of Diana (Artemis). He was god of the sun, as Diana, his sister, was the goddess of the moon. Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Others say that Venus sprang from the foam of the sea. The zephyr wafted her alone the waves to the Isle of Cyprus, where she was received and attired by the Seasons and then led to them assembly of the gods. All were charmed with her beauty, and each one demanded her for his wife. Jupiter gave her to Vulcan, in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts. So the most beautiful of the goddesses became the wife of the most ill-favored of the gods. Venus possessed an embroidered girdle called Cestus, which has the power of inspiring love. Her favorite birds were swans and doves, and the plants sacred to her were the rose and the myrtle.

 Cupid (Eros), the god of love, was the son of Venus. He was her constant companion; and armed with bow and arrows, he shot the darts of desire into the bosom of both gods and men. There was a deity named Anteros, who was sometimes represented as the avenger of slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of reciprocal affection. The following legend is told of him: Venus, complaining to Themis that her son Eros continued always a child, was told by her that it was because he was solitary, and that if he had a brother he would grow apace. Anteros was soon afterward born, and Eros immediately was seen to increase rapidly in size and strength. Minerva (Pallas Athene), the goddess of wisdom, was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head, competently armed. Her favorite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her the olive. Byron, in Childe Harold, alludes to the birth of Minerva, thus: Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be, and freedom find no champion and no child, such as Columbia saw arise, when she sprang forth a Pallas, armed and undefiled? Or must such minds be nourished in the wild, deep in the unpruned forest, ‘midst the roar of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled on infant Washington? Has Earth no more such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such shore? Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over trade, and everything, in short, which required skill and dexterity.

 He was the messenger of Jupiter and wore a winged cap and winged shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the Caduceus. Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and drew cords of linen through them, and the instruments was complete. The cords were nine, in honor of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus.* Cere (Demeter) was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. She had a daughter named Proserpine (Persephone), who became the wife of Pluto, and queen of the realms of the dead. Ceres presided over agriculture. *From this origin of the instrument, the word shell often is used as synonymous with lyre, and figuratively for music and poetry. Thus, Gray, in his ode on the Progress of Posey, says Oh, Sovereign of the willing soul, parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, enchanting shell! The sullen Cares and frantic Passions hear thy soft control. Bacchus (Dinoysus), the god of wine, was the son of Jupiter and Semele. He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but its social and beneficent influences likewise, so that he is viewed as the promoter of civilization, and a lawgiver and lover of peace. The Muses were the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They presided over song and prompted the memory. They were nine in number, to each of whom was assigned the presidency over some particular department of literature, art or science. Calliope was the muse of epic poetry. Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of choral dance and song, Erato of love poetry, Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy.

The Graces were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the dance, and all social enjoyments and elegant arts. They were three in number. Their names were Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. Spenser described the office of the Graces thus: These three on men all gracious gifts bestow, which deck the body or adorn the mind, to make them lovely or well-favored show; as comely carriage, entertainment kind, sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind, and all the complements of courtesy; they teach us how to each degrees and kind we should ourselves demeans, to low, to high, to friends, to foes; which skill men call Civility. The fates were also three-Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their office was to spin the thread of human destiny, and they were armed with shears, with which they cut it off when they pleased. They were the daughters of Themis (Law), who sits by Jove on his throne to give him counsel. The Erinnyes, or Furies, were three goddesses who punished by their secret stings the crimes of those who escaped or defined public justice. The heads of the Furies were wreathed with serpents, and their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Their names were Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. They were also called Eumenides. Nemesis was also an avenging goddess. She represents the righteous anger of the gods, particularly toward the proud and insolent. Pan was the god of the flocks and shepherds. His favorite residence was in Arcadia. The Stayrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short, sprouting horns, and their feet like goats’ feet. 

Momus was the god of laughter, and Plutus the god of wealth. The preceding are Grecian divinities, through received also by the Romans. Those which follow are peculiar to Roman mythology. Saturn was an ancient Italian deity. It was attempted to identify him with the Grecian god Cronos, and fabled that after his dethronement by Jupiter, he fled to Italy, where he reigned during what was called the Golden Age. In memory of his beneficent dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the Winter season. Then all public business was suspended, declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed, friends made presents to one another, and the slaves were indulged with great liberties. A feast was given them at which they sat at table, while their masters served them, to show the natural equality of men, and that all things belonged equally of men, and that all things belonged equally to all, in the reign of Saturn. Fauns,* the grandson of Saturn, was worshipped as the god of fields and shepherds, and also as a prophetic god. His name in the plural, Fauns, expressed a class of gamesome deities, like the Satyrs of the Greeks. Quirinus was a war god, said to be no other than Romulus, the founder of Rome, exalted after his death to a place among the gods. Bellona, a war goddess. Terminus, the god of landmarks. His statue was a rude stone or post, set in the ground to mark the boundaries of fields. Pales, the goddess presiding over cattle and pastures. Pomona presided over fruit trees. Flora, the goddess of flowers. Lucina, the goddess of childbirth. Vesta (The Hestia of the Greeks) was a deity presiding over the public and private hearth.

A sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called Vestals, flamed in her temple. As the safety of the city was held to be connected with its conservation, the neglect of the virgins, f they let it go out, was severely punished, and the fire was rekindled from the rays of the Sun. *There was also a goddess called Fauna, or Bona Dea. Liber is the Latin name of Bacchus; and Mulciber of Vulcan. Janus was the porter of Heaven. He opens the year, the first month being named after him. He is the guardian deity of the gates, on which account he is commonly represented with two heads, because every door looks two ways. His temples at Rome were numerous. In wartime the gates of the principal one were always open. In peace they were closed; but they were shut only once between the reign of Numa and that of Augustus. Then Penates were the gods who were supposed to attend to the welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from Penus, the pantry, which was sacred to them. Every master of a family was the priest to the Penates of his own house. The Lares, or Lars, were also household gods, but differed from the Penates in being regarded as the Penates in being regarded as the deified spirits of mortals. The family Lars were held to be the souls of the ancestors, who watched over and protected their descendants. The words Lemur and Larva more nearly corresponded to our word Ghost. The Romans believed that every man had his Genius, and every woman her Juno; that is, a spirit who had given them being, and was regarded as their protector through life. On their birthdays men made offerings to their Genius, women to their Juno. A modern poet thus alludes to some of the Roman gods: Pomona loves the orchard, and Liber loves the wine, and Pales loves the straw-built shed, warm with the breath of knife; and Venus loves the whisper of plighted youth and maid, in April (422) ivory moonlight, beneath the chestnut shade. N.B. It is to be observed that in proper names the final e and es are to be sounded. Thus Cybele and Penates are words of three syllables. However, Proserpine and Thebes are exceptions, and to be pronounced as English words. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. – William Randolph Hearst (Isaiah 50.10-11).

The Winchester Mystery House

What are you afraid of? Face your fears while turning the most mysterious mansion in the World! Why should you be afraid to enter after dark? If you meet the Devil at the door-to-nowhere, what could go wrong? Why does your reflection smile more than you do? Why is your shadow walking in the opposite direction? For insightful clues into these phenomena, explore more. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No amount of education can cure natural dullness or make up for original mental deficiencies. Americans are used to being a nation of immigrants, and even as new immigration sparks public debate about how much is enough, illegal immigrants are now being allowed to get driver’s licenses. With the slowing of the United States economy, 45 percent of America thinks there are too many immigrants entering the country from Latin American countries. Americans have not seen any increase in their economic standing, under this current administration, and the country is $18.1 trillion in debt and only funded until 15 September 2015. Many people believe if we are going to allow immigration, Americans should be seeing prosperity. We are collecting more taxes than this nation has ever collected in history. Taxes are too high and there is a struggle for social, economic, and political dominance in the country. There are currently more than 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States of America, making up 3.5 percent of the nation’s population. A person who is not a citizen of the United States of America, by birth or by naturalization, but crosses the border, without documentation is considered an unauthorized immigrant. Immigrants can visit, study, work, or make their home in this country, but only with the permission of the federal government. The conditions immigrants must meet in order to enter the United States of America are determined by Congress, and the laws that apply to their admission and residency are enforced by the Attorney General of the United States and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Not everyone who wants to enter the United States is allowed to do so. For example, INS refuses to admit people who are mentally ill, who have been convicted of a serious crime, and who carry certain diseases, such as AIDS.

Also, immigrants who want to work in this country may do so, only if they are not depriving American citizens of job opportunities. Mexicans make up about 52 percent of all unauthorized immigrants; there are 6 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants. Sixty percent of unauthorized immigrants live in California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Unauthorized make up 5.1 percent of the United States labor force, or 8.1 million; and currently the nation is experiencing an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. And unauthorized immigrants make up about 18 percent of schools population, so they are breaking the law and using taxpayer money, which is adding to the $18.1 trillion deficit. Many Americans are upset because unauthorized immigrants are here unlawfully, and unauthorized immigrants are getting privileges like driver’s licenses, free college education and housing. These factors are what is making immigration an even more problematic issue because many Americans are struggling to pay their bills and send their children to college, but their tax money is going to support a population of over 11.2 million people who are unauthorized to be in this country. What people do not understand is that unauthorized immigrants are criminals, and they are causing ethnic and racial issues in the United States of America. Unauthorized immigrants must obey the laws of this country, even when those laws clash with the customs of their native land. For example, among some communities in Mexico, it is not uncommon for a man or woman to steal a bride from her family. Although this type of behavior is allowed in Mexico, it is considered kidnapping here.

 Maria Saucedo, who was only 31, was a legal citizen of the United States of America, and resided in Arizona. She had a beautiful daughter, age 13, but an unauthorized immigrant, Jose Zarate, age 25, went to Maria’s house and used insolent language with her, before shooting Maria in the chest and killing her because she refused to let him date her daughter. The United States of America has been faced with the problem of millions of people entering the country illegally, most of them coming from the Mexico border. The sheer numbers of undocumented immigrants threaten to overburden state and federal welfare programs. People fear that these undocumented workers will release an orgy of brutality and violence across the United States of America. By 2024, Mexicans will be the majority in New York, and by 2028, Mexicans will be the majority in California and America by 2043, Mexicans will be the majority in the United States of America, due to immigration. Many are worried because Mexican radicals have been discussing their plans to conquer America, which Mexico regards as their territory, which was lost in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo in 1846. However, Mexico actually stole land from William Randolph Hearst, his father, Senator George Hearst bought 1,625,000 acres of land in Chihuahua, Mexico in the 1886. However, Pancho Villa looted the Hearsts’ giant Chihuahua ranch called Babicora; some say the same people Mr. Hearst hired to work on his land seized it. Senator George Hearst hired one hundred army men to take back his ranch, but it was under heavy attack. Many Americans fear the same thing may happen to the United States of America, and that Congress does not seem to care because they are giving away America for a short-term political gain. This stale excuse of duty signifies bigotry; self-conceit; an insolent curiosity; a meddle some temper; a cold-blooded criticism, founded on a shallow interpretation of half-perceptions; a monstrous skepticism in regard to any conscience or any wisdom, except one’s own; a most irreverent propensity to thrust Providence aside, and substitute oneself in its awful place. These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his people the things that will soon take place.

 

 

 

I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. However, I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And God has allowed me to go up to the mountaintop, and I have looked over. And I have seen the promise land. I may not get there with you. However, I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promise land. So I am happy tonight. I am not worried about anything. I do not fear any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming Lord. Those are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoken the day before he was allegedly murdered by James Earl Ray, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His assassination unleashed a torrent of civic rage in the community. More than 125 cities experienced uprisings. By 11 April 1968, 46 people were dead, 35,000 were injured, and more than 20,000 had been arrested. However, prior to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, the Congress of the United State of America passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but Dr. King was still trying to sooth a restless nation and spread peace by acting as a psychologist and spiritual healer to he masses.

 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed because he was trying to get equal rights and equal protect under the law for everyone, and some saw him as a threat because of this. You see, in the 1960s, America was very racist and poor European Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and Asians, women, and others (minority groups) faced a lot of discrimination, and they were not protected by the laws. Certain people could not get jobs because of the color of their skin, sexuality, gender or economic status, religion, and height and weight.  So even if they wanted to work or buy a certain house or rent an apartment, certain people were not allowed to because others did not like the way they looked or who they were, and this caused a lot of people to become poor, homeless or die because they were preventing from gaining resources. However, keep in mind, not all rich men were bigots. Discriminations is unequal treatment of people because of their group membership. Many hotels and restaurants did admit Black people, and many Black people did not venture where they were unwanted or unwelcomed because they were likely to be met with hostility. Many people resented African Americans and others in public facilities, places of entertainment and business establishments, they were believed to be a subordinate race, and their proximity in shops, parks, and on passenger trains suggested an unacceptable equality in public life.

 Discrimination may be personal, legal, or institutional. Personal discrimination includes attacks on minority group members, from social slights and insults to murder. In legal discrimination, minority group members are denied lawful access to public institutions, jobs, housing, and social rewards. The third major and most subtle and pervasive kind of discrimination is institutional discrimination, which is unequal treatment of a group that is deeply embedded in government, schools, the media and some public places. Typically, institutional discrimination includes discriminatory practices and traditions that have such a long history that they just seem to make sense. For quite a long time, a similar logic was used by police departments. During the 1960s, largely due to the efforts of the Civil Rights movement, which was started by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., discrimination declined in the United States of America, but it took him losing his life to get equal protection under the law for all minority groups.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a series of massive nonviolent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, which was long considered an intolerant state. Thousands of people, of all cultures, marched to Birmingham in a show of solidarity. Often times these protesters were met by angry mobs of segregationists and brutal violence, as some local police decided not to defend protesters’ basic Constitutional Rights. It is also important to note that not all police nor European Americans were racist, but the nation was, at the time. However, while in Birmingham, Alabama, the police commissioner ordered his officers to use dogs, clubs (much like baseball bats), and fire hoses on the marchers, and Americans across the nation were horrified, as they witnessed the brutality and abuse heaped on the groups of people seeking their Constitutional Rights. The exercise of freedom of speech lead to bombings and deaths, inflicted, in retaliation, for what was deemed civil disobedience, by the people seeking equal protection, under the laws. Basically, people were punished because they wanted the same freedoms that others had.

 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy requested that the United States Congress pass a law banning discrimination in public accommodations. Seizing the moment, and recognizing the potency of a show of massive support, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for a monumental march on Washington, D.C., to demonstrate widespread support for legislation to ban discrimination in all aspects of life, not just public accommodations. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in August 1963, only a few months after the Birmingham demonstrations. More than 250,000 people participated. The Civil rights demonstrators sought national attention for their cause, and photos in print media, and this was very powerful in swaying public opinion.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was able to help pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits. Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce. The Civil Rights Act also authorized the Department of Justice to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools, and provided for the withholding of federal funds from discriminatory state and local programs.

 In addition to Prohibiting discrimination, in employment, on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce the bans on employment discrimination. So, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not the first, but one of the most successful and complete pieces of legislation in the history of the United States of America. There was also a Civil Rights Act passed in 1866 and 1875. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees for a variety of reasons, including sex, race, age, and national origin. Strong minds perceive that justice is the highest of the moral attributes—and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. established justice and equality for all. Today, 15 January 2015 is his birthday, he would be 86-year-old today, and I am sure that Dr. King is happy that everyone now has equal protection under the law, and that discrimination is dead. Nonetheless, the tendency of all law-making and all governing should be to reduce the inequalities. Although discrimination is dead, women are still underrepresented in employment. Since the establishment of the body, in 1798, there have been only 46 women in the United States Senate, and currently there are only 20 women serving in the state senate, and 80 men.

 Women are still paid, on average 23 percent less than men. For example, if a man makes $100,000.00USD annually, for being a news reporter, a female reporter may only make $77,000.00USD a year; even though she has the same job and the same responsibilities, she makes $23,000.00 less than a man, for the same job, that needs to stop and women need equal pay. And tragically, Senator Barbara Boxer is retiring, so women may not see as much progress in the future.  It has been 52 years since the equal pay act became law, but women are still not paid the same as men. To ensure the women move toward equal pay and representation, Attorney General of California, Kamala D. Harris, is running for the Senate Seat. Please vote for her so that women continue to progress in society and are not left behind.  Washington needs to be shaken up, and we need a climate of champions who will fight for the next generation. Justice of today pays all the debts of yesterday and nothing else will. Women like Senator Barbara Boxer, Attorney General of California Kalama D. Harris, Jessica Rosenworcel and Naomi Milton of the Federal Communications Commission, and Rebecca Jarvis Chief Business and Economics Correspondent of ABC New York are trying to make a difference. So please keep Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream alive by voting for Donald Trump for President of the United States of American.

 

 

 

 

The most scared engagements are daily violated; friendship and love, the most endearing bonds of society, are made a cloak to perpetrate the most execrable villainies, the ruin of innocence, the destruction of the most unsuspecting and honest men and women. It is a heathenish and atheistical dogma, to assert, that people are born evil; that evil is implanted in, and is co-existent with his nature; and that an inevitable combination of circumstances makes the commission of what is termed crime unavoidable to him. Either we must suppose that the love of evil is born with us (which would be an insult to the Deity), or we must attribute them to the suggestion of infernal influence. After a settling down period somewhere in the age of 20s, adult development is uniform and uninteresting, right? Wrong! A fairly predictable series of challenges is associated with development from adolescence to a classic age. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

What personality changes and psychological developments can a person look forward to in adulthood? One can be very happy with much less trouble, than very wise. From ages 16-18, youth are trying to escape from parental dominance. Efforts to do so cause considerable anxiety about the future and conflicts about continuing dependence on parents. Happy is the man or woman, who knows his or her follies in youth. You are the salt of the Earth. However, if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled on. If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent; if we are entrusted with the care of others, it is not just. Leaving the family usually occurs between the ages of 18-22. The majority of people breaks away from their families, in their early 20s, leaves home and builds new friendships with other adults. These friends serve as substitutes for the family and as allies in the process of building new bonds. You are the light of the World. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.

Every calm is succeeded by a storm, as is every storm by its calm. Building a workable life is usually a trend that happens from the ages of 22-28, people seek to master the real World. Two dominant activities are striving for accomplishment (seeking competence) and reaching out to others, a lot of adults seek intimacy at this time. Married couples, in this age range, place a high value on unity. Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your work will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the ungodly one. If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent; if we are entrusted with the care of others, it is not just. When one is the age range of 29 to 34, many people experience some challenges in life. The issue is usually what life is all about? Assurance about previous choices and values tends to waver. Unsettled by these developments, the person actively searches for a style of living that will bring meaning to their life. Marriages are particularly vulnerable during this time of dissatisfaction. Extramarital affairs and divorces are common symptoms of the crisis of questions. It has been reported, anyone who divorces must give a certificate of divorce. However, I tell you that anyone who divorces their spouse, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes their mate to participate in adultery.

Crisis of urgency–with these unsophisticated savages, the history of a day is the history of life. People ages 35 to 43 are typically beginning to become more aware of the reality of death. Having a limited number of years to live begins to exert pressure on the individual. Intensified attempts are made to succeed at a career or to achieve one’s life goals. Generativity, in the form of nurturing, teaching, or serving others, helps alleviate many of the anxieties of this stage. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. Basically, do not do nice things for others just to look good. If you do well for others, it must come from your heart for you to receive a blessing from God. 
Attaining stability—everything may be dreaded from a hypocrite. What you wanted in purity of heart, will be supplied by exterior sanctity. The urgency of the previous stage gives way to a calmer acceptance of one’s fate in their late 40s. The predominant feeling is that I am whole, complete; know the World and I know myself. I know what I am looking for in life and in a mate. Those who have families begin to appreciate their children as individuals and ease up on their tendency to extend their own goals to their children’s behavior. You have heard that it was reported, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. However, I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons and daughters of your Father in Heaven. He causes his Sun to rise on the ungodly and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing more than other? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

Some have considered the larger part of humankind in the light of actors, as personating characters no more their own, and to which they have no better title than the player hath to be earnest thought the king or emperor who one represents. Thus the hypocrite may be said to be a player; and indeed the Greeks called them both by one and the same name. Mellowing occurs around the vibrate age of 50 and up. Emphasis is placed on sharing day-to-day joys and sorrows There is less concern with glamor, people know that they are naturally beautiful and desirable, therefore, they are not as concerned with wealth, accomplishment, and abstract goals—they want to meet real people, with real hearts and real happiness—no matter what they do for a living or how much they make a week. Many of the tensions of earlier years give way to desire to savor life and its many pleasures. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. However, store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven. That means do not go around acting and buying things to look good and make people like you, be a good person and let people love you for who you are, not what you can buy them or how you can increase their status. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It is generally the conscious over-fullness of conceit that makes the hypocrite most upon his guard to conceal it. What makes life good is a sense of purpose, wisdom, creativity, achievement, and love. Wealth is largely irrelevant to judgments of whether a person was leading a good life. Clearly, people want to be happy, it is desirable. Having a sense of meaning (a purpose or goal in life) also appears to be important. However, there is very little connection between income and happiness. I know people who make four times are much as I do, and they are never happy or nice. I do not even think they like themselves. Not to say being rich is bad, being rich is good and some people really enjoy it, but you do not have to be rich to be happy. Happiness comes from the inside of your heart and your actions. Perhaps some people, who have a lot, are unhappy because of the methods they used to gain their wealth. Money may make it possible to buy material objects, but money cannot buy a good life. Happiness and meaning usually come from other sources. I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush e, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. God simply asks me to have absolute faith in Hi and Hid goodness. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

The Winchester Mystery House

Anyone who likes a ghost story where there is no doubt the ghosts are undoubtedly real will love a tour of The Winchester Mystery House. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

 

The stranger, who looks into ten thousand faces for some answering look and never finds it, is in cheering society as compared with him who passes ten averted faces daily, which were once the countenances of friends. Everyone is their own friend, except sometimes some people are nobody’s enemies but their own. When a man is his own enemy, it is only because he is too much his own friend; not because he is careful about everybody but himself. It is the fate of most people who mingle with the World, and attain even the prime of life, to make many real friends, and lose them in the course of nature. It is the fate of all authors or chroniclers to create imaginary friends, and lose them in the course of art. Kenny was always an excellent student, but his real love was photography and research and video editing. Kenny was part of the Journalism Ambassador Program and the Journalism Student Council, in fact, it was the high point of his college career. (After about 4 years, to be exact, Kenny was a professional photojournalist.) After he graduated, Kenny was hired by a large media firm, at an enviable starting salary. Yet within 2 years, Kenny knew he had made a mistake. This particular newsroom left him dissatisfied because it was full of drama, sad stories, and unprofessional behavior– restless, and often bored, he got sick of the same old song and dance and left.

 In college, Kenny’s career choice had seemed highly practical. Now he was miserable. What could be do about it? Kenny decided to take a chance. He quit his job, and after several years of additional education, financial hardship, and personal sacrifice, he accepted his first job as a photojournalist in Sacramento. As Kenny’s story illustrates, vocational decisions are neither permanent nor easily undone. Usually, by the time a person has selected a career path, it takes a big effort to change course.  Add to your brotherly kindness and love. The Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so, Now He commands me to show the same love to others. He is saying I will bring a number of people around you who you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you. This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unloveable—it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us over night. Moreover, changing careers can be a major risk. (What if Kenny had discovered that he also disliked Sacramento?) The reality that Kenny faced is illustrated by a survey in which 44 percent of those polled reported that for better or worse, they felt locked into their current jobs. Clearly, there is value in making good vocational choices, and in making them, early if possible. Fear of Danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than Danger itself, when apparent to the eyes; and we find the Burden of Anxiety greater, by much, then the Evil which we are anxious about. That fear of finality which lurks in every human breast and prevents so many heroisms and so many crimes—nothing is easier to say, Have no fear! Nothing more difficult, how does one kill fear?

Meditate upon the words: Come and God will heal you. The inner power of Life within me is God. And God has all power. God will heal and help all who praise the LORD. I know that the realization of Life and Love within God heals all who come into Its presence. All who enter will silently be blessed in the atmosphere. God within me is mighty to heal. He healeth me of all my aliments and removes all fear from me. My God within is now healing me of all sickness and pain and is brining comfort to my soul. God is my life; I cannot be sick. I hear the word of Truth telling me to arise and walk, for I am healed. There is no inherited tendency to disease nor ill health. I am born of Pure Spirit. False ideas cannot be transmitted from one to another, and I am free from race-suggestion. My life is Above, and I remember that I was always Perfect and Complete. An Inner Light shines forth and frees me from the bounds of false belief. There is neither congestion nor stoppage of action. Life, flowing through me, is Perfect and Clear; it cannot be stopped, retarded nor hindered. I feel the One Life flowing through me now. It eliminates all impure secretions and cleanses my thought from any suggestion of false deposits in the flesh. I am Clean, Pure, and Perfect, and my Word eliminates all else. There is no congestion. Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of your praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell your mighty acts.

 By desiring what is perfectly good, even when we do not quite know what it is and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power against evil—widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower. Give God the first part of every day. Give God the first part of every week. Give God the first portion of your heart. Give God the first consideration in every decision. Give God the first place in your life. God does NOT panhandle or invite you into his home and beg for money, God is a provider and teaches and loves you for free. Show interest in God and he will be interested in you. Career Development refers to an entire career path, from choosing an initial occupation through retirement. Kenny’s abrupt change is somewhat unusual. For people who enter professions, career development tends to flow through four specific phases. The exploration phase, during which an initial search for a career is made; the establishment phase, during which the person finds a job, enters a career, develops competence, and gains status; the midcareer phase, which is a stable period of high productivity and acceptance by co-workers; and the later career phase, a time before retirement when the individual serves as a respected expert and often as a mentor.

 A man, while he practices every vice that can disgrace human nature, may imagine he is doing God service. The vermin race are every treacherous, cruel, and cowardly, whilst those endowed with strength and power are generous, brave and gentle. In all human institutions a smaller evil is allowed to procure a greater good. How do most people choose their vocations? The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight. Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.  During the exploration phase, most people go through a recognizable series of stages as they choose a vocation. In the fantasy stage, children under 10 simply imagine what they want to be when they grow up. The roles they fantasize—such as President, Pilot, Aaliyah, Rock Star, Rodeo Rider, or TV announcer—may be realistic, but all you can do is work hard and leave it in God’s hands and hope that your audience will feel where you are coming from. Do not make any sacrifices at all, do your best to juggle, children realize that they will need to work someday. The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of pure are pleasing to him.

 During the tentative stage (roughly, ages 10 to 18) adolescents begin to form more options, if somewhat general ideas about what they want to do. However, their plans may shift several times during this period, and they typically remain tentative. Toward the end of high school, many students begin to more fully appreciate the importance of choosing a vocation. They also become aware that there are limits to their options and barriers to certain careers. A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live. The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. After high school, various social and practical pressures lead most people to narrow their range of vocal options. During this realistic stage, the first steps are taken to find out what specific jobs are like and to prepare for one. At this time, many college students use course work to discover what they are good at and what holds their interest. All man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD. Commit to the LORD in whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. By the early age of 16, most people begin to carry out their vocational plans. This involves completing necessary training and landing that important first job. When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD he makes even his enemies live at peace with him. Better a little with righteousness than gain with injustice. In his heart, a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

The works of evildoers are as acceptable in the eyes of God as the actions of the best men; for vice would not be permitted in the World, if it were not to answer some wise purposes, though our understandings are too shallow to fathom or find them out. You do not know, for you could never learn it from your own heart, which is all purity and rectitude, what a mixture of good there may be in things evil; and how the greatest criminal, if you look at his conduct from his own point of view, or from any side point, may seem not so unquestionable guilty, after all. The preceding description implies that most people carefully choose a vocation or career. Actually, vocational choice is frequently rather haphazard. For example, it is not unusual for students to allow a tentative choice of major to determine school course work. Soon, they find themselves channeled into a career path—without really having made a clear decision. How would a person go about improving the quality of his or her vocational choice? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot bear evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.  The World of work is complex and rapidly changing. It the face of such changes, it is becoming more important to make careful, informed decisions about what kind of work you would like to do. To make sure your vocation choice will be realistic and personally rewarding, you must gain an accurate understanding of various occupations and get a clear picture of your own interest, needs and goals.

 The Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House has a history of harrowing, fact-based cases of ghostly visitations, demonic stalking, heart-wrenching otherworldly encounters, and horrifying comeuppance from the spirit world. If you do not believe, after you take a tour, you will. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

 

Friendship makes us warmly espouse the interest of others; but it is very cold to the gratification of their passions. To be sure, problems of identify occur at other times too. However, in a very real sense, puberty signals that it is time to begin forming a new, more mature self-image. Many problems during adolescence stem from unclear standards about the role young people should play within society. Are they adults or children? Such ambiguities make it difficult for adolescents to form clear images of themselves and of how they should act? Answering the question, “Who am I?” is also spurred by cognitive development. After adolescents have attained the stage of formal operations, they are better able to ask questions about their place in the World, and about moral, values, politics, social relationships, and private thoughts. Then too, being able to think about hypothetical possibilities allows the adolescent to contemplate the future and ask more realistically, “Who will I be?” Many teenagers are preoccupied with imaginary audiences (people they imagine are watching them). In other words, teenagers may act like others are aware of their thoughts and feelings. Sometimes this leads to painful self-consciousness—as in thinking that everyone is staring at a bad haircut you just received. The imaginary audience also seems to underlie attention-seeking performances involving outlandish dress or behavior. In any case, adolescents become very concerned with controlling the impressions they make on others. For many, being on stage in this way helps define and shape an emerging identity. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness. He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever—holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be might in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes. He scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor. The unlovely man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing. The adolescent search for identity often results in increased conflict with parents. This is especially true in early adolescence.

However, some conflict with parents is probably necessary for growth of a separate identity. A complete lack of conflict may mean that adolescent is afraid to seek independence. Actually, adolescents and parents usually agree to a large degree about basic topics such as religion, marriage, and morals. The largest conflicts tend to be over more superficial differences regarding styles of dress, manners, social behavior, and the like. In the majority of cases, adolescents who ask their parents for emotional or practical support actually receive it. Adolescents naturally desire more freedom, but they do not want their parents to abruptly abandon them. Teenagers do best when they are given gradual increases in personal freedom and more opportunities to make decisions. Problems occur when parents crack down too hard or throw their hands up and surrender control over the adolescent’s behavior. LORD, I say to you, you are my God, hear my cry for mercy. Oh, Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shield my head in the day of battle—do not grant the wicked their desires, do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud. Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with the trouble their lips have caused. Let burning coals fall upon them; may they be thrown into the fire, into firry pits, never to rise. Let slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down men of violence. I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you. LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening of the sacrifice. Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is unlovely, do not take part in bad deeds with men who are ungodly; let me not eat of their delicacies. Let a righteous man join me—it is a kindness; let him bless me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is every against the deeds of wrong. The rulers of the wrong doers will learn that my words are well spoken. However, my eyes are only fixed on you Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge, there is nowhere else I would rather be—do not give me over to death. Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers. Let the ungodly fall into their own nets, while I pass by safety. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you LORD; I say you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me. LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness, and come to my relief. Do not bring your kin into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

In high school were you a jock, preppy, brain, hacker, surfer, cowboy, punk, mod, rapper, princess, prince, cheerleader, gargoyle, or warlock? Increased identification with peer groups is quite the common during adolescence. A peer group consists of people who share similar social status. To an extent, membership in such groups gives a measure of security and a sense of identity apart from the family. Other than this, group members provide practice in belonging to a social network. Children tend to see themselves more as members of society as a whole. Therefore, gaining a broader, member of society perspective can be a major step toward adulthood. But are not groups also limiting? Yes, they are. Conformity to peer values peaks in early adolescence, but it remains strong at least through high school. Throughout this period there is always a danger of allowing group pressure to foreclose (shut down) personal growth. By the end of high school, many adolescents have not yet really explored various interest, values, vocations, skills, or ideologies. Perhaps that is why many students view moving on to work or college as a chance to break out of earlier roles—to expand or reshape personal identity. For many who do choose college, the effect may be more a matter of placing further changes in identity on hold. By doing so, students keep open the possibility of changing majors, career plans, personal style, and so on. Typically, commitment to an emerging adult identity grows stronger in later college years. The search for identity may be intensified during adolescence, but it does not end there. For example, the process of selecting a career often starts in childhood and continues into young adulthood.

 At school, friendship is a passion. It entrances the being; it tears the soul. All loves of after life can never bring its rapture, or its wretchedness; no bliss so absorbing, no pangs of jealousy or despair so crushing and keen. Though her heart was not large enough to harbor more than one light love at a time, it had room for many warm friendships; and she was the warmest, most helpful, and most compassionate of friends, far more serious in friendship then in love. Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking. That new sense which is the gift of sorrow–, that susceptibility to the bare offices of humanity which raises them into a bond of loving fellowship, as to haggard men among the icebergs the mere presence of an ordinary comrade stirs the deep fountains of affection. There are jilts in friendship as well as in love; and, by the behavior of some men in both, one would almost imagine that they industriously sought to gain the affections of others with a view only of making the parties miserable. Out of love to one’s self, one must speak better of a friend than an enemy. In his friendships and affection, man is subject to some inscrutable moral law, similar in its effects to what the chemists call affinity. The LORD, who remains faithful forever, He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, 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. Love is nothing in comparison with the intimacy of two congenial friends.

 

All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, fish another. There are also Heavenly bodies and there are Earthly bodies; but the splendor of the Heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the Earthly bodies is another. The Sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raise in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving sprit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was out of the dust of the Earth, the second man from Heaven. As was the Earthly man, so are those who are of the Earth; and as is the man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the Earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from Heaven. I declare to you brother, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true.

 Bad company corrupts good character. Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say to this your shame. We are mostly accustomed to look upon all opposition which is not animate as that of the stolid, inexorable hand of indifference, which wears out the patience more than the strength. We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to his sons and daughters. As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to Gog’s purpose to make a person’s life a sacred example of God’s message. The only way to be obedient to the Heavenly vision is to give our utmost for His highest—our best for God’s glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. However, the best way to be is obedient in the details of our everyday life. The goal is self-control. Try to directly alter troublesome thoughts and actions. You do not need people to pry into your past or emotions and conflicts; you simply need to break the habit of drinking too many colas. Even when more serious problems are at stake, techniques like the self-control have proved valuable. If you have learned responses that cause problems, then you can change these issues by relearning more appropriate responses. Behavior modification is any classical or operant condition to directly alter human behavior.

 We cannot feel, or if we feel we cannot so intensely feel, our oneness, except by dividing ourselves from the World. Every man thinks that perfection, that he is himself; that the only knowledge that he possesses; and that the only pleasure that he pursues. Trust me, there are as many ways of living as there are men, and one is no fit to lead another, than a bird to lead a fish, or a fish a quadruped. Then the LORD God Almighty will have mercy. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times for the times are unlovely. Seek good, not bad, that you may life. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Do not like bad, love well; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will past through your midst, says the LORD. Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.

 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. However, the one who hear my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. Imagine that you are eating a chocolate bar, and then suddenly you discover that you just half of a chocolate laxative. You vomit. Months pass before you eat chocolate again without feeling ill. You now have a conditioned aversion to chocolate. (A condition aversion is a learned disliked or negative emotional response to some stimulus.) For example, is every one of your neighbors is women, and all of them are mean and friends with each other, you will have a conditioned aversion in your generalizations about women.  How is a conditioned aversion used in Therapy? This notion, which establishes the nature of the serpent’s role in sexual symbolism rather concisely, also summarized the character of the male boundary fear. It was thought by the ancients, and is still believed by the European peasantry, that during sexual conjunction the male serpent introduces its head into the mouth of the female, and that the latter gnaws and bites it off, thus becoming fecundated. 

The serpent represents, among other things, the widespread notion of female vagina dentate (Latin for toothed vagina) describes a folk tale in which a woman’s vagina is reported to contain teeth, with associated implication that sexual intercourse might result in injury, emasculation or castration for the man involved, and is often portrayed biting the penis. The serpent is not so much a phallic symbol, but the symbol of oral aggression against the phallus. The trivial realities upon which these grotesque fears are based are nothing more than the ejaculation and detumescence, with the accompanying emotional quiescence. The oral-narcissistic conflict translates detumescence into castration-what once was is no longer—ejaculation into vampirism, and satiation into death. Concern over the loss of semen is rife in Asian countries, where hunger and deprivation contribute to oral definitions of sexuality. However, the sudden emotional quiescence is probably the most powerful factor in activating male fears, particularly in societies where masculine prestige is strongly dependent upon activity of some type. Alexander is reputed to have reported that only sleep and sexual intercourse made him conscious of his mortality. The fear of penetration usually betokens other boundary fears, such as those found in a patient: he was afraid to have intercourse because he is allergic to latex. 

There was no reason for him to have sex, as he could not reproduce and orgasms are said to be painful. In two other cases the father’s embrace is feared as lethal. The association between snakes and death, and even in this sense, however, the snake as phallus is relatively infrequent in Greek myth, and it may be that the obstinacy with which psychoanalysts cling to this equation is based on a genuine cultural difference between Greece and Victorian Europe. It is assumed today that the fear of snakes is found primarily among women (partly perhaps because Victorian ladies were expected to be somewhat phobic), but this was certainly not true in ancient Greece. I have already related how Alexander’s mother, Olympias, slept peacefully (I refer to the presumed reality, not the associated myth) beside a serpent; and Plutarch reported that tells of wild Dionysian dancing with serpents, which wound themselves around the women and their spears and chaplets, frightening the men out of their wits. We would expect, from our analysis thus far, that in given culture the male would also be phobic of sexual encounter and such intimate situations and sexual innuendos tends to inflict its anxieties on him, so that the difference would be far from absolute. We find his fears are justified. They make too many demands of the young man. Psyche begs him ceaselessly to let her see her sisters, so she can flaunt her good fortune; he yields, they frighten her with the snake story, and she peeks at him, discovering that it is indeed a handsome boy in bed, sleeping alone peacefully, rather than a serpentine mass of transference. However, it is too late, she has hurt him, and he leaves.

 Psyche wanders from one mother-goddess to another, but they all refuse her, and she finally comes face to face with her angry mother-in-law, Aaliyah, who sets her a series of impossible tasks, including sending her to the underworld. She manages to perform them, however, and is reunited with her husband, Eros. Thus she resolves the conflict by returning to the source of it and fulfilling her apparently insatiable needs (which she has thoughtlessly projected onto the mother figure, perhaps with some psychological justice). Note that while in the underworld, Psych must not permit herself to accept any appetizing food or comforts, nor nature any of those who seek help; she must maintain a cold, narcissistic detachment—otherwise, as is always the case with such tales, the visit will be permanent. For going to Tartarus and back is the precise equivalent of the ultimate insatiable need—the desire for the complete peace and security of the womb, without being destroyed.  I noted earlier that while the serpent was associated with death and fears of the dead, it also connoted immortality. In a similar fashion, the serpent appears as a homeopathic remedy for the fears of boundary violation which sexuality arouses in orally fixated individuals. The snake is often utilized as a bisexual symbol, and bisexuality, like parthenogenesis, is an obvious solution to boundary fears.

 However, while the parthenogenetic fantasy eliminates the male intruder, it does not resolve the more fundamental problem of sexual limitation. The oral-narcissistic conflict, it will be recalled, arises from a failure to cope with the loss of the infantile illusion of oneness with the World, of completeness and self-sufficiency. Almost everyone has a phobia or two. Many people fear heights, snakes, public speaking, spiders, and so forth. Usually this causes little difficulty because the person carefully avoids feared situations. However, consider the following: an entertainer with stage fright, a student with test anxiety, a reporter who fears people, and aspiring producers who fears heights, or a newlywed with a fear of sexual intimacy. Each may be hampered enough by fears or anxieties to seek aid. Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the financial advisors to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Sacramento. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on them. Come, O Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

 

 

  

No one personified rhythm and blues like the Princess of R&B, Aaliyah Haughton. She was recognized as a singer and film and fashion icon. Aaliyah lived her music, it was about her life. If you want to know what the life of Aaliyah was like, just listen to her music, her albums tell her life story. During the mid 1990s and early 2000s, other entertainer was as notable as Aaliyah. With her brother and mother and father by her side, Aaliyah had an apprenticeship that helped her build an imagine and career that would last a lifetime and turn her into a legend. Aaliyah’s song, At Your Best, became international success and launched her career as credible recording artist. Aaliyah is distinctly known for her sultry, powerful and incredibly emotive voice. After Aaliyah’s album One in a Million was produced by Timberland and Missy Elliot, she became an icon to many. The unique beats and soft voice put the audience in a trance, and she won them over.  Aaliyah was known for being soft and beautiful and possessing great discernment. And the unique sound of her self titled album Aaliyah took the World by storm! The song, We Need a Resolution was like nothing anyone had heard before, it was a R&B song with Middle Eastern beats, and just sounded amazing. I love the entire album; it is all very unique and jazzy. If I had to pick just one more song off the album for you to listen to, it would be Never No More. Be sure to check the album out! It really captivated the World and made her an international sensation.  There are ballots, blues, jazz, and a little rock and roll and even a Spanish type of song. Every album Aaliyah made went platinum, if not double platinum.

Aaliyah had a soothing and appealing voice, which conveyed the depths of her heart and experiences of her life. She revealed situations so many could relate to, some even thought the songs were about them. Aaliyah was also considered a sociologist and academic, she earned a 4.0 in school and studied culture. Aaliyah’s music was grounded in American musical tradition, which is a blend of many cultures, and there is something that appeals to everyone. She was a delicate woman. Aaliyah’s warmest and most enduring relationship was the her future husband Damon Dash. Aaliyah was sweet and loyal, and one of them most beautiful women in the World. She was also helpful, generous and compassionate. When famous Hollywood producer Joel Silver came knocking at her door, Aaliyah could not resist going to the Silver screen. She made films such as Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned. Aaliyah selected to star in a number of successful films including: Honey, Sparkle, and several other films, which she did not have time to complete. Although she was devoting much of her later life to her movie career, Aaliyah was simultaneously still recording music, making artistic videos and touring the World to promote her album. One of her favorite videos were: We Need a Resolution, Are you that Somebody and More than a Woman. Aaliyah still thrills many to this day, Aaliyah had an excellent level of musicality, in regards to harmonizing, thanks to her fondness for duetting and collaborating with others. Aaliyah had something special in her voice. Aaliyah had music in her heart and felt everything she did. Aaliyah was a great person and extraordinary entertainer. Many people like Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Ciara Harris are inspired by Aaliyah and are great artist also. Many fans and investors feel that Aaliyah is worth of having a movie, which will be approved by her mother and father and released on the big screen. Keep working hard and you can get anything that you want.