Calm Space Ambient Music | Cosmic Harmony for Stress Relief, Meditation,...

Spiegel im Spiegel

Sir John Tavener was an English composer born in 1944 who I first heard when his first recording was released on The Beatles Apple label. All of John Tavener's works conveyed a sense of the 'spiritual,' of something divine even though he didn't convert to the Russian Orthodox Church until he was in his early thirties. His composition 'The Protecting Veil' is probably my favourite piece of Taveners for it goes beyond being just Christian embracing a universal sense of peace found only in silence. Composer John Rutter said of Tavener that he had a "very rare gift" which was the ability to bring audiences to a deep silence.

"Go placidly among the noise and haste and remember what peace there is in silence." from Desiderata by Max  Ehrmann. 

Tavener was not alone. He said that he and the Estonian composer, Arvo Part, were kindred spirits. Arvo Part is the worlds most performed classical composer. The above is his work which, like Tavener, draws you into a deep sense of silence but, again like Tavener, Part's music speaks of something beyond words, beyond The Koran or the Upanishads or The Torah or The Bible and I think for very good reasons. Words, mighty than the sword maybe, can only convey a limited understanding of what the writer is trying to say but not so with music which has the ability to lift the spirit, bend the mind to tears or convey that deep-seated sense of being. This piece speaks of 'God' without needing to mention 'God,' it is a universal acclamation of our unity with each other and with all creation or, as Cara would say, our One Love.

Arvo Part was born in 1935. John Tavener died 2013.

Deep Relaxation Ambient Music ~ Space Music ~ Study ~ Sleep ~ Meditation

Calm Space Ambient Music | Cosmic Harmony for Stress Relief, Meditation,...

Meditation

I am going step by step into what is meditation. Please don’t wait till the end, hoping to have a complete description of how to meditate. What we are doing now is part of meditation.

Now, what one has to do is to be aware of the thinker, and not try to resolve the contradiction and bring about an integration between thought and the thinker. The thinker is the psychological entity who has accumulated experience as knowledge; he is the time-bound center that is the result of ever-changing environmental influence, and from this center he looks, he listens, he experiences. As long as one does not understand the structure and the anatomy of this center, there must always be conflict, and a mind in conflict cannot possibly understand the depth and the beauty of meditation.

In meditation there can be no thinker, which means that thought must come to an end—the thought which is urged forward by the desire to achieve a result. Meditation has nothing to do with achieving a result. It is not a matter of breathing in a particular way, or looking at your nose, or awakening the power to perform certain tricks, or any of the rest of that immature nonsense. ... Meditation is not something apart from life. When you are driving a car or sitting in a bus, when you are chatting aimlessly, when you are walking by yourself in a wood or watching a butterfly being carried along by the wind—to be choicelessly aware of all that is part of meditation.

What K is saying here is that when you meditate the 'you' need not think, not to have thoughts but rather to clear the mind, or allow the mind to be clear. To have a mind free of thought so that the mind is silent. K draws us to see that meditation and mindfulness are one and the same thing and by having a silent mind you are not only meditating but mindful, that is aware. You fulfil your oneness with 'God.' iNot the conceptual 'God' but the reality.

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NaHaiWriMo 2018 #8: Monkeying Around + The Fight Against Perfectionism

Notes:

Click the image to enlarge.

"So then I artistically blurred my photo to give a sense of moving back through time."

Nah. I moved my hand while the photo was being taken.

"But why would you want to use a photo like that? Any photographer worth their salt would delete it forthwith!"

I don't really consider myself a photographer. I'm a person who takes pictures because I enjoy it. 

This blurry photo isn't without its merits. It inspired me to create this Haiga of questionable quality.

Nobody is ever going to consider this to be a high-fallutin' work of art to rival the classics. But it is fun, and it illustrates the idea that you can make your mistakes work for you.

I have been battling perfectionism all my life. Embracing my mistakes is helpful for me. Perfectionism is an extremely destructive quality. I would like to share the ways in which it has harmed me from various perspectives.
In this post, I would like to share how physical perfectionism has caused untold harm to me and many others. Some of what I share involves my own perfectionism, and some of it involves the unrealistic standards which society imposes upon people.

On a physical level, we live in a society which demands that Number Twelve Looks Just Like You. We are supposed to aspire to a certain standard of beauty and fitness, and, if we fail to achieve such, we are deemed failures not worthy of even basic decency in the way we are treated by others.
However, rather than inspiring everyone to become super duper supermen and women, this attitude has a tendency to backfire. You end up with people who do not trust doctors because doctors continually shame them for their physical appearance or failure to be compliant with regimens that it may be impossible or intolerable for them.
So, instead of engaging in a program of regular visits to the doctor for preventative care and maintenance of chronic health issues, people avoid going to the doctor until they experience a critical problem. This helps no-one.
When my current doctor addressed my slightly elevated triglycerides (a common issue for diabetics) with "have you been indulging in treats?" I snapped. I said "I make twelve thousand dollars a year and generally eat only one or two meals a day. I eat what I can afford to purchase. I do not 'indulge.'"
In spite of the fact that this doctor is by far the most effective doctor that I have ever seen, I am considering going back to the guy who was burned out and had no fucks to give, because my current doctor has given me ample reason to mistrust her. The 'indulging in treats' bit is mere sprinkles on the body-shaming cake.
This doctor presented herself as offering a 'safe space' for larger people, and, during my first visit, appeared to live up to her promise. Thereafter, she suggested weight loss surgery and blamed my abnormal endometrial thickening on "obesity."
If you want your larger patients to believe for a second that you have any respect for them, you need to ditch the "o" word. "Obesity" is "other." "Obesity" is a pariah. "Obesity" is shit. "Obesity" is always said with a sanctimonious sneer. If you use that word, I do not trust you.
Abnormal endometrial thickening is correlated with a larger body type, but correlation is not causation. It is also correlated with being over fifty (guess I need to step into an age-regression machine), white (guess I'd better start tanning), and diabetic.
A larger body type is also correlated with type 2 diabetes. Again, correlation is not causation. I am inclined to think that abnormal pancreatic function is a strong contributing factor in both the tendency to gain weight and the endometrial hyperplasia. There may be a third factor which causes all of my endocrine issues. A heavy body type is correlated with endocrine issues, but it did not cause these issues. In fact, the reverse is true. None of my endocrine system works properly. It would be highly unlikely for me to have a thin body unless I were to become deathly ill, regardless of how little I eat or how much I exercise.
So, having a bench in your waiting room rather than just chairs with arms does not constitute offering a "safe space" for people of all sizes. I don't trust you, and that makes for an ineffective doctor/patient relationship, regardless of your ability to diagnose and possibly treat health problems.
People are not inclined to take care of things they hate, and that includes their bodies. While cleaning out my storage unit, I found numerous artifacts from the many years I spent trying to hate myself thin. Looking over the awful things I wrote about myself, thinking about all the money I spent playing a game that almost nobody wins, realizing that I caused wear and tear to my body equivalent to the harm done to it by the many years I spent working long hours at physically punishing jobs, thinking back on the times when I was sometimes spending five hours at the gym when I should have been spending that time with my son, I became extremely depressed.
To top it all off, none of this shit brought me to the goal of Magical Thinness, which would have won me the Handsome Prince with the Exactly Correct Body Fat Percentage, a billion dollars for every pound I lost during my incredibly successful "weight loss journey," fame and adoration of the masses, or anything but a far thinner wallet and a soul filled with self-loathing.
Thinspo is crap. Fitspo is crap. Dieting is crap. It's all harmful. None of it will bring you happiness, and it won't even bring you health. It will bring you self-loathing and turn you into an awful person that nobody likes.

Dieting is not about health. It is about perfectionism. The pressure to be perfect is purely for profit. Stop paying into a system that doesn't give a damn about you and thrives on your failure.

"In the long term, dieting is a spectacular waste of time for everyone except statistical unicorns." --Louise Adams

~Cie~

What Does It Mean To Live in the Now?

I understand perfectly what is meant by living in the now but fail, I think, to express properly what it means and why I practise it. When I tried explaining what it means and why I do it I find myself, especially when feeling, even if I'm not, as though I am being confronted.

This from Psychology Today, a site anyone can visit which has no agenda apart from the health of the mind and certainly no allegiance to any religion, faith or philosophy. 

"Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what's past."

This from the Huffington Post. "When we’re not being mindful, life moves by in the blink of an eye. Tendencies to overstuff our schedules, to stay plugged in as slaves to technology all hours of the day, and to constantly strive for more can and will rob us of our precious presence. We’ve glorified busy and achievement. It’s our culture. And, as a result, people, overall, actually feel less happy and connected than ever. (Just look at stats on depression, anxiety, and stress-related illnesses."

I think the best way I can explain it, why I practise living in the now or the present moment is how Alan Watts described it. Imagine you are on a boat far out at sea. There is no land in sight and behind you is the wake created by the boat's passage. The further you travel the more the wake fades. This illustrates how the past, a period we can learn from adding whatever happened to our life's experiences but slowly the wake (the past) fades. I lost my father thirty years ago. I still love him but the pain of losing him is diminishing. As life goes on so the past pales.

Still on the boat, as it plows its way over the ocean of life there is no sign of land. The future has not happened and can never happen by thinking of it. When it arrives it is today, the now, the present.

Now, this doesn't mean you can't prepare. I regularly prepare by purchasing glucose drinks to ensure never being caught low in sugar when out walking. It doesn't mean you shouldn't save for the next holiday, pre-book it even nor should you not prepare in advance for the family members birthday or your anniversary. What living in the now means is not living in the past or future. Not constantly re-living a conversation or argument you had, not constantly thinking how life will be better when the future arrives. The future never arrives it is always the present.

This from Psychology Today...

"The excitement of awaiting something out of the ordinary or special is easily understood, but by focusing so heavily on what’s to come, you miss out on what’s in front of you. And for something big that’s approaching, this usually means that you wish away the present time rather than savoring the excitement leading up to the big event. Then, before you know it, the trip has arrived, you have the experience, and then it ends and is in the past. By being present in the moment (and savoring the time leading up), you obtain a higher level of satisfaction, allow yourself to have a better experience, and feel more fulfilled as the event has not come and gone as quickly."

This from Exploring Your Mind regarding the past...

"Something that only exists in our imagination cannot be changed. You cannot act on it and so to  undertake actions now to modify past situations does not make much sense."

This from psychologists at Harvard University...

"Human beings have this unique ability to focus on things that aren't happening right now. That allows them to reflect on the past and learn from it; it allows them to anticipate and plan for the future; and it allows them to imagine things that might never occur," said Matthew Killingsworth, a doctoral student in psychology and lead author of the study. "At the same time, it seems that human beings often use this ability in ways that are not productive and furthermore can be destructive to our happiness," he added.

From my experience this is true. I am less happy when using Facebook or when thinking of what might be if only than I do by being present. The present moment, the now is for me vital for my mental well being.

NaHaiWriMo 2018 #6: House of Cards

Notes:

Text by The Real Cie. House of Cards and its characters are the creation and property of Netflix.

I was inspired to create this Haiga while binge-watching House of Cards instead of sleeping. I noticed the parallel between the over-the-top drama involving House of Cards' main character, Frank Underwood, and Kevin Spacey, the actor who plays the part. Frank Underwood describes his father as having been a violent alcoholic. Spacey has stated that his father was both physically and sexually abusive as well as a racist.

While I feel that the inner turmoil from his childhood abuse combined with shame over his sexual orientation may have prompted Kevin Spacey to behave in inappropriate and ill-advised ways with young men, and while I feel compassion for his struggles, I do not think that his behavior is acceptable. It is a shame that it resulted in his being terminated from House of Cards because he is a superlative actor. Of course, it is also unfortunate that the young men subjected to his behavior suffered psychological repercussions.

This piece falls into the categories of fan art, art imitating life, human failings, tragedy, and irony.

The Cheese Grates It: Proselytizing Sucks

A couple of days ago, my doorbell rang. I was hoping it might be this alligator, but it was the Jehovah's Witnesses.

One of the women had been here a couple of months ago. She'd given me a pamphlet and said it answered questions such as "what does God think of tattoos?"

As a person with tattoos, I found this a bit offensive and said as much. 

The woman was embarrassed by her gaffe. She seemed well-intentioned although misguided, so I kindly but firmly informed her that I am a tattooed agnostic and do not apologize for being one. 

On this occasion, I said that I had no interest in attending church, as I figured that was what they were going to postulate.

Instead, they wanted to tell me how the Bible has answers to my most burning questions. The lady who had been here before then recalled my saying I was an agnostic. I said that I still am, that I think there is a higher power but I do not believe that humanity has the capacity to understand it. I said that my opinion was unlikely to change, and, because I was raised to be polite, thanked them for their time.

Next time the doorbell rings, I certainly hope it's either Amazon delivering a package or an alligator. Or maybe this raven. I could certainly get behind its cause.

Proselytizing is outmoded in the Information Age. It was always annoying. 

If there is truth in a belief system, it doesn't need to be shoved down people's throats. They'll either come around to it or they won't. Scare tactics and browbeating are no way to create adherents.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

The Totality of Life - Consciousness, Awareness

To understand life, all life, The Totality of Life not just the neat bits and pieces, the stuff we select to champion so in the championing of it we are coated in a reflected moralistic glow. It is a glow which we then judge others by thereby elevating ourselves to a higher ground. The judging of others has no place in life unless we are talking about the judgement made in a court of law regarding a crime committed. Judging someone as being fat or thin or ugly or of not having the right faith, the correct beliefs, is not a judgement we are able to make. Those judgements are manufactured by humans to enable humans to define by their criteria what they think is the right way, their way. It is self-delusional. To understand life we must first comprehend the enormity of such a task. 

So what is life?  Well, for a start size is immaterial. Are not atoms and molecules that form the foundation of life small? Does light not travel through the honeycomb of rock, the same rock we would dash ourselves against? Size doesn't limit life nor defines it. The very definition of life is open to argument. We do know that life on earth began as early as 4.26 billion years ago following the formation of the ocean 4.41 billion years ago and that just after the formation of the planet 4.54 billion years ago. All of which is interesting but doesn't explain what is life.

Trying to define life is an incredibly hard task. Various branches of science, biology, genetics, biochemistry along with seeking life somewhere out in the universe all add to the mix. In many ways, the old Hindu story of six blind men trying to identify an elephant provides a wonderful illustration. One man touches the trunk, another an ear, another a leg, another a foot and so on. Those composite parts make for a fragmented view of the subject in question but none provides a holistic, overall truth. Science is like though isn't it? Science is a wonderful tool for it grapples with issues we wouldn't understand if it wasn't for science but it is very mechanical isn't it? It likes to dissect, box, labels different parts of what is life.

Is it life or is it all of existence? Is all of existence life?

I walk mindful of all about me. Things fly past my eye, small things, large things. I observe them but do not identify or label them. By my side, beneath me, the earth scuttles alive, creatures crawl, the breeze blows vegetation so it bends, it follows the breath of heaven.  I hear a multitude of sounds from near and far. The thundering of metal on metal, rubber on tarmac, feral cries, feral warnings, laughter, chirruping, voices soft and low, voices loud. The breeze blesses my skin. Above me infinity beckons. Is this the eternal? Is this universal life that makes me feel so alive? It feels like reality. It feels like a merging. One is all as all is one.

Is a virus alive? Is it a lifeform? Viruses – like all life as we know it – carry DNA or RNA and has led some to suggest that viruses belong to the tree of life whilst others have claimed that viruses hold clues to understanding how life began in the first place. If this is the case, life begins to look less like a black-and-white entity and more like a nebulous force, an energy with confusing borders.

"Nucleic acids: are compounds that make up the DNA strand. Nucleic acids include deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) and ribonucleic acids(RNA). Proteins: are the business end of the DNA in the cell."

These are the building blocks of life but there are more. Of the 92 natural elements, 25 are essential for life. Of these, there are six main elements that are the fundamental building blocks of life. They are, in order of least to most common: sulfur, phosphorous, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. These building blocks are found in plants just as they are us. Plants contain 90 to 95% water. Humans contain a brain and heart which are composed of 73% water whilst the lungs contain about 83% water. Water is after all vital for all life on earth.

But here I go, taking the route so often taken of labelling all and everything, of sub-dividing life into sentient and non-sentient beings.  This is fine if you need to break down the mechanics of what life is made up of but it does not explain life in its entirety. All existence is alive. All depends on its existence on one another. The physical existence of a thing, be it a flower, a rock or bird when observed by someone with the smallest degree of awareness resonates with life beyond its physicality. 

Consciousness is defined as the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings. How many of us are truly aware to all that is going on around us? Truly aware? The mind chatters. It is allowed to talk to itself, to rehash a conversation you just had, to regurgitate an argument you had recently the answers to which you didn't supply at the time but would now. The mind is controlled by the 'I' not the self for the self when the mind is awake, is fully aware of all that is taking place in the present. Eckhart Tolle suggests consciousness as being unmanifested, the eternal as of being timeless so therefore not part of the evolutionary process. If consciousness is eternal then consciousness must be as one with God, not the conceptual deity but the reality. When we are fully aware, and I struggle with this, struggle with my ego, struggle when outside forces combine to gang-up and argue with me, to let my ego go, when we are aware, fully aware then you are totally in the present. The ego, along with those outside forces are seen for what they are and they are nothing to do with you. By being present you are fully conscious therefore connected to a timeless state that exists within and without you. 

That is awareness. Awareness comes from being conscious. Being conscious and aware gives you an insight into your own mind. Once you start down the pathless route to the truth, your truth, you realise how powerful the mind is when silent. In that silence as the world around you spins, the stars above dust the heavens, distant suns including your own, disprove psychological time, that awareness becomes acute and silence opens your mind. It is then when the conceptual God fails as the reality of God becomes present within you. God is in that silence just as you are part of God.

NaHaiWriMo 2018 #4: Picture of the Photographer

Notes:

Images copyright Cara Hartley/The Real Cie. I allow the use of my photographs in other creative blogs with credit to me. 

The person in the photograph is my 28-year-old son, Michael, who is taking photographs of some specimens at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Michael has overcome a lot of challenges in his life, and I am very proud of him. He has worked hard to manage depression and anxiety without medication, as the medications don't work for him. Although he still deals with these issues, he has developed excellent coping skills.

Psych meds work well for some people, but they don't work for everyone. In Michael's case, they don't work at all. In my case, they make me manic and psychotic, which I am usually not. 

People tend to want to "fix" those who have neurological and psychological differences. Instead of trying to "fix" us, which tends to make us become defensive and shuts down conversations, try instead to understand our perspective, which opens the doors to understanding and possibility.

~Cie~

NaHaiWriMo 2018 #1 and Shadow Shot Sunday

Notes:

I loathe this laptop with the fiery passion of a thousand supernovas. I will be glad to have my desktop back in action this week.

Click the above photos to enlarge them.

It appears that Rick from 19 Planets (19planets.wordpress.com) is not doing Haiga prompts this year. It has become a tradition for me to do Haiga in September so I will continue that tradition. The Haiga may occasionally be mixed with other prompts. 

If I miss a day, I will try to double up on another day, but I'm not going to be a strict disciplinarian with this. I'm not in school and this isn't homework. It's supposed to be enjoyable. Life is far and away stressful enough without my adding to the stress by beating up on myself for not having my Haiga done on a strict schedule.

My Haiga this month will probably become Haibun more often than not, as this one has done. 

I will be using more of my own photos than I have in the past. The above photo, with and without the Haiga, is mine. You are welcome to use and share it, but please credit me back. You can link to this blog, but at least provide a copyright credit to Cara Hartley or The Real Cie. You are welcome to alter the original photo, i.e., to make your own Haiga or use for a photo prompt, but, again, credit me for the original photo. I'm pretty easygoing about the use of my work as long as I'm credited for it.

In other news, my financial situation is still awful, and my son suggested that I move in with him. I would never have asked him to let me do this, and I was surprised and grateful for the offer. He has grown up a lot, and it shows in the fact that he saw the way I was struggling and offered this solution. I think it shows that I have made a few positive changes as well.

One change that has come in the past year is my reaction to acknowledgment (or lack thereof) of my work. In the past, it has been very upsetting to me that I do not generally receive comments on my creations. This has tended to have a negative effect on my work. At this point, I seem to have taken enough Fukitol that I really don't give any fucks whether people comment on my work or not. 

I also don't care if people are offended by my liberal use of profanity. I'm assuming we're all adults here. I cannot possibly be the first person you've encountered who has a tendency to drop f-bombs. I used to post warnings all over the place and apologize any time that I typed a post full of swears. Fuck that shit. If you have a problem with profanity, this is your notice that I'm not someone whose work you want to read. Full stop.

I will not apologize for being politically liberal, being horrified by the reptilian aliens who have taken over the United States Government (I don't actually think they're reptilian aliens, this is an example of hyperbole), my tendency to be hyperbolic, my being agnostic with a tendency to metaphysical beliefs, my tattoos, my mental health issues, my physical issues, the size of my body, my dead libido, or my outrage at the state of the world.

I will not apologize for the fact that in spite of the financial upheaval my physical decline has wrought, I am greatly relieved to never have to work in healthcare again. Although there could be a sense of accomplishment, I realize that I was extremely stressed out and more often than not miserable doing this kind of work. The physically and emotionally difficult jobs I worked in the past took a toll on my body, and I'm not sorry to be done with them.

I will not apologize for working a low-paid job as a delivery driver for a restaurant. I should not have to apologize for that.

I will not apologize for needing to receive Medicaid. I will say that it's bullshit that I should have to make sure that I don't earn over $1100 a month because if I earn one cent more than that, I lose Medicaid. Everybody in the U.S. should have Medicaid. Full fucking stop, no fucking apologies.

I will not apologize for writing gloomy poetry.

I will not apologize for writing Haiku.

I will not apologize for being an outlier. I used to beat myself up for not being able to belong to any group, including so-called "writer support groups." These groups tend to only be supportive if you are a very select type of person. I am not a very select type of person. Whether accidentally or on purpose, the Universe broke the mold after it made me. I think the Deities probably said, "holy shit, we can't have another of those running around!"

So, here we are, my first Haibun of 2018. I think. I may have done another somewhere along the way, but, as far as I know, this is the first one.

I may make a virtual chapbook of this year's NaHaiWriMo. (I'm pretty sure I stole that term from the aforementioned Rick.) All proceeds will go to helping me pay my plethora of back bills. Stay tuned for more!

~Cie~

A Response to - The Philosophy of Atheism by Emma Goldman (First published in February 1916 in the Mother Earth journal)

In Emma Goldman's lucid yet, from my point of view flawed essay published in 1916, there are several issues I have. Firstly, Atheism. Logically, Atheism can only exist if there is theism. The two are like up and down or left and right, they depend on each other for existence. They may seem to be polarised but in fact, are two sides of the same coin. I understand the atheist's viewpoint as much as I do the theist but both are founded on belief. Again, without belief, we cannot have disbelief. Nor does it make sense under closer inspection to suggest "that the concept God, Supernatural Power, Spirit, Deity, or in whatever other term the essence of Theism may have found expression, has become more indefinite and obscure in the course of time and progress." for words such as deity or even God are human-made and have little or no bearing on the reality of God. God as a word is not God the reality. The word as used by those of faith doesn't describe that which created all for there is no word that does. Once you affix human-made words the meaning and truth of the thing humans try to label is lost.

Emma Goldman goes on to say that God "no longer represents the same forces as in the beginning of His existence; neither does He direct human destiny with the same Iron hand as of yore." By this statement, she appears to accept the word 'God' is the very same thing as the eternal, the unknowable, the indescribable. How can it be? One is a concept the other reality. Belief or disbelief in a conceptual God is a poor substitute for the real thing. I accept what she says about the conceptual God not being a personal God who interferes in human existence but wish she hadn't sought to present her argument by suggesting 'God' has modified his behaviour when it is patently those members of organised religion, the church with all its various denominations, all its adherents who have done that. It is organised religion that those of faith would be better off not following. If you need to talk to 'God' then go direct.

She is right when she states "The conception of gods originated in fear and curiosity. Primitive man, unable to understand the phenomena of nature and harassed by them, saw in every terrifying manifestation some sinister force expressly directed against him; and as ignorance and fear are the parents of all super- stition, the troubled fancy of primitive man wove the God idea."  You only have to be able to read to acknowledge that deities have existed for millennia and that those deities, Zeus, Ra, Odin etc; were created by humankind All of these deities are a projection of the mind especially in the case of Yahweh who, in the original texts  prior to Greek translation says in Psalm 82 - "Yahweh takes his stand in the Council of El to deliver judgements among the gods. 'No more mockery of justice, no more favouring the wicked! Let the weak and the orphan have justice, rescue the weak and needy, save them from the clutches of the wicked!' " Yahweh, the original Abrahamic deity was not the first in the Hebrew pantheon for pantheon it was, He was one of many but like Zeus overthrew His fellows. In the case of Zeus his father Kronos. Hebrew's were first Pagan.

"With all due respect, then, to the metaphysicians and religious idealists, philosophers, politicians or poets: the idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, both in theory and practice." Again, this only makes sense if first, you accept 'God' as a deity. To do that you are engaging in a debate that already has you on the back foot. Once you see beyond the simplistic notion of God having a physical body, a body as the Bible would have us believe, we are made in the likeness of, then God suddenly has a new possibility. God as an all-encompassing presence that doesn't judge, condemn nor fashion life in its shape for God has no shape. God is.

As I said, to be atheist one has to believe. The atheist believes for he/she cannot disprove there is a deity any more than a theist can prove there is one so the idea of having a body of belief that disbelieves a thing is no better than a body who believes there is such a thing. Both are divisional thereby causing friction between each other. This brings me to this from Emma's essay which I answered above. - "Already there are indications that theism, which is the theory of speculation, is being replaced by Atheism, the science of demonstration; the one hangs in the metaphysical clouds of the Beyond, while the other has its roots firmly in the soil. It is the earth, not heaven, which man must rescue if he is truly to be saved. Yes, the earth does need saving for we are now, 102 years on since Emma's publication, set at two minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock but that has no bearing on the debate at all with relation to theism or atheism. The only way if you are true to science is to be a sceptic for there is neither proof one way or another.

Emma then goes on to state that theism is fast fading. Well, it may have been back in 1916 but has managed to hang on still, in one form or another, until this present day. I don't see those of faith or the offices that support the various denominations that divide the Abrahamic religions simply giving up. After all, with faith comes conviction and that suggests holding to a belief no matter the tides of time or the changes that affect society in general. there are still 2.240 billion Christians and fast catching them up, 1.800 billion Muslims. That doesn't take into account how many Jews there are. No, theism is not fading even if mindsets are changing. Religion will not simply roll over. 

In general, I agree with Emma Goldman but the point at which we part company is that there is a huge difference between someone having faith in a deity, holding that faith close to their heart, living in a way that reflects their belief's but who isn't a part of any organised religion. This surely is the crux of the matter? If an individual wants to follow some guru, leader or just to emulate another who they see as moral perfection, why shouldn't they? Personally, I see no need for leaders of any stripe, especially religious leaders. For when you have a leader they can lead you astray. Organised religion opposed to individual faith is where monsters conflict with morals so that the morals come second to the religion that organises the masses. It is control, control for the sake of power. There can be no doubt that organised religion is guilty of crimes against humanity. The only way for the adherents to maintain their faith is to break with their religions and go about their faith as individuals.