Ten days since my last entry and only three left at most for this year! Time goes fast at this time of the year with the preparations for the holidays. However once Christmas is over, time for me slows down to a standstill until I reach the second day of the New Year. To me it does not matter which day it is between Christmas day and New Year’s day, I treat them as equal.

During this time their priests would go into retreat to find out the will of the gods for the year to come.

I have read that the ancient Babylonians did some thing like this. During this time their priests would go into retreat to find out the will of the gods for the year to come. This was most likely done by means of astrology and some political input as well, I suspect.

The ancient Egyptians did some thing similar by presenting their gods with alternate law tablets as they went for their summer retreat. When the gods on the litter neighed that set would be accepted, but when they reared up that law tablet would be shattered.

In a way our custom of making resolutions bears some similarity to these ceremonies of those ancient societies, as they sought the will - right action - of the gods, while we do so with our ‘right’ intentions! What was holy once, has become profane today, but that is the way most of these customs came about; gods go first and with time humans follow!

My christmas activities were the usual with family, except that John, Tammy and Annie came over to my place Boxing day morning. It was nice to have them over here, as we exchanged our gifts. Annie dove into here book that I’d bought her, along with the chocolates and juice! I’d spotted some vegan cookies and chocolate for Tammy and John, which they prefer and is now more available.

I got a surprise present with a Parker pen and three field note booklets. I’d looked at them in ShelfLifeBooks, but always dismissed them as ‘not needed’, having already several note books! But, field notes was some thing that became a part of my professional life in the field [sic] of surveying and mapping! So, the present was much appreciated and put to use last night!

I am working on two new year’s resolutions. One is the continuation of the sorting and organising I started last October. The other is to formulate my ideas about Existence Divine in a way such that they can be taught.

But, there is a third activity that is demanding my attention and that is to start with a digital version of doing my Left_Hand work. I have done Left_Hand work since 1991 and have posted the first five books on my website. Now I have an intuitive urging to start doing this sort of drawing using a digital tablet and I am trying one out at this time!

Over Christmas I read very little contrary to my intention. Every time I wanted to dive into a book I felt tied back - religio is Latin for 'to be tied back' - from it, instead I read some paper and magazine articles. The rest of the time was occupied with defining some approach to expressing my ideas on Existence Divine. It is not that I have not written or presented talks on this subject, on the contrary I have posted talks and essays on my website.

This Christmas time my concern was to somehow formulate a narrative that shows the necessity of applying these ideas in and to our present day global society. This with the aim to find ways to accommodate the diversity of identities and interests are at the root of so many our present day conflicts.

Threading Narrative, Journey and Teachings into a New Year's resolution.

Last night a clear idea emerged, which I noted in my newly received fieldnote book. Here are the points noted under the entry ‘Opening‘.

There is:
1. The narrative of Humanity.
2. My personal journey to date.
3. The formal teachings on Existence Divine. These three (3) threads are intertwined in my experience of my life time, but need to be told and related separately.<

So far the fieldnote, in addition I note here that these three themes kept running through eachother as I tried to make clear formulations. This caused me to mix items from these different themes, preventing me from coming to a clear development of any one of the three.

They all three appeared to be relevant and were so, except that though they related for me as experienced, their intertwining killed the line of clear development in each that I was trying to formulate.

Instead of one narrative I now have to make three! Some cross referencing will help in showing the way they related and possibly influenced each other, which may give clarity in understanding the idea formation process and development.
<10:12am~