The early bird catches the worm, but the late worm has good survival instincts! How is that for an eye opener? I am up earlier, because I check in earlier and don’t do electronic screen activities after ten pm. This gives my body and brain combination an hour to shut down before I go to bed.

The early bird catches the worm, but the late worm has good survival instincts!

I read or heard about some recent research about the effect of ‘screen’ activities before going to sleep. It is not good and a person needs to give the brain the signals that daylight is gone. Reading your e-pad does the opposite, keeping you from going to sleep quickly. It is similar to the benefit of eating slowly, which gives your stomach the twenty minutes its needs to send signals that enough food has ‘come down the hatch‘!

In a similar bend, it is also good to do some exercises first thing when getting up. This too tells the body that there are activities ahead after its nightly rest. Waking up your muscles gets also more beneficial and useful as I get older I have noticed at my seventy eight years of experience, wisdom and foolhardiness.

Today coffee with John and a visit to Juliet later today, who has written a lot she assured me! With weather mild now, the morning should be good for a walk to make it to the coffee. We will plan our cultural activity for this month, which could be the CPO at John’s suggestion.

Yesterday I posted my daily entry and before that, studied the Maya religion for an hour. To them smoke, steam, aroma’s and breath were closely associated to life, soul and the here after.
The smoke and aromas made me recall the smudge ceremonies of Canada’s Indians and the incense ceremonies of the Latin and Greek Orthodox churches.

It is also interesting to note that Islam has kept much of that out of its traditions. It must have been a part of the original traditions of the Arab tribes, the time they call ‘jahiliya’ or time of ignorance. The hard break with tradition may be the reason there is little interest among Muslim scholars to study the origins of the Koran text. You prevent learning from your own history, when you call it a time of ignorance. The ignorance is in the present, calling history so.

In addition Islam closed the door on ‘ijtihad’ or ‘independent thinking’ around the year 1 000 AD, only reinterpretation of the existing traditions - now considered comprehensive - was allowed from then on in the Sunni teachings.

I start with the title as a symbolic construction to emphasize the complex nature of the values and emotions that surfaced in relation to last week’s assassination at the Charlie Hebdo publishing offices in Paris, France. Here the Western cartoonist’s values perceived as ’freedom of expression’, were experienced as an insult and attack on Islamic values held by many Muslims.

Writing a week later I have come across ‘Western’ opinions that question and even disagree with the expressed views by the avenged cartoons. Yet, I also came across an opinion by the Hezbollah leader who considered the ISIS interpretation to be disbelief (takfir) and to be more offensive to the Prophet than the mentioned cartoons.

Huntington mentions that the present Islamic Resurgence has strong similarities with the earlier Protestant Reformation in Europe.

Samuel Huntington in his book ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ has five sub-chapters dealing with Islam. In 5.5 ’The Islamic Resurgence’ the author notes that there are strong similarities between it and the Protestant Reformation in Europe by the Lutherans and Calvinists.

This Islamic resurgence started in the 1970/80-ties and continues to search for Islamic forms of governance, legislation and institutions in order to modernize its society respecting Islamic values and traditions.

Westernization is not on this list and we in the ‘West’ would be wise hold back on our well known missionary zeal with regard to pushing ‘western values’. Each society must find the forms to govern itself, such as is most acceptable to its own people. We should let go of the idea that one value system is more advanced than some other, but realise that is the suitability of the values referenced that is the governing factor.
<7:52pm and 8:15pm~