Yesterday afternoon I met Elisabeth it James on Fourth at her suggestion. We enjoyed the festive Saint Patrick day celebration there with beer - mine was green - and some chicken wings. At around four thirty we had enough of the noise and continued at my place. There we had glass of wine and conversed for about an hour catching up on things, since we had not seen each other for some time.

In the evening, after a light supper, I managed to get four entries posted on my website, going back to the 11th this instance. I watched a bit of news, but that was not much. Except for the report on the sexual abuse of young women in a U.K. town. Just that town I wonder. We had a similar situation in Brockville ON some years ago. There must be much more of this going on, I suspect.

No news: Except for the report on the sexual abuse of young women in a U.K. town.

Later today my weekly visit with Juliet who was quite sick last week she told me over the phone. This reminds me to phone her regarding any shopping she would like to get done, which I can do on my way over.

Ron told me that his son was interested in his telescope, so it has found a good destination. Too bad for Derrick, but that was just an after thought of mine. Mentally I am still busy with the Maya culture and its reference frame work of human experience; more to follow below.

The unaddressed second aspect that of yesterday’s writings was about Maya beliefs and values. So, continuing with this intent now, lets look at some beliefs first followed by some held values.

The Maya belief that all things are connected and animate. For example the sun is thought to follow its path along the sky as an act of will. This is what it wants to do as part of its nature and not as a result of some law as we see that.

The whole world of the believing Maya is viewed and experienced in this manner. There are many other Deities - the Sun is one of them, such as the moon and the wind -Jurakan is the hurricane! There are also Deities of each day of the month as well as of the whole year, which all have their influence on daily life as lived by the human and must be taken into account.

This way all of existence is interconnected and acts according to its nature, which can be influenced by offerings and sacrifices by the human person. And since all exists at once in its own way, influences from the past and the future are possible as well.

This latter aspect shows in the mythology narrative of the Hero Twins who act early before the creation of the true humans, but who only later are actually created. These twins were already present, before creation and this reminds me of a saying in a gospel where Jesus says ‘before creation, I am’.

Also in the Islam there is this debate about whether the Koran was created or always existed. Mythical thought that orders our world has its twists and turns and we are not without this either, considering the theories about the cosmos.

Concluding this aspect I like to note that we this confusion arises from our failure to separate ‘existence’ as such - a state, from the ‘existence of something’, which always has to have an origin and an end. The god who starts it all off is really the symbol for ‘existence as such’ which cannot have a beginning or end.

Thinking of these causes and origins in terms of personified beings is what leads us to think of beginnings and endings. Removing the personified aspect from it solves the contradiction.

Next up for discussion are the values the Maya culture held and holds, after a short break at 10:25am. One outstanding feature of Maya mythology, culture and traditions is its continuity, which from today goes back to millennia before 2 000BC. This also points to a certain conservatism of course, but in turn is the reason for its endurance in the face of centuries of persecution, genocides and repression, which is still a part of the daily Mayan life.

A second important value is that a hero is not a hero until her or his community benefits and shares in this status. An clear example of this is Rigoberta Menchu’s sharing her Nobel Peace Prize (1992) with her community and her initiative to start the World Aboriginal Foundation for human rights, see www.frmt.org

The Maya ethical view does not make definite division between good and evil, but holds that each being - all things are animate, remember - acts according to its own nature.

The Maya ethical view does not make definite division between good and evil, but holds that each being - all things are animate, remember - acts according to its own nature. For the wind it is natural to have a storm every now and then, just like the rains can be gentle at one time and destructive at an other. These are the powers at hand and the calendar helps the person to choose the right days and favourable circumstances.

A consequence of this is the absence of a strong law structure regulating human daily behaviour, as some other religions know this. What the Maya do practice is the making of sacrifices to the Deities. In this the Maya assist the Deities in maintaining the daily order and the neglect of such sacrifices can result in adverse consequences. The calendar, with the priests and Day Keepers regulate many of the public and community sacrifices.

Combining my comments and observations from yesterday with today, I am still very intrigued by how different the Maya civilization construct is from others that I have studied, as well as by its endurance over the many millennia.

It must be the longest active civilisation in our global human tradition. Only over the last half century have we gained some real understanding of it, a process that is still very much going on and is not without controversy in some quarters.
<11:21am and 8:03pm~