Some previous years I would go out early to take photos of Canada Day type displays in the neighbourhood, but this year I’m at home making a Canada Day Entry. Our day starts of cool and cloudy, with puddles as silent witnesses of the downpour and thunder storm last night at 3-am. The lighting was continuous at first and I watched it subside slowly for about half an hour, returning to bed again.

Today I’ll visit with Juliet, as is our custom and this time I’ll bring along my approved Quran, accompanied with my copy of R. Zakaria’s “Muhammad and the Quran”. It is very helpful in its explanations on this matter, as he is dedicated and wrote it for his sons, who were students at US Universities, bastions of much prejudice on this subject matter.

Today I say goodbye to the June picture of my Dutch calendar. It shows a sheepfold complete with the shepherd, his flock and tourists!

Today I say goodbye to the June picture of my Dutch calendar. It shows a sheepfold complete with the shepherd, his flock and tourists! It served as a sweet reminder of a similar scene my sister Els and I took in last summer when I was visiting my siblings in the old country.

The July photo is of the huge arch-truss bridge over the river ‘Waal’, the major branch of the Rhine river, as it variously splits up in the Dutch delta region.

Slowly, over the last number of days, an awareness of a theme is emerging in my that, for now, I give the name of ‘Existence Divine and Diversity’. This morning it even merged with Canada Day as a sort of common mark in time, a time-mark, analogous to landmark.

We need such markers to reset our course as time moves on, with our interests and attitudes often drifting under the influences of daily affairs. That is why we celebrate Canada day, Easter and now for myself I feel a need to set an Existence Divine Day.

This because I have come to the conclusion that our diverse human society can use a concept that includes all of our diversity without passing any judgement over any of it. It means a validation of the existence of what ever it is, that so exists, with approval held in the offing.
As an aside, offing [1608] means, 1)the deep sea of the shore, 2) the immediate or foreseeable future; see M-Webster’s Collegiate.

Last night I read about the intriguing concept of ‘ancestor’, who could still be alive in some cases, but must be of old age and well respected.

Last night I studied West Africa’s religions, six pages, with about one hundred to go, dealing with other regions. I gather from my reading in the various sources that ‘diversity’ and ‘variety’ are the watchword in this subject matter. Yet common themes are also present, such as the idea of a ‘Creator God’.

Last night I read about the intriguing concept of ‘ancestor’, who could still be alive in some cases, but must be of old age and well respected. In all cases the ancestor has some similarities with the Christian idea of ‘saint’, but is more complex. The ancestor concept kind of straddles the boundary between the dead and the living. I hope to read more about it!
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