How accurate is the story of Jesus? "There is a complete absence of evidence for the events described - no authors mention the phenomenal events that supposedly occurred at the time of Jesus' resurrection, and, there are no records of Jesus being crucified in the first place.
"This is despite there being multiple historians of the time who kept extensive records of events in that era, especially of unusual events and the misdeeds of rulers.
"The only records we have are those written by Christians themselves, the Gospels. And within each of those gospels nearly all details of the crucifixion and resurrection are different.
"Very important details, such as Jesus' last words, are so different that it appears they are simply being made up by the authors.
...
"The earliest Christians did not know simple details such as where Jesus was buried.
"Most of the details of Jesus' death and rebirth are similar to the existing myths surrounding god-men in that era.
"The similarities to the Christs of other pagan religions are shockingly detailed, so much so that early Church fathers had to defend themselves against pagan critics who said that the stories of Jesus were simply pagan stories with new names."
The paradox is that you will be happier if you are not 'in love'.
Some Indonesians look happy? Voltaire, like Buddha, could see that there is suffering in this world.
"Imagine the situation of a Pope's daughter aged fifteen, who in three months had undergone poverty and slavery, had been raped nearly every day, had seen her mother cut into four pieces, had undergone hunger and war, and was now dying of the plague in Algiers." (Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 12)
"Do you believe," said Candide, "that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?"
"Do you believe," said Martin, "that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?"
Voltaire appears to be pessimistic about human nature; he might suggest that there will always be spooks and generals carrying out atrocities.
Indonesia was Buddhist for longer than it has been Moslem.
But, if hawks may not be capable of fast change, what about humans?
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) said in Memories, Dreams, Reflections:
"Natural history tells us of a haphazard and casual transformation of species over hundreds of millions of years of devouring and being devoured...
"But the history of the mind offers a different picture.
"Here the miracle of reflecting consciousness intervenes."
Physicist David Bohm believes that life and consciousness are present in varying degrees in all matter, including supposedly inanimate matter such as electrons or plasmas.
He suggests that evolutionary developments do not emerge in a random fashion.
Happiness is about forgetting your own happiness and being part of a happy team?
Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram believes in the holographic nature of reality.
Every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.
In a holographic universe there are no limits to the extent to which we can alter reality.
What we see as reality is a canvas where we can draw any picture we want.
Some people manage to be happy in spite of poverty.
The Buddhists believe that what we are thinking now, is what we will become.
Research has suggested that Buddhists are able to get their brains to feel happiness.
According to Owen Flanagan, professor of philosophy at Duke University in North Carolina, Buddhists appear to be able to stimulate a part of their brain which produces positive emotions and a feeling of well being.
Writing in New Scientist, Professor Flanagan referred to findings of a study by Richard Davidson, of the University of Wisconsin, who used scanners to analyse regions of a Buddhist's brain.
Parts of Buddhists brains, linked to happiness, appear to "light up" consistently.
"The most reasonable hypothesis is there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek," Davidson writes.
1. Learn how to save yourself by using direct and personal experience.
2. There is continual change, a continual cycle involving birth and death.
Consciousness is continuous.
It is forever looking for new kinds of self-expression.
Life is a continous flow.
If you know there is a tsunami coming, don't stay on the beach guarding your possessions.
If you cling on to things, you will suffer, because you are resisting the flow.
3. There is only one 'ultimate reality'.
It does not change.
It is beyond our understanding.
We are all linked to it.
We are all part of the one team.
4. What we are now is the result of our past thoughts.
We are the creator of our circumstances.
By right thought and right action we can gradually purify ourselves and eventually reach enlightenment and Nirvana and beyond.
5. We are happiest as a happy team.
We are all inter-linked and should feel compassion for everything from trees to Thais and from jaguars to Jews.
Compassion is the "Law of laws".
6. Imagine we have an urge to win at golf by cheating.
Imagine we have an urge to be the hero of the football match, by monopolising the ball.
Suffering is caused by such wrong urges.
7. To end suffering, we should have
(1)Right Views,
(2) Right Aims or Motives,
(3) Right Speech,
(4) Right Acts,
(5) Right Livelihood,
(6) Right Effort,
(7) Right Concentration or mind-development,
(8) "Cease to do evil, learn to do good, cleanse your own heart: this is the Teaching of the Buddhas".
8. Nirvana, the extinction of the limitations of selfhood, is attainable on earth.
"Look within; thou art Buddha".
9. Follow the path between the opposites, avoiding all extremes.
10. Meditation helps us to refrain from mental and emotional attachment to "the passing show".
11. The Buddha said: "Work out your own salvation" using your intuition.
Each man suffers the consequences of his own acts, and learns thereby, while helping his fellow man to the same deliverance.
12. Buddhism does not deny the existence of God or soul, though it places its own meaning on these terms. Buddhism has no dogmas, and points to man alone as the creator of his present life and sole designer of his destiny.
Some macho right-wing Americans just love to have sex with people like Jennifer, but, when things go wrong, they get scared and become violent.
J Edgar Hoover and boy
The typical extreme right-winger in the USA is secretly interested in transgender activity.
Susan L. Rosenstiel said that, in 1958, she was at a party at the Plaza Hotel where J Edgar Hoover was dressed as a woman.
Hoover was calling himself "Mary" and was wearing a dress and high heels.
According to Rosentiel:
Hoover "was wearing a fluffy black dress, very fluffy, with flounces and lace stockings and high heels, and a black curly wig. He had makeup on and false eyelashes."
The right-wing Cardinal Spellman was known as Franny.
King Don Juan of Spain, Princess Diana, the Queen of Spain. 5.Diana, Princess of Wales, famous princess who was reportedly killed by the SAS.
Diana's lovers are alleged to have included James Gilbey (Squidgygate Tapes), James Hewitt, Will Carling, Oliver Hoare, Hasnat Khan, police bodyguard Barry Mannake, David Waterhouse, Bryan Adams, and King Juan Carlos of Spain.
"It was a queer place to sleep for the first time at Craggy tops." Jack shares a mattress with Philip. "Jack soon got warm, cuddled up against Philip's back."
