>From: "debbie latham"

>To: landonsealey@hotmail.com

>Subject: Re: whew*

>Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2002 17:10:10 -0500

>

>to me judiaism is the beginning of everything..one of the most

>ancient and most beautiful of religions.. and not because i am

>jewish mind you.. did you know that jews believe that plants and all

>animals plus the oceans should be taken care of and the air should

>be kept clean, and this is as old as the old testamant laws

>themselves..??quite progressive for something so ancient.something

>like the american natives.interesting to study..wonderful to know.

>I have always felt that when the end of the world comes.. the last

>man on earth will be a jew.. dont ask me why i feel this.. but i

>do...maybe it is because so many have tried their hardest to wipe

>the jews off the face of map...but i dont believe that will ever

>happen. stubbornly so, they will be the last to go.... just some

>food for thought..

>

peace and happiness be with you,

>debbie

Heylo

I turned on the television this morning and there was a witch, apparently well known, named Starhawk and this middle aged woman was talking about being a witch and how her mother, a Jew had always wanted her to be, well, Jewish and become a professional and marry a Jew dah dah dah.

Well Starhawk recounted how her mother was speaking with a female rabbi and the rabbi, upon hearing the name, "starhawk", was stunned and quickly informed her mother that her daughter was, in truth, doing great things for Judaism, leave her alone dah dah dah.

I thought that was a neat story. I mean, I started this year with a sermon by a female minister, and I don't go to church at all really, but the message was simple and provocative, all faiths are of the same essential spirit of love, how the "3 wise men" were from a cult or religion of Zoroastrianism and yet they themselves made little distinction about the relevence of what has come to be known as the "christian story of jesus birth" which, let's face it, is nothing less than a great story or myth about the regerenative nature of nature which is echoed through every faith ever.

Myself, I pursue knowledge, truth what have you and whatever that means to me in my heart. I grew up with different influences but I feel deeply sympathetic to every faith I have ever encountered and would feel honored to count myself among any of them. Even when I refer to myself as a christian I think of it more as a designation of the essential mystery and majesty of every life form's essential value and relevance to the cosmic pattern of things, so as I could just as easily call myself a Jew except that that would be somewhat dishonorable, since I am not by any recognized custom or public affirmation, a Jew.

I could call myself a witch, a heathen what have you. But my point, and I do have one, is that primarily i feel I am always creating or responding to a created instance and as such I have the ability, through courage and wisdom and faith, to effect the world around me if nothing else but to consciously revere its mysteries. So, then, I am a artist, a bard, a poet, and yet none of these names are necessarily expressive of talent or aspiration since it is, at heart, the essential aspiration of my soul or essential self or divinity which seems mostly exigent to all aspects of my relationship to any and all "others", so the paradox or mystery arises that that thing that gets between me and my whatever may be most genuinely me and, hence, any one thing or person becomes instantly a totem of my most fundamental needs as an existent being. And it is this Feeling that would appear to carry the most sway with my will, a Feeling, A Force, a Potential, a Truth, which permeates every "law" of the motion of thought and body I have ever known or will ever know. And so what I find, finally, at the end of all my searching is that what "we" have here and what we - this you and I - need always have is a belief (a magical ability to know the unknown) through of for with and in each other for even I am an Other. That the very way we or you or him or her or it will have remember its encounter with () is to remember as much as to forget, to, paradoxically, to Create, now, then, forever. Hence, we are a Memory that belongs only to Memory.

Here is that quote I wanted to recite for you:

"And this is what makes art so worth our love and worth our practice, this wonderful contradiction, that it is - or at least can be - simultaneously a refreshment and a judgement, a celebration and reward of life through its delightful imitation, and at the same time, a morally critical annihilation of life; that its effect is in equal degree an awakening of delight and of conscience. The boon of art proceeds from the circumtstance (to use diplomatic terms) that it maintains equally good relationships to life and to pure spirit, that is is simultaneously conservative and radical; from the ircumstance, that is to say, of its mediate and mediating place between spirit and life. Whis is that place of the source of irony itself"

The Masks of God: Creative Mythology (p330) <joseph campbell>

In ancient Greek mythology believe ( and could easily be wrong) that Memory and Zeus create the universe. That's as good as any cosmology I suppose. I agree, though, that some faiths are quite quite as old as time itself, like Judaism or "heathenasim" or Paganism. in many or all respects I'm sure. I read this great article in the Dec 2001 National Geographic about Father Abraham and how he intuited monotheism from the predominate lunar and solar cults of his day. He is then is he not, a pinnacle poet of said cults or the apex memory of same. I don't know. A gargantuan thinker and believer nonetheless.

Yes, thanks for your food for thought. I knew this would be a very engaging dialogue with you. Because of who you are and also because of what you represent to me as a Jew, which is someone who is part of such a pivotal faith that, yes, I would agree the last man or woman would be a Jew.

go bless yourself *smile

Landon

Shalom, Debbie

I read something by ralph waldo emerson today in one of those little quotable quote books:

"mental health is the willingness to find the good in everything"

That's a good one.

Anyway, why not make Israel the whole world, maybe an Israel-America Mecca. Well, let's distinguish clearly between the pejorative "zionism" or claims that zionist israeli leadership is out to annihilate any foes, foreign or domestic, to pure jewish nationhood From zionism as you need define it for me, but what I think I know of it is simply the faith the belief a particular tract of land is sacred and belongs by divine right to the jewish nation.

Now, to me, America has accomplished this task for itself already. America, to me is synonyous with freedom and lives in spirit everywhere in the world. America, I believe, in Gotthic script means new heavenly kingdom and I loosely extend this to mean every democratic place, which, mystically, could be said to be everywhere. Now this is also my idealism speaking I know. ANd I do know that Jewish history demands from any sane man a recognized political land base most definitely and the fact that they and in part, we have had to fight so hard for it with ourselves and with each other speaks to me of a whole new era of understanding of our utter sanctity in the land that is, first and foremost, God's "Word" or the full understanding or our home in eternal consciousness. You have brought a very wise point to my awareness and I am very grateful for that. I pray we all, Jew and Gentile, come to a fuller respect of our fellow inhabitants, as you say, human, beast, vegetable, mineral, element etc.

Speaking of the palestinian israeli conflict. my God, who among us can hold out much hope for a quick peace or any peace right now? the last I heard the saudis were proffering a reduced land base for Israel. like that's going to happen . ugh.

"may you live in interesting times"

you be well, too.

Landon