CANAAN was the name of a large and prosperous ancient country (at times independent, at others a tributary to Egypt) located in present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel and was also known as Phoenicia.
The origin of the name "Canaan" for the land comes from various ancient texts (among them the Hebrew Bible) and there is no scholarly consensus on precisely where the name originated nor what it was intended to convey about the land. According to the Hebrew Bible the land was named after a man called Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Genesis 10).
A land may become great, not because of the material advantages of its site, but because of the ideas associated with it.
For almost 640 kms (400 mi), the Canaanite coast of today runs North and South in a nearly straight line. The coastal plain is shaped like an hourglass drawn out long and thin: broad in Syria in the Northern third of the coast; shrinking to a mere ribbon in the central or Lebanese third; and widening again along the Southern third in the land that has been called Israel, Judaea, Syria Palaestina, kingdom of Jerusalem, and Palestine. East of the coastal plain rise rocky hills. These culminate in the huge ridge of Mount Lebanon, which parallels the coast for 160 kms (100 mi) in the middle of the stretch.
The climate is Mediterranean, with a cool rainy season from November to March and hot, dry, rainless weather the rest of the year. In ancient times, the land supported considerable wildlife, including:
-Auroch (urus, ure) an extinct large wild cattle, ancestor of domestic cattle and the European bison, crossbred with Steppe bison.
-Ancient Wild Deer generally harmless with quiet wanderings.
Ancient Gazelle typically the dorcas gazelle, although other varieties, including addra gazelle and mountain gazelle were also known. They appear in hunting scenes in Roman art.
-Sahara Oryx, an antelope that formed herds of mixed sexes and inhabited semi-deserts and deserts and were adapted to live in extreme heat, with their efficient cooling mechanism and very low requirement of water. It was hunting extensible for its horns.
-Ancient Ostriches were hunted for their feathers, meat and skin. They apparently became rare and thus valuable enough for Nubians to offer their feathers and eggs as tribute to the pharaohs. The ostrich feather was the symbol of the goddess Maat who wore it on her head. It was the weight against which the heart of the deceased was weighed in the Judgment of the dead. According to Hor-Apollo: "The man rendering justice to all, was represented by the ostrich feather; because that bird, unlike others, has all its feathers equal. Ostrich egg shells were turned into vessels and beads since prehistoric times. Fans were made from wing feathers. Common soldiers of the Middle Kingdom wore one or two ostrich plumes on their heads signifying victory. During the New Kingdom officers and elite charioteers were decorated with ostrich feathers.
-Ancient lions frequently appeared in Greek art and in legends. Hercules is said to have killed a vicious lion at Nemea. A lion on the island of Kea (Aka Ceos) and a famous statue of the same there: the lion drove some nymphs out. A passage from Herodotus describing Persian descend towards Thermopylae and the 300 there in 480BC says: Xerxes and his army marched from Acanthus through the interior to Therma; and while he was on his way through the Paeonian and Crestonian territories to the River Echidorus, his camels, which carried corn, were attacked by lions. These animals, leaving their usual haunts, came at night and preyed on the camels but touched no man and no other beast... The country in which the lion is found is bounded by the River Nestus, which runs through Abdern and the River Achelous in Acarnania. Lions occur between these two rivers; but they are never seen in the portion of Europe to the East of Nestus or on the continent West of Achelous.
-Ancient leopard is thought to have ranged in the Aegean and Western parts of Turkey. It was not recorded in the Black Sea region. Stone traps for leopards and Caspian tigers dating to the Roman Empire still exist in the Taurus Mountains.
-Ancient bear oldest fossils are from the Chououtien, China, and date back about 500,000 years. It is known now that during the Ice Age it was too cold for the brown bear to survive in Europe except in three places: -Russia, Spain, and the Balkans. Brown bears were present in Britain until no later than 1000 AC, when they had been exterminated through over-hunting. Brown bears were also used in Ancient Rome for fighting in arenas. The strongest bears apparently came from Caledonia and Dalmatia. Bears were largerly carnivorous with 80% of its diet consisting of animal matter. However, as its habitat increasingly diminished, the portion of meat in its diet decreased with it until by late Middle Ages, meat consisted of only 40% of its dietary intake. Today, meat makes up little more than 10% of its diet. Whenever possible, the brown bear will consume sheep.
-Ancient wolf called the mega-faunal wolf, preyed on large game such as horses, bison, and very young mammoths. They were larger and stronger than the modern wolf and were equipped with bigger teeth and more powerful jaws. They were genetically distinct from modern ones. Data shows ancient wolves that ate these particular species of fauna crossed the land Bridge from Asia to America . There, it found a role as a middle-sized hunter, sandwiched between a smaller species, the coyote, and a larger one, the dire wolf. When the large dire wolf died out, the gray wolf split into two groups. One filled the gap left behind by the large predators by evolved stronger skulls and teeth. The other carried on in the slender and fast mold and the dog may have been derived from these type of ancient wolves in the late Ice Age.
Monday, 28 May 2018
Thursday, 24 May 2018
UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE IN TODAY WORLD.
We belong to a great performance in this present world and all of us are part of it. Each person is born in today's world to help us see ourselves, just as we are here to help them. The gift of relationships is that they bring issues into the full light of the day, even though we would often prefer those issues to be hidden.
Our relationships are the mirrors that reflect our own personalities. That reflection tells us about how we perceive ourselves and what our hidden beliefs and attitudes are.
When we feel crazy about something and it comes from the people that surround us, the reason for that is that part of ourselves is connected deeply to it but we do not want to face it directly. Likewise, when we see around us things that cause our admiration or appreciation those are parts of the projection of ourselves finding a way to be expressed.
It is not accidental the reason why we cross our path with so many people and the key to every single interaction is respect for each other.
In this world, we have to be open mind in order to make contracts with certain people that will help us to accomplish specific goals and objectives. It may be personal or social. The contract may be in a support role to help someone else in their personal growth. Some contracts last a lifetime and others are over when the purpose is fulfilled.
We have to look for the deeper part that connects all of us, the deeper insights that will help each individual to reach higher grounds. Our interrelationship has to be profound as if this opportunity is the last one we will have with them. Always think about what kind of thoughts and feelings do you want to leave in them.
The way we manage the spirit of anger and other strong emotions and how we handle issues that make us feel rejected reveals our underlying beliefs and attitudes we have about ourselves. Overcoming them allows us to be more fully and complete in the knowledge concerning who we really are.
Many times we can feel so vulnerable in expressing our own needs and in order to protect us from that vulnerability we prefer not to let other people know how we really feel about something. In many cases those other people take advantage of the situation since we do not say what we really want or how we really feel.
We need to have an agenda to complete with our personal growth before we engage in a mutual and energized relationship with our spouse for the rest of our life. The best approach to grow is finding the spirit of happiness within. We have to focus in what is in our live rather than on what is missing. When we fulfill this agenda of personal growth, the human being that is destined to meet you will walk to you and you will feel ready to embrace it.
Our relationships are the mirrors that reflect our own personalities. That reflection tells us about how we perceive ourselves and what our hidden beliefs and attitudes are.
When we feel crazy about something and it comes from the people that surround us, the reason for that is that part of ourselves is connected deeply to it but we do not want to face it directly. Likewise, when we see around us things that cause our admiration or appreciation those are parts of the projection of ourselves finding a way to be expressed.
It is not accidental the reason why we cross our path with so many people and the key to every single interaction is respect for each other.
In this world, we have to be open mind in order to make contracts with certain people that will help us to accomplish specific goals and objectives. It may be personal or social. The contract may be in a support role to help someone else in their personal growth. Some contracts last a lifetime and others are over when the purpose is fulfilled.
We have to look for the deeper part that connects all of us, the deeper insights that will help each individual to reach higher grounds. Our interrelationship has to be profound as if this opportunity is the last one we will have with them. Always think about what kind of thoughts and feelings do you want to leave in them.
The way we manage the spirit of anger and other strong emotions and how we handle issues that make us feel rejected reveals our underlying beliefs and attitudes we have about ourselves. Overcoming them allows us to be more fully and complete in the knowledge concerning who we really are.
Many times we can feel so vulnerable in expressing our own needs and in order to protect us from that vulnerability we prefer not to let other people know how we really feel about something. In many cases those other people take advantage of the situation since we do not say what we really want or how we really feel.
We need to have an agenda to complete with our personal growth before we engage in a mutual and energized relationship with our spouse for the rest of our life. The best approach to grow is finding the spirit of happiness within. We have to focus in what is in our live rather than on what is missing. When we fulfill this agenda of personal growth, the human being that is destined to meet you will walk to you and you will feel ready to embrace it.
Tuesday, 22 May 2018
THE HEBREW BOOK OF JOB.
The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, is the story of a good man who suffers total disaster. He loses all his children and property and is afflicted with a repulsive disease. Then in three series of dialogues the author shows how Job's friends and Job himself react to these calamities. Job cannot understand how God can let so much evil happen to one like himself, and he boldly challenges God.
God speaks from a whirlwind. His speeches neither explain Job's suffering, nor defend divine justice, nor enter into the courtroom confrontation that Job has demanded, nor respond to his oath of innocence. He does not give an answer to Job's questions, but He does respond to Job's faith by overwhelming him with a picture of His divine power and wisdom.
Job then humbly acknowledges God as wise and great, and repents of the wild and angry words he has used. Job is restored to his former condition, with even greater prosperity than before. God reprimands Job's friends for failing to understand the meaning of Job's suffering. Only Job had really sensed that God is greater than traditional religion had depicted Him.
Job 38: Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job: "Who are you to question My Wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Now stand up straight and answer the question I ask you."Were you there when I made the world?"... "Who decided how large it would be? Who stretched the measuring line over it?"... "What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the World? In the dawn of that Day the stars sang together, and the heavenly beings shouted for joy."
"Who closed the Gates to hold back the sea when it burst from the womb of the earth? It was I Who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness. I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted Gates. I told it, 'So far and no further! Here your powerful waves must stop.' "
"Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a Day to dawn? Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places? Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay. The light of Day is too bright for the wicked and restrains them from doing violence."
"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?"
"Has anyone ever shown you the Gates that guard the Dark World of the Dead? Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer Me if you know."
"Do you know where the Light comes from or what the source of Darkness is? Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again? I am sure you can, because you are so old and were there when the World was made!"
"Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail? I keep them ready for Times of Trouble. for Days of Battle and War."
"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the East Wind blows?"
"Who dug a channel for the pouring rain and cleared the way for the thunderstorm? Who makes rain fall where no one lives? Who waters the dry and thirsty land, so that grass springs up?"
"Does either the rain or the dew have a father? Who is the mother of the ice and the frost, which turn the waters to stone and freeze the face of the sea?"
"Can you tie the Pleiades together or loosen the bonds that hold Orion? Can you guide the stars season by season and direct the Big and the Little Dipper? Do you know the Laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth?"
"Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain? And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, 'At your service'?"
"Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood, or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?"
"Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain, rain that hardens the dust into lumps?' ..... 38: 1-38
God speaks from a whirlwind. His speeches neither explain Job's suffering, nor defend divine justice, nor enter into the courtroom confrontation that Job has demanded, nor respond to his oath of innocence. He does not give an answer to Job's questions, but He does respond to Job's faith by overwhelming him with a picture of His divine power and wisdom.
Job then humbly acknowledges God as wise and great, and repents of the wild and angry words he has used. Job is restored to his former condition, with even greater prosperity than before. God reprimands Job's friends for failing to understand the meaning of Job's suffering. Only Job had really sensed that God is greater than traditional religion had depicted Him.
Job 38: Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job: "Who are you to question My Wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Now stand up straight and answer the question I ask you."Were you there when I made the world?"... "Who decided how large it would be? Who stretched the measuring line over it?"... "What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the World? In the dawn of that Day the stars sang together, and the heavenly beings shouted for joy."
"Who closed the Gates to hold back the sea when it burst from the womb of the earth? It was I Who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness. I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted Gates. I told it, 'So far and no further! Here your powerful waves must stop.' "
"Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a Day to dawn? Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places? Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay. The light of Day is too bright for the wicked and restrains them from doing violence."
"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?"
"Has anyone ever shown you the Gates that guard the Dark World of the Dead? Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer Me if you know."
"Do you know where the Light comes from or what the source of Darkness is? Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again? I am sure you can, because you are so old and were there when the World was made!"
"Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail? I keep them ready for Times of Trouble. for Days of Battle and War."
"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the East Wind blows?"
"Who dug a channel for the pouring rain and cleared the way for the thunderstorm? Who makes rain fall where no one lives? Who waters the dry and thirsty land, so that grass springs up?"
"Does either the rain or the dew have a father? Who is the mother of the ice and the frost, which turn the waters to stone and freeze the face of the sea?"
"Can you tie the Pleiades together or loosen the bonds that hold Orion? Can you guide the stars season by season and direct the Big and the Little Dipper? Do you know the Laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth?"
"Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain? And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, 'At your service'?"
"Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood, or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?"
"Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain, rain that hardens the dust into lumps?' ..... 38: 1-38
Saturday, 19 May 2018
THE EGYPTIAN BELIEF ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE.
The ancient Egyptians had a very elaborated beliefs about the afterlife. They were very aware about the life-force (ka) that every human possessed at the time of birth. Life on earth was the school of learning about how to maintain or increase the power of this incredible force.
The beliefs and rituals were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society and they were centered on the person's interaction with the forces of good and evil who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces of nature. Prayers and offerings were a way of communication with these forces of good and evil and gain their favor.
The religious practice formed a force centered on the pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, who possessed a divine power by virtue of their position. The pharaoh acted as the intermediary between their people and the supernatural forces and was obligated to sustain them through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe.
To the ancient Egyptians, the end of life marked the start of a challenging journey. They had to earn their way into the afterlife by practicing a virtuous life while they were alive. The more good they did, the lighter their heart would become. If the heart, by chance, was not light at the point of death then the individual was forbidden to board the boat of Ra and sail away into the Afterlife, and be stuck in the tomb forever. After sailing on the boat, the individual gained a free pass, and its soul could come and go. To avoid any chance of trickery, the goddess Maat was in charge of weighing the heart after a person died.
There are two other requirements a person had to satisfy before the soul enter to the Afterlife. Not only the heart have to be light, a person also had to have its Name written down somewhere, and he/she had to have a preserved body.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul was split in two parts after a person died. One part (Ba) was kept flying off every morning to keep watch over the individual's living family. The other part (Ka) was kept flying off every morning to the Land of Two Fields, to enjoy the Afterlife. Both parts of the soul returned each night to its tomb, so the individual would get some sleep. In the morning, the cycle started again. If something happened to the preserved body, or if the name of the individual was not written down somewhere, the two parts of the soul would get lost on their way home, disappearing along the way. The individual would never again be able to watch over the family affairs, or be able to enjoy the afterlife.
Many of the best known relics from Egypt such as the pyramids, the tombs, and the mummies, reveal time and resources that these ancient people prepared to spend to ensure a successful afterlife.
In the course of Egyptian history popular tradition grew more prominent as the status of the pharaoh declined after its 3,000 years of exercising power, leaving behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient and modern cultures.
The beliefs and rituals were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society and they were centered on the person's interaction with the forces of good and evil who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces of nature. Prayers and offerings were a way of communication with these forces of good and evil and gain their favor.
The religious practice formed a force centered on the pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, who possessed a divine power by virtue of their position. The pharaoh acted as the intermediary between their people and the supernatural forces and was obligated to sustain them through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe.
To the ancient Egyptians, the end of life marked the start of a challenging journey. They had to earn their way into the afterlife by practicing a virtuous life while they were alive. The more good they did, the lighter their heart would become. If the heart, by chance, was not light at the point of death then the individual was forbidden to board the boat of Ra and sail away into the Afterlife, and be stuck in the tomb forever. After sailing on the boat, the individual gained a free pass, and its soul could come and go. To avoid any chance of trickery, the goddess Maat was in charge of weighing the heart after a person died.
There are two other requirements a person had to satisfy before the soul enter to the Afterlife. Not only the heart have to be light, a person also had to have its Name written down somewhere, and he/she had to have a preserved body.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul was split in two parts after a person died. One part (Ba) was kept flying off every morning to keep watch over the individual's living family. The other part (Ka) was kept flying off every morning to the Land of Two Fields, to enjoy the Afterlife. Both parts of the soul returned each night to its tomb, so the individual would get some sleep. In the morning, the cycle started again. If something happened to the preserved body, or if the name of the individual was not written down somewhere, the two parts of the soul would get lost on their way home, disappearing along the way. The individual would never again be able to watch over the family affairs, or be able to enjoy the afterlife.
Many of the best known relics from Egypt such as the pyramids, the tombs, and the mummies, reveal time and resources that these ancient people prepared to spend to ensure a successful afterlife.
In the course of Egyptian history popular tradition grew more prominent as the status of the pharaoh declined after its 3,000 years of exercising power, leaving behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient and modern cultures.
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