a_penny_for_your_thoughts dafremen If we'd know the nature of our existence better, it's best to brush up on our ancient fairy tales, myths and legends..along with the various sacred texts and a bit of esoteria. There is so much information tucked away that appears one way from a straightforward material mindset and another from a spiritual point of view. It just depends on what we're used to looking for and what we've already seen. For instance, perhaps you've heard that money or coins in ancient texts and fables are a proxy for the days of one's life or the potential that life represents? Remember that as you read a brief story: Four people were given one coin. All were from different countries and said they wanted different things. They began arguing as each insisted he get his particular item with his share of the coin. Well the story ends when it is revealed that each is using his own particular word for "grapes." They all want grapes, but will not spend their coin because they are too busy arguing about what to do with it and.. And..they don't understand a thing about what's really going on. In ancient folklore fruit represents material abundance. The coin is the potential all four people have between them to achieve that abundance, if they would ever stop arguing and agree that they basically want the same thing. If all saw the actual grapes, they'd all know instantly that THIS is what they were each craving..and that they'd been in agreement the entire time. All that info from a coin, and some grapes. Fruit features again in the story of King Tantalus and his punishment,although whether the fruit in question were young raisins or some other fruit, is unknown. Tantalus is such a wicked character. He is initially favored by Zeus and invited to Mt. Olympus. There he steals the secrets of the gods and reveals them to his people. (This is a metaphor for intellectual wisdom taking what it can from nature without gratitude, regard, respect or reverence.) He becomes so cocky from getting away with this, that he begins to believe the gods must not be as all-knowing as they let on, so he invites them to a feast. Unbeknownst to them, the main course is his son Pelops, who he has chopped up into pieces and boiled..just to see if the gods would notice. (This is a metaphor for rulers who destroy the future in order to gorge themselves in the present, hoping that karma won't notice.) Unfortunately for Tantalus, the gods DO notice and decide to punish him. He's forced to stay forever hungry, reaching for fruit that he can never touch, and thirsting for water that his parched throat will never feel. It's a decidedly sorry fate when we realize that the fruit represents material abundance and the water represents spiritual abundance. Finally, let's look at the example of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, victorious over the desert and the Devil in his encounter with temptation. Well that sounds like "Jesus riding into town on a donkey", but it's more than that. His donkey was his ego-self. (It's also represented by a horse sometimes.) The desert is a place of spiritual desolation (see the water metaphor standing on its head there?) The Devil is our inborn attraction to all that is made of soil like we are. Temptation is..well its the choice to choose good(that which advances the natural evolutionary process) or evil(that which attempts to slow, block or reverse the process.) His spiritual self had tamed his ego self and they were working together now in the direction of a grand moment in spiritual evolution. The donkey went where the spirit told it to go. It's symbolic of our victorious emergence from the struggle against the_fetus_that_wanted_to_rule_the_world. And speaking of the fetus_that_wanted_to_rule_the_world and the metaphor of the horse, what's your take on the mythical centaur now? Half man, half horse..what's that all about? These symbols of the struggle between our animal and human natures, why are they so wise and friendly at times and so vicious and brutal at others? They are spirits that cannot be trusted, for they go where their horse half(ego-self) takes them. And they can appear as human as can be, but beware, they never are, because they aren't exactly in control of the animal side of themselves. This makes them fickle and moody. When they take aim with their energy, they are often deadly. They aren't evil, just uncivilized. They are the power of the mob. And so, in the quest for truth and all of that "digging just to dig" we do so much of, maybe let's pick up a tarot book, a Quran and a Bible, some Sufi stories, Aesop's fables, a Linda Goodman tome and then look around carefully, keeping a keen eye toward how many more similarities there are than differences. For "dragon" see also: Typhon 221219 ... dafremen All of this talk about how to convert our energy usage to rely on more sustainable forms. Don't we remember that this level of energy usage was invented by those who sold coal and light bulbs, oil and automobiles? We can see how well their long-term planning abilities stack up on the grand evolutionary scale. So why are we trying to hold onto the habits that they hooked us on again? Anyone? Because..habit. We're addicts in denial trying to find a way to stay addicted and still clean up the devastation we're causing to our family. (In this case, the Earth and all of her inhabitants..including us.) It's said that creatures become slaves to their habits. Maybe it's no wonder then, when the_fetus_that_wanted_to_rule_the_world sells us a new habit. (See you later y'all, gotta catch up on my Youtube.) 221223 what's it to you? who go blather from