...that the world situation recently became an acute (crisis) version of misunderstandings that have been simmering for many, many generations.

If we, (I mean all of us), are going to resolve the conflict in any meaningful, lasting way, we will have to take a close look at the basis for a lot of the things we have taken as self-evident Truth. If we want to learn, we gotta put it all on the table, and risk releasing bad smells as we poke around in it.

More directly to your post, blackrose, the English laguage didn't get where it is by being pure. Its an almalgamation of Angleish, Frankish, Saxon, Latin, Greek, and bits of any other language that English-speakers have ever encountered in their travels.

Christianity has developed in similar ways. Many of the Holy days, including Christmas itself, are celebrated on days that were part of the Pagan calendar of, shall we say, 'special events'. I don't think that indicates falsehood on the part of those who designated when Christian celebrations should occur. It probably came down to pragmatic decisions based on trying to make it easier for new converts to remember the dates. The important thing was that the celebrations should occur, and that the participants should understand the meanings attached to the rituals. I suspect a lot of the trouble we face today stems from obsessive preservation of the rituals, at the cost of losing a clear understanding of the meanings.

I'd be very intersted to hear from our Muslim members if the division of Islam into sects like the Sunni and Shia (sp?) came about as a result of the availability of the Qu'ran to 'the masses'. I'd like to know if that parallels the Catholic/Protestant split in Christianity.

I was deliberately provacative in my last post... no apologies offered or asked for. We are in what the Chinese refer to as 'interesting times'. It might be useful for us to adopt some of their perspective on the passage of time. After all, they consider the American Revolution to be an ongoing experiment that may yet provide some useful information. They also seem to think that the French show some promise in the culinary arts. :rolleyes: In time, perhaps.

So, yeah, jump on in and mix it up. We are musicians. We are direct descendants of a proud Minstrel heritage. Ours used to be the segment of the population that was looked to for the latest news, interpretations of current events, and ways by which to express the hopes, fears, and spiritual complexity that is humankind. (And you guys thought you were just jammin' :D )

This thread [u]does[/u] belong here. We should thank Joseph for starting us on this path. In this age of worldwide communication, we have oportunities to debate issues from a huge diversity of points of view. Dream BIG. This Forum, and others like it, may well be our best hope for a world peace that is decided by 'common' ground-level people, not just politicians and professional warriors.



[Edited by Lordathestrings on 10-29-2001 at 03:14 PM]