* Nothing is, or is as it is, unless someone says and judges it to be so. Who then is (or who is it we say is) the judge, including the final judge?
* If we ever experienced a problem anywhere, it came about, in some degree, due to certain wrong assumptions, either co-present with, or just prior to the given problem's actually taking place.
* Unless you believe in God, the One, and or the infinite, every assumption is contingent.
* PROCESS (or if you prefer spirit, or activity) PRECEDES IMAGE. Image may, to some extent, (and sometimes almost perfectly) represent process. But process is always superior to and always more real than image. If process precedes image this might suggest also that mind precedes matter and energy.
* Everything we believe, or say we know, is based on a factual or value judgment. Both kinds of judgment always entail the other to some extent, and nothing can be known or exists for us without them.
* No fact or purported fact is true or false without someone to assert and believe it to be such. If an assertion or claim is deemed true or false then, and we are thorough, we should ask who is it that says so (or has said so), and what criteria are (were) they using? There is no such thing as "faceless" truth or reality -- at least none we are capable of knowing.
* You can't escape reason. If you aren't rational yourself, someone else will be rational for you; nor do their intentions toward you need to be friendly or benevolent.
* Every point of view and opinion has its truth to it -- even the most abhorrent and unacceptable to us. This said, we are naturally inclined to assume that some opinions have much greater truth to them than others. Even so, what little truth there is in any point of view must, at least at some juncture, and certainly with respect to issues of heated controversy, be justly and reasonably respected. Why? Because we would not be honest (and therefore not truthful) if we didn't.
*Ultimately, and when all is said and done, thought without heart is nothing.
* Most, if not all, of society's very worst problems arise from (certain) spirit people and those who listen to them -- whether the former comes in the shape of "God," angel, devil or what have you. It is these people who are most the source and cause of real unhappiness. If then you chance to have contact with such, while having (one assumes) overcome their lures, deceptions, and pretenses of benevolence and higher knowledge, I recommend that this (i.e., "unhappiness" or "unhappiness itself") is what you call them. Blame and curse them for (most) everything wrong; for it is it is they who have been and are the ruin of everyone and everything (that is, if anyone is or could be said to be so.)
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Wm. Thos. Sherman - AUTHOR PAGE - at amazon.com, including available book titles
and
THE LIBRARY OF EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE (with me as series editor) or see also List of titles.
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TO --
There is a door hidden
in the soul
that to heaven leads,
and ecstasies and peace
that simply cannot be expressed.
The way there is the heart;
the key to it is faith
on the threshold truth,
awaiting inside.
A church in ruins lies;
the graves it blest
left behind at rest,
blasted by time,
awaiting a future age.
The pensive eremite
ruminates on thwarted hope
as the sun descends,
in the still twilight
of year's end.
Though the stars are fixed
in chambered abodes,
at the approach of night
a gloom pervades all
breezes wail at the sight.
Why does the icy breeze
gently moan in hurried flight,
ruffling wildly the trees;
blow through my window
to caress those in sorrow?
It is as if
shredded and forlorn;
Nature mourned
its exile and separation
from the security of Heaven.
Would that winter waters
would already flow
and wash our troubles away.
Rolling fluid go
cleanse my cares of days,
over aches and groans
like a river rushing through stones.
Death and change let nothing
hold still, bad or good,
and all disappears down the river of ages;
till the fruit of faith in the end
harvests all that's good
of what's forgot.
So many things disappeared
and which in the eyes of the many
came to be as nothing,
yet in their day were the very thing.
The leaves are dying with the year;
orange, gold and red
are o'er the lawns over spread;
in a carpet they cover
returning to earth their mother
that in spring a new generation may appear.
The mundane, the physical
is chained to time,
but in the heart with faith
the spirit survives the flood of years
where music lives ever
that takes the soul to empyrean
as an eagle soars to dizzying height
till it reaches a point beyond our sight.
How like a paradise
the earth must have seemed
when roses grew wild;
birds first appeared
in all their colors singing,
majestic beasts wandering,
animals frolicking,
to wondering primitive man
with lessons of true life.
Where did all the voices of life come from?
What brings the even crows in droves
to caw together on a fine day
or joins the sparrows in a throng to sing,
upon the departure of storm,
at the opening of Spring's dawn,
that chirping, that golden warbling
where music ever lives?
That scorned rosy-eyed view of things
is still there;
it is not gone;
only it is in closed keeping
till the world be purged of evil first
before being freed again.
And I thought
if life is beautiful,
it is because you,
(and such like you)
are so.
And you are so
because somehow, some way
Nature in you sighs;
that it lifts my heart
up to the skies.
[ch. 56]
...Moreover, he again speaks of the life of Jesus as “a most infamous life,” as he has done before, not once or twice, but many times, although he does not stay to specify any of the actions of His life which he thinks most infamous. He seems to think that he may in this way make assertions without proving them, and rail against one of whom he knows nothing. Had he set himself to show what sort of infamy he found in the actions of Jesus, we should have repelled the several charges brought against Him. Jesus did indeed meet with a most sad death; but the same might be said of Socrates, and of Anaxarchus, whom he had just mentioned, and a multitude of others. If the death of Jesus was a miserable one, was not that of the others so too? And if their death was not miserable, can it be said that the death of Jesus was? You see from this, then, that the object of Celsus is to vilify the character of Jesus; and I can only suppose that he is driven to it by some spirit akin to those whose power has been broken and vanquished by Jesus, and which now finds itself deprived of the smoke and blood on which it lived, while deceiving those who sought for God here upon earth in images, instead of looking up to the true God, the Governor of all things.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book VII
[Posted at the Lee's Legion page on Face Book]
A NEW title has been added to the "LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE," that being Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana (1702, "The Great Works of Christ in America"); its 7 books presented in 2 volumes and available in Kindle format and or paperback at:
Volume 1 (of 2)
Kindle:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L42PYZ5
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L47RXLT
Volume 2 (of 2)
Kindle:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L41PJ7B
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L3NW86K
Rufus Wilmot Griswold, who derided and all but roundly hated Mather, says in his Curiosities of American Literature (1853):
"We have already alluded to the Magnalia. Grahame, the historian, calls it the most interesting work which the literature of the country has produced, and says that some of the biographical parts of it are superior to Plutarch; but this, as Mr. Peabody well remarks in his Life of Mather, is absurd and extravagant praise; the highest pretension of the work being that it is curious and entertaining."
Benjamin Franklin, on the other hand and who was more sympathetic, in a letter to Mather's son, Samuel Mather, dated 12 May 1784 wrote:
"...When I was a Boy, I met with a Book intitled Essays to do Good, which I think was written by your Father. It had been so little regarded by a former Possessor, that several Leaves of it were torn out: But the Remainder gave me such a Turn of Thinking as to have an Influence on my Conduct thro’ Life; for I have always set a greater Value on the Character of a Doer of Good, than on any other kind of Reputation; and if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful Citizen, the Publick owes the Advantage of it to that Book.— You mention your being in your 78th Year. I am in my 79th. We are grown old together. It is now more than 60 Years since I left Boston, but I remember well both your Father and Grandfather [i.e., Increase Mather] having heard them both in the Pulpit, and seen them in their Houses. The last Time I saw your Father was in the Beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first Trip to Pennsylvania. He receiv’d me in his Library, and on my taking Leave show’d me a shorter way out of the House thro’ a narrow Passage which was cross’d by a Beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily Stoop, Stoop! I did not understand him till I felt my Head hit against the Beam. He was a Man that never miss’d any Occasion of giving Instruction, and upon this he said to me, You are young and have the World before you; Stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard Thumps. This Advice, thus beat into my head has frequently been of use to me, and I often think of it when I see Pride mortified, & Misfortunes brought upon People by their carrying their Heads too high."
"Oracles": 2020 -- last updated 17 Oct. 2020(.pdf)
"Oracles": 2019 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2018 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2017 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2016 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2015 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2014 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2013 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2012 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2011 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2010 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2009 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2008 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2007 (.pdf)
"Oracles": 2003-2006 (.pdf)
Note. Aside from the poems written by myself (i.e., those formally included in Poems by WTS), or material cited or presumably as being from others, there is no copyright on the contents contained in the "Oracles" and they may otherwise and therefore be freely copied, disseminated, or plagiarized as much as anyone cares to do these things.
To Contact me you can write or call:
William Thomas Sherman
1604 NW 70th St.
Seattle, Washington 98117
206-784-1132
wts@gunjones.com
Secondary email addresses:
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gunjones1@yahoo.com
My pages on:
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ALL SERIOUS INQUIRIES ARE GUARANTEED A REPLY.
Unless you are sending spam, or a general advertisement, or a private subscription I personally signed onto, you are guaranteed an answer from me at any of the above e-mails.
If by chance you encounter any problems accessing a .pdf via a given link below, try: Right click "Save as..." to download the .pdf to your PC instead.
* Christ and Truth, FIFTH edition (.pdf) ~ last updated: 25 Jan. 2019
* Peithology: The Nature and Origin of Belief, SEVENTH edition (.pdf) ~ last updated 16 Jan. 2019
* A New Treatise on Hell, fourth edition (.pdf) ~ last updated 25 May 2019
See also A Spirit People Primer,
and, very importantly, my personal "Narrative" (.rtf zipped) ~ last updated: 1 Jan. 2014 and in .pdf -- and most recently "Appeal of 2008, and Re-Introduction to Sherman 'Narrative'"
* Calendar and Record of the Revolutionary War in the South: 1780-1781, TENTH edition ~ last updated: 11 Dec. 2018
* Poems by WTS (.pdf)~ last updated 12 Jan. 2019
Translation of Silvae by Publius Papinius Statius (45-96 A.D.) (.pdf)
Miscellaneous
"Single-handedly,
Fought both the League of Horror
And the Organization Against Freedom
For over a Decade,
AND beat them -- MANY times!"
This is my recommendation of things and people sundry which others may have missed. For some these will already be well known, but for others less so. It is for these last that the suggestion is proffered.
Since its inception, posting the "recommendation of the week," although much fun along the way, has also become a bit of an inconvenient chore requiring a regular schedule. Meanwhile, but more importantly, since I effectively (aside from the above mentioned exception) receive no feedback on them (or on this website generally), I can't think it warrants the personal investment any longer to keep it going. In addition to lack of feedback, I simply don't have the extra money (I feel) necessary to explore different music, movies, books etc. -- in turn necessary to maintain the span, color, and variety of the selections, taking the list as a whole. Consequently, unless and until I do ever finally get feedback and or "somehow" come
into some funds, the "recommendation of the week" at present (as of August 2009) has been discontinued.
Otherwise and as an expedient, what I intend to do in future in its place is post or mention music, movies, books etc. among my regular "Oracles;" as inspiration moves me or of unusually special interest comes up; something, of course, I already have, to some extent at least, been doing for some time.
Your Choice
* These and more great tunes can be found at
The Contemplator *
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Well, I would be certainly if I wasn't being black-balled, blacklisted, and my communications routinely tampered with. This is pitiful I know, and I have put off doing this literally for years. But now is the time for it to be known that if anyone will send me money I'll take it. And if truth be told, the more money I have the more of a wallop I can put to these Hell people (certainly they don't want me having any, and have and will gyp and short change me just about whenever they can.) So please consider giving to this website if you can at all possibly afford it. Proceeds also go to assist the Institute for Ben Turpin Studies. So far I have sold only one book at my "Bookshop;" so it is not at all impossible that even if you try what you might send won't be allowed to get through to me. If this happens -- oh well, thanks anyway! (Also, by the way, if you try to send money, whether by Pay Pal or otherwise, and for some reason I don't receive it or am prevented from doing so please report this to Social Security; because interference of my receiving such or other funds or donations goes clearly against Social Security's understandable wish that I no longer be a dependent on them if possible.)
Also, my e-mail for sending donations through Pay Pal is: wts@gunjones.com
* Monies received as of the present and latest date for either this website and or the Turpin Institute: $25.00
gunjones.com is an angelfire.com hosted website
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* List of previous Weekly Recommendations *
"Thank yoou, Mr. Feelix!"
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of freely speaking, writing, or publishing their
sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in
general and became slaves."
~ John Peter Zenger (1697-1746)
