Journey of LiJiang

[Tim Xue]

Some photo of LiJiang, DaLi in YunNan province of China.

 

Enjoy!

[Tim Xue]

2 more photo

[samr]

Hi Tim,

Beatiful area! Is this anywhere near where you live?

samr.

[Tim Xue]

No, I'm living in SiChuan provice. You can use Google Earth to find it out. :)

[solbjerg]

No, I'm living in SiChuan provice. You can use Google Earth to find it out. :)

Yes the province of the four rivers - in Chengdu - right?

 

Best regards from solbjerg

[Tim Xue]

Haha, yes.

[MattLee]

i hope to visit either japan or china someday. it all looks like a nice laid back culture

[solbjerg]

什么都和没人不可能毁坏中国人民。 他们是不懈的幸存者。他们是最老的文明的人民在地球上。 他们的文明通过阶段，但它基本的特征依然是同样。 他们产生，他们弯曲对风，但他们从未打破。

Nothing and no one can destroy the Chinese people. They are relentless survivors. They are the oldest civilized people on earth. Their civilization passes through phases but its basic characteristics remain the same. They yield, they bend to the wind, but they never break.

Pearl S. Buck

[adchia]

:) How true.... (I'm Shanghainese)

[itsmejjj]

什么都和没人不可能毁坏中国人民。 他们是不懈的幸存者。他们是最老的文明的人民在地球上。 他们的文明通过阶段，但它基本的特征依然是同样。 他们产生，他们弯曲对风，但他们从未打破。

Nothing and no one can destroy the Chinese people. They are relentless survivors. They are the oldest civilized people on earth. Their civilization passes through phases but its basic characteristics remain the same. They yield, they bend to the wind, but they never break.

Pearl S. Buck

 

 

 

Archaeologists have established that the oldest civilized cultures in the world inhabited the area known as The Fertile Crescent and migrated to Mesopotamia (Ancient Greek for "land between the rivers", meaning the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), which is in modern-day Iraq. Sumeria is considered history's first major civilization. It was here that mankind first developed written language, sustainable agriculture, and made its first inventions, such as the wheel.

 

There is some dispute as to whether Eridu or Uruk, both in Sumeria, or southern Mesopotamia, was the first full-fledged city. The ruins of Eridu, near the modern day village of Tell abu Shahrain, (near Basra in southern Iraq), were first excavated in 1949. Some feel that Eridu, which dates back to at least 5000 B.C., was more a ceremonial center than an actual city, as it was the legendary home of the god Enki and believed by the Sumerians to be the site of "the mound of creation".

 

Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq), on the other hand, was discovered in 1849 by British geologist and explorer Willian Loftus and has been dated to around 4000 B.C. The sites of houses and workshops as well as religious and political centers have been identified there. The earliest written records (in cuneiform) make frequent reference to Uruk. At the height of its power, in roughly 2900 B.C., as many as 80,000 inhabitants called the city home.

 

At both of these locations, as throughout the region in ancient times, religion played a major role in daily life. The culture was a polytheistic one, worshipping a pantheon of deities who personified such aspects of the world as sky (An), earth (Ki), sun (Utu), moon (Nanna), and Venus (Inanna). Oftentimes certain deities became more closely associated with a particular city, thus rising or falling in popularity according to the political might of that city. Pyramid-like temples, called ziggurats, were the place of worship.

 

In addition to their development of writing and the wheel (originally a potter's wheel), the Sumerians were an agricultural society who grew a variety of grains and vegetables in canal-irrigated fields. They also tended herds of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The primary beasts of burden were oxen and donkeys. Competition for land and political power in the area kept the people in an almost constant state of warfare.

 

Other developments of the Sumerians included an advanced mathematical system and a lunisolar calendar. The best known examples of literature from this culture is the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem concerning two men's legendary adventures, and the King List, a part historic, part mythologic list which details the rule of early regional kings.

 

i found this after reading this post wanted to hear a bit more

 

be interested here..

[solbjerg]

Cannibals and Kings

 

Hi jjj

If you are interested in anthropology I can recommend reading

"Cannibals and Kings" by Marvin Harris.

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

Archaeologists have established that the oldest civilized cultures in the world inhabited the area known as The Fertile Crescent and migrated to Mesopotamia (Ancient Greek for "land between the rivers", meaning the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), which is in modern-day Iraq. Sumeria is considered history's first major civilization. It was here that mankind first developed written language, sustainable agriculture, and made its first inventions, such as the wheel.

 

There is some dispute as to whether Eridu or Uruk, both in Sumeria, or southern Mesopotamia, was the first full-fledged city. The ruins of Eridu, near the modern day village of Tell abu Shahrain, (near Basra in southern Iraq), were first excavated in 1949. Some feel that Eridu, which dates back to at least 5000 B.C., was more a ceremonial center than an actual city, as it was the legendary home of the god Enki and believed by the Sumerians to be the site of "the mound of creation".

 

Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq), on the other hand, was discovered in 1849 by British geologist and explorer Willian Loftus and has been dated to around 4000 B.C. The sites of houses and workshops as well as religious and political centers have been identified there. The earliest written records (in cuneiform) make frequent reference to Uruk. At the height of its power, in roughly 2900 B.C., as many as 80,000 inhabitants called the city home.

 

At both of these locations, as throughout the region in ancient times, religion played a major role in daily life. The culture was a polytheistic one, worshipping a pantheon of deities who personified such aspects of the world as sky (An), earth (Ki), sun (Utu), moon (Nanna), and Venus (Inanna). Oftentimes certain deities became more closely associated with a particular city, thus rising or falling in popularity according to the political might of that city. Pyramid-like temples, called ziggurats, were the place of worship.

 

In addition to their development of writing and the wheel (originally a potter's wheel), the Sumerians were an agricultural society who grew a variety of grains and vegetables in canal-irrigated fields. They also tended herds of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The primary beasts of burden were oxen and donkeys. Competition for land and political power in the area kept the people in an almost constant state of warfare.

 

Other developments of the Sumerians included an advanced mathematical system and a lunisolar calendar. The best known examples of literature from this culture is the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem concerning two men's legendary adventures, and the King List, a part historic, part mythologic list which details the rule of early regional kings.

 

i found this after reading this post wanted to hear a bit more

 

be interested here..

[itsmejjj]

thank you ,but i am not really into this bar it was of interest when i finally got to the post,i have back read all,to it,and just made the coment as of interest..

but yes ya can find just about any thing ...

itsmejjjj

[vman]

Oh, but history is tainted, left to assumption. Only a few knowledgeable can depict its true story.

 

Personally, I have always been interested in Middle Eastern and Caucuses' history. I find it absolutely stunning, and beautiful to say the least.

 

But one problem with history, is it directly contradicts the Bible, which, I for one do no understand.

 

 

But I do not want to discuss religion and such on the form, but, history is just amazing.

[samr]

Hi itsmejjj,

I find Sumerian history & mythology extremely interesting. They had some very radical ideas, such as the ridiculous idea that the earth & planets actually revolved around the sun! Imagine that!

Here is some interesting reading. Several links along the left side of the page.Enjoy!

samr.

 

http://history-world.org/sumeria.htm

[itsmejjj]

But one problem with history, is it directly contradicts the Bible, which, I for one do no understand.

well i do --now if one keeping this out of it --its fascinating,and perhaps proven

depending what the proof is--how its interpreted and by whom.

my idea take it with a grain of salt----one thing i do know this planet is a great big germ. every thing live of the other,from the unseen to us and in between

we all have a time spn ,long,short,or somewhere in between,same as the butterfly

 

think on think on this he starts life Monday..by Friday he passes away ,to him its a life time,we start ,i the year,say 2000,ending in 2075,that is our life time.

and considered well done,now if one could ,see the unknown,beyond the stars,

what would we see ,ever wondered? now if you or i could see every thing ,

even in our life time get to see very little,even we cannot take it in how vast

time space is,

so because we can not ,we now need something ,to try to compensate this

many go bible,others dig all over the world,then the crazy ones get in on it.

why? we have this inside need to know....

to try to work out were we started.yet no one can give the answer....or has one ,

 

50000,years back if one believe that mankind was there ,did not know,

now if you are bible ,you would answer,6000 years,as it is written..

 

ok now i for one was and grew up as most with the book,till i was older

and started to think for myself--

 

and now in our time ,find a lot of it as fairy tales,but not to say i events did not happen,same as the fella digging about the place,finding things,

yet saying it or the find are 10000 years plus!

the planet made in 7 days, .1000 years as 1 day..total of 6000,Sunday day of.resting,

So i hope if this is so, i lark it before Monday 12 midnight...

because some one is going ta be very unhappy!

and ifa you be leave this , this is the answer ,i do not want to know!

 

but yes its very interesting ,and confusing,some times not believable....

 

itsmejjj

[solbjerg]

Hi jjj

The reason I mentioned this, was that a lot can be found on history, some of it very interesting.

But Cannibals and Kings are not a run of the mill anthropological account it is really interesting, it has for example a theory on why pork is banned in some cultures, and how population denseness affects aggression.

I would like to read a work from his hand about religion if I he has written such a theory. Dogmatic religion doesn't interest me very much.

Cheers

solbjerg

P.s. I made a mistake with his first name, sorry! It should have been Marvin Harris

 

Hi jjj

If you are interested in anthropology I can recommend reading

"Cannibals and Kings" by Marvin Harris.

Cheers

solbjerg

[aguilarojo]

Greetings to all:

 

The exploration of history is something everyone is truly free to do as deeply as one would wish, even using the Net. There remains unfortunately, a lot of misinterpretation, misinformation, etc. It is difficult for professional anthropologists to separate themselves from theories supporting assumptions prevalent in one or another culture or even popular "accepted" theories of histories of various peoples. It is worse for interested persons searching for information for their own education who are well-intended.

 

Let me point out some interesting challenges to what has been discussed in this thread which suggest a different origination of society and civilization than has been discussed here.

 

• There are languages which exist which predate the existence of the United States and other civilzations "accepted as older" but which are deeply rooted within ancient North and South American civilizations. The Navaho culture and language is just one example.
   
  For instance, in comparison ancient Latin can easily be used to identify links to Spanish, French, Italian, etc. Sanskrit can be a means of working through connections of various Asian and European languages and dialects. Navaho, and other languages have no similar links other than to older languages used within North and South America.
   
  
• There is the very interesting oddity of the Nazca Plains. There have been efforts to understand the mathematical roots of these images using guidelines and processes derived from determining how the Pythagorean theorem was independently developed by mathematicians in ancient China. All such attempts unfortunately have failed.
   
  However there interesting comparisons between the Nazca images and the ancient Mayan calendar systems which has been said to be more ancient and accurate than even the mathematics and calendars used by ancient India. It is interesting however that for those familiar with the complete Mayan tradition, the closest calendar and mathematics comparative with the Maya is not from China (modern or ancient) but from traditional Tibet.
  

 

There is much which is unknown, and nothing should be assumed as valid.

 

Of course, the most dangerous thing in many societies, even today, is a truly curious, and independent tradition rich in mathematics, language and more with no roots elsewhere to "established, accepted, popular and currently dominant authorities".

[vman]

"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."

 

George Orwell

[itsmejjj]

"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."

 

George Orwell

 

yes that a point ! the present for the ones that are aware-(living)

past is i think gone(history)

future is i think events to unfold(unknown)

 

that's the thing that drives mankind--not knowing-if we knew -well probably all

chump of the hitters cliff--and then become the past--

 

one thing ,this planet is a place we are in ,the only place where we live.and cannot get of it..well having to return...

so its up to us .try to clean ,the mess where possible--?

 

or soon you make the dooms days predictors ,happy..?

 

but it has history .good,and bad,and a beautiful place it is--full of wonders--

 

itsmejjj

[enoskype]

Desiderata (plural of desideratum) "desired things"

 

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,

even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble,

it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

 

 

 

 

---

Max Ehrmann

, 1927

[solbjerg]

detailer's truck

 

:-)

The atoms are not like pearls on a string

much more like the candy in the bag you bring

from them all is created, - even detailer's truck

just takes some doing - and then a piece of luck :-)

 

Cheers

solbjerg

[itsmejjj]

post 20.

 

 

that my friend is beautiful--how lovely,that man must of been .who wrote this.

that touched me deeply...

and thank you!

itsmejjj

[aguilarojo]

Since this thread has moved into poetry I thought I'd share the thoughts of a poet who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in his day. His thoughts, in the poem I'll share here could be seen as being along the lines of what already have been shared by others in this thread. Here it is:

 

Gitanjali 35:

Where the Mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where Knowledge is Free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come from the Depth of Truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards Perfection;

 

Where the Clear Stream of Reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the Mind is led forward by Thee in Ever-Widening Thought

AND Action --

Into That Heaven of Freedom, My Father, let my country awake.

by Rabindrath Tagore

Gitanjali (Song Offerings): A Collection of Prose Translations made by the author from the original Bengali, introduction by W.B.Yeats,

Published: London: Macmillan, 1913

 

There are other interesting thoughts which perhaps fit from Haydn:

 

"The language I speak is understood the world over."

-- Joseph Haydn replying to Mozart's request that Haydn not travel to England due to his lack of familiarity with the language.

 

Einstein:

 

==========================

...every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a

religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.

-- Albert Einstein - The Human Side by Dukas and Hoffman, pp. 32-33.

 

=========================

His [the scientist's] religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.

-- The World As I See It by Albert Einstein

 

=========================

It is very difficult to elucidate this [cosmic religious] feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it. The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence impresses him as a sort of prison and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole. The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are

based on it.

-- Albert Einstein, New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930

 

For those who are interested Tagore and Einstein did in fact meet. Here is documentation for those who would like to explore there exchange: http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit03192001/musicarts.asp

 

In closing I believe it is appropriate to share what has been reported to be the last words of the Buddha before he died, in answer to his student's question, "What shall we do without you?":

 

Believe nothing merely because you have been told it or because it is traditional or because you yourself have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatever after due examination and analysis you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings, that doctrine believe and cling to and take it as your guide.

-- The Buddha

[solbjerg]

Hi aguilarojo

Fine collection of thoughts!!

Do you remember from a Hitchhiker's guide to the universe that the omnipotent being gets asked what the secret of the universe is?

He/she/it doesn't want to answer but after a lot of pleading finally says:

OK, the secret of the universe is ---- 44

Unfortunately that doesn't help us very much, because we don't know why 44 should have any significance.

And the funny thing is that the author of the book may have hit it right on the nail - but we will probably never know. :-)

(The omnipotent being may have decided from the beginning that he/she/it just wanted to see how the uncertainty principle would pan out - this would explain why there has been no interference from he/she/it since) :-)

Cheers

solbjerg

[aguilarojo]

Believe it or not I have a dear friend who met Douglas Adams in person. By the way, it is very interesting that this particular book comes up in this thread. If you recall, there is a chapter where it is explained that a an advanced race of beings (mice) funded a project so that Deep Thought (the super computer of galactic proportions) could answer the Ultimate Question. That project was all the Earth itself and all life on it -- were all components culminating to the answer of the Ultimate Question, which Deep Thought determined the answer to be -- 42. Not 44, sorry.

 

This is all interesting and funny because the answer -- 42 -- is not determined via straightforward means but rather recovered only because the theft of the Heart of Gold allowed the last human to survive so that the answer could be recovered from the last human's computational core embedded within his brain. In other words, the mice needed to attempt to recover the data from the human's brain -- of all people, Arthur Dent, because the Earth was destroyed when the Vogons destroyed the Earth to create an intergalactic hyperspace highway conduit -- the action which turns out to be made unnecessary due to the existence of the Heart of Gold which made all previous modes of transportation instantly obsoleted as it alone had the capacity to be at every point throughout the universe instantly. That Douglas Adams imagined the engine of the Heart of Gold to be Brownian Motion is both a joke and an amazingly outstanding insight into quantum mechanics.

 

Anyway, there are strange ties to various realities which become clear later, if we don't concentrate too hard on driving ourselves nuts trying to understand or perceive all the cosmic karmic interplays of existence. Sometimes just sitting back and enjoying life following the advice of the ancient Tao "sometimes a butterfly is just a butterfly" goes a long way of avoiding the linear incongruities of this kind of conversation which can dance very closely to approaching the fate of the inventor who created the Improbability Engine who was killed in a fit of jealous rage by those who believed they should have gotten the credit and recognition.

 

There is a lot of wisdom within the Tao which provides a clue on how to avoid that fate, "...therefore the sage follows, instead of leads..." Anyway, there is a theory extending from quantum theory which points to the existence of multiple dimensional realities and possibilities of simultaneous existences meaning that if one can imagine it, then there is a fair reliability of chance of the existence of that idea in some existence in some form. The corollary of the thought being -- The Heart of Gold exists!!

 

Enjoy yourself. Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the upcoming succeeding variety of celebrations and dare to be!!

 

All the best...