paintbynumbers

Authoritarianism usually progresses through a series of small, incremental shifts.

At first, changes might seem minor or even reasonable to the general public—a new security measure here, a minor restriction on a protest there, a slight change to school curricula.

Technology amplifies the state of mind we bring to it. So we must learn to match our outer technology with the inner technology of the human heart.

Outer technology—no matter how advanced—cannot cure humanity's deepest societal and environmental crises, because the roots of warfare, racism, and climate destruction lie within the human heart. To balance our vast scientific progress, we must equally develop our inner "technology" of compassion, interconnection, and loving awareness.

Jack Kornfield’s teachings highlight the urgent need for individuals and communities to cultivate emotional and spiritual maturity. He suggests that while our "outer" development is magnificent, we can sometimes act like "nuclear giants and ethical infants," prompting the necessity for heart-centered growth.

By developing this inner capacity for empathy, we are able to address these large-scale challenges from a place of clear-sighted intention rather than fear.

Greta Berlin: I stood at this pool, at both monuments and saw both reflections…

He’s a God damn idiot, as are the fools that support him. The “Reflection Pool” wasn’t designed by American architect Henry Bacon a hundred years ago to look like a swimming pool. It’s designed to have a darkened characteristics that has reflective qualities to reflect the monuments.

That way, the Washington Monument is reflective to you when at the Lincoln Memorial, and when at the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial is reflective to you.

It’s designed to enhance the grandeur of monuments, create an illusion of reflection, and inclusion of expansive space of unity.

He’s a tacky vulgar person that vulgarizes everything he touches. America isn’t becoming great, it’s becoming vulgar.

Credit - Mathew Reed

Instead of despair, he saw something extraordinary. The Land had refused to accept any other people since the Jews were exiled.

He wrote:

“Many are Israel’s forsaken places, and great is the desecration. The more sacred the place, the greater the devastation it has suffered. Jerusalem is the most desolate place of all.”

And then the profound truth:

“Our Land will not accept our enemies ... Since the time that we left it, [the Land] has not accepted any nation or people, and they all try to settle it ... This is a great proof and assurance to us.”

At age 72, after fleeing Christian persecution in Spain, Nachmanides immediately began rebuilding Jewish life. He established the Ramban Synagogue and a yeshiva that drew students once again.

That small but determined effort helped rekindle nearly 700 years of continuous Jewish presence in Jerusalem — until the Jordanians destroyed the Jewish Quarter and ethnically cleansed its Jewish residents in 1948. 

After the liberation of the Old City in 1967, the Ramban Synagogue was rebuilt on the site of the ruins.

Even in exile and ruin, one of Judaism’s greatest minds understood the eternal reality: 

The Land knows its children.

This is Money Snake. She only appears every 312 years.