And Like The Phoenix... I RISE!

The Phoenix

A poem by Rebecca Wiles

Beautiful, glorious and sacrificing self for renewal,

you build a pyre and set yourself ablaze.
For the sake of self.
Red bird of fire you come forth through

your ashes a new bird shedding the old self
which no longer is needful.
You embrace your new strength and

fly to the heights of the sky to the city of the sun
and give the ashes unto the alter of the sun god for your immortality.
Embrace yourself for you are a child of the sun
and will live eternal through birth, death, and renewal!
The spirit never dies!

In Chinese Astrology, I am the Rooster, which is called the Bird in Taoist Astrology and the Phoenix in Tibetan Astrology.

and my spirit is roaring back like a lion!

No weapon formed against me shall prosper!

because

I am a child of the Most High God

and because

I AM protected by the shed blood of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

In Jesus mighty name, AMEN! ♥

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. [Psalm 18:2 KJV]

Awesome message by Jentezen Franklin "Check Mate".

The thief (the enemy/darkness) comes to steal, kill (murder) and destroy.

When the enemy whispers checkmate, You need to know that you know that you know that you know... God and all of heaven will stand in front of you and tell the enemy "I don't think so. The King has one last move."

I have typed a transcript of the first 5 minutes of Jentezen Franklin's "Check Mate" message from the video I've shared with you above:

I want to talk to you today on the subject of checkmate. Checkmate, when you play chess and I'm not a chess player, I'm a checkers player. I'm from the south and we never learn how to play chess. That's a fancy northern game or something. I don't know. People out on the west coast might play chess. But we play checkers down south. Can I get an amen.

I like checkers because checkers it happens quick, it happens fast. When you play me, I'll jump you three times before you know whats happened. There's something about checkers that is fast moving. Checkers is lots of moves. But chess is lots of thought and then a move. A lot of thinking and then a move. They have in chess a lot of pawns, war horses, the king and the queen, the bishops and the knights.

The bottom line to playing chess you have one objective. In the game of chess when a move is made that wins the game, it's done by the king being left unprotected. It's when the king is completely surrounded. It's when the king cannot go to the left or to the right. He can't go forward. He can't go back. When the king is unprotected and doesn't have anywhere else that he can move. That's when a person who has hemmed the king in will say the word, checkmate. And when he says checkmate it means you're trapped, you're blocked, you're stopped, you're arrested, you've been circumvented, you don't have a chance, you're surrounded by your enemy. There is no escape. It's checkmate.

You and I have an adversary that wants to scream in your ear and in my ear, you're trapped, you're stuck, there's no way out, checkmate. You can't move this way. You can't run that way. I've got news for you when the enemy of our soul, the adversary screams checkmate I've got you. You have no where else that you can turn. Heaven screams back, "I don't think so."

Heaven is fighting for us today. In life, Satan wants to checkmate our lives. He wants to render us helpless. He wants to put us in a position where he can whisper, "It's over. There's no way out. What's the use. There's nothing left for you."

John 10:10 says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The order is important. Because before he can kill and destroy, he has to steal. He has to steal your faith. He has to steal your hope. He has to steal your dream. He has to steal the promises of God from your heart. But if God is for me, who can be against me. If there is no counsel, no wisdom, no understanding that can stand against the Lord, then you must get this revelation. That when hell whispers, "checkmate". Then you need to have a response in your spirit that says, "I don't think so".

Matter of fact, you're going to help me preach this morning. I'm going to say, "checkmate" and when I do in this sermon I want you to shout, "I don't think so".

Be Still, And Know That I Am God.

Be Still, And Know That I Am God

Psalms 46 NKJV

[source: Biblegateway]

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah (Selah means pause and think about that.)

4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob (God renamed Jacob, Israel) is our refuge. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob (Israel) is our refuge. Selah

I say, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." because that IS the God of the Most High I pray to, the Lord God Almighty, the God who CREATED the universe and ALL living things. There are a gazillion gods. We don't all pray to the same god. Make sure you know who you're praying to. (emphasis mine)

Shepherd's Chapel Bible Studies

After I was saved, it was hard for my flesh to open the Bible. God led me to Pastor Arnold Murray who teaches the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse. He was on TV from 2am to 6am.

Start with the Book of John. ❤https://t.co/FZNwuSruqm

— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) March 19, 2020

Pastor Arnold Murray passed away February 12, 2014.

I never meet him in person. I wish I had. But I felt like I knew him because I watched him almost every day. He's such a great teacher. I cried when I found out he passed away. He's a straight shooter. Doesn't mince words.

— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) March 19, 2020

Experiencing The Joy Of Non-Attachment

Detachment

Hakuin and the infant child

[source: Osho International]

Go on feeling something in you that is the same no matter what happens on the periphery. When someone is insulting you, focus yourself to the point where you are just listening to him--not doing anything, not reacting, just listening. He is insulting you. And then someone is praising you--just listen. Insult-praise, honor-dishonor, just listen. Your periphery will get disturbed. Look at that also, don't try to change it. Look at it; remain deep in your center, looking from there. You will have a detachment which is not forced, which is spontaneous, which is natural. And once you have the feeling of the natural detachment, nothing can disturb you.

In a village where the great Zen master Hakuin was living, a girl became pregnant. Her father bullied her for the name of her lover and, in the end, to escape punishment she told him it was Hakuin. The father said no more, but when the time came and the child was born, he at once took the baby to Hakuin and threw it down. "It seems that this is your child," he said, and he piled on every insult and sneer at the disgrace of the affair.

Hakuin only said, "Oh, is that so?" and took the baby in his arms. Wherever he went thereafter, he took the baby, wrapped in the sleeve of his ragged robe. During rainy days and stormy nights he would go out to beg milk from the neighboring houses. Many of his disciples, considering him fallen, turned against him and left. And Hakuin said not a word.

Meantime, the mother found she could not bear the agony of separation from her child. She confessed the name of the real father, and her own father rushed to Hakuin and prostrated himself, begging over and over for forgiveness. Hakuin said only, "Oh, is that so?" and gave him the child back.

For the ordinary man what others say matters too much, because he has nothing of his own. Whatever he thinks he is, is just a collection of opinions of other people. Somebody has said, "You are beautiful," somebody has said, "You are intelligent," and he has been collecting all these. Hence he's always afraid: he should not behave in such a way that he loses his reputation, respectability. He is always afraid of public opinion, what people will say, because all that he knows about himself is what people have said about him. If they take it back, they leave him naked. Then he does not know who he is, ugly, beautiful, intelligent, unintelligent. He has no idea, even vaguely, of his own being; he depends on others.

But the man of meditation has no need of others' opinions. He knows himself, so it does not matter what others say. Even if the whole world says something that goes against his own experience, he will simply laugh. At the most, that can be the only response. But he is not going to take any step to change people's opinion. Who are they? They don't know themselves and they are trying to label him. He will reject labeling. He will simply say, "Whatever I am, I am, and this is the way I am going to be."

The REBEL - The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself

How many of you can claim this Truth as your own? I can and this is why, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust... the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." [Psalms 18:2]

"Leaders are like eagles.

They don't flock.

You find them one at at time."

~ Author Unknown (Quote I live by.) 

The Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Oneself, Chapter 9

[Source: Osho International]

People are afraid, very much afraid of those who know themselves. They have a certain power, a certain aura and a certain magnetism, a charisma that can take out alive, young people from the traditional imprisonment....

The enlightened man cannot be enslaved - that is the difficulty - and he cannot be imprisoned.... Every genius who has known something of the inner is bound to be a little difficult to be absorbed; he is going to be an upsetting force. The masses don't want to be disturbed, even though they may be in misery; they are in misery, but they are accustomed to the misery. And anybody who is not miserable looks like a stranger.

The enlightened man is the greatest stranger in the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society, no nation.

The powerful and authoritative figure in this card is clearly the master of his own destiny. On his shoulder is an emblem of the sun, and the torch he holds in his right hand symbolizes the light of his own hard-won truth.

Whether he is wealthy or poor, the Rebel is really an emperor because he has broken the chains of society's repressive conditioning and opinions. He has formed himself by embracing all the colors of the rainbow, emerging from the dark and formless roots of his unconscious past and growing wings to fly into the sky. His very way of being is rebellious - not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. The eagle is his spirit animal, a messenger between earth and sky.

The Rebel challenges us to be courageous enough to take responsibility for who we are and to live our Truth.

Beautiful Message By Osho On How To Stay Centered... ♥

How to Stay Centered

[source: Osho International]

I am not saying leave the world and become hermits somewhere in the Himalayas - no. But sometimes leave, relax, be useless, be alone, exist like a rock, be independent, free from the world, be a part of nature - and you will be rejuvenated, reborn. Then come back and move in society and in the crowd again. And try to carry that beauty, that silence that happened to you when you were alone. Now carry it, don′t lose contact with it. Move deep into the crowd but don′t become a part of it. Let the crowd be there outside you - you remain alone.

And when you become capable of being alone in the crowd, you have achieved real aloneness. It is easy to be alone on a hilltop. The whole of nature helps you, and nothing is a barrier. To be back in the market-place, in the shop, in the office, in the family, and to remain alone - that is an achievement. Then it is something you have achieved and it is not just accidental, something that happened because of the hills. Now the quality of consciousness has changed. So remain alone in the crowd. The crowd will be there outside but don′t allow it to enter in. Protect whatsoever you have gained. Defend it, don′t allow it to be disturbed.

And whenever you feel that the feeling has become dull, that you are missing it, that society has disturbed it, that the dust has gathered around, that the fresh spring is no longer fresh, that it is polluted - move again. Fall out of society to renew it, to make it alive again. Then come back and move in the crowd.

And then a moment will come when that original spring will remain fresh and no one will be able to pollute it or contaminate it. Then there is no need to move anywhere.

~Osho

Happy Friday Night Song! My Favorite Of His To Shake Off The Week! Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf And Just ENJOY YOURSELF! :)

YAAAY... It's FRIDAY NIGHT!!! Time to kick back, relax with jammies and slippers on and a glass of wine in hand. Oh yeah, and listen to some awesome tunes! Always remember... Life is GOOD, always. Enjoy! ❤

Have a great night everyone doing whatever it is that puts a smile on your face. Hugs :D

Off The Wall

~ by The Legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson

When The World Is On Your Shoulder

Gotta Straighten Up Your Act And Boogie Down

If You Can't Hang With The Feeling

Then There Ain't No Room For You This Part Of Town

'Cause We're The Party People Night And Day

Livin' Crazy That's The Only Way

So Tonight Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf

And Just Enjoy Yourself

Groove, Let The Madness In The Music Get To You

Life Ain't So Bad At All

If You Live It Off The Wall

Life Ain't So Bad At All

(Live Life Off The Wall)

Live Your Life Off The Wall

(Live It Off The Wall)

You Can Shout Out All You Want To

'Cause There Ain't No Sin In Folks All Getting Loud

If You Take The Chance And Do It

Then There Ain't No One Who's Gonna Put You Down

'Cause We're The Party People Night And Day

Livin' Crazy That's The Only Way

So Tonight Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf

And Just Enjoy Yourself

C'mon And Groove,

And Let The Madness In The Music Get To You

Life Ain't So Bad At All

If You Live It Off The Wall

Life Ain't So Bad At All

(Live Life Off The Wall)

Live Your Life Off The Wall

(Live It Off The Wall)

Do What You Want To Do

There Ain't No Rules It's Up To You

(Ain't No Rules It's All Up To You)

It's Time To Come Alive

And Party On Right Through The Night

(All Right)

Gotta Hide Your Inhibitions

Gotta Let That Fool Loose Deep Inside Your Soul

Want To See An Exhibition

Better Do It Now Before You Get To Old

'Cause We're The Party People Night And Day

Livin' Crazy That's The Only Way

So Tonight Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf

And Just Enjoy Yourself

C'mon And Groove (Yeah)

Let The Madness In The Music Get To You

Life Ain't So Bad At All If You Live It Off The Wall

Life Ain't So Bad At All

(Live Life Off The Wall)

Live Your Life Off The Wall

(Live It Off The Wall)

So Tonight Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf

And Just Enjoy Yourself

C'mon And Groove (Yeah)

Let The Madness In The Music Get To You

Life Ain't So Bad At All If You Live It Off The Wall

Life Ain't So Bad At All

(Live Life Off The Wall)

Live Your Life Off The Wall (Live It Off The Wall)

BONUS...♥ ;)

AUSTRIA: Islamists Shooting At 6 Areas In Vienna. Islamic Leaders Incited Vienna Terror Attack Screwed Themselves. After The Terror Attack In Vienna, Austria Wants To Ban Political Islam.

 FRANCE 24 English published November 3, 2020: Vienna attacks: death toll rises as police hunt more gunmen. Shocked residents in Vienna were on Tuesday coming to terms with a deadly shooting spree that left at least five dead including a gunman, and seriously injured several others. Gunmen opened fire in six locations, firing on people enjoying a last night out before the city goes under curfew. Police say the dead gunman had sympathies with the Islamic State group and had served a sentence for trying to join the militant group in Syria. A manhunt is under way for at least one other suspect.

#Gravitas | After the terror attack in Vienna, Austria wants to ban political Islam. @sebastiankurz's government wants powers to close mosques, strip citizenship and imprison terrorists for life. @palkisu tells you more pic.twitter.com/vdWAfulEe4

— WION (@WIONews) November 12, 2020

Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe. These evil attacks against innocent people must stop. The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2020

Europe was hit by another jihadist attack. Shooters in Vienna launched a series of shootings around the city, killing 4 & injuring 17. A shooter killed by police is an immigrant w/a prior conviction for trying to travel to join ISIS. He was released early. https://t.co/CbmL2vpxWr

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) November 3, 2020

BBC News, UK

Vienna shooting: Austria hunts suspects after 'Islamist terror' attack

written by Staff

Tuesday November 3, 2020

Austrian police have urged people to stay indoors as they hunt for suspects after a multiple gun attack in the capital Vienna that killed four people.

A gunman shot dead by police has been identified as a 20-year-old "Islamist terrorist" who was released early from jail in December.

Two men and two women died of their wounds after gunmen opened fire at six locations in the city centre on Monday evening.

Twenty-two people were wounded.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the four who died were an elderly woman, an elderly man, a young male passer-by and a waitress. Witnesses described how the gunmen had opened fire on people outside bars and chased them as they fled inside.

It was clearly an attack driven by "hatred of our way of life, our democracy", the chancellor said. He earlier spoke of a "repulsive terror attack".

The nation was engaged not in a battle between Christians and Muslims, he stressed, but "between civilisation and barbarism".

Islamic State connection

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer described the dead gunman as an "Islamist terrorist", jailed for 22 months in April 2019 after trying to get to war-torn Syria to join Islamic State (IS) jihadists. The 20-year-old had been released early last December under more lenient terms for young adults.

Mr Nehammer urged Austrians to "please stay at home if possible" during the police operation and "avoid the inner city". Children should stay at home, not go to school on Tuesday, he said.

Austrian daily Der Standard reports that 90% of shops in the city centre are now shut.

The victims were in a city centre area busy with people in bars and restaurants, near Vienna's central synagogue.

Police cordoned off some streets and brought in reinforcements. They are also being helped by the Austrian army.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Nehammer said police had searched the home of the dead gunman and seized video material. He had been wearing a fake explosive belt, police said.

The man was originally from North Macedonia and had a previous conviction for terrorist association, Mr Nehammer said. He had both Austrian and Macedonian citizenship.

Several arrests were made during searches of 15 nearby homes. Two suspects were also arrested in St Pölten, a town to the west of Vienna.

The Vienna shooting comes after a spate of Islamist militant attacks in France.

Last month French history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded outside a school in a suburb of Paris. Then, as the government launched new measures to tackle militant Islam, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in a cathedral in Nice.

The worst IS attack in Europe in recent years was in November 2015, when gunmen killed 130 people in Paris.

Mr Nehammer said at least one "heavily armed and dangerous" attacker was believed to be still at large. Officials were quoted as saying there could have been as many as four attackers.

The attack came hours before Austria imposed new national restrictions to try to stem rising cases of coronavirus. Many people were enjoying drinks and eating out before a midnight curfew.

Police named six crime scenes in central Vienna: Seitenstettengasse and nearby Morzinplatz, Salzgries, Fleischmarkt, Bauernmarkt and Graben. The suspect was shot dead near St Rupert's Church.

Austria's government announced three days of national mourning, starting immediately. Flags flew at half-mast and a minute's silence was held at midday. Schools are to hold a minute's silence for the victims on Wednesday morning.

How did the attack unfold?

Police say the incident began at about 20:00 (19:00 GMT), near the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, when a heavily armed man opened fire on people outside cafes and restaurants.

Vienna Community Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister said he saw at least two gunmen shoot at least 100 rounds in front of the synagogue compound. "They were attacking the guests of bars and pubs. People were jumping and running, falling over the tables, running inside the bars followed by the gunmen also running inside the bars," he told London radio station LBC.

Members of the special forces quickly arrived at the scene. One policeman was shot and critically wounded before the perpetrator, armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a machete, was, in the police chief's words, "neutralised" at 20:09.

Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said the synagogue was closed at the time.

Footage posted on social media showed scenes of chaos as people ran through the streets with gunshots ringing out in the background.

Witness Chris Zhao, who was in a nearby restaurant, told the BBC: "We heard noises that sounded like firecrackers. We heard about 20 to 30 and we thought that to be actually gunfire. Sadly, we also saw a body lying down the street next to us."

A major anti-terrorist operation swung into action and police set up roadblocks around the city centre.

Barbara Lovett, who was in the Vienna State Opera at the time, said that when the evening performance ended the manager had told the audience of the attack and that they could not leave.

"The players came back out from the dressing rooms, in their normal clothes, sat down in the orchestra pit and played for another 20 minutes," she told the BBC. "They played the German national anthem, which used to be the Austrian anthem - the Emperor Quartet by Haydn."

Police in the neighbouring Czech Republic said they were carrying out random checks on the border with Austria in case the attackers fled in that direction.

What reaction has there been?

European leaders strongly condemned the shooting. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply shocked by the terrible attacks" while Germany's Angela Merkel said "the fight against Islamist terrorism is our common struggle".

Austria had until now been spared the sort of attacks that have hit other European countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must not "give up" in the face of attacks. Last week he described the murder of three people in Nice as an "Islamist terrorist attack".

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the UK would "stand ready to support in any way we can".

US President Donald Trump - on the campaign trail ahead of Tuesday's election - described it as "yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe".

His Democratic challenger Joe Biden condemned the "horrific terrorist attack", adding: "We must all stand united against hate and violence."

Islamist terror attacks in Europe

Nov 2020: Two men and two women killed by gunmen in busy streets in central Vienna - police shoot and kill one attacker, previously jailed

Oct 2020: Three people fatally stabbed in cathedral in Nice, France - Tunisian assailant shot and wounded by police

Oct 2020: French teacher Samuel Paty beheaded by a Chechen teenager outside a school in a Paris suburb

Oct 2019: Radicalised police computer operator Mickaël Harpon is shot dead after stabbing to death three officers and a civilian worker at Paris police HQ

Mar 2019: Four people killed and two seriously wounded by gunman on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht

Aug 2017: A van attack is launched on pedestrians in Barcelona, and another attack in the Catalan coastal town of Cambrils. Sixteen people killed, more than 130 injured

May 2017: A bombing at a pop concert in Manchester, England, kills 22. Weeks later, eight people are killed and dozens injured in a van and knife attack in central London

Jul 2016: A gunman drives a large lorry into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people - attack claimed by IS.

Crimes of Islam published November 12, 2020: Islamic leaders incited Vienna terror attack. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Imran Khan and Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave moral legitimacy to violence in the name of religion. They peddled hatred against Europe and tried justifying Islamic terrorism. Palki Sharma Upadhyay asks: Should they be held accountable for Vienna terror attack?

Following the terror attack in Vienna, Austrian government proposes new anti-terrorism measures to crack down on radical Islam. Austria also admits that the country's de-radicalisation programme has failed. @MollyGambhir speaks to @corinnamilborn, Head of News, Puls24, for more pic.twitter.com/TrSITxwPDj

— WION (@WIONews) November 12, 2020

FRANCE: President Macron Issues Republican Values Ultimatum To Muslim Leaders. Response To France Ends Questions on Islamism. Global Outrage Over Macron Shows Exactly What Islamism Looks Like.

French President Emmanuel Macron says France 'will never give in'

BBC News, UK

France's Macron issues 'republican values' ultimatum to Muslim leaders

written by Staff

Friday November 20, 2020

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Muslim leaders to agree a "charter of republican values" as part of a broad clampdown on radical Islam.

On Wednesday he gave the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) 15 days to work with the interior ministry.

The CFCM has agreed to create a National Council of Imams, which will reportedly issue imams with official accreditation which could be withdrawn.

It follows three suspected Islamist attacks in little more than a month.

The charter will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting "foreign interference" in Muslim groups.

Mr Macron has strongly defended French secularism in the wake of the attacks, which included the beheading of a teacher who showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class discussion last month.

Late on Wednesday, the president and his interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, met eight CFCM leaders at the Élysée palace.

"Two principles will be inscribed in black and white [in the charter]: the rejection of political Islam and any foreign interference," one source told the Le Parisien newspaper after the meeting.

The formation of the National Council of Imams was also agreed upon.

President Macron has also announced new measures to tackle what he called "Islamist separatism" in France.

The measures include a wide-ranging bill that seeks to prevent radicalisation. It was unveiled on Wednesday, and includes measures such as:

• Restrictions on home-schooling and harsher punishments for those who intimidate public officials on religious grounds
• Giving children an identification number under the law that would be used to ensure they are attending school. Parents who break the law could face up to six months in jail as well as large fines
• A ban on sharing the personal information of a person in a way that allows them to be located by people who want to harm them "We must save our children from the clutches of the Islamists," Mr Darmanin told the Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday. The draft law will be discussed by the French cabinet on 9 December.

Samuel Paty, the teacher who was killed outside his school last month, was targeted by an online hate campaign before his death on 16 October.

Le Monde newspaper has published emails sent between Paty and colleagues in the days after he showed the cartoons in class.

"It's really distressing and particularly as it comes from a family whose child wasn't in my lesson and isn't someone I know," Paty wrote. "It's becoming a malicious rumour."

He later wrote in a separate email: "I won't do any more teaching on this topic - I'll choose another freedom as a subject for teaching."

Earlier this year, President Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and defended the right of magazines to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Such depictions are widely regarded as taboo in Islam and are considered highly offensive by many Muslims.

Following these comments, the French leader became a figure of hate in several Muslim-majority countries. Protesters have also called for a boycott of French products.

In France, state secularism (laïcité) is central to the country's national identity. Freedom of expression in schools and other public spaces is part of that, and curbing it to protect the feelings of a particular religion is seen as undermining national unity.

France has western Europe's largest Muslim population.

The Muslim World’s Response to Islamist Beheadings in #France ends all debate about the dangers posed by #Islamism | ⁦@ShireenQudosi⁩ explains in the @ClarionProject https://t.co/aLB5vMzSjI

— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) November 3, 2020

Clarion Project

Response to France Ends Questions on Islamism

written by Shireen Qudosi

Tuesday November 3, 2020

Global outrage over Macron shows exactly what Islamism looks like.

If there is one silver lining that comes out of the horror show that has been 2020, it should be that moving forward there is no further question or confusion about whether political Islam, i.e. Islamism, exists or what it looks like.

As yet another Islamist attack unfolds in Vienna, the tragic series of events out of France in recent weeks that began with the beheading of a French teacher by an 18-year-old Chechen immigrant who arrived in France as a child refugee, followed by the global reaction of Islamist leaders and organizations to France’s reaction to the attack (including in the U.S.), offers a full picture of how Islamism operates on multiple levels.

As reported by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, in New York, a group of mosques planned to protest outside the French consulate over their outrage of what they called French President Emmanuel Macron’s “vilification of Islam.”

Reacting to the attacks, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that France “will not give in to terrorism.” He labeled the latest attacks “Islamist and terrorist madness.” Macron also stood by France’s commitment to free speech and the “right to blaspheme,” including the right to publish cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed.

He said that while he could understand Muslim outrage over the publication of such cartoons by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, such outrage could never justify violence.

Macron was already in the crosshairs of French Islamists and their global compatriots for a speech he made on October 2 in which he stated that Islam was “in crisis globally.” In the speech, he announced a plan to tackle Islamist extremism in France.

In a statement, Majlis Ash-Shura, the Islamic Leadership Council of New York, wrote:

“The French President is directly provoking the Muslim world in his support of offensive and vulgar depictions of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Moreover, he continues to directly terrorize the French Muslim community by raiding private homes and mosques over baseless accusations in the aftermath of the attack against a French teacher.

Prior to this incident, President Macron was already on a crusade against Muslim communities and basic religious practices, in the name of secularization and assimilation. France’s targeting of French Muslims seeks nothing but to further alienate an already marginalized community through religious discrimination and continue their historical mission of ‘civilizing’ communities they deem to be backwards by their own standards.

The Muslim world will not tolerate such blatant disrespect of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and stands in solidarity with their French Muslim brothers and sisters.”

The protest took place Sunday, November 1. There was no mention of the subsequent French terror attacks, including a second beheading in Nice.

Nearly 1,000 New Yorkers showed up to protest #FrenchIslamophobia in front of the French embassy despite the rain! Wonderful show of solidarity. #MacronApologizeToMuslims #BoycottFrance pic.twitter.com/TvBBmqBfEI

— Islamic Leadership Council of New York (@ShuraNewYork) November 2, 2020

pic.twitter.com/rciB7GQSWm

— Dr. Yasir Qadhi (@YasirQadhi) October 26, 2020

What exactly is the legacy of Prophet Muhammad?

Islam is what its followers practice. In my lifetime, Islam’s legacy has been deadly violence, rage and a dangerously obsessive fixation on identity and prophet-worship. And why is it Muhammad’s legacy when Islam’s origin story is as it’s believed, derived not from man but from God?

Qadhi’s message, like those of many of his peers, does not mention God. The focus is love for the prophet, and in his name, killing for the prophet. This is at its heart one of the most broken things about what Islam has become in the 21st century: Idol worship.

Whether it’s from scholars or political figures, this distorted understanding of what Islam is, fuels the behavior that attempts to use force and untempered emotion to shift the political needle. Often driving that needle is this idea of “Islamophobia” and the claim of victimhood status. It’s a tactic used strategically when it’s advantageous to the cause (pointedly, it’s never used when Islamist organizations silence other Muslims, or when China freely carries out a genocide against Muslims, to name two examples).

Outside the U.S., Islamist leaders of Muslim nations are using the same strategy to exact policy changes from the West. One of the biggest drivers of this narrative, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, called for a boycott of French products, a measure supported by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the U.S. organization Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR is also pushing for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to investigate the treatment of the French Muslim community. The “treatment” CAIR is referring to is Macron’s clampdown on mosques that support the rhetoric of hateful imams, including those that posted content inciting anger against the now-beheaded French teacher.

How do Muslims understand Islam?

At the heart of this problem is that Islam’s “image” is currently managed and run by special interest groups, activists, hateful imams, politicians and other snake oil salesmen who are more interested in exploiting the West’s sympathy for what it sees as a marginalized community than they are in understanding and representing the teachings of the faith with stoicism, integrity and honesty.

This lot includes world leaders who use their global platform and power to act as warmongers under the banner of religious tolerance, as in the case of former Malaysian prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who said that Muslims have the right to “kill millions of French people.”

This mindset connects violent and non-violent Islamists — from lone attackers in France to a nation-state leader thousands of miles away. While some point to the events in France and label them a “jihadist mindset,” I argue that we have a bigger problem: the “Islamist mindset.” While of course, most Muslims don’t support or advocate for violence, many of them — after watching the events in France — question the right to free speech — not the killing.

Macron is right to fight the Islamist separatism currently tearing France apart. The good news is that he has Muslim allies — those who see Islamism for the poison it is — to do so. French-Tunisian Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, president of the Conference of Imams in France, went on record last month to denounce the murders and to call Islamism a disease and a poison.

Egyptian liberal journalist Khaled Montaser called the attacks in France “our backwardness … the worst insult to the Prophet.” In the West, author and journalist Tarek Fatah offered a series of critiques including calling out the hypocrisy of Islamists, who the next day are in line for visas to travel and live in the same Western countries they condemn.

To challenge Islamism, we cannot let the violence and tantrums of Islamists, no matter how great their status is on the world stage, to dominate the narrative. The story of Islam is still being written, and for it to have space in the future world of people, it must be an Islam in which its adherents have evolved beyond the identity forged by Islamists.

Islamism is a distortion of the Islamic faith, and it’s been a thorn in the side of any meaningful and lasting progress within Islamic theology for centuries. In the West, Islamists have used Islamism to weaponize the faith, silence critics and curtail — if not attempt to completely annihilate — free speech.

The events coming out of France are a live demonstration of how Islamists operate — from activism to violence, across individuals, organizations and world leaders.

Muslim voters more than doubled their support for Trump from 2016. We explore why.#NationalSecurity #ForeignPolicy #MuslimVote https://t.co/oYXZBvCwcm

— Clarion Project (@clarionproject) November 9, 2020

4) Support among Muslims for taking a verbal stand against Islamism (esp. Muslim Brotherhood)

This sentiment is missed by the media bc outlets rely “mainstream” Muslim orgs that actually don’t have much popular political support from Muslim-Americans.

— Ryan Mauro (@ryanmauro) November 5, 2020

5) Backlash from demonizing #Trump and #GOP.

By making it sound like Trump would wage a war on innocent Muslims (“Muslim ban”), the disconnect from reality ended up decreasing the credibility of Trump’s detractors.

— Ryan Mauro (@ryanmauro) November 5, 2020

UPDATE 11/20/20 at 3:45pm: Added info below.

A Joe Biden presidency promises a return to the Obama-era Muslim Brotherhood alliance.

Throughout his election campaign and rallies, we see Biden emphasizing the same priorities that the Obama administration concentrated on at the time.https://t.co/FSgYCulkzg

— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) November 20, 2020

You Made It! Giving Out A Special Delivery of Friday HUGS!!! ♥ Hope You Had A FANTASTIC Week In Your Personal Lives! :)

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ▄ ▌ ▐ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▌

─ ─ ─ ▄ ▄ █ █ ▌ █ ░ ♥ ░ ░ DELIVERY OF HUGS ░ ♥░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░▐

▄ ▄ ▄ ▌ ▐ █ █ ▌ █ ░ ░ ░ FOR EVERYONE! ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░▐

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ ▌ █ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▐

▀ (@) ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ (@)(@) ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ (@) ▀ ▘ ♥ ♥ ♥...♥ Let's continue to send trucks loaded with hugs to our friends.

If no one has told you they Loved you today, God LOVES you soooo much and so do I. I hope you had a FANTASTIC week and enjoy a fun, lighthearted, relaxing weekend... :)

"No one can drive us crazy unless we give them the keys."

~ by Doug Horton

[So very true! ♥]

"Make laughter your prayer. Laugh more.

Nothing releases your blocked energies as does laughter.

Nothing makes you innocent as does laughter."

~ by OSHO ♥

"I love people who make me laugh.

I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.

It cures a multitude of ills.

It's probably the most important thing in a person."

~ by Audrey Hepburn ♥

A Life Of God-Worship. Don't Worry. God Will Strengthen Your Heart. Relax. Be Of Good Cheer. Expect God's Supernatural Provision. ❤

A Life of God-Worship

Matthew 6:19-34 The Message (MSG)

❤ Part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount ❤

found in Matthew chapters 5-7

[source: Biblegateway.com]

19-21 Jesus said, “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

22-23 “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

24 “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes

12 Truly Inspiring Vision Quotes

12 Truly Inspiring Vision Quotes

1. “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” ~ by Jonathan Swift
   
   
2. “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” ~ by Gail Devers
   
   
3. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” ~ by Jack Welch
   
   
4. “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” ~ by James Allen
   
   
5. “Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder” ~ by Eberhard Arnold
   
   
6. "Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when your riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!" ~ by Bob Marley
   
   
7. "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." ~ by Carl Jung
   
   
8. "All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose." ~ by Brian Tracy
   
   
9. "Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision." ~ by Aldous Huxley
   
   
10. "A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown." ~ by Denis Waitley
    
    
11. "Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." ~ by Martha Graham
    
    
12. "A man to carry on a successful business must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a dream of the whole thing." ~ by Charles M. Schwab

BONUS

"Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." ~ by Robert Collier

BONUS BONUS

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice. Not something to wish for, but to attain.” ~ by William Jennings Bryan

HAPPY Sunday Everybody! Don't Worry About A Thing...💖 🎵 'Cause Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right. 🎵

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain, teardrops and laughter, pleasure and pain. Just remember, there was never a cloud that the sun couldn't shine through. Hope you have a great day doing whatever it is that makes you smile! :)

This is where it's at... May you FEEL INSPIRED right now! ❤
Look forward to a terrific week ahead.
Yes, I said terrific. Claim it now. :D

"Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."

~ by Franz Kafka

"May my heart always be open to little birds
who are the secrets of living."
~ by e.e. cummings

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
~ by Thich Nhat Hanh

"Once we believe in ourselves,
we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight,
or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
~ by e.e. cummings

Three Little Birds
~ by the Legend Bob Marley

Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")

Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:"

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing" - I won't worry!
"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" - I won't worry!
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Buddhist Zen Cartoons To Make You LAUGH! I Just Laughed So Hard, I Cried! Enjoy :D

 

More Zen Humor To Help Lighten The Mood Around Here! 😉🤓😄

God's Favorite Sound Is LAUGHTER!

Q: What do you call a schizophrenic Buddhist?

A: Someone who is at two with the universe.

*********************************************************

A Buddhist nun, an atheist and a Catholic Priest are on the Titanic when the ship hits an iceberg. So they all run out on deck to get into a lifeboat.

"Women and children first!" yells the Buddhist.

"Screw the women and children!" yells the atheist.

The Catholic Priest yells,"Do you think we really have that much time?".

*********************************************************

So the Zen master steps up to the hot dog cart and says: "Make me one with everything."

The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen master, who pays with a $20 bill.

The hot dog vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer.

"Where's my change?" asks the Zen master.

The hot dog vendor responds: "Change must come from within."

**********************************************************

Q: What is the name of the best Zen teacher?

A: M.T. Ness

**********************************************************

Disciple: Oh wise and all knowing one, show me the place of perfect peace.
Master: If I show it to you it will no longer be peaceful.

**********************************************************

Q. Have you heard of the cow who attained liberation?

A. It was dyslexic and kept on repeating OOOOMMM !

**********************************************************

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.

The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.

Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar, and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books and crying. He asks what's wrong. "The word is 'celebrate'," says the old monk.

******************************************************

Q. What happens when a Buddhist becomes totally absorbed with the computer he is working with?
A. He enters Nerdvana.

******************************************************

Three monks decided to practise meditation together. they sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration. Then suddenly, the first one stood up and said, "I forgot my mat." He steeped miraculously onto the water in front of him and walked across the lake to their hut on the other side.

When he returned, the second monk stood up and said, "I forgot to put my other underwear to dry." He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way. The third monk watched the first two carefully in what he decided must be the test of his own abilities. "Is your learning so superior to mine? I too can match any feat you two can perform," he declared loudly and rushed to the water's edge to walk across it. He promptly fell into the deep water.

Undeterred, the wet monk climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. Yet again he climbed out and yet again he tried, each time sinking into the water. This went on for some time as the other two monks watched.

After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, "Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?"

**********************************************************

Four monks were meditating in a monastery. All of a sudden the prayer flag on the roof started flapping.

The younger monk came out of his meditation and said: "Flag is flapping"

A more experienced monk said: "Wind is flapping"

A third monk who had been there for more than 20 years said: "Mind is flapping."

The fourth monk who was the eldest said: "Mouths are flapping!"

HUMOR: Zen Words of Wisdom...😄

Zen Words of Wisdom...

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?

Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip... joy. With the second... satisfaction. With the third... peace. With the fourth... a danish.

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.

***********************************
A student goes to the Zen Master:
"Master, what happens when you die?"
Master: "I do not know."
Student: "But you are a Zen Master!"
Master "Yes, but I am not a dead Zen Master."

***********************************

Hyakujo, the Chinese Zen master, used to labor with his pupils even at the age of eighty, trimming the gardens, cleaning the grounds, and pruning the trees.

The pupils felt sorry to see the old teacher working so hard, but they knew he would not listen to their advice to stop, so they hid away his tools.

That day the master did not eat. The next day he did not eat, nor the next. "He may be angry because we have hidden his tools," the pupils surmised. "We had better put them back."

The day they did, the teacher worked and ate the same as before. In the evening he instructed them: "No work, no food."

Philosophical Humor: Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? LOL! :) Thank God We're Not Clones. This Shows Us 'Individual' Perspectives On Life. ❤

I added the cartoon above to this message.

Independent, Objective, Critical, Free THINKERS of the World UNITE!

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

[source: Space and Motion]

Plato: For the greater good.

Machiavelli: So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained.

Jacques Derrida: Any number of contending discourses may be discovered within the act of the chicken crossing the road, and each interpretation is equally valid as the authorial intent can never be discerned, because structuralism is DEAD, DAMMIT, DEAD!

Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take.

Douglas Adams: Forty-two.

Nietzsche: Because if you gaze too long across the Road, the Road gazes also across you.

Oliver North: National Security was at stake.

B.F. Skinner: Because the external influences which had pervaded its sensorium from birth had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own free will.

Carl Jung: The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being.

Jean-Paul Sartre: In order to act in good faith and be true to itself, the chicken found it necessary to cross the road.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: The possibility of "crossing" was encoded into the objects "chicken" and "road", and circumstances came into being which caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.

Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Aristotle: To actualize its potential.

Buddha: If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken- nature.

Salvador Dali: The Fish.

Darwin: It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.

Emily Dickinson: Because it could not stop for death.

Epicurus: For fun.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: It didn't cross the road; it transcended it.

Johann von Goethe: The eternal hen-principle made it do it.

Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.

Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on, but it was moving very fast.

David Hume: Out of custom and habit.

Jack Nicholson: 'Cause it (censored) wanted to. That's the (censored) reason.

Pyrrho the Skeptic: What road?

Henry David Thoreau: To live deliberately ... and suck all the marrow out of life.

Mark Twain: The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Zeno of Elea: To prove it could never reach the other side.

Wordsworth: To wander lonely as a cloud.

Blake: To see heaven in a wild fowl.

Dr Johnson: Sir, had you known the Chicken for as long as I have, you would not so readily enquire, but feel rather the Need to resist such a public Display of your own lamentable and incorrigible Ignorance.

Oscar Wilde: Why, indeed? One's social engagements whilst in town ought never expose one to such barbarous inconvenience - although, perhaps, if one must cross a road, one may do far worse than to cross it as the chicken in question.

Kafka: Hardly the most urgent enquiry to make of a low-grade insurance clerk who woke up that morning as a hen.

Swift: It is, of course, inevitable that such a loathsome, filth-ridden and degraded creature as Man should assume to question the actions of one in all respects his superior.

Macbeth: To have turned back were as tedious as to go o'er.

Freud: An die andere Seite zu kommen. (Much laughter)

Hamlet: That is not the question.

Donne: It crosseth for thee.