Tree of Life

[JerseyJohnny]

Thanks for your earlier posts in this thread which gave me, an outsider to the religion, a good understanding of some of the concepts and ideas in the religion. I found it to be very informative and enjoyed learning what I was able to glean from it.

Thanks..but again, this isn't even the full basics. It doesn't even come close. It was more meant to give a brief explanation of "What is the Tree of Life?" more than it was to actually get into the Qabalah...which is a HUGE subject that this forum couldn't even begin to contain.

So...if you found this interesting, I'd recommend snagging a book on the subject that will explain things a lot better than I did. My explanation is almost embarassing.

So what book would you recommend? Something that's not too hard to acquire and not too esoteric, please.

[tannhaus]

So what book would you recommend? Something that's not too hard to acquire and not too esoteric, please.

oh...that's a hard one. Let me look and see which of my books I'd recommend for a first timer...

I mean, first off, I'd say "The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford". It's very very basic...and it's written in a humorous and down to earth style.

Bah...on second thought, get that. It's not going to explain everything to you, but it explains what it does explain very well. And, it gives you a look into the psychological side of things without confusing you.

If you like that, then get Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie and Mystical Qabala by Dion Fortune. But, Chicken Qabalah first.

[Sfonzarelli]

This thing about the water reminds me too much of the hindus. I spent 2 years around the hare krishnas. One thing you find out is they believe just about every river in India is holy for some reason or another. Well, when the plants started being built there, they were like "Oh yeah...dump all your chemicals into the water. This is a holy river. It can't be polluted."

Of course, now they have one of the most polluted water supplies in the world. They tested Coca-Cola (because coke uses regional water at its bottling plants) and found over 20 pesticides and contaminants in it. They've pretty much destroyed their water.

LOL, sorry I keep picking on you, but that seems like an oddly disrespectful thing to say from someone versed in eccletic religious practices. Blaming the Hare Krishnas for water pollution in India?

[tannhaus]

LOL, sorry I keep picking on you, but that seems like an oddly disrespectful thing to say from someone versed in eccletic religious practices. Blaming the Hare Krishnas for water pollution in India?

Not the Hare Krishnas...hindus in general

And, at least among the Indian Hare Krishnas....they will tell you that is why the water is polluted there. They acknowledge it.

[Sfonzarelli]

LOL, sorry I keep picking on you, but that seems like an oddly disrespectful thing to say from someone versed in eccletic religious practices. Blaming the Hare Krishnas for water pollution in India?

Not the Hare Krishnas...hindus in general

And, at least among the Indian Hare Krishnas....they will tell you that is why the water is polluted there. They acknowledge it.

It was probably more something like this

American businessman: Can we dump crap in that river?
Indian businessman: Sure!
Random person: Won't that cause pollution?
Idian and American businessmen: Who cares?
Random Hindu: Isn't that river sacred?
Indian and American businessmen: Who cares?
Random person: Hey, that really sucks.
Indian and American businessmen: Too bad.

[tannhaus]

Well, they had the belief that the river could not be polluted..period...because it was sacred. By the time they figured out that they were wrong, not only was it polluted, it was horribly polluted.

I mean, you have to feel sorry for them. It was their belief and they just didn't know...

It's sorta like the voudou priests that would do a ceremony over the haitians to make them invulnerable to weapons. It's even recorded that one of them ran up, stuck his hands in a cannon and yelled to his friends "Come on! I'm holding it fast!" Of course, when the cannon went off, it blew him to bits.

You have to feel bad in these situations because we've all believed things that we found out later were false. These things don't separate us...they bring us together.