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Toyohashi

The evening was spent in Toyohashi a city that is an export hub for motor vehicles but seemed to have little else to recommend it.  But the hotel was good with a panoramic view revealing the surprising presence of two large Christian churches.  I was moved to look these up on Google and one turned out to be the Toyohashi Japanese Orthodox Church, St. Matthew the Evangelist. 

 


St. Matthew the Evangelist - top center

There are over a dozen Christian churches in Toyohashi.  So much for the Shogunate's attempts to outlaw the religion.  Although, to the probable posthumous chagrin of the Pope's Iberian evangelists, should their unlikely belief in an afterlife be vindicated, most have turned out to be Protestant.

Toyohashi was one of those places that we needed to find our own place to eat.  Most eateries in this largely industrial town looked a bit dismal but after a few approaches and retreats, usually due to a lack of a wine list, we eventually ended up at a very acceptable Korean style barbeque restaurant and felt very like being back in Korea.

 

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Travel

Sri Lanka

 

 

 

In February 2023 we joined an organised tour to Sri Lanka. 

 

 

Beginning in the capital Colombo, on the west coast, our bus travelled anticlockwise, in a loop, initially along the coast; then up into the highlands; then north, as far as Sigiriya; before returning southwest to Colombo.

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Fiction, Recollections & News

The Secret

 

 

 

Lansing Michigan was a fine place to grow up, she guessed.  It was nice; and safe.

Her dad worked in the Michigan State Government and her mum stayed home. They weren’t rich but they were comfortable. Their new house was big, the nicest they had lived in and it was in a really good area. 

She had never been overseas, unless you count nearby Canada, and that was mainly on trips to Niagara Falls, usually when one of Mum’s sisters came to stay. When they passed through Sarnia, into Canada, Dad would always say "Yea! Overseas again!". It was about his only joke.

Sometimes they went through Detroit. But after what had happened there the last time, she shut that out of her consciousness. No wonder she is timid and takes fright easily. Now if a friend even seemed to be driving in that direction she would go into the foetal position and shut-down.

Read more: The Secret

Opinions and Philosophy

Science, Magic and Religion

 

(UCLA History 2D Lectures 1 & 2)

 

Professor Courtenay Raia lectures on science and religion as historical phenomena that have evolved over time; starting in pre-history. She goes on to examine the pre-1700 mind-set when science encompassed elements of magic; how Western cosmologies became 'disenchanted'; and how magical traditions have been transformed into modern mysticisms.

The lectures raise a lot of interesting issues.  For example in Lecture 1, dealing with pre-history, it is convincingly argued that 'The Secret', promoted by Oprah, is not a secret at all, but is the natural primitive human belief position: that it is fundamentally an appeal to magic; the primitive 'default' position. 

But magic is suppressed by both religion and science.  So in our modern secular culture traditional magic has itself been transmogrified, magically transformed, into mysticism.

Read more: Science, Magic and Religion

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