Mahdi And Messiah Alone Will Not Cool A Hot Shot Planet

abracad, May 3, 2023 · Categories: externally authored, science and spirituality, spiritual politics

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

The week of Passover was celebrated during the month of Ramadan again this year, so Jews and Muslims should concentrate on the challenges facing our world.

March 2023 was Earth's second-warmest March in 174 years.

Both Judaism and Islam teach their followers to take care of the earth. Muslims and Jews also believe that humans should act as guardians and trustees (stewardship and khalifah) four our planet, and that they will be held accountable by God for their actions. So what will a half degree Celsius of warming do to our planet?

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Vacanas

abracad, May 3, 2023 · Categories: externally authored, poetry

Vacanas are short, informal poems of devotion to Shiva. They originated in South India during the tenth century, a time of social upheaval, and they took the side of poor against the rich, of spontaneous free expression against established orthodoxy, of passion against propriety. Our times are similar to those, so they speak to us across the millennium and are now enjoying a revival by contemporary poets. (more…)

God's 5000+ Signs Of Exoplanet Life

abracad, May 3, 2023 · Categories: externally authored, science and spirituality

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

In the 20 years before NASA launched the Kepler Space Telescope in 2009, about 325 exoplanets were discovered. Kepler was a full-time planet hunter that revolutionized astronomers’ understanding of exoplanets. It was particularly interested in finding Earth-sized planets orbiting sun-like stars at a distance where water on the surface could be stable in liquid form — the so-called habitable zone.

In the 14 years since 2009 almost 5000 confirmed exoplanets have beeb found and we now know that there could be more planets than stars in the Milky Way. Many of them are in multiple-planet systems like our solar system, and a large share of the exoplanets appear to be super-Earths — a class that’s bigger than our planet but smaller than Neptune.

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The Tide has Turned

abracad, April 7, 2023 · Categories: externally authored, spiritual politics

By William T. Hathaway

Humanity has entered a new era, the culmination of a gradual shift of power from negative to positive that has been going on since the 1960s. This intensified into crisis three years ago and is now climaxing as the darkness makes a frantic last stand against the oncoming light. The negative forces are assailing us with war, disease, governmental oppression, economic savagery, environmental catastrophes – truly a time of torture.

We began to exit this purgatory with the five new moons from November to March leading up to the entrance of the transformational planet Pluto into transformational sign Aquarius on March 23. This will reach completion on the new moon at the end of Aries on April 20. (more…)

The new thoughtful generation

abracad, February 25, 2023 · Categories: consciousness, externally authored, science and spirituality

By William T. Hathaway

Philosophy hasn’t been a popular topic in recent years, but that seems to be changing. Many young people now are interested in exploring the fundamental questions of life. The majority were born between 1995 and 2008, the years when the planet Pluto was transiting the sign Sagittarius. Pluto is the astrological generation marker and represents transformation. Its passage through the zodiac indicates humanity’s gradual, progressive transformation to higher stages. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, representing expansion, benevolence, spirituality, philosophy. Many people born with this combination, now between 15 and 28, are interested in these issues.

This is demonstrated in their environmental and gender activism and in the popularity of a series of video discussions between neuroscientist and philosopher Dr. Tony Nader and other experts in these areas. Nader is the author of One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness, which integrates Advaita Vedanta (the ancient philosophy of unity, nonduality) with contemporary quantum physics. (more…)

Who Out There Has The Truth?

abracad, February 25, 2023 · Categories: externally authored, religion

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Twelve years ago the U.N. General Assembly proclaimed the first week of February as Interfaith Harmony Week for all religions; with a resolution that recognized “the imperative need for dialogue among faiths and religions in enhancing mutual understanding, harmony, and cooperation among people.”

So this Reform Rabbi offers to the religious public this article about religious TRUTH in the Qur’an.

All wise religions praise modesty; and modesty requires that religious believers do not claim that they or their religious beliefs are the one and only TRUTH. This is why the Qur’an states: “To each of you We (God) proscribed a law and a method. Had Allah so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (God’s plan is) to test you in what He has given you: so compete in all virtues as in a race. The goal of you all is to (please) Allah who will show you (on judgment day) the truth of the matters in which you dispute.” (Qur’an 5:48)

“O Children of Adam! Indeed, We have bestowed upon you from on high [knowledge of making] garments to cover your nakedness, and [clothing] as a thing of beauty; but the garment of God-consciousness [modesty] is the best of all. Herein lies a message from God, so that man might take it to heart. (Qur’an 7:26) (more…)

Spirituality and Hope In A Time Of Oppression

abracad, December 29, 2022 · Categories: externally authored, spiritual politics

by Rabbi Allen S. Maller

The Gospel of John reports that Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication — Hanukah: “The Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s portico” (John 10:22-23). What was Jesus celebrating during that eight day period that Jews world wide still celebrate?

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King David’s Psalm For False News And Hate-filled Words On Twitter

abracad, November 20, 2022 · Categories: externally authored, religion

by Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Prophet David (whose name is mentioned 16 times in the Qur’an) is one of the few Islamic Prophets who received Kingship as well as Prophethood. While other prophets preached during the reign of kings, Prophet David was also the king of the Land of Israel. Thus, Prophet David received an extremely major task of making sure that the People of Israel were not only observing the rules of the Torah morally and spiritually, but also that the country itself remained strong as well.

Prophet David’s place as both leader and prophet (like both Moses and Muhammad) is revered by all Muslims as one of extremely high rank. The figure of King David, together with his prophetic son, Prophet King Solomon, are iconic of people who ruled justly over their land.

God frequently mentions David’s high rank as a prophet and messenger in the Quran. He is often mentioned alongside other prophets to emphasize how great he was. For example, God says:

And We gave him Isaac and Jacob and guided them, as We had guided Noah before them, and of his descendants, David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron. Thus We reward those who are upright and do good.” (Quran 6:84)

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Patriarchy in India is beginning to crumble

abracad, November 20, 2022 · Categories: externally authored, meditation, spiritual politics

By William T. Hathaway

In the Vedic tradition of India the feminine side of creation is given equal importance to the masculine. The Divine Mother, Mahashakti, is revered as the primal creative energy who manifests the deities and the physical universe and then sustains all dynamic activity. When portrayed together, the deity pairs – Brahma and Sarasvati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati – are often androgynous and almost identical to show they are fundamentally beyond gender.

Unfortunately, centuries of colonial domination have made Indian society as male dominated as the West is. Fortunately, women in India are now developing a strong feminist movement to change this. (more…)

Pioneer Jews of the West

abracad, November 20, 2022 · Categories: externally authored, religion

By William T. Hathaway

Amazing but true: The first European settlers in what is now the USA weren’t English Puritans or French fur trappers but Sephardic Jews. Before the Mayflower sailed to America, Jews had fled the Spanish Inquisition and settled in what is now Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Although they were eventually absorbed into the mainstream culture, they built a real Jewish life here.

Who were these first pioneers? What happened that forced them to flee? What did they encounter in this far land? These questions fascinate me, and as I read what little we know about them and imagine their lives, a story emerges: (more…)