Régis Debray

Today, weary of seeing deteriorated values in human's life, I remembered Regis Debray and Joseph Campbell and many other thinkers who are not among us! I remembered the books I've read in my youth and the dreams I've had for the future....and I still believe that it's only us who are capable of making a difference with our determination and belief in great values.

Read his current political view:
In a February 2007 op-ed in Le Monde, Régis Debray criticized the tendency of the whole French political class to move toward the right-wing of politics. He also deplored the influence of the "videosphere" on modern politics, which he claimed has a tendency to individualize everything, forgetting both past and future (although he praised the loss of the 1960s messianism), outside of any common national project. He criticized the new generation in politics as being competent but without character, and lacking ideas: "So they [think they] recruit philosophy with André Glucksmann or Bernard-Henri Lévy and literature with Christine Angot or Jean d'Ormesson". He called for a vote to the "left of the left," in order to attempt to block a modern "anti-politics" which has turned into political marketing .

Definition of god

One of my friends wrote me a wonderful definition of a god from Joseph Campbel's Historical Atlas of World Mythology :

"Unsentimentally defined, a god is an envisioned name and form metaphysical [he's inverted his noun and adjective here, part of his semi-pretentious style] of a transpersonal state of consciousness, conceived as functioning in relation to human values locally recognized, whether actively (creating, supporting negating) or at rest (in contemplation). Since every god is thus in name and form culturally specific, none may properly claim exclusive identity with whatever may be beyond name and form,as the transcendent ground of all being and beings; i.e. as that which i the orient is referred to as beyond and without forms, hence the 'void' (sunya), or as Brahman--for which we have in our Western tongues, unfortunately, no word but 'God,' which has led, not only to a general idolatry of our own historically conditioned god as 'God Eternal,' but also to an equally improper notion of the gods of other mythologies as in the same way idolized: which they are not. Even the Bushmen recognize the temporally relevant (metaphorical) nature of their divinities." p. xvi

Watch this video...

Words of Hope...

Tuesday night America found her dignity again. The next day everyone was smiling in the streets of Chicago, saying hello, hugging, embracing, inviting each other for coffee or ice cream...I was all thinking about Studs Terkel who wanted to see this historical moment of "uncelebrated people"'s celebration....I missed him with my whole heart...

Belle of Write wrote...

Dear President Obama....

I voted for you for a chance at peace, for a chance at bringing people together, and for a possibility of an end to hate, fear, and insecurity.

If I may have your ears for a moment...

Please tax me, but use my taxes wisely. I do not mind sharing what I have, with those in need, to help build roads and repair bridges, pay for schools and teachers, pay for health care for all, and pay for innovative, safe, green jobs. I want my taxes to bring joy, happiness, relief, nourishment, and life to my fellow human beings. I do not want my taxes to be used for war to kill and destroy life and livelihood, or for my taxes to pay for the irresponsible, reckless, foolish CEOs' vacations and manicures. Read More....

Cyrus the Great

October 29 is the day of Cyrus the Great. International Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasargad made a great contribution to celebrate the founder of the first charter of human rights. Committee also called the year 2007 the Iranian Cultural and Natural Heritage Year.

Shokooh Mirzadegi, founder and executive manager of PHF, makes her best effort to save the archeological sites in Iran such as Pasargad, and brings all the writers and artists together to make a difference in preserving Iran's natural and cultural heritage.

Read passages in the text of Cyrus cylinder as expressing his respect for human rights in Iran Chamber Society's website:

"...I am Cyrus, king of the world. When I entered Babylon...I did not allow anyone to terrorize the land...I kept in view the needs of Babylon and all its sanctuaries to promote their well-being...I put an end to their misfortune."

Cyrus 539 BCE
The first charter of Rights of Nations

Gore Vidal the prominent American writer wrote a historical book on the era of Darius which gives a vivid portray of Achaemenid Persian Empire. The book called: "Creation"