Robin Yvonne Ingbretson Peterson | Obituaries – Ashland Daily Press

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Robin Yvonne Ingbretson Peterson, 61, who resided in Manning, South Carolina, passed away at home with loved ones by her side on June 13, 2020, in Manning.

Robin Peterson was born April 5, 1959, in Shell Lake to Bernard and Barbra Ingbretson. She grew up in Hayward. She was a bartender by trade and worked at several establishments through the years. She enjoyed cooking and loved having her grandkids help. She also enjoyed computers, puzzles and reading.

She is survived by her husband, Gary Peterson, of Manning; children, Bridget (Travis) Wisner of Baraboo, Wisconsin, Nicole (Ben) Boaz of Manning, and Brooke Peterson (Brandon) Petty of Columbia, South Carolina; nine grandchildren; her mother, Barbara Bjorklund of Wisconsin; sisters, Barbara McNemer of Arizona and Peggy Ingbretson of Wisconsin; and brother, Pete Ingbretson of Oregon.

Per Robins wishes she was cremated and there will be no services. A private family

gathering will be held later this summer in Wisconsin.

She will be dearly missed but never forgotten.

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Robin Yvonne Ingbretson Peterson | Obituaries - Ashland Daily Press

How to Conquer the Spiritual Coronavirus: the Colossian Heresy (Part 2) | How to Conquer the Spiritual Coronavirus: the Colossian Heresy (Part 2) -…

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3D reconstruction of the thin multislice CT, covering human heart and lungs; Semnic, November 10, 2015; Creative Commons 4.0

It is hard to keep ones guard up all the time in public by making sure the face masks on and social distancings in place during a pandemic. Some will tell us that the Coronavirus is not such a big deal, not much different than the flu, and that it will soon pass from the scene by natural causes. Something similar can occur in the spiritual realm, when it comes to false teaching, as in the case of the Colossian heresy. It is all too easy to let down ones guard over the heart and mind. As with the Coronavirus, one has to guard against myths, rumors and misinformation. One must remain vigilant and take the necessary precautions to guard against infection (Refer here as well). In no way, shape or form did Paul consider the Colossian Heresy merely a spiritual flu. It was far more dangerous and devastating.

The Apostle Paul warns the Colossian church to remain vigilant. As noted in part 1 of this two-part series, Paul writes from house arrest for the faith in Rome to this church in danger of cardiac arrest in Asia Minor. Please refer to that first entry here at this link for the backdrop to the context, including the heretical teaching that could kill the Colossian church spiritually. As was noted in that first article, even with Covid-19, some who are experiencing respiratory distress are also enduring heart damage and dying of cardiac arrest. Whether on the physical or spiritual level, being able to breathe is vital to ones health.

This leads us to the point we wish to emphasize in part 2 of this series. To contextualize Pauls words to our present context and imagery, Paul exhorts the Colossian church to breathe in Christ rather than inhale the false teaching that could suffocate and lead to cardiac arrest. Paul exhorts the Colossian church not to let anyone suffocate them. How might suffocation occur? By allowing people to pass judgment on them and disqualify them. For Paul, the ultimate safeguard against contracting the spiritual Coronavirus is immunizing believers by capturing peoples imagination through Christ. In what follows, we will unpack what such judgment and disqualification might look like and what captivation of the imagination by Christ involves.

Paul writes in his letter to the Colossian church:

Therefore let no onepass judgment on youin questions of food and drink, or with regard toa festival ora new moon or a Sabbath.These are a shadow of the things to come, butthe substance belongs to Christ.Let no onedisqualify you,insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,going on in detail about visions,puffed up without reason byhis sensuous mind,andnotholding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christyou died to theelemental spirits of the world,why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulationsDo not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch(referring to things that all perish as they are used)according tohuman precepts and teachings?These have indeed an appearance of wisdom inpromoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they areof no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh (Colossians 2:16-23; ESV).

Paul warns them not to allow others to pass judgment on them in matters pertaining to food and drink, a festival, new moon, or Sabbath. (Colossians 2:16) Why? They are but a shadow of the things to come. The substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:17).

Paul warns the same believers not to allow anyone to disqualify them with ascetism and worship of angels, going on and on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind (Colossians 2:18). Why? They are not holding fast to the head, who is Christ, from whom flows spiritual nourishment for the entire church body (Colossians 2:19).

Why would we fixate on shadow matters of external religious observances when the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17)? We are dead with Christ to the elemental spirits and world system (Colossians 2:20) and alive to Christ. Do not handle, taste or touch regulations appear profitable to self-made religion, ascetism, and the severe treatment of the body (Colossians 2:21-23), but they have no impact on stopping fleshly indulgence (Colossians 2:23).

Perhaps today you are not dealing with dos and donts religious observances. Perhaps you are not focused on ascetism and angel worship, at least not in some obvious manner. But as F. F. Bruce and others have argued, the fallen principalities and powers or elemental spirits manifest themselves in various other secular ways in the modern period.[1] The world or elemental spirits cause us to fixate on externalities of appearance, like lighter and darker pigmentation, facial structure, weight, and body shape. What drives many of us to value or devalue people based on these external features? While we should see such things as color, and not be color blind, for example, we should see more than color. We should understand people in the fullness of their lives and complexity of their stories.

How often do we view people based on what we can get or extract from them, sizing them up based on their perceived market value? As Martin Luther King, Jr., argued in Beyond Vietnam, we need to move from a culture of things to persons. He goes on,

I am convinced that if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin, we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.[2]

The need to move from a culture of things to persons has only intensified since Kings day. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks of how the market ideology has impacted Judaism negatively. The same could be said for Christianity when he writes,

The concept of the holy is precisely the domain in which the worth of things is not judged by their market price or economic value. And this fundamental insight of Judaism is all the more striking given its respect for the market within the marketplace. The fatal conceit for Judaism is to believe that the market governs the totality of our lives, when it in fact governs only a limited part of it, that which concerns the goods we think of as being subject to production and exchange. There are things fundamental to being human that we do not produce; instead we receive from those who came before us and from God Himself. And there are things that we may not exchange, however high the price.[3]

Speaking as a Christian, when we view one another through the eyes of Jesus, we see people as created in Gods image. When we view one another in relation to him, we see everyone, and every member of the church body, as indispensable (1 Corinthians 12:22). People are far more than what the markets suggests is their value. Such market valuation is always in flux, never constant, ever fickle. When we operate by market standards to evaluate one anothers worth, we cannot rest or breathe. Our value is always in flux based on how well we perform.

No human is chattel. Every black life matters. We must nail racism, economic exploitation, and militarism to the cross. We must not allow the elemental spirits of the world to cause us to find our worth and dignity outside of Jesus. The principalities and powers may manifest themselves today in secular forms of ascetism and angel worship, including perhaps such things as anorexia[4] and facial cosmetic operations to look more western, the worship of fame and celebrity, youth, income, and professional position. We can get lost in apocalyptic visions and conspiracy theories that parallel gnostic cults, like QAnon. As Paul argues, we so easily go into vast details on all kinds of things but miss out on Jesus Christ in whom all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. We only find fullness in him (See Colossians 2:9-10).

If we wish to breathe freely, we must find our worth in and through Jesus. He has nailed to the cross those laws old and new in whatever religious or secular form that devalue and dehumanize us and that lead us to devalue and dehumanize others. Jesus has cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.He disarmed the rulers and authoritiesandput them to open shame, bytriumphing over them in him (Colossians 2:14-15; ESV).

Paul would have us contend against the spiritual version of the Coronavirus today by seeing our value through identity with Christ Jesus. Those who find their identity and worth in him, and not in their perceived market value, or how others perceive us, is critically important. Otherwise, we will allow others to judge and condemn us as being worthless, as disqualifying us as not measuring up to whatever fickle and fictitious standards they happen to put in place. You are persons, not things. You are created in Gods image and have infinite worth. Dont live in the shadows and fixate on externals or on visions of the sensuous mind. Dont reduce others to means to ends whereby their value is perceived in terms of what you can get from them. Build relationships and communities where we see everyone as indispensable through Jesus who shares his life and worth with us. Hold fast to Jesus, who is the head. The substance belongs to Christ.

_______________

[1]F. F. Bruce contextualizes the discussion of the principalities and powers in Colossians 2:13-15 to the modern period when he writes, The elemental spirits through whom the law was held to have been mediated may mean nothing to modern man. Angles and demons may be unknown to him by name. But is not modern man unprecedentedly aware of powerful and malignant demonic forces operating against him, which he is quite unable to master, whether by his individual strength or by united action? These forces may be Frankenstein monsters of his own creation; they may be subliminal horrors over which he has no conscious control. F. F. Bruce, ed., The New International Commentary on the New Testament, vol. 10, Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians, by E. K. Simpson and F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), page 241.

[2]Martin Luther King, Jr., Beyond Vietnam, in A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard, with an introduction by Andrew Young (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 2001), pages 157-58.

[3]Jonathan Sacks, Markets and Morals, inFirst Things, August 2000; https://www.firstthings.com/article/2000/08/markets-and-morals. See also Michael J. Sandel, What Money Cant Buy: The Moral Limits of the Markets (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012).

[4]The Mao Clinic observes, Anorexia isnt really about food. Its an extremely unhealthy and sometimes life-threatening way to try to cope with emotional problems. When you have anorexia, you often equate thinness with self-worth.

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How to Conquer the Spiritual Coronavirus: the Colossian Heresy (Part 2) | How to Conquer the Spiritual Coronavirus: the Colossian Heresy (Part 2) -...

St. Ignatius: When are pious thoughts not from God? – Catholic Culture

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By Dr. Jeff Mirus (bio - articles - email) | Jul 09, 2020

One of the great confusions throughout the history of the Church is the common misunderstanding that pious or spiritual thoughts and motives always come from God. In the fourth century, Arius was inspired by his own insight into the Godhead to conclude that Jesus Christ must be a creature and so could not be God. In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther was inspired by his special appreciation of the gift and power of faith to conclude that human works have no role in sanctification and salvation.

Alleged visionaries in many periods have fallen into swoons and reported great heavenly delights. But St. Teresa of Avila, who was herself a great mystic, had to discipline some of her nuns by ordering them to eat and sleep more, when they disrupted convent life with what she perceived to be uninspired ecstasies. In our own time, a great many people all around us are inspired by their experience of spiritual liberty to deny that God has revealed anything which cuts against the grain of our desires. On all sides, many who consider themselves Catholics are moved by an interior certainty of their sublime spirituality to rebel against the authority of the Church.

Ignatius of Loyola

This issue was brought to my attention again the other day through my reading of the autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola, the sixteenth-century author of the famous Spiritual Exercises and the founder of the Society of Jesus (which paradoxically seems in our time to be particularly incapable of distinguishing one spirit from another). Ignatius autobiography was written at the insistence of some of his most treasured companions in the early days of his community. He was reluctant to write it, but finally did so in the hope that it would be useful to his brethren after he was gone. It covers a relatively short period of his lifeessentially the eighteen years from his initial conversion to his completion of the constitutions for the Society of Jesus in Rome.

Ignatius wandered about quite a bit during this period while he was trying to discern exactly what God was calling him to do. His fundamental way of drawing others closer to Christ was through a life of privation spent begging and making himself available to others in conversations about God and the Church. For some years he believed he was called to do this in the Holy Land, and while he visited there once, his efforts to revisit and remain there were always thwarted by circumstances. He also knew that he needed to complete a more formal program of studies in order to be well-grounded in his discussions and advice to others.

In fact, he was repeatedly questioned and sometimes even imprisoned for a time by representatives of the Inquisition who, in various cities, wanted to be sure that he was not misleading people. Ignatius was always exonerated, but his situation was a precarious one because his training and background were as a knight and his approach to others was through poverty, so it was difficult to believe he was really serving as a good Catholic influence in teaching everyone he met about the things of God. Moreover, while Ignatius knew he should get a better Catholic education, he found it extremely difficult to consistently pursue his studies, which he attempted at various universities.

Partly this was a matter of lack of resources. But there was another problem which he mentions in his narrative (where he always refers to himself in the third person, often calling himself the pilgrim). Here is one of the passages in which he describes this special problem:

Ignatius struggled with these distractions from study on numerous occasions in different courses at different universities, and for a long time he was deeply perplexed by them. But in this as in many other matters he was gradually given genuine insight by God. Here is how he describes that process:

This is expressed with all the starkness of a saint-in-the-making. His delightfully sublime insights weretemptations! His solution on this occasion was to ask his teacher to meet him in the nearby church of Our Lady of the Sea. There Ignatius explained the problem to him and promised never to miss any of the teachers classes over the next two years. The result? Since he made this promise with great earnestness, he never again had those temptations (#55).

Ignatius had routed the Devil; but first he had to recognize him.

Discernment of Spirits

It is no wonder that the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola deal extensively with the discernment of spirits. This is (or at least is intended to be) a key to Ignatian spirituality. We must always remember that Satan is the fallen Lucifer, or Light Bearer, and that he often masks his temptations in the aura of sweetness and light. Ignatius had considerable difficulty in separating the promptings of the Holy Spirit from vainglorious thoughts of grand achievements, first worldly and later religious achievements. But he was engraced through his own particular vocational path to become one of the Churchs masters of spiritual discernment. He learned the hard way how to separate the wheat from the chaff in the alleged inspirations he experienced.

There are many things that go into this, including attentiveness to the teachings of the Church, sound Catholic education and spiritual formation, the cultivation of humility and the recognition of habitual faults, a clear apprehension of ones present duty, constant prayer, frequent examination of conscience and confession, a willingness to seriously consider spiritual advice, and more. I am not an expert in the Ignatian method, but perfect discernment does not come naturally to anyone. Strong opinions driven by personal piety may or may not be the fruits of sound discernment.

That is what St. Ignatius had to learn. And if the great St. Ignatius had to learn to proceed with caution, then so do we.

For an excellent edition of the autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola, see A Pilgrims Journey (with introduction, translation and commentary by Joseph N. Tylenda, SJ): Ignatius Press, rev. ed. 2001; paper 204pp. $15.26

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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There is no one way to find God – Arizona Daily Star

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The presence of the Holy One comes to each of us in a personal way, in ways we understand on a deeply unique level.

There is no one way to find God in our lives. Each person has a unique spiritual sense, a wisdom that gives life meaning and purpose.

Think about what gives your life meaning, what gives it purpose; think about what has kept you through life.

A search for the Holy, by whatever name we call it, is a spiritual journey to tie us to something larger than our present situation. No one elses life is an exact copy of anyone elses life.

Most of us find expression for our spiritual selves in organized religion, in the outward expression of worship with people who have similar beliefs, similar creeds, similar expressions of faith; some go further afield and that where is between you and your inner self; it is where you find your unique and beautiful connection to all that is.

Whatever you call it, there is a spiritual wisdom in each of us that reaches out to find meaning and connection in our lives. The journey is lifelong and changes as our life experiences change us. The beautiful truth is that God is with us wherever the journey takes us into the Holy.

I want to close with one of my favorite prayers.

We give thanks for places of silence and peace. May we find such places within ourselves.

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There is no one way to find God - Arizona Daily Star

Spiritually Speaking: Silver linings from a dark cloud of a year – Wicked Local Framingham

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Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

I did not err, there does a sable cloud,

Turn out her silver lining on the night

And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

- John Milton, 1634

We can all recite the litany of woes and ills visited upon us in this remarkable year of 2020. We recite it so often now, usually in disbelief, as in, How can so much bad happen in such a short period of time?

COVID-19 and a global pandemic. Shut down and lock down. Economic collapse. The death of George Floyd and the ensuing days and nights of rage and anger and heartbreak. A November election shaping up to be ugly and divisive and tribal and unprecedented.

And the year is only 190 days old or so! 2020 is barely half over. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Heres a first-class ticket on the Titanic! Or as the perpetually downhearted and pessimistic donkey Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh might conclude, Were doomed.

Or maybe not.

Maybe we might be able to actually glean some silver linings from that which has been a train wreck of a year so far. Maybe we might actually find some good among all the bad, some hope among all the pessimism, and some courage among all the fear.

I want to do that. I need to do this: to find hope.

To see hopeful places and movements and ideas and people amidst all the wreckage. I have to do this, to be an explorer for the positive in the midst of all the negative. My faith compels me: my belief in the basic goodness of human beings and my belief in a God who is constantly pushing Creation towards redemption and renewal and rebirth. Im not denying whats broken. Not imagining it never happened. No. But always, to look for the light where it is tempting to only see the shadows.

I can do that. We can do that.

And so, I am grateful that the pandemic has reminded me of one great truth: how much we humans really need one another: for care and mutual support and love and laughter. Since mid-March when I first shut the front door and stayed in, Ive actually connected more deeply and more consistently with those I love.

There was the surprise 85th Zoom birthday party for my Mom last month. Thirty-five folks from across the country showed up to wish her the happiest of birthdays. Who could have imagined that party last January? Or my weekly Zoom connections: with my choir friends on Wednesday evenings every single week, as we laugh and joke and check in. How are you? Or my weekly Zoom meeting with grad school friends, friends Ive loved for more than 30 years. We never gathered so frequently pre-COVID.

COVID has actually connected me more to others, not less. I hear the same from other folks about socially distanced beer and wine gatherings in a neighborhood driveway. Precious time with children now that youth sports are on hold. We actually eat dinner together every night now, they tell me. In the church I serve we actually have seen an increase in folks coming to worship and classes and fellowship who knew the virtual might sometimes trump the face to face?

Silver lining: staying connected, one to another.

And I am hopeful, that the rising up of millions of my fellow citizens in anger and frustration at the sin of racism, filling the streets, pushing for real change, seizing this singular moment to imagine and hope; that maybe this time America will have the courage to face itself in honesty. To begin to redress that most original of civic sins: dismissing the other because they are different than you.

Who could have imagined Black Lives Matter signs appearing on suburban lawns and church yards, or folks of all ages and religions and classes and races, so many people, taking a stand, taking a knee? Statues representing an oppressive and violent history toppling over? Corporations committing to more diversity of voices and employees. Mississippi finally taking the Confederate flag off its state flag?

I know this movement is still in its infancy, that it will be mighty hard to actually move beyond symbolic acts and protests to actually achieve real and lasting societal change a just society but hope for this I must. We must. It will take long and hard work to begin to undo 400 years of injustice but what if we have finally begun this journey as a country?

Silver lining: waking up to the truth of who America is while also dreaming of who she might become someday, one great day.

Give me hope. Show me a silver lining in the midst of the storm clouds. Enough with the bad. Look for the good. Its out there. We just need to look for it with eyes of faith.

Onward.

The Rev. John F. Hudson is senior pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn (pilgrimsherborn.org). If you have a word or idea youd like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org or in care of The Press (Dover-Sherborn@wickedlocal.com).

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It’s time to talk about spiritual wellbeing – ArtsHub

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Artists have a unique connection to spirituality though they are wary about talking about it, according to Dr Jackie Bailey.

Australians dont like the s word. We blush the second someone mentions spirit outside the context of a team, or soul other than as a descriptor of a particular genre of music. But if artists are to survive the current crisis, we need to swallow our secular pride and start talking about spiritual wellbeing.

Spiritual wellbeing is all about the stuff we, as artists, engage with every day. The term refers to a sense of meaning, purpose, connection and transcendence. As artists, so much of what we do is about connecting at a deep, spiritual level. We are knee deep in the business of making meaning.

If we are working at the level of souls (the other s word! No apologies!), then we must be mindful of our own spiritual wellbeing. To be spiritually well we need both the skills and the environment to nourish our sense of meaning and connection.

The skills of spiritual wellbeing

Good news! Three of the four skills of spiritual wellbeing are ones which artists have in spades: mindfulness, courage and reflection.

As we know, practicing mindfulness is about bringing ourselves to attend to the present moment. This allows artists to silence the inner critic and get to work. Mindfulness is also foundational to spiritual wellbeing because it re-connects us, however fleetingly, with the wonder of being alive.

Acknowledging the miracle of existence can just as easily lead to existential despair and despondency as it can to hope. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg wrote in his book The First Three Minutes that, It is hard to realise that this [Earth] is just a tiny part of an overwhelmingly hostile universe [] The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless. This is why courage is the second skill of spiritual wellbeing.

Deciding to live as though life is meaningful is not a given, but something which has to be constantly and wilfully re-chosen. Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and survivor of Auschwitz, built the branch of psychology known as logotherapy on his observations that the ability to live as though life is meaningful was the key differentiator, all other things being equal, between those who made it out of Auschwitz, and those who did not.

Courage is not an innate quality, but like mindfulness is something which can be cultivated. As artists, we are deft at practicing courage. Every time we tear up dozens of seemingly acceptable pages or sand down the canvas and start again, we are exercising the courage muscle.

Reflection, the third skill of spiritual wellbeing, is also one which artists excel at, integral as it is to a fertile artistic practice. We are adept at constantly interrogating our work hence the tearing up of pages and the sanding down of canvases. We pause and check in with ourselves and the work: is this piece telling the truth it needs to tell?

The fourth skill of spiritual wellbeing is one which we are good at facilitating for others, but not always fantastic at doing for ourselves: connecting. Our work is all about connecting ideas, people, thoughts, feelings, worlds. But sometimes in the process of doing our work, we disconnect from others and even the world around us.

We need to cultivate connection with people in our inner circle, as well as those we encounter in the business of daily life, and with the natural environment.

Practicing the skill of connection might involve a weekly phone call with a friend, going for a walk in nature, and chatting with the shop assistant at the local store.

Using the language of spiritual wellbeing

Even if you have mad skills in reflection, courage, connection and mindfulness, it can be difficult to maintain your spiritual wellbeing in a society which does not have a language to talk about spiritual wellbeing, and we are part of the problem.

We talk about widespread burnout in the arts. This is a productivity term which conceals the underlying, creeping dread that our society, our fellow humans, think that what we do is meaningless.

We talk about being exhausted from working on the smell of an oily rag, but what we dont mention is the loneliness, the isolation, the feeling that we have been cut off from the tribe we so lovingly and longingly helped to build.

We talk about the arts being under-valued, but what we dont say is how much it hurts to be told, over and over, that we do not matter.

We use these terms to be part of a political discourse which has become dominated by economic language over the last thirty-odd years. We compromise our value when we argue for it solely in the language of economics. We need to talk about the spiritual significance of what we do, as well as the spiritual toll that being consistently under-valued takes on our ability to do it.

This article is based on Jackies work-in-progress manuscript,Spirituality for Non-Religious People.

The Wellness and Recovery Resource is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

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Nallur Kovil: Spiritual beacon of the North – Ceylon Daily News

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The Northern Province is embellished with Hindu kovils. In the vast land of palmyrah trees, devotion to Hindu deities has dominated the lifestyle of the Tamil community for centuries. The most iconic landmark of Jaffna is the Nallur Kovil. It is perhaps the most visited kovil in the entire province. The month of August is synonymous with the famous festival that takes place in this kovil, often lasting for nearly two weeks. This year after the impact of Covid-19 on places of religious worship, the grandeur of this vibrant Hindu festival will be restricted as devotees cannot gather in their thousands. Yet, remembering the history and tradition of this magnificent kovil is a worthy narrative.

Five kovils

Ancient Ceylon once boasted of pancha ishwaram five kovils dedicated to Shiva along the coastal regions. Naguleswaram in the North, Ketheeswaram in the North West, Koneswaram towards the East, Munneswaram located on the West and Thondeswaram situated in the South. This bears testimony to the Hindu communities that once thrived here, before the invading Portuguese went on a rampage and destroyed these kovils.

The Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil is bestowed with sacred art and is an enduring icon of Tamil culture. For decades, this kovil has been a sanctum where devotees gathered in their thousands. Inside we see the depiction of Murugan, the god of war. Murugan is venerated as he makes manifestation in the form of the vel (chariot).

According to history, a kovil was built by Puvaneka Vaahu, a Chief Minister of Kalinga Magha. This is substantiated by the records of the Yalpana Vaipava Malai, a chronicle written in 1736 by the poet Mailvagana Pullavar. The ruler of Jaffna, Kalinga Magha supported the building of the kovil. The capital of Jaffna moved from Karanthodai, (Vallipuram) to Nallur and Pooneryn over the centuries. Years later, King Kanagasuriyan regained this area and administered the kovil. The prospering domain of Nallur was once the capital of Jaffnas rulers when the rajadhani was built with four gates, with a temple at each gate, to invoke divine blessings upon ancient Ceylon and all her citizens. The four kovils were Veyilukantha Pillayar Kovil in the East, Veeramakali Amman Kovil in the West, Kailaya Vinayagar Kovil in the South and Sattanathar Kovil facing the North.

A display of faith

The Hindu adherents of the Northern Province remained faithful and in 1734, work began with eagerness to restore the Nallur Kovil, which was being built for the fourth time, during the reign of the Dutch. The daunting task was accepted by Ragunatha Mudaliyar who worked at the kachcheri. The present land was commonly known as Kurukkal Valavu (Garden of the Priests). It is said that Krishna Aiyar became the first incumbent priest. The seventh custodian of the temple, Arumuga Mapaana Mudaliyar worked tirelessly to upgrade the kovil. He built the first bell tower in 1899. The fortified wall which demarcates the large kovil was built by him in 1909. Kumaradas Mudaliyar, the tenth custodian, is credited with restoring this kovil to its present position as the largest Hindu kovil in Sri Lanka.

I am a Christian but have visited Nallur Kovil on many occasions to understand the rich culture and tradition that it holds. The tranquil aura around the kovil is beautiful. I walked inside this amazing edifice, and saw four gopurams and six bell towers. By tradition, all males must remove their shirts before entering the Kovil.

The variegated designs on the ceiling are brilliant and Dravidian forms of architecture originating from South India are very much evident. Ancient temples were built with sandstone and granite. The Vastu Shastra describes in much detail about building temples with emphasis on spatial geometry. Every kovil has a garbhagriha (Sanskrit for womb) the innermost sanctum where the statue of the primary deity is venerated. The southern side has a pond and garden (poonthotam).

The temple has shrines for Lord Ganesh, Vairavar and Sooriyan. Kandaswamy Kovil incorporates the iconography of Hindu cosmology. The Vedas depict time in four epochs (yugam).The old Tamil word koyil (residence of god) is today used as kovil. Hindu temples have their boundary wall painted in red and white. There is a reason for this style of painting. It was explained to me by Professor Dharmaratnam. The white stripes indicate sattva guna (goodness and harmony) and red stripes indicate raja guna (passion and confusion). It is painted in this manner to remind the devotee that one must overcome life to be enlightened. As the Bhagavad Gita teaches us, Hell has three gates: lust, anger and greed.

Delightful festival

The Maha Raja Gopuram rises on the northern skyline. It is a commanding nine-storey tower adorned with many intricate statues. A gopuram is a monumental tower at the entrance to a kovil and is topped with a kalasam, a stone finial. The temple tower reaches to the sky seeking divine union. Sri Lankans of all religions know the splendour affiliated with the festival of the Nallur Kovil in August, when multitudes of devotees gather. I had to gently push past people to get a closer look. Some were immersed in forms of penance, enduring physical pain. This is a reflection of their personal belief.

The fragrance of jasmine flowers and burning incense permeated the air. The ceremony begins with the ancient ritual of kodiyetram (hoisting of the flag). The orange hue of the flag symbolizes the sun, which dispels darkness and the saffron shading depicts fire, which is an unblemished purifier. It was nice to see policemen and soldiers engaged in worship. The colourful festival laden with much pomp and tradition dominates the Northern peninsula for almost 25 days.

I saw a mlange of poojas pooja in Sanskrit means reverence and adoration. Commencing annually at 6.15 am, the flamboyant Ther thiruvila festival of the chariot is the highlight. Devotees venerate the simmasanam (silver throne) where the deity Shanmuhar and his consorts are placed. The silver throne was handcrafted in 1900 by the seventh custodian. A group of pious men are attired in saffron clothes, a colour that symbolizes renunciation. Joyous chants of aro-hara resonated around the kovil premises. According to Sathiyasuthan the phrase aro-hara originates from the words. A devotee explained that the phrase appeals to god to remove all evil.

The pulsating drum beats at the festival were almost deafening. The silver throne is reverently carried on the shoulders of hundreds of worshippers, amidst an oblation of flowers. The heavy ropes of the chariot were pulled with zeal. I felt lost within this ocean of devotees. The commitment of the devotees was awesome. This kovil draws all Sri Lankans together. It is a sanctum that generates reconciliation and acts as a cultural gateway for those who desire to understand Tamil culture. The Nallur Kovil festival will continue for decades to come, shining her spiritual beacon upon our nation.

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Nallur Kovil: Spiritual beacon of the North - Ceylon Daily News

Out in Faith NL welcomes people of all faiths and sexual orientation – The Telegram

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ST. JOHN'S, N.L.

There are no prayers recitals, no reading of sacred scriptures, no religious customs to follow and no formalized worship practices inside a church.

For those who participate in Out in Faith NL, their faith is in each other and their celebrations, held in public spaces, are as spiritually uplifting as any other large religious denominational assembly.

Out in Faith NLs multi-faith services are designed to facilitate more faith-based groups getting involved in Pride. With members of other faith-based groups, the group promotes inclusion and fosters a welcoming and comfortable space for those of different faiths and sexual orientations.

We want people to feel like this is a place where they can come and tell their story and all stories are welcome, said Liz Ohle, a member of the groups planning committee.

A member of the Quaker Worship Group, Ohle played a key role in forming the group in 2015 after noticing no other spiritual groups besides theirs participated in the Pride parade.

She contacted people of many faiths and got a positive response.

It was so well received, they were over capacity at their first location, the chapel at Memorial University, with 75 people showing up in early 2016. With interest growing, the services moved to The Gathering Place and eventually to the large gathering room at The Lantern.

The service features speakers discussing issues of faith and the LGBTQAI2S+ community. There are also songs from the Spectrum Queer Choir.

We do the best we can to look at all the different aspects of spirituality, of faith and what brings meanings to our lives, Ohle said. As humans, we seek meaning in our lives. That to me is spiritual.

Father Paul Lundrigan, a Roman Catholic priest, has been involved with the Out in Faith NL group for four years. He said its all about loving one another, no matter what your personal beliefs may be about sexuality.

While we may not share the faith, we may not share the understanding of sexuality and gender identity, we do share a common love for people, said Lundrigan, who added he is blessed to have gotten to know the committee and people in the group.

We support people who are trying to be the best people they can be, people who are seeking goodness and love and understanding and coming together to help other humans and all of creation.

In that sense, I thought it was essential that weve come to this point. I want to be a part of this wonderful way of showing pastoral care, ministry and love to all people, especially people of the LGBTQAI2S+ community.

The fifth annual Out in Faith service is scheduled to be held Thursday during Pride Week. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration will be online, starting at 7 p.m. The link for the celebration will be available on the Out in Faith NL Facebook page and can be seen on YouTube.

This year, participants are asked to show the group something that represents their spirituality, from photos and artwork to poems and songs.

rosie.mullaley@thetelegram.com

@TelyRosie

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Out in Faith NL welcomes people of all faiths and sexual orientation - The Telegram

Mount Carmel Society Feast Procession and Family Barbecue Goes On With COVID-19 Adjustments – TAPinto.net

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BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ -The Mount Carmel Society Feast will look a little different this year, but the procession will go on at 8 a.m. this Thursday, July 16 starting at Mount Carmel Society located at 56 River Road in Berkeley Heights.

The Mount Carmel Society will continue the traditional feast and procession this year, with some adjustments to traditions in line with safety requirements put in place by Governor Murphy due to COVID-19. The annual, traditional Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (the Parade) will begin at 8 a.m. at Mt. Carmel Society (56 River Road, Berkeley Heights) outside in the front of the building, traveling its usual route through town. Please note the change in the starting location due to the construction at Little Flower Church.

"The traditional morning bombs (which are in fact just fireworks) will still happen at the start of the parade to honor our blessed mother, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel," said Mount Carmel Society President Joe Franchino. After those traditional initial fireworks (bombs), as is tradition, they will continue throughout the parade route as the Mt. Carmel Society recognizes and salutes current and past members, those no longer with us, as well as in recognition of those impacted by the coronavirus.

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After the procession, at 11a.m., a mass will be held outside at the Mount Carmel Society, in the back of the building.There will be chairs available for those in need. It will be a shortened ceremony as it will be outside and most people will be standing. Parking will be available in the front and in the rear of Mount Carmel Society.

Later that evening, the Mount Carmel society will host an evening celebration from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. featuring live music with the fan-favorite local band Missing Pieces, and a BBQ for members and guests.Local businesses and town residents are invited as long as the total attendance remains within allowable attendance limits. All attendees are asked to maintain safe social distancing (6 feet apart) or to wear masks where that is not possible along the procession route and at the evening festivities.

"Unfortunately, the famous and traditional nighttime fireworks show will be postponed this year," said Franchino. "The Mount Carmel Society hopes that the famous Feast and all the traditional fireworks displays will be scheduled safely at a future date. The Mount Carmel Society will let everyone know if and when that is possible. Thank you for your support!"

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Mount Carmel Society Feast Procession and Family Barbecue Goes On With COVID-19 Adjustments - TAPinto.net

The Breathtaking Image of God | Messy Spirituality-Finding God in Unexpected Places – Patheos

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Most of us are familiar with the concept that we were created in the image of God, but what exactly does that mean? Do we physically resemble the Divine? Does God have fingers, toes, and a belly button? Probably not.

In his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Trappist Monk Thomas Merton famously wrote,

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world. . . .

This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . . I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in Gods eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. . . . But this cannot be seen, only believed and understood by a peculiar gift.

Is it possible that Thomas Merton had some rare insight into what it might look like-with eyes of the Spirit-to be an image bearer of God? Is it possible that every single one of us is radiating with the presence and glory of God at all times? I think he was onto something.

I believe that what Merton had eyes to see-at least in that moment-was humanitys true self. Just imagine how our lives would change if we could see ourselves the way that God sees us-beautiful, free, significant, whole, and healed. What would that do for our insecurities? How would that change the way we interact with others?

We carry our personal pain and trauma deep within and it manifests in a hundred different ways. Personally, I am often impatient, demanding, jealous, and resentful when living out of my pain. Obviously, this negatively impacts each of my relationships and creates stress and insecurity where there should be peace and freedom.

In this second half of life, I am finding that the more I intentionally center my thoughts and self around who I really am-an image bearer of God-the more freedom I experience from the imposter that I often pretend to be. Im grateful for those rare moments of clarity in which I see myself and those around me for who we really are-the beloved of God.

Im finding this meditation helpful in this season. Perhaps it will be of use to you as well.

I have the DNA of the Divine.Love is the fiber of my being.I have come from love, live in love, and will one day return to love.I radiate the love and presence of God.I am free from every weight of concern and hindrance to the purposes of love.I have eyes to see everyone I encounter today as a beloved child of God.I will celebrate the breathtaking image of the Divine in everyone I meet today.

May you have eyes to see the breathtaking beauty of you today.

Have you ever seen humanity as Thomas Merton described above?

Have you noticed any specific distractions that keep you from living out of your belovedness?

What practices have you found helpful in keeping you centered?

Id love to hear from you in the comments.

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Author’s ideas on meeting God offer welcome antidote to isolation – CatholicPhilly.com

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This is the book cover of Heartstorming: Creating a Place God Can Call Home by Robert J. Wicks. The book is reviewed by Kathleen Finley. (CNS)

By Kathleen Finley Catholic News Service Posted July 13, 2020

Heartstorming: Creating a Place God Can Call Home by Robert J. Wicks. Paulist Press (Mahwah, New Jersey, 2020). 158 pp., $21.95.

In these unsettling days, the prospect of talking with a gentle, listening friend about our relationship with God may sound appealing indeed. Thats what Robert Wicks, author, speaker and psychologist, provides here for the reader. His introduction sets the tone: Come Sit By Me: An Invitation to Prayerfully Experience Living with More Meaning, Inner Peace and Joy.

He describes his goal as to enhance the spiritual life so our approach to meeting God can become more powerfully incarnational, experiential and relevant. Heartstorming, as a process or attitude, is designed to help us move more deeply into the present with God in all of our life, in every encounter.

He suggests that to do this task well we need both clarity and kindness, which he goes on to embody throughout the book.

Although it was written well before the pandemic and its forced isolation, there is much in this book that can be helpful these days.

For example: Sadness, disappointments, rejections and other gray times in our day and life need to be brought to prayer and quiet reflection. In doing this, the themes can be taken to heart, pondered on a walk or shared in a discussion with an old friend. On another level, they will also prompt us when guiding others to encourage them to be more sensitive to the question of where sadness might be leading them in their lives as well.

Wicks suggests that our emotions, instead of getting in the way of prayer, may help us tune in more effectively to God. In seeking to appreciate the presence of God through an awareness of our emotions, none should be ignored. Both the positive and what we would term negative emotions are portals to experiencing both what God is trying to teach us and ways of intimacy that can only be touched through appreciating those feelings. Emotions serve as hints to look further to see how God may be sitting with us.

After a couple of general sections in the book, Wicks presents 45 examples of what he calls field notes, each a couple of pages of reflection on the ways he has noticed God at work in his life lately. An example is the inevitable feeling that we all have at times of loneliness, feeling a bit left out of the action.

He suggests: In each instance it is actually the beginning of a transforming experience. It awakens you to the sense of your own uniqueness in the eyes of God. Only God will ever really, completely get you. You remember at that moment of loneliness and separation that you are not really, totally alone or on your own. You feel at the core of your existence that your name is written in the palm of his hand.

You recall the messages from Johns Gospel: I wont leave you orphaned; I will come back for you. You are my friend. You are not really alone, he continues. Its a shame that periods of loneliness are often not unwrapped for what they can be: a chance to go spiritually deeper and to be a gentler, understanding presence to others when they are having a tough time in their own journey because of experience of feeling apart.

His final section invites the reader to make his or her own field notes and offers some ideas of how to begin. This book is especially helpful and geared toward those who are in a helping position, whether officially or just by who they are in their lives, although almost anyone could benefit from this warm, supportive conversation.

***

Finley is the author of several books on practical spirituality, including Savoring God: Praying With All Our Senses, Building a Christian Marriage: Eleven Essential Skills and The Liturgy of Motherhood: Moments of Grace, and previously taught in the religious studies department at Gonzaga University.

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Top International Fashion News of the Week | 12.07.20 – The Trend Spotter

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Digital Couture Fashion Week debuted online, and Lady Gaga is the new face for Valentino. Find these stories and more as we uncover the top international fashion news of the week.

Couture Fashion Week has begun online. The two-day event featured a wide range of designers, including Chanel, Viktor & Rolf, and Balmain. The latters Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, used TikTok to showcase the collection along the River Seine although technical issues prevented the full stream. Chanel found inspiration from the late Karl Lagerfeld and his party days from the 80s.

Viktor & Rolf shot a video, titled Change, and showcased three different mindsets. Maison Valentino plans to showcase its Couture collection via a live-streamed performance at Cinecitta Studios in Rome on July 21st. As a teaser before the show, the designer debuted a mini film, directed by fashion photographer, Nick Knight. Christian Dior presented an ethereal-esque film, Le Mythe Dior, directed by Matteo Garrone.

Louis Vuitton is no longer sticking to the regularly scheduled program for menswear, and switching to a seasonless model. In a recent announcement, Virgil Abloh explained that the label would showcase a physical show in Shanghai on August 6th, with Tokyo set to follow.

Were getting rid of the straitjacket the industry has been operating under, Abloh said. This seasonless approach has become more popular amongst large fashion houses, including Gucci, who made the same move in May. This is a new system for the designer, who wants to remove the brand from the status quo.

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the past 4 months of doing perceivably doing nothing gave me a lot of time to think. or Off-White are the concept cars. its the pinnicale place to place my most forward ideas. the film released yesterday is a fashion week offering is a prequel of things to come. its a messages at surface level but its the nuance that foreshadows the future which is the most important part. it describes my start at the house with my motley crew of characters that make up my team. starting from the literal home of Mr. Louis Vuitton where the film starts to my home office on Pont Neuf, then eventually elsewhere. all seasons ive done at LV now collapse in to one, one-long-season, a continual story. the newest isnt necessarily the most valuable just because its new. it also allows the narrative between seasons to be the foundation, not just the event of another fashion show. as the creative head of my studio this film features esteemed black talent. Sa-Ra, REGGIE KNOW, Kamasi Washington, Black Anime and Ibrahim Karma each amplify my vision and showcase the creative impact diversity can have in all industries. that WWD article lays out the vision in detail, but in short ive crafted a new system that abides by my whole new logic about fashion, fashion shows etc. that article spells it out further. on that note Stay there, well come to you film titled Message in a Bottle directed by @virgilabloh c/o @louisvuitton illustrations REGGIKNOW @fashionfigureinc animation BLACK ANIME @BLACKANIMEX music SA-RA @SaRaCreativePartnersinfo @TazArnold @ShafiqHusayn @OmmasKeith @KamasiWashington @ThunderCatmusic @TerranceMartin music director @_BenjiB production @PlayLabInc & @Beg00dStudios

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Tommy Hilfiger is launching a new platform, The Peoples Place. This new initiative aims to advance the representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) within the fashion industry. What is happening to Black communities in the U.S. and around the world has no place in our society, said Hilfiger. The first part of the platform includes a minimum commitment of $5 million per year for funding over the next three years.

The fact that it has continued to exist in our industry is unacceptable. We are far behind where we should be in achieving diverse representation. It shouldnt have taken us this long to acknowledge that, but we are determined and committed to changing it going forward. We will be intentional, fearless, and unwavering in the actions we take. Through the Peoples Place Program, we will use our platform to create opportunities and stand up for what is right, Hilfiger explained.

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Today we are launching the Peoples Place Program, which will seek to advance the representation of black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) within the fashion and creative industries. Centering around Partnerships, Career Access and Industry Leadership, an initial minimum commitment of $5 million in annual funding will be made for the next three years. What is happening to Black communities in the US and around the world has no place in our society. The fact that it has continued to exist in our industry overtly and systemically is unacceptable. We are far behind where we should be in achieving diverse representation. It shouldnt have taken us this long to acknowledge that, but we are determined and committed to changing it going forward. We will be intentional, fearless and unwavering in the actions we take. Through the Peoples Place Program, we will use our platform to create opportunities and stand up for what is right. @thomasjhilfiger The program takes its name from Tommy Hilfigers first store which opened in 1969 in his hometown of Elmira, New York. At only 18 years old, Tommy created the Peoples Place as a dedicated space for people from all walks of life to come together to enjoy art, music, fashion and pop culture. Shaped by the cultural revolution of the 1960s, the original store fostered an exchange of ideas, encouraged authentic self-expression and challenged social norms. It is in this spirit that the new Peoples Place Program has been founded and will continue to expand. The program journey starts now, and we will keep you updated as this program evolves. Photo: Larry Stemerman, Peoples Place partner and co-founder, circa 1970

A post shared by Tommy Hilfiger (@tommyhilfiger) on Jul 9, 2020 at 12:00am PDT

Stella McCartney is launching a digital music festival called Stellafest. The event aims to raise money to end violence against women. The musical showcase features artists including Chloe x Halle, Kelis, and Soko.

Artists from our community have come together to create a festival that is truly global using technology and social media to bring the mosh pit onto your mobile, said McCartney. While I was sad not to see Dad and all the other great performers at Glastonbury this year, we have put together an incredible lineup and are raising our voices to end violence against women, a cause more urgent now than ever.

Lady Gaga is the new face for Maison Valentinos perfume. The fragrance is called Voce Viva and is a genderless scent that is meant to celebrate everyones unique voice, style, and self. Lady Gaga means freedom, self-consciousness, pure heart, said Pierpaolo Piccioli, the Creative Director of Maison Valentino. Her participation in this campaign elevates the symbolic power of the project to the highest level. The new fragrance will debut in September.

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Why No NSA Was Never Invoked Against A Gangster "Vikas Dubey" In UP Where Police And Yogi Sarkar Are Famous For Arresting People And…

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On April 3, 2020, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invoked the National Security Law (NSA) against six Tablighi Jamaat people for allegedly misbehaving with MMG District Hospital staff.

Yogi Adityanath said in one of his statements that the defendants did not obey the law and declared them the enemy of humanity.

If Yogi Sarkar invoked the NSA against 6 Tablighi Jamaat members for misbehaving in the hospital, then why was the NSA never invoked against gangster Vikas Dubey despite having 60 pending cases on his name?

On July 2, eight police officers were murdered after Vikas and his men allegedly began firing on the police force who went to his village to arrest him.

What is NSA?

NSA is the National Security Act, which is a strict law that allows for preventive detention for months if the authorities are convinced that a person is a threat to national security or to law and order.

In popular phraseology, the NSA is known as a law in which there is no appeal, no daleel, no vakil, ( no appeal, no argument, no lawyer). The Law, whose stated purpose is to provide preventive detention in certain cases and for matters related to this, entered into force on September 23, 1980.

Central and state governments are empowered to detain a person to prevent them from acting in a manner detrimental to Indias security, Indias relations with foreign countries, the maintenance of law and order, or the maintenance of essential supplies and services to the community.

The maximum period of detention is 12 months. The order may also be made by the district magistrate or a police commissioner under their respective jurisdictions, but the arrest must be reported to the state government along with the reasons for the order.

In other words, according to this Act, a person can be detained for up to 10 days without being informed of the reasons for the arrest. The government may withhold information supporting the detention in public interest.

A detained person is not allowed to question his accusers or the evidence supporting his detention. He will also not allowed an attorney in this period. A three-person advisory board made up of high court judges or persons qualified to be superior court judges determines the legitimacy of any order issued for more than three months. If approved, a person can be held extrajudicially for up to 12 months.

Successive governments have made free use of the NSA and at any time, Uttar Pradesh is generally among the top five states in terms of the numbers arrested under it.

The Uttar Pradesh Government, headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has ordered strict action under the powerful National Security Act (NSA) against those who attack police personnel anywhere in the state.

The decision comes after incidents in which police personnel is thwarted by people who were violating guidelines issued amid the 21-day coronavirus lockdown.

The police perform their duties by restricting peoples access to the restricted area in the lockdown. There have been some incidents in the state, in which the police were attacked. In order to deter these people, it was decided to invoke the National Security Agency to these people, a senior official from the Ministry of the Home said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also took the flogging action andordered invoked by the National Security Agency (NSA) against the perpetrators who arson to the Dalit houses in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

The incident where a dozen Dalit houses were burned down by a crowd. This started with a small problem between groups belonging to youth from two communities. It became a huge controversy and a fight between the Jaunpur villagers and a group set fire to the 12 Dalit houses.

CM Yogi Adityanath took note of this incident and orderedstrict action against those responsible for this. Invocation of NSA and gangster act against all accused, he said.

Wangkhems other case: On November 20, 2018, two years ago, Wangkhem was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly uploading videos on Facebook critical of Chief Minister Biren Singh. The videos described Singh as a Modi puppet to celebrate the anniversary of Rani Laxmibais birth. He was released six days later, only to be sent to prison under the NSA a day later.

He stated: The government must know that it cannot misuse its power and violate the basic principles of the Constitution.

Criticism is salubrious for democracy; it is needed for national development. So, the government should have the tolerance to listen to criticism and analyze its mistakes. I will continue to express my personal opinions dauntlessly on social media platforms.

In such cases, we can clearly understand that the government invokes NSA and police can file FIR against anyone, but no one ever registered FIR or invoked NSA against gangsters like Vikas Dubey.

In the 2020 year,the NSA has been invoked in 120 cases of which 63 were related to cow slaughter, 3 crimes against women, and 13 other heinous crimes, said Awanish Awasthi, additional chief secretary cum principal secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

If Yogi Sarkar took significant steps in all serious matters, then why did Yogi Sarkar never take any action against Vikas Dubey, who committed many crimes?

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Latin America & The Caribbean – Weekly Situation Update (29 June-5 July 2020) As of 6 July 2020 – Brazil – ReliefWeb

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KEY FIGURES

2.8M CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN AS OF 5 JULY

COLLAPSING TOURISM THREATENING REGIONAL ECONOMIES

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reports that Latin America and the Caribbean, home to many tourism-dependent economies, will suffer an unprecedented economic shock due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on tourism. Tourism in the Caribbean accounts for 50 to 90 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment in some countries, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

While Central and South America are comparatively less reliant on tourism, some countries will also feel the downturn - from 2014 to 2018, tourism accounted for an average of 16 per cent of economic output and employment in Mexico and 10 per cent of GDP and employment in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

IDB predicts that the drop in tourism in the region due to the pandemic could be from 40 to 70 per cent.

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Latin America & The Caribbean - Weekly Situation Update (29 June-5 July 2020) As of 6 July 2020 - Brazil - ReliefWeb

No, nobody knows if the cruise you have booked will actually sail – Royal Caribbean Blog

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The one question readers are asking is if their upcoming cruise in 2020 or 2021 will sail, and the simple answer is no one knows.

While Royal Caribbean currently plans toresume operations on September 16th, 2020, the cruise line has pushed back its date cruises will restart a number of times, which leaves many wondering if their cruise they have booked will happen.

While the "TL;DR" answer is "no one knows", here is a look at why no one knows and what we should be looking for to get a better idea of when cruises might restart.

So many people with cruises booked that have not been cancelled yet want to know what are the chances their cruise will happen.

The most commonly asked question I have seen in the last few months is what are the odds a sailing will be able to go, but unfortunately no one knows because there is not enough information available and too many variables to make such a prediction.

Since Royal Caribbean started its global suspension of cruises in March, the cruise line has taken a "wait and see" approach to cruises resuming. They have periodically cancelled about a month worth of cruises at a time, and evaluate the ever-changing situation to determine if more cruises need to be cancelled.

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & ServiceVicki Freed said recently with the current climate,"things can change rather quickly," and that, "we all have to take it day by day."

At this point, there is not nearly enough information available to have insight into what Royal Caribbean (or any cruise line) is looking for in order to resume sailings.

While it stands to reason the further out your cruise is, the more time you have for the global health situation to improve, it is impossible to quantify or wager a guess as to which sailings may or may not occur.

Simply put, no one knows when exactly cruises will be able to resume sailings because the public does not have a list of milestones for Royal Caribbean to reach to start up again.

This much is clear: in order for cruises to resume, some obvious tasks need to be completed.

This is not the complete list of what Royal Caribbean (or any cruise line) must do, but they are some of the critical steps.

The first step to starting up again is to come up with a plan of action to keep crew and guests safe, and Royal Caribbean announced this step is underway.

Announced last week, theHealthy Sail Panel is a group of public health experts that will create a list of recommendations that will include things like enhanced embarkation screening, temperature screenings at the pier, testing options for guests and crew.

The panel's initial findings are expected by late August, and further work and refinement to come in the months after.

Once Royal Caribbean receives the recommendations, they will incorporate them into a new set of policies for the cruise line.

After Royal Caribbean crafts its new policy, it will need to submit them to theUnited States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for approval.

Currently, cruise lines are under a 100-day No Sail Order that extends through the end of July, although that could be extended.

Government restrictions and warnings have been chiefly responsible for the decision of all cruise lines to suspend operations and subsequently remain idle. Until the CDC signs off, cruising seems unlikely.

Even if cruises were allowed to resume immediately, many foreign ports of call remain closed to cruise traffic and/or Americans.

Royal Caribbean's ships must make at least one stop in a foreign port to satisfy thePassenger Vessel Services Act, which requires foreign flagged vessels to stop outside the United States. Essentially, it means Royal Caribbean cannot offer "cruises to nowhere".

While some Caribbean and European ports are beginning to open their borders again, cruise lines need much greater access to start back up again.

It may seem like the elephant in the room to not talk about, but the pandemic status likely needs to no longer be a major health crisis.

It is debatable to what extent the situation needs to improve, but the cruise industry is looking for the risks associated with operating to be substantially less.

Part of this will be achieved via the Health Sail Panel's recommendations, but a reduction in cases around the world would help ease concerns across the board.

When do you think cruises will resume? Share your best guessin the comments!

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No, nobody knows if the cruise you have booked will actually sail - Royal Caribbean Blog

Seven Lions Releases Find Another Way EP Remix Package – EDM Sauce

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Recently, melodic electronic music maker Seven Lions released a remix package to his latest EP Find Another Way. The exciting new masterpiece consists of 10 incredible renditions of his latest tracks by some insanely talented artists, including those on the Ophelia Record Label.

The remix package features recreations by music makers such as MitiS, Awakend, Delta Heavy, and more. Gabriel & Dresden also join in on the fun and bring some of their Trance/House vibes to Seven Lions' What's Done is Done. Australian DJ Blanke, on the other hand, creates a soft to powerful dubstep rendition to Another Way that is sure to be a favorite. Ultimately, dance music artist Nurko, remixes Senseless, completely blowing listeners away. The original track is a touching track that you can, at most, sway or bob your head to while hearing it. However, Nurko completely reimagines it and makes it into something entirely different from the original. Creating powerful emotions among all those who listen, no one will be able to resist putting this specific remix on replay; it is truly one of the best on the remix EP.

Check out the remix package below and let us know which one is your favorite.

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Seven Lions Releases Find Another Way EP Remix Package - EDM Sauce

HHY & the Macumbas soundtrack the bonfire at the end of the world – Chicago Reader

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No sensible person can argue against the proposition that America is crying out for a cleansing ritual fire. The only grounds for disagreement that I can see concern which oppressive institutions should be fed to the flames first. As it happens, I've recently discovered a wonderful soundtrack for torching prisons of all kinds.

HHY & the Macumbas make just that kind of liberatory music. This Portuguese group have existed in one form or another since 2008, but I learned about them only last month, when Kampala label Nyege Nyege Tapes released Camouflage Vector: Edits From Live Actions 2017-2019 on June 3 (I bought it as part of my July "Bandcamp day" binge). If you know that Nyege Nyege Tapes has also put out two EPs by brilliant drums-and-synths troupe Nihiloxica, whose membership is split between Uganda and the UK, then I'm going to flatter myself and take credit because I mentioned it in these pages nine months ago.

Based in the city of Porto and arising from its multifarious arts collective SOOPA, HHY & the Macumbas have no fixed membership. Nine people are credited on the cover of Camouflage Vector, but I'm only sure that one of them has been involved from the start: bandleader Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, the artist, musician, and composer who founded SOOPA in 1999. His other projects have included Oxidation Machine, a 40-hour immersive noise-and-light installation, and the stage piece Shark: The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, a mock execution of "bodies" created by bundling trash into human shapes.

Some parts of Camouflage Vector were recorded in a club in Barcelos, others inside a huge oil tank on Tenerife in the Canary Islands; two tracks include live contributions from UK dub producer Adrian Sherwood. These aren't songs so much as they are evocationsand what they evoke is a subterranean place, full of smoke and infernal red light but bustling with all types and colors of life. It's the chaotic, left-hand obverse of the daylight world and its sterile, gleaming white-collar rationalizations for exploitation, racism, genocide, and environmental apocalypse.

Frenzied, mutating cycles of hand drums and trap set tangle in a dense polyrhythmic weave beneath sinister smears and screams of brass, while synths buzz and pulse and a kick drum throbs like your heartbeat when you can feel it in your eyes. Everything is bathed in "skull cave echo," as Saldanha puts it. "It comes with a love for trance, otherness, and sound pressure," he explains.

I especially love the dislocating effect of the music's multiple simultaneous metabolic rates. The layers of percussion sometimes phase with one another or slip in and out of sync; the horns move with stately, almost funereal deliberation while everything else boils with deranged fury. All we need now is the biggest bonfire since the Big Bang, so we can all dance around it.v

The Listener is a weekly sampling of music Reader staffers love. Absolutely anything goes, and you can reach us at thelistener@chicagoreader.com.

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HHY & the Macumbas soundtrack the bonfire at the end of the world - Chicago Reader

Once Upon A Time In Iraq: The terrible human tragedies that resulted from the toppling of Saddam – Evening Standard

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Hindsight can be a wonderful thing. Especially when a team of documentary makers as intelligent as this is able to put together fascinating archive footage with new material, to tell the tragic human story of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath in an original and compelling way.

Director James Bluemel was inspired to make the five-part series after visiting Iraq in 2016, where he had gone to document the refugee crisis, a project that resulted in the BBC2 series, Exodus.

He realised that the human stories he was hearing were the result, directly or indirectly, of the US decision to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power, a decision that changed the world forever.

The archive material from boxes of unseen tapes stored in a barn in Wales are brought vividly to life by recent interviews conducted with civilians, journalists and soldiers (not a politician in sight), who were in Iraq at the time and can look back and reflect on what it was like for them then, and what it means to them now.

Um Qusay is one of the civilians whose story features in the documentary (BBC/Keo Films/Gus Palmer)

In episode one, we see Waleed Naysif nervously lighting a cigarette as he describes his aspirations in 2003 when he was 18, as George Bush is shown on television announcing imminent US military action. I was infatuated by the West. I wanted the blue jeans, I wanted the headphones I learned English from movies and songs, Waleed sighs.

For Ahmed Al Bashir, now a famous Iraqi comedian, it was all about trying to look like one of the Backstreet Boys. I was always asking myself why I wasnt born in the Western world.

Aimee Lou Wood as Aimee Gibbs and Emma Mackey as Maeve Wiley

Netflix

They're back: Doctor Who will return on Wednesday 1 January

BBC / BBC Studios

The Masked Singer

ITV

Love Island

ITV

RuPaul's Drag Race UK

BBC /Leigh Keily

After Life

Netflix

The Circle

Studio Lambert

White House Farm

ITV

Deadwater Fell

Mark Mainz

Star Trek: Picard

CBS

Belgravia

Carnival Films

Aimee Lou Wood as Aimee Gibbs and Emma Mackey as Maeve Wiley

Netflix

They're back: Doctor Who will return on Wednesday 1 January

BBC / BBC Studios

The Masked Singer

ITV

Love Island

ITV

RuPaul's Drag Race UK

BBC /Leigh Keily

After Life

Netflix

The Circle

Studio Lambert

White House Farm

ITV

Deadwater Fell

Mark Mainz

Star Trek: Picard

CBS

Belgravia

Carnival Films

Um Qusay, a farmers wife who grew up in Al Alam, a village supposedly loyal to Saddam, describes how some people who tried to assassinate him were killed. As she speaks, we see shaky footage of a soldier leading a blindfolded man with bound wrists to sit on a rock, which is then detonated. He used fear to oppress people.

By contrast, Issam Al Rawi, sporting a ginormous handlebar moustache, and calling himself one of the presidents advisors, remembers trying to emulate the man he considered to have charm and charisma that was a gift from God. Cut to an interview with the extraordinary Sergeant Rudy Reays, who swigs from a bottle of tequila, as he flexes bulging tattooed biceps, and recounts what it was like in the elite reconnaissance marines.

No sleep for three weeks, no armour... just very capable, violent professionals, he says, speaking as if in a trance. And if you wanted to say yes to an order, he says, you had to shout kill at the top of your voice.

The most poignant message of this balanced, empathetic documentary, which also comes out this week as a TV tie-in book, is how the dreams of so many ordinary Iraqis who dared to hope that toppling Saddam might result in them having better lives, were so quickly dashed, and how what came next was even worse.

Once Upon a Time in Iraq airs on BBC2, tonight at 9pm

Originally posted here:

Once Upon A Time In Iraq: The terrible human tragedies that resulted from the toppling of Saddam - Evening Standard

Global Electronic Music Market by Types, Key-Functions, Application, Technology, High Trends, Solution, Industry Share and Business Outlook 2020 to…

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Global Electronic Music market uses a detailed and a comprehensive method for the analysis and determination of the factors which are likely to have an impact on the growth of the Electronic Music market in the estimated forecast period. Deep insights about the Electronic Music market are offered by the global Electronic Music market report, as it covers all the vital aspects of the market. Furthermore, the report also providers its users with the past statistics in a deep manner with the help of charts, graphs and pie charts.

This study covers following key players:Spinnin RecordsMad DecentUltra MusicArmada MusicOWSLAMonstercatMinistry of SoundRevealed RecordingsDim MakDefected

Request a sample of this report @ https://www.orbismarketreports.com/sample-request/83241?utm_source=Ancy

It provides future forecast for a forecast period in order to provide deep understanding about the future conditions. The Global Electronic Music research report focuses on some of the vital aspects of the market such as revenue rate, market share, key regions, production as well as key players. This Electronic Music report also provides the readers with detailed figures at which the Electronic Music market was valued in the historical year and its expected growth in upcoming years. Besides, analysis also forecasts the CAGR at which the Electronic Music is expected to mount and major factors driving markets growth. All the latest technological innovations, industry trends and market data are provided in the Global Electronic Music report for the forecast period.

Access Complete Report @ https://www.orbismarketreports.com/global-electronic-music-market-growth-analysis-by-trends-and-forecast-2019-2025?utm_source=Ancy

Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Trance MusicTrapGlitch HopChillout MusicOther

Market segment by Application, split into ClubsDJs & Live ActsOther

There are different marketing strategies that every marketer looks up to in order to ace the competition in the Global market. Production, market share, revenue rate, key regions and major vendors are some of the vital aspects analyzed in the report. The report also offers viewpoint towards the demand and supply chain and competition. This report on Electronic Music has been made in order to provide deep and simplified understanding of the market to its end users. The report covers various types of technologies that are being used in the global Electronic Music market.

Some Major TOC Points:1 Report Overview2 Global Growth Trends3 Market Share by Key Players4 Breakdown Data by Type and ApplicationContinued

In addition, the report include deep dive analysis of the market, which is one of the most important features of the market.Furthermore, the need for making an impact is likely to boost the demand for the experts which are working in the market. Moreover, an in depth analysis of the competitors is also done to have an estimate for the market.It consists of the detailed study of current market trends along with the past statistics. The past years are considered as reference to get the predicted data for the forecasted period.

For Enquiry before buying report @ https://www.orbismarketreports.com/enquiry-before-buying/83241?utm_source=Ancy

According to the regional analysis of the global Electronic Music market, some of the regions that are highlighted are South America, Middle East Africa, North America, Europe and Asia Pacific

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Global Electronic Music Market by Types, Key-Functions, Application, Technology, High Trends, Solution, Industry Share and Business Outlook 2020 to...

The RADAR 127: Mixed by Matt Fax – Dancing Astronaut

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by: Josh HymoJul 13, 2020

Matt Fax is on the front lines of progressive house music with the release his second studio album, Progressions. Released in April via Colorize, a sub-label of the Tritonal-led imprint, Enhanced Music, the 17-track project encapsulates refined bass, melodic soundscapes, and ambient leads alike. The LP arrived on the heels of Faxs provision of support for Jason Rosss 2019 United States tour and his headlining endeavors for global events such as ASOT 900 in the Netherlands.

Now, the French prodigy joins Dancing Astronaut for an exclusive RADAR mix, which will take listeners on a euphoric journey punctuated by the sounds of his latest extended body of work. Kicking off with smooth bass from Progressions Abenaki, Faxs mix includes some of the LPs standout tracks, including a collaboration with trance legend, BT. Fax also weaves in the Space Motion remix of BTs 1997 classic, Remember.

Check out Dancing Astronauts interview with Matt Fax, where he breaks down the ins and outs of the project.

Featured image: First Light Media

Tags: BT, Enhanced Music, jason ross, Matt Fax, radar, radar mix, Tritonal

Categories: Features, Music

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The RADAR 127: Mixed by Matt Fax - Dancing Astronaut