RevBogovac

There are not a lot of places where you can say this out loud... 😁 But... being an Orthodox Christian Atheist I can - wholeheartedly- say: YES, christian scriptures are perceived by Orthodox Christians as Antisemitic (and openly practiced as such).

I guess you’re right Jonathan, but there are some facts in there too... so maybe we can split it up a bit... What online resource is a good factual place to start research regarding the physical world from a Pagan perspective? Any online gathering of Pagans going on that could be a good place to start for me to look at?

As I said... It's more of a: I want to learn more about Paganism but the interwebs is so full of "information" some direction would be nice - kind of question. She gets all the help she (and we) can handle at the moment, but I - as her parent - want to know more about this (Paganism/binding with nature) so I can help/direct her better in the future (what options are there et cetera).

Thanks guys. At the moment she’s 11 y/o so still in (special care) “grade school”. She goes one afternoon/week to a special care farm where she learns to care for the animals (the only kid I know that gets into a car with a big smile explaining how she shoveled **...). But I am also looking for more in depth information. Both physical (herbs for my instance) and spiritual (especially getting in touch with likeminded people)...

Welcome back! First of all, my apologies for my English. It,s my third language, so here I go: my oldest daughter i has multiple handicaps/disabilities. She’s born with a deletion of part of her 11th chromosome which lead to all kind of disabilities. Without boring you (all) with everything she can not do, I’m more interested in what she can. Actually in what she is good at. She is extremely in touch with nature (e.g. she talks with anymals, not to... with!). Unfortunately current day society does not appreciate that much any more (in previous times she would have been included in her society as a which, I,m certain...). So I am lost for help. What resources/direction would you recommend to start my research in this direction to be better able to help her...?

Welcome back! First of all, my apologies for my English. It’s my third language, so here I go: my oldest daughter has multiple handicaps/disabilities. She’s born with a deletion of part of her 11th chromosome which lead to all kind of disabilities. Without boring you (all) with everything she can not do, I’m more interested in what she can. Actually in what she is good at. She is extremely in touch with nature (e.g. she talks with anymals, not to... with!). Unfortunately current day society does not appreciate that much any more (in previous times she would have been included in her society as a which, I’m certain...). So I am lost for help. What resources/direction would you recommend to start my research in this direction to be better able to help her...?

Yes, the observation is correct. And at present the rate is expanding. The problem is with the assumption it will keep expanding exponantially (exponential curve) while in nature more often than not something that starts as an exponential curve ends up as an s-curve (so the rate "smoothes" back gain)...

Isn't that "just" theory? I mean, AFAIK that presumption is based on the assumption of exponential growth of that speed. And as far as we can observe now we see an exponential curve in the growth of that speed. However, in nature, a lot of growth that is observed as exponential at first later turns out to be an S-curve instead of an exponential curve... A lot of interesting questions left, indeed...

This is my simple understanding of it: as stars fade and implode into black holes, the other stars that turned into black holes in that galaxy start to attract one another until one all-encompassing black hole reaches a critical mass to explode again... causing a big bang (again).

You're right, off course... I should have quoted the discussion below. That was more on topic regarding this link e.a. That is the model on it's way out. The current word in favor is "oscillating". In this model, there is a "Bang". Not an explosion. A sudden expansion. (The word they use is "inflation".) According to this model, there is a Bang -- followed by "inflation" -- followed by slowing expansion -- followed by contraction -- ending in "The Big Crunch". Rinse and Repeat. (oscillating). This is why they were taking the new measurements and calculations. Two discoveries. 1. The Inflation was not slowing down. It's speeding up. 2. There isn't enough mass in the Universe to stop the expansion. That leaves the possibility of Cosmic geometry. They asked, if Space really is curved, maybe the expansion ends up where it started? The consensus is no. Don't ask me to explain. The math is beyond me. The consensus is that the Universe will continue to expand, until Entropy is the final result. They refer to this state as "Heat Death." This assumes that the values for Dark Energy remain constant. There is no expansion of space within a galaxy. That is because the gravitational forces within a galaxy, serve to prevent Dark Energy, from expanding space. If this is so, the Universe will end in Heat Death. If this changes -- if space inside the galaxies starts expanding -- the Universe will end in "The Big Rip". As to the multiverse -- As yet unproven speculation. There are different models for this. All unproven. I find the arguments interesting. There is no proof for any of it. The math is beyond me. It hurts my head.

I have been watching the You Tube videos on physics and cosmology. In particular, Neil DeGrase Tyson -- of the Hayden Planetarium. It is only the space between galaxies that is expanding. The gravitational forces within the galaxies are strong enough to counter this force -- generally called, dark energy. If this were not the case, galaxies would lose cohesion and the stars would fly off. If all space were expanding in our solar system -- the orbits of all the planets would be expanding. We would be getting more and more distance between ourselves and the Sun and we would all be dead from the cold. If all space everywhere were expanding -- molecules would fly apart. There would be no matter -- anywhere. I like Roger Penrose (and Vahe Gurzadyan)'s view on the the universe iterating through infinite cycles (Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (ccc).

Welcome!

Yeah, I know... got carried away. Sorry!

So Buddhism is a religion now...? 🤔

The quote is also mentioned in the Wiki on Einstein's religious and philosophical views (under: Jewish identity), and quoted (#28) to Walter Isaacson. Now, I have read a couple of biographies by him and I must say that he is considered one of the more prominent biographers around a.t.m. Further more, Einstein would have had (slightly) different views on things as he grew older (and wiser), so at some point he might have actually said something like this. But even then: For instance: the central theme of the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood is: listen to your parents. As a parent, I can relate to that. Does it mean I believe a wolf actually ate a granny and a child and someone cut open that wolf to safe them et cetera... Well, I don't believe that. But yes, I still relate to the point that children should listen (most of the time) to their parents...