Up before light as the cats demanded an early feeding. You had a quick breakfast, checked email. Kim and Paul just rolled downstairs. More later, dude. – Amorella.
Still mid-morning and you had a nap and finished watching last week’s Flash Forward on ABC on your iPad.
It was a unique experience I had never thought of. Last night I went upstairs while Kim and Paul were watching last week’s ‘24’ before the new one came on to watch and found I could watch ABC programs on Carol’s iPad. (Currently she is playing Sudoku on it.) Who would have thought you could lay a screen pad on the bed and watch a show on last week. It was bazaar. Our cat, Jadah, jumped up on the bed curious and sat and watched also. She could not believe a screen could lay flat (I assume). Anyway, if you shut the show down by turning the iPad off, when you turn it on again, as I did this morning. It goes right to where you left off. No wonder they put the earphone jack ‘on the top’. When you watch a show you turn the screen horizontal and then the jack is on the bottom left of the screen. I also got on Pandora Radio and Y-Music this morning so we can now pick up internet music as well as cheap gas in the cities that have a set up on Y-Music, so it is also an internet radio. I guess what I am most excited about it that the iPad does more than I expected it to do. Truly, to me, it is not a computer, it is a new form of media and entertainment gathering. I am surprised and delighted I have lived long enough to experience it.
You see, you are not as dead as you sometimes think you are. Scene seven takes the point of view of the ‘old’ shaman before Mario and Aeneas begin their search. > You have found and edited material from Wikipedia that you will use as a general guide to the Old Shaman in the story, please add what you have found.
Panagiotakis [Takis, the Old Shaman] – This photo below is the closest to what I have in my imagination for the old shaman. I will go with the definition from Princeton.edu:
“in societies practicing shamanism: one acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds; practices sorcery for healing or divination”
Sadhu [edited from Wikipedia]
In Hinduism, Sadhu, or Sadhu is a common term for a mystic, an ascetic, practitioner of yoga and/or wandering monks. The Sadhu is solely dedicated to achieving the fourth and final Hindu goal of life, moksha (liberation), through meditation and contemplation of Brahman. Sadhus often wear ochre-colored clothing, symbolizing renunciation.
'Sadhu!' is also a Sanskrit and Pali and term used as an exclamation for something well done.
Etymology
The Sanskrit terms Sadhu ("good man") and Sadhvi ("good woman") refer to renouncers who have chosen to live a life apart from or on the edges of society in order to focus on their own spiritual practice.
[Some] Sadhu rituals
Sadhus are renunciates, who have left behind all material and sexual attachments and live in caves, forests and temples. . .
A Sadhu is usually referred to as Baba by common people. The word 'baba' also means grandfather, father, or uncle, in many Indian languages. Sometimes the respectful suffix 'ji' may also be added after baba, to give greater respect to the renunciate.
There are 4 or 5 million Sadhus in India today and they are still widely respected: revered for their holiness, sometimes feared for their curses. It is also thought that the austere practices of the Sadhus help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large. Thus seen as benefiting society, Sadhus are supported by donations from many people.
. . . Indian culture tends to emphasize an infinite number of paths to God, such that Sadhus, and the varieties that Sadhus come in have their place.
**
The photo is from Wikipedia:
I like what the above says. I am not Hindi, but I feel the sense of the description in my head and mind. I greatly respect such people in the world. I feel I have a common empathy with all such spiritual people in the world.
You are thinking of erasing the immediate above but keep it. You think the above “common empathy” means that you have the same spiritual aspect as all such people, which you do not, but within the context of these books it works. – Amorella.
Back at Heinen’s on Green after a gelato next to the Apple store at the nearby mall east on Cedar. Owen is in the back seat while Carol is getting a few groceries. Paul is home studying as his focus is baby delivery and Caesarian. He likes the change from pain medicine the last two months.
We are going to find Takis shortly after noon at a small diner (think the authentic Old Florida Crab Shack on the west side of Gandy Bridge, St. Petersburg and the inlet next to George Washington’s early home along the Potomac.
I had to doctor the photo to hide the other side of the river but I can have it as a C-shaped inlet near where the old fellow exists. No blue sky and no fence either. Photo is more for the shape.
Supper at the ‘well known’ Tommy’s on Coventry in Cleveland Heights. You had a favorable vegetarian meat pie and split a mint chocolate chip milkshake with Carol for dessert. Everyone enjoyed their veggie dinners. Then a quick trip to Crate & Barrel and the Apple store at Legacy Village. They had the Apple iPad case in so you bought one.
This sounds like I am giving a commercial, Amorella. Rather embarrassing.
Its placement is allowed to show your passion for a variety of foods and Apple in general.
Some might consider both a character flaw.
You are embarrassed for having favorite things in life. Why? Most everyone has favorite passions. Take a look at your shaman Takis for instance. His favorite thing is living in the woods by himself, but every so often he visits a small bar, a simple café where most of the local Dead think of seafood dishes and wines as they enjoyed in life and companionship while they carry on conversations. Nothing is more important to the Dead than fellow human beings who enjoy similar ambiances and circumstances for the reinforcement of their personal identities. Sometimes they enjoy an open campfire nearby. No caves, but the shelters are sometimes shack-like wood and stone with privacy still respected. Post. Take a break, then we can work on the actual scene six if you like. – Amorella.
Kim, Paul and Owen have gone to bed. Carol is quietly watching the most recent Desperate Housewives on her iPad and you are thinking of going to bed early. Before you do, however, let’s go to scene seven and give it a start.
Scene 7
The Shaman Panagiotakis also sat cross-legged under a tree, but it is on the edge of the forest about two hundred yards from the River Styx and ten wild miles upstream from our genetic Mother’s urban civilization.
Takis, as he likes to be called, has eyes for all of his natural-like surroundings in Elysium. The greatest of human virtues in his moral eyes is Prudence not Justice. He governs and disciplines himself by reason and sometimes Reason with a capital. That is his perspective. Good Judgment and Circumspection surround this sense of Prudence like the great circles of stones surround the great tree at Mother’s. He is the stone and the wood that reflects the reality of wherever he finds himself. He is a chameleon, a Master shape-shifter of mind. Takis was as a ghost when alive. Now Dead for over 170 thousand years, he has a mind that has danced far beyond Merlyn’s and his Druid clans.
Takis waits in Silence as Patience is another virtue. Waiting is easier when Dead. Besides, Takis has been to the other side of the Styx. Takis knows what others do not. He understands some of what he knows. This is what makes him a most dangerous man even among the Dead. (to be continued)
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