Saturday, January 30, 2010

Syriac "Heart" - Something I made for Valentine's Day



With Valentine's Day steadily approaching, I had an idea in my head a few weeks back that I posted to the Free Aramaic Design of the Day: The Syriac Aramaic word "leba" ("heart" or "mind") stylized in such a way that the lamad curls around to make the shape of a heart.

Over the past two days I made a mold, cast and painted them and was surprised at how well they came out, so they're now up on Aramaic Designs. :-)

Peace,
-Steve

Maranatha





[Some textual exposition and addendum are on their way. Right now, it is breakfast time. :-) -Steve]

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Michael Beckwith Gets "Crazy Thought" In His Head

"In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, the word satan meant 'crazy thought.' When you are tempted to believe that you are not enough, that's crazy thinking. Seducing yourself into believing you are superior to others is not sane thinking. We must free ourselves from the limitation of inferiority or superiority by rising to the realm of a clear perception of our true nature. Gently, and sometimes not so gently, the angel of change is telling us that it is time to trust in our capacity to let go, unfold, expand, evolve, awaken." - Michael Beckwith - [source]

Wouldn't it be nice if New Age mystics would cite their sources? Sadly, a thorough search didn't turn up a single corroborating source, which is pretty much what we expected. For three thousand years, "satan" (in Aramaic "sāṭānā") has meant "adversary"* stemming from a root that means "to be hostile."* But for comparison's sake, in Jesus' dialect these terms are likely:


Peace,
-Steve

* - As attested by Brockelmann, Sokolof, Jastrow, Levy and many, many others.