Jason Mraz - 93 Million Miles (Lexical and Phonetical Presentation

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MITHOPHAGY – Myths devouring myths.

MITHOPHAGY – Myths devouring myths.

       Mithophagy is the process by which a myth (idea notion, concept, or set of beliefs) devours, eats, swallows, or destroys another myth.

       Myths are essentially abstract elements. Myth’s main substance is the idea. Once one implants or fabricates an idea – or concept – this idea can survive or die away. It depends upon some devices and services to be kept alive or to be killed.

       Living people can also be taken as a myth.

       Words and weapons are useful and aiding elements to establish and keep ideas alive. They are also very powerful if one wishes to kill anyone or anything with them. According to Goebles, “a lie told many times becomes a truth”. Words are weapons as well. Some may be used to soften up some sufferings, and others to cause irremovable scars from the mind. Some are sung as a lullaby, and others torture a weak person’s brain.

       A myth’s life can be associated to a living being’s life. That can be linked to some animals in some cultures or for some human beings in other ones.

       A cow, for instance, is a sacred symbol for the Hindus. Other nations believe other animals represent a divine being which can bring protection and even provide them the way to immortality and paradise.

       Human beings can also be brought to people’s belief as a real myth. This can be linked to a dead being, but it can be seen tied to some living ones. Buddha, Jesus, Jurupari, and Mohammed are some of these personalized myths who many people in the world believe they mean a stand for a strong symbol for them. They have already gone away. Some people from the scientific field even doubt if those beings really have lived. Taking for granted that each one of the above names, as religions icons for their cultures, is already dead, and may really have lived a real life, one has to believe that they are actually powerful symbols for all their followers.

       On the other hand, some people are still alive and they do symbolize a myth. Living beings may be living on an ideal notion. The pope, for example, is for the catholic faith the one who is in charge of Jesus deeds and his church. Christians take Jesus as thei main symbol. Protestants in general do not accept the Pope’s authority to represent Jesus Christ. For some other religions, the pope is nothing but a simple man representing nobody. For the Muslim world, another person takes the responsibility left by Mohammed. And it goes for other cultures in the globe.

       Another point to be checked here is the existence of some living people who represent actual myths. It is believed in the Buddhist world that a person is chosen be a real representation of Buddha, and once in a while a person is born to take this charge.

       As for living beings regarded as myth, Brazilians believe Pelé is Soccer’s King. And in some parts of the world this notion is defended as well. Argentineans do not accept it and consider Maradona as their myth.

       According to the traits shown here one is forced to believe in some aspects regarding a myth’s life.

       A myth can have a short or a long life. It can die away as a simple idea, or similarly, its life can be as long as forever. A myth can be made of flesh and bone, or myth can be just an abstract idea or a set of beliefs.

       As ideas can also be seen as myths, one is to trust some concepts like democracy, altruism, religion, racism, and many other notions that take their part of the mythological pantheon.

       This work intends to tackle part of this corollary of notions human beings care for. The main aspect to be considered here is the religious field once we may deal with abstract concepts that domain and guide peoples’ lives and minds.

       Some people believe Jesus existed. Others do not. Part of this believing crowd accepts him as the son of god. Others say he’s just a prophet like the ones for other religions. Scientists still doubt if the historical Jesus spoken out in the Bible had really existed. Jesus is such a common name in that region of the planet, as Mohammed is in the Arabian world. For this reason some defend them like real people who had really lived actual lives in those times the same that way others deny this possibility. I have my doubts, strong ones of course, and for me they are just myths.

       Jurupari is a sacred being for a tribe in the Amazon region between Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. As a mythological being he was conceived and born the same way Jesus was. By being a myth, Jurupari is considered by that tribal group as a god. Jurupari could not stand among many forest peoples because in other places they cherish for some other beings taken as a religious guide.

       When Christian catholic missionaries from many parts of Europe arrived in the Amazon region, they had the chance to face tales about supernatural beings found in so many cultures. Ermano Stradelli was an Italian man who came to Brazil and made contact with the tribe that believed in Jurupari. In the Bible, there is a passage in which Jesus says to his people not to be afraid because other prophets would arrive telling to his people he would be Jesus. Missionaries who had known the story about Jurupari would not believe that in the middle of that dense forest a tale would bring on a description of a being showing many similarities to the Christian myth. He was born without a sexual intercourse that could start and develop a human being with life.

       What were they supposed to do in a situation like that? They had to show that their story was the most “correct” and acceptable one. They had some elements to underpin their stories. They had even the help of powder to show they were more powerful than those simple men and myth found in the middle of nothingness. The State and Church were joined defending two main points: possessions on Earth and in Heaven. The first was for the royal families, and the second for an afterlife in paradise. They succeeded working together.

       Arch and arrow, poison, traps and other devices were the weapons held by the Native American peoples. Their tale was only passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Once a story many times by many people, it changes a little and can even die away. It did not happen to Jurupari, but it may have occurred to many others in many parts of the globe.

       Christian faith had to do something not to let Jurupari continue living on its own essence. Jurupari was then demonized by the Christian creed because there was no space for two myths in the same altar. Christianity was a stronger myth than the Amazonian myth. A French proverb says that the reason of the stronger is always better. Jurupari could not bear the Christian attacks the same way Muslims did and still do. It was almost killed by the Christian belief.

       The Christian myth has tried and almost devoured the Juruparian myth. Jurupari almost died.

       In my humble opinion, mankind’s most important invention is the word. In the Bible John says in 1:1, that it is “the verb”. When the word is just spoken, it is strong. When it is written it becomes stronger. The first one brings on paralinguistic aspects that are really supportive for anything. But it can be lethal as well. The last one may not present those aspects, but they may last for a long time. A Latin proverb from the past says something like this: “Scripta manent, verba volant.” What is written is kept, what is spoken is lost.

       Written words from the Christian myth were stronger than the oral story from the Vaupés river region telling the tale of Jurupari. It came, it saw, and it conquered the Amazonian myth. It actually almost devoured the other myth showing no respect, no tolerance, no acceptance. Although the Christian myth tells to love one another, it simply did not follow what has been preached by them for just a long time.

       Jurupari may have resisted until now the attacks from many other religions, but it may be coming to an end. And that stage comes true, the process of devouring another myth will be complete. It will be like a snake that swallows and devours another snake without the smallest hesitation. Then, it blows up cultures and traditions built by many people for a long time.

O BRASIL E A PRIMAVERA SUBEQUATORIAL

       Um dos grandes escritores da literatura inglesa, Robert Louis Stevenson, defendia a seguinte idéia: “A política talvez seja a única profissão para a qual não se julga necessária uma preparação.”

       Um provérbio francês diz o seguinte: "La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure." Em uma tradução livre e o mais fiel possível é algo próximo a “A razão do mais forte é sempre a melhor.”

       Vejamos como associar estas duas idéias para apoiar o título deste texto.

       O Brasil é um grande país. Possui proporções continentais. Em algumas regiões é sempre muito seco. Em outras, chove demais. Outras apresentam quatro estações distintas. Há momentos em que as folhas caem para que as plantas possam se renovar. Em outras ocasiões, as flores brotam para gerar novos frutos. Antes disso as cores, os odores, e suas disposições representam uma maneira que a Natureza tem para apresentar os frutos, as sementes, as condições potenciais vitais para a manutenção da vida. Esse momento mágico se chama “Primavera”.

       A Primavera é a gestação vida, da mudança, da renovação. A riqueza floral entre trópicos é tão ampla que a quantidade de vida, que brota e pipoca em todos os recantos do planeta, é enorme.

       Se é no Canadá, a estação das flores tem suas belezas. Se é no continente asiático, as características primaveris abrem suas pétalas de maneira típica e abrangente. As belezas intertropicais da estação floral são muito sensíveis e sensoriais.

       À medida que a primavera representa a mudança, o aparecimento de novas possibilidades de vida, não importa onde ele ocorra, sempre virá.

       As estações representam mudanças cíclicas que estão relacionadas com a posição da Terra no sistema solar, na Via Láctea, no Universo.

       Essas mudanças também ocorrem nos países, nas pessoas, em todas as coisas que compõem esse ambiente.

       Nos países árabes, percebeu-se a necessidade de mudanças. O modelo arcaico precisava ser trocado por novas sementes para fazer com que o antigo modus operandi fosse completamente substituído pelas flores para a criação de um jardim democrático. Nascera assim a Primavera Árabe.

       As flores se abriram dispersaram seus polens e perfumes; muitas vingaram, e deram frutos. Algumas outras logo morreram, mas deram lugar aos novos frutos. Assim as mudanças tendem a ocorrer com mais rapidez.

       Ocorreram na Tunísia, no Egito, no Iêmen, na Líbia, no Sudão. Muitos antigos mandatários foram depostos e a busca por mudanças forçou o povo a ir para as ruas para a efetivação de novos rumos e novos valores humanos e duradouros. Ainda não acabou. A luta continua porque é uma estação que carece de muito cuidado e laboriosa crença nas mudanças. Muitas vidas foram extintas como as flores que caem de uma árvore para a chegada de novos frutos.

       No Brasil, as estações se apresentam de forma diferente em várias partes do país. Abaixo da linha do Equador e acima do Trópico de Capricórnio, o clamor por mudanças fez com que alguns milhões pessoas fossem para as ruas reclamar essas mudanças, esses novos frutos.

       A Primavera Subequatorial acaba de nascer e florescer aqui no Brasil. Centenas de milhões de pessoas foram para as ruas. Em diversos pontos desta nação, essa demanda por mudança encheu as ruas e avenidas contra políticos corruptos, falcatruas repetidas e sequenciadas. Propinas, uso indevido do aparelho estatal, desrespeito, descuido, e muito mais fizeram com que o povo marchasse nas principais vias urbanas, clamando por mudanças.

       Considerando que a frase “A política talvez seja a única profissão para a qual não se julga necessária uma preparação.” de R. L. Stevenson esteja correta e atual, tememos que muitas flores sejam arrancadas violentamente e excluídas das árvores antes de produzirem frutos. Essa visão temerária nos chega porque se "La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure" pode ser verdadeiro o temor da iminência de uma guerra civil de proporções desastrosas que pode estar surgindo. O povo acordou.

       Os políticos brasileiros continuam fazendo farra com o dinheiro do povo sem o menor pudor ou constrangimento, numa clara demonstração de abuso de poder. Jatinho pra cá, helicóptero pra lá. Um total descaso com os impostos que deveriam ser usados na Educação, na Saúde, na Segurança, na geração de Emprego, na aplicação rápida e reta da Justiça.

       Mas a retidão esperada não tem ocorrido. O povo já se inflamou e sentiu que pode fazer a mudança.

       Os políticos precisam “sim” estar preparados para lutar pelo povo e aplicar todos os recursos físicos e ideológicos disponíveis em favor da população. Eles necessitam perceber que embora pensem que eles representem a razão do mais forte, eles não o são; eles se quebram porque o povo é sempre a melhor razão. O povo é mais forte.

       Pode ser que essa primavera abaixo do Equador seja muito longa. Pode ser que estejamos à beira de uma guerra civil como nunca antes se viu na história desse país. Isso pode tornar-se verdadeiro porque os partidos dos trabalhadores, dos democratas, dos socialistas, dos ruralistas, dos progressistas, de todos enfim, não têm estado respeitando o povo e também não têm representado corretamente essa enorme massa carente.

       Falta respeito, retidão, saúde, segurança, trabalho, transporte eficaz. Falta Justiça. Falta Educação.

       Portanto, senhoras e senhores, autoridades constituídas deste país, tenham cuidado. Não forcem a população a entrar em colisão com vocês. O despreparo de muitos de vocês e a população forte podem fazer com os resultados sejam diferentes daquilo que vocês gostariam.

       Não há necessidade de fazer com a Primavera Subequatorial seja manchada com o derramamento de sangue e o sumiço de muitas flores que ainda precisam brotar.

EDWARD SNOWDEN IN A SNOW DEN AND UNDER CROSSFIRE!

Consider this point: it must be too difficult and embarrassing to be a spy. You are probably well-paid and receives an enhancement in your skills in order to see further than the common person. Things simple people simply guess they may have happened, if you are a spy you are able to hunch and take for granted before they come true.

A 007 agent symbolizes and sums up the spy everyone would like to be. When it comes to the gadgets and resources this officer holds and makes use of, well all of them wish to their hands on. The only problem is that in real-life situations things are not so easy. An agent works hard, establishes an agenda, follows up some suspicious events and watches some suspects to really get to the point. They have to set a goal and accomplish it.

An agent can fly, walk, run, ride, hide, climb, and fall… he or she can fall on the ground, in a steep mountain, in the water, in a den. As a common frequent traveler goes around the globe, so does the agent.

Edward became a secret agent. He was requested to spy and produce reports about many people’s lives. Statesmen, lawmakers, entrepreneurs worldwide, all over the world have been watched by him in many offices in the US. It was a firstly a kind of interesting and funny game he was getting used to. As reports had to be produced and handed in to the bigwig, things were turning into a heavier burden. Indeed, that was a harsh activity and in some cases a work too hot to handle. By taking much responsibility in his shoulders made him a little dizzy. 

When a mule can’t take the burden it was assigned to, it simple doesn’t take a step ahead. The small animal cried and falls to the ground. It was the situation for that man. He was sent to hell. Some people say it contains burning lava. Too hot to bear and live on. But if you are in cold poles without any shelter, that frozen is worse than any burning hell. Edward was sent to a snow den. No shelter and from now on, being hunt like a rabbit by many eagles in the savannah or by bears in the cold plains of the Arctic.

What is a person supposed to do when facing such problems? The most appropriate and advisable to be done is to look for shelter. Mimetic strategies are completely suggestive to keep oneself alive.

After speaking out and showing the US government had been scrutinizing many people’s lives, he was declared persona no grata and a fugitive from the American soil. In order to shelter himself he was supposed to run away from his country and family and look for political and humanitarian asylum in some countries. The United States of America is a powerful nation that controls many other countries by commercial links and diplomatic relationships, so they declared that young man an outlaw and wanted to have him back to pay for his crimes.

Many countries, of course, denied giving him that humanitarian protection. A victory for the US which won this round aided by so many nations, even and mainly by some others renowned as old time enemies, like Russia.

They say that no man is an island. A man’s meat is another man’s poison. You can be sweet for some, but you may sour for others. The same way some countries support and seem to accept America, there are many others who hate Americans. In many parts of the globe you can find someone who hates the US in the utmost level. Let’s take the Russian federation as an example: Russians denied asylum to that little young man not for commercial or diplomatic reasons. He wasn’t granted asylum because they may have thought “who would give the guaranty that this asylum demand wouldn’t be a chance for a spy to be there, trying to see and produce his reports to send to the US”?

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and some other countries offered him humanitarian protection. The same question can come to light again. How can Mr Ortega, or Mr Maduro really believe Edward is not in action as an American spy? How can Edward see he is not falling into another den? A big and dark hole which mimics a safe shelter? Only time will tell. Wherever he goes, he can be seen like a friend or like an enemy. Viewpoints may say what he looks like. And no matter where he falls down: in a burning lava cauldron or in frozen deep snowy den, he will be under an intense and endless crossfire. We may dare say he is “almost buried”. 

Edward, you may have fallen down like Mary's litlle lamb, unfortunatly not in a sown den. For this reason I believe a spy's work is too difficult.

YO NO CREO EN LAS BRUJAS...

Yo no creo en las brujas, pero que las hay, las hay!

Edward Snowden se quedó solitario. Cuando el hizo relatos sobre las acciones ocultas que los EE.UU. estuvieran conduciendo y empleando con innúmeras investigaciones sobre las vidas de muchas personas y gobiernos, probablemente los jefes de Estados non pensarían que las cosas serian por demás tan graves. Parecía que aquel hombrecito solitario estaría a hacer su trabajo de delator en su carera solo. Pero no estaba. Una cantidad razonablemente de otros participantes era algo que no deberíamos dejar de mirar. Como sería necesario encontrar alguien para poner la cruz y la culpa, entonces había una persona. Joven, con un aparente aire de irresponsabilidad estaría calificado perfectamente para que atribuirse la condenación. Gobiernos e naciones arrolladas en las escuchas telefónicas y interceptaciones de correos electrónicos de personas comunes, de la misma manera que representantes oficiales de Estados, también estuvieran siendo observados por el gobierno americano. Cuál sería la manera más aconsejable para solucionar el problema? Una vez que el pobre joven estaría enderezado como el culpado por acciones poco honestas de los Estados Unidos, él debería ser buscado e cualquier parte del globo para recibir las puniciones más ejemplares que los delatores merecen. Una grande nación solo tornase grande cuando disminuye las otras. Pocas aceptan que se haga así. Otras recusan ser llamadas de serviciales de la grande águila. De las últimas aun tenemos las que son realmente declaradas enemigas del gigante. Asilo solicitado non siempre es garantizado. Los amigos temen y no permiten al joven la debida guarnición. Los enemigos garantizan e llaman el joven hasta como un medio de conseguir informaciones de gran importancia para ellos.

Pero, las personas que ayudaran a Edward Snowden dentro de las oficinas americanas no serán importunadas con investigaciones también o en calada de la noche están y no quieren decir lo que están a pasar!

Yo no creo él hizo el trabajo solitariamente. Se hay brujas a su lado, ciertamente que estas brujas ayudaran y necesitan recibir el mismo tratamiento.

Pero que las hay, las hay…

SOME LAWS OF PHYSICS AND THE SPEED OF JUSTICE IN BRAZIL.

When I was a child I had the chance to learn some concepts of Physics without having studied them. I used to live in a place called Rodrigues Alves which was a kind of village pertaining to the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul in Acre. If you were going down the Juruá river it was on the left margin of it. The small town was established in a terra firma at this side of the river. The opposite side was a kind of wetland. It was lower and the vegetation seemed to be smaller than on the other side. I liked to shout anything so that I could listen to my voice echoing some seconds the shout was released. I didn’t know that this kind of event was linked to Acoustics which I studied some years later as a subfield of Physics.

Another moment that I could have the opportunity to observe my knowledge of another concept of Physics happened when I got in touch with a tap to wash up my hands to clean up the dirties around them. I turned on the tap and the water started to flow down so that I could have my hands washed. There was a kind of lid for the water not to flow completely of the sink. It was becoming full of water and I got scared to wed all the ground. Then I pull it out the sink and the lid seemed to be sucked and my hands too. I felt frightened by that sucking hole that appeared to take my hands away from me. I didn’t know but that was said to be gravity force which Sire Isaac Newton had studied long time ago. It was another concept of Physics I could have the chance to have a contact with.

Many of these concepts I didn’t know. Health, security, and education were kinds of notions a little bit away from my humble comprehension. Justice was a far light in the dark horizon of our lives. I learned this. It became very hard to deal with and to ask for them to be offered to the people. I grew up a little more and some shadows started to be seen as something clear to my mind.

Nowadays I see Brazilian justice conveniently acting as quick as possible for some cases. I see the IRS Justice Department working in a speed that deserves a fine. But it comes to see Justice working for the common citizen it takes many years for it to happen. I used to assign my wife and my children as my dependants to the IRS. She also handed in her IRS Declaration of revenues yearly. I was prosecuted and had even an Arrest Order issued by the IRS justice in a matter of a few days or months. I was almost sent to jail because I declared her as my dependant and had her yearly incomes summed up to my revenues which was seen by the IRS justice as a necessity to pay for more taxes. After some rectifying demands I had her name count out my IRS Declaration but it was not recognized by the “system” in the same speed previously applied to catch me up.

I am a teacher of English to the Federal University of Acre. I have my common wage but sometimes we are asked to do an extra activity which provides us some extra bucks. In 2009 I took part in two groups of professors to prepare two English tests for post-graduation applicants. The first test was applied, some students got their grades, and the professors got their payments. The second test followed the same procedures regarding the application and grades attribution. But related to payment it did not happen. The university refused to pay and the teachers issued a process against the institution to receive for their work force. No payment for a work executed, the only way to get it in the pocket is asking for the Federal Justice to order the university to do it. It was in 2009, and no payment was done until now. The Federal Justice said it was fair and we deserved the payment, but the institution recurring not to pay any moment. The sad point about this is that is a serious and executed work, and it was budgeted in an amount of money close to US$ 1,700 that time. Probably the cost the process took surmounts more than this money requested for a fair payment. Justice in this case is not so fast. It kills us of despair and disbelief. The last move the process did was in October 2011 when it went for the recourse team. No judge provided justice for something previously considered fair and legal to demand for. Should I really believe in a Justice like this?

If Physics laws were applied by our judges the same way water in the sink it would probably work faster, better, and just. If Justice could be followed in small steps and truly safer, the Judges orders would echoing for more people like those cries I used to give in order to listen the sound of my voice returning after having reached the other side of the river.

I could not claim those discoveries because Sir Isaac Newton had already done that. But related to Justice, I’m still waiting for the concepts of “speed” and “gravity force” not to be only vague notions some people are capable of mastering them.

Honesty is the best policy. Even Justice should notice this.