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                    Yes, Westwend
                
                And that is what makes life so interesting!
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 28, 2004 at 6:25 AM
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                    a new one
                
                now I've got a new word to add to my repertoire.
Thank you.
The world's full of 'em ain't it?
                
                    posted by
                    Xeno-x
                     on April 28, 2004 at 6:03 AM
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                    Westend . . . .
                
                A Koan is (from dictionary.com):   
n.     - A puzzling, often paradoxical statement or story, used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and a means of gaining spiritual awakening.
 
My own comment:  A famous one is "what is the sound of one hand clapping?"
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 27, 2004 at 6:25 PM
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                    you got me there
                
                ok what's a Koan?
                
                    posted by
                    Xeno-x
                     on April 27, 2004 at 12:14 PM
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                    Westwend
                
                Thinking differently makes us very much alike!  (Is that a Koan?
)  Being able to disagree without animosity is a sure sign of culture and civility in a person, and I think you fit the bill.  Often, those with whom I disagree and I find we are alike in "the big picute," but we disagree only in the details. 
  Thanks for visiting my blogs.
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 27, 2004 at 7:27 AM
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                    maybe
                
                it got sort of shot down after a couple hundred years in the beginning -- maybe it's an idea whose time has come.
Maybe coffee houses type gatherings, with music and open mikes and snacks, etc. -- open to all expressions sort of like this web site -- 
local churches that are amenable to stepping outside their sectarian boundaries could have a weekly event -- 
The thing has to be totally open.
Aside -- interesting -- I'm hitting your blog more than I am just anybody else's -- hit Kooka's a lot -- helps to get the mind functioning and to challenge dearly held ideas.
Looks like we're alike in some ways, you and me -- then different too -- I don't know -- we'd probably enjoy the same things -- then might get into some arguments too -- 
I've continually challenged my ways of thinking -- tested and changed as necessary -- I think some of my views would look very wrong to you.
But hey!  isn't what this is al about.
                
                    posted by
                    Xeno-x
                     on April 27, 2004 at 6:58 AM
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                    Westwind . . . 
                
                Excellent idea.  Do you think it will ever happen?
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 26, 2004 at 11:15 AM
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                    All I can state in response to you . . . . 
                
                Eric-Charles, is, "AMEN!"
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 26, 2004 at 11:14 AM
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                Obviously you've discovered the same thing I have, that churches aren't "institutions of faith." They're centers of political and social ideology.
                
                    posted by
                    Eric-Charles
                     on April 26, 2004 at 8:53 AM
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                    techno-church?
                
                sounds interesting.
I've thought on the subject.
The orginal word for church in the New TEstament is "ekklesia".
Basically means a sort of "congress", where each person has equal vote (originally the E was composed of "freemen").
leads one to believe that there was much discussion -- see Acts 15.
democratically elected leaders (Acts, where deacons are elected).
Revelation talks about the "white stone" -- used in voting.
It would be nice to see a new church along those original lines.
                
                    posted by
                    Xeno-x
                     on April 26, 2004 at 8:28 AM
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                    Imagine . . .
                
                That was a beautiful piece of music by John Lennon.
                
                    posted by
                    archiew
                     on April 25, 2004 at 5:53 AM
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                    its called the unitarian church...
                
                where i've meditated on the 1st amendment and had the prelude on the organ/piano not be bach or hndel but Imagine by john lennon;-)  jonathan edwards would have flipped
                
                    posted by
                    FreeManWalking
                     on April 25, 2004 at 5:38 AM
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