January 7
CONTROL OF THE SENSES
The senses, five in number, are so constituted that they range over objects outside. The man of sense-control has to see to it that their alighting on the objects ought to be in conformity with ethical codes.
The senses are usually turbulent. Like naughty children they misbehave with their objects. Vulgarity is norm with them. Persistently they require to be curbed. Arresting, checking, directing, suspending --- all these methods should be adopted to tame the senses. Conquest of them is a great achievement.
When also, like a tortoise its limbs, the yogi can withdraw the senses from sense-objects, his wisdom is then set firm.
--- Bhagavad Gita
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Essay
The Dating Game
デーティング・ゲーム
In the 1980s, I had a busy job with a film distribution company in Los Angeles. I was working twelve-hour days, bringing my poor dog to work with me. My assistant, Sharon, insisted that I needed to go out, have some fun, date some men. I hardly had time to think about fun. Sharon warned me that if I didn’t get a date, she was going to sign me up for The Dating Game, a popular television game show. In it, a contestant sat behind a screen and asked questions to three unseen strangers. The answers to the questions were the player’s only way of choosing a date. After the date, the couple returned to the show to say how it went. It was harmless fun so I told Sharon, “Why not? But you have to handle it.”
Months later, I was surprised to be called for an interview. I had no idea it would be so “Hollywood.” I spent an entire day at the studio before we shot the show that evening. They did my makeup. They coached me and gave me cards with questions to ask, funny and entertaining for the live audience.
There were dozens of people running around backstage. I felt like I was making a movie. Finally, I was escorted on stage and seated on one side of a big screen. My potential date was one of three bachelors who sat on the other side. Sharon and her husband were in the audience, but the bright lights prevented me from seeing them.
The questions were: “What is your best pickup line?” “If you were an animal, what kind would you be?” and “If I chose you, would you tell me your darkest secret? If not, why not?”
The answers the bachelors gave were as silly as the questions and likely written for them.
I chose one whose voice I liked, named Alan. When they revealed his face, I saw that he wasn’t bad-looking, but not my type. The show paid for our dinner date, giving the money to Alan. It was enough for a nice meal at an upscale restaurant.
Alan insisted on a restaurant in his neighborhood. When I arrived, he was already waiting. It was an awkward dinner. Afterward, he confessed that he had spent all the money at the restaurant bar. There was none left, and I had to pay the bill.
I told the story at the next show. The audience laughed a lot.
“Do you have any advice for your date, Beverly?” asked the host.
“Yes, I think you should get a dog.” More audience laughter.
I wasn’t laughing. The show didn’t repay me. Dating was expensive.
I went home to my own dog. (Beverly A. Jackson)
20230106-06x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
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King James Bible
The Fifth Book of Moses called Deuteronomy
Dueteronomy 001
Chapter 1
Deuteronomy 001.mp3 - Google ドライブ
Deuteronomy 001x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
***** The Command to Leave Horeb *****
1 These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2 (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
***** The Appointment of Leaders *****
9 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? (cumbrance = trouble)
13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
***** Spies Sent Out *****
19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
***** Rebellion Against the LORD *****
26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. (gird = prepare, put on)
42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
(presumptuous = too confident, impudent)
44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
