Ross's Valentine... Peace and Love and Harmony...

Valentine's Day...
It is Sunday and I am listening to Holy Mass and once in a while my eyes are seeking the icon which Ross gave me as a "peace offering..." 
Waking up to Holy Mass is peaceful and holy... Checking the icon is establishing harmony in space and setting me at my place... 
Music... Peace... Harmony... Until the world wakes up too... Until I step outside... 
Today I will go to the beach ... look at the vastness of the ocean... and align myself with nature... and appreciate both space and time...
But I do not want to rush and get ahead of myself... First things first...

Yesterday a friend wrote... and I want to share parts of it with you...  Like I was sharing my thoughts with Ross...

I'm still reading that book that I don't enjoy reading, one chapter a night was the instruction, I have about 11 chapters to go, just over a week left.  My mom asked me last night why I'm still reading it, I told her that I had promised the person who gave it to me that I would read it.  If I make a promise to someone, regardless of whether or not I actually want to do it, I'll do what I've promised.  Especially since this individual promised me he would try to be enlightened and read the gospel of Mary Magdalene.  Her gospel, as well as the gospel of Thomas, are my two favourite gospels.  They are more real to me, they teach deeper messages than the four we are exposed to through church.  I prefer to look at my faith through as many different perspectives as possible to help me choose what it is that I believe, you know me, I can never just be told something and accept it.  I like to fight everything I'm told until I have nothing left to fight with.     To get me through this book though, I've started reading another book on the side.  This book is a biography of the oldest survivor of the holocaust.  I like to read about the holocaust because it reminds me of the genocide, what they went through is what our own people went through.  Sadly there aren't too many books circulating about the Armenian genocide that I know about.  My friend's father wrote the book Black Dog of Fate, I've been wanting to find and read it for a while.  Maybe I'll just ask my friend to find me a copy.  Back to the book though, I've only read the first chapter so far, which is a forward by the survivor herself, and it was beautiful.  She wrote about how music got her through life in the concentration camps, through the losses of her loved ones, and ultimately through life.   She wrote, "Music makes us humans rich.  It is the revelation of the divine.  It takes us to paradise."  When I read that last night, I thought of you and your love of music.  I thought of those mornings I would go into school early in the morning for extra help and could hear your music in the stairwells and it would put a smile on my face, even though it was earlier than I would have liked to be out and about, and it was still dark out hahaha. I'll let you know how the book is as I read through it, I think you would really like it from what I've read so far.  I'm hoping the rest of the book, and obviously her life before the age of 108, is just as beautiful and inspiring as those words.    Enjoy your Valentine and Family Day weekend!!!

Ross... always advised me to diversify... more... So maybe I will read the Gospel of Mary Magdalene more carefully and remember both Ross and my friend... and again write about it in a future post... Maybe... I do not promise it... After all, the blog post are more dependent on Ross and his moods... I am just the scribe... bringing things to you... 
I love the musical references... But I do not like to watch Genocide and Holocaust movies... I do not like violence... But I have had my share of it to... Once I told to Ross; " We grew up in a repressive atmosphere where thoughts were much more dangerous than deeds... People who sided with the establishment always harassed us... threatened us... I was with a close friend, who lives in Paris now, and one of the stooges of the system came to us... He threatened my friend... and showed off his gun at his side... Just like you must have seen in a Western movies... I was furious and could not contain myself... and told to the stooge; 'if you are so brave... do it now... you have your gun and the system will protect you...' " 
Some people like to threaten and feel in control... They like to see you crawl and enjoy the fear that you exude... But never expect a challenge... When I challenged the stooge of the system... He got confused... disoriented... and walked away... to his masters... 
I see the stooge once in a while still... he looks the other way... in North America he has to be more lawful... His patrons... his bosses are not around to protect him... But he is still the arrogant stooge... walking with a gun... despite the fact that he is a lawyer now... Some people never get educated... 
At the time Ross's eyes popped out... He grew up in a more lawful society in North America... and told me; "Some people never get educated..." 
As a teacher I did not agree with Ross... I think all people can be educated... But I was not in the mood to have a discussion... I walked to my classroom...
Ross always pried for more adventure stories from my younger years... But I was reluctant to revisit them again...
I just wanted peace and harmony... I still desire that... Maybe one day there will be peace and harmony... in the world... You never know... Ross always believed in miracles... and I am sure miracles occur... somewhere in the vastness of space and time... I am sure somewhere people are less greedy and more civilized...

***

...And then another friend send me the photo below... a 1924 cover page... I looked at it in dismay... But it is Valentine's Day... What the heck... I decided to share it with you...

Genocides are the shame of our society... Violence has been with us forever... and Love and peace are commercialized... they have been promoted for material riches... You just have to remember the Christmases past... You just have to look around for the absurdities of the goods offered today... Valentine's Day... 

I grew up with stories of the Armenian Genocide... and it has taken a huge toll from me... It has shaped me... my human values are anchored on it... My yearning for peace and harmony are because of it... I hate violence... in sports, in schools, in "love", in society...

I hate wars... Blood begets blood, a wise poet wrote... long time ago...

Maybe today people will do something nice for the homeless... around the corner... Maybe people will stop wars... Maybe they will realize that love is more than sex... and embrace their neighbours... Maybe they will abandon their chase of material riches... Just for a day...

Ross believed in miracles... and I think they do happen somewhere in the galaxies... where people are educated and civilized...   

***

But... 
Artificial intelligence has overwhelmed us... and people are working on Sex Robots... Anything for a buck...

It's Valentines and sex is what it has been reduced too...

Movies have began to show "loving" robots...

  

Valentine's Day... When love is equated to sex... and sex robots will be in the stores soon...

Since sex ushers in money... and profit and violence... Then sex robots will dawn on us soon...

Ross was in love few times... He pursued his dream... But his love was not based on sex... "sex is the by-product of love..." He insisted...

They say... the arguments for and against sex robots are complicated. For example, some worry sex robots might hurt already marginalised sex workers, while others might see the advent of sex robots as a way of keeping those workers safe. the campaign against sex robots bases much of their argument on the idea that sex work is inherently a bad thing, an idea that has been challenged by sex workers themselves and organizations like Amnesty International...
In a male dominated society... violence and profits come hand in hand... war for profit... drugs for profit... sex for profit... Christmas for profit... and of course, Valentine's for profit... 
These following are photos from films when people and robots fall in love...

They say soon they will be able to make artificial skin that does not creep out people... Then sex robots will deluge the market... and maybe the streets...

Both the sex-human and the sex-robot are happy... Can you tell which one is which...?  

Well, they say... Built and they will come... Ross said; "Profit will motivate them to invent evil..."

Sex robots may not be evil... But then love is not equal to sex only... 

Plato... Aristotle... and Socrates...

… Genuine platonic love, the beautiful or lovely other person inspires the mind and the soul and directs one's attention to spiritual things. Socrates, in Plato's "Symposium", explained two types of love or Eros—Vulgar Eros or earthly love and Divine Eros or divine love.  Vulgar Eros is nothing but mere material attraction towards a beautiful body for physical pleasure and reproduction.  Divine Eros begins the journey from physical attraction i.e. attraction towards beautiful form or body but transcends gradually to love for Supreme Beauty. This concept of Divine Eros is later transformed into the term Platonic love.  This term also exists in Sufism although the word used to define it is often taken asIshq-e-Haqeeqi. From Wikipedia

Ross told me that we are fighting a battle which is lost already... He insisted that profit and materialism are here to stay... But he dreamed of a better world... He wished for love without borders... love without material... 
He never accepted sex robots... 
Ross imagined a better world... of peace, love and harmony...