You know that little "fishy" symbol commonly seen on cars and trucks in this part of the USA? It's carried, I think, as a symbol relating to Jesus Christ. In fact its proper title is vesica piscis/pisces (being translated that means fish bladder). It's a formation found in sacred geometry. There's a very good write-up by Dr. Dan Sewell Ward at his website Library of Halexandria. Also, Charles Gilchrist, mandala artist, explains with illustration:
And an enterprising You-Tuber has created a video attempting to link the shape of vesica piscis/pisces to parts of the human body (eye, ear, mouth, vagina.....). Whether this is valid linkage, bearing in mind the sign's esoteric meanings other than as a Christian symbol, I'm not certain, here's a link - see what you think:
Does anything in this brief extract ring any bells? There are similarities around in the USA these days. (If nothing rings bells for you see HERE.) The excerpt comes from They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer, a book published in 1955 about ordinary Germans during the period 1933-1945. These words from the chapter headed
But Then It Was Too Late. See Info Clearinghouse HERE.
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it. This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter."
Earlier this week I read about a guy who was thrown off a United Airways flight (before take-off I hasten to add) for taking a photograph of a seat. It seems that since 9/11 flight attendants on United Airways (one of their planes was part of the tragedy, remember) have certain instructions to be ultra-watchful and aware of potential dangers. On this occasion things went a wee bit too far. The guy involved is a blogger who specialises in travel articles, and he's a frequent flyer with UA. Impressed by the new aircraft he found himself on, and just before take-off, he was taking a photograph of the back of seat in front of him (showing embedded TV screen), using his phone. The flight attendant noticed and told him to stop, as it is against regulations to photograph the inside of a plane. He tried to explain that he's a professional travel blogger, handed her his business card. Unfortunately, in his explanation he stated, "I'm not a terrorist". YIKES! That t-word can no longer be uttered on a plane, or in an airport. Upshot: Captain was called. He, naturally, sided with his crew member. Passenger was sent off and re-booked on a non-through flight to his destination (a 3 legged journey instead of the straight-through flight). That does seem like a daft outcome - if they suspected him of terrorism, even slightly! Anyway, here's a link to full detail of the story; lots of comments follow the article. ***************************
Forbidden photograph-taking brought to mind one of our experiences; 2005 it was, when in Oklahoma City we were taken to task for taking a photograph of our double-reflection in a rather peculiarly positioned window.
Said photo is at at one of my husband's Flickr pages.
Caption:
Reflections in a forbidden building. As we were standing there doing this shot of our double reflection, a security guard came out of the building and told us to move along, that taking pictures of the building was not permitted since the bombing. The guard was referring to the tragedy at the Murrah Building which stood a few blocks away...a few years ago...Comments follow, indicating that we were, in truth, breaking no regulation......As if!!
