AI Generated Pictures

 

Book Of The Month

 1- The path of peace, Antony Seldon.
In 1915, an English second lieutenant, Douglas Gillespie , dreamed of having a "via sacra". It's not a main street leading from the top of the Capitoline hill to the colosseum, but a 1000km route from the Swiss borders to the English Channel. Unfortunately, he was killed soon afterwards
A century later Antony Sheldon discovered the letters from the lieutenant, and decided to walk the 1000 km while mourning the death his wife.

2-Rationality, Steven Pinker.
Humanity has been reaching new heights of scientific discoveries and understandings, but humanity has been losing its mind too.
Pinker is arguing that rationality is a key driver of social and moral, and it may resolve the conflict between scientific evidence and the misinformation.

Books I Have Read

 As the end of 2024 is approaching, I want to share some of the books that I enjoyed reading during the last 12 months:

Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking, by Daniel C. Dennett.

Giving the devil his dues, by Michael Shermer.

The consuming instinct, by Gad Saad.

Exploring new testament culture, by Merrill Tenney.

The 52 greatest stories of the bible, by Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner.

Understanding the old testament, by Bernard W. Anderson

Evolution (rereading), by Donald Prothero

Tunis Downtown

English Lesson. A1

Nice car! is it yours?

No, it's my brother's. He's got a new jobs,  so he needs to drive to work.

What does he do? 

He's a doctor, and these days he's working on a charity project. 

What about you?

I'm a writer. I travel and write about history and cultures. 

What are your plans? 

I'm traveling to India and Nepal to learn about Hinduism. 

That's fantastic 

English Lesson: A1

 Are you from Morocco, Ahmed?     

No, I'm from Tunisia.

Is French your first language?

No, it's Tunisian Arabic. French is our second language.

What city are you from?

I'm from Kairoun.

What is Kairouan like?

It's old and beautiful.

ESL Lesson A1

 

Where do you do, Ahmed?

I work in a hotel. 

Oh, really? My brother works in hotel, too. He's a front desk clerk.

How does he like it?

He likes it, and the manager is friendly and professional. 

That's great. What hotel does he work for?

The Thalassa. 

That's funny. I work there, too. 

Oh, that's interesting. What do you do, exactly?

Actually, I'm the duty manager. 

How Do I Get To? ESL Lesson (A1)

 John is an exchange student visiting Tunis for the first time. His hotel is near the train station, so he uses public transportation. 

John is downtown near the train station TGM, and he wants to visit the old city.

John: Excuse me sir. How do I get to the old city?
Man: Just walk up Habib Bourguiba Avenue. You don't need to turn left or right. 
John: How do I get to the Cathedral?
Man: Walk up Habib Bourguiba avenue to France Avenue. It's on the right, across from the French Embassy. 
John: Thank you very much. And Where is the clock obelisk? 
Man: It's right behind you. 

A Tunisian Iftar: ESL Lesson

A Tunisian living in Dubai describing the Tunisian Iftar to his Indian friend.

•      What’s a typical Tunisian Iftar?

•      We always have soup and brik.

•      Brik?

•      It’s a fried pastry stuffed with eggs, potatoes and parsleys, and sometimes we add tuna or meat.

•      Looks like samosa!

•      Yep. We usually have grilled salad, too. Peppers, tomatoes, and onions are grilled and crashed.

•       What about grains? Do you eat rice?

•      Yes, we sometimes eat couscous; steamed granules of semolina served with stew spooned on top.

•      Sounds tasty! 

Couscous (Wikipedia)

Brik (Wikipedia)

Salad Mechouia (Wikipedia)

 

Interchange Intro A Videos

 

Japan

 

Unearthing Hinduism

I'm writing this after a breathtaking visit to Arizona's Grand Canyon. To many Native American tribes the Grand Canyon is a sacred place: site of numerous origin myths from the Havasupai to the Zuni; hushed repose of the Hopi dead. If I were forced to choose a religion, that’s the kind of religion I could go for. The Grand Canyon confers statures on a religion, outclassing the petty smallness of the Abrahamics, the three squabbling cults which, through historical accident, still afflict the world. Richard Dawkins, The Science In The Soul

Since I'm versed in the old beliefs, myths, and religions of ancient Tunisia, in addition to my fondness for ancient pagan temples of antiquity, I can only agree with Richard Dawkins every time I visit a place in Asia where the old beliefs are still alive. India, Nepal, the Island of Bali, and some parts of Asia bravely resisted the spread of Islam and Christianity into their lands and preserved the oldest religions and cults. For these peoples and the rest of the ancient world, the land and nature were the origins of myths, custom and traditions, and laws. Bringing a new cult, pantheons, and tradition weren't considered a replacement of the existing ones. Both newcomers and indigenous assimilated their pantheons into the encountered new ones; Romans used to adopt the gods of the conquered lands: ISIS (not the Islamic state haha) is Egyptian, Saturn looks like Semitic Baal and Ceres is Greek.    

Roughly 95% of the world’s Hindus live in India and Nepal. That’s natural! Hinduism is a compilation of traditions and philosophies practiced in India, or the land beyond the Indus valley. This term was first used by Greeks and Persians to describe the peoples that used to live beyond the Indus River, which flows through actual Pakistan. The term "Hindu" became familiar in the 18th and 19th centuries when British scholars started using it to describe distinctive Indian practices. The term excludes Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs. 

At the beginning of the first millennium, Hindu traders introduced their gods and beliefs to Southeast Asia the same way Phoenician traders had introduced their gods to North Africa 10 centuries earlier. Southeast Asian Hinduism, like its North African counterparts after the arrival of the Phoenicians from actual Lebanon, is a syncretism between local beliefs and traditions that had existed before the arrival of Hindu traders from the Indian Sub-continent.  

Like all synchronized religions, Southeast Asia has its own version of Hinduism: same gods but  different names and why not stories. It reminds us of ancient Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians when they introduce their gods to other Mediterranean peoples: same function, features but different names and stories. As matter of fact, Greek historians used to assimilate the gods of the different civilizations into theirs: the Greek god Zeus became Jupiter, the Phoenician God Eshmun became the Greek Aesculapius, and so on.

I witnessed Southeastern Hinduism when I visited Malaysia and Indonesia. Despite being Muslim majority countries with 60% and 95% respectively, Malaysia and Indonesia have an important Hindu community. In Malaysia, the Hindu community is made up of Indian expats, while in Indonesia, Hindus are indigenous.

The most famous Hindu site in Malaysia is The Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. It was there that I started encountering the oldest religious practices on earth; more than 5000 years old, older than Judaism, based on the archaeological record. The site hosts the tallest statue of lord Murugan, the Hindu God of war. By the way, it was easy to recognize that he is a god of war since he holds a spear like his peers Mars and Ares of the Roman and the Greek mythology. 

Finally, I can't hide my fondness for the Island of Bali in Indonesia. Its street processions drive me crazy: this is how many modern painters, without witnessing a Hindu procession, imagined ancient gods and goddesses' processions in the ancient world. 

Lord Hanuman, The Hindu Monkey God

Hanuman Temple. Batu Caves

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Ganesha, Hindu Elephant god. Batu Caves

Lord Murugan, Hindu God of War. 43m high

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Balinese Hinduism

Balinse Hinduism