The Story of the Sand Images of History by Kseniya

Background
During the four long years of WW II, in the former lands of the Soviet Union known as “The Great Patriotic War”, about 24 million people died ( using 1939 Soviet Union borders - per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties ). Often, each day’s horror was like five 9/11 tragedies. Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia tore apart the country.

The Ukraine is located north of the Black Sea, covering a large area of Russia. Of all population groups in Russia, Ukrainian deaths during the war were the second highest per-capita percentage, 19.1 %, and nearly equal to the highest listed percentage group, Poland, 19.6 % ( http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-29.html ). Everyone lost loved ones: sons and husbands in fighting, and children from aerial bombings, wives, daughters, parents, grandparents. The video reveals a sense of longing, loss, and sorrow; seen in faces of the audience three generations later.Ukrainian deaths associated with the war are estimated to have been 5 to 8 million people (

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine at references #’s 51 and 52 ).

If total deaths were 8 million, then the distribution is about: 2.5 mil. military, 5.5 mil. civilian, totaling 19.1% of the population ( infoukes.com/history site, above ). This number includes over half a million Jews killed by Nazi SS paramilitary death squads called Einsatzgruppen; sometimes aided by local collaborators.

From the closing scene showing the maritime serviceman through the window, this story might be influenced by the Crimean area located at the Black Sea, part of the Ukraine and a historical maritime center. The city of Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine has long been a naval maritime base.

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Story and Theme of sand drawing images -

with Music Titles Music titles link to other music performances, for example http://youtube.com/watch?v=DCTPc2iRtr8 . People might appreciate the trace of Eastern Orthodox influence in most music.

Lyrics for two songs are included after this Story and Theme section. After the lyric section, summary and application sections lead to one question for your consideration.

Sand scenes and music are listed in minutes . seconds of the storyline. .......

0.0 - a candle of hope ? [ Unsure comments have a ? mark ]

0.0 - music, Cirque Du Soleil-Jeux d'eau “Circus Of the Sun - water games” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mE1YVh4QXs . First scene - Happiness - Ukraine or Russia as a whole: A couple sit on a bench under a starry sky.

1.36 - a radio declaration that Russia was invaded by the Nazis in 1941. The speaker is Yuri Levitan ( Юрий Левитан ): "Attention! This is Moscow speaking. Citizens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: today, on the 22nd of June, at 4am, without the declaration of war, German forces invaded our country. They ambushed our border in many areas and bombed our cities: Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol ...." WWII is referred to as “The Great Patriotic War” in the lands of the Ukraine, Russia and some other states of the former Soviet Union. Germany attacked the Soviet Union along the entire frontier.

In the Baltic, the first Nazi aircraft attacks began at 4 a.m. upon airfields, ports, and communication centres. Also, strategic cities such as Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, and Kaunas were bombed. About two hours later, German ground forces moved forward on a second attack wave. Later, the commander of the Soviet 8th Army, Lt.Gen. P.P.Sobennikov, wrote that by the afternoon of the 22^nd, the aviation section which was supposed to support his Army had been reduced to 5 - 6 airworthy aircraft. http://www.latvianaviation.com/WW2_June41.html

1.46 - music Священная война - Svyashchennaya Voyna - "The Sacred War", written in 1941 shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It memorialized the war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHO3NgzZOYI Warplanes appear in the sky. Happiness is replaced by a crying woman, not to be consoled.

1.57 - A train in the background transports young men and husbands to war. Women look on as a train whistle is heard, followed by the clackity of the railroad track. [ one commentator to the video likened the smoke as a remembrance of German gas chambers. Jews were taken there from Ukraine. ]

2.25 - Song, Тёмная ночь - Temnaya Noch, "Dark Night", Russian, during WWII. Song lyrics are included below, after this Story Theme section. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dkAEHgmtWM Song lyrics are taken from a front-line soldier's letter to his beloved wife back home, as seen in the 1943 Russian film "Two Warriors". The lonely solder wrote in his letter that as long as he knows her love, he is sure to come back to her. She remains at home with a baby. Her sadness is lessened by hope, and perhaps encouraged by her husband’s tender letter. She smiles again. See lyrics below. A light from a candle shines hope.

3.07 - War hits home. Hopes are dashed. Sand obliterates life like bombs, and splashes destruction.

3.19 - Music - “Harmageddon”, by cello band Apocalyptica, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIYSFR9d1tE The word “Harmageddon” is the Greek pronunciation of the Anglicized “Armageddon”. The Greek 'har-magedon' is a transliteration of the Hebrew har-megiddo , likely referring to Mount-Megiddo, an ancient city in northwest Palestine [ present Israel ] on the southern edge of the Plain of Esdraelon. In early history, it was the scene of many battles due to its strategic military position on the crossroads connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia. It is referenced once in the Bible, at Revelation 16:16.

3.43 - Music “Auschwitz Birkenau” - Schindler´s List Soundtrack-08, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GOy6t6TGAg The violinist is Itzhak Perlman. Terror is seen on faces. The war is in full force. Where is hope?

4.09 - Either, 1. - a young woman holds the former endearing letter mentioned in the song Temnaya Noch, "Dark Night", promising that their love will reunite them, or, 2. - she receives a letter informing of her husband's death, or his missing in action.
She grows old as a widow. Time does not separate her memory from his love, nor does it separate the nation from its memory of loved ones; still remembering. From the woman’s face, a soldier's war memorial is formed.

4.50 - Memorials to fallen Soviet soldiers are found in most city subdivisions and towns. Some memorials are in the shape of an obelisk with a red, green, or gold star atop; like a stele with an eternal flame atop. Perhaps inscribed on its side are names of loved ones who died in the war. It might cause a person to ask if there is hope, as seen by the light of a candle amid the darkness, or by a star atop these stelae more brightly in our awareness. Many fallen soldiers were buried in communal 'brother' graves near where they fell. Memorials are the absent grave markers, for our remembrance.

5.06 - Song - Журавли - Zharable - “Cranes”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGUfVjFmgG0 - Russian song about WWII.

People are crying because of memories enlivened by the song lyrics: “… fallen hero soldiers … Were never buried in the ground … But fly in the sky as snowy white cranes. … we look up and can't turn our eyes from them …. Maybe, it is a place for me.” The full song lyrics are found in the Song Lyrics section, second part, after this Story Theme section.

As generations: grandparents, parents, and children go to a memorial to remember, whether located in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Georgia, or to go war cemeteries with crosses put in long rows and columns such as in my country, the U.S., what images from memorials can give us hope?

5:36 - As peoples of the former Soviet Union moved on to rebuild life, and buildings reconstructed from the rubble, what societal structures were challenged to change? What institutions remaining today are challenged to purify their purpose?

6:10 -music, "Nothing Else Matters", played by Apocalyptica, a cello band; from their album “Plays Metallica by Four Cellos”. The song is by heavy metal band Metallica. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3LHLPr9W_E From the safety of home, a woman and her child looks out a window to the neighborhood. What is it that allows her neighborhood and our larger world family living under the same stars to remain a pleasant sight of stability and peace? Amid the consideration, there is one lasting fact from earliest times, a problem exists on both personal and world scenes: evil.

The maritime serviceman seen through the window, shown by his cap and clothing, is probably leaving or returning in his service to keeping the “bond” of “peace” for his larger family. In the young woman’s arms, her baby wears like cap; in his image, and in his likeness.

In that likeness, what is the child's future? The child might grow to fill the cap, or might find another way to serve society and to preserve goodness.

8.20 - Happiness can happen when we remember and learn from the words, Ты всегда рядом: "you are always near" or "you are always by my side".

The sand scene is likely portrays - 1, sentiment felt by the woman toward her husband who is either leaving or returning in his service, or - 2, a representation of history, giving present hope that we have a future from their past. It helps us remember multiplied millions who died in patriotic wars of brotherhood, protecting the land. Yet, wars are formed from lack of brotherhood, of repression and hunger. This timely closing message is in essence for us: "You are always near to us". There is security from those who defend, yet insecurity from those who offend.

Another commentator wrote in part, “That's not a man standing outside... that's her little son reflection in the window in which she actually recognizes her husband. That's why Kseniya wrote in the end: You are always nearby. 1945.” Should this be so, as the child learns about his image, will it grow to become the image in the window, and go to the world to act well in its image? That is all our hopes.

Another commentator wrote, “I think the last scene, of the woman and the baby seeing the vision in `the window - it's like a flashback. I mean the story develops years beyond the War (ageing, the family visiting the memorial-grave). But then the last scene is a flashback into 1945 when all the women were waiting for their men to return, but this lady only got a desperate wishful image in the window…”. What can be our parts to shape a good image for the future? Can we preserve the future?

In what Kseniya wrote at the end, “you are always near”, there is another consideration that goodness and evil are also always near. We must always be aware. Yet, as we ponder life choices, as we try to separate from events caused by poor choices, and try to sustain good choices, can love can triumph?

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Songs and lyrics - - Song: Тёмная ночь - Temnaya Noch, "Dark Night" or “Dark is the Night”: a famous WWII Russian song; sung in 1943 by Марк Бернес - Mark Naumovich Bernes, a Soviet actor and singer of Jewish ancestry ( his father's last name was Neumann ). The song is about man in WWII, who’s thoughts at night and between battles is about his wife at home, sleepless for both him and their baby in it's crib.

Lyrics: translation

1 - The night is dark, only bullets are whistling in the steppe,

Only wind is wailing through telephone wires, stars are faintly flickering...

In the dark night, I know you my love are not sleeping,

And, at the child's crib, out of sight, you wipe away a tear.

How I love the depths of your gentle eyes,

How I long to press my lips to them!

This dark night separates us, my love,

And the dark troubled steppe has come to lie between us.

2 - I have faith in you; in you, my sweetheart.

That faith has shielded me from bullets in this dark night...

I am glad, I am calm in deadly battle:

I know you will meet me with love, no matter what happens to me.

Death does not frighten me, we've met with it more than once in the steppe...

And here it looms over me once again,

You await my return, sitting sleepless near a cradle,

And so I know, nothing will happen to me!

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Song: Журавли - Zhuravli, “Cranes”, Russian song about The Great Patriotic War [ WW II ], written much later as the result of the author seeing the result of war in Japan, at the Hiroshima memorial where he saw origami cranes. See site below for its history. The author of the text is Rasul Gamzatov; lyrics revised by Mark Bernes who asked Yan Frenkel to compose the music; premiered 1969. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuravli

Lyrical translation - -

Sometimes I dream that fallen hero soldiers,

That were not to return from fields of gore,

Did not lie down into their beds of honour,

But fly in the sky as snowy white cranes.

Since then, they wing, calling out to us from afar,

We recognize the hearty dear voice.

Maybe it is the reason why we often stop talking ruefully

When we look up and can't turn our eyes from them in sky.

The weary wedge of cranes is flying in sky,

It flies at the end of the day.

And there is a small interval inside this wedge,

Maybe, it is a place for me.

Maybe will come a day and I shall fly

With the flock of cranes in the same blue sky

And I shall call everyone who I left at the ground,

From the sky, with the language of these birds.

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Summary - THOUGHTS AND A QUESTION - -
- - THOUGHTS - -
Focus on the World - - -
Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Kazakhstans, Jews, Tatars, Georgians, Armenians and many other peoples were part of the ex-Soviet republics. Around the world during WWII, at least 50 million people died in war deaths. Future generations were stunted, and families broken. Wars removed generations of accumulated wealth in property and finance, and decades of hard work. Trust was violated.
Focus on Ukraine - - -
During the intervening time between WW’s I and II, Ukrainian farms were collectivized. The Soviet government was flexible during the 1920’s, thus Ukrainian culture enjoyed a revival. By the early 1930’s, Joseph Stalin gradually consolidated power, and government policies were sharply reversed.
Farm workers were not allowed to eat produce until unrealistic farm quotas were met. All foods were forcibly removed to maintain quotas, done by the Soviet government through NKVD (predecessor of KGB) and secret police. People starved to death. A larger part of the purpose for the famine was to break the Ukrainian farmer-land owners of their spirit by depriving them of property, food, and means of survival. Stalin and his followers understood that no normal person would ever voluntarily give up hard-earned property for the idea of a 'bright communist future'. In 1932 - 33, this man-made famine known as Holodomor - "Great Famine" claimed from 2.6 to 10 million Ukrainian lives [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - and - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine ]. Starvation became widespread in all the Soviet Union. This was an internal war prior to The Great Patriotic War.
Next in the Ukraine, Russian repression from 1929 - 1938 horrifically peaked for a second time in 1937 - 38, to cause mass killings that gained the name the "Great Terror". People killed comprised 80% of the cultural elite, 75% of higher-ranking army officers, writers, artists, and intellectuals [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine, under “Inter-war Soviet Ukraine” ]. Consolidation of Soviet power devastated the Ukraine. During the Great Patriotic War, about 5 to 8 million Ukrainians were killed, as citied in the introductory overview. In repressive political campaigns of the 1930`s, the total untimely deaths were equivalent to losses from The Great Patriotic War. There were two wars.
There has long been a saying: Hitler killed millions, but Stalin tens of millions! In the Soviet Union during WW II’s Great Patriotic War, about 24 million Russian people died. Comparatively, prior from 1932-39, about 23 million Russian people died under the repression of Stalin and his loyalist thugs [ http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html ]. How might these deaths affect us in important ways today? As we look to the future, we must fully connect to pain from the past, and mourn it in order that from it we find hope. Without reality of the past, there is no foundation for hope in the future.
As stelae memorials stretch their one high star toward the heaven, to blend into a night sky of stars filling the universe, hope exists in darkness. We need an Image of hope that shines brightly, like our closest star, the Sun. It can lead us to love, and help us share and sacrifice for the best good of all. It can steer us away from false pride and toward a solid humility, from where we can grow together.
- - A FOCUSED QUESTION > What is the Image?

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Application - - Focusing on the Image:

We firmly state about history, “‘never again’ should it happen”! What leads us to change paths so that we avoid repeating pitfalls and atrocities of history? The danger is that although we think ourselves different than perpetrators of evil, we have that tendency under the skin. In our human condition, what can leads us to look at reality, mourn our weaknesses, become different, and take steps to peace?

Society is made of individuals, building blocks that form the house of its destiny, piece by piece. The peace or strife we bring to our house of humanity ultimately depends how pieces that form the whole are peacemakers or strifemakers. An Image of peace can lead toward hope. If the image is realistic, then we mature and practice effective solutions to problems and conflicts. If the image is fanciful, then we can often foment war as an supposed solution. That brings us to the setting of what is love?

As we desire to gain the best quality of life, whether for families and nations, we must look at the big picture of how life works. Love has the characteristic to preserve the best quality life, for the most amount of people affected by actions. If the greatest amount of goodness is to be produced, then a person or group of people will usually need to sacrifice a desire so that a greater good is allowed. For example, parents often forgo things for the betterment of children, or children for parents. But really, such sacrifice is done so the greatest amount of goodness will come to the family. In that family, who sacrifices for whom so that the total amount of goodness is increased? What defines the family of nations? What do we accept as our identity and image of what is goodness? What is that goodness?

A solidly formed image of goodness can help nations choose wisely and remain standing in times of stress. It brings people to a successful future. A poor image leads people to shame. “Shame” is about image. It comes from the word “sham”, meaning to “cover over”. If we cover over pain that might run through centuries of nationhood, its power to mal-form identities remains. We would never heal.

The German shame of decades deeply lingers with people of Germany. There is also a type of shame about Stalinist Communism that deeply lingers, too. Images can be treated with realness and released from shame, or get “covered over” rather than healed. Every person and society must deal with past hurts. If we successfully focus on an image of goodness, then we can develop that image in us, to lead us to healing refreshing hope for common good. Peace is formed by agreement of what is good, toward which we grow together. Peace and goodness is a process of change, toward a common good purpose. Four steps, below, support change towards goodness. What is the good Image that blesses?

Four Forward Steps Bless People and Nations - -
First: common solidarity among peoples is founded upon being real about weaknesses. That is very hard to do. Our inabilities to handle overwhelming needs and weaknesses in our own strength is usually the cause of foment and disorder. People have weaknesses. Falsity happens when we claim a supposed strength which really covers over weaknesses. In our lack of abilities, we hide weaknesses.

Hiding leads to actions which bring shame. Yet, humble actions bring reality and goodness. Humility and humus are words from the same root. They are common, earthy, and real. A solidly built house of life must connect to a solid real foundations, not covered-over with slimy un-reality. Abasement about life provides a foundation for common solidarity. A solid future must be built upon truth about the past. It is hopeful exercise, only because there is a recognition that we need a good Image to affect us. It is like hope in the closing image of the sand drawings, seen in a small baby with clothes and cap made in the image of the father. What will be our Image? If the Image is to influence us, then the first step is to uncover weak images of the past. It will cause honest pain. But, it can be done because there is hope for help. Realness can release guilt and guile, but leads us to the next step.

Second: the past easily brings old unhealed pain into the present. Growth and problem solving must provide good answers for past hurts, where societies were stunted, or stopped in their maturing. We need strong help. That is the idea! The first step about being real is so important, that the second step will be a very real result. It is to naturally mourn about our weaknesses, only possible because of the hope of strength. If we can see a light shining at the end of a dark tunnel, and a dependable Image that shines strength like the Sun, then it will become safe to uncover painful weaknesses and mourn.
Third: If the Image has a purpose that strengthens us: to preserve us, then goodness will be defined as anything that leads toward that purpose. If truth, goodness, and love can bless us, then we must consider how become like it. That will allow us to inherit a world with societies that desire justice.
Fourth: Our change to become like goodness will allow us to go to the world with practical justice.

The above is summarized as four points:

1. - Being real for growth,

2. - Feeling true weaknesses because there is a promise of strength, and

3. - Becoming like the strong Image.

4. - Affecting the world in that Image.

These are also the first four of eight beatitudes found in the Bible book of Matthew, chapter 5. The beatitudes interconnect like the sand images, one beatitude leading to the story of the next. They are about the Image, and are steps that forming a stair case leading to change and growth. The first four steps help us change so that we can affect the world. The last four steps have a similar progression.

It is claimed that God is love. What is the Image of love? By stepping through the eight beatitudes, we learn and do things necessary for growing and becoming the Image of love. We can find out if God works or is a fanciful idea. And, we should be able to see God work with us, separately from humankind; not calling human works alone to be God working. What does the love of God look like?

It might be good to look at the end of the story, first, to see some light of hope. The eighth beatitude states, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”. No one desires persecution. But people or nations who engage life to bring a more just world will be persecuted. The beatitudes mature so that we remain standing for right. The eighth beatitude promises that persons or a nation of people will not get knocked down by tough situations: “… for theirs is the kingdom of God”. These training steps are dynamic practical truths that mature people to become like the Image, and to survive and flourish. These people can bless, and know what to do.

When there is a conflict or a hard situation, then we can remember to be like the Image. The first beatitude states “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”. But, before looking how this type of poverty can bless us, it is helpful to understand how these literary stair steps work together in the whole. They are written in a format for memory so that we can use them daily.

How do the Beatitudes Work Together?

The first and last beatitudes are similar. They act like bookends that frame a training course for life found within the other six beatitudes between. Only the first and last beatitudes have the statement, “… for theirs is the kingdom of God”. They are very important to help us to begin and end well.

Sections of the book of Matthew relate to specific beatitudes, to give further examples and stories that connect us toward the likeness found in each beatitude. The beatitudes set eight steps as a key to help people remember steps of change, and thereby relate stories of change to their daily life experiences.

All eight beatitudes have a first and second part, like a stair riser and runner that forms a step. For example, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit ….”, and second“… for theirs is the kingdom of God”. The first part of each beatitude is for us to do, and the second part is what God promises to do to form an Image in relationship with humankind. The second parts of the six core beatitudes all have phrases in the future tense, “… for they shall be (__________)”, as a promise from God. These steps interconnect to form a staircase of training. Each “shall be” promise leads to the next beatitude. The second half of the promise is developed as we train in the first half of the following beatitude. By following successive instructions, the promises become reality. This is how we are guided to become like the Image, for our being “blessed”. Each step affects our lifestyle in particular ways, and gives growth that becomes the basis for subsequent steps. The first beatitude introduces beatitude two.

The Beatitudes: Images that Form a Story about Growth

The first beatitude begins, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit ….”, People who are poor in spirit are not unrealistically “proud in spirit”. Some Bible translations use “humble” in place of “poor in spirit”. The word humble means to be abased somewhat like lowly earthy “humus”, which word shares the same etymological root as the word “humility”. Being humble and real about weaknesses abases people. It is the requirement for basic change. Truth for us about the “… kingdom of heaven” needs a solid foundation upon which to build. Unless we see light at the end of the tunnel, we will tend to not face weaknesses, but cover them up. The hope is in the second part of the first beatitude: “… for theirs is the kingdom of God”. We need to let the Image shine. Humility opens the gate so that we should enter training course for growth in the beatitudes. We must be real about weaknesses.

The second beatitude is both amazing and daunting. Its action happens as a result of dong the first beatitude, being humble and real about weaknesses, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” When we are real about things, then there will be pain and mourning. Being real about weak things takes us back to areas that hurt. It is here that the Image promises “comfort”. We are able to access weaknesses for growth when there is strong caring help. The meaning of the word “comfort” is powerful: “with-strength” [ con- = with / -fort = forte = strength ]. It is the strength of God promised for our weaknesses. He is the Source and Image of true strength for weaknesses. It is here that we begin to see the Image and the story of the beatitudes affecting change. The question might be asked, “Why should I access weakness and pain when things seem manageable and okay?”.

The answer is that if weaknesses and hurts are given helpful support and answers, and not covered over, then life becomes more solid to survive times when we are challenged to remain standing. But if weakness and hurt are avoided because we do not have good answers for handling them, then they tend to disallow full growth in life and weaknesses usually find amazing ways to leak out to affect us.

We build upon what has happened in life. If we are to enjoy full life and stand when the stress of life comes, then we need answers of comfort and under-standing. This second beatitude connects us to the Source of the Image for comfort. The promise for comfort is given us by our doing the first half of the following third beatitude. It will be our responsible part for growing to become like the Image.

A note about hope: When life might be so overpowering that we are not able to cope with it in our own strength, then it can be covered with “despair”. The Latin “desperare” means "stop hoping" [ “spes” = hope ]. Hope begins at the point that we allow the strong Image to shine on our weaknesses.

The third beatitude directs us how to become strong like the Image. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. The word “meek” means trainable and able to be disciplined. An excellent example of meekness is Moses, the great leader in the Old Testament times. He was given the title, “… Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” in the book of Numbers 12:3 [ simple: numbers 1, 2, 3 ]. This accolade was more than a cup with writing on it. In Egypt, Moses killed an Egyptian to try to bring justice through his own means. The result was that he fled society, to travel to the sparse back side of desert as a fugitive from the law. He spent 40 years in training and earning this title. He became like the Image, usable to guide an enslaved Jewish nation out from Egypt. He abased himself to reality and weakness, to grow and find stability and usefulness.

Rather than the word “meek”, some Bible translations use the word “gentle”. In English history, a “gentleman” was one who broke and trained horses, to make them gentle. A horse’s raw power was turned to purposeful and useable means. The word was eventually applied to men who had become disciplined, gentlemen. Like a horse, meek and gentle people remain with their same strength, but are focused and no longer wild, unfocused, and unusable. They become like the Image so that they enter into the purpose of God on earth. Things change. When we are real about life, we submit to training.

The second part of the third Beatitude promises a meek person “ … shall inherit the earth”. This is what people try unsuccessfully do in prior weaknesses and poor power to change! It is similar to what Moses had initially failed to do in in Egypt though his proud self-sufficiency, but what he did as a result of his training, and another step. The promise from the Image in third beatitude becomes true as people apply training in the fourth beatitude. That is the promise and vision. This is not “self-actualization” alone, but the self becoming like the Image. It comes by the power of God, not by ourselves alone. For a nation of peoples, it means a place on earth to exist and thrive; not destroyed.

The first half of the fourth beatitude accomplishes inheritance of the earth promised in the third beatitude through application of previous training, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled”. In beatitude three, people who became like the Image acted like the Image. They have come to know how to give righteousness, and they hunger and thirst to do it. In the New Testament Greek, words translated “righteousness” and “justice” are the same original word. The variety in translation is done so that reading does not become mechanical and stale. How does inheritance come? People who go out in the purpose of the Image to do the righteousness of the Image will inherit as they go. It is easy to perceive change at this point in the “poor in spirit” person.

How the Beatitudes Support Memory and Maintain Actions

The sand images connect to each other by a storyline made from history, song lyrics, and music. The eight beatitudes have a storyline made from a literary device called parallelism that connects its parts for memory and action. The eight beatitudes split into two halves after the fourth. Both halves tell a similar story in parallel, for memory association. This format is a common ancient associative method of learning. Most people in ancient times were illiterate and learned audibly as they listened to someone read. Both oral and written communications were often formed in parallel stories to associate ideas. People expected the pattern. Similar story structures exist today, but we might not fully realize their design for drawing us into the story and aiding our memory. They are simple and powerful. This type of parallelism first progresses in three steps, and then is given a second time in a slightly different way, parallel in three steps. What are the steps, and why are there eight beatitudes?

The opening beatitude and the closing eighth are not part of the three steps, though they are similar to each other with the common phrase “… for theirs is the kingdom of God.”. They act like bookends to the central six beatitudes. These six are given in a three step manner, twice. Beatitudes [ B’s ] 2, 3, 4 relate in three progressive steps, and B’s 5, 6, 7 similarly relate in three progressive steps. And since both triads are progressive and similar, the first step in the first triad, B2, will have a common idea with the first step in the parallel triad, B5. The second step in the first triad, B3, will have a common idea with the second step in the parallel triad, B6. Similarly, B4 and B7. Thus, two parallel stories are made for association in memory. Best of all, the three-step progression is natural to how we live.

First, we take IN the comfort of God as the source of growth for our mourning; second, we BECOME like what we take in, through training; third, we give OUT what we have become in order to complete growth. IN, BECOME, OUT. B1 sets the requirement for all the beatitudes: to be real: poor in spirit about weaknesses, not proud in spirit about falsity. B2 provides strength for our needs. The Image of comfort is the source, IN. B3 helps us BECOME like the Image taken in. B4 leads the person to go OUT, to act like the Image in their challenges of life. We become like the Image. What is our image?

In the Bible book of Matthew, the beatitudes are part of sayings from Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount. It uses the Beatitudes as a pattern, step by step, to tell about how the Image of God acts and how God desires that we act likewise. The whole book of Matthew is written in this same manner.

The promise not yet spoken to in beatitude four is “… for they shall be filled”. It rests on the first phrase of “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake …”. Doing the first part of B4 allows the promise of B4 to be fulfilled in our doing first part of the following fifth Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful: ….” People are filled as they give mercy, similar to love. People who hunger and thirst for right find themselves in situations where mercy allows them to respond well to people’s weaknesses and needs. Those people are filled because people respond to their mercy, confirming that they have given things of value. They have something and are people of value!

Mercy is a topic that will be looked at in more depth later. Helpful mercy toward people not only completes the first half of the training program found in the beatitudes one through four, but it also begins the second portion of B5 - B8. The eight beatitudes split in parallel halves between the fourth and fifth beatitudes, to continue training in a parallel association with slightly different application.

There is a characteristic change between the first four beatitudes and the next four. B1 - B5 develop partnerships between God, the Image, and people. It brings the truth of the Image to us. It becomes the training foundation for the second four beatitudes which focus on relationships between people and other people. it is practical for home, neighbors, and nations. The first portion of the beatitudes might be called a vertical relationship between God and people, from the Source. The second portion is a horizontal relationship between people, patterned on the Image. The relationship between the two parallel triads will reinforce how to act, change, and grow: source IN; BECOME like; OUT like.

That the three progressive steps of a triad developed in literature seems natural due to it being seen naturally in all things. For example within nature, plants take IN light, carbon dioxide, water, and minerals; then BECOME a plant by use of its source materials; then give OUT their modified source materials as oxygen and water vapor. IN, BECOME, OUT. In terms of a computer: source INput by software, data entry, etc. causes the processor to BECOME the source input; then develop OUTput to the monitor, printer, mill lathe, etc. with proper effect. All change happens in this three step way. We get, grow, and give. The Source In, to Become like the source, to go Out as the source: the Image. It is true that only in modern times do we understand the processes of the above examples, but people have always understood that what goes into a person forms them and will be the identity given out.

Stop awhile to view the big night sky of stars, prior to the last four beatitudes.

The bigger picture gives a view about the purpose of the Image for society. The Image does not tear down some people in order to build-up itself or other people. It does not need to subjugate and walk over some people, to draw blood, or to give unfair advantage to other people. The good Image will lift everyone who will reflect on it. But, weak self-imaged people cause conflicts among neighboring nations and tear down people. They destroy in the name of false images. Yet, people who look to the Image for added guidance and strength become disciplined, with the right sort of justice; and with a true independence that has dependence upon added strength from God. They build and give like God.

It is a mistake to think the Image to be inconsequential, and then to become self-sufficient; as self-gods. People inflict misery and pain on other people in order to cover their own self-weaknesses.

People and nations that realistically mourn about self-weaknesses will have hope and be blessed with a maturity and strength that knows how to build up other peoples and bring lasting solutions. We can grow through finding strength from the Image, and truly face self-weaknesses. We cannot lastingly change things in our own power. We need the Image of God. The Image is the Only realistic image.

A person might wonder why this Image should be claimed the Source of goodness, truth, and love. A way to prove truth is to act out the beatitudes. “Acts” make “facts”, for or against! These two words have the same linguistic root: Latin “facere”, “to do” or “to make”. This is also the scientific method for testing. The first sentence of this paragraph is the hypothesis and is to be tested with substantive material: the beatitudes and related material mentioned later. If we test something not claimed to be from God, then do not expect true results. The words of God are the substantive source materials for testing. Be sure to follow the instructions. Each person becomes the testing medium! Acting on the beatitudes and its related materials will produce facts that either support or deny hypothecated claims about the Image: true or false; accepted or rejected. The test results should show the Image of God in us AND also allow us to understand God well enough so that we can identify His actions when in process around us. Then, by faith, we can join the active God who works, so that we do not invent work and wrongfully call it “God”. We join. Faith tests it. The next beatitude continues the protocol.

The second half of the beatitudes: relations among peoples -
The fifth beatitude presents a personal challenge about our being merciful and it ends with the same thought, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The first part of B5 answers the promise in B4, “… for they shall be filled.” We are filled with the practice of mercy, but it is not easy and will challenge us to the core. We are “filled” when understanding how to love people in hard situations, perhaps people who are mourning their own weaknesses and past pain; themselves growing in the second beatitude. Through the responsibility to do the first half of B5, we grow to become a channel of strength for people; to give from who we have become.

We will need the mercy of God in practicing our endeavors, found in the promise from the Source in second half of B5. B5, like B2, is about strength from the Source, both the first step in their triads.

The transition from B4 to B5 is also the point of change from the first four beatitudes that guide in developing the Image of God in us, to the last four beatitudes that guide us in developing relationships among people. The B5 dealing mercifully with people will reveal personal weaknesses in us and needs for growth. Thereby, at this juncture, we are often returned to the first triad at B2 for consideration of our various needs, to feel them and mourn, and receive comfort from God. As we cycle back through the first triad for growth, then when practicing the second triad of B5 through B7, we can better identify with needs of other people, and will know how to offer true mercy.

Often, a person who is very mature in various areas of life is also very stunted in other areas of life. Perhaps this disparity happens from hurts, or from things previously avoided, or even from simple lack of experience. The practice of mercy and the remaining four beatitudes will challenge our remaining weak areas, and as progress is continued through the beatitudes for relationship among people, we will often return to B2 through B4 for developing the Image of God in us. Recycling to the first step of a triad is an essential feature in this parallelism type.

The first beatitude of humility-realness remains the essential foundation for all the beatitudes. If a person would cease from it, then none of the beatitudes would work. Since B5 is the first step of the second triad , it similar to B2, the first step of its prior triad. Their common characteristic is strength from the Source, either comfort or mercy. The promise in B5 “… for they shall obtain mercy.” is sourced IN from God, as is the B2 promise of comfort. If people would fail in foundational humility, then they would be not feel the need to dependently source either promise. Both triads would fail.

People often love well because they have been real and identified weaknesses needing help from the Image which are similar to the needs of the person requiring mercy. Having been humble, they have found solutions to their problems. They know what works. But, people who do not remain humble toward God will tend to act unwisely, weakly, and without requisite love. They have not trained to become mature like the Image. They are prideful and often miserably subjugate other people. It is typical of tyrants in human history. And it is typical of people who join with them, to empower them.

The B5 promise, “… for they shall obtain mercy”, is realized through the sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”. As a person both gives mercy to people and recycles through B2 to B4 for their own weaknesses, they BECOME more like the Image; pure in their actions and pure before their neighbors. B6 parallels B3. We BECEOME more like God. Purity will help people wisely make good moral decisions that affects economy and lifestyles. B6 is not only the second step in the second parallel triad, but also the fifth step of the combined triads [ B1 is a foundational opening and not part of the parallel triads. ]. As will be seen later in parallelism from other parts of the Bible, the fifth core step often relates stories about forgiveness. As parallelism has opening and closing, then this is the sixth step.

The act of forgiveness is one of the most maturing concepts to be learned in life, and of which parents can teach children to “become” mature in order to promote lifelong success. We must understand how forgiveness helps society to “become” mature among its neighbors and nations. It will also help elucidate the promise of B6 and the following step B7. After its consideration, we will finish the B’s.

The sixth beatitude, Forgive and Forget: the second step in the repeating triad - -

The word for-give is hyphenated to highlight its root ‘give’. “For-get” and forgive have a like prefix, “for-” meaning “not” in Latin. What are we to “not” - “give and get“. The attitudes of “give and take” help make a successful relationship. For acts of mercy, we must first “not-give”: hate and rejection, irritation and bitterness, etc. Second, love gives goodness. And love gives goodness so that all people affected by the situation receive the greatest amount of goodness possible. Forgiveness takes thought, problem solving, and planning. For-giveness allows an about-face toward give-ness.

In the state of being alive, we are always giving something: either good or bad, acceptance and help, or hate and rejection; yes or no. As people enter a room full of people, their presence and attitude gives a message that is understood. What is given? For example, when there is a problem at home or at work, what is for-given, so that truth can be given? Here is a Biblical image: “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”, Lamentations 3:22. And, Lamentations 3:23, “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” God forgives what we deserve, so that we can be offered what is needed: truth for life. How much forgiveness is right?

In the “give and get” of relationship, what are we to for-get; that is to “not-get”? Forgetting is often thought of as ‘missing from memory’. True, but its meaning is more profound. We are to “not-get” again the wrong that had been done! Forgiveness does not require people to become door mats to be walked over again. In order to set a standard, someone must begin it. People are to “not get” hate and rejection, irritation and bitterness, etc. This means the other party for-gives, too, so that more badness is not-given and we do not-get the badness. The beatitudes are about change. Often, people do not know what goodness looks like until they are shown examples. And we might not know what goodness looks like unless someone shows us, too. Be patient, but behavior is to eventually change.

How can we know if we have truly forgiven? If we in our own power cannot handle problems and bury them with a covering of false pride, and then wishfully think that they will never again affect us, then we have not forgiven. We know that we have for-given well if we can give goodness to the same or similar problem situations. Avoid or give. Perhaps a person or nation who needs forgiveness and your giving of goodness is not realistic nor humble to accept it. Offering goodness does not mean that it will be accepted. Perhaps a person has died and cannot receive goodness. Forgiveness is primarily about not giving hate and wrong, and giving what is needed and right. It is primarily about the giver. It secondarily affects receivers. It wants justice, for ALL. As we give, we are matured.

Forgiveness allows give-ness: God does not destroy us, but gives truth for life. People who are real about self-image, and who desire to become like the strong Image, obtain mercy from God. These people BECOME the “pure in heart” in B6; not hateful in heart. God continues to give until our sand in the timeglass is gone. At death, forgiveness is no longer available. Opportunity for humility about falsity and weakness will have passed. We can actively become part of the story and its purpose, now.

How do we love? Beatitude six is step-two of the second triad’s of “becoming / training”. It reaches to the depths of our “Be Attitudes” [ a sound-alike phrase, but without etymology ]. We BECOME more like the Image, to go out as the Image. ‘Pure-in-attitude’ people are able to “see - understand” the promise of the sixth beatitude. It will be fulfilled though their doing the first part of the seventh.

Finishing the training for good relations with neighbors -
The seventh beatitude teaches us how to go “OUT”, to practice who we have become, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” The promise of the sixth beatitude, “… for they shall see God.”, is answered as we “see = understand” the purpose of the Image for us: to be peacemakers. This is the third step of the second triad, parallel to the third step of the first triad: hungering and thirsting for righteousness. But, it is more. It is also about bringing people to relationship with the Image: making peace with God. People need to come in, to become, to go out.

The first half of the beatitudes develop relationships between us and the Image. The second half applies that growth to help form relationships between people. Here, developed skills received from the Image should attract people to desire peace with God. Neighborly peace first gains experience to understand what makes peace with the Father. Then making peace involves our understanding how God desires us to inculcate a harmony of common values. This seventh step is the culmination of much past training and growth. People need opportunity to go to the Source for growth and maturity.

The promise of the seventh beatitude, “… for they shall be called the children of God.”, is realized in the eighth beatitude: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” People might think, “Why would I want to be persecuted!” If you are doing something right for people, community, or society, someone will likely become upset; especially a non-humble individual who cannot stomach the first beatitude. If you are persecuted for doing well, it probably means that someone else is not doing well. They feel uncomfortable. But, if you are not doing anything, the scenery might be peaceful for awhile. But unrestrained evil often expands to not only visit your home, but to it take over. Here, you are promised that yours is the kingdom of heaven.

The children of God do not get knocked over and stepped on by life. They have been through the training course and know how to remain standing, with God. Their skills allow the Source of truth to accomplish goodness far beyond their own abilities. Children hear and do the will of the father, and they experience the Father working. When people walked in the front door of the first beatitude, theirs was “the kingdom of heaven”. Now people are strong and mature because they remained in it.

People who identify with God help other people to do the same. The word “identity” is helpful. Its root, “idem”, means the “same”. Identical twins are the same. We identify with someone because of the “same” values or characteristics. We identify objects by their similarities or differences. And, we identify with the Image because we have become children of the Father, doing the same work as He.

Both people and nations can have peace and enjoyment. They can be persecuted and remain standing because they can gain an internal moral gyroscope from the Image that points them toward Him and gives them balance. They can give help instead of hatred. They under-stand what stands-under truth; a foundation of reality strengthened by the Image. They know the difference between good and evil.

Evil is like noxious weeds growing among a field of good wheat. Evil is not easily separated. If the weed is pulled, then the good plant is damaged. Evil mixes with goodness, to “fuse” with personal and institutional roots, and cause “con-fusion”. Separation of good and evil is not done by yanking terribly hard at evil, but by producing good wheat heads which eventually can be separated from the weed seed. What we produce depends on our Image. Our Image guides our acts to make facts, which can eventually be harvested and separated. Societal institutions confused with evil need to produce new futures with peacemaking acts. Do justice. When a crop of goodness grows among weeds, then there is good substance to work with, while rejecting the rest. Goodness brings a harvest to separate!

If you are frustrated, step backward. The first beatitude is essential for everything.

Are you bearing tasty fruit? If you might be sour, then focus on the beatitude that fits your situation, then go back one step to consider its supporting beatitude. For example, if you get knocked down by B8 life and feel weak knees, then go to B7 to ask if you know how to help people make peace with the Image. If you can correct it, then great. But if confusion remains, then go back another step to check your B6 purity. Do you still obtaining the B5 mercy of God, or are you “still”: not moving? If you give B5 acts of mercy toward people, does it B4 fill you: satisfying your hungers? If not, do you often return to B2 from B4, for comfort? If not, is there B4 hunger and thirst for righteousness, or no passion to inherit the earth? If not, are you B3 trainable to gain strength? If not, do you mourn in the reality of your weaknesses, to depend upon the strength of God to affect you? Lastly, if not, check B1 humility about the spirit. Question if you are operating in the kingdom of heaven. We must enter the door as “poor in spirit” at the first beatitude and never leave it. This is the residency of the kingdom.

Action: where wheels meet the road of life.

Fools actively fool themselves by not facing facts! They do not face facts because it is too painful in their own identity and strength. They miss the fact that we gain strength from the Image. We will all be fooled sometime, but it is terrible to continually fool oneself! If we are led into actions by leaders calling evil right and weaknesses strong, then it is because we do not understand right, nor effective strength. If we attempt to subjugate neighboring peoples and nations to gain a buffer barrier of self protection, it is because we dote on past abuse; on our weakness of the past, then selectively point to partial national histories which obscure the power of real humility and strength through for-giveness.

It was in self-sufficient weaknesses that both Hitler and Stalin with their supporting followers wanted to preserve themselves, alone. They led people to step on neighbors and their own peoples. People did horrific miseries of bloodshed, recreated by their self-sufficient weak images which grinded upon the needs of Europe and Asia. Eurasia is a historical crossroads of dire bloodshed; of invading and being invaded. Its collective memory of peoples causes concern for how to “never again” be stepped on, downtrodden, stabbed, and then reduced to other people’s false images. But, where is the Image?

If we look to the Image, we will inherit the earth and be filled. Land is essential to life. Raw solid land gives a home on which to raise families and work. But land, itself, does not buffer people from wrong nor offer peace and security. If people of a Fatherland, including people who exercised poor weakened images to foment the Great Patriotic War, are to produce lasting goodness, and if people of a Motherland who were bloodied by following leaders are to bless, too, then families must become like the good Image: humble about weaknesses; to forgive and then to give. Europe, Asia, Americas, and peoples around the world develop their own images. What is done? People of the Image know what to do, how to stand, and how to not-give hate. They give goodness and are preserved. They can stand and survive whippings of history, and most importantly, they do not whip history! What is right and wrong? Sin is defined as wrongdoing, and it results directly from acting independently from the Image. The Image works within our dependence! Totally independent people have a wrong sort of independence. Love gives the most amount of goodness, considering ALL things affected by its gift.

Where not to live or travel: in autocratic lands

The eight maturing steps of the beatitudes from the Bible book of Matthew, chapter 5, have been considered. There is another version of eight steps, called the Woes from Matthew 23:13 - 30, five chapters from the end of the book. Jesus pronounced Woes upon corrupt leaders of His day. The eight woes correspond to each beatitude in an opposite way. They are anti-beatitudes. They show characteristics of people who live from their own independent images, and thereby hurt people and society. In the Woes, Jesus followed the form of the beatitudes to identify how evil progresses and affect people and societies. It is somewhat like reading fresh newspaper articles about evil in modern history. The word “beatitude” means “blessed” and the word “woe” means “cursed”, both with the same divine power of origin. Each beatitude begins with “Blessed are ….”, andeach woe begins with “Woe unto you …”. It is a stark comparison for how evil persons and societies develop. Below, I greatly paraphrased them. They are self explanatory by comparing their progression to the beatitudes.

Woes to evil people: compare with corresponding beatitudes - - The full passage is in the Bible.

1 - they never humble themselves to reality and weaknesses, and are never freed from gnawing pain and hurt; they never find the humble entry door to the Image.

2 - they devour the needy; [ note: some Bibles, such as the NIV, do not include this Matthew 23:14, because of considerations about what are the most reliable ancient “majority” manuscripts. Some Bibles show it. Yet, the verse exists at Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. Matthew is so highly structured that any void seems more about whether systems of judging ancient manuscript reliability is reliable. ]

3 - they mislead and guide followers to be more evil than they;

4 - they create alluring societal images that are vacant of any meaning and help;

--------- 5, 6, 7 are parallel to 2, 3, 4

5 - they form unmerciful laws, obsess on light matters, and omit weightier matters of justice;

6 - they polish their personal cups which hold extortion and excess; they draw other people into it.

7 - they claim to seek and create beauty, but contain a core of stench and death.

8 - they give great honor to social reformers who died for a cause, and then kill people who speak for change, while claiming, “If we had lived in the days of these past honored social reformers, we would have defended them.”

Life or its loss results from choosing to walk toward the Light of the Image, or living in darkness. If Light allows you to gain hope for a true reality, and win in life, then remain standing for what is right.

The Old Testament Source of the Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are the Ten Commandments, restated. It is the good news which continued from the Old Testament to letters that formed the New Testament. The Bible in use during New Testament times was the Old Testament. And, parts of the Beatitudes are also found in various in other Old Testament passages. In the transition from Old Testament to New, the Ten Commandments remain an essential revelation that form New Testament gospel. The parallelism of the Ten Commandments forms the structure of the book of Matthew through use of the beatitudes and other similar lists. Its parallelism is also used to teach stories which draw us into the action and help to us identify how God desires to communicate with us. This is because God desires to actively use us to promote goodness.

So that there will be clarity about the relation of the beatitudes to its source, the Ten Commandments [ TC ], I will simply apply the TCs to daily use, and also compare them to the parallel-stepped six-stanza “Our Father prayer” [ OF ] found in Matthew, chapter six. The OF follows the chapter of the beatitudes. The eight beatitudes [ B ] have opening and closing steps, leaving six core steps; formed by two repeating parallel tri-steps. These six core steps are the TC, restated and match the OF.

How are the TC formed from six steps? Characteristics of Commandments 6 - 10 are treated as the final one step in parallelism, as will be shown. The TC is not only the basis of the B, OF, but also other passages. Among various religions, the TC slightly varies in its divisions. There are three groups of general agreement: 1 - Jewish, 2 - Latin Catholic and Lutheran, and 3 - Eastern Catholic and Orthodox and most Protestant churches. Their use, below, is the same as group 3 for unstated literary and practical reasons, except for one point. The Jewish religion includes in Commandment one what non-Jewish religions call the preamble. This writing follows the Jewish in that variation.

Six steps: two parallel, three-step progressions - - seen by comparison of TC, B, and OF.

TC1 - God is strong, having brought people out of bondage in Egypt, and there is no other like God.
B2 - God provides strength to replace our mourning about weaknesses
OF1 - Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Setting: The TC is in the form of a societal contract between a king and subjects, used by Mideast nations contemporary to the period of the TC, such as Ugaritic, etc. Societal contracts between king and subjects predicated that the good king was the source and standard of goodness. The standards were usually stated in the negative, to prick the conscience of the subjects when not followed. The positive was easily elucidated. The king is the image of goodness, to which subjects look for right.
Rubric: source / IN
TC2 - No other images. If people followed other images and not the commandments, a visit of iniquity was given to get their attention. If people followed commandments, blessings followed.
B3 - Be trainable and inherit the earth.
OF2 - Thy kingdom come.
Setting: A king wanted a good kingdom made of good subjects, thus he gave commandments that emanated from his goodness, that people become his Image. The TC’s are negatively stated. Each TC assumes a person did not follow the previous. In TC1, if people did not accept God as the Image, then they would make poor choices in TC2, ascribing power to images in order to BECOME like it instead of like the good king. If they did this, the king would visit iniquity upon them, a temporary condition. If they accepted him as the Image, then they would follow his commandments and be blessed. It was the king’s prerogative to give land inheritances to people who had served him well.
Rubric: BECOME
TC3 - Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain [ in thinness or emptiness ]: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
B4 - passionately do righteousness, and be filled
OF3 - Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven
Setting: if a person did not take in the king’s image, TC1, and made his own image, TC2, then went out into the world claiming to be in the image of the king, the king would be wroth. The image to the world about his name: his personage and his goodness would be a sham. The king would not hold that person guiltless, implying eternal judgment. Our job is to take In the Image, to Become it, and then go Out as it in righteousness; taking its name as our own representation; not in vain. If turning people away from the king because of our false image, then we denigrate the purpose for which we exist. We are to go out to do His will on earth, representing the personality of the Name in heaven.
Rubric: OUT / go

----------------- This completes the first parallel half of three parts: In, Become, Out. Now it repeats.

TC4 - Cease from your work one day in seven. Remember the mighty God who delivered you from slavery. [ Be merciful to people all week, then on the Sabbath celebrate the mercy of God, Isaiah 58. ]
B5 - Be merciful with that which you have become, then remember that God continues mercy to you.
OF4 - Give us this day our daily bread.
Setting: The Sabbath is for celebrating that God is the source of all things. It helps us remember the purpose of God, thus our purpose and mutual relationship with Him. Like the parallel C1, there is no promise of reward, but only a demand to do it. Honor the Image, and discover God. In both C1 and C4, the strength of God delivered people from Egyptian slavery. [ Deuteronomy 5:7, 8 & 5:15 ]. If we recognize Him as the source of life, then we can put our self-independent foolishness to rest. God is the Source of both mercy and comfort, like B5 and B2 [ core steps 4 and 1 ], and God is the Source of blessing, like OF4 and OF1. We are to hallow the Image of the good Father so that we do not become self-independent images that grind on our neighbors, bringing evil falsity. The Sabbath was instituted by God on the seventh day, ceasing creation to work the plan for which creation was made.

The best translation from Hebrew in Genesis 2:3 is that God “ceased”, not “rested” from six days of creation. God is not snoring, but works the plan for which creation was purposed. Genesis 2:3 also states that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day [ Sabbath ], meaning that it was set apart for a special purpose. The fourth command memorializes the plan of creation. After six days of creating our environs, to finally make us, God uses us to work His plan in the seventh day. Awe about it!!!

The plan was designed from before creation to separate goodness from evil that existed from before creation, I Peter 1:19 - 20, and other passages. Creation was fashioned to solve a problem. The story ends with goodness and evil separated into two places, heaven and hell. We are created for the plan, to do our part. Our part of the plan is portrayed in the second of eight parables listed together in Matthew, chapter 13. Like the Beatitudes, the parables match the TC’s, thus the OF, etc. The second parable is found in two parts, at Matthew 13:24 - 30 and 13:35 - 43. Its abstract is that goodness and evil are intertwined, like roots of wheat and weeds growing together. Pull the weed and the wheat is ruined. That is the situation, prior to creation and now. The big plan is to produce good wheat heads or bad weed heads which can be separated. They are our works, what we do. When evil showed up with Satan in the Garden of Eden, God expected it. He did not need an alternate plan. His plan was in place before creation [ I Peter 1:19 - 20, and other passages ] and continued, including His eventual death and resurrection meant to help heal us. Is there heaven and hell? His resurrection is the notice.

The Sabbath is important to remember, because it memorializes the plan of creation, what God does, and why we exist. Satan and evil will not be in heaven. God told Israel to keep their land fallow as a “land Sabbath” every seventh year, for one year, as a memorial. Israel did not do it for 490 years and was put into Babylonian captivity for 70 years to the exact day, so that the seventh year Sabbath memorials were kept [ 490/7 = 70 fallow years of no farming ]. Land is foundational. Nations exist on it or disappear from it. God was serious that his chosen people honor the memorial and remember His plan. The captivity should not have been a surprise to them because God gave them the exact consequences of blessing or curses for required actions, before, in Deuteronomy, chapter 28. Fair.

The plan leads to the final Sabbath rest. We are considered His partners in His work. In Hebrew 4:9, the final “rest” is identified to be when humanity’s work is “ceased”, “sabbatismos” in Greek, like when God ceased from His work of creating. There remains, therefore, a future rest as part of the long and purposeful plan for existence. Whether it was daily manna given as daily bread, except on the Sabbath so people would remember the Source of the plan, or OF4 “our daily bread”, or the TC4 Sabbath, His pro-vision for us is part of the process toward the promised land, heaven. It is within our choice to accept His vision with resultant blessings or reject it with resultant curses. God cares.

Rubric: source / IN
TC5 - By honoring Mom and Dad, people mature to learn how to survive well in this big world, in the land which the LORD your God gives. This is true no matter our age as a son or a daughter.
B6 - become pure, and you will understand what God is doing in this big world in which we live.
OF5 - And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Setting: TC5 and the parallel TC2 both make consequential promises. And while TC2 makes God the giver of commandments, TC5 makes parents the commanders in His Image. The first is a vertical relationship between God and humanity. This second is horizontal, among humanity. Commands are given from the earthly image of the giver. Parents teach by image. Children grow in the Image of God through parents who recognize their dependence upon God and cease from independent self-images. This commandment fosters an essential relational skill for life: forgiveness, so we can give.
Rubric: BECOME
TC6-10 - Like TC3, as people affect the world, if they go OUT in the name of the Image, they will not do things that dishonor His purpose. Do not murder: it kills the ultimate creation, humans, necessary for the plan of the seventh day to proceed with their services. Satan wants you obliterated in order to stop the plan. / Do not commit adultery: it creates havoc with families and stunts society in numerous ways. / Do not steal: it harms community production and growth. / Do not bear false witness against your neighbor: neighborhoods are severely damaged by bad neighbors. / Do not covet: acting as though you control everything will destroy. God controls and gives. / The kingdom of God serves the ultimate end plan through His: creation, society, community, neighbors, and you.
B7 - Go. Make peace from your purity; lead people to the Source of your image, so they can make peace with God who can become their image.
OF6 - And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
Setting: OF6 is stated in the negative because it represents TC6-10 which are in the negative. If we are led by God as we go to the world as the Image, then we will NOT be led into temptation. We will be delivered from TC6-10. The last commandment, ten, has a ‘do not covet’ list almost identical to the TC4 ‘what to put to rest’ list for the Sabbath. Following these common lists help us not to avoid becoming self-gods. For developing maturity through these lists, TC6-10 is step 3 and returns us to TC4 as a step 1 in this second parallel half. It cycles our growth back to the Source in order to get our priorities right. This return from step 3 to step 1 is an essential feature in this type of parallelism.
Rubric: OUT / go

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1. - Source and take God in, 2. - to become like God, and then 3. - go out to do as His Image, in love!

The book of Matthew puts the Ten Commandments into stories to help us identify how to live them.

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CLOSING - - with a consideration -

Consider a night sky filled with shining stars, to inspire that hope exists in darkness. The word “con-sider” expresses “with - star”. Its root “-sider” means “star” from Latin ‘siderus’. Its root is found in words like sidereal time or sidereal month. When we “consider” something well, we closely look at it, like a person looking at a gleaming star. Truth is better revealed. Similarly, how we look at life is also affected by considering the word: “respect”. The root “-spect” means to “look”, like the word spectacles. The suffix “re-” reminds us to look “back again”, almost like the sand images that looked back to 1945, to remind us about love. For people we love, we “look back again” to “consider” them.

Some people might look back again to a high star atop an obelisk memorial for fallen soldiers, or as a person from the United States I might consider the Statue of Liberty memorial given to us by France; on which are written the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, …. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”. Even these gleaming points of hope need a higher Image, like the strong light of Sun. When doors of humility are opened to the Image, hope shines its strong light into our darkened places, and gives strength for weakness. I hope you are blessed in your consideration of this review, as I was with viewing the sand images with its music. Like grains of sand that become images in the hands of its designer, are you available to the hands of the Maker, to form His good Image? In, Become, Go. Blessings,

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