Interesting thing, calendars. It is one of the ingenious inventions of mankind, that we use without regard to its origin or makeup. The hieroglyphics discovered in caves, tombs, pyramids, and stone monuments around the world, reveals its origin to be tens of thousands of years old.

One such calendar of interest is the Ancient Egyptian Thoth Calendar, established in the reign of Pharaoh Shepseskaf (2494–2345 BC.) It was Thoth who created the 365-day calendar. Twelve months of 30 days each, 360 regular days with five extra days added on to the end of the year, and a single day added every fourth year as a leap year, making the calendar reliable to this day. The New Year's Day fell on the first day of the month of Thoth, around August 29 in our calendar.

It is believed that Thoth was the author of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Book of Breathing. Thoth loved sharing his knowledge with others. Today, Internet makes it possible for us to listen and share our knowledge with people around the world. Let's think of Thoth and share our stories. I think that would make Thoth sit up in his tomb and smile. The Feast of Thoth is celebrated as a day of writing and sharing stories in Egypt today.

So it is that calendars represent man's unique way of registering his accounts, and immortalizing people important to history. Like Mother Teresa, born August 26, 1910, who gave a new meaning to serving selflessly. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died last Tuesday, August 30, proved that differences can be resolved peacefully and amicably between big rivals, even ones like the United States and USSR.

And the philosopher Georg Hegel, born on August 27, 1770. He devised the concept of Dialectic, the idea that all human progress is driven by the conflict between opposites, that each political movement is imperfect and so gives rise to a counter movement which takes control - and is also imperfect - and thus gives rise to yet another counter movement, and so on to infinity.
Hegel wrote, "Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights."

Just think how many of today's world conflicts we can resolve by just following some of the teachings of these three people mentioned in our calendars.

Reza Ghadimi
September 1, 2022

Out of the nature that surrounds
And the world that turns around
Day and night set the mode
To work or rest when it's sound.
Time works to nature's need
Evolving life takes time indeed.
Those who live urban ways
Want speedy lives, and ready meals.
Forget the required time for
Life to develop, plants to grow
Cattle and sheep to graze.
Time for children and maize to grow
Jungles breath and oceans breed.
For seasons to arrive and produce
Grow the seeds to edible feed.
It matters not where it was sowed
Only time for it to grow.
Time is integral to life.
Mindful we must be of time
Less it will leave us behind.

Reza Ghadimi
August 2022

Reminiscence of bygone days, memories of what (once) was.  Nostalgia need not be for long ago or far away, sometimes one can feel longing for something quite recent. Though my fishing trip just happened, I desire for its peace still.  There is something soothing and calming to the soul, watching a river gently flow past.  Perhaps its resemblance to our body's circulatory structure, reveals how much a part of nature we are. Or that its motion reassures us of our existence, a testament to our being.
 
The tranquility of the deep gorge I was in was comforting and peaceful. The crows, magpies, and occasional jump of a fish, did keep my attention immersed in its beauty. But the modern world still found ways to disrupt it with over flying aircraft and the occasional whistle of a distant train. 
 
Such places are everywhere, as are peaceful people who live there and are oblivious to the intrusion of what lays beyond (see old & new in Blog Archive). I recall another such place on a mountaintop in Central America. A couple of caring RN nuns, ran a semblance of a clinic there and occasionally, health practitioners from the outside world came and helped out, for a few days or weeks. I talk about it in my book, Practicing from the Heart in the Age of Technology - (A SALUTE TO OUR NURSES). The gentle folk, living in those remote places, had only a day-to-day task of keeping themselves and their animals, safe and cared for.  What help, occasionally came to them was a blessing. A gift from another world, beyond their perception, perhaps, even from gods. It was not to be taken for granted, only appreciated.  I felt ashamed that my intrusive world was encroaching violently upon theirs.
 
But of course the other side of this reality is the fact that modern technology - like the augmented reality in training medical students and healthcare professionals - will ultimately lead to better providers as well as discovery of better ways to research, develop, manufacture pharmaceuticals as well medical and other devices that will help everyone, including people in isolated areas. The trick is not destroy one way of life, while improving the other. Then we can all enjoy the peace of nature, no matter our lifestyle.
 
Reza Ghadimi 
August 2022