ipernity: Articles by William Sutherland

Chasing the Holy Grail of Eclipses

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. [Acts 2:20] Actually instead of doom and gloom, 8 April 2024 proved to be a surreal, awesome, joyful and even life-changing day for many who had watched as the eclipse unfolded with anticipation, excitement and awe. Since 21 August 2017 when our area (the NYC metro region) experienced a partial solar eclipse, Don and I had resolved to see totality in a solar eclipse set fo…

2024: The Dissolution of America?

- 05 Mar 2024 - 10 comments

Image created by Dall-e 2 Today, with the USA on the cusp of an intractable split, the Supreme Court exhibited a rare example of unity handing down a 9-0 decision that prohibited states from removing former President Donald Trump from the ballot. Like him or loathe him, this is the correct decision since allowing states to determine who is on their ballots would've destroyed our electoral system since states sympathetic to Trump’s candidacy threatened to retaliate and likewi…

Just after 12:30 AM on 5 July 2022 I died...

- 16 Jul 2022 - 8 comments

Composite created from images purchased from Shutterstock While I never crossed the threshold of the point of no return – permanent death – the near death experience (NDE) was nevertheless a shock. Being in top physical shape with perfect numbers on my last physical in December 2021, it was something I could have never imagined nor expected, which reinforces Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ (121-180 CE) words, “Live each day as if it were your last...” When I overexerted myself to hasten…

11 October 2021: Indigenous Peoples'/Columbus Day

- 12 Oct 2021 - 2 comments

Collage: Totem Poles, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, Purchase, NY (25 May 2009) and Architectural Relief, Mount Vernon, NY (27 April 2012) On this 11 October 2021 the debate continues to rage in the United States about today’s holiday. Some call it “Indigenous Peoples' Day,” others continue to call it “Columbus Day” – I call it both, with the term “Indigenous Peoples” at the forefront since there are oral records of North American peoples hunting mammoths, saber-toothed tigers an…

15 August 2021: A New Day in Infamy

- 15 Aug 2021 - 15 comments

Created using free online clipart from Clipart Library and Clipartmax. Words cannot express my shame (hence even the Chinook hangs it head) on this new day of infamy when all the lies of our Vietnam "success" are repeated, Chinooks ferry out Americans as the leadership or more aptly the cowards in Washington leave some 37 million innocent Afghans (especially women and girls) to fend for themselves in an uncertain future if there is one. :( Is America's word any good? Why should any countr…

COVIPOCALYPSE

- 09 Oct 2020 - 18 comments

Notes: Header Illustration created from stock images purchased from Shutterstock®. Story is a narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The United States has been invaded. The Coronavirus has taken over the White House. To deceive the American people, officials claim it “snuck” in. Maybe the secret service is to blame for sleeping on the job! If it was only so! The President threw open every door and window and invited it in. Now the Coronavirus controls the country’…

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Our Own 40 Days in the Desert

- 12 Apr 2020 - 6 comments

Note: Article lead photo taken at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, NY on March 29, 2020. Background created from desert photo purchased from Shutterstock.® As the world remains gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic that has completely transformed our way of life and altered our priorities and filled so many with immense suffering, one can only look back to the to the life of Jesus, especially the time when he spent 40 days and nights in the desert at Mount Quarantania (Jabal al-Qarant…

NYC 2020: COVID-19 Desolation

- 01 Apr 2020 - 12 comments

Banner created using Coronavirus clipart for the zeros in 2020 purchased from Shutterstock and photograph of a solitary person who exited the New Jersey Path at World Trade Center Station Updated: 20 April 2020: With New York the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and the daily death toll now exceeding 200, grim reality has sunk in. Consequently with the exception of military personnel providing services at the Jacob Javits Center that had been converted into an operational hospi…

Solarbûn li dijî qirkirinê (Solidarity against Genocide)

- 15 Oct 2019 - 19 comments

Solidarity against Genocide Header Image

Created from Shutterstock Stock Photograph purchased for Article “You have given up on us. You are leaving us to be slaughtered.” [1] [Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi, Commander, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces] While I oppose any coups, I believe President Trump’s misguided and reckless decision to abandon the Kurds is reason enough for voters to deny him a second term. Personally I cannot in good conscience vote for a President whose actions unleash genocide, nor one w…

The Hidden New York City

- 11 Oct 2019 - 13 comments

While New York City, a metropolis of 8.6 million is known for its urban bustle and towering skyscrapers currently with four over 100 stories tall, Central Park with its diverse ecosystems and abundance of flora and fauna provides a hidden view of New York City and a welcome escape from the urban din. “Under the forest canopy of the Ravine , Manhattan’s skyline is hidden and the rushing sound of a waterfall drowns the city noise. When Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux create…

1-1_3-1-1-3

- 30 Sep 2019 - 17 comments

I created the header image because the United States is facing its greatest threat ever – a coup that will forever destroy the Constitution, extinguish freedom and have significant, profound and lasting consequences for not only America but the entire world as human dignity and fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, thought, religion and life are eliminated and governments determine and control the dissemination of information, shape our individual destiny and even decide who may have off…

A “Green” Revolution is still Possible

- 20 Sep 2019 - 7 comments

With today’s climate change strike protests by young people (who have the most to lose) across the world the question arises, did the world miss its best chance to unleash a “green” revolution? Back in late 2008 and early 2009, when the world was experiencing the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, former World Bank Chairman Nicholas Stern stated, “the economic case for tackling the global climate crisis is more compelling than ever” [1] since downturns and dis…

Setbacks and Disappointment: Hidden Opportunities

- 17 Sep 2019 - 5 comments

Created from Images purchased from Shutterstock For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” [Jeremiah 2 9:11 ] Disappointment, setbacks and adversity “are inevitable parts of life, yet difficult… to deal with.” [1] Yet there is little comfort in knowing this and even when a spiritual explanation is added – “It happens for a reason” – they are still not easy to accept since we often never…

Post 9/11 Requiem?

- 11 Sep 2019 - 11 comments

All of us who lived that 9/11 day eighteen years ago will never forget. That fateful Tuesday started out full of promise with a cloudless sky and mild temperatures until the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of 1 World Trade Center at 8:46 AM. A second plane, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower seventeen minutes later. By 10:28 AM both towers had collapsed and New York City was shrouded in darkness with the Statue of Liberty the only beacon of light as it…

Even a Bug's Life Matters

- 07 Sep 2019 - 9 comments

Insects “may all look alike to human eyes, but each… is unique” with its own distinct face and “personality” that consists of traits like boldness, forcefulness, determination, shyness and even the presence of an ego, [1] despite being an estimated quintillion in number. At the same time, insects are conscious sentient beings that can communicate, think, have subjective experiences, possess a memory, feel pain, display emotions including empathy and engage in both individualistic and group b…

The Convergent Theology of Buddhism and Christianity

- 29 Aug 2019 - 7 comments

From a distance Buddhism that emphasizes attaining the “highest good” and Christianity that focuses on salvation through the cross, appear incompatible and distinct especially since one branch of Buddhism is non-Theistic (Godless) in nature. However when the sayings of Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BC), a monk, teacher and philosopher in northeastern India and the founder of Buddhism, a strand of sutras when pieced together form a messianic text and Mahāyāna Buddhism (the dominant branch with 53%…

Woodstock’s Ideals of Peace and Love Relevant Today and Always

- 17 Aug 2019 - 6 comments

Fifty years ago – August 15-17, 1969 – “three days of peace and music” at Woodstock in the tiny New York town of Bethel that had expected “no more than 50,000 people” [1] marked an epochal spiritual and cultural moment in global history when more than 400,000 people came together to enjoy music and spread peace and love among each other despite soaking rains, cramped space, and scarce provisions of food and water. Even though the crowd wa…

Eid al-adha

- 10 Aug 2019 - 9 comments

When I wished two Muslim friends “Happy Eid al-adha” a holiday that commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac to God, I was asked by a Christian friend to explain the holiday. When I did so, he commented, “then Mohammad’s claims of having a vision from the Angel Gabriel were a lie.” Even though it was not out of malice, he was confused and even grew more so when I explained Muslims view Jesus and Mary with high regard. “So he took parts from other religions to create his!…

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Articles by William Sutherland

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