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Cultural Discourse looks at a broad range of cultural issues.
On Myth and Science
Ancient Myth and Modern Science: A Reconsideration
by John David Ebert
Myth as Psychology
Historically, the conflict between myth and science, according to Joseph Campbell, involved a discrediting of visionary cosmology in favor of one based upon "fact." In his essay "The Symbol Without Meaning," Campbell described how science gradually disentangled itself from the mythological projections of the medieval imagination through the discoveries of men like Columbus and Copernicus, which amounted to the "drawing of a distinct dividing line between the world of dream consciousness and that of waking." As a result, "mythological cosmologies. . .do not correspond to the world of gross facts but are functions of dream and vision," which means, for Campbell, that myths are projections of the human psyche onto the canvas of the universe. Their validity, consequently, is restricted to the psyche, and all myths are to be regarded as metaphors symbolic of, on the one hand, the mysteries of Being, and on the other, transformations of human consciousness.
Suppose, however, we discard Campbell's insistence that myths have been cosmologically disqualified by science, and actually read them, instead, in terms of scientific narratives. Is it possible that we may find visions of cosmological knowledge once stored by archaic societies but now rediscovered by modern science?
Micromyths
In the Brihadharanyaka Upanishad, we find the myth of the Great Self whose cosmic loneliness is so immense that it splits into two beings, the first man and the first woman. The woman changes herself into a cow, the man transforms into a bull, and together they produce all the cattle. Then she turns into a mare, he into a stallion, and so on. Finally, the man has a revelation when he realizes that all the phenomena of the world have come forth from himself. "Verily," he concludes, "I am all this that I have poured forth!"
The Hindu image of the cosmos as the body of a single living Being is a vision sprung from the depths of thousands of years of yogic practice, going back, perhaps, as far as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. Indeed, the entire civilization, in contrast with the West, has been inward turned all along, as a comparison of the eye-motifs of Hindu sculpture with those of the Greeks reveals, for the eyes of the gods and heroes of Indian art are usually closed, whereas those of the West are wide open. I would like to suggest that this particular creation myth — and there are, of course, thousands of them in Hindu sacred literature — may be rooted in a visionary transformation of cellular mitosis that came to some rishi while in trance. Mitosis is the process whereby living forms grow, as one cell splits into two, two into four and so on. This organic movement from center to periphery, and from less form to more, would then be a deep structure shared by the Hindu creation myth with Western scientific knowledge.
In his book The Body of Myth, physicist J. Nigro Sansonese develops his thesis that all "myth describes a systematic exploration of the human body by the privileged members of archaic cultures." Myths, according to Sansonese, are encoded descriptions of physiological processes envisioned by yogis and shamans in trance states. He describes, for example, how the myth of Perseus slaying the Kraken by showing it the head of Medusa and turning it to stone is actually a description of the stopping of the heart along the vagus nerve that connects it to the visual centers at the back of the brain. The monster with all its tentacles is the vagus nerve itself, while the head of the Medusa with its snakes is "a description of the brain and its twelve cranial nerves." And the entire story, then, describes how the yogi stops the beating of his own heart while in samadhi.
If Sansonese's theory is correct, then a deep structure shared by the Hindu creation myth with the process of cellular mitosis might in fact exist. If it is possible that visualizations of interior physiological processes can manifest to yogis in trance states, then it is certainly worth considering that the Hindu creation myth is, on one level anyway, a visualization of a somatic process.
The same goes for shamanic trance states, as Jeremy Narby describes in his elegant book The Cosmic Serpent. Narby is an ethnobotanist who wondered whether it could be true, as Amazonian tribesmen claimed, that their extensive botanical knowledge originated in trance states induced by ayahausca, a psychoactive infusion derived from an Amazonian vine. The more he thought about the structural isomorphism shared by the double helix of DNA with the images of snakes and ladders universal to shamanism, the more he began to suspect that the serpents and geometrical patterns of shamanic iconography might actually be proprioceptions of DNA and intracellular activity. In the book, Narby details a series of paintings inspired by ayahausca visions that he showed to a friend conversant with molecular biology. His friend identified the geometric patterns as unravelled DNA, chromosomes during specific phases of mitosis, triple helix collagen structures and so on. In other words, Narby discerned the deep structures shared by shamanic trance visions with scientific knowledge of the soma. Thus, perhaps, Western civilization has arrived at knowledge by way of technological extensions of sensory organs that tribal peoples have long ago arrived at through proprioceptions during meditation and trance.
There exists, as a final example, a tradition in Christian mysticism of visionary states in which angels descend to human beings in order to inspire them with the spirit, as in the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel descends to announce to Mary that she is to become Theotokos, "God-bearer." In most illustrations of this myth during the Middle Ages, Gabriel's descent is accompanied by a miniature dove –signifier of the Holy Spirit — and the power of the Word, the Logos itself, is rendered visible entering into Mary's ear. Thus, Mary is impregnated by the power of the Word , and her response is, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."
But now consider the isomorphism of this with the image of a virus landing on a cell wall. The virus attaches itself and then squirts into the cell its own DNA — or RNA — which then overtakes the cell's normal replicating functions and forces it to copy this new program, whereupon it then spits out hordes of viruses which burst through the cell and move on. I am reminded here of a miniaturized version of the Annunciation from an illuminated manuscript by Fra Angelico which depicts a giant, gleaming initial "R," in which the Virgin Mary sits below the leg of the R, while Gabriel hovers just outside it. Immediately above her, in the R's rounded oval, God the Father sits, gazing down, while from his fingertips the luminous gold sheen of the Logos extends, with the dove at its tip, puncturing through the arch of the "R" as though it were a cellular membrane separating Mary — who sits below like a blue nucleus — from God and the angel Gabriel.
The image of a virus landing on a cell wall and squirting its DNA into the nucleus is isomorphic with Fra Angelico's illustration – although this may be a mere accident of the syntactical grammar shared by such images — but it is important to point out that the metaphysical and spiritual implications of the myth are in no way reduced to a biological function. Whereas a Jungian reading, for example, would elucidate precisely those dimensions through a cross cultural comparison of the Virgin Birth with, say, the impregnation of the Buddha's mother by a tiny white elephant — or the myth of the birth of the monkey king Hanuman from the semen of Shiva poured by sages into the ear of Hanuman's mother, Anjani — the point of this exercise is rather to develop new organs of perception with which to view ancient myths in a way that sidesteps the dogma of a Jungian approach.
It is important to point out that the metaphysical and spiritual implications of myth are in no way reduced to a biological function by these examples. If Narby and Sansonese are right, then the realization of these mythic images as micromyths of cellular processes should induce us to study myths in a new way, for it will be seen that science does not render myth obsolete, and that the tribal wisdom of indigenous societies whose scientific systems are rooted in myth can be taken seriously, rather than disparaged.
Macromyths
One of the primary functions of mythology — what Campbell used to call its "cosmological function" — is to project a world pictures onto the universe that is consistent with the knowledge of the time. The Christian cosmographer Cosmas, for example, in the sixth century imagined that the universe was a sort of gigantic chest in which the sun and moon revolved around a single enormous mountain that stood up like a monolith from out of a flat earth surrounded by water. Of course the Greeks had long since deduced the rotundity of the earth, and had even drawn up rough draft sketches of the theory of evolution and the heliocentric hypothesis, both of which were discarded, just as the primordial Christians discarded the world image of the Greeks since, in both cases, the images clashed with the respective spiritual dispositions of each culture.
Today we turn to science for our knowledge of what the universe looks like, and when we turn to examine certain scientific narratives of the origins of things with an eye for the deep structures that these narratives might have in common with ancient myths, we find surprising parallels. An example is the current scientific story of the creation of the universe. The idea of what has come to be known as the Big Bang was first put forth by a Catholic priest, the Abbe Georges Lemaitre, who in 1927 suggested that the universe might have arisen from a sort of "primal atom" of matter and energy. The idea of the emergence of the universe from a cosmic egg is, however, a mythological one as well, found all over the world. Here is another creation myth from the Upanishads:
In the beginning, this world was nonbeing. This nonbeing became being. It developed. It turned into an egg. It lay there for a year. It burst asunder. One part of the eggshell was of silver, the other part was of gold.
The silver part is the earth, the golden part is the sky…
This is from a Tibetan creation myth:
From the essence of the five primordial elements a great egg came forth…Eighteen eggs came forth from the yolk of that great egg. The egg in the middle of the eighteen eggs, a conch egg, separated from the others. From this conch egg, limbs grew, and then the five senses, all perfect, and it became a boy of such extraordinary beauty that he seemed the fulfillment of every wish…
And an Orphic creation myth from ancient Greece:
…black-winged Night, a goddess of whom even Zeus stands in awe, was courted by the Wind and laid a silver egg in the womb of Darkness; and…Eros, whom some call Phanes, was hatched from this egg and set the universe in motion.
Thus Lemaitre, when describing his theory of the origin of the universe from a cosmic egg, may have been subconsciously evoking a mythological image. Then there is the deep structure shared by ancient creation myths with current narratives of the origins of life on this planet. On the first page of his book The Fifth Miracle: the Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, physicist Paul Davies describes two contrasting theories regarding the origins of the first microbes. The old idea of cells emerging on the surface of the ocean in the presence of sunlight (and lightning), he insists, is made obsolete by new evidence, for "it now appears that the first terrestrial organisms lived deep underground, entombed within geothermally heated rocks in pressure cooker conditions. Only later did they migrate to the surface." Several pages further on, he says that "our eldest ancestors did not crawl out of the slime so much as ascend from the sulfurous underworld."
Now as anyone familiar with Native American myth knows, the common narrative for the origins of life involved the myth of emergence from the underworld. It is particularly widespread amongst the tribes of the Southewest– for example, among the Hopi, whose famous kivas are miniaturizations of this underworld. In a Navaho myth, the first people are in danger of being drowned by a flood, and as the waters rise, they all the other animals climb onto a gigantic reed that grows up to the world ceiling, from whence the First Man digs his way through to this, the upper world, in which we are presently dwelling.
On the same page, Davies suggests an exactly opposed theory for the origins of life, and, along with it, invokes an equally opposite mythological cosmogony when he says that life may have been brought to the earth from the heavens by meteorites from Mars that may have crashed into its Hadean oceans. The deep structure here is isomorphic with the creation myth of the Sky Father, one example of which is found on the first page of the Book of Genesis, in which Yahweh infuses the watery abyss with the Spirit. That image, in turn, was embedded in an older Mesopotamian cosmology that associated the heavens with the realm of the gods and the earth with clay that required an external agency from above to give it form.
In her book Narratives of Human Evolution, bioanthropologist Misia Landau examines a series of accounts of hominization from Darwin to Leakey and discovers that they all share in common the hidden narrative pattern of the hero myth. Using Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale as a stencil, she makes visible within these so-called "objective" narratives the presence of the hero myth as described in folk tales. According to Propp, the formula is of a humble hero who departs on a journey, receives magical aid from a donor figure, survives a series of tests and trials and arrives at some sort of an apotheosis. Landau shows how, in scientific narratives of human evolution, the hero is the nonhuman primate who departs from his arboreal habitat with the aid of natural selection and who is tried and tested by competition from other animals, harsh climate and predation, but eventually arrives at an apotheosis in the achievement of the upright posture of humanity.
Upon examining scientific narratives of three key points in the quest for the origins of things — of the cosmos, of life upon the earth, and of the emergence of the human from the animal — we discover structural isomorphisms with the ancient myths of the cosmic egg, emergence from the underworld, creation from the heavens and the hero myth. Apparently, scientists are mythologizing a lot more often than they realize when telling their accounts of the origin and evolution of things.
It is probable that we will never know precisely what "happened" at these key points in the evolution of the cosmos, because they involve knowledge of something that transcends the capacity of the human intellect ever to grasp. For whenever we pose such questions as "Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?" we are postulating eternal questions that can be answered only in terms of the complex semiotics of myth. When the human mind goes in search of origins, it strains its limits and begins to crack, while myth comes rushing along to fill in the gap. Perhaps Immanuel Kant was right: we cannot know the world as it is in itself, but only through the human mind's mythological schemata, for between ourselves and "reality" the screen of myth always structures our perceptions.
This essay was originally published in Parabola magazine in the Fall 2008 issue.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 6th, 2011 at 3:21 am	and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Heidegger's Being and Time
Jean Gebser's Ever-Present Origin
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
Fichte's Science of Knowledge
Schelling's First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature
Karl Jaspers' Origin and Goal of History
Spengler's Decline of the West
Walter Benjamin's Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproducibility
Derrida's Of Grammatology
Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment
Deleuze & Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus
Deleuze's Logic of Sense
Deleuze's Difference and Repetition
Vattimo's A Farewell to Truth
Alain Badiou's Ethics
The Works of Paul Virilio
Peter Sloterdijk's Spheres
John David Ebert on The Age of Catastrophe
John David Ebert on The New Media Invasion
John David Ebert on Elvis Presley
On Carroll Quigley and Historical Cycles
Heiner Muhlmann's Maximal Stress Cooperation Theory of Culture
On Borkenau's Cycle of the Dead
John David Ebert interviewed on Kubrick, Gilgamesh and the Dangers of Technology
John David Ebert Interviewed by the Artist Jacques de Beaufort
For more John Ebert books and lectures...
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On Brian Francis Culkin's New Book "The Meaning of Trump"
On the Post-Metaphysical Art of Santa Fe Artist Blair Vaughn-Gruler
On Nasim Aghdam, You Tube and the Hypersubject
On the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Group
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Monday 30 January 2023 / 19:21
Fundraising news
Fintech Trends in 2023: Banking, Payments, Blockchain, RegTech and More
2022 at a Glance – Top Fintech Stories of the Year
Clausematch Recognized as RegTech of the Year 2022 by the US Fintech Awards
CaixaBank Becomes the Only European Bank Selected by the ECB to Collaborate in Prototyping the Digital Euro
Compliance Startup heyData Raises €3.3M seed
Visa in Talks to Invest in Fintech Startup Airwallex
French Unicorn Qonto Buys German Competitor Penta
Charles Raises $20m for E-Commerce in WhatsApp
X1 Card Raised $25million in a Series B Funding Round
International Contribution to Cyber Security Winner Announced in First National Cyber Awards
Security and Compliance , Security , Data Protection , Fraud Detection , Compliance , Authentication Technology
25.11.2016 09:45 am
The inaugural Scottish Cyber Awards have taken place and the successful ceremony has seen an Edinburgh firm land the award for International Contribution to Cyber Security. Edinburgh-headquartered ZoneFox were announced as the winners in the category after also scooping the Champion of Champions award. Speaking at the ceremony, James Graves, Chief Executive of ZoneFox, believes it is an honour to have received such prestigious new awards.
He said: "It was a great night for the industry and everyone in the room, not just the winners. We absolutely loved it and it was a real opportunity to discuss with fellow professionals and get out there to show what we have achieved.
"It's been a cracking year so far for us, having grown significantly abroad, especially in the United States and both award wins were really the icing on the cake.
James added: "The whole night was completely motivational for our team and has given us further drive to repeat our success and keep the momentum going."
The awards, hosted by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre and supported by Scottish Enterprise and PwC, set out to mirror the excellent work of the IT sector in Scotland – with ground-breaking work taking place at major organisations, by individuals in the education sector, as well as within Scotland's many fast-moving smaller firms.
Chief Executive of the SBRC, Mandy Haeburn-Little, was thrilled with the ceremony and the buzz around the awards.
She said: "The night was a superb showcase of talent in what is a growing and increasingly vital part of the Scottish economy as the threat of cyber crime impacts every single person.
"Scotland has a proud history of innovation and we are making great strides to continue this tradition by becoming an international leader in cyber resilience - and to seize the opportunities that being at the forefront of cyber security can bring to our nation.
"The launch of the first Scottish Cyber Awards was a perfect platform to showcase and celebrate the great work that is happening in Scotland.
"We'd like to thank everyone that entered and attended the awards and made it the success it was. We hope it's the start of something special for years to come."
The event, which enjoyed huge interest and demand and benefitted from a packed attendance, was held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Edinburgh, with other categories including: 'Outstanding Woman in Cyber', 'Community Impact Award' and 'Cyber Teacher of the Year.'
Colin Slater, partner and cyber security lead in Scotland for award sponsor PwC Scotland, said: "Firstly congratulations to all the winners. There's been an incredibly strong body of work put across not only by the finalists but all of the entrants. It's reassuring that while cyber security may be a nascent sector in Scotland, it has a strong bedrock to build from in the future. That's comforting, not only as someone with a passion for the field but also as someone who uses digital services and has concerns about the risks and security of these services.
"We need people like the entrants not only to raise the standard for those who follow but to be the ambassadors, encouraging interest and adoption at all levels - from the average person in the street to the C suite. Cyber security is only as good as its weakest point and together we can make that weakest point a tougher nut to crack.
"Scotland can show the way in cyber security and organisations like Scottish Enterprise and the SBRC are to be praised for their efforts in not only raising awareness but also in what they are doing to offer solutions to those out there. This event is just one part of how Scotland can continue to shine a light in this field to help others across the globe."
Cyber crime continues to be a massive concern in Scotland, costing an estimated £3bn every year. As the first awards to recognise Scotland's ever-growing reputation as a world leader in countering the threat of cyber crime, the Scottish Cyber Awards will seek to showcase Scotland's commitment towards the cyber security excellence and acknowledge the place Scotland has within this industry.
Scottish Enterprise (SE), Scotland's main economic development agency, were supporting this event as part of their Cyber Security Network Integrator project. SE aims to deliver a significant, lasting effect on the Scottish economy by identifying and exploiting the best opportunities for economic growth.
Kim Robertson, Project Manager for Sector Delivery at SE said: "Cyber crime continues to be a massive concern in Scotland - costing an estimated £3b per year – and its importance is reflected in the Scottish Government's national Cyber Resilience Strategy which was launched this time last year. "
"Well done to all the superb winners and impressive nominees - their track record in innovation demonstrates Scotland's position as a leader in cyber resilience technology. Scottish Enterprise is proud to have supported this event - it is significant, not just because of the pivotal role that cyber resilience plays in the security and health of all businesses, across all sectors, but also because of Scotland's role at the forefront of cyber technology."
The awards were timed around the anniversary of the launch of the Scottish Government's national Cyber Resilience Strategy, which enshrined the ambition that Scotland should become a lead nation for cyber resilience. The ceremony will also become a core part of an ongoing cyclical programme of cyber activity including an annual cyber conference and the well-established Christmas lectures for schools.
SBRC is taking forward the scoping of the concept of a cyber hub for business in Scotland which would act as one trusted source of advice and cyber security services at an affordable cost.
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Brexit wasn't the main inspiration for the Legion's London setting
10 Nov 2019 Sunday
Watch Dogs: Legion Lead Narrative Designer Kaitlin Tremblay recently talked about the game's overall design, and the inspiration for the London setting.
Ubisoft's upcoming entry in the Watch Dogs franchise, Watch Dogs: Legion, is set to take place in a not so far future in London. Although fans thought Brexit inspired the London setting of Legion, the title's lead narrative designer Kaitlin Tremblay gave more details on the subject. In a recent interview with thegamer.com, Trembley gave some insights about Legion's overall narrative design.
Watch Dogs: Legion and Brexit
While the early gameplays and footage made fans think that the Watch Dogs: Legion was inspired by Brexit, Tremblay said that the title was planned to take place in London way before Brexit. "The choice for London is multiple fold. London is one of the most-watched cities and that really appeals to our theme of mass surveillance and emerging tech. We also wanted to go global with the brand and kind of take it beyond America, and London is such a striking city, it's so iconic, and as you mentioned it is in a good place for exploring emerging tech." said Trembley.
Trembley also touched on how the Brexit affected their narrative design and path they took with the Watch Dogs: Legion. "We're more interested right now in how people respond to this climate because we are a game about building a popular resistance movement, we're looking at the consequences of these situations that have led to this kind of climate and how people respond and actually act together."
Watch Dogs: Legion was delayed last month due to critical backlash levied against Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Ubisoft probably plans to delay Legion enough to push it towards the next financial year. Watch Dogs: Legion will release in April 2020 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Google Stadia.
Watch Dogs Legion PC PlayStation 4 Xbox One Ubisoft Ubisoft Action Adventure


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Illinois Raises Tax Rates & Changes Tax Credits/Deductions
Update By: Kelley Hare, CPA, MST, Tax Partner
In a surprise overturned veto, the Illinois government has recently enacted new law that takes effect 7/1/2017.
Read the below article for the most recent IL tax changes affecting all taxpayers and businesses.
Withholding Rate Changes (Affecting Employers and Employees)
Employers - You must now immediately adjust withholding tax rates in your payroll records and inform employees.
The Illinois Income Tax rate for individuals has increased from 3.75 percent (.0375) to 4.95 percent (.0495), effective 7/1/2017.
The new income tax rate applies to Illinois income tax withholding (either required or by voluntary agreement) on Illinois income, including, but not limited to:
Wages and other employee compensation including bonus, overtime, and commission pay, usually reported to the recipient on a Form W-2.
Non-wage income such as pensions, annuities, unemployment income, and sick pay that you have agreed to voluntarily withhold, usually reported to a recipient on a Form 1099.
Gambling and lottery winnings (paid by the entity issuing the winnings such as the Illinois Lottery or a casino), usually reported to a recipient on a Form W-2G.
Amounts paid to purchase rights to Illinois lottery winnings reported on a Form 1099-MISC.
Booklet IL-700-T, Illinois Withholding Tax Tables, has been updated and is available on the Illinois Department of Revenue website.
What are the changes to the personal exemption amount that affect withholding?
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the personal exemption allowance may not be claimed if the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year exceeds $500,000 for returns with a federal filing status of married filing jointly, or $250,000 for all other returns. Employees who exceed these income amounts may complete a new Form IL-W-4, Employee's and other Payee's Illinois Withholding Allowance Certificate, to update their exemption amounts and increase their Illinois withholding.
Individual & Business Tax Changes
What are the changes to Illinois Income Tax?
Effective July 1, 2017, income tax rates increase as follows:
For individuals, trusts, and estates, the Illinois Income Tax is increasing from 3.75 percent (.0375) to 4.95 percent (.0495).
For corporations (excluding S corporations), the Illinois Income Tax is increasing from 5.25 percent (.0525) to 7 percent (.07).
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2018, the earned income credit is increased to 14 percent of the federal earned income tax credit. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, the earned income credit increases to 18 percent of the federal earned income tax credit.
Standard Exemption Allowance
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the personal exemption allowance may not be claimed if the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year exceeds $500,000 for returns with a federal filing status of married filing jointly, or $250,000 for all other returns.
K-12 Education Expense Credit
For tax years ending on or after December 31, 2017, the maximum amount of the K-12 Education Expense Credit has been increased to $750 per family. The K-12 Education Expense Credit is not allowed if the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year exceeds $500,000 for returns with a federal filing status of married filing jointly, or $250,000 for all other returns.
Illinois Property Tax Credit
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the Illinois Property Tax Credit is not allowed if the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable year exceeds $500,000 for returns with a federal filing status of married filing jointly, or $250,000 for all other returns.
Instructional Materials and Supplies Credit (New)
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, a credit is allowed equal to the amount paid during the taxable year for instructional materials and supplies with respect to classroom-based instruction in a qualified school, or $250, whichever is less, provided that the taxpayer is a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide in a qualified school for at least 900 hours during a school year. The credit may not be carried back and may not reduce the tax liability to less than zero. Any excess credit may be carried forward and applied to tax liabilities for five years following the excess credit year.
Domestic Production Activities Deduction
For tax years ending on or after December 31, 2017, the Domestic Production Activities Deduction allowed under Section 199 of the Internal Revenue Code must be added back to the adjusted gross income (for individuals) or taxable income (for all other taxpayers).
Research and Development Credit
The Research and Development Credit has been reinstated and is retroactive for the 2016 tax year. The department will provide updated forms and instructions in order to claim any credit that was not previously allowed.
How will this impact my 2017 tax filings?
There will be two methods to calculate your taxes for the change in the rate when you file your tax return.
Method 1: Apportionment rate (blended rate)
In a simple method that will not require any other computations, taxpayers can use a blended rate and apply that to their total income reported to Illinois for the year.
The rate will be approximately 4.35% for individuals. Corporate rates will be computed based on your fiscal year.
Method 2: Specific Accounting (split income between the two rates)
Taxpayers will be able to utilize Schedule SA to allocate their income earned to the two different periods where the rate changes occurred. This would be advantageous for taxpayers who earned income unevenly throughout the year, specifically if they earned more income during the first 6 months, where the rates were lower. IDOR will be releasing instructions for the schedule at a later date.
Taxpayers are encouraged to review their remaining estimated taxes if you are paying in quarterly estimates, to ensure they account for the new rate.
What are the changes for Sales and Use Tax?
Effective July 1, 2017, the manufacturing and assembling machinery and equipment exemption is expanded to include graphic arts machinery and equipment.
Effective July 1, 2017, tax is imposed on 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of gasohol, which eliminates the current 20 percent exemption.
The 100 percent exemption for majority blended ethanol fuel, 100 percent biodiesel, and biodiesel blends with more than 10 percent but no more than 99 percent biodiesel, is extended through December 31, 2023.
The new Publications covering these items can be found at www.revenue.state.il.us.
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I am a mother and a wife. I have been an online tutor since 2017. With a Degree in Business Administration, major in Marketing.
more I am a mother and a wife. I have been an online tutor since 2017. With a Degree in Business Administration, major in Marketing.


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Excellent suppliers-customer relations are decisive trump when it comes to optimum results in purchasing. We are a modern company, that is succesfull on all international markets thanks to a policy of innovation, top quality, continuity and close business partnership with our business partners. To be able to continue this success we are dependent on equally successfull and reliable suppliers.
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James Wan Says His 'Batman' Horror Movie 'Was Kind of Real for 2 Seconds'
by John Evans December 16, 2018
written by John Evans December 16, 2018
Horror hero turned big budget hitmaker James Wan is making the press rounds as the domestic theatrical release date for Aquaman draws near. While he began his career with hot horror properties like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, the director has since flexed his filmmaking muscles with big budget mainstream projects like Furious 7 and the upcoming aquatic superhero adventure starring Jason Momoa. It turns out, though, that Aquaman isn't the only DC property Wan originally considered when pitching ideas to Warner Bros. Pictures, and a horror version of Batman was once a glimmer in his eye for a brief period of time.
Wan recently appeared on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, and he shared that he had the idea to create a "scary version of Batman" for a brief period of time. During the discussion, he said that horror, "would be the angle that I would have taken it." But the project just wasn't meant to be:
"It was kind of real for like two seconds. It wasn't something I was necessarily going to ultimately pursue. I didn't pursue just because I felt like, you know, there's been a lot of Batman stories. Which is great, I'm a big fan of the Batman world and the Batman character and I think there are great filmmakers that are going to come in and do great things with this character. I just ultimately decided that it probably wasn't for me."
While tons of horror fans out there will be devastated to learn that the master of horror turned to Aquaman instead, Wan's gamble appears to have paid off. The movie has already earned over $260 million overseas, and it's opening stateside on December 21st to favorable critical reviews and high audience expectations. And who knows… if this movie performs well and the DC cinematic universe continues to move in unexpected directions, maybe "Scary Batman" will one day haunt the silver screen!
Stay tuned to Horror News Network for complete coverage of James Wan's upcoming horror productions as soon as it breaks!
AquamanBatmanDC ComicsHappy Sad ConfusedJames WanJosh HorowitzWarner Bros. Pictures
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Could 'Malignant' Become James Wan's Next Horror Franchise?
James Wan's 'Malignant' Gets Chilling New TV Spot
× nine = twenty seven


Happy Tuesday! Today I have another polish from Pretty & Polished, this one from the Halloween Collection from last year. It's such a lovely polish so here's hoping it becomes available again - maybe for this Halloween? Anyways, here is Hail to the Queen, Baby!
Hail to the Queen, Baby is a deep purple holographic polish.
Look at this purple. It's so pretty and pops so well with just about any polish as an accent or to be stamped over.
Spooky purple or summery purple?
Ease of Dry: Normal dry time.


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Home Lifestyle Art How one 'Rosie the Riveter' poster won out over all the others...
How one 'Rosie the Riveter' poster won out over all the others and became a symbol of female empowerment
During the war, the poster on the left, painted by J. Howard Miller, was only on display for only two weeks. Norman Rockwell's, on the other hand, was seen by millions. Nick Lehr/The Conversation
Sarah Myers, Saint Francis University and G. Kurt Piehler, Florida State University
Seventy-five years ago, Norman Rockwell's painting of Rosie the Riveter appeared on the cover of a May 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
Many might have been already aware of the fictional Rosie from the radio. A year earlier, she made her first appearance in a nationally broadcast song. Now she was appearing on newsstands and millions of doorsteps across the country.
Yet today, when people hear "Rosie the Riveter," Rockwell's painting isn't the one that comes to mind.
Instead, it's J. Howard Miller's depiction of Rosie – flexing, wearing a red bandana, accompanied by the words "We Can Do It!" – that we associate with the World War II cultural icon.
Beyoncé has posted it on Instagram, Hillary Clinton used it in her presidential campaigns and a host of consumer goods, from coffee mugs to magnets, are plastered with Miller's version of Rosie. All use it to send a message of female empowerment.
But out of the many iterations of Rosie the Riveter, some may be surprised to learn that Miller's "We Can Do It!" poster was, for a time, one of the least popular. The poster was displayed in Westinghouse factories for only a two-week period, and few Americans ever saw it during the war years.
Why were other versions of Rosie the Riveter more popular during the war? And how did this version end up becoming the Rosie we picture today?
Today, the now-famous image of Rosie the Riveter might evoke the heroic way women during World War II assumed jobs traditionally held by men – factory workers, taxi drivers and even soldiers – to help with the war effort.
But during the war years, there was actually a fair amount of ambivalence about women entering the workforce, especially if they had young children. Efforts to provide adequate day care for women were met with considerable opposition. And the male workers who remained on the home front were resistant to the idea of having women work as welders, riveters and construction workers, fearing the feminization of these professions and decreasing wages.
The cover of the sheet music for the 1942 Rosie the Riveter tune.
Due to these concerns about fluctuating gender roles, much wartime propaganda would portray women who ended up assuming nontraditional roles in the workforce as attractive, white, feminine and middle-class workers.
A U.S. Employment Service recruitment poster featuring a woman.
The propaganda was also quick to depict their work as temporary – something that would last just for the duration of the war. In many of these posters, you can easily imagine the women returning to their roles as homemakers once the war was over.
The most well-known wartime image of Rosie the Riveter became Norman Rockwell's painting for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, which depicted a muscular riveter casually desecrating "Mein Kampf."
It certainly reflects the remarkable contribution of women to the war effort. She's also more masculine than much of the wartime propaganda featuring women – something that undoubtedly inflamed American anxieties about gender roles. At the same time, her femininity is still present with her red lipstick and womanly figure.
Of course, once the war concluded, women were forced out of these roles, and Rosie was largely forgotten during the baby boom years from 1946 to 1964.
But by the early 1980s, feminists were looking for images from the past that they could reclaim as a symbol of female empowerment. They may have considered the Rockwell painting. But unlike Rockwell's work, the less-famous Westinghouse poster wasn't under copyright. It also didn't contain a veiled reference to the war: "Mein Kampf."
In the post-Vietnam era, feminists wanted an image of a woman that was visually appealing but not necessarily pro-war. In addition, compared with Rockwell's painting, the woman in Miller's poster is not as overtly working-class and could easily be manipulated to support a wide range of activist causes.
In the end, the message feminists wanted to send with the image wasn't the original message of the poster. Miller's poster, like most of the Rosie propaganda, was supposed to be a call for men and women to work together for the duration of the war out of patriotic duty.
But because they were still grappling with widespread job and wage discrimination, feminists simply wanted to use Rosie to show that women could perform the jobs traditionally held by men just as well, if not better. The slogan "We Can Do It!" was originally about winning the war. But it's now meant to suggest women can do anything they put their minds to.
The red bandana-wearing Rosie was feminine-looking and attractive, bold but not too confrontational. In other words, the image was a safe, malleable advocate, one that continues to be deployed today.
Sarah Myers, Assistant Professor of History, Saint Francis University and G. Kurt Piehler, Associate Professor of History, Florida State University
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Based on the beloved children's novel, Lapitch, the little shoemaker's apprentice, sets off on a journey after experiencing injustice from his cruel Master Scowler.
LAPITCH, the Little Shoemaker, runs away from home after experiencing injustice from his cruel master, SCOWLER. On his travels he meets GITA, a beautiful little circus girl, who like him, is also an orphan. Together with their loyal dog BUNDAS, they set out on a seven day road trip full of adventure. But with nowhere to sleep, no food to eat, and thieves all around them, they must stick together and be very brave, if they ever hope to complete their journey.


Lapis Lazuli tones the heart and mind of the wearer. Learn more interesting details about this semi- precious gemstone in this article.
Lapis lazuli is a semi-precious gemstone which appears as though it might have come straight out of the 'Arabian Nights': 'A deep blue background with golden insertions of pyrites which shimmer like little stars'. Lapis Lazuli is a semiprecious stone valued for its deep blue color, and one can often spot golden pyrite inclusions. Lapis Lazuli has a stretched history and has been considered precious by people around the planet for centuries. The Assyrians, Babylonians and the Egyptians originally used this ornamental gemstone. The Romans acknowledged Lapis to be an aphrodisiac gem. The Pharaohs of Egypt admired and used Lapis for making sculptures, jewelry and funerary death masks. It was considered a mystical stone with an excellent ability to attract anybody. Lapis are either cut as beads for necklaces and looks especially attractive when set with diamonds or pearls.
Lapis Lazuli is found in variety shades of blue with some best qualities being spotted with white calcite and some with yellow pyrite. This beautiful gemstone is not a mineral but technically a rock colored by lazurite. Since Lapis is a rock of varying composition, it has variable physical properties. The best and finest Lapis is found in pure blue color with little or no flow of other elements.
Lapis lazuli's are embellished with gold and other stones and is used to purify and cleanse the parts of the body. This gemstone is a soft blue stone which represents gentleness, sympathy and love. The Lapis lazuli birthstone is good for general wealth and happiness. Lapis are generally suggested to people who are born under the sun sign 'Taurus'. A person wearing Lapis gems will be recognized by their powers of love and affection. They can effortlessly win over others through the power of love.
Lapis has a legend history and is one of the attractive gems from ancient times. Egyptian cultures had a faith that this Lapis offer protection and hence they made a practice of burying this stone with their dead in order to protect and guide them in the afterlife. Lapis was highly valued in most of the earliest cultures. Greek culture spoke of an ancient sapphire which was built-in with gold and this was unmistakably lapis lazuli. According to Persian legend, the heavens owed their dark blue color to a massive gigantic chunk of Lapis upon which the earth rested. This jewel was cherished by ancient Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations and often worn by royalty. Egyptians widely used these gemstones for cosmetics and painting stuff. They considered Lapis Lazuli as a symbol of Truth. This precious stone can be found in Chile, the Soviet Union, the United States, but most significantly from the mountains of Afghanistan.


When it comes to health benefits, employers have long been guilty of double-speak.
They constantly—and correctly—bellyache about the rising costs of health insurance. Yet they keep pouring more money into health benefits for employees?
Because they are critical to recruiting and retaining good workers. And spending more on health benefits triggers one of the most generous tax breaks in the entire U.S. tax code—which has been in place since 1954.
But it looks like, at least in the Midwest, employers are actually starting to spend less on health benefits.
In the first two quarters of this year, Midwest employers reduced their spending on health benefits compared with the same two quarters in 2014, according to data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from employers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Such data are not available by state.
The reduction was modest—just 0.8 percent from the second quarter of 2014 to the second-quarter of 2015.
But that's the first time benefits spending has gone down since the BLS started tracking these data in 2004.
What's also unusual is that wages in the Midwest have been rising faster than benefits spending in each of the past three years. That hasn't happened nationally since the heyday of HMOs in the mid-1990s.
BLS asks employers how much they spend per hour worked on wages (or salaries) and a host of benefits, including health insurance.
For the Midwest, average wages and salary were $20.32 per hour in the second quarter of this year, up by 1.4 percent over the same quarter last year. Spending on health insurance was $2.52 per hour.
You can see how increases in wages and health insurance have trended among Midwest employers over the past decade in the chart below.
Nationwide, employers did not reduce their spending on health benefits—although the national average spending on health benefits has been lower for years than the Midwest average.
Still, there are lots of indicators that employers are slowing the growth of their health benefits spending historically low levels.
Mercer, the national benefits consulting firm, released a survey on Thursday showing that employers' health benefits spending is rising by less than 4 percent for the third year in a row.
Trends in Indiana don't exactly match the rest of the nation or the Midwest each year in Mercer's survey. This year, the 55 Indiana employers in Mercer's survey raised their benefits spending by 5.7 percent, compared with an increase of 1.9 percent for all Midwest employers. But last year, Mercer's survey found slower benefits spending increases in Indiana than in the Midwest.
There are several factors that could be leading to slower growth, or even declines, in employers' spending on health benefits. Some of the tiniest firms have ended their group health plans, taking their spending to zero. Some employers have been adopting a so-called defined contribution health benefits plan, in which employers set their contribution level rather than letting it float up as health insurance premiums rise.
Also, the underlying cost of medical care has been rising more slowly in recent years than it has in the past few decades.
Here is the chart with the BLS data. It compares the second quarter data from each of the past 10 years.
Mercer cited two main reasons for this trend.
First, employers are getting traction on their efforts to reduce their workers need for health care services and they prices they pay for care. These often involve high-deductible health plans that put employees on the hook for more of their care in an attempt to get them to be more like the price-sensitive consumers they are in other industries.
A second reason is that employers are cutting back the richness of their benefits to avoid Obamacare's Cadillac tax, which will take effect in 2018.
The Cadillac tax will apply a 40 percent surcharge to all amounts employers and employees spend on their total package of health care benefits that exceed $10,200 for employee-only coverage or $27,500 for family coverage.
Employers cuts to benefits spending are making a difference. Whereas a year ago, Mercer predicted that 33 percent of employers will trigger the Cadillac tax in 2018, now it expects only 23 percent will do so.
It's possible the Cadillac tax may not come to fruition.
There is a big effort in Congress now to repeal the Cadillac, with support from both Tea Party Republicans and union Democrats. Also, hospital system leaders would like to see the tax go, because they worry less employer support for health benefits will lead to fewer patients spending less money in their facilities.
But for now, the Cadillac tax is Midwest employers to do something they haven't done in decades: spend less on health benefits.


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IF YOU CRITICIZE U.S., YOU MUST CRITICIZE THEM
by Mitch Albom | May 29, 2005 | Detroit Free Press | 0 comments
On a weekend when we praise those who serve in our military, you might want to know how that military is being criticized.
Last week, Amnesty International issued its annual report. In it, the United States was criticized for:
* Thumbing "its nose at the rule of law and human rights."
* Abuse and mistreatment of prisoners.
* Not acting quickly enough on legal challenges from detainees.
* Attempting to "redefine" torture.
* Making a "mockery of justice."
And, in the wallop sentence that Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan knew would make headlines, Guantanamo Bay was called "the gulag of our times."
The gulag of our times? Wow. How embarrassing. You feel like the kid who comes home with a black eye and tells his parents, "Before you say anything, you should see the other guy."
Except that, in the Amnesty International Report, we don't see the other guy.
And that's the problem.
U.S. makes an easy target
We don't see pages devoted to Osama bin Laden, or a call for him to be "fair" to prisoners.
We don't see criticism of Iraqi insurgents' "policies," or a call for them to cease their beheadings because they violate the Geneva Conventions.
We don't see the condemning of terror groups for trying to "redefine" torture (and after all, sending jets into buildings certainly redefined things).
We don't see any of that. In fact, when you pull up Amnesty International's report, you can scroll through an alphabetical list of countries and find complaints about each one.
But after Algeria comes Angola, with no Al Qaeda in sight.
It must be very convenient for Amnesty to send people with clipboards to observe prisoner treatment. (Or, as was the case with Guantanamo, because they couldn't get in, observing a few trials and talking with detainees' relatives in Yemen.)
But there were no Amnesty people present when Daniel Pearl had his head cut off. There were no Amnesty people taking notes when suicide bombers blew up U.S. soldiers.
The attitude of groups like Amnesty International can be summed up by a shrug and a finger wag. The shrug is for the world's evil-mongers who are somehow beyond hope and therefore, apparently, beyond much criticism.
The finger wag they save for us.
Every country has responsibilities
Now, I am not defending the abuses in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. They need to be addressed. They are, and should be, an embarrassment.
But like many Americans, when a London-based group, formed in the 1960s to protect the rights of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, wants to apply a standard to this country that is laughably beyond comparison to this country's enemies, well, my sense of balance is insulted.
Last week, I spoke with Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. He said America must adhere to a higher code — if only for the ripple effect. He said in Egypt, for example, Hosni Mubarak's iron fist against dissidents was being buoyed by our behavior.
Malinowski said: "He's telling people, 'Hey, don't criticize me. I'm just doing what the Americans are doing.' "
Well, no he's not, for one thing. Secondly, let me get this straight about foreign strongmen. When they attack us, they blame us, and when they attack their own, they blame us, too? Who's making the rules here?
Look. There have certainly been abuses, both military and political, in the "war on terror." But we must remember, on Memorial Day weekend, that this is a different kind of war, that one person can wreak havoc on thousands, that information and communication are now lethal weapons.
This is no longer about taking a soldier's gun away. People die who never donned a uniform. Any shopping mall can become a war zone. Given that, complaining about the speed of a foreign prisoner's legal appeal is a bit puzzling, especially when an American's head may be rolling on a floor, cut off by a knife.
As for Amnesty International's shriek that Guantanamo is "the gulag of our times," well, give it a few months. Times change pretty quickly these days.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com
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As members of the Church Universal, we join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in affirming the historic Trinitarian creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith. We value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage and believe it to be a way of understanding the faith that is true to Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.
We are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe that in divine love God offers to all people forgiveness of sins and restored relationship. In being reconciled to God, we believe that we are also to be reconciled to one another, loving each other as we have been loved by God and forgiving each other as we have been forgiven by God. We believe that our life together is to exemplify the character of Christ. We look to Scripture as the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church, which, as the Nicene Creed tells us, is one, holy, universal, and apostolic. In Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God the Father offers forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to all the world. Those who respond to God's offer in faith become the people of God. Having been forgiven and reconciled in Christ, we forgive and are reconciled to one another. In this way, we are Christ's Church and Body and reveal the unity of that Body. As the one Body of Christ, we have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." We affirm the unity of Christ's Church and strive in all things to preserve it (Ephesians 4:5, 3).
Jesus Christ is the holy Lord. For this reason, Christ's Church is not only one but also holy. It is to be holy in its parts and in its totality and holy in its members as it is in its Head. The Church is both holy and called to be holy. It is holy because it is the Body of Christ, who has become for us righteousness and holiness. It is called to become holy by God, who chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless. As Christ's one Body, our life together as a Church should embody the holy character of Christ, who emptied himself and took on the form of a slave. We affirm the holiness of Christ's Church, both as a gift and as a calling.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church. For this reason, the Church is not only one and holy but also universal, including all who affirm the essential beliefs of the Christian faith. We affirm the apostolic faith that has been held by all Christians everywhere and at all times. We embrace John Wesley's concept of the universal spirit, by which we have fellowship with all those who affirm the vital center of Scripture, and we extend toleration to those who disagree with us on matters not essential to salvation.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Scriptures. For this reason, the Church is not only one, holy, and universal but also apostolic. It is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and continually devotes itself to the apostles' teaching. The Church especially looks to the Scriptures, which are the Church's only norm of faith and life. The Lordship of Jesus over the Scriptures means that we are to understand the Scriptures through the witness of the Holy Spirit as they testify to Jesus. To confirm and correct our understanding of the Scriptures, we honor and heed the ancient creeds and other voices of the Christian tradition that faithfully explain the Scriptures. We also allow our understanding of the Scriptures to be guided by the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in repentance, faith, and assurance. Finally we test our understanding of the Scriptures by seeking the reasonableness and coherence of their witness to Jesus Christ.
We are especially called to witness to the holiness of Christ's Church as embraced in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. We affirm the principles of salvation by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. In doing so, we continue to affirm that Christ's Church is one, universal, and apostolic. But our special calling is to hold before the eyes of the world and the Church the centrality of holiness and to encourage the people of God to live in the fullness of the Father's holy love. For this reason we affirm the Wesleyan-Holiness understanding of the Christian faith and seek to remain faithful to its principal teachings: God's prevenient grace and the means of grace, repentance, faith, the new birth, justification, entire sanctification, assurance, the Christian community and its disciplines, and the perfection of love.
Because we are called by Scripture and drawn by grace to worship God and to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, we commit ourselves fully and completely to God, believing that we can be "sanctified wholly," as a second crisis experience. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills, and empowers us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a people of love, spiritual discipline, ethical and moral purity, compassion, and justice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God and produces in us the character of Christ.
We believe in God the Father, the Creator, who calls into being what does not exist. We once were not, but God called us into being, made us for himself, and fashioned us in His own image. We have been commissioned to bear the image of God: "I am the LORD . . . your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44).
Jesus Christ revealed the one holy God to us and modeled worshipful, holy living for us. Our hunger to be a Holiness people is rooted in the holiness of God himself. The holiness of God refers to His deity, His utter singularity of being. There is none like Him in majesty and glory. The appropriate human response in the presence of such a glorious being is worship of God as God. God's holiness is expressed in His gracious redemptive acts. Encountering the God who reveals and gives himself makes worship possible, and worship becomes the primary way of knowing Him. We worship the holy redeeming God by loving what He loves.
Our worship of the great and gracious God takes many forms. Often it is praise and prayer with the faith community. It also expresses itself in acts of private devotion, thanksgiving, praise, and obedience. Evangelistic sharing of the faith, compassion toward our neighbor, working for justice, and moral uprightness are all acts of worship before our God of blazing holiness. Even the ordinary tasks of life become acts of worship and take on a sacramental significance as worship of a holy God becomes our way of life.
Jesus informs our understanding of holiness through His life, sacrifice, and teachings as found in the Gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). As a Holiness people we seek to be like Jesus in every attitude and action. By His grace God enables believers who worship Him with their whole hearts to live Christlike lives. This we understand to be the essence of holiness.
God has also given us the gift and responsibility of choice. Because we were born with a tendency to sin, we are inclined to choose our own way rather than God's (Isaiah 53:6). Having corrupted God's creation with our sin, we are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). If we are to live again spiritually, God, who calls into being what does not exist, must graciously create us anew through the redemptive acts of His own Son.
We believe that God uniquely entered our world through the incarnation of His only Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the historical God-man. Jesus came to renew the image of God in us, enabling us to become holy people. We believe that holiness in the life of the believer is the result of both a crisis experience and a lifelong process. Following regeneration, the Spirit of our Lord draws us by grace to the full consecration of our lives to Him. Then, in the divine act of entire sanctification, also called the baptism with the Holy Spirit, He cleanses us from original sin and indwells us with His holy presence. He perfects us in love, enables us to live in moral uprightness, and empowers us to serve.
The Spirit of Jesus works within us to reproduce in us His own character of holy love. He enables us to "put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). To be like God is to be like Jesus. Having had the divine image restored in us in God's act of entire sanctification, we acknowledge that we have not yet arrived spiritually; our lifelong goal is Christlikeness in every word, thought, and deed. By continued yieldedness, obedience, and faith, we believe that we are "being transformed into his [Christ's] likeness with ever-increasing glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). We participate further in this process as we live a life of worship expressed in many ways, including embracing the spiritual disciplines and the fellowship and accountability of the local church. As a body of believers in a specific congregation, we endeavor to be a Christlike community, worshiping God with our whole hearts and receiving His gifts of love, purity, power, and compassion.
As a Holiness people we do not exist in a historical and ecclesiastical vacuum. We identify with the New Testament and the Early Church. Our Articles of Faith clearly place us in the tradition of classical Christianity. We identify with the Arminian tradition of free grace-Jesus died for all-and human freedom-the God-given capacity of all to choose God and salvation. We also trace our ecclesiastical heritage to the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th century and to the Holiness Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Through the centuries the Holiness people have had a "magnificent obsession" with Jesus. We worship Jesus! We love Jesus! We think Jesus! We talk Jesus! We live Jesus! This is the essence and overflow of holiness for us. This is what characterizes Holiness people.
The mission of the Church in the world begins in worship. As we are gathered together before God in worship-singing, hearing the public reading of the Bible, giving our tithes and offerings, praying, hearing the preached Word, baptizing, and sharing the Lord's Supper-we know most clearly what it means to be the people of God. Our belief that the work of God in the world is accomplished primarily through worshiping congregations leads us to understand that our mission includes the receiving of new members into the fellowship of the church and the organizing of new worshiping congregations.
Worship is the highest expression of our love for God. It is God-centered adoration honoring the One who in grace and mercy redeems us. The primary context for worship is the local church where God's people gather, not in self-centered experience or for self-glorification but rather in self-surrender and self-offering. Worship is the church in loving, obedient service to God.
Worship is the first privilege and responsibility of God's people. It is the gathering of the covenant community before God in proclamation and celebrative response of who He is, what He has done, and what He promises to do.
The local church in worship is at the core of our identity. The Church of the Nazarene is essentially local worshiping congregations, and it is in and through the local congregation that our mission is fulfilled. The mission of the church finds its meaning and orientation in worship. It is in the preaching of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, the public reading of the Scripture, the singing of hymns and choruses, corporate prayer, and the presenting of our tithes and offerings that we know most clearly what it means to be the people of God. It is in worship that we understand most clearly what it means to participate with God in the work of redemption.
As people who are consecrated to God, we share His love for the lost and His compassion for the poor and broken. The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) move us to engage the world in evangelism, compassion, and justice. To this end we are committed to inviting people to faith, to caring for those in need, to standing against injustice and with the oppressed, to working to protect and preserve the resources of God's creation, and to including in our fellowship all who will call upon the name of the Lord.
Through its mission in the world, the Church demonstrates the love of God. The story of the Bible is the story of God reconciling the world to himself, ultimately through Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). The Church is sent into the world to participate with God in this ministry of love and reconciliation through evangelism, compassion, and justice.
Both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment are central to the understanding of our mission. They are two expressions of a single mission, two dimensions of the one gospel message. Jesus, who directs us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37, 39), also tells us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).
The mission of the Church in the world extends to all humanity, as all people, being created in the image of God, have ultimate value. It is our mission to love and value people as they are loved and valued by God, who seeks to bring them peace, justice, and salvation from sin through Christ. It is our mission to have compassion upon and to care for those in need. It is our mission to oppose social systems and policies that devalue or disempower people.
The mission of the Church extends to the whole person. God has created us as whole persons, and it is our mission to be ministers of God's love to people as whole persons-body, soul, and spirit. Our mission of evangelism, compassion, and justice is a single integrated mission, engaging people in their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
The mission of the Church in the world extends to all humanity because Jesus Christ has come into the world to save all who call upon His name. As the people of God, it is our privilege and responsibility to share the good news of the gospel with all who will hear. Whether in public services or in personal one-on-one witnessing, our passion is to take every opportunity to invite people to faith in Jesus Christ.
The mission of the Church in the world extends to all people because the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was poured out upon all humanity (Acts 2). It is our mission to present the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ to every person on earth. We are empowered by the Spirit to go into the world proclaiming the Kingdom and participating with God in the building of the Church.
It is with a spirit of hope and optimism that we engage our God-given mission in the world. It is more than an expression of human concern or human effort. Our mission is a response to God's call. It is our participation with God in the Kingdom mission of reconciliation. It is the Church's faithful witness to and expression of the love of God in the world in evangelism, compassion, and justice. It is our faith in the ability of God's grace to transform the lives of people broken by sin and to restore them in His own image.
Christian discipleship is a way of life. It is the process of learning how God would have us live in the world. As we learn to live in obedience to the Word of God, in submission to the disciplines of the faith, and in accountability to one another, we begin to understand the true joy of the disciplined life and the Christian meaning of freedom. Discipleship is not merely human effort, submitting to rules and regulations. It is the means through which the Holy Spirit gradually brings us to maturity in Christ. It is through discipleship that we become people of Christian character. The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
By studying and meditating on the Scriptures, Christians discover fountains of refreshment in every thirsty valley on their discipleship journey. Invigorated by the washing of the Word, refined by immersion in the Word, drinking deeply the truths of the Word, disciples discover to their happy surprise that they are being "transformed by the renewing of [their] mind" (Romans 12:2). The Christian way opens before them like a high and open road. Nerved by God, they proceed on a way of life that eclipses mere human and cultural values. Refreshed by the fountain of the Word, disciples give their lives away in self-transcending service.
We affirm the life-giving value of the classic spiritual disciplines in the training of women and men as disciples of Christ. The disciplines of prayer and fasting, worship, study solitude, service, and simplicity are at the same time natural expressions and intentional commitments in the life of the believer.
Discipleship requires mutual support and loving accountability. On our own, few of us will develop the spiritual disciplines that lead to Christian maturity. We believe that we are to encourage the mutual support provided through such means as Sunday School classes, discipleship groups, Bible study groups, prayer meetings, accountability groups, and Christian mentoring as necessary to our spiritual formation and maturity. Recognizing the role of accountability in the Wesleyan class meetings encourages us to support its place within the contemporary Christian congregation.
We are committed to Christian education, through which women and men are equipped for lives of Christian service. In our seminaries, Bible colleges, colleges, and universities, we are committed to the pursuit of knowledge, the development of Christian character, and the equipping of leaders to accomplish our God-given calling of serving in the Church and in the world.
Christian higher education is a central part of the mission of the Church of the Nazarene. In the early years of the Church of the Nazarene, institutions of Christian higher education were organized for the purpose of preparing women and men of God for leadership and Christian service in the global spread of the Wesleyan-Holiness revival. Our continued commitment to Christian higher education through the years has produced a worldwide network of seminaries, Bible schools, colleges, and universities.
Our mission of Christian higher education comes directly out of what it means to be God's people. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind. We are therefore to be good stewards in the development of our minds, of our academic resources, and in the application of our knowledge. In this light, we are committed to the open and honest pursuit of knowledge and truth coupled with the integrity of our Christian faith. Christian higher education is an essential arena for the development of the stewardship of our minds. It is intended to be an arena characterized by the discussion and discovery of truth and knowledge about God and all of God's creation.
In Christian higher education, faith is not compartmentalized but rather is wonderfully integrated with knowledge as faith and learning are developed together. The whole person is cultivated with every area of thought and life understood in relationship to the desire and design of God. Christian character and the equipping of Christian leaders for service in the church and the world are forged in the context of learning about God, humanity, and the world. This commitment of Christian higher education to the formation of the whole person is critical for the development of Christian men and women for missional leadership in the church and the world.
As a redeemed people called to Christlikeness and sent as agents of God's love in the world, we participate with God in the work of redeeming humanity. Christian higher education contributes significantly to our ability to fulfill our mission and is necessary for effective service to God in our various vocations. Our faithful participation in God's redemptive work requires that we raise up men and women of God who can take their place as Christian servant leaders in the church and in the world.
The world in which we are called to serve is becoming more closely connected and more profoundly complicated each day. As God's work of redemption advances in present and future generations, our faithful witness to the Lordship of Christ and effective participation with God in the building of the church will continue to require a vital commitment to Christian higher education.


Earlier today, Gmail suffered some major issues with users across the globe reporting they were unable to log in or even access the Gmail website.
Google confirms the issue has been fixed now and people should be able to access the email platform as usual.
If you use Gmail as your main email work platform then we've got some bad news. You'll probably have to take the rest of the day off as Gmail is down.
Google's email platform has been having issues since around 11.15 am (GMT) this morning. In general, people are having problems trying to log-in, as well as receiving emails and accessing the website.
According to the website DownDetector, people are reporting issues with the platform in Australia, Brazil, Norway, India and the UK.
Even clearing your cache and cookies doesn't seem to be having an effect, which means it must be a widespread issue.
This week is not a good week for internet platforms. Last night, social media platform Instagram crashed for users around the world, with those in North America the worst hit and some users in the UK affected.
The app's support team confirmed Instagram was carrying out some server maintenance, which caused the issues. It was resolved before the morning.
Google is aware that Gmail is down, according to the company's app status dashboard. This should mean that the company is working to fix the issue.
According to the dashboard, no other Google products are affected at the moment. That means Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Hangouts are all working as expected.


Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia School of Law; Senior Lecturer, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; Former Inspector General, CIA, 1990-98.
"Relentless NON-humanity." This is the term I have used to describe the impact of the Predator Drone as a weapon in the Afghanistan/Pakistan (Af-Pak) region in the U.S.'s Global war on Terrorism (GWOT). It is not just that the Predator is an application of lethal force that, without warning, annihilates suspected terrorists and sometimes innocent bystanders. Rather, my concerns stem from the fact that controllers target and dispatch these deadly weapons remotely, often while thousands of miles from the battlefield. One of my law students expressed it succinctly a year ago when he described his experiences "driving the Predator" for the previous seven years. "Where did you do that, Jonathan?" I asked him, to which he quickly replied, "outside of Las Vegas, and sometimes when I got off duty, I wandered into town to play the slots.
This is not Star Wars. This is the real thing. And, in my view, it is why drone warfare is increasingly, if mistakenly, compared by observers to the terrorist activity it seeks to suppress. Most scholars who sought to define terrorism unite on the basic principle that terrorism is hostile action designed to achieve a political goal by intimidating a civilian population, but not ultimately to defeat a state as Germany and Japan were defeated in World War II. It is to destroy the population's morale, their will to resist, and to bring them into compliance with the wishes of the terrorist. What I am suggesting is that drone warfare has a similar goal. It is fighting fire with fire, terror with terror.
Recognizing that the Government of Pakistan will never allow U.S. troops on Pakistani soil to pursue the Taliban in the disputed regions of the North-West frontier and Afghanistan, the U.S. has been able to strike the Taliban effectively with Predator drones guided from two continents away. In fact, the U.S. gained access to Pakistani airspace by helping the Government of Pakistan eliminate an Al Qaeda leader in the North-West frontier that the Pakistanis had spent years trying to chase down. The predator's distinguishing characteristic is its ability to hover indefinitely over a given target area and when it catches sight of its target to strike instantly and without warning. Nobody is certain of the precise numbers of bystanders who have been killed in the drone attacks but because there is no warning of its presence, innocents are bound to have been included.
This was not in the mind of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) when he purchased six Predator drones from the General Atomic Corporation in 1997. DCI James Woolsey was buying a sophisticated surveillance device with a negligible radar profile, powered by a golf cart engine that could hover endlessly and silently over a remote target, sending precise images back to its control. Soon thereafter, the U.S. Military fitted the Predator with a Hellfire missile, turning it into a formidable killing machine!
Is the Predator drone a "legal" weapon under the laws of war? U.S. Government lawyers defended its use under the President's authority to use all military force at his disposal to pursue and kill the 9/11 attackers – the "Authorization to Use Military Force" (AUMF) of September, 2001. Until recently, the President's primary international lawyer, adviser to the U.S. State Department, and former dean of Yale Law School, Harold Koh, prominently defended use of the Predator drone in the Af-Pak theater. Recently, however, he and others raised questions about usage of the Predator for "targeted killings" in the region. Mr. Koh and some of his colleagues are now on record demanding a more transparent process for authorizing drone strikes that target suspected Al Qaeda operatives and U.S. citizens.
This came to a head several months ago when the United Press published a 10-12 page document obtained from U.S. Government files that sought to describe the process followed before American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, was targeted and assassinated in Yemen in 2011. The question is simply – does anyone in the U.S. Government have the authority to target for assassination a U.S. citizen or enemy terrorist, and if so, by what process is the decision made? Is it the President alone? And if so, does this occur because of his Constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief or because of the AUMF? Further, is this targeted assassination of Al Qaeda leaders, American citizens or otherwise, congruent with the laws of war generally, proportionate to the threat posed by Al Qaeda and suitably limited in purpose? These are good questions that deserve some scrutiny. For example, the state of Israel has been in the targeted killing business in its struggle with the Palestinians for many years and the Israeli Supreme Court has never okayed the practice. What that says is that even Israel in fighting for its life in a dangerous region has felt the necessity of embarking on a campaign of assassinations of suspected terrorists with or without the approval of its highest court. This is clearly a tough business.
There are many unsettled questions, legal, political, and otherwise surrounding the use by the U.S. of the Predator drone in combat. But I keep coming back to the one issue that most captivates me as a lawyer, U.S. citizen, and teacher. In the case of the GWOT, by our continuing and conspicuous use of the Predator drone, the United States is fighting terror with terror. We are confronting hostile acts of terror such as the 9/11 hijackings and deaths of over 3,000 people with warning-less Predator drone strikes on Al Qaeda's suspected leaders and operatives – and, deservedly or not, we are giving rise to the identical reactions of outrage in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Perhaps this is an inevitable result of the most effective method we can devise to counter Al Qaeda terrorism in the region, but it has complications and consequences. I believe it is the obligation of the U.S. to explain more fully our policy for using the Predator in the manner we have thus far in the War on Terror, the process we follow in target selection, and the safeguards in place against making mistakes. It may be that the United States will enjoy a dominant position indefinitely in the utilization of drone strikes for targeted killings, but while we are in the driver's seat, to make a bad pun, we ought to be transparent in our reasoning. Otherwise, we may find that the "relentless non-humanity" of drone warfare makes our international actions to combat terrorism as repugnant as the acts of the terrorists themselves. We have an obligation to pursue zealously and effectively those who attacked the U.S. on 9/11, but as a leader of the world's strongest democracy and a proponent of the rule of law, we must be conscious of the need to explain ourselves when we are as dependent as we have become on such an unanswerable, terrifying and heavy-handed weapon as the Predator drone.


We caught up with Ariane Steinbeck Managing Director of RPW Design to talk about hotel and restaurant design trends.
Ariane Steinbeck is certainly an inspiring woman, with an award-winning career that has spanned throughout the United States, Asia and now Europe. As an active contributor to the hospitality and interior design industry Ariane is sharing her expertise when it comes to hotel and restaurant interior design.
L.N Ariane can you please tell us a bit more about yourself and your background?
[RPW Design AST] I'm a global nomad…born in Germany, raised in Spain, University in USA, a decade in Asia and now back to my roots in Europe…Brexit be damned! My passion for beautiful spaces, delectable food and drink, different cultures and people cemented my place in hospitality. I have to admit I'm pretty lucky to have friends and family strewn throughout the globe and it brings me great joy to be able to connect with everyone through my work.
L.N You have an impressive portfolio of properties you have worked on, is every project and property different?
[RPW Design AST] they have to be different. I think what links our work is the passion for quality and a certain timelessness. We're quite restrained in our approach to design and absolute believers in the fact that great service is the crucial ingredient that makes our work truly successful.
L.N How does designing for hotels and restaurants differ compared to residential properties?
[RPW Design AST] While both fields will usually have limitations as to the "spend", working in a commercial space demands incredible knowledge of materials and products that are viable and maintainable for an environment that is not just there to provide joy and sanctuary to our guests but also generate a viable return on investment for the owner. It requires a rigorous evaluation of each selection and the pragmatism to decide what is appropriate or necessary. Only with plenty of experience can this be accomplished without compromising aesthetics.
L.N What are the design trends for hotels in 2019?
[RPW Design AST] We don't follow or predict trends-or we would not have the longevity and reputation we enjoy in our field. It has to be beautiful, affordable, and maintainable-those qualities are never going to be trendy.
L.N What are the design trends for restaurant and bars in 2019?
[RPW Design AST] I think simplicity and honesty in the foods on offer, sustainability and less fussy preparation is a general trend in the restaurant industry across the world. Interiors will reflect that-and that doesn't mean it can't be glamorous!
L.N Some interior design trends seem to come and go, are there any designs that are timeless?
[RPW Design AST] I think a careful selection and mix of styles, periods, travel finds and personal touches is something that will never go out of fashion.
L.N According to you, what should a great hotel room have/and not have?
[RPW Design AST] A great bed, with wonderful linen is non-negotiable. The room needs to be intuitive as to charging points, simple light controls and flexibility of how much daylight you want to let in. I'm one of the few people that absolutely hate a black-out curtain…I always prefer daylight and sun. Less is more when it comes to furniture and I'd rather have more open space in a room than every corner filled up with furniture that does not have a real purpose.
L.N Do you have any exciting projects you will be working on this year?
[RPW Design AST] we are working on an important commission of a country hotel outside London, a new concept for a multi-generational event space in the Kingdom of Bahrain, ongoing renovations at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane here in London and projects under construction as far spread out as Malta, Georgia, Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia.


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