Bibliture

B. Conscious

Description

Bibliture: Genesis-Ten Commandments, The First Seventy Chapters offers readers of the Bible a platform to read, question, and discuss the first seventy chapters of the Bible. The verses offer readers a seamless annotated summary of the story of creation through the deliverance of the Ten Commandments. Discussion questions encourage individuals to consider the meaning of the words used within the Bible so as to assist readers in better understanding the text. Following the verses and discussion questions that allow each individual the opportunity to form opinions about the text, Bibliture presents a commentary that is anchored in the understanding that the fundamental theme of the Bible is that all is interconnected and one. Routinely asking questions allows individuals the opportunity to consider the plot, the characters, and the characters' words and actions from the perspective of the power they hold over each other and the level of awareness they have over their own life situations. Viewing the narrative through this lens offers readers the opportunity to consider our own moment-to-moment actions in relation to such highly conscious individuals as Noah, Abraham, Rebekah, Joseph, and Moses to name a few. In so doing, reading, questioning, and discussing the Bible can be a life-changing experience.

Sujets

• Biblical Reference
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 19 juillet 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781478791546
• Langue: English

Extrait

Bibliture
Genesis - The Ten Commandments The First Seventy Chapters
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2017 B. Conscious
v3.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc.
http://www.outskirtspress.com

ISBN: 978-1-4787-9154-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017906333

Cover Photo © 2017 thinkstockphotos.com. All rights reserved - used with permission.

Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Anjali Patrick & Arjuna Patrick
“ Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -all mean egotism vanishes.
I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all;
the currents of the Universal Being circulate throughout me;
I am part or particle of God.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
Why B. Conscious?
I write by the name B. Conscious to convey my understanding that the fundamental purpose of life--and the foundational theme of the Bible--is to strive to be highly conscious in our moment-to-moment lives. To “be conscious” means to be awake to each interaction during each moment. Each moment of our lives is a struggle to remain present. Memories, dreams, and preoccupations distract each of us away from what is happening at each moment. As the past and the future do not exist, we are not who we think we are. We are right now. The name B. Conscious attempts to reflect this understanding.
While individuals become conscious upon waking from sleep, few individuals live consciously aware of each moment while they are awake. Many people, the author included, live our lives awake but not fully conscious of the world in which we live. We look without seeing, hear without listening, chew without tasting, and breathe without smelling. Thoughts of “I,” “you,” “yesterday,” and “tomorrow” continually dominate our minds concealing the peace of the present moment from our conscious awareness.
With the challenge of achieving a life of moment-to-moment clarity of sight in mind, my motivation in writing Bibliture was to share the manner in which the first seventy chapters of the Bible offer humanity models of highly conscious individuals. Characters such as Noah, Joseph, and Moses serve as role models of conscious awareness in action, which is Love. Living according to their life examples and teachings can change our lives and the world in which we live.
Enjoy,
B. Conscious
Table of Contents
Introduction i
Genesis Chapter 1 3
Genesis Chapter 2 14
Genesis Chapter 3 23
Genesis Chapter 4 33
Genesis Chapter 5 41
Genesis Chapter 6 46
Genesis Chapter 7 51
Genesis Chapter 8 54
Genesis Chapter 9 59
Genesis Chapter 10 65
Genesis Chapter 11 71
Genesis Chapter 12 77
Genesis Chapter 13 83
Genesis Chapter 14 87
Genesis Chapter 15 91
Genesis Chapter 16 97
Genesis Chapter 17 103
Genesis Chapter 18 110
Genesis Chapter 19 117
Genesis Chapter 20 124
Genesis Chapter 21 131
Genesis Chapter 22 140
Genesis Chapter 23 148
Genesis Chapter 24 154
Genesis Chapter 25 168
Genesis Chapter 26 175
Genesis Chapter 27 183
Genesis Chapter 28 193
Genesis Chapter 29 199
Genesis Chapter 30 204
Genesis Chapter 31 209
Genesis Chapter 32 219
Genesis Chapter 33 225
Genesis Chapter 34 231
Genesis Chapter 35 238
Genesis Chapter 36 245
Genesis Chapter 37 250
Genesis Chapter 38 258
Genesis Chapter 39 264
Genesis Chapter 40 268
Genesis Chapter 41 271
Genesis Chapter 42 278
Genesis Chapter 43 286
Genesis Chapter 44 292
Genesis Chapter 45 297
Genesis Chapter 46 301
Genesis Chapter 47 306
Genesis Chapter 48 312
Genesis Chapter 49 316
Genesis Chapter 50 318
Exodus Chapter 1 326
Exodus Chapter 2 331
Exodus Chapter 3 337
Exodus Chapter 4 346
Exodus Chapter 5 358
Exodus Chapter 6 362
Exodus Chapter 7 365
Exodus Chapter 8 370
Exodus Chapter 9 376
Exodus Chapter 10 382
Exodus Chapter 11 390
Exodus Chapter 12 393
Exodus Chapter 13 402
Exodus Chapter 14 406
Exodus Chapter 15 412
Exodus Chapter 16 419
Exodus Chapter 17 425
Exodus Chapter 18 428
Exodus Chapter 19 & 20 436
Introduction
I have had the privilege of teaching an elective public high school English course that relies upon the Bible as its primary text. Over the course of the ten years that I’ve facilitated classroom discussions based on the Bible, I have consistently been asked the same question by my students’ parents and guardians: “How do you get your students to be so interested and engaged in reading the Bible?” Bibliture has been inspired by a determination to provide a clearly conveyed, detailed, and meaningful response to this question.
The irony of hearing this question is that I spent my childhood ignoring the Bible. As a youth, I dismissed the Bible and did not think it contained any meaningful message that would impact how I lived my moment-to-moment life. Attending a Christian elementary school and weekly church services, I considered the plot of the Bible to be confusing and references to “the LORD” and “God” to be beyond my understanding. The seven days of creation, Adam and Eve’s residence within Eden, Noah’s ability to survive a flood with two of each animal, characters communicating with “the LORD” or “God,” and Moses’ parting of the Red Sea were just a few of the Old Testament stories that I viewed with skepticism and disbelief. I emerged from my youth with little substantive knowledge about Genesis, Exodus, and the stories of Jesus beyond the most basic plot details. To no fault of my previous teachers, I could not visualize the stories taking place because the plot details were seemingly too abstract for me to understand. Confused and lacking the patience to pursue answers to my questions, I walked away from the Bible because it did not make sense to me.
The Bible made a second appearance in my life when it was hand-delivered to me in the Nepali village where I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer. Sent half-way around the world by my grandmother’s cousin, the text sat on my shelf for weeks before I felt compelled to begin the story of Genesis out of fear that I would be questioned about the book upon returning home. I began reading the text with literal eyes and immediately felt detached from the seemingly supernatural plot details that include both a serpent and a flaming bush that could talk. My previous assumption that the Bible contained nothing more than an accumulation of unbelievable stories was further reinforced.
After gleaning just enough to recite basic plot details, I returned the Bible to my shelf with no intention of picking it up again. Living amidst people that read Buddhist and Hindu texts, I curiously turned my attention to other books to see if they could speak to me in a way that I could understand. Paging through English-translated portions of the Bhagavad Gita as well as annotated versions of the classic Hindu texts the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , I read with the same shallowness of understanding that I had read the Bible. I felt removed from the characters’ words and actions, and I quickly became disinterested in those stories as well. I considered all of the ‘holy’ books I had read to be meaningless and outdated.
Fortunately for me, these texts were not completely removed from my life. After returning home from my two-year stay in Nepal, I married into a family whose members passionately understood the famous Hindu texts at a much more symbolic level than I had ever thought possible. Whereas I had already begun to forget some of the stories that I had superficially read just a few years earlier, the people with whom I spoke often referenced these stories in their daily conversations. Through these conversations about literature, and through my subsequent reading of individuals such as Jiddu Krishnamurti and Nisargadatta Maharaj, I found that the foundation upon which these ‘spiritual books’ rested was the fact that all is ultimately interconnected and one .
After I had been provided a refreshing perspective on the stories I had previously discarded, the Bible entered my life for the third time. When my great-grandmother died on her one-hundred and seventh birthday, the Bible that always sat next to her chair was given to me. At the time that her Bible was placed into my hands, so too was the opportunity to teach the course that has since inspired me to write this book . Having had the opportunity to read and discuss the Bible through the lens that all is interconnected and one has been a life-changing experience. I have found that reading literature with an intense focus upon characters that transcend notions of separation and time can inspire all who read to develop these qualities within ourselves. It is for this reason that I share this book.
While readers are encouraged to read the actual Bible text, Bibliture can be read as an annotated summary of the first seventy chapters of the text, Holy Bible: The New King James Version . Bibliture was written and organized so as to provide readers a study guide supplement to their reading of the Bible. The questions following each verse offer readers the opportunity to reach their own conclusions regarding the meaning of the Bible. In addition to creating a platform from which individuals can read, question, and discuss the Bible, Bibliture offers readers a theory of biblical analysis that highlights how the Bible conve