Daniel’s Blog

Hi all,

As many of you will know - I’ll be getting married next year. I’m actually in the process of considering my own “stag party”, but it’ll have to be very very me, which is a celebration of my non-married life, and a celebration of my forthcoming married life.

Therefore I am considering something spiritually uplifting. Something really special for me. Potentially a retreat of some kind, which may involve high elements of spiritual exploration. Both London and Glastonbury have come to mind, but it’s the finer details of what I’d like to do if I go there…. potentially: visit various religious services (Christian, Mystic and otherwise), visit masonic meetings (not just craft-masonry) and do some deep meditation.

Its really quite appealing to me, and what I’d do is probably detail what I’d be doing and when and where, so that anybody who is interested and wants to celebrate/explore with me can do so if they so wish.

Any thoughts/ideas about the specifics of what I could do would be appreciated.

Today, in the Christian calendar, it is John the Baptist day. Every Christian will known the story of John’s birth, John’s baptisms and John’s death as explained in the canonical bible. We celebrate this day as a remembrance of the wonderful life of John the Baptist.

However!!! Little does the average Christian know (and those of other spiritual paths) that John the Baptist is not just a Christian Character!

John the Baptist appears in Mandaeanism, Islam and Bahaism.

In Mandaeanism, John the Baptist is a key figure in scripture. His Mandaean name is Yahya/Yahia. Mandaeanism has quite different theology to Judeo-Christianity, but it does actually detail the baptism of Jesus. Here is one of the fantastic quotes from Mandaean Scripture:

“Bring fire and burn me; bring sword and hew me in pieces.” But the priests in Jerusalem answered to Yahy?: “Fire does not burn thee, O Yahy?, for Life’s Name has been uttered o’er thee. A sword does not hew thee in pieces, O Yahy?, for Life’s Son rests here upon thee.” -

Mandaean John the Baptiser
John the Baptist can be found in Islam too. His Islamic name is also Yahya. Here is one quote from the Koran:

“O Yahya! take hold of the Book with strength, and We granted him wisdom while yet a child” -

The Koran
And also (but not finally) he is mentioned in the Baha’i faith. John is one of the prophets, and is mentioned here:

“As to the list of the prophets with whom Bahá’u'lláh identified Himself in the passage found on pages 26 and 27 of ‘The Dispensation of Bahá’u'lláh’, their names are as follows: Abraham, Moses, Joseph, John the Baptist, Jesus, Imam Husayn, on whom Bahá’u'lláh has conferred an exceptionally exalted station, (and) the Bab.” -

Lights of Guidance
There are also various other spiritual reference to John the Baptist in various Gnostic and Apocryphal-Christian writings.
But it doesn’t stop there… if you dig deep enough you’ll find references to John the Baptist in writings about Anthroposophy, Theosophy and even Freemasonry. But maybe that’s a topic for another time.

So I hope you all have a joyous John the Baptist Day! Christian, Mandaean, Muslim, Baha’i, Gnostic, Anthroposophic, Masonic and otherwise!

I was wondering about the Presidents in the United States of America, and wondered what their religions were. So I zipped up some SPARQL queries to run against DBpedia, they aren’t perfect (i.e. they don’t capture all of the presidents due to mislabeling and me not being too bothered about the answers), but it provides some answers.

The Democrats:

SELECT ?PresidentName ?ReligionName
WHERE
{
?president
dbpprop:party <https://dbpedia.org/resource/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29>;
dbpprop:order dbpedia:President_of_the_United_States;
<https://dbpedia.org/ontology/religion> ?Religion;
rdfs:label ?PresidentName.
FILTER (lang(?PresidentName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?PresidentName), "en")).
?Religion rdfs:label ?ReligionName.
FILTER (lang(?ReligionName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?ReligionName), "en"))
} ORDER BY ?ReligionName

Which the answer is viewable “Democratic Presidents Religions”

The Republicans

SELECT ?PresidentName ?ReligionName
WHERE
{
?president
dbpprop:party <https://dbpedia.org/resource/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29>;
dbpprop:order dbpedia:President_of_the_United_States;
<https://dbpedia.org/ontology/religion> ?Religion;
rdfs:label ?PresidentName.
FILTER (lang(?PresidentName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?PresidentName), "en")).
?Religion rdfs:label ?ReligionName.
FILTER (lang(?ReligionName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?ReligionName), "en"))
} ORDER BY ?Religion

Which the answer is available directly here: “Republican Presidents religions”

Please note

• It doesn’t return all presidents of the parties
• It does use the DBPedia SPARQL engine (powered by OpenLink Virtuoso)
• It does use some shortcuts (i.e. not defining PREFIXs and the FROM clause), as the DBPedia SPARQL engine provides these nice shortcuts.

I am very pleased to announce that Beki and I are going to get married!!!!

I proposed to Beki at the Cardiff New Year Celebrations (Calennig) 2008/2009, just after midnight. I did indeed provide her with a ring (18ct White Gold and Cluster Diamond).

The wedding is starting to be planned, we have an initial idea of doing it in Summer 2011, but this may become 2010. Interestingly, and depending on whether the Church is happy to do so, we’re planning to have the service streamed over the web… but more on that later! (<- typical geeks!)

I know that all our friends and family who read this blog will be very happy for us both, and thank you to all those who have commented on our new status face-to-face or by phone, text-message, email, facebook-message and instant message.

Merry Christmas 2008 to every one of you.

For those of you who aren’t Christian, please take some time to think about 2008 and think about the forthcoming year 2009…. because Christmas is truly about the turning of the year, the beginnings of new things for you.

For those of you who are Christian, I hope you’ve had a good Midnight Mass/Eucharist/Communion/Service (if you celebrate that in your denomination). Let the symbolic birth of Jesus be a spiritual refreshment within us, and a time to think about new beginnings in our day-to-day life.

Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings. May the light shine on us all.

Daniel

(Let’s note that it’s also Sol Invictus Day, Yule (in some understandings) and the Feast of Saint Anastasia of Sirmium (on the Roman Catholic Calendar))

There exists such people who overly promote a certain religion, whether that be Christianity, Islam or something else. These are the Evangelicals of this religion. You’ll find them in the street advocating their religion, and saying that if you don’t share their faith then some nasty things will happen to you whether that’s in this life or some other. I think that if you want to believe that then fine, but you shouldn’t scare people into believing the same thing as you.

There also exists another kind of person, which is becoming increasingly more common in recent years. These people believe that there is no God (i.e. they are atheist), and they are sometimes pretty extreme about it… often saying things like “if you are religious, then that will eventually lead to pain”.

Surely, this kind of atheism is just as bad as the evangelical religious belief?

It’s really got to me recently, because…

If I see a Christian Street Preacher, then I sometimes stop and talk to him/her, and congratulate them on their spirituality… but then I’ll defend other peoples views (including the atheist and humanist point of view), as everybody has the right to believe in what they want to believe as long as it isn’t hurting themselves or anyone else. I personally have a different understanding of spirituality, religion and the universe to what the Christian Street Preacher has.

When I talk to an atheist extremist, I will also congratulate them on being firm in their understanding of the universe. But I will defend the spiritual and religious way of living, even the ones that I may not agree with. Once again, this is because I feel that everybody has the right to believe in what they want to as long as it isn’t hurting themselves or others.

This hatred is definitely not healthy, whether it’s from a “theist” or an “atheist”. The fact is we are all human, and we have some kind of connection with nature… so instead of arguing all the time, lets just get on with life and try not to hurt people (mentally, physically, spiritually or in any other way).

Bah, seriously irritates me….

(rant over… feel much better now)

A random musing….

Spirituality and Religion are different. Basically, Religion is Spirituality but with dogma and creeds attached. I think everybody has spirituality, and it’s their choice whether to acknowledge that. If they do acknowledge that then they should be free to choose whether or not to explore that through formal means (e.g. at a Church or a Temple etc)… that’s when that person becomes religious.

The problem is spirituality is attached to us, and we (as individuals) grow in person physically and mentally. This kind of growth, or evolution if you like, filters through into the spiritual us. Unfortunately, religion is a collective thing, and so if one person evolves their spirituality, it’s unlikely that the rest of that religious group evolves with him/her. Therefore, that religion may become more of a degrading religion than an upgrading religion to that person… and for fulfilment that person may develop better using other techniques which that group may not be providing.

Unfortunately, the people within religious institutions are sometimes too conservative in their beliefs. Therefore, if you are not in their group, then you have the opposite of their beliefs and become some kind of “nemesis” to them. This is pretty unfair if you take the fact that we’re constantly evolving into consideration, and that we, as humans, are completely equal (no matter of gender, culture or race).

From a personal point of view, I class myself as Christian and I go to a Church of England (Anglican/Episcopal) Church. But I acknowledge my Spirituality, I don’t follow the crowds and I try to make my own mind up on things when I have the knowledge and intellect to do so. This has lead to conversations with other Christians which seem to prove that I have completely different views to them. I was even talking to a atheist (who acknowledges his spirituality) the other day, and he actually related my belief system most similar to Atheism, Humanism or Buddhism…. stating that everything I said even Richard Dawkins would not disagree with (see his online article “Atheists for Jesus“). But this is my current state of spirituality, I feel certain things about the world and I apply them to my understanding of things. I therefore decide to interpret Christian scripture in what may seem like a Humanist/Buddhist fashion, because that is what Christianity speaks to me… and on the other hand I am completely happy to talk to another Christian who thinks otherwise.

I feel that it’s not going to be religion that makes peace on this world, but it’ll be the acknowledgement of spirituality. We are all spiritual people, we are all humans (brothers and sisters if you like), it is very natural to be spiritual, but it doesn’t always fit to be religious.

Yes, I feel like we’re entering a third era which will eventually unite all peoples through acknowledgement of spirituality.

Comments welcome,

Daniel

I believe that everybody is on their own spiritual path and they are also on their own path of wisdom seeking. A lot of people aren’t aware of this journey, and some people ignore it completely. I’ve decided to embrace it, so if I do ask you something rather strange or do something out of the ordinary, then it’s probably me just doing a bit of exploration. I think there is a lot to learn from the past in order to truly progress in this world, and I think the only way to do that is through openness, liberalism, peace and oneness…. which is going to be quite tough for a lot of people.

Anyway…. onward

SemanticBible Linked Data: Version Alpha 1

I am very very pleased to announce something which I have been working on for a while which is the transformation of SemanticBible into Linked Data. Please be aware that this a very early version at the moment, and so if you see it break when you are looking around then I’m probably improving and enhancing it.

More information (and recent update information) is available on the Linked Data SemanticBible about page. But here’s a quote from it for you:

SemanticBible is an online Semantic Web version of the Bible, it has lots of facts and figures about the Christian sacred texts. Please do have a browse around.

A Brief History

SemanticBible started life as a project by Sean Boisen over at SemanticBible.com, but Daniel Lewis and his colleagues at OpenLink Software decided to help Sean out by providing a Linked Data based approach. The outcome was this service.

Starting URIs:

• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/bible/cgi : The Composite Gospel : holds information about the stories in the Gospels
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/bible/NTIndividuals :New Testament Individuals : holds information about people and places referenced in the New Testament
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/ontology/cgi : The Composite Gospel Ontology : the vocabulary for describing the stories in the Gospel
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/ontology/NTNames : The New Testament Names Ontology : The vocabulary for describing the people and places referenced in the New Testament

As I said before, do expect it to break randomly…. but if it seems like theres something not quite right, or if you have any feature requests that you wish to add then do email my work email ( dlewis[at]openlinksw[dot]com ) or skype me ( daniel.lewis ).

The short term, medium term and long term futures of the World Wide Web have been brought to my attention recently, and I really want to take a step back from any influences which come from the communities from which I am in.

I think I can see where we are going, and the technologies which are emerging seem like we will be heading in that direction. BUT I have some questions for us all to ponder while trying not to be influenced by the crowd:

1. Is this direction that users really want? If not, then what do they want?
2. Do developers, entrepreneurs and visionaries actually understand what users want… or is it just guess work or developed because they think it’s cool?
3. Do users, developers, entrepreneurs and visionaries understand how far we actually are in our current trajectory?
4. What will a user have to understand when we reach our target, and will it really be worth it?
5. What about society? What is the Web doing to society (aka in real life how has society changed because of the Web (if at all)?)? How has society changed the Web since its creation?
6. What about technology? How many things have failed because the Web is (seen as) “bigger and better” or “the only way to go”? Do we really want interconnected devices, are we actually writing something which could be akin to the knowledge base for the Borg?

These are very crucial questions for all those who deal with developing/evolving the Web further, and we don’t think about them very often from a non-influenced point of view do we?

Question 5 above is the one that is on the tip of my mind today, if we didn’t have the technology we do today then would we be:

• Healthier? (people will need to move about less, there would be less office jobs and more manual work)
• More intelligent? (not intelligence as in “knowledge”, but intelligence as in problem solving, life skills, adaptability… people wouldn’t use wikipedia or google to find something out, nor use any website to calculate an answer to a problem)
• More social? (real life social… many of us who “work the Web” don’t really get out much… many work from home. What happened to the office?)
• Happier? (healthier, more intelligent and more social… of course you’re going to be more happy!)

On a more negative side would we:

• not have such a broad knowledge base for our exploitation? (for example, people go on wikipedia or search google for more information on a subject… which could come from anywhere in the world)
• not have such a broad range of interests or even friends? (for example, thanks to the online communities of which I am a member I could go to various places in the world and be greeted by someone who I have never met in real life before but have met through web-based communications (and this is from a variety of interests))

One thing, which I think is very low in UK society at the moment (but something which I and many have gained from the advancement of Web Technology) is Religion and Spirituality. Since I started playing with the Web many many moons ago I wasn’t particularly interested in religion or spirituality. Thanks to the Web I have found out all kinds of things (and I’ve even been to some events) including Paganism, Greek Philosophy, Tarot, Buddhism, Yoga, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism, Sufism, Meditation, Reiki, Freemasonry and Christianity…. all of which have made me grow in spirituality and something which I probably wouldn’t have gained without the Web. However, I still feel that Religion/Spirituality is missing from the modern world, for instance:

• Less people are going to Church (or other place of worship),
• More and more people are becoming anti-religious activists (extremists who follow people like Richard Dawkins),
• More people are intolerant of other peoples beliefs/faiths (aka religious conservative/fundamentalists)
• There are less religion/spirituality programmes on the major TV channels and Radio stations

This is one area of which the Web hasn’t really had any impact on…. and I think it might be because technology has taken over so much that people are experiencing less “me time”.

Hmmmmm. I’ve digressed a little from my original topic. I ask that you please seriously think about the questions at the start of this blog post, feel free to comment if you wish to say anything, or email if you would like to talk in confidence.

Thank you,

Daniel