MYSTAND ON THE GREEK GODS

Zeus and Apollo are the names that come to my mind every single time I hear of the Greek gods. I do not know if this was a religion kind of set-up. What do you think? The Greek had so many gods I could take a whole year writing about each and every one of them. They were about 30,000. The reason is because they worshipped different gods during different occassions. They had gods for harvest, fertility, weather, war, childbirth and other different things. I would have had trouble with that for sure. Imagine all those gods, having to know them all!

As we all know, there always has to be someone standing out in a group. So was it with the Greek gods. There were 12 gods who were well known. They were the Olympians, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, Demeter, Hades, Hera, Artemis, Aphrodites, Arthena, Hephaestus, Hernes and Dionysus. These 12 had the role of ruling over the heavens with Zeus as their king. Zeus was the god for rain and thunder, many a sculpture and pictures would have him as the guy with a thunder bolt on his hand. Apollo was the god of poetry, healing and prophecy. Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty, love and sexuality. Hades was the god of the underworld, where the souls of the dead resided. The so called hell. Hernes was the messenger for the gods with swift feet. Demeter was the goddess for agriculture, fertility and harvest. These are but a few of the things the gods were in control of.

I would like to speak of the many stories about the various gods but it would be a lot. I prefer you check them out yourselves. What makes me like the Greek gods is the way they were depicted to have human-like qualities such as emotions and even physicality. The differentiating factor was that they were immortal and had power over natural events and human affairs. Reading about the Greek gods made me think of how not far from the gods we were. The fact that they also had faults and could manifest themselves was awesome. I think that is what made them stand out. What made the Greeks have great belief in them. If asked, I think the Greek gods were more close to their people. The Greek gods are well justified, I have nothing against them.

YOU EARNED IT

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Man, I can write books about stuff you might probably have forgoten right now but it is of no need. All I know is that for you to reach this far you must have earned it. If only you gave me hand back then, maybe I would pop by, we go for a walk. Ah, I forgive you. Enjoy it oldie, enjoy the time you still got.

Not the internet!

Where would you go on a shopping spree?

Wherever I choose to go on a shopping spree would probably be a place selling guns, shoes, cars and motorcycles all in one place, and preferably not the internet.

THE GREEK

The Greek. The legendary Greeks to be exact. I have been thinking, how could such a people thrive to such great levels? Even after being conquered by the Romans, they still had a mark. The Roman empire was also great yes, but the Greeks were greater. Imagine your suppressor adopting your culture! Man, the Greek must have a fire culture. My next 3 or so blogs will be on the Greek way of life.

Who wouldn’t want to know how they really lived. I am sure you guys have heard about the famous if not popular Zeus and Apollo. The Greek mythology and stuff. There is something that tells me getting to learn about the Greek will make such a nice research and it will be all fun. Join me as I take this little adventure. Drop some fun information too if you have any.

FASTING

It is somehow funny how I still had to look into the different ways of fasting yet I knew exactly what I wanted to write about fasting! Well, I ended up with a few new stuff, which I knew little about on fasting. From my research, fasting is majorly taken as a religious activity. Now that is funny. I believe fasting is more of spiritual. As humans we always crave things at times and having the power to control these cravings can really help a big deal in life choices. That is the basic principle of fasting. Before we get to it in depth, let me tell you some forms of fasting.

There is IF (Intermittent Fasting), this is eating at a chosen time after a period of fasting. It can be after 16 hours, 18 hours, 20 hours or 22 hours. You get to eat twice or once a day after you break your fast. There is water fasting where during your fasting hours you cannot eat any food but you are allowed to take water. Dry fasting on the other hand you are not to take any food, and water too! That is a no go zone for me. There is the autophagy where you stay 48hours or more without eating, just drinking water. Hydrating!

Many people fast for different reasons. Fasting can help with weight lose, mental clarity, great health and longivity amongst other advantages. This is moreso if it is taken up as a lifestyle. With the increasing rates of obesity worldwide, fasting would be really a good way to go if you want to keep that body in shape. For me fasting is precious. It is a time for me to meditate, keep silent and just observe. It is during one of my autophagy fasting days that I learnt about the soul, my life has never been the same again. Try fasting today, start with the IF first. Oh, and check with your doctor too before you start.

MYSTAND ON SAME-SEX EDUCATION

I wanted to write about same-sex education vs co-education. That would be a good one but I think that is going to end up one sided. Same sex education has been here for a long time. It has been here since the Greek and Roman times. Girls were separated from boys and taught differently. This is beacuse the roles of boys and girls were different. No boy was expected to be doing what a girl was doing and vice versa. That started to change in the 19th century as schools started the co-education system. I am not goingto cross that line.

Same-sex education involves the same sex. I went through this kind of education while I was in high school. Well, there were the the highs and the lows but it was hell of a time in my life. The thing with the same-sex education is that the teachers and students know exactly how to deal with each other with little effort. I don’t know if you catch my drift already. Dealing with both sexes is a little bit of more work than the same sex. Wonder if this can apply to the other 70 sexes popping up?! I bet learning in a same-sex education is also much easier for the kids too. It is easier to associate with the same sex than a different sex. The association may not be as smooth or affectionate or even anything notably nice but it does not take much of an effort. Trying to sound like talking to the opposite sex is work! Actually I am trying to say it is, it isn’t.

The downside of children from the same-sex education schools is that they do not get to express themselves very well in the society latter on. That can be overcome though. So it stands at the quality of education. I believe the same-sex education is better. More focused individuals with a great association and less distructions, that is how you create more proffessionals in your country. Those who get trouble socializing can be helped latter on.

EATING DAILY

What bores you?

There is somrthing that is off with eating daily. You lose your appetite and the food just seems not to digest well. Your belly starts complaining and you devalue food and it just gets boring because you will get hungry again after 30 minutes. I like it when I stay a day or two without food then get down to a nice meal. You get to experience the real taste of the food, you really get to value your meals. I can almost definitely ignore many other things but not my relationship with my food!

MYSTAND ON BLACK TAX

I need the whole of my family to make a decision on this!

When reading through what black tax is and the way it actually works I met a new philosophy. The Ubuntu philosophy. It is the being of self through others, ‘I am because we are’ . I don’t know about you but blood is thicker than water. I think it is inbuilt. I only got to know the name a week ago yet I knew something like that was expected of me and mine. For those who do not know what black tax is, it is the financial pressure that is upon the black individual who has some level of success to take care of their less fortunate relatives or even individuals in the community. It originated from South Africa where the professsionals where required to provide for their families outside of their own living expenses out of obligation. That was during the colonial regime. Way back man, wonder if it is still a thing. Is anyone here from South Africa?

I’ll just take a walk there and ask.

It took me time to digest this. This is financial pressure. No wonder some people get to die from high blood pressure. Imagine having to work hard just to provide for people just because it is your obligation? Man, you thinking what I am thinking? My philosophy of life does not agree totally with this. So some succesful individual out there is paying for his siblings’ school fees, even some of the extended family members, giving financial assistance to friends and family, to his parents and even those in the community just because the community expects so? You have to chain me first! I believe you get to decide what you do with your wealth, riches doesn’t do it for me anymore. The society have no say so about that, if you decide to give, give it out willingly and out of a cheerful heart, not from pressure from the family. Blood is thicker than water but loyalty is thicker than blood, remember that.

This kind of mental slavery (should we call it outdated?) , I think not so since some African countries still believe it is a means to generational wealth. The thing with generational wealth is that the coming generations get to be weak. Those guys will just soil your family name! Back to black tax, it can be put in check by setting financial boundaries with family members, educating the community on financial literacy, seeking proffessional financial advice and having a financial plan. Man, pay the black tax, but don’t make it an obligation. Mystand.

MYSTAND ON SEX EDUCATION

Sex education classic. I am not writing much here, you know the basics. The reason I am writing about sex education is because the coming generation should hear about sex from their parents and not find out about it from their peers or the internet (and their guardians if they have no parents). As soon as you think your child is at the right age to know about sex then it is the duty of the parent to teach their kid about sex. If you don’t then your kid is left at the mercy of the world. Let me let you in on a secret, the world has none. This is more of an advice. Man, the kind of sex guys be having here be kinda too exotic!

MY BROWN CAT

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

My favourite pair of shoes, the CAT I am wearing right now are my favourites. I can fit them in with both official and casual. Plus they remind me of a friend we did crazy stuff with. They are real comfortable. It has been about 5years now and our relationship is still going on strrong. I really owe these shoes a break, guess that is the price to pay for being a favourite pair!