tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15131990689070903442024-03-27T09:22:35.913+00:00Meeting The MastersEssays on spiritual subjects that develop themes from the book Meeting the Masters.William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comBlogger966125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-78378034118568920782024-03-25T10:10:00.001+00:002024-03-25T17:51:43.374+00:00Eclipses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZuw9SKuHIwItkiKbdzhyoYJepIuzVoAp0LiS87W_5ABTYE03Xfg0KZXsndWKBQHPZUt1dm60iD57GnjUjRJVPciMjJ_EWMH2LJhDtfoXwmHyvS_Usv5l94RiDBFKLWGV4L-yt5lDYxnhu4WXPNSRBgBdCa8S12RsY6eD1NDuf-CyuSo6TgvtX5uV-GLD/s1568/Screenshot%202024-03-24%20at%2017.13.15.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1568" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZuw9SKuHIwItkiKbdzhyoYJepIuzVoAp0LiS87W_5ABTYE03Xfg0KZXsndWKBQHPZUt1dm60iD57GnjUjRJVPciMjJ_EWMH2LJhDtfoXwmHyvS_Usv5l94RiDBFKLWGV4L-yt5lDYxnhu4WXPNSRBgBdCa8S12RsY6eD1NDuf-CyuSo6TgvtX5uV-GLD/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-24%20at%2017.13.15.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have been interested in the astrological effects of eclipses since 1999 when I witnessed the solar eclipse in August of that year and a few days later a friend of mine, whose natal Jupiter was practically bang on the degree of the eclipse, had a heart attack. A few days after that he died. It seemed too significant to ignore. Now there are two more eclipses to consider, a lunar one that took place today (March 25th) and a solar one coming up on 8th April. These two eclipses both connect with the horoscope of someone else I know. The lunar eclipse was directly on the degree of her ascendant at 5° Libra and the solar eclipse, which will be on 19° Aries, makes a very close contact with her natal Sun, North Node and, slightly more distantly, Saturn, these three being conjunct in her chart. I don't know what this might indicate though my suspicion is nothing good, especially with regard to the solar eclipse. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At any rate, the close contacts warrant study and I shall observe their outcome with interest tinged with a little concern on her behalf. For it seems to me that if the traditional view of the effects of eclipses is correct then this person might be in for some turbulent times. As always, how the symbolism works out in real life terms depends on how much the subject is able to process and integrate the psychic energies brought into play, how conscious she is of herself. Someone who is aware of her personality strengths and weaknesses and who does not deny, suppress or ignore her shortcomings might be able to deal with the forces at play on a psychological level and even channel the energy creatively. Someone in denial might find that the forces manifest externally in life events. But then again there are certain times when the universe will have its way with us regardless for though we have freedom there are what you might call cosmic currents and tides which will take us with them however well we can swim.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is worth remembering though that even if a cosmic event has what in worldly terms is a negative effect on us it is usually all for the spiritual good. The powers that be do not judge as we do. The heart attack suffered by my friend 25 years ago might have been a spiritual blessing in that it paved the way for his release from corporeal imprisonment and took him home. I'm not saying that all suffering is sent by God. That would be both stupid and unfeeling. But in the larger sense much of it does contain lessons for the soul and if we are the one suffering it is always worth looking for these lessons. It is only spiritual children who expect God to hand out sweets and candy all the time. If an eclipse touches our natal chart there is an element of providence about it, a significant spiritual lesson. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Added note: I should say that the dramatic effect noted in the </i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>example from 1999 does not mean that anytime an eclipse touches a sensitive part of the horoscope disaster strikes. What it probably does do is bring out what is already there so in this case an already weak heart may have been triggered though again I am not saying it is a matter of cause and effect. The truth is how astrology works remains a mystery. We can talk about influences or moments in time having the same quality or the interconnectedness of everything in the universe but really no one knows how astrology works. The fact is it just does.</i></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-70233023492433944912024-03-22T10:05:00.001+00:002024-03-23T09:30:26.633+00:00The Illusion of Equality<p><span style="font-size: large;">This is an excerpt from the last chapter of my recent book <i>By No Means Equal </i>(see right). As the whole Western world is in thrall to the foolish lie of equality it's worth pointing out that equality is not a consequence of the spiritual law of love, as many people seem to assume, but a materialistic distortion of it and, as such, it is an obstruction to real love.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"The idea of equality might seem reasonable to someone who has no awareness of spiritual purpose or destiny and who does not appreciate that there is a world of greater reality behind this material world which gives our outer world whatever meaning it may have. But really it is an attempt to substitute a false and artificial good for truth. This may just seem a question of well-meaning people with good intentions making a mistake, but the fact is the equality idea has been used for several decades as a tool to chip away at spiritual truth and reduce the higher to the level of the lower, creating a kind of inverted hierarchy in the process. And the well-meaning people cannot be exonerated either because they are guilty of a lack of orientation to spiritual truth. Some may even wish to supplant that with their own version of reality.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Equality exists nowhere in nature. Creation itself could only happen when the darkness of non-manifestation was shattered by light resulting in the first and fundamental inequality which then became the ground on which cosmic order was built. Creation depends on separation and difference. An unqualified equality would have kept the universe in darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">And darkness is what those who promote equality would have us return to for equality can only truly exist at ground level, when everything has been brought down to nothing. If anything is to be it must be something and no one thing is like any other thing. Light has an infinite range of shades. Darkness is just darkness. There is true equality only in darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">But if nature and the universe are both formed on the principle of inequality could equality still be something that human beings should aspire to and work towards while recognising that it may never be actually possible to achieve? First of all, why would you wish to pattern human evolution on something that does not exist in spiritual or natural terms? Are you not thereby working against the flow of life, setting yourself up against reality? But secondly, there is no need for this. For with the principle of inequality goes that of responsible hierarchy which means that everything has its proper place in what used to be known as the Great Chain of Existence which is the basis of cosmic order. Allowing and enabling all human beings to develop themselves in the context of what they are is absolutely what we should be doing but this has nothing to do with equality which is a chimera, the pursuit of which will only disrupt the order and harmony on which the universe is based. This is not the same as saying everyone should know and keep to their place because another principle of life is growth. But again, this has nothing to do with equality. This idea simply introduces a false perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Look at history and you will see that the notion of equality only appears in civilisations when their creative energies are burning out. That does not in itself make it bad or wrong but it does indicate that it is part of the decadent phase of any particular culture which arises when that culture has lost connection to deeper realities and contents itself with wholly secular concerns. It comes about in a declining phase not a developing one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Western civilisation is dying. At its peak it scaled great heights but it has fallen a long way down since then because of its denial of spirit. Unfortunately, most people think of this as an advance and a liberation from superstition because this denial freed us to explore and exploit the material world to a greater degree, but the initial burst of energy that came from that is rapidly dissipating. Actual progress is starting to slow down and a lot of what we thought of as progress turns out to be not without problems. Even our increased recognition of the horrors of violence and war can be understood as a greater fixation on the physical self and material well-being.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">How can anyone live without acknowledging God? Within each human soul there is the divine stamp that is our life and the core of our being. How can we ignore this? But it seems millions of people do. What is going on inside these people that they have closed themselves off so much from reality and all that makes life worthwhile? There is no doubt that the material world has solidified so that the connection to spirit is much harder to make but still it is there. There is also no doubt that demonic powers have attacked on numerous fronts to make us believe the material world is all there is but we don't have to succumb to their lies. Even if everyone around us prefers darkness to light we do have the light within us and we can respond to that if we are correctly oriented within ourselves to the spiritual true north.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps that is the problem. Most people don't care about God because they care too much about themselves in the here and now. They are too fixated on their worldly hopes and ambitions and personal desires. They are too identified with their bodies or their feelings or their thoughts and so never look more deeply within themselves. Then there are those who are too attached to a particular sin to be willing to acknowledge that it is a sin which they would have to do if they recognised God. Such people are setting themselves up to be the victims of the dark powers to whose influence they will become more and more susceptible. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The subtitle of this book is Reclaiming the Soul. It is the soul, the spiritual component of our being, that is denied when equality is asserted for each soul when created is original and unique, and its experiences bring out its individuality further. If you believe in the soul you cannot also believe in equality. To do so is to apply quantitative principles to a realm of quality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">A world of real equality would be a world with no room for improvement. It would be flat, without height or depth and nothing to aspire towards. It would lack the vertical dimension and the sense of beyond. It would be a world in which numbers and measurement really were at the root of being and that would be a controllable world in which there was neither freedom nor mystery.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately for us the world is not like that. It has its numerical, quantitative side but that relates to matter only. There is a spiritual side too and that is primary. Every soul has complete spiritual reality as a person, an authentic unique individual which cannot be reduced to anything else for it is whole in itself. In a universe of individuals there can be no equality but there can be love. Which would you rather have, equality or love? You can’t have both."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-88018831821416140052024-03-18T20:16:00.002+00:002024-03-18T20:17:06.682+00:00They Shall Deceive the Very Elect<p><span style="font-size: large;"> The full quote from Matthew 24 is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <i>"</i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect</i>.<i>"</i> </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus is talking about the end times. It seems to some that our times are the end times, and even if they are not they certainly do a good impression of it. It's true that often over the course of history </span>people have<span style="font-family: inherit;"> thought they were </span>living<span style="font-family: inherit;"> during the </span>end<span style="font-family: inherit;"> times but the widespread </span></span>apostasy of the present day has not occurred before nor has the fact that the gospel of the kingdom has indeed been preached in all the world which Jesus said would be an indication of the approaching end. Be that as it may, the same patterns tend to repeat themselves at similar stages so while we may or may not be living in the actual end times teachings relating to that will still be relevant for no one can deny we are living through some kind of cultural and civilisational breakdown with the spiritual being chased from the world in most places.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Jesus says that even the elect might be deceived by the signs and wonders put out by those serving the dark agenda. Who are the elect? I suggest it is anyone who holds fast to the truth and is not deceived, neither by lies nor by half truths which always involve a subtler attack on the psyche. These people remain true for the following reasons. A love of truth, spiritual integrity and humility. They seek their reward in heaven and are not tempted by earthly riches or reputation. A tall order. We would all like to think we belong among this group </span>but we should do well to remember that we are tested where we are weakest and even the elect can fall. We might think we have resisted one illusion but then we be deceived by something coming from the opposite direction. We may be impervious to some assaults on truth but still succumb to something that plays on our weaknesses. Right motivation is essential on the spiritual path. It will not protect us from everything, we have to have right discernment too, but it will guide us through many difficulties and enable us to resist many temptations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">To be part of the elect is not a glamorous position. Their role is to serve and quite possibly to suffer too for the suffering of the saints is a kind of expiation for the whole of humanity. They will not be thanked or acclaimed or rewarded. They may even be condemned as their Master was but then the mark of the elect is that they seek only to tread the path of light in truth and love, come what may. If we would join them we must have that attitude too.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-90348770004334600222024-03-14T11:50:00.005+00:002024-03-14T22:37:47.478+00:00The Madness of the Present Times<p><span style="font-size: large;"> I have noticed that quite a few writers on the Internet whose main focus is spiritual are getting increasingly drawn into commenting on and analysing current affairs. I understand why people do this especially with each new development revealing an ever greater descent into insanity. But the danger is that too much of one's energy gets focused on irrelevancies. We know, or should do, that the state of a civilisation that denies God becomes more and more detached from reality. We have been in such a state for decades now and it was inevitable we would follow the trajectory we have done. Loss of God leads to lose of the sense of reality because once you reject God you soon start to reject nature as well as there is nothing to anchor you to objective truth. You feel you can make reality what you want and what you want becomes corrupt because it is based on the desires, aspirations and ambitions of your earthly self which is mired in ignorance and egotism. We are some way down that road.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm not saying we should ignore what is going on in the world but nor should we allow ourselves to get caught up in it or react to it. To do that will inevitably drag us down to worldly concerns. If you really believe in God you see that life in this world is all about the preparation for heaven. And when you understand how entropy works in terms of human consciousness you see there are going to be times when the world can be coordinated to the heavenly pattern, to a greater or lesser extent, never completely, and times when it goes against that pattern. You have to have the discernment to know what sort of time you are living in. Surely anyone can see that we are now living in a time of spiritual decay and nothing will improve that situation. That doesn't mean you let evil have its way unopposed. You should always resist evil in your heart and stand against it, but you need to know that the trend is irreversible so don't hope for a bright new dawn. Not before there's been a clean sweep anyway. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This clean sweep may be what is starting to happen now. At the end of an age all the muck of that age has to rise to the surface so it can be brought out and dealt with. Imagine a pond. On the surface the water looks reasonably clear but stir everything up and all the filth that lies at the bottom will be brought to the top. Only then can you clear it away. This is what is taking place in the world today. It is a kind of purification in that our sins are all coming out. It's not pleasant but stand back from what is going on and observe the process from a spiritual vantage point, from above and with a much more extended temporal point of view. Our task is to focus on the spiritual. It doesn't mean we accept the worldly on its own terms but the insanity of the present times has its own logic. That doesn't make it in any way right but fighting it with the idea that you might overcome it externally is a fruitless task. Speak out against so as to support others who might be struggling to make sense of a crazy world but know that the only resolution is spiritual. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have written about this before but the madness will only grow which means that the reaction to it will become more extreme, more vehement. That reaction is based on healthy human instinct and common sense (see, for example, this <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/03/12/i-know-why-britain-is-so-miserable-lost-minority-nonsense/" target="_blank">article</a>), but the trap is it can be lured into intemperate response. The proponents of the madness can truly be said to be possessed by the devil in the sense that they have succumbed to malevolently seeded mind viruses because of unacknowledged sins such as envy, resentment, pride and the like. We must be careful not to let their capitulation to sin bring out our own innate tendencies to it which is what Jesus meant when he said resist not evil, something I have also mentioned in previous posts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The article I link to makes complete sense on the level of everyday normality but it shows no real insight into why the lamented changes are happening. Unless you understand the demonic impulse behind all this you will not grasp that the only resolution to it is to transfer your attention to the spiritual world. Then you will eventually find that everything you think you have lost, and you have lost in a worldly sense, actually exists in a purer and more real form in the higher worlds. That is the reality, this is only the shadow. It is right to lament the destruction even of the shadow of goodness but know that the true goodness can never be harmed by evil. It remains inviolate.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Added note:</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: large;">Some people might think this is defeatist talk. It is not. We </span></i><span style="font-size: large;"><i>should all fight the madness in whatever way we may be called to do so but we should also know that victory will not be in this world, not at this time. At other historical periods that may have possible but not now. In fact, one of the reasons the madness is allowed is so that we may remove our focus from this world to the higher one. Christians are being called to the Kingdom of Heaven. When the earthly kingdom becomes very obviously the province of the adversary that shift in focus becomes easier to make.</i></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-79539997603772292582024-03-11T14:08:00.001+00:002024-03-11T14:08:09.367+00:00The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil<p><span style="font-size: large;">The story of creation and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as told in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis is one of the most interesting spiritual texts that has come down to us. For here, told in the simplest of terms, is the story of how we were created and why we are as we are now. The story has different elements to it and can be taken on different levels but the aspect I want to look at here concerns the tree of knowledge of good and evil.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's the relevant passage. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die."'</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The first thing to note is that this is all in Paradise and so this tree forms part of Paradise. Everything in Paradise has been created by God and everything there is good so the tree in itself is good. What is the tree and what its fruit? Clearly, the tree is the self-conscious mind and the fruit is that which awakens mind, thought. The tree is knowledge of good and evil or just knowledge. Adam and Eve did not have an awakened mind before eating the fruit. Thereafter, their eyes were opened which means their mind, their capacity for self-reflection and thought, awoke.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Does this mean the serpent was correct and Adam and Eve were right to listen to him? After all, they moved out of naive innocence into a world of experience in which they could grow. In the prelapsarian Garden of Eden nothing could change or so it might seem. This is a theory certain esoteric schools would subscribe to and they would see the serpent/Lucifer as the Light Bearer his name implies, being either a liberator of humanity in a Promethean sense, freeing us from a tyrannical Gnostic-type Archon god, or else simply working in line with the needs of evolutionary development by helping to awaken mind in infant humanity who were little more than animal men at that stage.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In my view this, to some, appealing scenario is not correct. We know that God is love and God is good. As in goodness is God - there is no goodness apart from God. God is also truth so what he says about not eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is also truth. And yet it awoke mind in man so how do we reconcile these two facts? The fruit is knowledge and knowledge is good but there are two sorts of knowledge. The knowledge that comes from God and the knowledge that comes from self. Eating the fruit from the tree after having been told not to do this gave knowledge apart from God. It was the act of a being that wished to become God, or a god, it makes no difference, without reference to the true God. One can speculate that the fruit was not in itself evil but eating it before being ready to do so made it the source of sin and death.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Knowledge is good. As potential co-creators with God we are called to knowledge but that knowledge should be centred in an awareness of the full reality of God. Knowledge without that awareness becomes evil or there is the strong likelihood it will become so. The serpent tempted Eve to disobey God therefore to deny God and assert the separate self. This was the cause of evil and why Lucifer is no heroic freedom fighter but a rebel against goodness and truth, something that continues to this day.</span></p><a name="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 611px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="597"><span style="font-size: large;"><p align="left"><br /></p></span></td></tr></tbody></table></a>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-52300284351086479542024-03-06T11:42:00.004+00:002024-03-09T09:40:47.444+00:00Who is Sophia? What is She?<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Modernity was largely born out of the Reformation. This was the manifestation in the religious domain, which up to that point had always been the primary domain, of the new consciousness, one with a greater focus on self, the rational mind and the merely human. It was a step forward because it increased our powers of agency and self-determination. It moved us from a largely passive to an increasingly active mode of participation in the world. This brought many advantages but also many problems because human beings, first in the vanguard and then more or less everyone, were no longer directed by an external authority rooted in the real (cf. the instinctive nature of the animal kingdom) but by their own selves, and those selves were, and still are, limited by and to the phenomenal world of sensory experience, though for some journeys into the realm of abstract thought were possible. But even these were largely restricted by the nature of thought centred on itself. Greater freedom and creativity became open to us but the price was the loss of connection to everything that is summed up in the word 'God'. Our horizons became extended but our vision contracted. You might say we saw further along the East/West axis but as a consequence the North/South axis collapsed. And yet this was absolutely necessary if we were to advance from the state of a being embedded in creation to one able to move out of that and manipulate creation ourselves. This was once again eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and it meant we could become gods, if we did this with full recognition of the will of God and in line with his natural and spiritual order, or, failing that and acting according to our own will and its own ends and glorification, devils.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">With the Reformation and its rejection of authority the seeds were sown for every man to become his own pope. Eventually every man <i>should</i> be his own pope but the pope is subject to God and if every man becomes not his own pope but his own god then you have crossed the line from saint to demon. That line can be thin sometimes and unfortunately it does seem that humanity as a whole has not succeeded in avoiding it at the present time. We are called to be individual but not individualistic. We are called to be gods in creation, able in the fullness of time to create worlds ourselves, but never to be our own gods. A god must serve the will of God or he becomes a devil.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Protestant Reformation created the modern world which is why the main drivers of modernity, until its corruption, were those countries in which that ethos was most fully embedded. The spirit of the times was everywhere and that spirit created outcomes in most places but still the Protestant countries were at the centre of it all. One of the defining characteristics of Protestantism was its rejection, either overtly or in effect, of the supernatural. While this meant it could focus its energies more fully on the material plane as was intended by the powers that be, in the short term anyway, it also meant it became spiritually dry and unfulfilling. Religion without the supernatural becomes legalistic and limited to morality. It has no real life or colour or flavour or joy or mystery or power to uplift and inspire. It's an arranged marriage rather than one founded on love. Protestantism also demoted the Mother of God to just a mother. It lost touch with the Divine Feminine.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When the Romantic movement arose at the end of the 18th century, as a reaction against the rationalistic spirit of the Enlightenment and the reassertion of imagination, poets, artists, writers and philosophers rediscovered the Divine Feminine. This might be identified as the soul of things as God the Father is the spirit. It is associated with beauty, mystery and love as opposed to will, life and being. It is also associated with wisdom and in this aspect the Divine Feminine is identified as Sophia.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sophia is the Divine Feminine in her most elevated mode of being. According to some she actually incarnated in the Virgin Mary. A debate has long been whether she is created or uncreated with some theorists equating her with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. This might seem logical were it not for the fact that it contradicts scripture which describes her as a created feminine image of God. The very first created being but still a created being. In beautiful language chapter 8 of Proverbs extols her thus: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">"<i>The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works before his deeds of old; <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water;<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command,<span lang="EN-US"> </span>and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Then I was constantly at his side.<span lang="EN-US"> </span>I was filled with delight day after day, <span lang="EN-US"> </span>rejoicing always in his presence,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>rejoicing in his whole world<span lang="EN-US"> </span>and delighting in manki</i>nd."</span><span face="-webkit-standard, serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The apocryphal Book of Wisdom in </span>chapter<span style="font-family: inherit;"> 7 supports this when it says of Sophia that: <i>"She is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her</i></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-family: inherit;"><i>. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness."</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">These Old Testament quotes can be taken as authoritative or not. They certainly have a poetic truth. However, part of the modern </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">mindset when applied to the spiritual quest is that nothing can be taken as unquestionable just on say so. We must always use our own intelligence and intuition though making sure it is intuition and not wishful thinking. But associating the Divine Feminine with the third person of the Trinity goes against the fundamental Christian teaching that Mary, who is the embodiment of Sophia and the Divine Feminine, conceived Jesus by power of the Holy Spirit.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">One can see why the Protestant suppression of the Divine Feminine might cause her to come back in unbalanced or exaggerated forms, action and reaction etc, but still one should know that there <i>is</i> a feminine dimension to divine reality without going to the extreme of feminising God as making the Holy Spirit feminine does do. Seeing Sophia as the first of the Lord's works gives us a clue as to where the Divine Feminine might arise but she is not just the first created being. She is the actual foundation principle of creation. As substance and even space she is the Universal Mother and World Soul who receives the image of God and who ultimately becomes the Heavenly Bride or Divine Spouse. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">She must arise before anything can be created because everything is created out of her body.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">Going back to her source, she could be said to derive from the receptive nature of God which arises when the positive principle of pure act takes expression </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">as its complementary opposite, creation necessarily being founded on duality since a world of subject alone cannot be known. You cannot say she comes after the male principle since the two must arise together as one suggests the other, but she is a reflection of God (as Wisdom says) once God moves into creative/dualistic mode from his original uncreated form, the Ain Soph or hidden God that is at the back of and beyond everything. This is why she is, as Mary, her incarnation in human form, says, submissive to God. Her will is to do his will not the other way around for although the two arise together in time, they arise out of his pre-temporal being. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">I think this insight would resolve the difficulty with feminism which is right to see the feminine as integral to divine reality, there from the very beginning as in "let us make man in our image" i.e. male and female, </span><span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">but fails to see there is still a hierarchical distinction. Sophia is the very first of everything but she still comes from God, created as his Divine Consort.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;">From God the Creator comes before anything else Sophia who is the light and glory of God and who comes into being when He expresses Himself in creation. She is the mirror in which He sees himself. She becomes His Bride and could even be said to the primary reason for creation because in herself she sums up and includes the whole of creation as it is in relation to God. At the end of days when all is accomplished, she will sit in glory alongside Him on His heavenly throne, created by God out of Himself but now by His great love made equal to Him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6mH0EX2NdK6R7TX6ANw1r8tFVq-hi3X-2v_JIbtUXiXQDmbW-Z77tknrl32x86YsoWeff8flEpGIFLmJOQh5P4oj4vxfCbyW9TVvL67qJTqprU4F_iqhynIcUDw7OH8DYJObZDyiMDE4M5boDAorZgALqYrfrUO1TW9D5cUowzUjTpXkQxojzpypA-87Q/s640/robert-fludd-the-great-chain-of-being1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="640" height="602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6mH0EX2NdK6R7TX6ANw1r8tFVq-hi3X-2v_JIbtUXiXQDmbW-Z77tknrl32x86YsoWeff8flEpGIFLmJOQh5P4oj4vxfCbyW9TVvL67qJTqprU4F_iqhynIcUDw7OH8DYJObZDyiMDE4M5boDAorZgALqYrfrUO1TW9D5cUowzUjTpXkQxojzpypA-87Q/w640-h602/robert-fludd-the-great-chain-of-being1.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-size: large;">I have used this image before on this blog because it contains so much. It comes from Robert Fludd's History of the Two Worlds (Macrocosm and Microcosm) and can be interpreted in various ways. In the context of this post it shows Sophia as Queen of Creation. She presides over all the created worlds, outer and inner, shown by the concentric circles but is linked by the chain attached to her right hand to the hand of God who is hidden in the cloud above the circle of angels. The image shows the relationship of God to Sophia and Sophia to the universe. He is the Creator, she the Creation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span face="-webkit-standard, serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-2091573999553731232024-03-01T11:45:00.003+00:002024-03-01T13:05:24.787+00:00Islam and the West<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> This is a follow up from a <a href="https://meetingthemasters.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-is-christianity-better-than-islam.html" target="_blank">post</a> of a few weeks ago. Obviously, emotions can get very heated in a discussion of this topic but I hope to remain objective. I don't think the current attitude that all religions are equally good or equally bad is a useful one. It may be well-meaning and an attempt to redress past prejudice and ignorance but it can also obscure the good and enable the harmful. Where the spiritual is concerned it is not just a matter of believing but of believing what is true and knowing what is either false or on a lower level of truth, meaning a level which caters more to the unevolved consciousness. For consciousness does evolve which is to say it takes in more of reality, is better able to perceive it and to express it. As this takes place the mind is potentially opened up to greater meaning and creative power and love and understanding, and when that happens its values change. If systems are in place which facilitate that it is in line with human growth and development. Not to mention the will of God. If there are systems that impede, prevent or restrict the evolution of consciousness this must be understood or else we will fall back into lower levels of being. That is all there is to it. Good intentions can be as harmful as bad ones if understanding is lacking just as love without wisdom (or misconceived love for it is not real love in these cases more a sentimentalised version of it) can actually have spiritually negative effects. I meant well is the excuse of the foolish and irresponsible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f0f0f; font-size: large;">Will all this in mind I have to point out that Islam in the modern Western world is a counter-evolutionary force. It is all very well to point to the spiritual decadence of the West, and I would be among the first to do so. That decadence is destroying our civilisation but we have to go forwards in line with the growth in consciousness and Islam is only suitable for a pre-rational stage of consciousness and that is looking at it in its best light. We can say that Islam has not succumbed to the absurdities that modern despiritualised Christianity has but that, in part, is because it has remained primitive and not evolved. The modern West has evolved but lost its spiritual centre in the process. Islam has retained its religious focus but is resistant to evolution. Both are wrong and neither is a remedy for the other.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f0f0f; font-size: large;">When Muslims emigrate to the West it is because they seek a better life, materially speaking. But so many of them then seem to want to change the West to accommodate the ways of Islam failing to see that this would just make the West like the countries they left. To understand this religion and see why it is spiritually damaging in the modern age one has to go back to its roots. We might then perceive that it is not an intolerant, violent, oppressive doctrine because of misunderstanding of its core teachings. The core teachings are intolerant, violent and oppressive. Of course, sometimes intolerance is good if what you do not tolerate is evil but what Islam does not tolerate is anything other than Islam. That is a plain fact which we cannot avoid. Obviously, there are many good, decent Muslims but that is because they are human beings and God is in all human beings. But while there may be moderate Muslims there is no moderate Islam. Islam means submission and demands that everything submit to it, and its adherents are under the obligation to enforce that rule. You cannot co-exist with Islam for it will always seek to overcome you when it can, and this is because it is not just a religion but a totalitarian political ideology.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f0f0f;">I am writing this because I live in London, a city with a Muslim mayor and a Muslim population that has now grown to 15%. That has been very apparent recently and many voices have been raised warning that we are sleepwalking into a massive problem. Often these voices are dismissed as spreading hate and, even though that is just a cynical attempt to shame critics into silence, one has to be careful to avoid unfounded prejudice and make sure one's real</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15);"> motivation is to awaken people to reality. Modern Westerners know little of their own history and do not understand Islam. I don't dispute that it has many qualities. R</span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15);">emembrance</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15);"> of God or some kind of deity, not a </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15);">particularly evolved concept because it is limited by the limited spiritual capacity of the religion's originator who was clearly no Buddha or Krishna never mind Jesus. Focus on prayer, pilgrimage and fasting, all of which are valuable spiritual exercises. But you can never get away from the fact that it was founded on violence and spread by conquest. It does not tolerate rivals.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15);">Western civilisation is clearly on the way out. In its present form it doesn't deserve to survive because it has turned its back on God. It has therefore become a blot on the face of the Earth. But a civilisation is made up of individuals and many are caught up in the present cultural devastation with no guidance of a better way. That guidance does exist but now you have to look for it and when you find it you will place yourself outside cultural norms or you will if you then follow it properly. At the same time, there are many false answers to the present problems and Islam is one of them. For the West certainly. It may have had a purpose for a particular place and time but that place is not here and that time is not now. Let those looking for a way forward out of the darkness of the present time know that Christ remains the Light of the World. He is the only thing in this temporal zone that truly speaks of eternity.</span></span></p><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 15, 15); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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</span>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-63044372347410498112024-02-25T12:51:00.004+00:002024-02-25T12:51:51.952+00:00The Battle is Spiritual<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Continuing with the theme of the last post concerning the conquest of the West, the question has to be asked, is the West worth saving? Is it too far gone on the path of truth rejection and God denial? Is it merely suffering the consequences of its apostasy not merely of Christianity but of recognising any kind of spiritual reality at all? The saying "those whom the gods would destroy they first drive mad" (see <a href="http://albionawakening.blogspot.com/2018/06/those-whom-gods-would-destroy-they.html" target="_blank">here</a>) can be reversed and become "those who go mad are destroyed by the gods". All previous generations would have thought that we have gone mad not only because of our spiritual abandonment but, even more, because of our denial of nature. I won't go into details about that but the same old culprits from anti-racism to mass immigration to feminism to same sex marriage and so on bear witness to what I mean. If you don't see these as denials of nature it's because you have succumbed to the temptation of giving abstract thought and ideology more importance than reality. You prefer theory to simple, naked, honest truth. Congratulations, you are an example of someone who has been educated beyond his intellectual capability and led astray by the glamour of thought. You illustrate the point of why certain spiritual teachers of the past preferred pupils who were illiterate and so could not be distracted by theory. I remember a saying from a Taoist text, possibly Lao Tzu,"Great Tao is very straight but the people love byways". You are one of those who has left the straight path and gone down a byway because it looks more superficially attractive. But it leads to death.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Francis Berger has a very good <a href="https://www.francisberger.com/blog/fighting-in-ways-sauron-does-not-know" target="_blank">post</a> about how someone who has not succumbed to the madness should fight it. There are three options. Confront it on its own battlefield through politics, ignore it and tend your own garden or fight it on the spiritual plane which might sound airy-fairy (and, to be honest, can be) but is actually the only way to confront it now because it is so deeply embedded in contemporary life and culture. There may have been a time when it could have been fought politically but that is long past. That does not mean those who feel called to do that should not do it but the fact is they will not win. On the other hand, the attempt to do so will at least invigorate those who see some of the madness and perhaps help them to resist it internally. But, in reality, to fight the enemy on his own terms will just mean that you are drawn into his world. He may give ground in small things only the better to advance his main purpose. You will start to become him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">No, the battle is spiritual and must be fought spiritually. The first thing to do is fight it within yourself. Put yourself right with God by full and complete orientation of your heart towards God and his purpose which requires humility and honesty. The next thing is to proclaim the truth as best you can. Not so much by condemning what is wrong (that too but it is not primary) as by asserting what is right. And then just live the truth, again as best you can. This will have a spiritual force which can't be measured and will probably not have a public and obvious impact but which is nonetheless very real. You will be injecting light into darkness on the mental plane and that light will be picked up and responded to by those in search of light. They won't know it comes from you and you won't know it has gone to them but the effect is real.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Francis's post is written in the context of The Lord of the Rings and points out how confronting Sauron, aka, in modern terms, the System, means you must think and act in ways that he doesn't know. If you fight him with his own weapons, he wins. He (Francis not Sauron!) says in a comment to the post:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white;">Thinking like Sauron expands Sauron's influence and power. It creates more Sauron. </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the flipside, not thinking like Sauron does not imply never confronting the enemy directly, but for goodness sake, if you're going to do it, be creative, intelligent, and "spiritual" about it". This sums the matter up </span>perfectly<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span>corresponds<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to Jesus's instruction not to resist evil, a widely misunderstood quote. It means don't fight evil with its own weapons </span>because,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> just as modern </span>materialistic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> technology </span>actually<span style="font-family: inherit;"> alters the minds of its users to become more materialistic, so too do those who live by the sword die by it. The real battlefield is the mind and it's that you must address by showing people how to think and perceive differently.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sauron was not defeated by armed </span></span>opposition. He was about to crush his opponents on the battlefield when the ring was destroyed. He was defeated by hidden, secret work which went on without being noticed. It's true that the armies that confronted him did serve as a distraction but that was the best they could do.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-4580949411680500042024-02-22T19:16:00.009+00:002024-02-23T10:32:34.731+00:00The Conquest of the West<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpzZyG8isuR5L_Ry42-AU9mW3618tXsrqlNo4dcUdsQTceEio2KUHaKfg5ioxGv7-_uVHuqlqf2GuL60vkphusMNfZCYRyDdPcOeS2AnuywZ0xD6EU-BjtlDCkjuBPXDuf2K9i9gKMZZZCz8fPSVcKVqi9SCOUOjXsRe-19UERNwAr7_tLEbL6wf5rKPyd/s378/Screenshot%202024-02-22%20at%2018.58.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="226" data-original-width="378" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpzZyG8isuR5L_Ry42-AU9mW3618tXsrqlNo4dcUdsQTceEio2KUHaKfg5ioxGv7-_uVHuqlqf2GuL60vkphusMNfZCYRyDdPcOeS2AnuywZ0xD6EU-BjtlDCkjuBPXDuf2K9i9gKMZZZCz8fPSVcKVqi9SCOUOjXsRe-19UERNwAr7_tLEbL6wf5rKPyd/w400-h239/Screenshot%202024-02-22%20at%2018.58.39.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ways things are going it looks as though the countries of Western Europe might be conquered without putting up any resistance. Has that ever happened before? In fact, these countries often facilitate their conquest by their own weakness and foolishness. America may go the same way. Part of this comes from an ignorance of history, part from naïveté, part from the feminisation of religion, culture, politics and anything else you care to mention and part from sheer stupidity. You might say that maybe this doesn't matter since these countries are so corrupt and spiritually destitute anyway, and that is certainly true. Perhaps they deserve to die. But what will replace them is in no way better despite theoretically being driven by supposedly religious motives, and it is in many ways worse. At least, the West is nominally Christian and its culture has enabled the thriving of deeper enquiry into religion and spiritual understanding. That which seeks to replace it would not permit any such investigation. Its systems would suppress any search for higher truths. It would be from a bad state to a worse.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have been struck by the crescent and star symbol of Islam. The crescent is the crescent moon which is also known as the horned moon because of its appearance. The star is pictured next to the moon which means it is a fallen star. The moon itself represents the past and what must be outgrown. Esoterically, it is regarded as decaying. Horns, a fallen star, spiritual decay. What does that call to mind?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Added note: I should probably say that my interpretation of this symbol is not meant to imply a literal association but a symbolic one in the contemporary context. Perhaps the symbol is meaningful, perhaps not, but it is certainly there.</i></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-71057677197903978922024-02-18T11:43:00.005+00:002024-02-19T09:41:40.370+00:00Ethnocentrism and Globalism<p><span style="font-size: large;">Every ethnic group is ethnocentric except for, as a sub-group, white liberals who are both the product and the cause of civilisational decay and whose spiritual nihilism has given them a racial death wish which they disguise to themselves as concern for the other but which is actually founded on a kind of self-hatred whether that be real or something they have been propagandised into believing because of their tendency to prefer abstract theory over reality. Certainly, we are called to self-transcendence as in uplifting our centre of focus from self to God, but this is totally different to the virtue-signalling self-rejection of the white liberal. And note that these people only ever reject their self as their kind not their actual personal self.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">History tells us that ethnocentrism can be taken too far but still without an initial love of self there can be no love for anything else because self is where you come from. This is why we are told to love our neighbour as ourself. It is why, as the saying has it, charity (the original meaning of which is love) begins at home.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Ethnocentrism, as least that of white people, is tarnished as racism but what is racism really? Is it racial prejudice or is it the recognition that the different races do indeed differ and in quite significant ways, not just in trivial things like skin colour? It seems that two different attitudes have been confused and lumped together. What is now called racism was never a sin until it was made such by communists in order to weaken the natural instincts of self-preservation of Western nations, making them submit to their replacement by other groups. This was so countries could no longer resist the forces of globalism which would override national identities and concerns and make all groups subordinate to central control. This is why the sense of history is being deliberately lost, the past rewritten to reflect the prejudices of the present and groups which might counter the new narrative with a more spiritually literate understanding attacked or just ignored.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We live in a world of mass immigration, feminism, destruction of family, egalitarianism, climate change propaganda, transgender ideology and the fomenting of war. All brought about to separate Man from God and replace the natural order with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dis_(Divine_Comedy)" target="_blank">Dis</a>-order. The one thing that might stand against this is a Christianity rooted in the supernatural which is why that is attacked or remade into a branch of secular humanism. Know that we are in a spiritual war of good versus evil, and any form of spirituality which doesn't acknowledge this is deluded and just a diversion for dilettantes. Many people go along with the evil to gain money and worldly success as that is what you must do if you want those things. But others who may not actively go along with it can't be bothered to stand against it because they are not sufficiently incentivised to do so as they don't really care. But if you don't care about evil you are a part of it and that means that when it falls, which it will, you will fall with it. To avoid falling you must actively identify it and stand against it both in your mind and in terms of your relationship with the world. It can be hard to resist the relentless propaganda but that is what you must do without falling into the error of allowing evil to drag you down to its level by your opposition to it. Focus at all times on a love of God and the true good and know that evil can never win the war though it may gain many victories in the short term.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Ethnocentrism is attacked because it stands against globalism but also because it is natural. In today's world to be natural is a sin because demonic powers are trying to remake us in a form that has separated itself from its Maker and no longer obeys his laws but has replaced them with others, false laws, spiritually perverse laws. The reason the white race is the primary focus of this attack is because once that falls everything else will follow. Those foolish people who rejoice in the discomfiture of the white nations because of resentment of their past leadership will find that once natural order is removed there will be no barriers to chaos and oppression. </span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-46725596375777162142024-02-15T17:09:00.000+00:002024-02-15T17:09:03.348+00:00By No Means Equal review<p><span face="Aptos, sans-serif"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>David Lorimer of the Paradigm Explorer Scientific and Medical Network and former P</span></span><span>resident</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> of Wrekin Trust and the </span></span><span>Swedenborg</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> Society has written</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> a review of <i>By No </i></span></span><span><i>Means</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><i> Equal</i> (see right). Here it is.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><br />'In the spirit of René Guénon’s critique of our age of quantity, the author argues that we live in an age of equality which ‘directly opposes the idea of the individual soul as a spiritual reality.’ He regards equality as belonging to the domain of measurement that ‘has been mistakenly applied the human world or world of living things which are worlds of quality.’ (p. 52) We live in a time of inverted values, and the dominance of technology has meant that we have lost touch with the world of the spirit that provides the compass for the soul. He argues, rightly in my view, that since 2020 we are well on our way to being ruled by a system of technocracy, where the technocrats are completely materialistic in outlook, regarding us as machines requiring servicing and updates. He writes that ‘technocracy is anti-God because it is materialistic, atheistic, seeks complete control, subordinates truth to the expedient and the efficient, denies the primacy of the good, the beautiful and the true and puts power in the hands of an unaccountable few whose expertise in specialist areas blinds them to the overall picture... in a world controlled by data and spreadsheets there is no room for beauty, mystery, sacrifice or love.’ (p. 100) A stimulating and timely contribution</span><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background: repeat rgb(226, 246, 255); color: #212529;">.'</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span><span face="Aptos, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-33211245517121856462024-02-12T10:42:00.000+00:002024-02-12T10:42:19.824+00:00The Human Form<p><span style="font-size: large;">We can speculate that our original spiritual form may have been one of light. If it had a shape it might have been something like a sphere or that's the closest we can imagine with our three dimensionally based minds. This is the only way we can conceive of the appearance of the soul, a spiritual being, on its own plane of existence. But when we come to Earth we acquire the human form we know with eyes, ears, a head, hair, limbs and so on. However, all these are to perform material functions or developed in response to a physical environment. Eyes, ears and nose are to enable sensory response, their shape and structure determined by that requirement. Hands, fingers, legs and feet are to allow us to interact with and manipulate the environment. None of these have a spiritual purpose as such and so my question is what is the form of souls in heaven? Do they revert to spheres of light with a luminescence determined by the degree of spiritual unfoldment or do they retain an earthly appearance?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Beauty is one of the major attributes of God. A major reason for creation is to allow for the expression of beauty, and, as we currently know it, beauty reaches its apogee in the human being. It makes no sense that this beauty be discarded simply because the functions on which it was initially based are no longer necessary. Therefore, I suggest that one of the reasons for our incarnation as spiritual beings in a material world is to acquire the imprint of the human form which we can take back to our soul selves in the higher worlds in order to beautify these. This would mean that our souls would still be spheres of light (again conceived in three dimensional terms), though now greatly expanded and much brighter than they were before if we have succeeded in our spiritual tasks, but they can be expressed in human form. In this physical world we have an outer form and an inner corporeal composition, blood, guts, bodily organs and the like. In the spiritual world we may have something similar except that that the inner body is now the soul, the being of light. This, I submit, is why we all feel a degree of disgust for the inner physical body but not its outer form. We know that our true inner self is the soul.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When visionaries see higher beings, whether it be Jesus or Mary for Christians or some of the saints, other traditions record similar phenomena, they see a figure. A figure glowing with light but still an individual human figure and one of great beauty. It is sometimes claimed that it is the visionary's own mind that creates the form or else that the spiritual being manifests in this way to appear more familiar. This may be true but it does not mean that the form is not real as well. We tend to think abstract spirituality is more advanced than a concrete representational sort but why should both not be included in the perfected end product? After all, God looked at creation and saw that it was good. I think it is a grave error to reduce the spiritual to the formless. There is the inner and the outer and both together make the whole. The perfection of life is in the perfection of spirit, soul and body, not just one as in spirit but all three, though naturally with spirit in the hierarchically superior position. But if God is a trinity so are we and all parts of the trinity require completion. The outer form may have been constructed in the physical world and according to physical needs but it is made beautiful by the developing soul and then remains as a spiritually perfected union of the two in the higher worlds.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-58260481300100189952024-02-08T17:31:00.005+00:002024-02-08T17:35:02.396+00:00Spiritual Love<p><span style="font-size: large;"> A(nother) perceptive <a href="https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-do-not-think-work-of-god-but-of-satan.html" target="_blank">post</a> by Bruce Charlton prompted a comment from me and since it concerns the most important spiritual quality and the one that is often turned against itself in the modern world I thought I would repeat it here.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">My comment was:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I don't think most people know what love in the spiritual sense is. We think of it as empathy or compassion or something like that but these are the smoke of love rather than its fire. Or else you could say they are the reflection of love in the ordinary human mind. But when these reflections are mistaken for their true source all sorts of confusion and misunderstandings arise. What I mean here is that we tend to act in imitation of how we think love might act rather than how love really does act because love, to be spiritually based and therefore real, must be directed first of all to God. If that does not exist then the secondary love which is love of neighbour does not properly exist either though an imitation of it might. But that originates in thought rather than the heart.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Comment on the comment:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Everyone, religious or otherwise, wants to be thought loving. It's the primary Christian quality and the one that has been hijacked by secularism to be worn as a badge of authenticity and goodness. For that reason it is the most abused, trivialised, watered-down and imitated of the virtues. Because we all know love on the human level we think that gives us an insight into spiritual love but really it does not. We should have a totally different word. Some people like agape but I find this too academic and remote, as though it belongs in a theological study rather than real life, so we are stuck with love. But still we have to understand that spiritual love is rooted in the love of God. The fact that God is love does not mean that love is God. Love can only be known for what it really is when the heart is open to God. Then God enters that heart and love is known. Otherwise all you have is an earthly imitation of it, like the image of sunlight in water but the reflected image is still made of water not light.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-2734742632697683182024-02-07T11:52:00.004+00:002024-02-07T15:44:15.495+00:00Not Quite Human<p><span style="font-size: medium;">(Advance warning: This post has nothing to do with the theme of the blog). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I recently had my DNA tested by one of the several companies that specialise in this service. You provide them with a small sample, in this case by swabbing the inside of your cheeks, send it off for analysis and await the results. My father came from Yorkshire and his family had been there for several generations, my mother's father came from North East Scotland and his mother was from the Hebridean island of Benbecula while my maternal grandmother was Irish so I roughly knew what to expect, but here are the results.</span></p><div class="border-b border-grey-200 flex justify-between items-center mb-1 mt-4" style="align-items: center; border-color: hsl(220 25% 91%/var(--tw-border-opacity)); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(109, 110, 113); color: #6d6e71; display: flex; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; justify-content: space-between; margin-bottom: 0.25rem; margin-top: 1rem;"><p class="text-gray-500 my-2" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(107 114 128/var(--tw-text-opacity)); line-height: 1.5; margin: 0.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Europe</span></p><p class="text-gray-500 my-2" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(107 114 128/var(--tw-text-opacity)); line-height: 1.5; margin: 0.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">100%</span></p></div><div style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(109, 110, 113); color: #6d6e71; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="mt-3" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0.75rem;"><a class="hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer flex justify-between items-center p-3 -mx-3" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5947e012-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.75rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-3 w-3 rounded-full mr-4" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background: repeat rgb(51, 119, 255); border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.75rem; margin-right: 1rem; width: 0.75rem;"></div><h3 class="inline-block my-0 text-gray-800 text-base font-normal leading-normal" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(31 41 55/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Great Britain and Ireland</span></h3></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-800 text-base mx-2" color="rgb(31 41 55/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">98.7%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cc4535d-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #acdb48; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ireland</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">27.5%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5ce9f5c4-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Northumbria</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">21.8%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cfe6e0d-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">North Yorkshire</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">10.4%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5ce4d20c-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Northern Ireland and Southwest Scotland</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">8.8%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cc937e2-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">South Yorkshire</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7.4%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5ccf9a31-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lincolnshire</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5.9%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cdfc665-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Aberdeenshire</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4.6%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cd9be5c-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Central England</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5d1e525a-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cornwall</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2.3%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5ceefd68-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Northwest Scotland</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2.2%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5cd4c6a1-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Northwest England</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5d0a6e58-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">South Central England</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1.7%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/5d0f71db-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #3377ff; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">East Anglia</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a></div><div class="mt-3" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0.75rem;"><a class="hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer flex justify-between items-center p-3 -mx-3" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/596d6355-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.75rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-3 w-3 rounded-full mr-4" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background: repeat rgb(77, 25, 230); border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.75rem; margin-right: 1rem; width: 0.75rem;"></div><h3 class="inline-block my-0 text-gray-800 text-base font-normal leading-normal" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(31 41 55/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Europe (North and West)</span></h3></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-800 text-base mx-2" color="rgb(31 41 55/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1.3%</span></span><i class="vue-feather vue-feather--chevron-right fill-current text-gray-400 h-5 w-5" data-name="chevron-right" data-tags="" data-type="chevron-right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(156 163 175/var(--tw-text-opacity)); display: inline-block; fill: currentcolor; height: 1.25rem; overflow: hidden; width: 1.25rem;"><svg class="feather feather-chevron-right vue-feather__content" fill="none" height="24" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg><span style="font-size: medium;"><polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline></span></i></div></a><a class="flex justify-between pl-6 pr-3 py-2 -mx-3 text-sm hover:bg-cobalt-50 cursor-pointer" href="https://my.livingdna.com/ancestry/recent/59894729-378a-11ea-b9d6-0a2b66a61c1e" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-left: -0.75rem; margin-right: -0.75rem; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem 0.5rem 1.5rem; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><div class="h-2 w-2 rounded-full mr-4 opacity-75" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #730099; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-radius: 9999px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5rem; margin-right: 1rem; min-width: 8px; opacity: 0.75; width: 0.5rem;"></div><p class="inline-block my-0 leading-cosy text-left text-gray-600" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4b5563; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Northwest Germanic</span></p></div><div class="flex items-center" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="text-gray-600 leading-cosy mx-2 text-gray-600 text-gray-600" color="rgb(75 85 99/var(--tw-text-opacity))" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1.3%</span></span></div></a></div></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">All fairly typical for a British person or an actually British British person. The big surprise to me was the amount of Northumbrian but I suppose that is not far from Yorkshire. The other interesting (to me) element is the relatively high quantity of DNA from Lincolnshire and Aberdeenshire. My Scottish grandfather's surname was Ledingham and this name was apparently first found in Lincolnshire but is also associated with Aberdeen. I have DNA from most places in Great Britain and Ireland but none at all from Wales. This would have pleased said grandfather who harboured a prejudice against the Welsh for reasons I never found out. When his only son, my uncle, married a very nice Welsh girl he was so annoyed that he trained my brother and I, aged around 6 and 4 at the time, to recite the old nursery rhyme "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief" at the wedding reception in Cardiff. Apparently we weren't a great success with the family of the bride.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The reason I chose this particular company, which is called Living DNA, is because they also give you an estimate of how much of your DNA came from<span style="background-color: white;"> the Neanderthals. It used to be thought that <i>Homo sapiens </i>did not breed with other forms of humans <span style="font-family: inherit;">but we now<span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);"> know that </span><em style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">Homo sapiens </em><span style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">d</span></span><span style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81); font-family: inherit;">id, in fact,</span><em style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81); font-family: inherit;"> </em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">interbreed with Neanderthals during the Late Pleistocene, soon after moving out of Africa some 80,000-50,000 years ago. So, although we are the only </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">surviving</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);"> human species we do carry traces of </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">earlier human species within us. At least, those of us who are of European and Asian ancestry do. Neanderthal DNA is not found in sub-Saharan Africa though in that part of the world there are </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">traces of other even earlier types of </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">Homo. </i><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);"> That counters claims made at the time the genetic code was first unravelled which maintained that all human groups were exactly the same. DNA analysis has completely disproved this always obviously wrong and ideologically based theory.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">I have 1.89% Neanderthal DNA which is roughly average for someone of my background. I also have 0.18% Denisovan DNA. </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">Homo denisova </i><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">is another form of archaic human whose DNA survives as part of the modern human genome though they themselves died out thousands of years ago. It survives mostly in populations from Asia and Oceania and presumably does because it is useful in some sense. Ability to adapt to high altitude is thought to be one of the benefits bestowed by Denisovan DNA and that makes sense as the populations are believed to have been centred in areas around Siberia and Tibet. The first discovery of a fossil of this type of human was actually in a cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia and, though there have been a couple of other places where it has been found since (in China and Laos), scientists are working with extremely small samples, bits of a finger or a molar, to extract their DNA. I have to say that the work in this field has been truly remarkable and led to fascinating results. It makes you wonder how much more there is to be discovered, locked up inside our bodies.</span></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);"><span style="font-size: large;">As a result of this analysis I am delighted to announce that I am only 98% human, or modern human if you want to nit pick. Of course, you probably are as well.</span></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(55, 65, 81);"><span style="font-size: large;">On a more serious note, and returning to the blog's actual theme, as interesting as this kind of study is it should not blind us to the fact that we are in a particular body but we should not be exclusively identified with that body. But then nor should we go to the other extreme and do as many do now and think it doesn't matter, we're all the same. We are not all the same and we are meant to be what we are. At the same time, our true self is the soul and when we die that is what we will return to. And yet I do believe we shall take something of what we are now with us as an additional flavour or colouring. Nothing is wasted and just because we are not the body that does not mean that the body is not in some sense part of us too. Approach this question on an intuitive level rather than a strictly intellectual one and you will find that you can reconcile apparent contradictions.</span></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-4393252313278977172024-02-02T17:11:00.003+00:002024-02-03T16:29:43.185+00:00Why is Christianity Better than Islam?<p><span style="font-size: large;"> I was asked this question recently by a young man, some of whose friends had decided that if they were going to follow a religion then Islam seemed a more attractive proposition than Christianity as it had a greater sense of where it stood on issues and didn't prevaricate or sentimentalise which Christianity in its official forms now does. On the face of it, it's hard to disagree with this view. Islam is fixed in its beliefs and doesn't seek to accommodate itself to the secular world which modern Christianity usually does as its leaders, seeing they are losing spiritual power, seek to justify their existence by pandering to social changes. Also, Islam has not become feminised which Christianity along with the whole Western world unfortunately has, and this appeals to younger men who see in feminism a civilisation destroying influence. Why do I say unfortunately? Because a feminised religion or culture prioritises feelings and being nice over truth, social concern over supernatural reality, equality over hierarchy and soft furnishings over the sword. That is to say, the energy that nurtures and comforts over the energy that builds and preserves. You need both but one must lead and it must be the latter.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">However, whilst it is true that many Christian churches have succumbed to the world and lost touch with the spiritual, replacing it with the anodyne charms of secular humanism, Islam never had much connection with the spiritual to begin with. It has a fixed view of God based on a primitive conception of the deity and is unable to open itself up to higher dimensions of being*. Its virtue that it doesn't change is also a major weakness. It is stuck in the past, unable to evolve as consciousness does. This inflexibility might be regarded as a positive but the rights and wrongs of inflexibility depend on what refuses to change. Islam might have been a healthy corrective for polytheistic pagans in a 7th century of warring tribes (though Christianity would probably have done a better job even then), but it has nothing to say to a 21st century consciousness unless a person wants to throw away the positive evolutionary gains of the last thousand, and especially last 400, years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">But the best answer to this question is to rephrase it and ask why is Christ better than Muhammad? Even a casual look at the lives of these two teachers shows there is an enormous gulf between them in terms of spiritual understanding. They both spoke of the one God but for Jesus he was a loving father while for Muhammad he was more like the Old Testament Jehovah, an over-promoted tribal deity who demanded servile allegiance. Partly because of this, Christianity is based on love while Islam is based on law. Further, Christianity is grounded in freedom whereas Islam demands obedience. This is illustrated in the postures for prayer of the two religions. A Christian kneels in humility but his back is straight. The full prostration of a Muslim in prayer also shows humility but it is more that of a slave before its master than a free individual.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have not even spoken of the fact that Jesus was the Son of God who healed the spiritual damage caused by the Fall while Muhammad, even in the eyes of his own followers, was no more than a prophet and one who basically just mixed and matched from Jewish and Christian sources. He b<span style="font-family: inherit;">rought nothing new while Jesus showed us the way to become sons of God ourselves - see John 14:12 "W</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">hoever believes</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> in me will do the works I have been doing,</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and they will do even greater things than these." At best, Muhammad was a </span>messenger<span style="font-family: inherit;"> but Jesus in his person even more than in his teachings was a window into heaven. In fact, not just a </span>window<span style="font-family: inherit;"> but a doorway.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mentioning heaven brings us to another critical difference. Is the Muslim paradise the </span>same<span style="font-family: inherit;"> as the Christian </span></span>heaven? I don't see how anyone can seriously believe that since the one is the perfection of earthly existence while the other is the total transformation of being. When you understand that the next world has many planes of existence you see that the paradise of Islam is what is known as the wish fulfilment plane where all your desires are fulfilled but only to the extent that allows for the exteriorisation of your earthly wishes without the impediment of matter. So your mind can creates palaces and gardens insofar as you conceive of such things but this is still no more than this world brought to what you think of as an ideal state. You are still limited by the narrowness of your own vision whereas in the true heaven you are freed from the boundaries of your circumscribed self, and this is what Christ offers. The Islamic paradise gives the lower self what it wants but Heaven is entry into the glorified existence of higher being. There is no doubt that many Christians will go to a place that is a Christian version of paradise on the astral plane, as the psychic world is sometimes known, but that is due to their deficiencies not those of their religion. The fact is Jesus and Muhammed promised their followers entirely different destinations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I freely admit there may be some bias here. I was born in a Christian country and culture not a Muslim one. But that doesn't mean any of the points here are incorrect. Moreover, the universalist humanitarian prejudices of contemporary Western culture incline many people to go the other way and hold Christianity to higher standards than other religions, seeing the former in the light of its negative aspects (which are all the fault of human beings not its own) and the latter more positively. Obviously, Islam has virtues but unless it has a radical reformation in line with the developments in consciousness over the last several hundred years I would say it is spiritually regressive. Christianity too needs to grow spiritually but it can grow from its roots and I don't believe Islam can.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">* <i>I'm ignoring Sufism in this essay which is outside the mainstream of Islam and often regarded with suspicion by fellow Muslims who are not Sufis. Besides, Sufism is the product of Hindu metaphysics and Christian mysticism just as much as Islamic theology though I don't deny it has also fed back in to its parents.</i></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-60422872623052536362024-01-29T10:23:00.000+00:002024-01-29T10:23:34.650+00:00The Expansion of Consciousness<p><span style="font-size: large;">This is a phrase that has long been current in many esoteric and mystical circles as a description of the spiritual project. I've used it myself in the past because one normally expresses oneself in the language of the day but also because, let's be honest, I probably wasn't thinking too deeply about what it actually implies. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So, what does it imply? To begin with, is expansion of consciousness necessarily a spiritual thing? One assumes so based on an evolutionary description of human unfoldment, and there is certainly the strong probability that the universe is, in one sense, a machine for the growth of consciousness. In that sense then it is spiritual. Human beings can grow out of their limited earthbound type of consciousness into higher states. But they can do this through drugs and there is nothing spiritual about drugs or the states they bestow. Drugs can give the impression of love, bliss, oneness and all that, as can some forms of mental illness, but this is not spiritual because it relates to effects not inner transformation. Meditation and other spiritual, so-called, techniques can also bring about heightened states of consciousness but the subject is not fundamentally changed by that. He may think he is and he may act in a particular way but deep inside he is not really changed at all for one may have many expansions of consciousness and still remain the same fallen, unredeemed human ego at core. This is true even if the expansionary experiences are, so to speak, not just extending the circumference of the circle but going from a circle to a sphere. In these cases the subject may act as though ego has been transcended but he is the same person, responding to his experience by imitating what he thinks is the type of being that would be stabilised in this experience. And note that these expansions of consciousness are all just temporary anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That is why all proper spiritual teachers tell meditators not to imagine they can do without prayer. The old dream of fallen human nature is to think it can reach godhood without God. This is a wicked lie designed to appeal to the spiritually avaricious ego. It's what tempted Eve to bite the apple and it's what tempts many would-be mystics and esotericists today. Spirituality without God is not possible. That is the major drawback of Buddhism though God is often smuggled in through the back door in that religion.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">On a simple linguistic level we can say that something that expands still has the same centre, and from the spiritual perspective it is the transformation of the centre that matters so the very concept of expanding consciousness is not spiritual. This doesn't mean that souls in heaven do not have a transfigured state of being but that is because they have taken on the mind of Christ and no spiritual practice can enable that. It depends of the soul giving itself to God through Christ and then becoming the recipient of grace. It may be argued that this is just a different way of expressing the same thing, expanding consciousness and taking on the mind of Christ is six of one and half a dozen of the other, but the way you express yourself matters because it both reflects and forms the way you think. If you think of the spiritual journey in terms of expanding consciousness you are thinking of it in terms of what the ego can gain and how it can grow. To reach a truly transfigured consciousness is only possible through taking on the mind of Christ and that can only happen through the soul loving Christ and asking nothing for itself other than to be allowed to do so. Everything else is just to make the soul grow by applying growth stimulus from without. This alone grows the soul from within which is the only true way.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-49749576386111860332024-01-25T09:28:00.000+00:002024-01-25T09:28:12.228+00:00Repentance of Sin vs Going Beyond Ego<p><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Secular humanists rule the world and secular humanists do not recognise any fundamental and unalterable moral failing in the human being. We are basically good even if we have the tendency to go wrong sometimes though if we do that is usually the fault of our environment or experiences rather than some inbuilt defect in our human nature. Evil, insofar as that is acknowledged at all, is caused by illness or bad circumstances.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: currentcolor;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Christian Church has a different view. It teaches that as a result of the Fall when Adam and Eve disobeyed God humanity has inherited a strong inclination towards selfishness and sin of various kinds. Theologically this is called original sin. It means we have an indelible stain on our soul or one that was indelible until Christ offered us the chance of redemption through faith in him.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: currentcolor;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">When a secular humanist takes to religion, or spirituality as they would probably prefer to think of it, they take a lot of their secular humanism with them. Thus, although they will usually acknowledge the fact that one needs to transcend the ego to realise spiritual knowledge, knowledge of the knowing by being sort, they will frame this idea in terms of freedom from ignorance or illusion. They will rarely think in terms of sin or spiritual responsibility. It's all more about what they can gain from the transaction rather than putting themselves right with their Creator.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: currentcolor;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But this is to misunderstand what the human self is and what we should be doing with it. It is not an illusion nor is it the result of ignorance. You might say that undue attachment to it, even over-identification with it, is the problem but the thing itself is real and meant to be. There is still a problem that needs to be addressed but this is not done by denying the real source of the problem. That source is not the self but the self gone wrong. In other words, the fallen self and this is something that needs to be cured rather than simply 'risen above'. You can attain certain mystical states in which the self has indeed been risen above but you will always, yes always, come back down to your self. Then the experience, or the memory of it, may make you feel that you have gone beyond self and your persona will adopt a particular kind of mask to reflect that but you are just deceiving yourself. The sick or fallen self is still there.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: currentcolor;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The only cure for this is repentance which means genuine contrition for your fallen state. This must be a deeply personal response to a profound realisation of the goodness and perfection of God and the numerous ways in which you fall short. This is why true saints think of themselves as bad people. This is not a pose though obviously it can be when those who are not saints imitate what they think is saintly behaviour. But the true saint will have a sometimes agonising sense of his unworthiness. Clearly, this should not be taken too far to the point where it becomes almost a self-indulgence (all good and true things can be perverted), but the saint will feel the lowly nature of his self precisely because he is aware of the glory of God. This is why all true spiritual experiences lead to humility and reticence rather than the inflated sense of personal worth that the lesser variety of experience, significant as it may seem to the experiencer, may bestow on what you might think of as an unripe or immature soul, one that cannot process its experience in a proper context.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: #212529; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; outline: currentcolor;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The path to spiritual understanding is not through trying to transcend the ego (what is trying and why?) but through repentance. It is only repentance that can purify the self of what is traditionally described as original sin. But we must go further and say that even repentance by itself is not enough. This is the self washing its dirty clothes but it actually needs a change of garment, and the garment in question is that of Christ which the soul must put on in order truly to be cleansed of the stains of self. These two things, repentance and full acceptance of Christ, are the only things that can cure the soul of its spiritual disease and render it whole. The attempt to transcend the ego without replacing it by the light of Christ can only ever lead to one of the many distorted reflections of the true spiritual world as they exist in the psychic and psychological states of being. It cannot reach the true spiritual level.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-49006792077402128032024-01-21T11:29:00.000+00:002024-01-21T11:29:21.017+00:00What Does it Matter if You Lose the Whole World but Gain Your Soul?<p><span style="font-size: large;">It's very strange that the majority of people still have no idea that Western civilisation is being purposefully destroyed. It's an ongoing project which involves the gradual erosion of freedom but since 2020 you would think it so obvious no one could miss it. Recent alarm in the UK about mass immigration and the fact that not only does that erode a nation's sense of self but is actually a net fiscal drain, well known but kept quiet, has done nothing to awaken people to the reality of the situation. The all pervasive leftism used to emasculate native Western populations along with the equally all pervasive feminism means we are robbed of the ability to defend ourselves. The ageing body politic in Western nations has a ravaged immune system and can no longer fend off harmful attacks. Indeed, in many cases it seems to welcome them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I could go on but this is not a political or nationalist blog. The lesson to take away from all this is that our true life is not here but elsewhere. It is important to recognise the assault on our traditions and our very integrity as a people, and one should know that this is not merely incompetence, though there is certainly plenty of that, but deliberate. The political aim is to remove resistance to globalist control. So, one must recognise the outer attack. But there is also the intention, now well advanced, of creating a universal cultural nihilism which will leave human beings complicit in their own spiritual disenfranchisement. The real attack is on the human soul.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Even though this world is important not so much for itself as for preparing us for heaven, human societies and cultures should still be modelled on the divine pattern of creation. The soul thrives and can grow as it should in such a scenario. There is a lot of scope for variety but there is still a basic model. The paradox is that in a time such as ours when it emphatically is not the case that this world reflects the higher world there may be fewer people saved as a result of the culture but those who are will be saved at a qualitatively deeper level because they have to go against prevailing winds and currents. This is the advantage of living at the present time. When you turn to God it must be because of your own free will not because society obliges you to do so. This is more authentic. It's a choice of the soul.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Western values, so-called, are now not Christian values which they were for centuries, or even traditional pagan values which at least honoured the gods. They are the fake humanitarian values of the French Revolution and communism, fake because these are not really aimed at human fulfilment which they would be if they actually were humanitarian, but seek the demolishing of previous structures and hierarchies based on a measure of insight into the reality of God, and their replacement by a mechanism to advance the tyrannical aims of the globalist agenda where a small technocratic elite presides over a controlled and servile mass. This is why they seek the destruction of the nations, or those with real traditions of freedom and self-determination, the abolition of the family and </span>ever greater dependence on the state, the promotion of abnormal sexuality which separates us from our true divine nature, the undermining of masculinity which would resist much of this and consequent emphasis on women who tend to go along with the consensus whatever that is. Everywhere you turn nowadays there is this soft totalitarianism which is so much more effective than the jackbooted variety of the past because most people don't even notice they are being herded like sheep.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">But take comfort from the fact that all of this was prophesied in numerous traditions from the Christian (Last Times) to the Indian (Kali Yuga). The lesson to take away is that it is inevitable but it doesn't ultimately matter. That doesn't mean you lie down and accept it. You absolutely do not. You must fight it but fight it mostly on the spiritual level by keeping your soul free of the corrupting poison of modern ideologies that deny God or only accept him on their own terms. See what is going on but lay up your treasure elsewhere. Never give in to the lies but know that they are going to increase and will drag down many souls. Make sure you are not one of them by preserving the truth in your heart whatever is said out there. I believe that it is alright to hate evil, I imagine God does, as long as what inspires that hate is love of the good, the beautiful and the true and this is always uppermost in your mind. Don't let hatred overwhelm love and embitter you. It must always be love that guides you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Actually, this is the difference between a healthy human soul and a leftist, by definition an unhealthy soul because God denying and motivated by resentment. The former hates what he hates because there is something real and good that he loves, and what he hates opposes that. The latter only loves if you can call it that, you might say he only supports something, because firstly there is some aspect of the good that he hates or fears, and what he supports opposes that. He has allowed his soul to be soured. If there is a lesson now for the lonely pilgrim struggling in today's world it is to keep your soul from being soured by focus on the true good which is imperishable. If the world burns, it was always going to do so, besides which that is a necessary stage in the process of alchemical purification. All the bad stuff has to come to the surface in order to be cleaned off.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-9331925426929073702024-01-17T19:46:00.004+00:002024-01-17T19:46:49.035+00:00No Self<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Is the highest spiritual state one in which the sense of separation between the soul and God has been so obliterated that there is no separation at all and the soul has, in effect, become God? There remains no self at all. This is the basic theme of Buddhism and certain forms of Hinduism. As it is of the modern derivation of ancient Eastern mysticism which is Oneness spirituality though that is usually an excessive simplification of its inspiring models. There are Christian versions of this too which I suspect are heavily influenced by Zen with a dash of Meister Eckhart and a pinch of Plotinus. In these beliefs (and they are beliefs notwithstanding the fact that there is some kind of experience in which self seems to be dissolved), self is the cause of sin and what needs to be eradicated is not just sin but the very possibility of it. This can seem to be the highest form of mysticism, the one at the apex of the triangle on the base line of which stand all the different religions. But is that really so or is this just a particular mystical experience which may point to an aspect of the soul's relationship with God but by no means covers it in its totality or indicates its intended destiny?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Are we not here just killing the patient in order to save him? Self may be the cause of everything bad but it is also the cause of so much that is good, including goodness itself. And love. God created for a reason and that reason was for the joy of relationship. The no self advocates would deny the purpose of creation. They would return us to the non-manifest state of darkness or limitless light. It makes no difference how you envision it as it is the boiling down of everything to nothing. It <i>is</i> possible to return consciousness to the pool of infinity whence it arose but that is not what God wants and nor is it what Christ offers and why he came to redeem the world from spiritual darkness. Christ came to heal the soul rather than kill it. God and creation is more than just God by himself and no self means no love, no beauty, no goodness, no expression and growth through time. Nothing but resting in eternal peace. That is fine if you have a limited view of spiritual life but there is so much more and to know this so much more the self must not be destroyed but transformed. The no self advocates are turning their back on God in his creative, expressive mode and retreating to a passive form of consciousness which is really just the spiritual womb. But God wants us to be born and to be alive and to partake in his creative glory. He wants us to know day as well as night and then add to the beauty of creation ourselves. This we cannot do if we do not have a self. Then we add precisely nothing.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-18963932957225656782024-01-13T11:46:00.002+00:002024-01-15T12:57:33.126+00:00Antichrist and the End Times<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Christians await the Antichrist who comes to deceive the faithful and non-believer alike at the end times, the faithful to lead them away from Christ and the non-believers to confirm and justify them in their non-belief. Sinning is one thing but denying the sinfulness of sin quite another. Getting human beings to do this is one of his chief aims. Who is this person and when are the end times? In a certain sense, it is always the end times because the world is always winding down and there is always corruption, sin and death. However, more specifically, the end times are said occur when the Gospel has been preached all over the world, and that surely is now. At the same time, there is predicted to be a general falling away from the truths of Christianity as mankind abandons the Gospel <i>en masse, </i>and that also seems to be the case today. Whatever the reality of the situation, and we cannot know, it makes sense to be prepared as were the wise virgins in the parable. It certainly seems as though we are in an end times scenario but it may be now or it may not. Either way there is no doubt that we are in <i>an</i> end times period, whether it be the main event or simply a precursor of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Antichrist types have appeared throughout history but these are just forerunners. They are charismatic, persuasive, powerful figures who may even appear to do good but they lead their followers away from Christ and towards themselves, and that is the case even for those who proclaim some kind of spirituality. I would speculate that the spiritual field is rife with little antichrists and the individual who fulfils the prophecy may well appear in that field teaching a spirituality that offers godlike powers but is hollow at the centre and that precludes Christ. Perhaps he will include Christ but as one of many, a great prophet but not the only begotten Son of God because that would be divisive and exclusive and God speaks to everyone in their own language. Or so he will say. We know he will be subtle, "able to deceive the very elect", and so we can be certain he will not be obviously wicked except to those whose inner vision is fully operative, and that may not be as many of us as we might like to think.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At the moment a great deal of spiritual evil comes through the left. It is the source of many things that are anti-God and anti-nature though packaged under that meaningless word 'progressive'. (Progress means progress towards a destination but where is that destination?). Then there is the idea of the New World Order in which a One World government takes control, ostensibly to benefit humanity and bring us all together but really to enslave us. I don't doubt that certain elites are working to bring this about and that the events of 2020 formed part of their attempts at control. They, or those at the top of the pile, are working in cohort with supernatural demonic beings to impose a spiritual death sentence on humanity. But what do we know about demons? They lie, they deceive. They would have no problem lying to their servants. What if these elites are being used just to be thrown under the bus at the due moment? Already, many people are waking up to the potential tyranny of a New World Order and some speculate that the Antichrist will be someone who reveals the materialism and atheism of an anti-spiritual NWO and offers in its place a spirituality of heightened consciousness and love and brotherhood. What's wrong with that you might think? Simply this. The fact is that love and brotherhood, to be real and not facsimiles of the real, must be grounded in Christ. He is their only source and without him they are spurious copies. The Antichrist is not called the Antichrist for nothing. He will not seem to be against goodness and truth, even love. But he will be against Christ, maybe not overtly but in practise. He will promise the deification of humanity, somewhat like the serpent did to Eve back in the day. He will teach human beings they are intrinsically divine and simply have to realise that or bring it out, salvation without repentance. Materialism is bad but false spirituality is worse because it corrupts us at a deeper level of our being.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is just speculation and the main purpose for raising the point is to remind us that we must be constantly alert to deception which will always attack us through some chink in our armour, meaning some personal weakness or preferred and insufficiently acknowledged sin. At the same time, we must not let a fear of being deceived blind us to the reality of spiritual growth and renewal or we will remain stranded in the past. This is why it is so important to develop intuition, our inner guide to reality. There are those who recognise the pitfalls of personal understanding without also seeing the absolute necessity for it if one is to attain a closer connection to Christ for he is not just the Jesus of the Gospels. He is also the absolute heart of spiritual reality and that can only be known in your own heart which means you must include but go beyond conventional religious teaching. There is nothing else for it if you would really know Christ and not just remain in the world of images and symbols which is where most of the conventionally religious stay.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps these are the End Times, perhaps not. But it certainly seems as though they might be in which case it is all the more necessary to be suspicious of all promises and apparent revelations and to construct the inner bridge that leads from your heart to God which bridge is that of the spiritual form of Jesus Christ.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-54702558625523578022024-01-09T10:12:00.000+00:002024-01-09T10:12:12.984+00:00Tradition and Growth<p><span style="font-size: large;"> There is a balance to be struck between being open to the new and faithful to tradition. Too much of one and you lose connection to roots and what grounds you in truth. Too much of the other and you become set in your ways, unable to grow and develop, stuck in a calcifying rigidity, bound by form and convention and without the freedom required for creativity.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A tree is planted in the ground but it must aspire up to the sky, ever seeking to stretch towards the light into new heights. It cannot stay close to the safety of the ground or it will remain a little shrivelled bush. But as it grows its roots must go deeper into the earth in search of life giving nourishment. Again, a balance must be struck. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In fact, to respect tradition and be open to the new, both and at the same time, is easy. More than that, it is natural. But it is only natural to the natural man by which I do not mean the man responsive only to natural instincts and impulses but the man who is not caught up in the machinations of the earthly mind which analyses and separates. Unfortunately, now in the 21st century none of us are free. We are all far too self-conscious, and our excessive self-consciousness makes us fake. None of us is natural. None of us is innocent but that is what we must become. To be innocent in this sense does not mean to lack experience but not to be defined by it. We can learn from experience but the clarity of our vision should not be determined by it and our mind must be clean from the stains of the past. To be innocent is to live from moment to moment, to be aware of the past but not limited by it. This is freedom and from freedom comes spiritual growth.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, if this growth is to be in the right direction it must be guided and constrained by something to stop it becoming a jungle of weeds. The mind should be a beautiful garden which means order and freedom have to work together. Tradition is what gives structure and form to personal intuition and inspiration but these two are what provides the impetus for inner growth.</span></p><p><br /></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-23325209476928525212024-01-05T15:51:00.002+00:002024-01-05T18:38:42.794+00:00Feet on the Earth, Head in the Sky<p><span style="font-size: large;"> If you are born in this world it is because you are meant to be. The development of your soul requires you to experience and negotiate the material world. In order to unfold its divine potential your spiritual self needs to meet the challenges, demands and opportunities of physical plane existence, the main one of which being the separation from God. The spiritual self exists in a state of non-separation. I don't say union because this is not fully conscious as true union is. To reach the state of conscious union is the whole point of the exercise.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">You are meant to be in the world and therefore the tendency some spiritually sensitive individuals have to escape the pressures and exigencies of material life is, however understandable, wrong. We are in the world to be in the world. At the same time, the opposite form of behaviour which is to see this world as valid in its own right is also wrong. We have to take the world seriously but we also have to understand that, in itself, it is not important. This is what Jesus meant when he said we need to be in the world but not of the world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Many religious people nowadays are of the world. They do not have their head in the sky. They may talk about the sky but they do not behave as though that is where they have come from or even where they particularly want to go. Why come from? To be truly religious means to be aware of yourself as having your origin on a higher plane of being. There is something in you that already is with God and you know it and with all your heart wish to get back to that. But God has sent you to the world. Maybe he is testing you to see if your desire to be with him is stronger than your desire for worldly goods when these are before you. Or maybe there are lessons you need to learn to do with service or love or humility. You are a seed planted in the darkness of the earth. You need to use the nutrients of the good earth to help you grow but you will only grow if there is that in you that stretches up towards the light. Then your worldly death will be the moment you break through the surface and see the sun. Unlike those seeds that never stretched towards the light and so do not sprout as they should so remain in darkness.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-34079299509487019012024-01-02T13:02:00.002+00:002024-01-02T15:09:54.274+00:00Worship on the Horizontal and Vertical Planes<p><span style="font-size: large;">My last post observed that there seems a greater sense of the divine presence in churches when there is no service going on and no congregation in attendance. I was pleased to see that J.M. Smith of the Orthosphere agreed, and he wrote a splendid <a href="https://orthosphere.wordpress.com/2024/01/01/in-praise-of-empty-churches/" target="_blank">poem</a> expressing the same sentiment. The obvious thing to ask is why is this?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Some people are solitary types who simply don't like crowds. I am one but this is not the whole answer though it may be part of it. Others find a greater closeness to God in silent contemplation than in public worship. This also is a partial explanation but, again, it does not satisfy as the full reason. It may always have been the case that the tall pillars, lofty roofs, statues of saints and stained glass depictions of episodes from the Bible spoke more loudly to the visitor when there was no human distraction but I believe that there is a deeper reason for this today than simply that a more inwardly focused nature feels closer to God in quietness and solitude.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The key lies in understanding Matthew 7:21-23. How many people who profess Christianity really are followers of Jesus Christ? I know one cannot presume to judge the state of another person's soul but one must ask how many believers really believe? Christianity is a supernatural religion, one whose whole purpose lies in what is beyond this world but these days it is often reduced to a form of secular humanism with some added on spiritual trimmings. There is a social aspect to Christianity but it is vanishingly small compared to the spiritual. Love your neighbour as yourself must be one of the most misunderstood teachings. It does not mean love everyone. It does not even mean love your neighbour in the generally understood sense. If it did then God clearly does not love us. It must be seen in the light of the commandment to love God. That is primary. Then, loving your neighbour means acting and behaving for his spiritual good. To reduce this love to the material plane is to radically misunderstand it. The material plane is not excluded but it is very much subsidiary to the spiritual.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">If the people performing an act of worship are not stretching with their whole being towards the divine is it any wonder that the resultant worship is spiritually sterile? They may mean well but if their hearts are not really oriented to the true God and if their minds are not clearly focused on the meaning of the divine message and its overwhelmingly <i>spiritual</i> sense then the atmosphere that is created by their worship will be flat, literally so for it will lack the multi-dimensional quality of a spirituality that aspires up to the heavens. If worship is not animated by love of God and a real yearning for Him then it has no flavour. You might say this has always been so but at one time we would have been less distracted by the world and the reduction of the religious message to the field of human relationships. We looked up instead of around us or towards the altar instead of towards our neighbours.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Christianity has been brought down to earth and many Christians follow a religion in which there are no towers or spires stretching heavenwards. It is a religion that has a flat roof and does not rise. If we enter a church in which the architectural features pull us away from the earth and towards the heavens then we are temporarily uplifted and ennobled. If the hearts of the worshippers are in tune with that then all is well. For an effective ritual needs a proper form to give it expression but it also requires that the hearts and minds of its participants are fully open to the higher worlds. Without that there is no material for the divine spark to ignite.</span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-59757261681859795112023-12-29T10:28:00.001+00:002023-12-29T11:26:13.920+00:00A Church Falling into Ruins<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span> I was slightly ill over Christmas, possibly with the dreaded 'Coughvid' since work colleagues who still (why?</span><span>) test for it and who had similar symptoms did have that ailment. Basically, a nasty cold - no fun but hardly the end of the world. But it meant I didn't go to church on Christmas morning for the first time in many years. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm afraid to say I was quite relieved not to have to do so. When my parents were still alive and I spent Christmas with them we would go to a small country church in Wiltshire. St Martin's in Bremhill was originally built around 1200, though not much is left from those days. It was altered in the mid 19th century but still has a 14th century tower and some Tudor stonework as well. The font is even older. When I went there, which was most Christmases between 1986 and 2006, the service was the traditional Church of England one using the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible. The vicar was a grey haired, red-cheeked ex-tax inspector (there is a good precedent for that) whom we would sometimes join for a drink in the local pub after the service. The atmosphere was cheerful but reverent, and the congregation was a mix of local country people plus a few outsiders like me. It was the sort of thing you might have seen in England for centuries. Most people there were probably not full believers but they respected and maybe even loved the tradition. They may not have been able to give themselves to it whole-heartedly but they knew it was better than anything that came after it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, in the Church of England tradition is dead and most people think we are well rid of it. Of course, there are self-conscious attempts to maintain it here and there but that is completely artificial, and even many of the people involved still think that modernity is better. They would just like the cosmetic aspects of tradition but they are fully on board with the innovations, women priests, blessings for same-sex couples and all the rest of the dreary capitulations to secularism. Both the churches around where I live go in for all that stuff and consider themselves enlightened for doing so. Both were completely compromised during the 2020 lockdowns. Every time I have been, and I do only go at Christmas and Easter, I have felt dispirited and almost ashamed at contributing to such a desecration of true religion as these spiritually collapsed bodies provide. There is a Catholic Church near where I work in London, a beautiful 19th century building, and I go in there sometimes at lunchtime to pray and contemplate. That still has the old feeling of actually being a house of God that the C. of E. ones just do not have but even there I find that feeling is stronger when there is no service going on. Modern worship rarely adds to the sense of sanctity in a church. More usually it actually detracts from it.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAebZfApqQvUD6uhSoHMKZcyPt_rw1wf3koh1WVxutpmpNMhgfiEUb1m35VJQrtRIbqKBE0l_WTdEfIlZi2wr-JP4FmmPFerOObG9c6Ekus-WKHN0j0zUsMM43m16RCVyY2DKxOCUme43uYMCbpqnT2q19DtULvzd5UEVawcahXdxAWnsWJe4EdbImOTXO/s1390/Screenshot%202023-12-27%20at%2017.05.21.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1390" data-original-width="934" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAebZfApqQvUD6uhSoHMKZcyPt_rw1wf3koh1WVxutpmpNMhgfiEUb1m35VJQrtRIbqKBE0l_WTdEfIlZi2wr-JP4FmmPFerOObG9c6Ekus-WKHN0j0zUsMM43m16RCVyY2DKxOCUme43uYMCbpqnT2q19DtULvzd5UEVawcahXdxAWnsWJe4EdbImOTXO/w269-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-27%20at%2017.05.21.png" width="269" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaNYkD0YAqqTdafiAJVSDiMeNxKko-LL7HsXiDWXmE8e2Uvp2mhIsETS2DL54tne5Suc6XWfxzBC-6XAUVXp5rBb-D0fhKsBRIM6zpeTigLzSfs-Y6hd5ttuJrYRT71S720zN5i6xTbLqX8Sh2y2jV4pUQiDO75kHpC1Vhu9afNu84S_nxwVj3NOt2qrh/s1024/Brook-Green-Stained-Glass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaNYkD0YAqqTdafiAJVSDiMeNxKko-LL7HsXiDWXmE8e2Uvp2mhIsETS2DL54tne5Suc6XWfxzBC-6XAUVXp5rBb-D0fhKsBRIM6zpeTigLzSfs-Y6hd5ttuJrYRT71S720zN5i6xTbLqX8Sh2y2jV4pUQiDO75kHpC1Vhu9afNu84S_nxwVj3NOt2qrh/w400-h266/Brook-Green-Stained-Glass.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuTZ3EQlqovEN4Ct0ATQyyb_PvWs0TXTS44LZGVlYeSf_bZjckp_fX_jBEA8BHy6yxVq6Gz_krikIqT-Vn-yr0knTsn1SsTbYVQL7MCpuNY6L66C7aisjWka1RW6AeqJbB_jrgk8Mem6YzH6MDAGjgwoXHyE2_uhO_q651bNDUkxMBjDhBhIyyRIRi9dv/s430/brook-green-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuTZ3EQlqovEN4Ct0ATQyyb_PvWs0TXTS44LZGVlYeSf_bZjckp_fX_jBEA8BHy6yxVq6Gz_krikIqT-Vn-yr0knTsn1SsTbYVQL7MCpuNY6L66C7aisjWka1RW6AeqJbB_jrgk8Mem6YzH6MDAGjgwoXHyE2_uhO_q651bNDUkxMBjDhBhIyyRIRi9dv/w279-h400/brook-green-2.jpg" width="279" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: large;">There is a moral to this story. I believe that God is driving us inwards. When outer spiritual support is weakened or even collapses then we simply must go within to find proper truth. I am well used to people protesting about the risks of this, spiritual narcissism, egotism, pride, illusion, self-deception, etc. Well, yes, all these exist and are genuine risks but we need to wake up. There's no virtue in remaining faithful to something that has abandoned or lost its connection to truth. Is it the Church we follow or God? You may think they are the same and sometimes, to a degree, never wholly, they are, but often in this fallen world they are most definitely not the same and we have to choose where our heart really lies. When the outer world is falling into ruin we must turn within and in so doing we will become spiritually stronger which is what God wants for us. Clearly, this is no excuse for anything goes but if our motivation is right God will direct us where we need to go. He always wants to bring us up not keep us in the same place.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">My disillusionment with official religion does not mean I think we can do without it. Our spiritual state would be very much worse if the churches were no longer there. Inner spirituality needs outer structure to support it and make sure it doesn't stray into wild regions of eccentricity, fantasy and self-indulgence. And yet there comes a time when those who would really start to know Christ as a living inner reality must turn away from Peter and start to follow John.</span></div>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513199068907090344.post-66974195062103415162023-12-21T09:41:00.002+00:002023-12-21T09:44:18.745+00:00Christmas Break<p><span style="font-size: large;">I shall be taking a short blogging break over Christmas. Many thanks to those who have supported this blog by reading and commenting over the last year. If you would like to deepen your acquaintance with some of the ideas behind it my latest book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Means-Equal-Reclaiming-Soul/dp/1803413484/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=2Bx3Q&content-id=amzn1.sym.3413293e-3815-4359-96ba-1ec5110e0b30&pf_rd_p=3413293e-3815-4359-96ba-1ec5110e0b30&pf_rd_r=258-8701495-5661036&pd_rd_wg=3j0a2&pd_rd_r=f2e49d5a-7f0f-404d-a7f6-c691fa901cf9&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk" target="_blank">By No Means Equal</a></i> is available. As the title suggests, it is an attack on the philosophy (there should really be inverted commas around that word) of modern ideology. Everything depends on getting first principles right, and we have got them badly wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Specifically, the book seeks to show how equality, which has become the fundamental principle and basic assumption of Western liberal democracies, is a false doctrine founded on an illusion. Equality poses as a quasi-spiritual belief but is actually pure materialism. It's now regarded as a secular dogma with which any right thinking person should be in agreement, but it receives no mention in the Bible or any serious spiritual literature and that is understandable when one realises that, taken to a logical extreme, it would reduce the twin realities of creation and evolutionary unfoldment right back to the ground from whence they arose. For equality chops down the tree of life. It drags light back to darkness, reduces the individual to nothing and makes of a freedom a prison.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The modern obsession with equality as a universal good is a legacy of several strands of thought in Western civilisation but ultimately it comes from a denial of God and the natural order of creation. God is being and he creates to be something. All things, by definition, must be different to other things. They must be separate and that means they cannot be equal. To pretend otherwise in the name of a supposedly enlightened morality is to prioritise the material world over the spiritual since it seeks to establish a false outer oneness in place of an inner spiritual oneness which, it should be noted, always goes hand in glove with multiplicity of expression.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Reality is hierarchical as in this illustration from Robert Fludd's <i>Utriusque Cosmi </i>or Metaphysical History of the Two Worlds (i.e Universe and Man). At the top hidden in a cloud of unknowing, the Unmanifest beyond creation, dwells God whose hand reaches down through the heavens, the realm of Cherubim and Seraphim, through the unchanging world of the fixed stars and then the world of the planets (astral plane) and finally to the elemental world of animal, vegetable and mineral. There is a chain linking God's hand with the female figure who is the <i>Anima Mundi </i>or Soul of the World, similar to the Goddess of paganism who as this shows is still a creature not the Creator, and she in turn hold dominance over the ape-like creature perched on top of the world who may represent mortal man seemingly measuring a small globe with his scientific instruments while thinking he has the whole of life in his hands.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORK0ZOS1OJxU6_xgTubvwkiOyqaYP8HhPtGZCn30YfOfJKYqiZLV3kqEkbX-P5QqjEFQfeSftW9gVzuihrvoFDLsu4E5xQY745u23LqMtTOle6ES12xBhs-2XNBH57L2ltdYD9OppP3XFBhjYYHtE9eSgz-b0MDnYsILudhlB1MxfRrBqV8uXxDkyLNja/s627/The%20Great%20Chain%20of%20Being.tiff" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="627" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORK0ZOS1OJxU6_xgTubvwkiOyqaYP8HhPtGZCn30YfOfJKYqiZLV3kqEkbX-P5QqjEFQfeSftW9gVzuihrvoFDLsu4E5xQY745u23LqMtTOle6ES12xBhs-2XNBH57L2ltdYD9OppP3XFBhjYYHtE9eSgz-b0MDnYsILudhlB1MxfRrBqV8uXxDkyLNja/w640-h606/The%20Great%20Chain%20of%20Being.tiff" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is just a symbol of the macrocosm and it ignores the fact that Man has a direct link to God implanted within his own soul but it conveys the idea that the universe is founded on many levels of being from pure spirit to gross matter though all are bound together by their foundation in God who informs the whole even if he also stands above it all. Equality is nowhere present in such a scheme but the opportunity for the humblest part of creation to rise through the spheres most certainly is for everything comes from God and everything that accepts its spiritual destiny may return to him though that depends on its own free will and ability to make the required sacrifice of attachment to the lower elements in its nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>By No Means Equal </i>is subtitled Reclaiming the Soul because the modern dogma of equality does away with the spiritual integrity of the individual, its true and unique quality. Equality is materialism, the reduction of the spiritual to what can be measured. Putting it at the centre of our understanding of human life shows we have completely lost touch with what lies beyond the quantitative world. It's time we saw through the illusion and rediscovered our source in the divine.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Note: The publisher tells me I should solicit reviews on Amazon so if anyone would care to leave a few words there (preferably positive ones!) I should be very grateful.</i></span></p>William Wildbloodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.com7