Los Reyes Magos

In a few days we will celebrate Jesus' birthday. Again. [Footnote] 

Remember the story? Pregnant Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem. No place to sleep. Cold night. Jesus born in a barn. Visiting shepherds. Couple of days later the arrival of three wise kings, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In Dutch the '3 Wise Kings' are named the '3 Wijzen en/ of Koningen uit het Oosten'. Translated in English '3 Wise Men and/ or Kings from the East'. Last week I discovered something strange. Strange to me. In Spanish these 3 men are called 'Los Reyes Magos de Oriente'. Translated in English the 'Magos Kings from the East'. In Spanish these three Kings (Reyes) from the East are 'Magos': wizards, magicians or wise men. They have added a connotation of sorcery or magic. Very strange to my Dutch ears. New to me!

Back to the sources. What does the Bible say - in the New Revised Standard Version? Gospel of Matthew 2: 1-12 [bold added by JD] 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." (...) When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

The quote above is the only source in the Bible giving an account of some 'wise men' paying homage to the new king of the Jews. There were three gifts but this source doesn't tell that there were three men. They could have been kings but that's not for sure. They were "wise men". The original Greek text speaks of 'magos'. These 'magos' visited Jesus.

What are 'Magos'? Who were they? They were Zoroastrian priests. As part of their religion these priests paid particular attention to the stars. They were astrologists. People who think that there's a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. Their practice of predicting seasons, events and people's lives made them not only wise but wizards and magicians too.

Quote Wikipedia on 'Magi':
The word mágos (Greek) and its variants appears in both the Old and New Testaments. Ordinarily this word is translated "magician" in the sense of illusionist or fortune-teller, and this is how it is translated in all of its occurrences except for the Gospel of Matthew, where it is rendered "wise man".

Summarized. Who visited Jesus a couple a days later? 'Magos' from the East paying homage to Jesus and offering him three gifts. 'Magos' who themselves observed the star of Jesus. A star that they followed until it stopped over the place where Jesus was. I guess the translator in Dutch and English were afraid that we could not carry the (painful?) truth that young Jesus was visited by illusionists or fortune-tellers. The 'magos' had to be wise. 'Magos' as scientific astronomers and not vague astrologists.

What a lovely treasure :) to unfold. Remember my image of last week: "language is for me like a handful of stones"? Don't you think so too?

Footnote. Better: In a few days "we" - people inspired by the Christian culture - will celebrate Jesus of Nazareth's birthday. Not all individuals of species 'homo sapiens' join this party. More exact, most people on planet Earth don't celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday. Nor Christmas. 

Next Big Thing

Skip the mobile phone. Remember the days that the phone was stuck by a thread? Forget the iPad. Take a huge step over tablets. Tablets in cars or airplanes. So 2014!

The Next Big Thing isn't something mobile we carry externally. The Next Big Thing will not be displayed on glasses or on the window of our car. The Next Big Thing is close. Real close on/ in us species 'homo sapiens'. The Next Big Thing is a head-up display on our corneal. Beware this is an image!

Our iCorneal is a scanning laser that displays images, video, translated media and lots of extra information on our personal clear transparent medium. On our corneal.

Am I a magician?

Sometimes I think I can predict and influence human behavior.

SUICIDE EYES. I shook hands with a new consultant (forget his name) 10 years ago. Small talk. Talk about his education and work experiences. Talk about his new job. I wished him luck. A few minutes later his manager  H asked me, "What do you think of our new consultant?" Me: '"Do you really want to know?" H: "Ofcourse." Me: "I think he will be allright as consultant but he want make it very long because he is planning to commit suicide". H: "You are kidding, aren't you?" Me: "I don't know. It's just what my feeling/ intuition told me when I looked in his eyes". Silence for one week. Telephone rings. H on the phone. H: "You never guess what happened?" Me: "I have no idea. Tell me!" H: "Our new consultant committed suicide just as you told." Me: "O my God. I'm so sorry. I feel so guilty now. May be if I talked to him may be I could have saved him." If's all those if's.

DRUGS. My best friend U has a brother G. G took over the mushroom business of his father. The mushroom business is a bad investment last 15 years in the Netherlands. Why? Competion from Poland, where the price per working hour is much cheeper. (Mushroom business is an workman-intensive-business.) The father of U and G died. Years go by. One day my wife N tells me: "G is getting a divorce". Me: "Why?" N: "His wife did fall in love with another man and she went away with him." Me - split second later: "Well, everybody has the right to fuck up his/her life but the result will be that G is going into the drugsbusiness." Six months go by. Telephone rings. My mother-in-law: "Did you already hear the news?" N: "I don't know. What news?" Mother-in-law: "G has been arrested this morning for drugsbusiness." N: "Jean already predicted it 6 months ago." How did I know? Answer: I can rationalize it: G is selfish; G wanted to take revenge towards his wife; G allways spends more money than he can afford; bad friends; and a lot more. But that's rationalisation. My feeling/ intuition told me, out of the blue and in a split second: "Drugs, he no longer has a woman who can stop him!"

Am I a magician? I don't think so. I like to observe people. I like to predict their behavior. I like to solve human puzzles. When I'm honest: most of the time my predictions are wrong. Most of the time most people are unpredicatable for me. I just can't tell what they are going to do and explain why they did what they did. Always a lot of guesses but almost no answers. To be more honest: sometimes I can't even predict my own behavior or acting.

How about you: can you explain and predict your own acting?