Khazen

Aid and intimidation

In Syria, when a regime official calls the local Red Crescent chapter and asks for food rations, local aid workers cannot deny this request even if it is taken from the people’s share. They have no choice but to yield to orders under the threat of a “security report” that would cost them their freedom […]

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Churches and Monasteries of the Khazen Family: Virgin Mary Church (سيدة المعونات) in Sheilé

In 1767, Patriarch Youssef Estephan El Khoury promoted Mikhael, son of Cheikh Nader el Khazen, from the house of Cheikh Abou Nawfal el Khazen from Ajaltoun, to the rank of Bishop over the city of Caesarea in Palestine. Later on this year, Bishop Mikhael inaugurated the building of a a Church dedicated to honoring Virgin […]

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Quarrel over woman in Lebanon’s Jbeil, four dead

BEIRUT: A quarrel between two men over a woman in Jbeil, north of Beirut, Friday turned violent and led to the killing of three people and the apparent suicide of the father of one of the deceased, security sources said over the weekend. The sources said the deaths – two members from the Abu Younes […]

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The right to censor

At a time when activists complain that Lebanon’s censorship process is opaque and seemingly arbitrary, General Security issued its first monthly magazine, “Al-Amen Al-Aam” (“General Security”). Strikingly, the October edition dedicated a section – composing almost one-fourth of the magazine – to the censorship process and related regulations. Besides combating crime and controlling border and […]

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L’évolution : mythe ou réalité ?

L’évolution : mythe ou réalité ?

Classé dans : Culture,Dossiers,Sujets qui fâchent — 28 mai 2008 @ 13 01 46

Introduction

Nous allons commencer cette étude par l’observation d’un petit animal, l’abeille, dont vos connaissez sans doute à peu près l’étonnante organisation de sa ruche… Mais connaissez-vous toutes les surprenantes particularités de toute abeille… ? (La Genèse au risque de la science, pp. 46-47)

Avouez qu’il y a de quoi être émerveillé par ce petit insecte qui pèse moins d’un gramme qui est équipé de dispositifs parfaitement adaptés à des besoins très divers !
D’ailleurs, ce que vous venez de découvrir chez une simple abeille, vous pourriez le découvrir avec une diversité infinie de trouvailles chez d’innombrables animaux, qui ont des particularités uniques en leur genre et qui leur permettent de faire face à des situations et des besoins spécifiques ; le cas de la chauve-souris et de son sonar (utilisant la réflexion des ultrasons) ou celui du chameau et de ses sabots tout-terrain méritent le retour… Et je ne parle pas d’où vient la coordination qui existe entre tous les animaux et végétaux d’un même site (chaîne alimentaire…) ; tout cela est parfaitement agencé. La question qui vient à l’esprit est : comment toutes ces adaptations admirables ont-elles été inventées et mises en places ? Ou plutôt par qui ?
Pendant des dizaines de siècles, la plupart des hommes ont répondu : c’est un Etre transcendant (d’un ordre supérieur) à notre monde visible, qu’on appelle Dieu, qui les a créés tels quels. On ne peut pas observer, par exemple, la petite épine sur l’une des pattes antérieures de l’abeille, épine dont elle se sert pour extraire le pollen du sac disposé sur une autre patte, sans se dire : un être intelligent a bien dû penser tout cela !
Et pourtant, depuis plusieurs décennies, une réponse très différente est proposée : en résumant, tous les êtres vivants actuels seraient apparus progressivement au long de centaines de millions d’années, depuis un premier organisme très simple, unicellulaire, selon un processus de transformation des uns à partir des autres, en passant par des organismes de plus en plus complexes, jusqu’à l’homo sapiens sapiens (ou homme de Cro-Magnon, semblable à l’homme actuel) descendant d’un primate supérieur. Aujourd’hui, les scientifiques ont érigé l’hypothèse de l’évolutionnisme – appelé aussi transformisme – en dogme énoncé dans les manuels scolaires, les livres, les magazines, les reportages télévisés, les conférences, les expositions, et même les livres de la plupart des théologiens et ecclésiastiques, qui pensent concilier foi et évolution matérialiste (puisque l’homme viendrait de la matière).

 

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Suleiman: Baabda Declaration underpins Geneva II participation

  Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said that his country would participate and abide by the decisions of Geneva II if the latter allowed it to distance itself from the repercussions of the crisis in Syria. “If Geneva II is balanced we will take part in it and we will decide whether its decisions guarantee distancing […]

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Amid confusion, Lebanon bans energy drink, not popular shot

BEIRUT: An official statement announcing a ban on the sale of “liquide cocaine” sparked ridicule Friday, but caretaker Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud clarified that the measure applied to an American caffeine energy drink and not an alcoholic shot of the same name. The statement, which was published on the National News Agency, calls for bars, […]

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Rival Christian Parties Hold 2nd Meeting in Less than a Month

The representatives of rival Christians parties held talks on Thursday night, their second meeting in less than a month under the auspices of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. Al-Joumhouria newspaper said Friday that Bishop Samir Mazloum presided the meeting that was attended by Phalange MP Sejaan Azzi, Lebanese Forces lawmaker Elie Kayrouz, a Free Patriotic Movement […]

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9 Subtle Lies We All Tell Ourselves

When I was at university, I was convinced that I wanted to be an investment banker and work on Wall Street. A year later, it took all of about three hours in the cubicle miasma known as State Street for that dream to evaporate. In hindsight, I didn’t want to be a banker as much as I wanted to feel powerful and important. Fortunately, I found other ways to meet those needs.

There was also a period of time when I was convinced that my ex-girlfriend left me because I wasn’t good enough for her and so I had to prove myself to every woman I ever met. But after a lot of over-compensation around other women, I eventually realized that I was fine and much better off without her.

Then there was the idea that every bad emotion I ever experienced was a result of some underlying trauma and that by “working through it,” I was precipitating some sort of transformation in myself. Boy, was that one delusional. (Spoiler alert: Sometimes you feel bad just because you feel bad.)

What I’m getting at is that we’re often poor arbiters of our own emotions and desires. We lie to ourselves. And we do it for one obvious reason: to feel better.

We may not know exactly what we’re lying to ourselves about, but it’s safe to assume that some chunk of what we consider “truth” today is likely nothing more than a defense against some deeper meaning which is painful to accept.

By lying to ourselves we mortgage our long-term needs in order to fulfill our short-term desires. Therefore, one could say personal growth is merely the process of learning to lie to oneself less.

When it comes to uncovering our own BS, many of us rely on similar patterns to protect ourselves. Here are some common patterns I’ve come across in myself and people I’ve worked with:

1. “If I could just X, then my life would be amazing.”

Take your pick of what X is: get married, get laid, get a raise, buy a new car, a new house, a new pet rabbit, floss every Sunday, whatever. Obviously, you’re smart enough that I don’t have to tell you that no one single goal will ever solve your happiness problems permanently. After all, that’s the tricky part about the brain: the “If only I had X, then…” mechanism never goes away.

We’re evolutionarily wired to exist in a state of mild dissatisfaction. It makes biological sense. Primates who are never quite satisfied with what they already have and want a little bit more were the ones who survived and pro-created more often.

It’s an excellent evolutionary strategy, but a poor happiness strategy. If we’re always looking for what’s next it becomes quite difficult to appreciate what is now. Sure, we can alter this wiring a bit through conditioning, learned behaviors and changed mindsets, but it’s an immovable piece of the human condition, something we must always lean against.

So what does that mean? Learn to enjoy it. Learn to enjoy the challenge. Learn to enjoy change and pursuit of one’s higher goals. Relish the chase, so to speak. A big misconception in the self help world is that being satisfied with the present moment and working towards one’s future are somehow contradictory. They’re not. If life is a hamster wheel, then the goal isn’t to actually get anywhere, it’s to find a way to enjoy running.

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Les jésuites au Liban et la Grande Guerre de 1914-1918

Mémoire – Bientôt un centenaire… À l’occasion du centenaire d’un conflit qui fit des millions de morts, une exposition de documents puisés dans les archives de la Compagnie de Jésus au Liban est en préparation. « On fait le pain avec l’eau de mer à Beyrouth (…) L’argent se prête à 40, 50 et 100 […]

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