Mechanical Advantage

Suppose you have a long rod, fixed at one end but freely swinging at the other. You wish to move the end of it some distance. If you grab the end and move it directly, you need to move your arm that distance to move the rod's end the same distance; but if you instead grab the rod in the middle, you only need to move your arm half as far to accomplish the same. This is because the rod, here, is acting as a lever; by grabbing it in the middle, you gain mechanical advantage, and can accomplish the same action with less effort.

Now, suppose you wish to make a change here in the material world, at the extremity of the cosmos. Is it better to make your efforts here, in the material? Or is it better to apply those same efforts partway "up" the cosmos in the world of spirit? ...

Spirituality is not and cannot be escapism, where one runs away from the world; rather, it is a means of embracing the world and attempting to engage with it more effectively. Heaven is not where you bliss out forever: it's where you see your hard work make more of a difference.

Nursery Rhymes and Folk Divination

Are any of you familiar with the nursery rhyme, "Monday's Child?"

I hadn't heard it as a child, myself, but when I had children, I ran across it in quite a number of books on nursery rhymes. The version I'm familiar with runs as follows:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
And the child born on the Sabbath day
 is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Wikipedia has a decent page on it, indicating that some version of it was known in rural England as early as the 1500s, and recorded in print at least as early as the 1800s.

It is not hard to see this as a folk memory of the planetary days, to wit:

• Sunday is the day of the Sun, associated with (among other things) an irrepressible nature;
• Monday is the day of the Moon, associated with (among other things) a sensual nature;
• Tuesday is the day of Mars, associated with (among other things) athleticism;
• Wednesday is the day of Mercury, associated with (among other things) a mischievous nature;
• Thursday is the day of Jupiter, associated with (among other things) an adventurous nature;
• Friday is the day of Venus, associated with (among other things) love; and
• Saturday is the day of Saturn, associated with (among other things) hard work.