Herbert

Herbert Hoover won the election of 1928.

Does the name Herbert McAdams mean anything to you?

Herbert opened his mouth, but Tom gave him a menacing look.

I don't trust Herbert around children.

Since my teenage years, I have enjoyed the Dune franchise of Frank Herbert—the literature and movies. The setting is many thousands of years into the future, as humankind has expanded throughout the galaxy. The official language of the Imperium is called Galach, a descendant of Earth's English, Russian, and other languages. Meanwhile, on the desert planet Arrakis, the Fremen eke a living as desert people. The Fremen language is a descendant of Earth's Arabic.

Religion in future outer space is a subject of some sci-fi. The Dune franchise is a great example. Frank Herbert created the thousands-of-years-from-now Dune series, focusing on an Arab-like culture and language group of the Fremen on the desert planet Arrakis in a galactic imperium in which the language Galach is spoken, a derivative of ancient English and Slavic languages. I have read another book, The Jesus Incident, by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom, about a spaceship that is like a god to its human crew, looking to colonize another planet.

I went to the neighborhood spiritual second-hand bookstore and bought a psuedo-scientific book about the benefits of meditation; it's called The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson. My friend F recommended it. Now it's on the shelf along with some other books I intend to read. It was only $3.00. The bookstore owner there is from Nigeria. His name is Abraham. He's an interesting fellow who really knows a lot about spiritual affairs. After I bought the book, we talked for a few minutes. He told me that all religions "failed" in some way. He declared that one didn't need "salvation" from anything, like from "sin" as in Christianity, or like from "suffering" as in Buddhism. I asked him if he believed in an Immortal Soul, something that Buddhism does not acknowledge because Buddhists believe we are a never-ending "stream of consciousness," not really a soul. He said he believed in an Immortal Soul. Then he said that there is only One Truth and that it cannot be verbalized; it must be experienced. That's an interesting perspective indeed. It got me thinking on my way home... Today is the 20th of October of 2002.

Herbert Senior of England, who was baptized in 1905, said of the situation, “It was not very clear to the brethren at the time that it was right for a Christian to serve as a soldier and only do non-combat work Doesn’t it fit?”

It seems that many people at the Roman Catholic church on St. Albans Road, here on Lulu Island, like Interlingua. They know that I'm an Esperantist, as well as a Lojbanist. I'm Buddhoanimist. I was there at the "Clam Temple" this morning around ten, this 17th of June of 2025, maybe my 46th visit there this year. I was wanting to enjoy the void and silence in the grand worship hall, but two Filipinas were hammering at the electric organ, and the Filipino custodian was starting his vacuuming. The hall was empty, except for us four. I then headed to the Adoration Chapel, where there were more people, many of them Filipinos, praying in silence. It's a cloudy day today, but not drizzling. At home, I've been reading electronic books: The Jesus Incident, by Frank Herbert, a sci-fi book about colonizing the planet Pandora and a giant starship that thinks it's a god. I've read it already many years ago. I'm also checking a religious book, The Urantia Book, the Japanese version. As my right brain is more active than most people's, I read for texture rather than plot. I tend to read random pages. At Tim Hortons café, I enjoyed a Bacon Farmer's Wrap and Earl Grey tea with oat milk. I will be returning to enjoy Iced Coffee with oat milk.

Herbert, Sydney, Milton, Seymour. You know, all the time I was growing up I thought those were the most ordinary Jewish first names, until someone pointed out that they were British last names. I guess to my great-grandparents those names must have sounded so modern, so sophisticated, so - non-Eastern European. And now they're just Uncle Miltie, Uncle Sy, Uncle Herb. Do other people have Uncle Donne and Uncle Wordsworth?