The Dalai Lama says not to pray to God... should we listen to him?

The Dalai Lama says not to pray to God, because humankind created terrorism... is he saying we should pray to God over hurricanes because those are not humanity's fault... or are all problems our doing in some form or other? Is he saying we should be deeply cruel to others because no semblance of justice, of comeuppance exists? That is a dark and scary God he seems to believe in: one who condemns us for any human mistake, judges all humanity not as individuals but in one brush and as one whole, and won't lift a finger to help the innocent under any circumstances. Yes, I know unimaginable evil is commonplace in this broken, ragged world of ours, but that does not mean we should not speak against it... in our minds, with our words, with our actions, and our very lives. Even small babies and animals screech into the nothingness when threatened with evil... should humanity not follow the course of all living things and beg the hinterlands of consciousness for help?

This is very similar to those who ask others not to show solidarity to France, because their actions might not have an effect. Perhaps they will not have an effect, but telling people not to object to evil, even in the far flung nether regions of their mind: is telling them that evil is not to be mourned, and that only the powerful deserve a voice.

The fact of the matter is that if there is a God, he is interested in humanity, likely in even the smallest of things. After all, we all obsess over our own creations, and have you seen the undue attention we all - myself included - give our pets, and parents give their children?

I believe in an all powerful God who acts subtly through humanity. One who should be prayed to and who works all to the good of those who love him - in the end, even if there are very dark times in between. I think that even if prayer is to the void, it is a good thing: it makes us contemplate suffering, realise that we are small in the scheme of things, and causes us to contemplate others and to consider what behaviour is good and what is evil. The people praying for Paris, for France, are doing something truly selfless, even if it is as worthless as the Dalai Lama claims it to be. That good faith towards people we do not know, is the bedrock upon which all society rests. Whatever God someone worships, prayer is good. It is an act of humility and in the very least helps us order our thoughts from the perspective of one who is not us. I also believe in a God who answers not just my prayers but the prayers of all who pray in the nature of God: for those things which are good, though God is far wiser than I and works in ways I do not have a capability to understand. Just because my pet cat wants his food when it is not dinner time, does not mean that I will feed him, but I will comfort the little creature, and perhaps point out if there are still scraps of what he ate the last meal remaining in his bowl.

So, please, do not stop praying for the good of others and for the world, our thoughts and words guide our actions... prayer for others, even if God were to not exist or were to not care about humanity... imbues a good faith in humanity... and permeates us with a care and connectedness with the world... a love... one for another.

Do what you can with what you have in the world. That is a message that transcends so much else... if all you can do is...

Posted by Marc Evan Aupiais on Wednesday, 18 November 2015

There is a lot of folk wisdom at play with Twitter - about when, where and how to tweet. A more exact science exists.

There is a lot of folk wisdom at play with Twitter... about when, where and how to tweet. An easier approach might be to see how your actual tweets do with your actual audience. It is something LinkedIn is rather good at, and Twitter has introduced it as well. You can tell at a glance how your tweets are doing, whether your profile is being visited, and things such as which are your top mentions.


For instance, the top mention of my profile on Twitter this month, has had 28.8K engagements, was retweeted 592 times, and was hearted 117 times. It also happened to be in French.


So how do I, this great Oracle of Delphi know all of this vital information about the management of my brand? The truth is, you can know these secret arcana about your profile too.


Log onto Twitter for a start, and follow the easy enough instructions, dear padawan.


Click your picture in the top right corner, and select analytics... easy enough, really, but it adds a lot of insight into your Twitter.

You will see a screen with your statistics. Mine looks like this:

1101 profile visits, 16.9k tweet impressions, 221 mentions, top mention has 592 retweets, and 117 hearts. Not bad... pic.twitter.com/nMDRYeXf48

— Marc Evan Aupiais (@SACNSNew) November 15, 2015

For instance, with only 16.9k impressions in the last 28 days, my Twitter impressions are 18.9% down... I am of course tweeting about 16% less, so there is that.

I can also, quite importantly, tell how each individual tweet is doing, by clicking on the bar graph image next to the heart on each tweet. This option appears on each actual tweet you post, and does not require that you visit Twitter analytics.

If you do visit Twitter analytics, clicking on 'Tweets' on the top of the page, will tell you how your various tweets have done at a glance.

Clicking on 'Audiences' will for instance tell you who Twitter estimates your followers and organic audience to be, and what they - each respectively - tend to be interested in, as well as where they likely live, and in the case of your organic audience: their income level demographics.

How to temporarily change your profile picture to one watermarked with the French flag, to show your support #Paris

To create a watermark of the French flag over your profile, is easy.

You go to the page of Facebook as a brand (if you are in Africa, click the link to get you to the actual Facebook page). Then, go to their current leading post, and click the 'Try it' button.

Otherwise, just click try it, in the embed of the post below:

We stand together. #JeSuisParis

Posted by Facebook on Saturday, 14 November 2015

Vive La France! And Hey Presto, you are there.

Foul Grim reapers have attacked not just France, but civilization #PrayForParis #JeSuisParis #ParisAttacks #France

It is not France alone, which is attacked by foul grim reapers. Those hunting the souls of the French people, sought to destroy a potent symbol of the aspirations and of the otherly striving of the core of the ever living heart of the very human race.

Few nations are more symbolic of civilisation and of the measure of progress and culture and of the more widespread holding of an often rarefied nobility of mankind, than the French nation. Whatever God, whichsoever forces, beings or divinities, you may worship, think of Paris, should you pray to them, this day of November.

We, but a human race, but a planetful of peoples, stand firmly but swiftly in unbreakable human solidarity, with France, a symbol of the civilised world, and with empathy we endure, with her, her heartache and mourn with her, a sister by our human genome, as the sun has risen if not solely for its rays and brilliant light to touch upon and witness great and terrible tragedy, as the sorrow of a united humanity is laid as libations of tears and blood and as burning, living sacrifice, upon the altar of all its gods.