Roman Empire copied Greece’s religion?

Did Rome copy ancient Greece’s religion?

(Para Bellum) Nov. 6, 2025: Did ancient Rome really copy its religion from more ancient Greece — or is that just a modern myth? This video uncovers the true origins of Roman religion and shows how it developed into a unique and complex system of beliefs unlike anything in Greece.

The earliest Italic tribes of the Tiber Valley, whose worldview was shaped by animism (the belief that nature itself is alive with spirit), totemism (sacred tribal animals like wolves, woodpeckers, and boars), and fetishism — the idea that certain objects held divine power.

Discover the “pledges of Rome’s eternity,” seven sacred relics believed to guarantee the survival of the Roman state. From there, trace how Etruscan and Greek religion influenced Rome.

The Etruscans gave Roman gods human form, while the Greeks provided myths to explain their origins — pairing Jupiter with Zeus, Venus with Aphrodite, Mars with Ares, and so on.

But this blending was never perfect. Roman gods had different roles, personalities, and meanings. Explore gods the Greeks never had:

• Janus, god of beginnings and endings;
• Quirinus, protector of the Roman people;
• the household Lares and personal Genius;
• Pomona, Vertumnus, Terminus, Mefitis, and many others.

Roman religion also worshipped abstract values like Virtus (Valor), Pax (Peace), Fides (Loyalty), and Disciplina (Discipline), building entire temples to ideas rather than personalities.

Unlike Greek religion -- which emphasized myth, emotion, art, and beauty -- Roman religion was about duty, tradition, and exact ritual. The Romans believed the gods cared less about faith and more about whether rituals were performed flawlessly.

Every sacrifice, prayer, and gesture had to be precise — or repeated from the beginning. Divination was another core part of Roman religion.

Inherited from the Etruscans, practices like haruspicy (reading the entrails of sacrificed animals) and auspicy (interpreting bird signs) guided political decisions, wars, and daily life.

Uncover stories like Publius Claudius Pulcher at the Battle of Drepana, who mocked the sacred chickens — and lost an entire fleet.

Roman priests were not a separate religious class. Priesthoods were held by politicians and generals — Julius Caesar, Cicero, Sulla, Augustus, and Scipio Africanus all served as priests while leading the state, proving how religion and politics were inseparable in Rome.

In the end, Roman religion wasn’t a copy of Greek religion — it was a fusion of Italic, Etruscan, and Greek beliefs shaped by Roman values: duty, order, family, and the power of the state.

This video uncovers how it worked, what the Romans truly believed, and why their religious system helped build one of the greatest empires in history.

Bibliography

1. Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. Profile Books, 2015.

2. Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome. Vol. 1: A History. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

3. Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Haruspicum Responsis.
4. Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Natura Deorum.

5. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities.

6. Plutarch. Parallel Lives.

7. Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion. Indiana University Press, 2003.

8. Turcan, Robert. The Gods of Ancient Rome. Routledge, 2000.

9. Varro, Marcus Terentius. Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum (Fragments).

10. Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. C.H. Beck, 1912.

11. Rüpke, Jörg. “Divination and Roman Political Decision-Making.” Numen 44 (1997): 1–22.

12. Rüpke, Jörg, ed. A Companion to Roman Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

13. North, John. “Roman Religion.” In The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

14. Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion. Translated by Janet Lloyd. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

15. Scheid, John. Graeco Ritu: A Typically Roman Way of Honoring the Gods.

16. Bispham, Edward, and Christopher Smith, eds. Religion in Archaic and Republican Rome and Italy: Evidence and Experience

17. Schultz, Celia E., and Paul B. Harvey, eds. Religion in Republican Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

🎤 ⁠Voiceover by: Nick Banas Instagram: nickbanas

Website: parabellumhistory.com. 

✪ Members first on Nov. 4, 2025 🎬 Watch early and support the channel on Patreon: parabellumhistorychannel or become a member on YouTube: @parabellumhistorychannel to unlock early access to new videos. Music from videos: share.epidemicsound.com/xk7k4... Merchandise store: parabellumstore.creator-sprin...

Catholic RELIC tour, LA, SGV (3/17)

Over the years, the legend is enhanced to make magnificent Eurocentric art unlike reality.

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What happened?

The Holy Face of Jesus relic presentation and veneration and mass, Saint Therese Catholic Church

This seems to be the original.

It's a miracle. It's a miracle how anyone holds onto faith in Catholicism in the face of insults like this, a "third-class relic," by the church's own description, "a replica of the cloth Veronica wiped Jesus’ face with" that "has been touched to Veronica's Veil, the True Wood of the Cross, and the Lance," oy vey. By this rationale, the original could fall on the floor (be touched to) and thereby bless the whole earth, ushering in world peace, blind faith, and worldwide allegiance to Rome and the Vatican. Has the Church tried that? If they did, it hasn't worked. Blessed are the meek, for they [shall believe and] inherit the earth. What they'll do with it only the God knows. When is the Rapture again? All we can think of is Alanis Morissette and her Catholic sentiments: "We all needed something to cling to, so we did. We all had delusions in our heads. We all had our minds made up for us. We had to believe in something, so we did."

Pretty art: St. Veronica with Holy Kerchief (painted by Mattia Preti, 1650)

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A kerchief is a "head handkerchief."

*Christian Carnival Barker Voice* Get out of the bars, boys and girls, and into Catholic church to see the Holy Kerchief, the Vernicle (Sudarium or "Sweat Cloth"), Veil of Veronica or simply Veronica, the "Face of Jesus" relic.

Yes, just this one time, it may never come round to your neck of the woods again! You were wowed by the Holy Hand of St. Judas last year in Pasadena, but did you know the Creator's own son, drenched in blood, sweat, and tears while being whipped and beaten at the sixth Station of the Cross, had a kindness shown to him?

Veronica holding face of Jesus on her veil after wiping him

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, St. Veronica was kind enough to use her hanky on the lord, and with no time to emanate an entire life-size photocopy like he would with the Shroud of Turin, he left a headshot.

• 

  Icon of Black Jesus (Saint Issa)

  NOTE: While it may sound as if Wisdom Quarterly is mocking the idea of relics, sacred objects, particular religions, or those invested in their faith, a closer examination reveals that what is being mocked and made fun of is commercialization, corruption, and greed in the name of religion. This is what Mr. Show is aiming at, as well as taking on conservatives in government, Christianity, and hypocrisy in general. It is our confirmed belief that some objects are holy, sacred, divine, supernatural, extraordinary and miraculous. This may or may not be them, but such things exist. The Buddhist tradition, which preceded Christianity by six centuries, spoke of relics (sariras).*
• Put down the pints of St. Paddy's Day Guiness and join us as we go out to see them on tour just as we went out to see various stops of the worldwide Relic Tour by Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists years ago in LA. Wisdom Quarterly will be at each stop as part of our ongoing "Adventures in Church" series.
• ALL religions are beautiful. They may not be true, but they are all beautiful.
• Those who wish to be spiritual should not let commercialized religion stand in the way.

• Preacher: Don't mess with Almighty God, Satan
• Good News (What To Think Network) Christian Conversion Therapy (Mr. Show with Bob and David)
• HOW TO SELL GOD: The Bible Machine: The 13th Apostle Marshal the Salesman, author of The Book of Marshal: Power, Passion, and Profits

Asian face Jesus?

(Veil of St. Veronica, 1500)

It may look like a splotch, but with
FAITH, it becomes a holy face.

Think about it. You loved the Blood Moon, a mere sideshow, you loved snow in LA's mountain tops in spring, you think fire, rain, and chilling cold are spectacles, but how about the authentic miraculous face of the creator-savior incarnate?

Yes, leggys and germs, this is gonna be a really big shoe. This may be your only opportunity to stand up close to a real relic (as recognized in both Catholic and Orthodox traditions, though Protestant not so much).

Hieronimus Bosch painted these hideous nutters, including Veronica's Veil in lower left.

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Artist enhanced version of image

It's authorized by your children's friends at the Vatican, within the fortress city-state, inside the vestigial heart of the Holy Roman Empire (not merely Rome, Italy, but the tiny, independent country known as the Holy See once dedicated entirely to the worship of the solar son-God Mithra and his mysteries), under CEO Francis, while he yet hangs on by the power of prayer and modern medicine.

Sudarium: Holy Sweat Towel 

Price? Priceless! Donations? Solicited.

Cost? What is money but the seed of Mammon, the joy of Shaytan (Shaitan), the love of which is the root of all evil? It's free. But buy paraphernalia at the concessions stand with plastic bottled water, sugary drinks, plastic trinkets, tchotchkes, Catholic bling, and curios. Booklets and stickers too. Why not invest in an "I Saw It 2025" tour t-shirt to wear on your deathbed or any future surface where you might meet G Almighty? Might score some leniency points with St. Pete.

The Holy See (gay Vatican) loves gays. - T-shirts, get your t-shirts here!

• But Satan (Shayatin) and the Iblis need me in a bar on Saint Patrick's Day to part and turn the toilet water green. Fiducia supplicans blesses gay Catholic marriages?

This is no joke, so don't dream of laughing (Alicante).

They made Veronica a saint for it

Need an indulgence (for the remission of sin by the Church for money)? Why not get a set of authentic wood simulated plastic rosary beads laced together with plastic twine to carry in your pocket, wear around your neck, or dangle from your rearview?! Now available in child and adult sizes. Please allow time for a long line of penitents and curiosity seekers ahead of you in the queue. No photography please as this relic replica may be very delicate and light sensitive.

True meaning of St. Pat's Day

Drive "snakes" out = kill pagans for Jesus - "Nazis" of the first Reich (Rome)

• St. Therese Catholic Church, Alhambra
• 6:00-10:00 pm, March 17, 2025
• Alhambra, LA County, California
• While here, cruise by the cloistered nuns of Carmel: Carmel of St. Teresa - Carmelite Monastery, Alhambra, California, who are always in need of vegan food donations to sustain their holy endeavors

Earlier the same day, St. Patrick's Feast Day to the secular world of imbibers and intemperate drinkers, see the Vernicle travel from the small town of Monrovia, a foothill community in the SGV, to neighboring Alhambra for a stop at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Shamrock, just off of Foothill Blvd. (the famous Route 66):

• Immaculate Conception Church - Monrovia
• 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, Monday, March 17, 2025
• 740 S. Shamrock Ave., Monrovia
• Los Angeles County, California

Not a joke, a real relic tour

Immaculate Conception Church - Monrovia, California

Is there any information?

Don't get your hopes up, huh?

Fortunately, St. Therese Catholic Church has something to say about this event in advance so parishioners might choose a St. Pat's party instead: "This year, being the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Therese,* we are having a special visit of a Holy Face relic on MONDAY, MARCH 17, FROM 6:00 TO 10:00 P.M.

"This third-class relic is a replica of the cloth Veronica wiped Jesus’ face with and has been touched to Veronica's Veil, the True Wood of the Cross, and the Lance that pierced Christ's side.

St. Patrick's Day celebration, Lenten Mission

Since this image was touched to the instruments of Our Lord's Passion, which were drenched in His Blood, it has therefore been touched to the Blood of Christ. And so is considered a “Living Image of Jesus Christ.”

(*Note: When she was still in the Carmel in Lisieux, France, our patroness’ religious name was Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. She was first given the name “Therese of the Child Jesus” when she entered, and she added “and the Holy Face” when she took the veil.) The evening will begin with a talk at 6:00 p.m., by Vicki Schreiner, author of Chronology of the Holy Face Devotion, followed by Mass at 7:15 p.m., and then veneration of the Holy Face relic until 10:00 p.m." Source: Church bulletin, sttheresechurchalhambra.org).

Eve Libertine/Crass "Reality Asylum"

WARNING: Not suitable for anyone under 70. Vile, vulgar, crass, obscene

condemnation of the holy figure of Christianity's savior figure! (Rated X)

(Why is Crass SO angry at British/Irish Christian religious oppression?)

Atheist/Agnostic point of view

Mr. Show exposes hypocrisy, ripping it a new hole

Once upon a time in the Valley of Los Angeles, California, HBO gave Bob Odenkirk and David Cross the money to develop a comedy sketch show for cable TV: Mr. Show with Bob and David. They ran with it and filmed one of the funniest and smartest shows (right up there with Amy Sedaris' Strangers with Candy) ever created for basic cable. It has only gotten funnier with time, having introduced the world to many actors who went on to stellar comedy careers like Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, and that shy bald guy. In this 30-minute episode entitled "What to Think" (S1E02), they brilliantly satire the U.S. government's censorship attempts, the hypocrisy of the Christian church (at least the televangelist wing of it), and greedy transnational corporations, while cussing a lot.

*Relics (sarira) are real in Buddhism

Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects [which Wisdom Quarterly has determined to most likely be silica] that are found among the cremated ashes of the Buddha, chief disciples, and other Buddhist spiritual masters (aka "noble ones," the Aryans).

Relics of the Buddha after cremation are termed dhātu ("elements") in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta [1]. Śarīra are held to emanate or incite "blessings" and "grace" (Sanskrit adhiṣṭhāna) within the mindstream and experience of those connected to them [2].

• Mind here refers to streams of cittas ("mind-moments")

Sarira are also believed to ward off evil in the Himalayan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.

The Buddha, beloved figure of Thailand, SE Asia

Terminology

Cremation pyre relics of Shakyamuni Buddha

Śarīra (pronounced /ɕɐɽiːɽɐh/) means "body" in Sanskrit. When used in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit texts to mean "relics," it is always used in the plural: śarīrāḥ.

The term ringsel is a loanword from the Tibetan རིང་བསྲེལ (ring bsrel). Both of these terms are ambiguous in English; they are generally used as synonyms, although according to some interpretations, ringsels are a subset of śarīras.

Śarīra can refer to:

• Dharmakāya śarīra, which are sutras as told by the Buddha. According to Ding Fubao's Dictionary of Buddhist Terms, a "Dharma body" śarīra is "the Sutra as told by the Buddha: That which is unchanging in what is told by the Buddha, is of the same property as the essence of the Buddha himself, hence it is called the 'dharma body śarīra.'"
• Remains of the Buddha or other spiritual masters, either cremated remains or other pieces, including a finger bone or a preserved body, similar to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox incorruptibles.
• Broken-body śarīras refers specifically to cremated remains. When used without qualification, it generally refers to the pearl-like remnant of a master left after cremation.

Pearl-like śarīras

Mass market holy Buddhist relic container

Although the term śarīra can be used to refer to a wide variety of Buddhist relics, as listed above, it is generally used to refer to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters.

These objects are considered relics of significant importance in many sects of Buddhism since they are believed to embody the spiritual knowledge, teachings, realizations, or living essence of spiritual masters.

If expecting this, disappointment awaits

They are taken as evidence of the masters' enlightenment and spiritual purity. Some believe that śarīras are deliberately left by the consciousness of a master for veneration, and that the beauty of the śarīras depends on how well the masters had cultivated their mind and morals.

Śarīra come in a variety of colors, and some are even translucent. Sariras are typically displayed in a glass bowl inside small gold urns or stupas (burial mound reliquaries) as well as enshrined inside the master's statue.

Śarīras are also believed to mysteriously multiply while inside their containers if they have been stored under favorable conditions.

Saffron threads are sometimes placed within or around the bowl containing individual śarīra as an offering. More

• The Catholic Church; Mr. Show with Bob and David; Team Recovering Catholics (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sex toys of the Secretum (British Museum)

Satyr and nymph, intent de violació, exposició la Bellesa del Cos (wiki)

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Would billionaires donate their toys?

The Secretum (Latin for "hidden away") was a British Museum collection of the 19th and early 20th centuries that held artifacts and images that were deemed sexually graphic.

Many of the items were phallic amulets, sexy charms, and votive offerings, often from pre-Christian traditions, including the worship of Priapus (constantly erect), a Greco-Roman god of fertility and male genitalia.

Newar Vajracharya priest, Nepal

Items from other cultures covered a wide range of human history, including ancient Egypt, the classical era Greco-Roman world, the ancient Near East, medieval England, sex-crazed Japan, and Kama Sutra India.

Many of the early donations or sales to the museum -- including those from the collectors Sir Hans Sloane, Sir William Hamilton, Richard Payne Knight, and Charles Townley -- contained items with erotic or sexually graphic images; these were separated out by museum staff and kept from public display.

Cupid, Kamadeva, Eros? Destroy this mad brute

Modern scholars believe the segregation was probably motivated by a paternalistic (in loco parentis) stance from the museum to keep what they considered morally dangerous material away from all except scholars and members of the clergy, who are very interested in sex and erotic material for coming closer to their God or gods or the children.

What materials and modern artifacts might be sent to the Secretum if the collection continued?

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Flute blowing Zen, Komuso

By the 1860s there were around 700 such items held by the British Museum. In 1865 the antiquarian George Witt donated his phallocentric collection of 434 artifacts to the museum, which led to the formal setting up of the Secretum to hold his penile collection and similar items.

The Secretum collection began to be gradually broken up in 1912, with the transfer of items into departments appropriate for their time frame and culture.

The last entry into the Secretum was in 1953, when the British Library found 18th-century condoms being used as bookmarks in a 1783 publication they held.

The last remaining items were moved out of the collection in 2005. More

• Cupid is from India and named ("sensuality god") Kamadeva?
• Hyperion to a satyr, Shakespeare (comic)
• Wikipedia featured article, edited and expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

Mecca's Kaaba a Hindu Shiva lingam?

Was Mecca (with its central Kaaba) once a Hindu temple (ashram)? The PROOF is here!

(Harry Sahota) July 20, 2024: Was Mecca once a Hindu temple?

• Introduction: Overview of the theory and why it has gained attention.
• Historical background: Mecca's significance before the rise of Islam.
• Claims analyzed: Shaivite (Shiva) symbols and rituals: Comparing the Hajar Aswad and Shiva lingam (Shiv-ling).
• Crescent moon and Zamzam (holy water) well: Exploring symbolic connections.
• Ritual similarities: Parikrama vs. the Kaaba circumambulation and Ihram vs. Veshti
• Archaeological evidence: What does the historical record show?
• Linguistic claims: Investigating the origins of ‘Hajar Aswad’ and ‘Kaaba.’
• Conclusion: Summarizing findings and addressing the validity of the theory.
• Makkeshwar Mahadev? Mankeshwar, Maheswarnath Mandir

Keywords: Mecca Shiva Temple, Makkeshwar Mahadev, Hajar Aswad Shiva Lingam, Pre-Islamic Mecca, Kaaba Hindu Temple Theory, Archaeological Evidence Mecca, Zamzam Well Ganga, Islamic and Hindu Rituals, Shiva and Crescent Moon, Ancient Trade Routes Arabia Was Mecca Once a Hindu Temple? Transcript

Are Jews in fact worshiping exact same tribal god as Muslims, an ET being in a black cube?

So the God (Allah) lives in a cube, a black box?

Imagine a Black Cube so sacred that Jews wear it (tefillin) on their heads during ritual prayers, Muslims risk life and limb on pilgrimages to Mecca from around the Islamic world, one of the three world religions. What is in Mecca that is so precious and important? It is this cube or Kaaba/Kasbah in Arabia (which does not belong to the royal Saudi family but which the US is fond of referring to as "Saudi Arabia," which is like calling the U.S. Obama-America) covered in six million dollars' worth of gold and cloth, made of marble with a key belonging to one family to a sacred enclosure or tabernacle. The Orthodox Christians of Ethiopia (part of ancient Kush, Nubia, North Africa) have their Ark of the Covenant hidden somewhere, possibly at a known church protected by a few priests with lifelong commitments to protect it. The Jews have their temple with its inner sanctum or holy of holies with nothing but an altar where the Ark of the Covenant (an ET device protected by an electrical charge said to be God's thunderbolt ready to strike anyone with a static charge if they get too close and offend the Lord) allegedly used to be kept. 

• PHOTO: Occult Black Cube or Kaaba at the center of Mecca, Arabia (Prof. Richard/flickr.com)
• Charlene don't like it? 'Rock the Casbah' (Kaaba, Kasbah, Casablanca, Mos'que), what are The Clash on about? (americansongwriter.com)
• Is the Kaaba related to the Kabala?

Buddhist meditations: 40 mental exercises

Bhāvanā: "mental development" (lit. "bringing into being, calling into existence, producing") is what in English is generally and vaguely called "meditation."

There are actually two other terms that might be better translated as meditation, jhana ("absorption") and kammatthāna ("field of endeavor, domain of effort, ground of cultivation, or field of karma"). One distinguishes two kinds of development or mental cultivation.

1. development of tranquility (samatha-bhāvanā), that is, stillness, coherence, concentration (samma-samādhi = first four jhanas)
2. development of insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā), that is, the cultivation of wisdom (paññā).

Can anyone "meditate" or only Buddhists?

These two important terms, tranquility and insight (see samatha-vipassanā), are very often met with and explained in the sutra collection as well as in the Abhidhamma (collection of texts known as the Higher Doctrine or Dharma in Ultimate Terms).

Tranquility (samatha) is the concentrated, unshaken, peaceful, and therefore undefiled state of mind.

Insight (vipassanā) is the direct perception and penetration (insight) into the three inherent characteristics of all things: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonal nature (anicca, dukkha, anattā, known collectively as ti-lakkhana or Three Marks of All Conditioned Existence) of all bodily and mental phenomena of existence.

This includes the Five Aggregates (or groups of existence) clung to as self, namely, form (body, corporeality, rupa, kaya), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. (See khandha).

Tranquility -- or stillness (purification, concentration, quietude) of mind, according to Sankhepavannana (the Commentary to the Abhidhammattha-sangaha) -- bestows a threefold blessing:

1. favorable rebirth,
2. present happy life, and
3. purity of mind, which is the foundation and necessary condition for insight to arise.

Stillness (samādhi) is the indispensable foundation and precondition of insight by purifying and temporarily clearing the mind/heart of the Five Mental Defilements or Hindrances (nīvarana).

Insight (vipassanā) produces the four supramundane stages of enlightenment and liberation of mind/heart.

The Buddha therefore says, "May you develop mental stillness, O meditators, for who is mentally still sees things as they actually are (in accordance with reality)" (S.XXII.5).

And in Mil. it is said: "Just as when a lamp is brought into a dark room, light destroys the darkness and produces and spreads light, just so insight, once arisen, destroys the darkness of ignorance and produces the light of wisdom."

The Path of Purification (Vis.M. III-XI) gives full directions on how to attain full stillness and the meditative absorptions (jhāna) by means of practicing 40 meditation subjects (kammatthāna):

• 10 kasina-exercises. These produce the first four absorptions
• 10 repulsive subjects (asubha). These produce the first absorption.
• 10 recollections (anussati):
• of the Buddha (buddhānussati),
• the Dhamma (dhammānussati),
• the Sangha of Noble Ones (sanghānussati),
• virtue (sila),
• liberality (cāga),
• heavenly beings (devas),
• death (maranasati),
• the body (kāyagatāsati),
• in-and-out breathing (ānā-pāna-sati)
• peace (upasamānussati).

Among these, the recollection (mindfulness) of in-and-out breathing is able to produce the first four absorptions, the body the first absorption, the rest only neighborhood-stillness (upacāra-samādhi, see samādhi).

The Four Divine Abidings (Sublime Abodes) (brahma-vihāra):

1. loving-kindness (mettā)
2. compassion (karunā)
3. altruistic joy (muditā)
4. equanimity (upekkhā).

Of these, the first three exercises are able to produce the first three absorptions, the last one only the fourth absorption.

The Four Immaterial Spheres (arūpāyatana, the fifth through eighth jhānas):

1. sphere of unbounded space,
2. sphere of unbounded consciousness,
3. sphere of nothingness,
4. sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

These are based on the fourth absorption.

One perception of the repulsiveness of food (āhāre patikkūla-saññā), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.

Four Elements Meditation

One analysis of the Four Elements (catudhātu-vavatthāna, see dhātu-vavatthāna), which is able to produce neighborhood-stillness.

Mental development forms one of the three kinds of meritorious action (puñña-kiriya-vatthu).

"Delight in meditation" (bhāvanā-rāmatā) is one of the noble usages (ariya-vamsa).

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (German Theravada monk, formerly Anton Walther Florus Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, bhavana; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Miss Hawaii crowned Miss USA today

Discover What Makes You Feel Beautiful | Empowering Women (wmyfb.org)

Noelia Voight cried when she was crowned the most beautiful in competition in 2023.

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Miss USA Noelia Voight was silenced and quit.

Today (Wednesday, May 15, 2024), Miss Hawaii Savannah Gankiewicz was crowned the new Miss USA.

Gankiewicz took over as beauty queen after former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt announced she was resigning on May 6, 2024.

Gankiewicz is a model and entrepreneur, and she is opening a boutique hotel in Bali in 2025.

Noelia Voigt was crowned Miss USA in Sept. 2023 in a moment full of celebratory tears and confetti, but on May 6, Voigt stepped down, citing [that she was being silenced, which is being called an issue of] her mental health and spearheading a slew of high-profile resignations within the Miss USA organization.

On May 9, the organization announced Miss Hawaii Savannah Gankiewicz will be taking over as Miss USA for the remainder of Voigt's tenure.

Miss USA Savannah G.

Gankiewicz, 28, will be crowned in a ceremony in Hawaii on today, marking the official start of her reign.

• Gankiewicz was the first runner-up in the 2023 Miss USA pageant, and she won the costume contest.
• Gankiewicz competed in the Miss USA pageant after being crowned Miss Hawaii in January 2023.
• She was first runner-up in the competition, coming in just behind Voigt.
• She also won best interview in the pageant and best costume in the state costume contest.
• Beauty Queen Voight quits her 'Miss USA' crown

Banyan Tree Girl

Savannah "Banyan Tree Girl" Gankiewicz of Hawaii (© courtesy of Miss USA).

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I am a burning hot Maui banyan tree.

For her costume, Gankiewicz wore a sparkly jumpsuit to honor a 150-year-old banyan tree that was burned during last year's [very suspicious] Maui wildfires.

A headpiece covered in greenery attached to the ensemble, and swaths of yellow fabric and handpieces designed to look like flames made her look like moving fire.

"This experience has enabled me to have a newfound appreciation and respect for the competition, as I've firsthand been through a transformative journey and experienced amazing growth," Gankiewicz wrote on Instagram of her experience in the pageant.

"I cannot wait to embark on my next journey as I close this chapter."

The Miss Hawaii winner took over as Miss USA after Noelia Voigt resigned as queen

Voigt announced her resignation via Instagram [where she encoded her message "I AM SILENCED"], pointing to her [cover story of] mental health as the reason she was stepping back.

• Meet Miss USA: Noelia Voigt will compete at Miss Universe on Saturday.
• Voigt, who began competing in pageants at 16, won Miss USA while representing Utah.
• The new Miss Universe will be crowned by R'Bonney Gabriel, the ninth American to win the pageant.
• Voigt, 24, is a seasoned pageant queen who began competing when she was 16. But her road to Miss USA wasn't an easy one. Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt had hopes of becoming the 10th American woman to win Miss Universe.

More: Meet Miss Hawaii Savannah Gankiewicz, crowned Miss USA following Noelia Voigt's resignation (Business Insider via MSN)

• We didn't know these 20 facts about early human life
• Business Insider via MSN.com, May 15, 2024; Crystal Q., Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly