If any of you want Tidbits emailed directly, let me know and I'll take care of it. Tidbits may be reprinted without charge -- with attribution. Additionally, if you know of anyone who you think would enjoy Tidbits, please make them aware of us. URL
In Sanskrit the word man derives from the word 'manas' which means 'mind' ... for those of you who like this sort of useless information ... useless, that is, unless we extrapolate a bit and come to the conclusion that 'man' has no gender identity ... and that opens a whole other can of worms. Anyone wanting to travel down that road does so at his or her own risk. Me ... I'm staying away. I once wrote about witchcraft and got a rather vituperative gentleman who took umbrage over the fact that I was taking aim at witches ... who he said were really rather nice people. Obviously he never read Snow White.
In Aboriginal myth Baiame created the first Man. And later ... Woman came out of the Yucca tree to join him. In Africa the Efik tell how the sky-god Abassi sent the first man and woman on earth and then forbad them to procreate for fear they might excel him in wisdom. Does this theme sound a tad familiar folks? Erlik--an evil spirit of Slavonik myth--is at times seen as being the first man who fell from grace and was banished to the depths and became ruler of the Underworld. To the Vedic, Yama was the first man and was also the first man to die. In Persian myth ... Mashye and Mashyane were the first man and woman. In Judeo/Christian belief ... these folks were called Adam and Eve.
The variant stories of Genesis abound. Man--it would appear--has from the beginning of time wondered about origins and where he came from. Speculations and myths abound. It might appear that no one really knows where they came from. Except for me of course. I know where I came from. Do you?
There are paths along which all this speculation goes ... but I shall not traipse them or pace them lest I tread on someone's toes. So this will be a rather short Tidbits ... except for one little thing. I have this gorgeous egg depicting Adam and Eve being expelled from Eden after eating that ol' apple. It is ... I believe ... made of gold with a green dioptase crystal. It's a stunner of the first degree worth about 6000 Swiss Francs in 1989.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I direct you to my home page at
And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
All issues of Tidbits are copyrighted and available from our home page. All rights reserved.