- "I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred
in seeking thee without that wert within." --St. Augustine
-
- Cameras brought the images to TV screens around the
world.
We sat numb and horrified, struggling to comprehend the cataclysmic horror.
Bodies lying strewn and torn in scattered heaps, human beings crushed with
unimaginable indifference. And to think this could happen in such a
picturesque
setting, where people vacationed and basked in the glowing sun.
-
- The date was December 26th, 2004. 990 miles northwest
of Jakarta, Indonesia, a killer earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter
scale triggered the greatest natural disaster in modern times - a monster
tsunami that took hundreds of thousands of human lives. In the wake of
this catastrophe, more than one news reporter looked straight at the camera
and stated, "Many people are wondering, 'What was God
thinking?'"
-
- It's difficult not to think of such cataclysms in
religious
and biblical terms. Many religious scriptures feature apocalyptic tales
- tales of the earth trembling, water rising, and fiery stones raining
from the heavens. And behind all of these images is a horrifying figure
- a colossal man-like god in the sky. This titan is prone to fits of rage
and violence - an angry, jealous god, dispensing judgment in the form of
thunderbolts and lightning.
-
- The ancients lived in constant terror of the man-god.
This fear was part of every culture's heritage - something that has never
been fully explained. We have been left to wonder why the ancients, in
the name of the man-god, engaged in such barbaric behavior as human
sacrifice.
-
- So pervasive was the fear of the man-god that it formed
the underpinning of the first religions. The core content of these
religions
was undeniably mythological. And in the myths, no figure loomed more
ominously
than the angry or capricious god. In the Egyptian tale - "the
destruction
of mankind" - the god Ra retaliates against human beings for their
rebellion. And in the destruction that followed, we see the goddess Sekhmet
wallowing in the blood of the victims. In the Greek tale of Kronos - the
Latin Saturn - the god preserves his power by devouring his own
children.
-
- More than anything, the man-god is a judge, assigning
guilt and blame and demanding payment for the sins of his enemies. His
demands are almost endless, such that no human being can claim real
innocence.
-
- The dark shadow cast by this ancient vision continues
to haunt the institutionalized religions. It is a tragic fact that every
religion - even the most peaceful examples, such as Buddhism - has at times
inspired the most inhuman acts. Centuries of rationalizations have not
removed the stain of the Christian Crusades. And to this day, Holy War
is a perpetual state in many areas in the world.
-
- Why is this so? Shockingly few people are willing to
consider the influence of mythology in the world's scriptures. Religious
devotees accept as "literal history" even the most outrageous
tales, and in this devotion they willingly sacrifice reason and common
sense. To not accept the tales, it is believed, is to abdicate one's
spiritual
faith. And virtually every institutional religion teaches that to abandon
one's faith, even for a moment, is to become an enemy of God.
-
- We are told that the rib of Adam became the first woman,
Eve. A serpent in the garden tempted Eve, and deceived her into tasting
the forbidden fruit. God responded by cursing Adam and Eve, and casting
them out of the garden. Adam's children then multiplied, only to be
destroyed
in the great flood, when God retaliated against the "wickedness of
man."
-
- Here is an interesting fact about this story: Almost
every culture on Earth had its own version of this tale - the father of
the race, the mother of the race, the serpent enemy, the primeval paradise
and the Golden Age, the fall from paradise, and a great flood or
world-destroying
catastrophe.
-
- How is it that indigenous cultures around the world were
able to "invent" such remarkably similar stories - often
featuring
virtually identical personalities and events? Mythology is generally
regarded
as one of two things: either metaphoric stories of human experiences that
have always been part of the natural world; or pure fabrications invented
by superstitious people. But few have considered a radical possibility
- that myths are imaginative stories inspired by real - and EXTRAORDINARY
- events NO LONGER OCCURRING.
-
- In the 20th century, Immanuel Velikovsky raised this
possibility with his groundbreaking book, Worlds in Collision. Velikovsky
claimed that as recently as a few thousand years ago the solar system
experienced
extreme instability, with more than one planet moving erratically and
nearly
colliding with the earth. These events were recorded in the myths of the
ancient cultures. And in these stories, the planets appeared as gods
warring
in the sky.
-
- The centerpiece of Velikovsky's argument was the planet
Venus. He described Venus as a comet-like body, whose writhing form
provoked
ancient stories of serpents and dragons attacking the world. This
biologically
absurd monster does not answer to any natural event in the world today.
As summarized by David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill in Thunderbolts of
the Gods, "The creature is a flaming, bearded, feathered, or
long-haired
serpent, often embellished with multiple heads and mouths, whose frightful
form appears in the sky as chaos and darkness overtake the world. The power
and consistency of the images persist across millennia of human history.
And the collective memory cannot be rationalized away."
-
- In this re-interpretation of world mythology, it is
imperative
that we seek out the natural events behind the myths, and that we abandon
once and for all the MODERN myth that our sky today can tell us ANYTHING
about these ancient stories.
-
- The significance of this re-consideration of myth cannot
be overstated. Its implication for the comparative study of religions is
staggering. Every institutional religion has roots reaching back to the
myth-making epoch. To deny this fact is to hold on to beliefs that are
ultimately indefensible.
-
- Here enters the role of fear in religion. We see religion
exploiting the primeval terror of a vengeful god. This is the MYTHICAL
god who was nothing but a projection of human fear, guilt, and anger. This
god is so unstable that he will strike down his own children merely for
doubting His "word." Countless millions have been murdered in
this god's name, and the carnage continues to this day.
-
- The phrase "Holy War" is an oxymoron, but the
holy warrior is certain that he is performing God's will, and that his
enemies are condemned by God. This psychology echoes the most horrifying
aspects of the ancient world, when warrior kings entered one land after
another, murdering everyone in their path, and announcing themselves as
messengers of God. Holy warriors are still active in modern times. And
would this not include ANYONE who has taken a human life in the name of
God?
-
- The more tenaciously we cling to our own
"special"
myths, the more we deny the intrinsic connectedness of all living beings.
This is why to see past the myths of religion is not a threat to one's
spiritual anchor. The messages of all great spiritual teachers have one
thing in common: they speak for timeless and universal principles,
unencumbered
by mythology. The same can be said of the first philosophers, who addressed
the human condition without deference to mythology. In his teachings,
Socrates
spoke to all of humanity, not to the special few.
-
- When one is liberated from the influence of myth, the
perception of God as a frightful deity becomes insane. God is no longer
to be feared or even worshipped. He is no longer a man demanding
veneration.
He does not exist "up there" in the sky, but as the Truth alive
in every child of God. This Truth cannot be threatened by any tragedy or
vicissitude. There is no "hand of God" in disaster, except the
hand that carries us through, revealing what is untouched and permanent
in an impermanent world.
|
