Religion, Philosophy, and/or Science?
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| Mother Earth Series: | ME 1 | ME 2 | ME 3 | ME 4 | ME 5 |
| Witches, Wiccans, Pagans Series: | WW3 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | WW3 Ideology |
Visitors as of 05/11/2023
Despite what may appear to be a genuine seriousness, respectfulness, concern, care, sensitivity, sensibility, and honesty by some in the WW3 community with respect to their personal application in their craft and orientation, there are others who are followers to the extent of embracing what they are exposed to and not as a result of any intentional and concerted conscientious exploration. Some have been brainwashed because of their proximity to a given sub-culture and inclination... and their leaders may be fully cognizant of this and take advantage of this to engage in multiple other formulas of manipuation for some measure of personal gain. If they can't get you to comply and/or you question their rationale, you may be deemed an unworthy acolyte. However, those who are focused on finding or even developing a largely unrecognized truth, will not be embarrassed nor rejectful of questions and views that offer alternative interpretations.
It is incredulosly astonishing how many people in the WW3 communities who claim a personalized connection with and understanding of Nature or Natural forces, to be appreciably ignorant of a Tripartite World Reality. They need to be re-schooled in their education of Nature. Knowledge of the elements of yore is for simple minds. It is for the consciousness of an early human compared to the expanded, enlightened, enveloping consciousness of later species of humanity. Their state of knowledge applied to their crafts is like that of childeren engage in a backyard Tear party with dolls, stuffed animals and their like-minded neighborhood friends who will, later in the twilight, practice the ideological trimmings of those taking part in a slumber party... yet, the knowledge base and practice of many in the WW3 community is an ongoing slumber of consciousness.
Let me start off by providing an excerpt from page four in this Series:
It should be understood by the reader that many of the "WW3" practices are acts of parroting, of mimicry, and not due to some concerted enterprising effort based on creativity, originality, inventiveness, scholarship, genius, controlled experimentation, etc., including an attempt to reach beyond that which was discovered by their fore-bearing practitioners in terms of personal enlightenment, if not undiscovered "powers"; (the Philosopher's Stone notwithstanding).
Let us begin with a new definition of the word "Occult" so as to bring it into the present day era. This requires acknowledging that the first two letters "OC" are an acronym for the 3 words "Over the Counter", generally understood as something that can be bought by anyone, without needing a prescription from a professional, which is the case for most of the Witch, Wicca, and Pagan practices. The remaining 4 letters retain their characteristic reference to a "cult", though it should be mentioned that the word "culture" needs to be included along with the view that a "cult" does not signify a gang or necessarily some small group, since I view all religions, with their millions of adherents, as cults.:
Cult: A great devotion (exaggerated zeal) to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book). [Sources: Merriam Webster and Wordweb dictionaries].
In Brief, an "Over the Counter Cult", referencing various adopted ideas subjected to a practice that may be short, medium, or long term, just alike any fad.
Let us presage this introduction by providing a familiar rule-of-thumb theme amongst Wiccans, which appears at the bottom of this page: Wicca Rede (full version):
"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will."
The expression has been around in one another form for a much longer time than that which some people might care to appreciate, and thus speaks of a mental tradition going from one culture and time period to the next. What it doesn't describe is that because it has remained around for so long a time, it bespeaks of a problematic situation involving human circumstances in what may at first appear to be relatively unchanging circumstances. In other words, because it has been long enduring, or at least appears to be clinging to the psyche of humanity, some readers will take this to mean it has great value. To me it suggests that the mind of humans gets into a rut and thus sets themselves up for becoming over-whelmed when circumstances change requiring a major shift in ideological considerations. The foregoing Wiccan creed, as a rule-of-thumb is likely taken from a Judeo-Christian idea called the The Golden Rule:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
The Golden rule's corollary is The Silver Rule:
"Do nothing to others you would not have done to you."
Another variation on the same theme is an old Dutch expression Live-and-let-live:
Live-and-Let-Live In other words, the Wiccan rule-of-thumb is a copycat theme, just as is much of their practices. There is no deep thought with what they are doing, just mimicry like some parrot, or dog that has been trained to fetch a person's slippers, a tossed frisbee, or thrown rubber ball... and similar to that seen in main-stream religions and other social institutions as well as criminal behavior called an "MO" (Modus Operendi: Mode of Operation or SOP: Standard Operating Procedure).
However, the fact that there exists a "Rule Of Three", in as much some would like to claim it originates from some Christian theme such as the Trinity, the use of the "three" is much older and can be found in multiple non-religious ideas, as noted by the list on the Home Page at this site.
A study of Witches, Wiccans and Pagans inevitably involves a study of ancient religions. Because the trio is female dominant and they are inclined towards some female related orientation to Nature such as Nature worship aligned with the idea of fertility, though there have been ancient male gods similarly aligned, the topic of both goddesses and the Moon will be encountered with high frequency in one's pursuit of inter-connective histories. (However, words such as History, Antiquity, Occult, Esoteric... along with witches, wiccans, pagans, are not meant to suggest authenticity for a given idea, since so many I have encountered are like tunnel-visioned adolescents wanting to play with a Ouija board without realizing that the word "Ouija" can be broken into two languages: Oui = French for Yes, and Ja = German for Yes.) The point of which is to relay the view that the practices of the Trio have been led down paths which have brought them to a point in our present history as being little more than troupes of actors and actresses, with different variations of costumes, stage props and settings; as well as the sometimes resorted to specialized vernacular. In other words, the once serious orientations based on the foremost thought that could be acquired in the deep past, are now shown to be ideological constructs born of naïveté'.
Present day Witches, Wiccans and Pagans have embraced the old traditions of utilizing ideological constructs based on poor (often false, misleading and commercially oriented) information. In some cases, conversations with a Witch, Wiccan, or Pagan easily identifies the persistent usage of the old ideas based on ignorance. Though at the time in the deep past such ideas were undoubtedly the foremost consideration for the type and level of information available, in contrast to today's knowledge base; it is the difference between a child's comic book and an encyclopedia. Take a Witch, Wiccan or Pagan into the past to meet up with their ancestral practitioners, and they would quickly become noted as Charlatans. However, so long as such practitioners of today associate with like-minded others, they can continue to be deluded in their views and conceal themselves from otherwise rational scrutiny. If necessary, one might have to place them back into a child's high-chair in order to spoon feed them a measure of an enlightened perspective. In some instances, it will no doubt be necessary to grab them, as they kick and scream in protest, in order to provide them with a genre of understanding not coupled to some attempted strategy for manipulating others to provide some commercial advantage for themselves. Indeed, snake oil sales people and opportunistic carpet-bagging sooth-sayers are well alive in the WW3 domain, along with insidiously degenerate LGBTQ hucksters.
Yet, don't misunderstand me. I think there are those in the WW3 who are anything but attempting to be honest and knowledgeable. And there are those who truly strive to be what can be called an Esoteric Scientist. Likewise, there are those who appear to be approaching the topic and study of the Esoterica from a sincere effort. For example: An Extended Scientist Look at Esoteric Knowledge by Chris Thomson. There are of course multiple others seeking a greater clarity not attached to some preeminent interest in making a buck off the naïveté' of curious onlookers.
This page is a companion addition to the pages entitled "The time when mother earth used a contraceptive". Those pages are intended to provide information that a reliance on old views about the primacy and importance of worshiping Mother Earth (Gaie) and the Moon are misplaced and need to be revised because of the ongoing incremental deteriorations in the Sun, Earth and Moon Triplex which are taking place, and will have a profound effect on all of life as we know it. Indeed, the idea of either a god or goddess, related to Nature or not needs to be closely examined and not simply accepted because such a practice occurred in a romanticized past age and there is no one to guard against mis-appropritation as a tool to be used to hock a belief posted in a book that one can make a living off of. It was during the writing of those pages when I entered into the realms of older ideas such as those labeled Occult, Mystery religions, Magical thinking, etc... Hence, one necessarily encounters excursions into the domains of those now labeled as Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans.
Indeed, all the major Western religions of today such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc., and those ideas of the East such as Buddhism, Daoism, etc., can be viewed in terms of having initially been Pagan points of view... within their own cultures, with the term "pagan" used here to describe a usage that may or may not have involved a large group. And some of the "pagan" views, such as those described as Western religions... are rightly to be acknowledged as having been mystery religions and cults when they started out; until they began to ascend to the dominant role of thought by not only amalgamating several other-than-their-own pagan points of view and traditions, but undertook a systematic effort to produce multiple copies of their ideological compilations, re-naming and re-framing the Pagan views of others as if they were their own original creations, such as those later to be describe as Prisca Theologia, no doubt (in my mind) the result of ideas attributed to a woman named Princella and her adherents, during the formation of the Christian world-view. A link between them and the worship of Mithra, the Iranian god of the sun is suggested from reading different accounts of early religions. In short, women had a significant influence in the development of early religious ideas... if not directly then indirectly.
In terms of the present model(s) of the WW3, one might easily justify that Paganism is the oldest, Witches arose secondly, followed by Wiccans as a New Age variation trying to dispel the old "evil" branding mark typically allocated by Religions, but not solely religious leaders, since the courts and the common citizenry played their parts as well. However, while they are dispelling the old punitive associations, they are not promoting anything new that bespeaks of a bona fide original idea. Whereas the ideas of early Pagans can be said to be original, if not creative thinking, we do not see that occurring with the New Age versions. Nor do we see any intellectual tradition that is not simply echoing some past theme in the same way, albeit with some modernized vocabulary.
It should be noted that Witches and the Modern formula "Wiccans" have culled their ideas from various sources of "paganism", where the word "pagan" in some perspectives is defined as any idea that is not part of the views described as sacred and being used by a, any, or all dominant religions. However, Paganism is alive and well since all present day subjects have some connection to or with some ancient "pagan" (alternative, non-conventional) point of view. While some ideas that are not conventional are termed evil, this is not to be interpreted that all or most of pagan ideas are bad, evil or some representative characteristic of a devil that you might call Satan. Modern religions modified pagan ideas to be used because many of the Pagan ideas were better than those being espoused by the fledgling attempts of early church leaderships to develop a working model to provide others who would then join and eventually provide some measure of income for the religion's or philosophy's leadership. The prominent religions and philosophies of today stole, borrowed, and otherwise perpetrated confiscation of ideas from sources outside their immediate purview, because... let's face it, Religious leaders, like politicians and police officers, are not known for their intelligence... they must therefore beg, borrow, barter, badger, belittle, bait-and-switch, back-stab, etc., like so many Monarch, Industrialists and other want-to-be leaderships have.
Let us take for example, a well-known pattern-of-three idea and momentarily glance over the effort to unravel where the origin of the Trinity came from, since the usage of a Trinitarian (three-patterned) formula in and out of Religious themes is evident long before the "big three" monotheistic religions had even begun. For those who claim there is no clear distinction to be made of it in the Bible, they then assert the idea has no authoritative reason to be afforded so much zealous admiration and devotion. However, we are still left with the view that there is no reason for it to be included in the Bible or any religious text if it preceded their construction and was used elsewhere in some "hidden knowledge" form and formula. The present day valuation of a three-part idea connected with Christians can well be a refurbished image on an old frame of thought, much like when a house or building is gutted for renovation, but the essential foundation is kept in tact. We see a similar type of re-facing seen in some artwork where a painter, for whatever reason (s), decided to paint over some picture so as to paint something else. The same type of thinking has taken place not only in religion but other subjects as well. It goes without saying that the number of Pagans out-numbered Christians, Moslems, and Jews many times over. It was common sense to incorporate some of the beliefs into fledgling attempts to create a religion and get more converts by adopting pagan beliefs and reframing them in order to claim ownership thereof.
Let us ask a point blank question. If the members of the present day ensemble of the WW3 are practicing an ancient wisdom, an ancient knowledge, an ancient insight that is appreciably valuable for humanity, then what is it, where does it come from, and is it in an easily understood language with unequivocating standards of intelligibility that does not rely upon a given type of imagination to appreciate it? Does it have an actual utility to benefit humanity as do other industries such as tool making, shoe making, garment manufacturing, etc., or is it an art form being labeled a religion or philosophy? Similarly, though Mathematics has application in real world concerns, some of it is mere art, philosophy and religion.
In an attempted analysis of the supposed ancient occult (hidden) ideas from which the present day WW3 trio have arisen, we can see a dichotomy:
- There are those who say there exist ancient ideas... that contain a profound wisdom, knowledge and insight that describes a path humanity used to be on, but got sidetracked from and must return to it for humanity's salvation and further development.
- There are those who say that the most modern views... as an amalgamation of all past ideas— holds the better wisdom, knowledge and insight— and from this humanity will find its better path for its salvation and further development; since the false ideas of old have either been dismissed with by the ancient peoples themselves because they were discovered to be no good, or ancient ideas eventually became reconfigured to a more finely tuned rendition of truth out of which modern day ideas have sprouted.
Let us also ask some other questions:
- Does the ability to understand such presumed ancient knowledge require one to engage in a specialized wardrobe, makeup, jewelry, ceremony, language and attendant symbology? For example, does having a Pentagram increase one's supposed power, or is it this the expression of a primitive mentality similar to those who wear a Christian cross, Egyptian ankh, or Swastika, or Yin/Yang symbol, prayer beads, carry a religious book, etc,?
- Is there an actual body of secret knowledge that is valuable beyond the measurement of a collector of esoteric memorabilia?
- Is the presumed body of secret knowledge a record of fledgling attempts by past thinkers whose ideas did not mature because they were kept secret and were not allowed to be reviewed by others so as to incorporate a larger base of ideological considerations?
- Is the so-called specialized language of some assumed secret knowledge just another model of the "speaking in tongues" (glossolalia) or foreign language predisposition (such as using the antiquated Latin language) seen in some religious practices and is akin to a baby talk that is not permitted to mature because adherents misinterpret the behavior because they do not also know how to guide their views to a maturity... and thus represents a primitive mindset?
- Why is language, in many cases, thought to be a conduit between a supposed power and humans, and is in fact recorded in John (1:1) that:
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"In the beginning was the word, And the Word was with God, And the Word was (a) God." |
Does this describe that there was a distinction between what were thought to be ordinary sounds coming from someone's mouth and particular sounds thought to be an expression of a god-like presence? Does this also provide us with a date when a "god language" arose? And yet, when the Bible was printed, it was claimed that everyone thought they were speaking to god:
"After the Bible was translated into English, complained Hobbes,
every man, nay, every boy and wench that could read English,
thought they spoke with God Almighty."
page 264, "The Uses of the Past, Profiles of Former Societies" ©1952, Herbert J. Muller
IHV's page b
Let me also reference the presence of another early dichotomy between those who settled in one place so as to begin the ideological development of establishing boundaries and territories (such as Farmers) and those who moved about, such as Nomads/Pastoralists (hunter-gatherers) who came to live by the rule-of-thumb that the land belonged to no one... that the idea of property and ownership was no doubt thought to be ridiculous, since a life lived without artificially created man-made territorial boundaries is represented by the idea of limitlessness.
Dichotomies (I call them patterns-of-two) are a basic model of thought characteristic of humans. So is the use of patterns-of-one such as singularity, Monotheism, etc.; and patterns-of-three such as trinity, triune, triad, triangle, etc., and so is plurality such as many, more, much, plenty, etc...
Historical evidence of human activity suggests that the earliest period of human habitation proceeded along a 3-step route described in terms of 3 "lithic" (stone age) periods (based on the degree of sophistication in the fashioning and use of tools: ["Stone Age." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.]):
- Paleolithic period... (Hunter-gatherers; used chipped stone tools)
- Mesolithic Period (Hunter-gatherers/Settlement dwellers developed and used "micro-liths" better known as arrow and spearheads)
- Neolithic Period (Settlement dwellers; used polished/grounded stone tools)
Before this, however, one might conjecture that the development of humanity came about by way of another 3-part generalized sequence of pre-human, meso-human, and human life forms suggested by the notion of primates, a missing link and Cro-magnons.
In an attempt to seek out "ancient wisdom," it is of need to let others know how far back in time one is willing to go to seek answers. While such a task is laudable, such ideas as the earliest humans may have had were tied in with the remnants they left behind, which excludes what we of today would describe as a written record. Art and industry (tools, baskets, clothes) and other artefacts such as burial items offer us little to go on with respect to what was actually thought, thus later humans create suppositions... such as we describe as educated guesses. However, in providing a reference to the idea of seeking deep into the past, later reviewers of your ideas will be able to more realistically make an assessment of your rationale... that is, how you approached the task.
The next stages (chapter) of human development following the lithic periods are likewise categorized in a 3-step formula, called the Stone, Bronze, Iron Ages sequence. They describe successive advances in technological and cultural development. In any respect, we are left with the attempt to discern whether or not there were any people who might be referred to as Pagans or Witches, and whether such people left behind some record of their thoughts... and whether or not such thoughts express any attempt to unravel some mystery of life. Hence, let us ask when the first Pagan and first Witch arrived on the scene, however named by some ancient culture. Were their thoughts the beginning of some highly valuable knowledge, or are such people creations of later civilizations who needed scapegoats for some religious, business, or political reason? Are Pagans and Witches (and later Wiccans) the originators of some great wisdom, knowledge and insight into one or more Natural processes, or are they merely those who were created by civilizations like the many homeless that are created today by social inequities?
Do Pagans and Witches have a history of creating valuable knowledge, wisdom and insights, or are they merely pseudo-collectors and practitioners of others ideas whom they think possess some highly desirable secret? If they didn't create the presumed highly desirable secret knowledge, then who did and why is it thought to be so valuable? Just because it is old and "Old" somehow means valuable, and yet senior citizens are not revered? Like some commodity to be traded based on age and scarcity, the presumed ancient views collectively called (for example):
- Ancient mysteries
- Mystery religions
- Eleusinian Mysteries
- Andania mysteries
- Hermetic mysteries
- The Occult (hidden)
- The perennial philosophy
- The Prisca theologia
- Atlantean library (In the fabled city called Atlantis)
- Alexandrian library and museum (founded and maintained by the long succession of Ptolemies in Egypt from the beginning of the 3rd century BC.)
- Destroyed in the civil war that occurred under the Roman emperor Aurelian in the late 3rd century AD.
- Alexandrian "daughter library" established about 235 BC by Ptolemy III (Euergetes) in the Temple of Serapis. ("Alexandria, Library of."
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
- Destroyed by Christians in AD 391.
- etc...
In earliest times there was no distinction between a record room (or archive) and a library, and in this sense libraries can be said to have existed for almost as long as records have been kept. A temple in the Babylonian town of Nippur, dating from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, was found to have a number of rooms filled with clay tablets, suggesting a well-stocked archive or library. Similar collections of Assyrian clay tablets of the 2nd millennium BC were found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt. Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–c. 627 BC), the last of the great kings of Assyria, maintained an archive of some 25,000 tablets, comprising transcripts and texts systematically collected from temples throughout his kingdom.
Aristotle's library formed the basis, mainly by means of copies, of the library established at Alexandria, which became the greatest in antiquity. It was planned by Ptolemy I Soter in the 3rd century BC and brought into being by his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus with the collaboration of Demetrius of Phaleron, their adviser. The founders of this library apparently aimed to collect the whole body of Greek literature in the best available copies, arranged in systematic order so as to form the basis of published commentaries. Its collections of papyrus and vellum scrolls are said to have numbered hundreds of thousands. Situated in a temple of the Muses called the Mouseion, it was staffed by many famous Greek writers and scholars, including the grammarian and poet Callimachus (d. c. 240 BC), the astronomer and writer Eratosthenes (d. c. 194 BC), the philosopher Aristophanes of Byzantium (d. 180 BC), and Aristarchus of Samothrace (d. 145 BC), the foremost critical scholar of antiquity. ("library." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
When looking for ancient ideas thought to hold knowledge superior to those of the present, the researchers generally overlook recurring patterns of thought they depend on. It is like seeing someone sitting in a field of three-leaf clovers who are oblivious to the dominant recurrence of the pattern-of-three, because they have grown up with the cultural idea that the rarer 4-leaf clover is the most valuable. Because you have to search for something that is culturally labeled as being important, the effort used is thought as a type of payment for that to be gained. The longer and harder one seeks, the more valuable that being sought for is likewise thought to be commensurable to. However, the idea that someone can't see the forest for the trees plays out in the form that they can't see the "threes" for the "four-est". The recurring cognitive pattern of using "threes" doesn't dawn on them as having any value, though if they sought out this pattern in a variety of subjects, they might find it is highly recurring, and that other number patterns are likewise to be found, though in a lesser degree and that overall, the usage of number patterns is limited to a handful... meaning the environment is imposing this as a rule of survival. One of the most profound mysteries of existence stares them in the face and they can't see it.
However, it has dawned on some thinkers that they need to find common threads of thought, of ideas amongst all esoteric ideas, in order to determine if there is some underlying pattern recurring, and thus claim it as a central theme having an unrealized importance. It is like saying that if all mystics and philosophers and theologians went into a cave and came out with the same message, then one might consider there is a universal truth. And yet, when we find patterns-of-three in physics as a main theme and see this also in the genetic code as well as referencing Earth's position from the Sun's irradiating energy, this once "hidden" knowledge is not embraced as a Universal message!
But when one discovers that a given knowledge has been developed by way of suppression, borrowing, theft, etc., from others, such as in the case of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc., having confiscated earlier pagan ideas into their belief systems so as to claim ownership thereof and thus dominance over... as if early Pagans had no right to such good ideas; there is no grand conspiracy continuing to this day. Many present day theologians are just as ignorant about history as most everyone else. While the dominant religions of today in the early days of their development did engage in active hostilities against mystery religions and various cults from whom ideas and practices were taken up and refashioned as well as re-named, this does not happen today in the same manner or degree. Many, many, many theologians from multiple ways of life are just as ignorant about supposed truth of ancient occurrences as are most people. Most people don't know and what they do know is most likely from pieced-together tidbits of ideas which become popularly expressed. While some feel their ideas debunk the myths of some established institution which others have described as a former persecutor and therefore hold some actual truth, they are just as stubbornly reticent to consider alternatives as those they are debunking.
The two foregoing themes of dichotomy play out in a variety of intellectual traditions, but their origination as a basic mental construct is not likely to be viewed as being influenced by such a simple dichotomy as the planetary phenomena of night and day, nor be viewed in terms of basic biological development such as the mouth and anus in primitive life forms. The fact that we can detail patterns... which can be enumerated... in biological processes and that a similar pattern can be seen in planetary activity, doesn't sink in as a viable connection. In their way of thinking, mysteries are "supposed to be" difficult and require complex forms of deduction as well as illustration to have any profound meaning. And yet, those who reduce everything to the simplicity of claiming everything is answered by the word "god" are making the same mistake. By the fact that all forms of thinking contain basic enumerations means that the sought for mysteries will no doubt exhibit one or more of the patterns, quite possibly as a constructed overlap, such as the number "13" with its one and three partnership.
Whereas one might view the foregoing concepts of "boundary" and limitlessness as analogical constructs found in multiple ideas, we may not consider that they have become engrained on some human lineages by which they intellectually navigate reality. The traditions of the WW3 are those like Nomads, whereas those like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc..., are like settled peoples putting up boundaries and staking claims to such properties as a particular view of (a) god, what is and isn't immoral, right and wrong, sacred and not sacred. Their views become codified into laws placed into a text, whereas those views of the WW3 are not typically codified, and resemble a mish-mash collection of maybe this, maybe that, and other wishy-washy approaches at establishing a core doctrine, much like neighborhood kids establishing a club house with their own rules being asserted by one or more dominant members who assert their authority, and most often either keep all girls out or all boys out so that a person playing the lead role is not to be undermined by an internal influence who may come to assert more and more of themselves on a given membership.
There have been those who have looked into the traditions of Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans from a very serious and scholarly attempt from the perspective of a given orientation which they are already immersed deeply in such as a religion, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, etc., while there are others who venture into such a consideration of interest with a piece-meal and superficial exploration. However, because these three (WW3) subjects are derived from ideas fostered by ancient esoteric mysticism and occult perspectives; this is the standard by which they have focused their efforts, and not explicitly on the WW3.
For example, two such efforts have been the Perennial Philosophy of Aldous Huxley and the other, a much older effort, called the Prisca Theologia that I think has been misinterpreted as to its origination; though in the hands of interested researchers in later ages are attempts clearly focused on understanding ancient ideas called mystery religions and philosophies, whether or not a researcher is seeking some common underlying theme (or pattern) common to all ideologies. In any respect, while both efforts have produced some results in allowing later researchers to unravel the views of more ancient peoples, they are failures in that they simply rekindle old ideas and do not move students of these traditions into a New Age of comprehension. All they have done is provide for a few in the present era to gain an appreciable grasp of past ideas. In my view this is a failure, just are many of the current day practices conducted by those of the WW3.
It should be understood that all mainstream religions and philosophies of today (such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, etc.,), were once mystery religions and small cults, though in their respective context of development, they may not have been violently reacted against such as adherents of Christianity have done against the WW3 in the past. And all mainstream ideologies of today which started centuries ago, have been used as the reason for someone to commit violence on others that they come to deem as an infidel, or non-believer, or a believer in falsehoods.
Western scholars may describe the names of ancient cultures such as the following (information taken from separate Britannica articles):
- Ur (Important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia (Sumer), situated about 140 miles (225 km) southeast of the site of Babylon and about 10 miles (16 km) west of the present bed of the Euphrates River.)
- Sumer (Site of the earliest known civilization, located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, in the area that later became Babylonia and is now southern Iraq from around Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.)
- Babylonia (Ancient cultural region occupying southeastern Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern southern Iraq from around Baghdad to the Persian Gulf).
- Mesopotamia (History of the region in southwestern Asia where the world's earliest civilization developed. The name comes from a Greek word meaning "between rivers," referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but the region can be broadly defined to include the area that is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq. In the narrow sense, Mesopotamia is the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, north or northwest of the bottleneck at Baghdad, in modern Iraq; it is Al-Jazi-rah ("The Island") of the Arabs.)
- Ancient Egypt (civilization in northeastern Africa dating from the 3rd millennium BC.)
- Akkad (ancient region in what is now central Iraq. Akkad was the northern (or northwestern) division of ancient Babylonian civilization. The region was located roughly in the area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (see Tigris-Euphrates river system) are closest to each other, and its northern limit extended beyond the line of the modern cities of Al-Fallu-jah and Baghdad. The early inhabitants of this region were predominantly Semitic, and their speech is called Akkadian. To the south of the region of Akkad lay Sumer, the southern (or southeastern) division of ancient Babylonia, which was inhabited by a non-Semitic people known as Sumerians. The name of Akkad was taken from the city of Agade, which was founded by the Semitic conqueror Sargon in about 2300 BCE. Sargon united the various city-states in the region and extended his rule to encompass much of Mesopotamia. After the fall of Sargon's dynasty in about 2150 BCE, the central Iraq region was ruled by a state jointly composed of Sumerians and Akkadians. Under the kings of Akkad, their Semitic language, known as Akkadian, became a literary language that was written with the cuneiform system of writing. Akkadian is the oldest Semitic dialect still preserved. ("Akkad." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
In all cases, the more long lasting ideologies have been due to the development of a written text that is later labeled as a holy or sacred or revelatory text and eventually made available to the public in later ages. Whereas such religions or philosophies may have initially held secret or private ceremonies, their larger acceptance came by the establishment of ceremonies that any and all could participate in, unlike the ancient cult-like attitude still evident in Mormonism with its secret ceremonies. Whereas in many respects women have been treated as equals, if not those with a unique perspective which comes to be adopted as a practice or ideology, such ideas were commonly taken over by men and written down by men. One of these ideas is the Theology produced by Prisca (Prinsella); that later came to be claimed by men as referring to a larger body of ancient ideas instead of that which referenced a single person, much less a woman. Hence, the "Prisca Theologia" is a reference to the Theology of Prisca... a woman deeply connected with the development of the early Christian church, but instead of allowing a woman to have her full due, the reference has been changed (either deliberately or due to sheer ignorance) to reference all past ideological perspectives, thereby not only giving greater weight to the ideas of men, but obscuring the very real and dominant role women had.
Further efforts in displacing mystery, occult, and ancient views comes by way of a tactic well-documented about how the Christian church supplanted older ideas into its own practices. In other words, many of the ideas of Pagans were overtaken by the Christian church, just as the present U.S. government (and other governments) have permitted the use of a Numbers racket once employed by criminals but now called lottery systems, because it can now be assured a cut of the gains, whereas when run by criminal enterprises (deemed as such by the government), the government did not get a portion of the bets in the form of taxes or otherwise. The same goes for disallowing the production of alcohol, all because it did not provide an income for the government. Governments will eventually allow any illegal activity so long as it gets a substantial proportion of monies exchanging hands. Religions and Philosophies as well as Educational institutions are similarly oriented in allowing a product to be sold under its aegis (endorsement and guidance) so long as it can get a substantial reward without violating any unjustified immorality.
It is important to understand the WW3 orientations as being part of a more ancient ideological orientation which often fused different ideas into an amalgamated whole (called syncretism), which was the mindset used by later alchemists as well. The origins of the WW3 go far back in time and precede all present day religions and philosophies. Why Christianity, Islam and Judaism (for example) came to flourish and not one of the Mystery religions was due to 3 specific generalizations (though the reader might well want to include others):
- The ability of participants to create an intellectual atmosphere which permitted ideological explorations into non-religious studies (often conducted by those attached to a dominant religious perspective). Fore example, most researchers of early traditions of scientific investigation were highly invested in some religious belief.
- Promoted written accounts of ideas that could then be adopted or rallied against by others whose perspicacity was lesser or greater than the original writer.
- Adopted old ideas that were often relabeled so as to remove or increase a level of mystique accompanying them.
Date of Origination: Wednesday 15th February, 2023... 2:15 AM
Initial Posting Date: Thursday 11th May, 2023... 8:17 AM
Updated: Friday, 18th October, 2024... 6:10 AM