Religion, Philosophy, and/or Science?
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It is necessary for us to try to step back into time and get some feel, some sense, some idea of what was occurring in regards to the presence of mystery religions and the development of Christianity (etc...), which can thus be used as a general ideological setting for attempting to get a glimpse of what occurred when Islam and Judaism became an established dominant orientation:
Mystery religions and Christianity
Christianity originated during the time of the Roman Empire, which was also the time at which the mysteries reached their height of popularity. This was by no means an accident. The Christian theologian Origen wrote in the 3rd century that it was part of the divine plan that Christ was born under the emperor Augustus: the whole Mediterranean world was united by the Romans, and the conditions for missionary work were more favourable than ever before. The simultaneousness of the propagation of the mystery religions and of Christianity and the striking similarities between them, however, demand some explanation of their relationship.
The hypothesis of a mutual dependence has been proposed by scholars–especially a dependence of Christianity upon the mysteries–but such theories have been discarded. The similarities must rather be explained by parallel developments from similar origins. In both cases, national religions of a ritualistic type were transformed, and the transformation followed similar lines:
- From national to ecumenical religion.
- (Instead of a National religion, an International or Universal religion.)
- From ritualistic ceremonies and taboos to spiritual doctrines set down in books.
- (From non-written procedures which may have immoral acts to procedures generally accepted as being moral and written down to be referenced by anyone... or at least the leadership.)
- From the idea of inherited tradition to the idea of revelation.
- (An idea similar to the renunciation of rule by a monarchy through a blood-line, to the acceptance of a democratic-like acceptance of truth that anyone might be privy to.)
The parallel development was fostered by the new conditions prevailing in the Roman Empire, in which the old political units were dissolved, and the whole civilized world was ruled by one monarch.
H.O.B. Note: the idea that the human mind follows a 1- 2- 3- Many... 1- 2- 3- Many... 1- 2- 3- Many... path can be seen in that the former idea of having a plurality of gods came to be supplanted by the idea of a single god, even if at the time the single god concept first allowed for the existence of multiple gods, so as not to create any backlash which might cause the budding single god concept to be attacked. Hence, when the Jews announced their god as being the ONE great god, it was not a total monotheism... since it initially permitted the widespread practice of multiple gods so that the believing public could eventually be won over. In this scenario, the "many" gods idea came to be supplanted by a "one" god idea, after which came concepts of duality, then triplicity and then once again plurality... to be followed by a singularity... just like we see in the sequence of the place value numbering system used in mathematics. It is the exhibition of a recurring cognitive pattern. It also is seen in the use of three dots at the end of a sequence such as 123...
In a symbolic effect, the development of religion throughout history plays out like a place value numbering system, with the idea of some plurality being supplanted by a singularity, and then the cycle develops once again to the usage of a duality perspective followed by a triad or trinity or triune perspective, that is once again developed into a plurality which signals the usage of a singularity again. It is a standard cognitive formula which stares everyone in the face but no one has commented on the parallels taking place within the closed environmental system we call Earth, and how the incremental deteriorations of the Earth, Moon and Sun are creating a conservation of number effect from which humanity must remove itself. A plurality of gods followed by a singular god concept... over and over again. If not in religion, then politics, science, mathematics, sports, Education, etc...
Here is an example of a single god concept being used to supplant the idea of a plurality of gods in ancient Egypt, even though this particular sun god perspective does not seem to have gained a wide-spread acceptance:
Akhenaton, also spelled Akhenaten, Akhnaton, or Ikhnaton, also called Amenhotep IV, Greek Amenophis: king (1353–36 BCE) of ancient Egypt of the 18th dynasty, who established a new cult dedicated to the Aton, the sun's disk (hence his assumed name, Akhenaton, meaning "beneficial to aton").
At some point after his fifth regnal year, Akhenaton initiated a program to erase the name and image of the Theban god, Amon, from all monuments, a decision that wreaked widespread destruction in many Egyptian temples. The reason for this drastic step is not known; at some point, it seems that other gods were attacked as well, including Amon's consort, Mut, and the plural word gods.
Although Akhenaton has been considered by some as the world's first monotheist, the religion of the Aton may best be described as monolatry, the worship of one god in preference to all others. In fact, Akhenaton's god consistently incorporated multiple aspects of the traditional divinized sun, such as Re-Harakhte (the rising sun), Shu (atmosphere and sunlight), and Maat (daughter of Re). Whether his beliefs ever took hold in the public imagination, or even among the residents of Akhetaton itself, remains uncertain. Private homes, as well as the workmen's village, have yielded numerous figurines of household deities, and stelae dedicated to traditional deities, such as Isis and Tausret, have been found in some of the private chapels. Certainly there is no evidence that Akhenaton's idiosyncratic religion survived his death. ("akhenaton." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Re, also spelled Ra, or Pra:
In ancient Egyptian religion, god of the sun and creator god. He was believed to travel across the sky in his solar bark and, during the night, to make his passage in another bark through the underworld, where, in order to be born again for the new day, he had to vanquish the evil serpent Apopis (Apepi). As one of the creator gods, he rose from the ocean of chaos on the primeval hill, creating himself and then in turn engendering eight other gods.
Originally most solar gods had falcon form and were assimilated to Horus. By the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE), however, Re had risen to his leading position. Many syncretisms were formed between Re and other gods, producing such names as Re-Harakhty, Amon-Re, Sebek-Re, and Khnum-Re. Aspects of other gods influenced Re himself; his falcon-headed appearance as Re-Harakhty originated through association with Horus. The influence of Re was spread from On (Heliopolis), which was the centre of his worship. From the 4th dynasty, kings held the title "son of re," and "re" later became part of the throne name they adopted at accession. As the father of Maat, Re was the ultimate source of right and justice in the cosmos.
At Thebes, by the late 11th dynasty (c. 1980 BCE), Re was associated with Amon as Amon-Re, who was for more than a millennium the principal god of the pantheon, the "king of the gods," and the patron of kings. The greatest development of solar religion was during the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 BCE). The revolutionary worship of the sun disk, Aton, during the abortive Amarna period (1353–1336 BCE) was a radical simplification of the cult of the sun. During the New Kingdom, beliefs about Re were harmonized with those concerning Osiris, the ruler of the underworld, with the two gods syncretized in the royal mortuary texts. ("re." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Maat, also spelled Mayet:
In ancient Egyptian religion, the personification of truth, justice, and the cosmic order. The daughter of the sun god Re, she was associated with Thoth, god of wisdom.
The ceremony of judgment of the dead (called the "judgment of osiris," named for Osiris, the god of the dead) was believed to focus upon the weighing of the heart of the deceased in a scale balanced by Maat (or her hieroglyph, the ostrich feather), as a test of conformity to proper values.
In its abstract sense, maat was the divine order established at creation and reaffirmed at the accession of each new king of Egypt. In setting maat ‘order' in place of isfet ‘disorder,' the king played the role of the sun god, the god with the closest links to Maat. Maat stood at the head of the sun god's bark as it traveled through the sky and the underworld. Although aspects of kingship and of maat were at times subjected to criticism and reformulation, the principles underlying these two institutions were fundamental to ancient Egyptian life and thought and endured to the end of ancient Egyptian history. ("maat." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
An appreciation of how valuable the idea of reverently viewing the Sun or aspects thereof was during the early periods of Indo-European Occult (hidden, secret) ideas, is important for identifying influential elements in the establishment of those ideological currents of thought later to be viewed as making up the WW3, as well as Greek philosophy, geometry, mathematics, physics, etc., involving enumerations hidden by ideas involving singular, dual, triplistic and plural forms and formulas. Those deeply interested in the Practice of some WW3 orientation beyond mere store-dressing varieties of play-acting, should have some knowledgeable compendium with which to distinguish that which is valuable and that which (metaphorically speaking) is shadow boxing echoes and other anomalies which may be entertaining but distracting from any goal being thought of to pursue. If you are a person merely play acting at some aspect you think is relevant to a WW3 consideration, all that is being spoken of here will be of little value because you most likely can not comprehend the symbology being unearthed so as to have a clearer picture of that which you think you are involved with as a true, personal perspective of Nature and Natural events, and not just as some sort of adolescent rebelliousness to some perceived perspective thought to be an established truth; thereby gaining what is thought to be a personally unique identity. It is ridiculous to think that sacrificial offerings and repetitious ceremonialisms is a means by which humans can barter with one or more supposed gods. Humans who are acting as gods, like theologians, politicians and other close-to-wealth others, might be bartered with, but not surreal gods created in the emotionalized and intellectualized imagination of humanity.
Mystery religions and Christianity... continued
People were free to move from one country to another and became cosmopolitan. The ideas of Greek philosophy penetrated everywhere in this society. Thus, under identical conditions, new forms of religious communities sprang from similar roots. The mystery religions and Christianity had many similar features, e.g.:
- A time of preparation before initiation and periods of fasting;
- Baptism and banquets;
- Vigils and early-morning ceremonies;
- Pilgrimages and new names for the initiates.
The purity demanded in the worship of Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites was similar to Christian standards.
The last sentence should have been written: The purity demanded in the worship of Christian standards was similar to Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites. The first sentence makes Christianity appear to be the more important standard that the others wanted to imitate instead of Christianity wanting to imitate them, as is the behavior seen among some neurotics in psychiatric wards, and to a lesser extent by comedians trying to imitate a famous person.
Sol:
In Roman religion, name of two distinct sun gods at Rome. The original Sol, or Sol Indiges, had a shrine on the Quirinal, an annual sacrifice on August 9, and another shrine, together with Luna, the moon goddess, in the Circus Maximus. Although the cult appears to have been native, the Roman poets equated him with the Greek sun god Helios.
The worship of Sol assumed an entirely different character with the later importation of various sun cults from Syria. The Roman emperor Elagabalus (reigned AD 218–222) built a temple to him as Sol Invictus on the Palatine and attempted to make his worship the principal religion at Rome. The emperor Aurelian (reigned 270–275) later reestablished the worship and erected a magnificent temple to Sol in the Campus Agrippae.
The worship of Sol as special protector of the emperors and of the empire remained the chief imperial cult until it was replaced by Christianity. ("sol." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Helios:
In Greek religion, the sun god. He drove a chariot daily from east to west across the sky and sailed around the northerly stream of Ocean each night in a huge cup. In classical Greece, Helios was especially worshipped in Rhodes, where from at least the early 5th century BC he was regarded as the chief god, to whom the island belonged. His worship spread as he became increasingly identified with other deities, often under Eastern influence. From the 5th century BC, Apollo, originally a deity of radiant purity, was more and more interpreted as a sun god. Under the Roman Empire the sun itself came to be worshipped as the Unconquered Sun. ("helios." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Let us take a longer look at solar worship to note wide-spread presence and depth of usage, as well as note that with the development of the ideas concerning fate and the ability of the stars to divine it, religious adherents had to step in so that their control could not be usurped by Astrologers. Hence the god of religion came to be viewed as a deity beyond and thus above and more powerful to the stars, whereas in the case of a Sun god: he, she or it was below the stars and could be argued as a lesser god by those thinking in terms of a top-down hierarchy. Sun worship was an early element of the human ideological tradition many centuries before the advent of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Daoism, etc... In the naïveté of early peoples we see the application of seeking truth by way of an innocence that present day peoples have lost due to so much commercialized nonsense from every single subject, and may not even consider as a formative element in later ideological traditions, albeit with established symbols and inferences tainted by later truncations and amalgamations of thought.
Sun worship: veneration of the sun or a representation of the sun as a deity, as in Atonism in Egypt in the 14th century BCE.
Although sun worship has been used frequently as a term for "pagan" religion, it is, in fact, relatively rare.
(H.O.B note: rare to be used as a reference to Paganism, but is not a rare idea among ancient Pagans.)
Though almost every culture uses solar motifs, only a relatively few cultures (Egyptian, Indo-European, and Meso-American) developed solar religions. All of these groups had in common a well-developed urban civilization with a strong ideology of sacred kingship. In all of them the imagery of the sun as the ruler of both the upper and the lower worlds that he majestically visits on his daily round is prominent.
The sun is the bestower of light and life to the totality of the cosmos; with his unblinking, all-seeing eye, he is the stern guarantor of justice; with the almost universal connection of light with enlightenment or illumination, the sun is the source of wisdom.
These qualities—sovereignty, power of beneficence, justice, and wisdom—are central to any elite religious group, and it is within these contexts that a highly developed solar ideology is found. Kings ruled by the power of the sun and claimed descent from the sun. Solar deities, gods personifying the sun, are sovereign and all-seeing. The sun is often a prime attribute of or is identified with the Supreme Deity.
In ancient Egypt the sun god Re was the dominant figure among the high gods and retained this position from early in that civilization's history. In the myth relating the voyage of the sun god over the heavenly ocean, the sun sets out as the young god Kheper; appears at noon in the zenith as the full-grown sun, Re; and arrives in the evening at the western region in the shape of the old sun god, Atum. When the pharaoh Ikhnaton reformed Egyptian religion, he took up the cult of the ancient deity Re-Horakhte under the name of Aton, an older designation of the Sun's disk. Under Akhenaton, the sun's qualities as creator and nourisher of the Earth and its inhabitants are glorified.
The sun god occupied a central position in both Sumerian and Akkadian religion, but neither the Sumerian Utu nor the Semitic Shamash was included among the three highest gods of the pantheon. The sun was one of the most popular deities, however, among the Indo-European peoples and was a symbol of divine power to them. Surya is glorified in the Vedas of ancient India as an all-seeing god who observes both good and evil actions. He expels not only darkness but also evil dreams and diseases. Sun heroes and sun kings also occupy a central position in Indian mythology, where Vivasvant, the father of Yama, corresponds to the Iranian Vivahvant, the father of Yima. There is a dynasty of sun kings, characteristically peaceful, that is quite distinct from the warlike moon kings. In medieval Iran, sun festivals were celebrated as a heritage from pre-Islamic times. The Indo-European character of sun worship is also seen in the conception of the solar deity, drawn in his carriage, generally by four white horses, common to many Indo-European peoples, and recurring in Indo-Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Scandinavian mythology.
During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and ultimately led to what has been called a "solar monotheism." Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of solar qualities, and both Christ and Mithra acquired the traits of solar deities. The feast of Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) on December 25 was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of Christ.
The most famous type of solar cult is the Sun Dance of the Plains Indians of North America. In the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico and Peru, sun worship was a prominent feature. In Aztec religion extensive human sacrifice was demanded by the sun gods Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. In both Mexican and Peruvian ancient religion, the Sun occupied an important place in myth and ritual. The ruler in Peru was an incarnation of the sun god, Inti. In Japan the sun goddess, Amaterasu, who played an important role in ancient mythology and was considered to be the supreme ruler of the world, was the tutelary deity of the imperial clan, and to this day the sun symbols represent the Japanese state. ("sun worship." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Mystery religions and Christianity... continued
The first Christian communities resembled the mystery communities in big cities and seaports by providing social security and the feeling of brotherhood. In the Christian congregations of the first two centuries, the variety of rites and creeds was almost as great as in the mystery communities; few of the early Christian congregations could have been called orthodox according to later standards. The date of Christmas was purposely fixed on December 25 to push into the background the great festival of the sun god, and Epiphany on January 6 to supplant an Egyptian festival of the same day. The Easter ceremonies rivalled the pagan spring festivals. The religious art of the Christians continued the pagan art of the preceding generations. The Christian representations of the Madonna and child are clearly the continuation of the representations of Isis and her son suckling her breast. The statue of the Good Shepherd carrying his lost sheep and the pastoral themes on Christian sarcophagi were also taken over from pagan craftsmanship.
In theology the differences between early Christians, Gnostics (members—often Christian—of dualistic sects of the 2nd century AD), and pagan Hermetists were slight. In the large Gnostic library discovered at Naj Hammadi, in upper Egypt, in 1945, Hermetic writings were found side by-side with Christian Gnostic texts. The doctrine of the soul taught in Gnostic communities was almost identical to that taught in the mysteries: the soul emanated from the Father, fell into the body, and had to return to its former home. The Greeks interpreted the national religions of the Greek Orient chiefly in terms of Plato's philosophical and religious concepts. Interpretation in Platonic concepts was also the means by which the Judeo-Christian set of creeds was thoroughly assimilated to Greek ideas by the early Christian thinkers Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Thus, the religions had a common conceptual framework. The doctrinal similarity is exemplified in the case of the pagan writer and philosopher Synesius. The people of Cyrene selected him as the most able man of the city to be their bishop, and he was able to accept the election without sacrificing his intellectual honesty. In his pagan period he wrote hymns that closely follow the fire theology of the Chaldean Oracles; later he wrote hymns to Christ. The doctrine is almost identical.
The similarity of the religious vocabulary is also great. Greek life was characterized by such things as democratic institutions, seafaring, gymnasium and athletic games, theatre, and philosophy. The mystery religions adopted many expressions from these domains: they spoke of the assembly (ekkle-sia) of the mystai; the voyage of life; the ship, the anchor, and the port of religion; and the wreath of the initiate; life was a stage and man the actor. The Christians took over the entire terminology; but many pagan words were strangely twisted in order to fit into the Christian world: the service of the state (leitourgia) became the ritual, or liturgy, of the church; the decree of the assembly and the opinions of the philosophers (dogma) became the fixed doctrine of Christianity; the correct opinion (orthe- doxa) about things became orthodoxy.
In the following excerpt you will read comments about distinguishing Christianity from the Mystery religions as being more important based on what the author thinks are legitimate comparisons. I have itemized them and placed commentary regarding the logic being used, so you can see how biased the ideas are in favor of Christianity, at least in this one respect, though the larger article is a fountain of information in other respects. However, some of the comparisons are particularly valid and appreciated as a viable distinction which set Christianity apart from and above them:
There are also great differences between Christianity and the mysteries...
- Mystery religions, as a rule, can be traced back to tribal origins, Christianity to a historical person.
- (An historical person playing a dominant character role on a stage set up by a few literate people to be sold to an impoverished and illiterate audience that was told about someone who may not have existed as the history describes. His activities may well have been embellished so as to create a religious story which unfolded as was told in former legends in anticipation of a Saviour. Jesus... or whomever the person was, just happened to be one chosen because he was not subjected to any formal philosophical debate during a time of widespread illiteracy. So, you either believe the old story as a central point of older stories, or you don't.)
- The holy stories of the mysteries were myths; the Gospels of the New Testament, however, relate historical events.
- (The so-called "history" is that the person writing an account may be an actual person, but that what they are speaking of may be something fabricated. However, if you call someone a "saint" such as Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John, Saint Matthew, this is supposed to mean that the person's word is beyond denial, and therefore sets the reader up to think that they are reading something that is automatically true... like a doctor telling a patient, or a lawyer telling a client, or a politician telling a public, etc...)
- The books that the mystery communities used in Roman times cannot possibly be compared to the New Testament.
- (This is true. However, if you have books written by semi-literate people speaking in an old vernacular that is then misinterpreted anyway, a book written in nice handwriting on nice paper and presented in a clean environment and being called sacred, can go along way to creating an atmosphere that a reader is easily persuaded to receive the presentation as something more important than it might actually be, such as in the case of an edict by a king who wants to raise taxes.)
- The essential features of Christianity were fixed once and for all in this book; the mystery doctrines, however, always remained in a much greater state of fluidity.
- ("Fluidity" in the sense that the mystery religions didn't have the money to produce a series of books by scribes. If you are someone with money and you pay multiple people to create the same book over and over again so that it becomes the dominant... if not the only piece of literature for a handful of literate people who also have money and can influence the public to accept what is written through bribes or persecution.)
- The theology of the mysteries was developed to a far lesser degree than the Christian theology.
- (Then, if they were so unimportant, why did Christianity, Islam and Judaism incorporate so many of the ideas found in the Mystery religions?)
- There are no parallels in Christianity to the sexual rites in the Dionysiac and Isiac religion, with the exception of a few aberrant Gnostic communities. The cult of rulers in the manner of the imperial mysteries was impossible in Jewish and Christian worship.
- (The words "parallels", "aberrant", and "cult of rulers" need to be clarified.)
And when the State authorities and associated wealthy could not bring the people to accepting their control, their yolk to be harnessed to do their bidding, what does the state do but force the people by way of a type of Martial law:
Mystery religions and Christianity... continued
The mysteries declined quickly when the emperor Constantine raised Christianity to the status of the state religion. After a short period of toleration, the pagan religions were prohibited. The property of the pagan gods was confiscated, and the temples were destroyed. The precious metal used to coin Constantine's gold pieces was taken from heathen temple treasuries. To show the beginning of a new era, the capital of the empire was transferred to the new Christian city of Constantinople. The centres of pagan resistance were Rome, where the old aristocracy clung to the mysteries, and Alexandria, where the pagan Neoplatonist philosophers expounded the mystery doctrines. When Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor from AD 361 to 363, tried to reestablish pagan worship, he found allies at Rome and Alexandria. After his death, the pagan opposition to Christianity continued for one more generation. The Roman aristocrats multiplied their efforts to maintain the piety of the mysteries, and the pagan philosophers tried to refine their theology by over-subtle interpretations. In 391, however, the Serapeum at Alexandria was demolished, and in 394 the opposition of the Roman aristocracy was crushed in battle at the Frigidus River (now called the Vipacco River in Italy and the Vipava in Slovenia).
Only remnants of the mystery doctrines, amalgamated with Platonism, were transmitted by a few philosophers and individualists to the religious thinkers of the Byzantine Empire. The mystery religions exerted some influence on the thinkers of the Middle Ages and the philosophers of the Italian Renaissance. ("mystery religion." Encyclopædia Britannica,2013.)
Date of Origination: Wednesday 15th February, 2023... 2:15 AM
Initial Posting Date: Thursday 11th May, 2023... 8:19 AM