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When we study history, we should be skeptical and assume that many events are fabrications, and best understood in probabilistic terms. Today, scholars believe that Moses was a mythical figure, the person who did the things recorded in the Torah may have been simply a character in a fictional story.
History is what we tell ourselves, history defines who we think we are, yet can we say history is any more than a story… thus making history very similar to how we see our future, only a scenario that could be. Just as we use our reason to predict what will happen tomorrow, we should do the same for our history.
The following historical account starts by comparing similarities between the creation accounts of the Egyptian religion and Genesis. Then the Biblical Moses is re-explained in view of the Hurrian or Hyksos exodus, and a conclusion drawn that the Jewish and Egyptian governance was somehow intertwined.
Through the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and then finally the Roman conquest of the Jewish people, the common Hebrew is governed through an aristocracy, who in turn are at the service of the empire of the day. It would be significant to understand that today this aristocratic form of governance has not changed, although we pretend a democracy and equality of citizenry.
This will be a brief historical outline which will extend from the edges of prehistory into the first century. A connection between history and religion will be presented that will show many events in a new light, considering religion as a necessary and common tool for manipulating people.
I hope to present a cause-and-effect scenario of history, to demonstrate the effects religion has had on civilization, and finally I will describe a different belief which may work better.
To get a proper sense of the historic period that gave us our religion we should see humanity and its civilization as an entropic machine that is sustained by fresh water. I say entropic because all life functions by taking energy from the entropy the universe produces, humanity and the civilizations we produce are chemical reactions, all be it very complex. Look at our civilization more as you would see a chemical experiment, as deterministic given the elements and conditions of the reaction. Take into account that all of civilization is but a brief moment in the context of the universe, that the reaction we have seen these past few thousand years is almost insignificant in the expanse of time.
According to the anthropic principle, the universe by its nature admits the existence of intelligent observers within it at some stage of its development. The chemistry that underlies the evolution which produces intelligence and then a civilization is enthropic. The concepts of entropy and thermodynamics are fundamental to physics and underpin biology, particularly in energy transfer and the organization of living systems within the context of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy (disorder) always increases in a closed system; therefore, living organisms must constantly expend energy to maintain their ordered state.
The Nobel-laureate physicist Erwin Schrödinger stated in his 1944 book What is Life? that life feeds on negative entropy, or free energy, eating, drinking, breathing and (in the case of plants) assimilating. Life evolves in complexity which is demonstrated in the distinction between the vast complexity of a single human being to the far greater organizational complexity of a civilization.
The general struggle for existence of animate beings is not a struggle for raw materials – these, for organisms, are air, water and soil, all abundantly available – nor for energy which exists in plenty in any body in the form of heat, but a struggle for [negative] entropy, which becomes available through the transition of energy from the hot sun to the cold earth. Ludwig Boltzmann, 1974
If I may correct the great Ludwig Boltzmann, air, water and soil, are not all abundantly available, water for human evolution must be fresh water and is only found in wells and rivers. Therefor if you wish for a civilization to prosper you will need a large river.
As today we fight religious wars over oil resources, in the times of Moses, water was the contested resource. True power came not from the people that lived in the region, but rather the waters of principal rivers like the Nile and Tigris/ Euphrates that provided for them, for you cannot have a civilization without fresh water.
At the geographic center between the Nile and Euphrates are the people of Canaan. This region stands as the gateway to the economic power and wealth of the Nile River, the object of conquest from before the time of Moses to after that of Jesus Christ. All armies attempting to control the Nile would need to cross through Canaan and its inhabitants.
Instead of a well-intended concept for saving an enslaved people, you may consider the story of the Exodus as a brilliant plan to protect the Egyptian state. How could we overlook the benefit of moving a population, or just using the preexisting inhabitants, then instilling in them a religious requirement to defend their land, and of all lands, Canaan.
Moses
It is certainly a possibility that this promised land was promised by an Egyptian Pharaoh/God, in order to put in place a people to defend against invaders from the east, a people destined to be the gatekeepers of Egypt. A land populated by devout believers, charged with protecting a territory given to them by God. This would surely make them the most dedicated defenders of it. We certainly defend property with more vigor when we think it’s ours, and even more so if we believe God has given it to us. You may also consider today’s war in Palestine as no different, a people put in place in the precise location, to control the surrounding nations which may oppose the West. Who funds Israel? … little has changed.
Recent archaeological understanding reveals that the area of Canaan was populated by modest people with a Temple that would be destroyed or built by the dominant invading force of the time. No palaces or homes for an aristocratic class. Canaan was a land inhabited by people with simple yet comfortable lives, as those that would be afforded to military families. Contrast this to all the lavish tombs and temples found throughout its neighbor Egypt.
Today we find a similar development in Israel, populated by people who have one of the best military forces in the world.
Given this perspective, we will consider the Jewish war history up to and during the time of Jesus Christ.
By the time of Christ, Rome had put an end to the Pharaohs, destroyed the Jewish temple and made Egypt the personal property of Augustus Caesar. The greatest revolt against Rome is by the Jews, not only of Palestine or Canaan, but throughout the Roman empire. The historical account of these wars, if seen as political, describes a people in a struggle for dominance within a changing world political landscape.
Although presented as a messianic movement, this conflict must have had economic backing and what better source could there have been than the disenfranchised rulers of Egypt and its Greek counterparts. We tend to leave out the larger fact, that it’s not only the Jews that have been conquered by Augustus but the entire Hellenistic realm, the Egyptians, Persians and Greeks have now come under Roman rule.
We will look into Rome’s attempt to stop and then adopt this Christian/Political movement. From the family of the Julian rulers to the takeover in 69 A.D. by the Flavians under Vespasian, and then onto Titus. Vespasian will end the reign of the Julian Caesars and see an opportunity in adapting the Christian message to the further benefit of his authority. Finally, the firm establishment of Christianity in 325 A.D. by the Neo-Flavian, Flavius Valerius Constantinus.
This paper and project looks at Christianity, and Judaism in the context of our modern social order, using what evidence can be found to best define a Christianity which has defined western civilization these past 2000 years.
We know that it was not until the protestant reformation that we were permitted to read the Bible in our own language. We discover the New Testament is a revolutionary document which calls for the abolition of the Jewish/Roman government, foments individual personal authority, and calls for a new world order. It is understandable that the authorities and its Church would not want its people looking closely at the details of this message. There is good reason for rulers to keep the Bible, and much of history away from the eyes of the commoners who serve them.
Yet, the calming aspects of Christianity, its nonviolent selfless humility and love of neighbor are aspects that serve the more violent dominant supermen of our upper classes very well. How well would it work to be a dominant superman without the multitudes of meek to till the earth.
“There is no God, but don’t tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night.” ― Voltaire.
History is written by the victor and information is power. Ignorance is not bliss, but a prelude to servitude. Reasonable minds would think that changes in the dogma would have been directed by those in power. A story created as the essential rule set to provide for a well-behaved population in service to a Nobility. A carefully designed algorithm for a desired social outcome.
The force that dominates and motivates us all, is what is responsible for the religious algorithm we currently operate from. From what German philosophers call “the will to life”, we developed our relation to God.
This innate set of desires, “our collective will’, is no different than those of any primate. For this reason, the biblical story we gave ourselves is no more than the projection of our natural behavior of sexual competition, the same motivation that causes the behavior of all primates and has motivated evolution from single cell life forms to modern civilization. We made a story that reflects the nature of sexual dominance that propels evolution, the desire of one troop of apes to dominate over the other, and then told a story within a theological format.
If we contrast the Biblical account against our human nature, then add to this new archaeological and historical evidence, we will see a long sad story of war and enslavement that still persists today. We can then take a sober view of religion and build a new foundation for belief.
The resulting perspective could lead us to a belief that is more realistic and practical, a belief that is based on logic, and reason. A revised Christianity which is truthful, placing the cause of suffering on human shoulders, and eliminating any spiritual aspects of good and evil. Evil or suffering must not be seen as caused by divine or metaphysical forces, but as an aspect and component in the sexual competition of evolution. Suffering is the result of ignorance, greed, and the multitude of sins that would not be so if we only educated our kin properly.
Since religion has been a creation manipulated by the political necessities of the domestication of a servant or slave class, we should take the statement “the truth will set you free” to heart. We must distinguish the trees from the forest, restructure and construct a religion based on an algorithm that is designed to improve the quality of life, rather than one which promotes superstition, serves power and enslaves others.
One of the principal points of this argument is that indeed the Bible has been tweaked over time by the self-interest of Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and later by Rome to serve the Roman aristocratic class, molded into the ideal tool for dominion.
The purpose of this essay and website is to place historical events in logical order, and then provide a guide to anyone that is perplexed by the absurdity that is discovered when comparing science, archaeology, and history to the Judaeo-Christian story. I hope to encourage the development of a more adequate story we can tell ourselves about who we are, and better define what our purpose for existence may be.
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When was year one —? Besides the gospels and the account of Josephus, there are no contemporary accounts of the birth or existence of Jesus Christ. There is no clear date, or record of his birth or death. If the Gospels were written as propaganda to promote the Christian message, it would be the message that would be of importance and not necessarily the validity of the events. Since there is no clear evidence of a date of birth, it would therefore be suspect to believe that Jesus Christ was born in year one, or that he was the person exactly as described.
Today, theologians have built a hypothetical collection of primary Jesus’ sayings they call the Q Gospel. Q may have been the original Christ from which all the other Gospels come from, which would have been dated prior to what we understand to be the life of Christ. The idea of the Q Gospel presents the possibility that there was an unknown individual that existed prior to what we today consider to be Christ.
Nonetheless, for anyone living today Jesus Christ was the most important event of those years, as the account has transformed western civilization for these past two millennia. Yet, when compared to the other events that occurred at the time of Christ your perspective may change.
If there is no record of the precise date of the birth of Jesus Christ, how did we come to this date for our calendar?
For me, it is most likely that it comes from the Cult of Mithra, a secretive group of men who studied astrology, understood the procession of the equinox, and decided that the new age of Pisces had begun with the reign of Augustus Caesar. An Astrological determination by a Zoroastrian cult, represented at the birth of Christ by the Three Wise Men, or Magi.
For the uninitiated, and later codified by the Church, we have the common understanding that it is the birth of Christ.
The clearest Biblical account says Christ was 30 years old at the time of his baptism, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Claudius — (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus).
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:1 .. Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, (Luke 3:1–23)
The following is the best reference for why our calendar starts as it does.
This dating system was created by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 A.D., who lived in Rome and wrote guides on Church administration, and mathematical works. Dionysius chose to start the new calendar with the year he believed to be the year of Jesus’ birth, which he calculated based on various historical sources available to him at the time. He arrived at the year 1 AD as the year of Jesus’ birth, although modern scholars generally believe that Jesus was born a few years earlier, between 6 and 4 BC. He lived 200 years after Constantine’s Council of Nicaea and only 95 years after Rome had been sacked by the Christian Visigoths (410 A.D.).
In the fifth century Rome is still in a period of conversion into Christianity, which will be the symbolic message given to the conquering Arian Christian Visigoths, through the early Catholic Church.
The Latin term Anno Domini (A.D.) translates to “Anno” as year, and “Domini” which was the title given to the deified Roman Emperors. For the Emperor as the Lord of his people, has dominion over them. For the Romans as for most civilizations, religion and its priest class is the political means of popular dominion, and Rome sees its emperors as Gods. Anyone living anywhere in the empire, after year one, Augustus Caesar is the undisputed Lord God, whereas Jesus Christ is mostly unknown.
The idea of an emperor as a deity would be a whole different world from our current views, this also highlights how deep the roots of political-religious intertwining are.
This dating system was not fully accepted until the 1400’s. Spain and Portugal continued to date by the Era of the Caesars or Spanish Era, which began counting from 38 B.C. In 1422, Portugal became the last Catholic country to adopt the Anno Domini system. It is believed that the Spanish Era was set up by Caesar Augustus when he first levied a general tax and mapped the Roman world in 38 BC.
In any case both calendars were based on a calculation for Easter, relative to a mathematical approximation of the first astronomical full moon, on or after 21 March. Before the Julian calendar, several different calendars were used by various civilizations and cultures around the world.
The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. Called the Julian calendar, it is not dependent on the observation of the new moon but is an algorithm which introduces a leap day every four years. The oldest calendar still in use is the Jewish calendar, which has been around since the 9th century BC. It is based on biblical calculations that place the creation at 3761 BC. For the Romans under Augustus Caesar who had control of the known world, it was his calendar the empire would use, and for the Catholics of the 6th century it would be the Anno Domini system.
What we all use today is the Gregorian calendar, a refined Julian calendar which was introduced in 1582, and is the “de facto” calendar for secular purposes. The Gregorian calendar is currently used by most of the world. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as a reform of the previous Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar that is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun and includes rules for leap years to keep the calendar in alignment with the seasons.
Regardless if the Christian epoch starts in 38 BC or year one as it is today, that period in history has several very important events that are rarely mentioned in Bible study.
1. 47 BC, a child is born between a Roman God and an Egyptian Goddess, who is later said to be missing or killed.
2. 44 BC Julius Caesar is assassinated and is posthumously granted the title Divus Iulius (the divine/deified Julius) by decree of the Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC.
3. 32 BC The final battles of a World War are in Israel against the Jews.
4. 30 BC Two divine rulers, Cleopatra commits suicide, and her co-ruler son and Pharaoh Caesarian is presumed dead.
5. 27 BCE The end of the Roman Republic, it was this year that the senate conferred on Octavian the title of Augustus (The “Revered one”). “Divi filius” a Latin phrase meaning “son of god” was a title used by Augustus who was the grand-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar.
The Roman God Julius Caesar was assassinated, Cleopatra the Goddess and Queen of Egypt commits suicide, and their 17-year-old son, Caesarian, a Pharaoh is presumed killed.
This young boy was the eldest son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and had been declared by Caesar to be the next emperor of Rome. As a child, he was the personification of the God Horus, he ruled Egypt jointly with his mother Cleopatra, from September 2, 44 BC to August, 30 BC. The royal family of Cleopatra would have married with the Jewish Kings to maintain alliances; therefore, this child would also be a descendant of King David. I could imagine that some mystics of those times might consider Cleopatra not only a Macedonian, but also Jewish.
This 17-year-old Pharaoh was allegedly killed by Octavian, who would become the next Roman Emperor, and change his name to Augustus Caesar.
It could be said that the following historical events were triggered by the birth of Caesarean.
— The assassination of his own father Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
— A Roman civil war that would become a World War stretching from Greece, through the old Persian empire, Egypt, and ending in Israel.
— The suicide of his own mother, goddess of the Egyptians, and a Greek Macedonian Queen.
– The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Jewish dispersal from the promised land.
These very important events would have never occurred, were it not for the birth of this child.
Caesarion is omitted in the religious account we are told, but for the Egyptian cult of Isis and Horus, these events would have been critical. The cult of Isis, in particular, continued to be practiced in various parts of the Roman Empire, including Rome itself, well into the 4th century CE and would have been well known to those attending the Council of Nicaea. So, what happened to this child?
As told by the victors, the Romans who won this world war, this child was killed. Yet, there are accounts that the child was taken to India, as his mother Cleopatra had ordered.
The murder and suicides of these individuals, whom would have been seen as Gods to the people of this era, would certainly have affected things. These events, if included into the Christian message, would have had great significance to the Greek and Egyptian Gnostic people to whom the apostles were evangelizing.
From the supposed death or disappearance of this child in 30 BC to the final battles for Israel in 135 AD, we will see the Jewish Temple destroyed, Israelites sold into slavery, and dispersed throughout the Roman empire, as well as the life of Jesus Christ and his Apostles.
For the people of Israel, these times must have been of Biblical proportions. All major world religions would have seen this as a great message of some sort. The most secretive cults of the Roman Rulers, the Egyptian Priests, Zoroastrian Magi of Persia, Greek Platonists, Druids, the Cynics, Pythagoreans, Stoics and so on… these events would certainly affect all religions of the empire. I would say particularly affected would be the ruling class of Roman Mithridatic cults in Tarsus, from where the Apostle Paul would come from. These Mithridatic cults had many Christian similarities of worship which would later be incorporated into the Catholic Catechism.
The Egyptians had lost their God Pharaoh and would never be re-established… and the Jewish people had lost their Temple and promised land. Certainly, we should mention this history when we discuss Jesus Christ, but strangely we overlook it.
These historical events, when placed in the context of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, present a different perspective on the history and intent of our religion.
So what reason would there be to omit these historical events from the Christian account? I would say it is because the Christian account we have today is based on the Old Testament, it has Jewish foundations and propagated by Jewish Apostles. Although the Gnostic versions of this salvation story rejected the God of the Old Testament, this would not be the story that would be promoted by Rome. In fact, it was critical for the Roman Church to make this new religion centered on the God of the Jews. Consider this story of Christianity not as isolated to the First Century but as a story that continues up to today. From the act of Flavius Josephus of coming to the side of the new Caesar Vespasian, through the tax collectors of Matthew and Paul, Jews who worked as administrators and tax collectors for Polish feudal lords, or Israel today as the military arm of the West. You may consider the Diaspora as more of a relocation of administrators throughout the empire. Then in 312 AD, Constantine declared “In hoc signo vinces” (Latin phrase conventionally translated into English as “In this sign thou shalt conquer”) as a declaration of the full adoption of this administrative style. Consider the obvious: Christianity will make your servants docile, while the “chosen people” administer your realm, all well overseen by the Roman Catholic Priest class.
‘History is a set of lies agreed upon’ Napoleon Bonaparte (maybe)
If history is a lie, then our history should at least make sense, its parts should fit, in context Caesar should be as important as Christ, a world war should be included, and human motivations for power must be accounted for.
So, let's make up a new story, and to properly tell this story we must start with the creation account of Genesis.
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Once upon a time, a re-creation (two)
Egypt was the economic powerhouse of early civilization, and a central player of a biblical account that became the foundation of western religion. When you consider the cultural and economic power of Egypt with its proximity to the promised land, what do you think the probability would be that the Biblical creation story we tell ourselves was an Egyptian creation that was given to the Israelite's.
I would like you to consider the God mentioned in the Bible in light of the Egyptian Pharaoh God, Amun, and Moses as related to the Pharaoh Ahmose who expelled the Hyksos in the 16th century BC, as well as the later Pharaoh Akhenaten known for his development of a kind of early monotheism, who unified the Egyptian pantheon of Gods under one supreme God, Amun-Ra. Then add to this history the fact that Herodotus, Manetho, Josephus and other classical authors identify the Hyksos with the Hebrews.
When we add this background to the history of the Isrealites, the “One God” people of Moses, the Bible and the Jewish religion, have the potential of being an Egyptian, and later Persian fabrication.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" is one of the Ten Commandments found in the Hebrew Bible at Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 5:6. It is the central tenet of the Abrahamic religions and prohibits the religion's followers from worshiping gods other than the Lord. We know that the Egyptians were at about the same time in history also considering the single God theory. But you must note, the commandment says "no other Gods," indicating there are other Gods, so who is this God that is to be singled out for the people of Israel?
If I am saying that religion is an algorithm that produces behavior, then the question of what God is that of the old testament can be seen in the behavior of its people.
In this little creation story of mine... Adam and Eve lived in this perfect land we will call Eden. It was never too cold, plenty of fresh water, with food just waiting to be plucked from the trees. No need for clothes, no need for work, it was a good time until someone eats the wrong fruit.
Egyptian society or any society governed by a tyrant, establishing the authority of its supreme ruler is essential. In the biblical genesis mankind is punished for his disobedience, this creates an archetypal anchor to obedience. The most critical error any servant can make is to disobey. Any religion designed for a master-slave society must require a strong sense of obedience from its subjects, for in Egypt the Pharaoh is God, and must be obeyed.
Adam and Eve will have two sons, Cain and Abel, and Cain will kill Abel. The Cain and Abel account would repeat throughout history. Mankind would continue to kill each other for a variety of reasons, over and over. Nonetheless, the first family grew and multiplied.
Over time many would leave Eden and go east. Those who left would suffer the consequences of leaving Eden. They had to wear clothes to protect themselves from the elements. They made tools to work the land, and would cultivate dominion over the beasts. Life was a bit more difficult for them, but what does not kill you makes you stronger, so they prospered as well.
They worked in communities, and could talk to each other. They stood upright on two legs. They could out run all the other beasts, and could travel to far off places.
They were the cleverest of all the creatures on earth. They built communities of individuals, with a variety of personalities. The curious ones looked at the stars and would learn when to expect the seasons. These would become the wise men, the priests, who would keep their knowledge secret and pass it on from generation to generation.
They discovered that knowing when the seasons would come was valuable. With their knowledge, they could better provide for and defend the community. They would gain the trust of the people. These early mathematicians and astronomers would create our first religions, and will use religion to govern these early societies.
The difference between slave and master is culturally defined from the intrinsic “will” of a primates biology. The dominant male ape becomes the Pharaoh, and civilization will consist of tyrants that will control a community made of others enslaved who serve them.
Let us not forget that these are primates that lived in Eden, and would remain primates as they populate the world. What I am describing is the creation of our human civilization, which is simply how primates behave when they can talk to each other. No amount of education, or modernization can erase the intrinsic will and nature of the animal we are. Unless we first recognize our true nature which lies in the motivation that produces behavior, both individual and social behavior will be determined by our basic animal motivation, that which is sexual dominance.
Sexual dominance is ingrained in our ape DNA, and this motivates evolution and determines the nature of human civilization. More aggressive individuals will always enslave the quiet, polite, or meek. Only when we evolve away from a sex driven society will the absurdity end, and the meek will inherit the earth. Our competitive nature will evolve to one of compassion, we will actually produce equal justice, and feel infinite pity for the less fortunate.
Over time an aristocratic ruling class would grow along with the size of the community. In time the educated aristocracy would become God-like to all the others, and all would look to them for protection.
In the first 100 thousand years of human life, we had learned how to read the stars, and predict the seasons to plant our crops. The aristocracy had learned that they could create a "reality" for the people that served them.
Just as animals could be domesticated, they would domesticate people, slavery would become a normal part of life.
You see, even though we know we come from something in the past, we can only remember the past we have personally lived. When each of us is born we start afresh… we have no idea who we are or where we came from. You can tell us any past, or reality you wish and we will believe that reality.
Rulers had discovered that the history or religion they told their subjects would create their reality. A population could be given any story and it would become true. Lies would become the truth, and then defended by the very people you have lied to. Imagine that your parents never told you Santa Claus was not true, and made certain you were always fooled. Just like children we want to keep believing.
May I repeat this quote, "History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon," Napoleon Bonaparte (maybe)
Religion is a standard history you give to everyone in the realm, a story that unifies the community to its ruler. The Egyptian priest class were experts in eternal life, let's say... If you are a good Egyptian, the Priests can offer you eternal life. For Judaism it was a covenant from God, a chosen people and a promised land. For the Persians it was a struggle between good and evil and the eventual salvation and victory of the good God Ahura Mazda.
In the first century, for the Roman empire and its newly conquered Greek states the appropriate religion will be Christianity. Christians will get a combination of all the religions of the newly conquered Roman empire by Caesar, the Roman “Son of God,” Pontifex Maximus, Caesar Divi Filius Augustus. Christianity would not come from Augustus, nor any of the subsequent Julian family Caesars, but rather the clever successor of Nero, Vespasian who established the Flavian dynasty in 69 AD.
The Christian Logos incorporates its Trinity and Soul from the Greek Platonists, eternal life from the Egyptians, the struggle of good and evil along with Satan and an apocalyptic end times from Zoroastrian Persia, and finally central to the religion will be the Messianic call from the Jewish Torah. Christians will get forgiveness from sin, and salvation as long as they accept Christ, and the Logos as written.
I am getting ahead of myself, I will return to the start of civilization and the purpose of religion … those that knew this trick would be the most powerful of all, they would become the priest class. These priests would hold the truth of the past secret, and would keep it to themselves. They would create a fitting illusion of reality for the others, a reality tailored to make them willing servants. Entire civilizations could be put in their hands. They would keep civilizations in an illusion. Like Plato explains in his allegory of the cave, we become so trusted in our illusion that we would kill anyone that would bring us the truth.
The ruling class would be very cautious as to whom they would share knowledge with. They created elaborate initiations, and stages to go through to test if applicants were trusted to keep secrets, and were worthy of truth and knowledge. That's why, "the truth will set you free".
Ten thousand years ago, the people of the land of Eden were the Egyptians, and their river was the Nile. Further east of Eden would be the Sumerians, and Babylonians of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. To the North, nothing but barbarians. We make the mistake of overlooking the North when we consider early civilization, but those Barbarians must not be left out, for they will become the ultimate rulers, the true chosen people.
A calendar of the cosmos would be deciphered. Gods would be seen as the celestial bodies, becoming the central hallmark of all early civilizations. They studied and interpreted the universe and its God-Stars, which they believed controlled their reality.
The Chinese, the Indians of India, and the Indians of America, no matter where these wise men would go they would take their knowledge, given to them by their forefathers. They would govern their people as slaves and their people would love them as Gods. They would prosper from the ignorance of others. They knew they only had this power because of the ignorance of their subjects, therefore they must enforce ignorance. Secret societies and mystery religions would become the norm.
Most archaeologists say humans came out of Africa. Rivers are the easiest way to travel, especially if you go downstream. The most powerful early civilization was from the river where all humans had come, the Nile, in Egypt, they were the Egyptian Pharaohs. The High Priest-Pharaoh would be created in the image of his particular reality. This reality would then be given to the slaves, they would live and worship the Pharaohs reality. Time would begin with the Pharaohs' reign. Then the slaves would be told of the fantastic mythical and heroic deeds of the Pharaoh. The slaves would love the greatness of the Pharaoh, and call him God. They would till the soil for him, and would fight battles against other rulers from far off lands.
Although these Pharaohs were Gods to the slaves they governed... they knew that they did not create themselves. The Pharaohs had their own private belief. To them order was life, and chaos was what opposed life and they were who dictated the order on earth. They believed the greatest and most heroic of them were the personification of order, and must surely be touched by the Gods. Given the time and place, all this would make perfect sense to these people, great men would of course be seen as Gods. Even today, it's not difficult to feel superior when you are better educated, have more money, or power, you tend to see yourself as a superior breed. Then as today, power tends to make us think that all the other people on earth are here to serve us.
As great civilizations arose, their leaders would see themselves as the central cause of their civilization. Their domination of others, would of course, be the proof of their divinity. They were the closest to God, sons of God, maybe heroes of virgin birth, or engendered by Gods that would come from above to have their way with beautiful women. Fantastic accounts would reinforce the notion that God had put all the other people on earth to serve them.
This will be the standard by which the world works, until the time of the Greeks and their short lived Democracy.
We don't know why, but around 500 BC, throughout the world there was a radical new change in thinking. In Greece the pre-socratics created philosophy, and the first ideas for a democracy began. Confucius in China teaches kindness and equality to others, and places family above the state, and the Buddha will teach moderation and asceticism to India.
A transition in thought is occurring, yet will never really take hold. Advocates of freedom and justice like Jesus Christ, and Socrates are killed. The old primitive primate code of justice never changes... Justice is to be loyal and defend your allies, your troop, nation, or clan, all while harming all others. This is the code that will produce tyrants and empires... for empire after empire!
This barbaric notion of justice has remained, the divine right of kings is still something we contemplate, and little girls are still taught to want to marry a prince.
The entire methodology behind modern government stems from evolutionary conditions. All language, history and theology is constructed from basic animal desires, motivation, and behavior. The dominant ape was once called the Pharaoh and has evolved into the concept of Pope or President. The names may change but the “will” that makes us behave as we do has remained unchanged.
The truth is something very few people concern themselves with, only a minority care for anything beyond the quality of eating, shelter, and sex. Leaders have no incentive to provide higher education to a slave class, so the unfortunate aspects of slavery still persist although under the illusion of freedom.
The truth will transform our society. If Socrates said, "the un-examined mind is not worth living," then would not the same apply to the un-examined society. All our problems rest on the fact that we are more concerned about what is for dinner, than why we eat and exist in the first place, and if we do wonder about our existence we have a religion that tells us a lie.
As I hope you know by now, I wrote this history because I believe we are currently positioned to truly step into a new society, and have developed a method for direct democracy. If we use the internet and social media for targeted education, and we manage our economy as an open transparent direct democracy, we will eliminate the need for an alpha male, and tyrants will be no more. We could then actually live within a society that provides equal justice for all, a reality similar to what we have only imagined as utopia.