11 posts tagged “religion”

Biblical scholars have long realized that the flood myth in the Bible is compilation of two older but parallel stories, one from the northern kingdom of Israel (called the E source) and the other from the southern kingdom of Judah (called the J source). These stories were combined by some priestly group (the P source) in Jerusalem after the northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria in 720 BC. The influx of northern refugees into the south required that a new common history be created by merging the slightly different traditions of their common religion. The editorial P source was very concerned with an orderly history which explains its emphasis on genealogy and the covenant theology which gives a framework in which to understand Israel's history (both is triumphs and defeats). A review of a book that attempts to recreate the J source can be found here. What follows is my attempt at separating the two parallel sources.

Rationale for the Flood

J source

6:5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

P source editorial introduction

9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
 

E source

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Comments

In this New International Version of the Bible "LORD" is a translation of the Hebrew word "Yahweh" while God is a translation of the Hebrew word "Elohim". These two different terms for the divinity are the primary characteristics of their respective sources.

Construction Commands

E source

13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark (P editor insert) —you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

J Source

7:1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

 5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

Comments

Verse 15 in Hebrew is:  300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high (about 140 meters long, 23 meters wide and 13.5 meters high).

Notice the difference between the sources in the number and type of animals that Noah was to bring onto the ark.

Entering the Ark

E Source

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

J Source

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

P Source adds this editorial summary

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

The Flood Begins

J Source

 17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

E source

18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.  24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

The Flood Ends

E source

8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

J Source

 6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. 13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

Comments

Notice that the drying of the earth took much longer in the E source (more than 10 months) than in the J source (two months). Apparently the rest of the E source flood ending was deleted since it does not go all the way to the dry land stage.

Out of the Ark

E Source

 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

J Source

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

 22 "As long as the earth endures,
       seedtime and harvest,
       cold and heat,
       summer and winter,
       day and night
       will never cease."

Final Comment

Notice how well the story line of each source flow together, a flow that is lost in the combined version.

Also notice that this flood myth is not based on a raging river flood analogy. Instead the extra water came from a combination of springs and rain that smoothly rose.

In an era when many many moral rules seem to be arbitrarily based on culture we need a deeper foundation.

Simple observation shows that humans are motivated by various and often different interests and desires. We know now that these interests are a combination of genetic, cultural, and upbringing factors. Initially one can not say one interest or motivation is inherently better than another. To do so is to arbitrarily value one interest or motivation more than the others then use that one as the rule by which others are valued.

If all individual interests and motivations are equally valued then society as a whole must maximize the expression of these interests. Consequently this maximization process thus should be the source for all moral guidelines because  the expression of certain interests by individuals will inhibit the expression of other interests by other individuals. In addition immediate expression of certain interests by a single individual can inhibit the expression of a greater number of their interests or some more highly valued interests over a longer term.

Since this morality involves working well with others in groups one should not be surprised that its core has been provided by our own evolution.

The maximization of the group experiential requires that each human develop wisdom which involves a deep understanding of how human emotions work within oneself and others combined with a knowledge of how the world works (its causal flows). All religions value wisdom yet wisdom never seems to be at the primary concern.

Wisdom stands upon three legs. The first leg is the development of one's spirituality, the understanding of oneself in the fullest sense realizing one's emotions and motivations are some unknown mix of genetics, culture, upbringing, and immaterial conscious sensations. In practice this requires the development of a certain level of emotional detachment so one can investigate ones own motivations and (often unexpected) emotional responses. This requires one seek out and explore emotion laden experiences. Our brains will inevitably put our experiences into some sort of mental framework that most closely matches what we feel depending on which frameworks we have run across in our life. To suppress this  direct experiential "natural" framework in preference to a framework that is supposed to be true based upon culture or rationality is to inhibit one's spirituality. Rationality and emotions are handled by two different regions of the brain so one should not expect them to be coherent. There is an appropriate time for each.

The second leg for developing wisdom is the understanding the motivations and emotions of others. This requires the development of empathy (love) in preference to a quick judgment. The key here is the realization that everyone may have a different spirituality, only some of which you may directly understand for unless you have experienced something similar you will really not understand it. Yet the maximization of the group experiential means you must accept it unless it is inhibiting to the long term experiences of everyone. Those with similar spiritual experiences will tend to group together to form various religions or spiritual movements so freedom of religion is a basic moral issue.

The third leg is the understanding causal flows, the cause and effect of everything. Like the development of spirituality this also requires the development of a certain level of emotional detachment so that one can analyze worldly evidence without having one's judgment blinded by one's own cultural biases. The scientific method with its mathematical theories that describe causal flows is a method that has proven itself successful at this. If one must make decisions that affect others one had better understand causal flows well for the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. One should not try to convince others to believe a certain way unless one is prepared to present evidence of causal flows. Often various religions revert to immoral coercion or propaganda methods to gain converts instead of allowing each human to discover their own spirituality in their own time. One can never have too much education although such education does not need to be formal.

A new article in U.S.A. Today reports how the Vatican is clamping down on ideas presented by its own theologians. In this case their ire is leveled at Rev. Peter Van of Georgetown University.

Phan explored salvation and other themes in his 2004 book, Being Religious Interreligiously, the focus of the Vatican inquiry. The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the book is "notably confused on a number of points of Catholic doctrine and also contains serious ambiguities," according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Among the chief concerns, said the independent Catholic weekly: that Phan's writings could be interpreted as saying non-Christian faiths "have a positive role in salvation history in their own right, and are not merely a preparation for the Christian Gospel." A committee of U.S. bishops is conducting a separate inquiry into Phan's work.

This seems to be in opposition to the new Popes way of thinking.

Earlier this year, Benedict released a document reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, reiterating themes in the 2000 Vatican document Dominus Iesus. That document states non-Christians are "in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation."

"You can boil it down pretty simply," Fessio said. "Who has the final say in on what Catholics must believe? The answer is, 'not the theologians.'"

Yet the Jesuits have sprung to his defense.

Phan has declined comment on the investigation. Officials at Georgetown, the nation's oldest Catholic university, issued a statement saying the Jesuit school "embraces academic freedom and supports the free exchange of ideas in order to foster dialogue on critical issues of the day, especially those related to faith, ethics and international affairs."

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown, said the Vatican too often views the Catholic theologian as working in an echo chamber, repeating back church teachings and documents.

The process of debating theology can be messy, but better to endure the messiness than stifle thought, said Reese, who was forced to resign as editor of America magazine after it published articles challenging church teaching.

"If you knew a company where the executive leadership was not on speaking terms with the research division, would you invest in that company?" Reese said. "That's what we have in the Catholic church today. The hierarchy is very suspicious of the theologians and the theologians are very suspicious of the hierarchy. And that's a very unhealthy situation."

My review of this book covering the origins of the Spanish Inquisition can be found here. Yet the Inquisition's treatment of various groups provides insight into the mentality of cultural defense, a phenomena now seen is several Islamic states. The conclusion of the book summarizes this well:

"In Spain, the civil power was not content to simply back the Church. It took the initiative in repression and granted those agents privileged status. The Council of the Inquisition was one of the great state bodies on a par with the Council of Finances and the Council for the Indies. The confusion of the temporal and spiritual spheres contained the seed of one of the most dangerous temptations of the modern world: the tendency to make ideology the obligatory compliment of politics. In Nazi Germany and in the Communist regimes, to be considered a good citizen it was not enough to pay one's taxes and obey the country's laws; it was also necessary to adhere to the dominant ideology, on pain of being regarded as a suspect."

The author, Joseph Perez, then goes on to list the many similarities of these "cultural purity" (my term) regimes such as the use of secret trials with secret accusers and secret charges, guilt by association, objective complicity (using phrases similar to those of heretics made you guilty no matter what the context of their use),  guilt from not reporting others, public confession of these supposed crimes, and punishment extending to one's family.

The Rationists

The Inquisition began burning books in 1497 when it ordered the court in Valencia to publicly burn all books related to  Judaism, medicine, surgery, and other sciences as well as Bibles written in the vernacular. Valencia resisted this order for the time being but it was carried out in Barcelona (page 181). The following years saw all Arabic works including Korans burned. By 1511 all Islamic and all Jewish texts were officially banned although most medical and philosophic works were spared.

The rise of the printing press scared the Catholic church as evidenced by the papal bull of May 4, 1515 (the Inter sollicitudinis) which while praising the printing press goes on to recommend measures designed to prevent "thorns from growing among the good plants and poison from mixing with medicine"  (page 180). This eventually led to Catholic institutions and nations making lists of banned books. The French Sorbonne led the way in 1544, then the University of Louvain in 1546. The Republic of Venice made its list in 1549. The list from the Catholic Church dates from 1551.

The first Spanish Inquisition banned book list dates from that same year. Over time these lists kept getting larger. In 1559 the banned list included 701 books. The banned books in the vernacular included 14 book by the humanist Erasmus, 18 translations of the Bible, 13 catechisms, 20 Books of Hours, 10 prayer books, 5 books on religion, 4 books on history, 1 on medicine, 1 on botany, 36 on spirituality, and 19 literary works.

In 1572 the Inquisition declared that it would not follow the Pope's list of banned books but only follow its own list (page 183). In 1583 the banned book index listed 1,315 books plus corrections in others in which pages or paragraphs were to be blocked out. A new category in this list were books involving magic, astrology, and witchcraft and those involving disrespect for the leaders of the church. In 1632 it banned all works by Copernicus who suggested a sun centered universe and any subsequent works related to that thus preventing Spain from taking part in the scientific revolution.

Erasmus, whose books were banned in 1559, tried to use rationalism and spirituality as a way reform the Catholic church enough to re-united it with the Protestants led by Martin Luther. In opposition to the Catholic Church he attacked its dogma and empty ritual that reeked of superstition without scientific or Biblical foundation. In opposition to Luther he defended free will and argued against schism. Initially the works of Erasmus gained widespread popularity in Spain until they were squashed by becoming associated with the mystical movement of Illuminism.

The Mystical Illuminists

Illuminists, in the tradition of mystics throughout history, gave inner experience priority over external dogma. They declared they were motivated and inspired directly by the love of God. Their most extreme members declared that because God dictated their conduct they no longer had any will of their own and therefore they could not sin. Their more moderate members came together for Bible study and seem to have independently come to the Protestant conclusion that one did not need external rituals to have a relationship with God or Jesus, one could have a spiritual relationship directly. Consequently, they rejected the authority and dogma of the Catholic church and its traditional forms of piety.

From 1525 on the Inquisition moved forcefully against them. The only thing that the followers of Erasmus had in common with the Illuminists were the rejection of dogma and the desire for a more personal spirituality but this was enough for the two movements to be considered as one by the Inquisition, especially once some Illuminists started claiming they were followers of Erasmus in the hopes of fending off the Inquisition.

The Witches

In contrast to the mysticism of the Illuminists which directly challenged the dogma of the church the mysticism of  witches was mostly viewed as silly superstition, perhaps because of the claims which an illiterate people made for them such as walking through walls and shrinking their bodies. In general by 1539  the Inquistion had wrested authority for dealing with witches from most of the local authorities (page 79). In 1554, Valdez (the head of the Inquisition) stated his belief that episodes of witchcraft stemmed from weak women taking on an imagined role because they could be made to confess to anything. In most cases the best thing was just to send them home (page 82).

Because of this attitude, persecution of witches was much less in Spain than elsewhere in Europe. For example, in the cities of Cuenica and Toledo torture was seldom used on witches and of the 307 witch trials that took place no death sentences were ever passed. In the province of Galacia between 1560 and 1700 out of 2,203 trials only 140 were witch trials. All but 2 witches were released after a simple confession of error. In the city of Cordova the demonic charge of witchcraft was almost never mentioned, instead the charges were that their magic could influence love, effect cures, or discover secrets. Of these witches, 5 were men and 74 were women with the women generally being between ages 25 and 35.

Yet this tolerance seems to have faded over time for the last death sentence handed out by the inquisition in 1781 was to an old witch known as the Blind Zealot who had confessed to seducing young clerics and performing magic.

This is a book by a noted Spanish historian who has been able to extensively research the original documentation. While persecutions for Christian orthodoxy are common throughout European history the Spanish Inquisition is the first example of state mandated persecution in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire outside of the Papal States.

Between 1478 and 1502 Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon created the Inquisition with the permission of the Pope, the expelled the Jews, and they forced the Muslims of Castile to convert of Catholicism. Previous to this both the Christian and Muslim states tolerated their non-majority religions but did not give those following the minority religions equal rights with the degree of tolerance depending on the whim of the rulers at the time.

The intolerance of the second wave of Muslim invasion of Spain (the Almoravids, and the Almohads) which occurred around 1100 A.D. drove most of the Jews into Christian Spain who were welcomed by the rulers since they brought learning and commerce. The decline of Muslim civilization in Spain began at this time.

Jewish persecution in Spain and the rest of Europe did not begin until the 1300's when the stresses of overpopulation and plagues (like the Black Death) left society looking for explanations. At the time most people believed that they were being punished by God and one of their sins was the tolerance of non-believers in their midst. The first large wave of Jewish persecution (the Pastoureaux crusade) began in France and spread to Spain in 1321 (page 6). In 1328 a sermon by a Franciscan monk led to a riot in the town of Estella where the houses of Jews were sacked and the owners killed. Competition for power also fed these flames of persecution as when the nobles of Castile accused King Peter of being too friendly to the Jews. These nobles instigated the Jewish massacre in the city of Toledo in 1355.

A nearly Spanish wide Jewish pogrom began in 1382 (page 8) when a power vacuum upon the death of the King of Castile allowed an Archdeacon to organize the destruction of Synagogues and kill any Jews who resisted. Those Jews who could fled abroad to North Africa, the the still tolerant Spanish province of Navarre, France or Portugal. Those who could not flee tended to convert to Christianity (about half). Between 1419 and 1422 the Kings of Castile and Aragon brought this persecution to an end by once again allowing the remaining Jews to openly practice their faith. By this time only about 100,000 Jews remained in Spain (page 12).

Freed from discrimination the converted Jewish families (the Conversos) did well economically yet the general public never forgot that they were "different" so when the next round of economic hardship occurred they once again became the targets of destruction and death. In 1449 a demagogue used this scape-goat strategy to overthrow royal authority in the town of Toledo for several months. He burned the houses of his opponents and decreed that all political offices could only be held by "Old Christians". This discrimination was roundly condemned by the Pope Nicolas V yet in 1467 the same thing happened again in Toledo with the houses of Conversos burned and the occupants killed. In 1473 the same thing happened in Cordova but with the great lords themselves defending the conversos in the street battles.

When Ferdinand and Isabella came to power they felt a need to restore order. First in 1480 they segregated the Jews into their own separate living quarters with guarantees of safety if they only left them during the day. Yet this did not address the problem of the Conversos. Several scandals had been reported that cast doubt on the authenticity of some conversions (page 17). The most notable example involved the powerful Cabellera family in which the head of the family who died in 1461 never stopped reciting Jewish prayers and always observed the Jewish sabbath on Saturday. In 1475 the leader of the Dominican Friars in Seville gave a report to Isabella with evidence that the conversos there were not "true Christians". In 1477-1478 the Catholic sovereigns visited Seville themselves to investigate the situation. Isabella was not convinced the problem warranted state intervention yet Ferdinand became convinced this was a real threat to state stability.

Related to this is the Catholic cannon law that is still in effect today which states that once one receives baptism one is a Christian forever. This idea is still in the Catholic Catechism and is the reason why the sacrament of baptism cannot be repeated. Thus those who are baptized yet do not follow orthodox Christian practices are guilty of heresy (page 17).

The Catholic sovereigns got permission from Pope Sixtus IV in a bull dated November 1, 1478 allowing them to appoint inquisitors. Yet the sovereigns delayed two years before actually initiating this project in the hope that intensive teaching and evangelism would avoid this step. This effort did not produce the desired results so on September 27, 1480 they appointed the first inquisitors. This state office was not abolished until 1834.

When this happened about 3,000 conversos fled the country, another 8,000 fled out of the cities to the lands of the great lords for protection. In Seville between 1481 and 1488, the Inquisition killed 700 with numerous others sentenced to imprisonment. The cruelty and travesty of justice at the Inquisitorial trial horrified Pope Sixtus IV who in a letter dated January 29, 1482 stated that his authorization did not cover what was actually happening. Yet on February 11, 1482 he allowed the inquisition to go forward on the following conditions: that the office could no longer keep the names of the accused secret, that the accused could appeal the sentence to Rome, and that the inquisitors were to send regular reports to the Bishops. King Ferdinand would not agree to these conditions and the Pope eventually backed down and allowed the Inquisition to go on.

The book then continues with the grisly history of the Inquisition until it was finally dissolved.
 

Date
The date in which the Bhagavad Gita was first written can be determined accurately based upon language analysis. I quote below from the scholarly translation by Winthrop Sargent (published by State University of New York Press in 1994) who in his book provides a literal translation of the Sanskrit in one column, in another column he provides a dictionary of alternate meanings to the various Sanskrit words, and who at the bottom of the page gives his own preferred translation into English.

"The Bhagavad Gita, in its written form at any rate, is generally thought to date from the second or third centuries A.D., being considered a later interpolation in the long epic, the Mahabharata, most of which describes and India of an earlier period, possibly 800 B.C." (page 4)

The reason for this conclusion is the grammer of the Sanskrit used. The long compound words of Classical Sanskrit (400 to 1500 A.D.) have not year appeared although a rarely a Classical Sanskrit grammar form will appear which in only to be expected from written transmission. This earlier Sanskrit called Epic-Puranic Sanskrit probably originated around 500 B.C but was only started to be written down after 300 B.C. Before that was the Vedic Sanskrit (1400 to 300 BC).

Purpose

The purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to show there are many way to spiritual liberation (inner peace).

Book One introduces the moral dilemma of life in which one is often forced to choose the lessor of two evils. In this case the warrior Arjuna must chose between fighting and not fighting.

Book Two is the Yoga (teaching) of knowledge in which inner peace comes from understanding everything earthly is transient and thus not worthy of attachment.

Book Three is the Yoga of action in which inner peace comes by the control of unrestrained passions by mastering the Self.

Book Four is the Yoga of the renunciation of action in knowledge in which inner peace is obtained from certain knowledge (faith) no longer having doubts.

Book Five is the Yoga of Renunciation in which inner peace is obtained by no longer experiencing negative emotions such as desire, fear, and anger.

Book Six is the Yoga of Meditation in which inner peace is obtained by merging one's inner self into the Divine.

These next yogas have more in common with western religious tradition in the form of early Christianity than with the early eastern religious traditions.

Book Seven is the Yoga of Knowledge and Discrimination in which inner peace is obtained by worshiping and knowing Krishna (God).

Book Eight is the Yoga of Imperishable Brahman in which inner peace is obtained from serving Krishna (God) via study of the Vedas (scriptures), sacrifices, austerities, and gifts. From that one will gain eternal life by merging with the All (Brahmin).

Book Nine is the Yoga of Royal Knowledge and Royal Mystery in which inner peace is obtained by being devoted to Krishna with the knowledge that such devotion will bring one to Krishna.

Book Ten is the Yoga of Manifestation in which inner peace is obtained by realizing everything comes from Krishna.

Book Eleven is the Yoga of the Vision of Universal Form in which inner peace is obtained by receiving grace from a Lordly Krishna in his human form.

Book Twelve is the Yoga of Devotion in which inner peace is obtained by combining all the characteristic described in the previous books.

Now the books begin discussing metaphysics mixing eastern and western concepts.

Book Thirteen is the Yoga of Distinction Between the Field-Knower and the Field in which the Self is distinguished from material nature.

Book Fourteen is the Yoga of Distinction Between the Three Gunas (types of personality). The three Gunas are: Rajas - passionate, emotional: Sattva - truthful, pure, realistic; and Tamas: darkness, slothful.

Book Fifteen is the Yoga of Supreme Spirit identifying all powers with Krisha.

Book Sixteen is the Yoga of Distinction Between the Divine and Demonic Destinies.Those devoted to desire, anger and greed will go to Hell.

Book Seventeen is the Yoga of Distinction of Three Kinds of Faith. Actions not backed up by proper motivations lead to Darkness.

Book Eighteen is the Yoga of Renunciation. Those who teach these secrets will come to Krishna, the Lord of all beings.

 

This is a little experiment in cross posting to find out the main reasons why you identify yourself with your religion. This is not meant to be a discussion comparing the religions, it is only meant to identify the main features of your religion that really "get to" you. As such it is more of a psychological investigation.

So why are you Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, or Wiccan?

This post was inspired by my reply to this post in Stephen's blog.
 
Science is really a methodology for discovering truth that seeks to eliminate our own internal biases and worldviews from the equation. Things like repeatable experiments, control groups, isolating the variable you are testing, and so on. Therefore the scientific methodology applies everywhere where those concepts can be applied. Where those concepts cannot be applied can be recognized then the best we can do is simply list multiple plausible less certain theories where their only test for truth is internal consistency. But the truths found by science are much more certain, especially when put into an information processing theory like quantum mechanics or finite state automata, so scientific truths set limits on non-scientific truths.

In the original blog post one can see that religious types put their own non-scientific truth above scientific truth which is wrong if one seeks to maximize their own and their group's security by knowing the most certain truth. They find more security and contentment (that along with sex and food acquisition are our deepest motivations from which all other motivations arise) in believing a myth that appeals directly to those emotions than in believing in a higher certainty of truth. In the end humans, like all animals, are emotion driven.

Those areas of human inquiry where the scientific methodology can't be applied would seem to include most things outside of our universe. Our finite universe was created within something eternal about 15 billion years ago yet all matter is confined to our universe according to the equations of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics in that both space and the quantum amplitude (responsible for defining the pathing of matter) goes to 0 when matter goes to 0. Another big area that can't be precisely measured is the mental (emotional and rational) states of our own brains. Related to this is our own conscious sensations.

One argument for the existence of God as a thinking emotional being (as opposed to some sort of force) is that He designed the universe and then He created it in the Big Bang. This brings up a lot of questions that have never been answered by those who support this view.

Is the structure that forms the intelligence of God really simpler than the universe? Even our own brains are not well understood yet God's brain must be lots more complex in structure. Is a complex structure compatible with eternity? How did this structure come about and who or what designed it?

Compared to the brain the structure of the universe was very simple at high temperatures shortly after it was created in the Big Bang. As the universe cooled its forces allowed the universe to self-assemble.

Also God must have had some emotional need to create the universe. What is that? What is God's emotional make-up anyway?

And lets not forget angels and demons and so on that must have some sort of non-material brains also. What forms their brains and their neurons, etc. What about all the biochemistry needed for emotional states?

The matter in our 3-D universe is well suited for such things, can the same be said for non-material higher dimensional spaces where these beings are supposed to reside?

So any ideas?

The apocalyptic heaven on earth ushered in by a future messiah in Judaism and ushered in by the second coming of Christ in Christianity is not unique to those two groups although the other examples presented here could have been inspired by the Bible. This idea is called Millenarianism and it seems to develop when any society experiences oppression. A weaker form occurs when a society comes into contact with another society it perceives as more desirable in some way.

Some examples of the strong form of Millenarianism are:

The Native American Ghost Dance Movement. This movement started in the 1890's around the visions of a charismatic shaman. The main version was peaceful co-existance among all peoples but a form popular among the Lakota Sioux promised the removal of all white Americans from their land.

The Moslem Shi'ite Belief that Muhammad al-Mahdi will return sometime in the future and save humanity. The minority Shi'ites have always felt oppressed by the Sunni Muslim empires.

Some examples of the weak form of Millenariansim are:

The south seas Cargo Cults: Most of these cults originated shortly after WWII due to the encounter of the south seas island cultures with the wealth of the modern world during WWII. These cultists used sympathetic magic (building runways) to bring back the time when cargo and wealth were abundant. Also see this and this.