Had a blast yesterday on a raod trip to Wolfville. I had to show off my alma mater and favourite town in the east to my roomie, Niko (from BC). We drove down on a day so perfect it sparkled. The lovely views of mudflats and blomidon cliffs were a treat. We stopped at Eos --greatest little health food store ever -- lots of neat baskets and kitchen trinkets as well as a grandma's pantry of herbs and spices. We had to get tea! I picked up "spicy orange" and she found some wonderful "jasmine green" tea.
After loading up on teas, spices, soap and fresh bread; we toddled next door to The Odd Book. I find books in here that cannot be found anywhere else. I found several used (and much loved) reprints of key primary texts in the area of ancient and far eastern religions, dolls and anthropology. I feel a paper coming on.
I also bumped into Dr. Paula Chegwidden (retired!) who said the Soc Dept at Acadia has changed dramatically since I left. Jeanette Auger and Diane Looker have both retired. Ann-Marie is still there!
*Sigh* It felt good to dally in dappled green sunlight again.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
In the Beginning was the Word....
I think this would be a good place to begin. As most of us are already quite familiar with the Genesis version, let’s start with a slightly different perspective, specifically as found in “On the Origin of the World”(aka. “The Untitled Text”) as translated by Bethge and Layton. This document is one of several recovered with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library.
What I find most exciting about these recovered documents, is the opportunity to get a different perspective on the kinds of issues our ancestors grappled with. Where did we come from? How did this great, wide, complex world around me come into being? What drives us humans to do the incomprehensible things we do? As a human being and as a social scientist, I have struggled to find meaningful answers to these same questions. I’m well aware of evolutionary theory and its supporting evidence. This is quite sufficient to satisfy my need to understand how human came to exist, but it was clearly unknown to ancient authors.
Ancient authors of the Nag Hammadi texts, scriptures, and learned works outlined several explanations which seemed plausible to them based on the knowledge and beliefs of their contemporaries. Reading the texts from a 21st century perspective may understandably leave the modern reader scratching their head over how anyone could ever have believed any of the narratives presented. Furthermore, we may ask ourselves what any of it has to do with us today. Quite a bit, I think.
Today, on the secular side of life, we are more comfortable using physics to understand the cosmic forces of creation & destruction. Back in the days before the laws of physics were sufficiently fleshed out to provide the cognitive structure we needed, ancient metaphysicians had their own grasp of how things come into being or are destroyed. In this text, the author expounds on precisely how Faith and Wisdom (from the Greek: Pistis and Sophia) came to be the primary forces of creation. Wisdom is here understood as the expression of the will of Faith. This is an important idea because this very force is what is described as accountable for dividing the human realm from the realm of the divine/perfect immortals (above) and the infinite chaos of the abyss (below). The author spent considerable effort on detailing the order of events (what came first and why) as well as how that order impacted the will and faith of subsequent creations.
In 21st century terms, we can understand that verbal expression is here proposed to be a force of creation accessible to some degree by gods, angels and humans. Like much of ancient writing, including the events portrayed in the bible, these bizarre and unsubstantiated descriptions of unseen realms and events are vigorously expounded as the truth. This ancient author is clearly well educated, and refers with comfortable familiarity to several other scholarly works throughout his opus. Why does the scholar seem to believe these things?
Like most conclusions which can only be reached through deductive reasoning, we will want to examine the assumptions which provided the foundation for the author’s logic. We understand the author believed that verbal expression gives humans the power to create. We know that very few people were literate – thus only these educated elite would be able to create or receive this form of verbal & visual communication. Therefore, whatever the author wants to be true, real, and of material substance; s/he has only to express it verbally as a deliberate act of will and faith, and it will be so. It’s an important concept. It implies whatever anyone of us consciously calls into being by word and deed is literally born into reality as a physical manifestation of the Faith-Will creative force. What these authors never mention, of course, is that these “creations” are completely arbitrary constructions.
This assumption has been with us for a very, very long time. Think for a moment of the earliest cave paintings. The hungry hunter wants to catch a nice juicy deer, so he enters a womb-like environment (cave) to speak the magic words, and paint the image on the wall. Sure enough, when next he goes hunting (or eventually) he does indeed find the very deer he had magically created in the cave! The ultimate Life Imitating Art! This assumption is at the very core of several world religions and belief systems.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the verbal expression of the mantra “om mani padme hum” in combination with the contemplation of its full meaning, is the source of power which transforms a normal person into an enlightened (god-like) being.
What I find most exciting about these recovered documents, is the opportunity to get a different perspective on the kinds of issues our ancestors grappled with. Where did we come from? How did this great, wide, complex world around me come into being? What drives us humans to do the incomprehensible things we do? As a human being and as a social scientist, I have struggled to find meaningful answers to these same questions. I’m well aware of evolutionary theory and its supporting evidence. This is quite sufficient to satisfy my need to understand how human came to exist, but it was clearly unknown to ancient authors.
Ancient authors of the Nag Hammadi texts, scriptures, and learned works outlined several explanations which seemed plausible to them based on the knowledge and beliefs of their contemporaries. Reading the texts from a 21st century perspective may understandably leave the modern reader scratching their head over how anyone could ever have believed any of the narratives presented. Furthermore, we may ask ourselves what any of it has to do with us today. Quite a bit, I think.
Today, on the secular side of life, we are more comfortable using physics to understand the cosmic forces of creation & destruction. Back in the days before the laws of physics were sufficiently fleshed out to provide the cognitive structure we needed, ancient metaphysicians had their own grasp of how things come into being or are destroyed. In this text, the author expounds on precisely how Faith and Wisdom (from the Greek: Pistis and Sophia) came to be the primary forces of creation. Wisdom is here understood as the expression of the will of Faith. This is an important idea because this very force is what is described as accountable for dividing the human realm from the realm of the divine/perfect immortals (above) and the infinite chaos of the abyss (below). The author spent considerable effort on detailing the order of events (what came first and why) as well as how that order impacted the will and faith of subsequent creations.
“And when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, thereFrom: James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library, rev. ed. Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1990.
appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, androgynous, having great authority within him, and ignorant of whence he had
come into being. Now when Pistis Sophia saw him moving about in the depth
of the waters, she said to him, “Child, pass through to here,” whose equivalent
is ‘yalda baoth’. Since that day, there appeared the principle of verbal expression, which reached the gods and angels and mankind. And what came into being as a result of verbal expression, the gods and the angels and mankind finished.”
In 21st century terms, we can understand that verbal expression is here proposed to be a force of creation accessible to some degree by gods, angels and humans. Like much of ancient writing, including the events portrayed in the bible, these bizarre and unsubstantiated descriptions of unseen realms and events are vigorously expounded as the truth. This ancient author is clearly well educated, and refers with comfortable familiarity to several other scholarly works throughout his opus. Why does the scholar seem to believe these things?
Like most conclusions which can only be reached through deductive reasoning, we will want to examine the assumptions which provided the foundation for the author’s logic. We understand the author believed that verbal expression gives humans the power to create. We know that very few people were literate – thus only these educated elite would be able to create or receive this form of verbal & visual communication. Therefore, whatever the author wants to be true, real, and of material substance; s/he has only to express it verbally as a deliberate act of will and faith, and it will be so. It’s an important concept. It implies whatever anyone of us consciously calls into being by word and deed is literally born into reality as a physical manifestation of the Faith-Will creative force. What these authors never mention, of course, is that these “creations” are completely arbitrary constructions.
This assumption has been with us for a very, very long time. Think for a moment of the earliest cave paintings. The hungry hunter wants to catch a nice juicy deer, so he enters a womb-like environment (cave) to speak the magic words, and paint the image on the wall. Sure enough, when next he goes hunting (or eventually) he does indeed find the very deer he had magically created in the cave! The ultimate Life Imitating Art! This assumption is at the very core of several world religions and belief systems.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the verbal expression of the mantra “om mani padme hum” in combination with the contemplation of its full meaning, is the source of power which transforms a normal person into an enlightened (god-like) being.
“Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the
practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can
transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech,
and mind of a Buddha. It is said that you should not seek for Buddhahood outside
of yourself; the substances for the achievement of Buddhahood are within."From: http://www.tibet.com/Buddhism/om-mantra.html
If we speak and act like god – we become god-like in our ability to transform
ourselves and our environment. Amulets, spells, charms, and the entire field
of alchemy are rooted in the directed expression of faith and will.
Can anyone think of other examples in magic or religion
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
De-coding Christianity (an Atheist perspective)
What’s my Bias?
I’ve been an atheist for over 20 years. Before that, I lived in a fundamentalist christian family (So fundamentalist some of them formed their own branch). I have read the bible several times (once as a “believer” and several times since as a scholar). I have 9 years of post secondary education in the areas of social psychology, anthropology and heritage ethnography. I am at peace with my own spiritual journey.
What am I trying to accomplish?
After my rage against the church had subsided to embers, and I felt safe enough to speak my mind, I realized there were some interesting insights to be gained from the bible and other sources of ancient spiritual literature. The insights often had nothing to do with the “good news” believers are so anxious to impart. What I found useful were the bits used to justify and “sanctify” some of the worst atrocities committed by the church. Finding the source of this convoluted logic was a challenge I needed to tackle because it helps me better understand where some of the really frustrating stuff in our culture came from. As the bible has been edited and re-edited so many times, it was important I pull together a more complete picture by drawing on contemporary (new testament era) primary sources as well as the rich body of ancient literature which pre-dated any form of the bible we would be acquainted with today.
What did I read?
Translated editions of the Nag Hammadi Library
The bible – both protestant and catholic versions
The pseudographia, apocrypha and omitted gospels
Other ancient writings (the bibliography is under construction)
Competing ideologies & early Christianity
Questions asked & Areas investigated
Women & their curious ways
You know that bit in Genesis 6:2 where we have a few brief verses about angels breeding with human women? I could never figure that bit out! And why was it put so close to “In the beginning”? Why does the church get so antsy about what women are and are not permitted to do? Why were Eve and Pandora punished so harshly for being curious? Why is knowledge so strictly guarded? Why didn’t anyone mention that witches are women who ignored god’s rank and obtained knowledge from “unauthorized” sources? Why would anyone want a god that denies its supplicants knowledge? I found some interesting stuff on the subject….
Heathens, heathens everywhere!
The christian church gets it’s panties in a twist over heathens more than any other religion I’ve come across. A heathen is simply someone who doesn’t share the same faith as you. If you are a Pagan – then I’m a heathen. If you are a Christian – then I’m a heathen. If you are an atheist – then I’m your buddy and the Christians and Pagans are the heathens. See how it works? Most religions have a fairly tolerant view of outsiders – but not Christianity! Where did the fanaticism come from?
Wisdom
I like the idea of wisdom. I love reading wisdom literature – from the Vedas, rabbinical texts, the bible, Greek philosophy, an assortment of Egyptian and Persian gnostic writings as well as the very earliest written records on the subject. What I noticed as I read through all these is the startling variety of assumptions which act as the foundation for each author’s claim to wisdom. What is wise? Why do we think that? What did our ancestors think was wise and why did they think that? Is there any wisdom that has stood the test of time? Is there any wisdom that instructs usefully outside the context in which it was created?
Creation, Control and the power of Words.
Heavy stuff, eh? Not only all that, but we can toss in the roots of sympathetic and contagion magic, hierarchy and authority. It’s all there to be found in early sacred literature. The more I understand where this stuff comes from, the better I am able to identify and refute it when encountered today. Why are some counter-productive behaviours valued so highly? How much of this still influences how North Americans organize themselves at work and in politics?
I’ve been an atheist for over 20 years. Before that, I lived in a fundamentalist christian family (So fundamentalist some of them formed their own branch). I have read the bible several times (once as a “believer” and several times since as a scholar). I have 9 years of post secondary education in the areas of social psychology, anthropology and heritage ethnography. I am at peace with my own spiritual journey.
What am I trying to accomplish?
After my rage against the church had subsided to embers, and I felt safe enough to speak my mind, I realized there were some interesting insights to be gained from the bible and other sources of ancient spiritual literature. The insights often had nothing to do with the “good news” believers are so anxious to impart. What I found useful were the bits used to justify and “sanctify” some of the worst atrocities committed by the church. Finding the source of this convoluted logic was a challenge I needed to tackle because it helps me better understand where some of the really frustrating stuff in our culture came from. As the bible has been edited and re-edited so many times, it was important I pull together a more complete picture by drawing on contemporary (new testament era) primary sources as well as the rich body of ancient literature which pre-dated any form of the bible we would be acquainted with today.
What did I read?
Translated editions of the Nag Hammadi Library
The bible – both protestant and catholic versions
The pseudographia, apocrypha and omitted gospels
Other ancient writings (the bibliography is under construction)
Competing ideologies & early Christianity
Questions asked & Areas investigated
Women & their curious ways
You know that bit in Genesis 6:2 where we have a few brief verses about angels breeding with human women? I could never figure that bit out! And why was it put so close to “In the beginning”? Why does the church get so antsy about what women are and are not permitted to do? Why were Eve and Pandora punished so harshly for being curious? Why is knowledge so strictly guarded? Why didn’t anyone mention that witches are women who ignored god’s rank and obtained knowledge from “unauthorized” sources? Why would anyone want a god that denies its supplicants knowledge? I found some interesting stuff on the subject….
Heathens, heathens everywhere!
The christian church gets it’s panties in a twist over heathens more than any other religion I’ve come across. A heathen is simply someone who doesn’t share the same faith as you. If you are a Pagan – then I’m a heathen. If you are a Christian – then I’m a heathen. If you are an atheist – then I’m your buddy and the Christians and Pagans are the heathens. See how it works? Most religions have a fairly tolerant view of outsiders – but not Christianity! Where did the fanaticism come from?
Wisdom
I like the idea of wisdom. I love reading wisdom literature – from the Vedas, rabbinical texts, the bible, Greek philosophy, an assortment of Egyptian and Persian gnostic writings as well as the very earliest written records on the subject. What I noticed as I read through all these is the startling variety of assumptions which act as the foundation for each author’s claim to wisdom. What is wise? Why do we think that? What did our ancestors think was wise and why did they think that? Is there any wisdom that has stood the test of time? Is there any wisdom that instructs usefully outside the context in which it was created?
Creation, Control and the power of Words.
Heavy stuff, eh? Not only all that, but we can toss in the roots of sympathetic and contagion magic, hierarchy and authority. It’s all there to be found in early sacred literature. The more I understand where this stuff comes from, the better I am able to identify and refute it when encountered today. Why are some counter-productive behaviours valued so highly? How much of this still influences how North Americans organize themselves at work and in politics?
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