Friday, January 02, 2009

the reins of the psyche; the bar of freedom

A brief recollection of history might be helpful in understanding how governments adopt religious movements and then use religious symbolism to manipulate public perspective.

Let's see, Hitler is the primo go-to example, as he embraced local "pagan" and "christian" religions to militarize the nation for war. How he excluded Judaism is beyond me...

Then, there was the Emperor Constantine who, while facing the decline of his nation due to an influx of "christian" cults from the Middle East, daringly declared Christianity to be the religion of the New Rome. This New Roman government still exists, although it doesn't have the power it once had. Back in the day, we had The Dark Ages.

In fact, the governing bodies of the nation of Israel are not different. Back in the day (i.e., the Bible), "The Law" was consistently at odds with "pagan practices." Today, Israel is at war with a people that worship the same God (different name), and share the same sacred ancestral father (Abraham). Judaism and Islam are practically brothers, but it's not in the interest of government to abide this way.

Oh, the list goes on: Communist China and Buddhism, The British versus Hinduism, The Babylonians, the Egyptians, The Zoroastrians... and to just spray pepper spray in the face of religious freedom, the same is true of ALL the New World civilizations too, like the Olmecs, The Maya, and the Aztecs. Sometimes, humans are just... human, even if we don't know it.

Now, one may wonder why "The Law" has always been interested in co-opting religious movements. It's because the human mind is a very powerful, complex, and valuable thing. We are genetically designed to abide by strict social hierarchies, so much so that we rarely become aware of it. In the natural world, this is an adaptation. In the social world, this is an opportunity for individuals to obtain and maintain great social power. As people go, there will always be those seeking more control. Often, they do not see that the only thing they truly have control over is their own mind, and even that is sketchy.

We humans have inhabited Earth for a very long time. What we call history is just a very brief and highly biased account of our time on this living planet. Beyond religion and government, the path to spiritual enlightment is through the forests of knowledge, and in this respect, our ancestors set the bar.

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