Slave Species of god

by Michael Tellinger

  So the Age of Philosophers in China produced Confucianism and Taoism. One maverick Taoist called Mo Tzu, who was also one of the greatest philosophers of ancient China, was apparently promoting a concept of ‘heaven’ and a personal ‘god’ to his followers. This was a fascinating development in a culture which was obsessed with meditation, Yin Yang and ‘chi’. But this cultural explosion to seek a closer relationship with one's personal god infiltrated the new society. Could this have had anything to do with the events described in the Sumerian tablets? When Marduk, the god of Egypt, travelled the world, telling humans that he was the ‘only and supreme god above all’, terrorising humans into absolute obedience, and demanding their trust, faith and fear in him? The Taoist Church even went as far as developing rites and services for the atonement of sin. A little too close for comfort when compared to what kind of relationships the Sumerian gods had with their followers. Declaring your community's sins to the gods was necessary to receive rewards and mercy from the gods. Taoists had to pay five pecks of rice for redemption and all their sins were recorded in writing and a copy was made available to ‘heaven’. What a perfect system to keep tabs on your human slaves. This is breathtaking stuff. It seems that this was the time when the more brutal gods of Sumer arrived in the East to reap some of the rewards of Inanna's creative civilisation of Humankind. They brought with them the more barbaric customs which they had imposed on the humans of the Near East. The days of the philosophers were gone, just as they were kept in their place in Greece by brutal gods, the new gods of China and the Far East had arrived with a vengeance.

  It seems that the promises of immortality which Marduk made to the Egyptian pharaohs had spread all over the world, even the Taoists became obsessed with immortality. Obviously the ever-present gods of Sumer were there to ensure that the humans were fully informed about their passage into the afterlife, if they obeyed. Some Taoists even believed that they could avoid death altogether, and simply pass into the ‘land of immortals’ by following specific regimens and rules.

  Jainism. Origin circa 420 BC.

  Jainism has many similarities to Hinduism and Buddhism and it also developed in the same part of the world. Jains believe in karma and reincarnation, as do Hindus, but they believe that enlightenment and liberation from this cycle can only be achieved through asceticism. The virtue of a great ascetic could protect a city from an enemy, so it was fruitless to attack such a city until the ascetic had been corrupted or destroyed. There is a story of an ascetic who generated such powers through his penance, that it caused the gods to send down a ‘celestial damsel’ of great beauty to seduce him and expend his accumulated potency. There we go again! The gods of heaven who keep interfering with Humankind. We know from the Sumerian tablets that the Anunnaki females or ‘goddesses’ as they were seen by humans, were ‘breathtakingly beautiful’. Their offspring which they conceived with mortal men, were equally beautiful. Here we have another perfect example of where mythology crosses paths with popular religion, and yet we hold onto what we call religion, and we discard the unexplainable as ‘myth’. How very convenient. Jainism follows similar beliefs as other religions: that time is cyclical; that the universe undergoes growth, decline, destruction, and re-creation perpetually. The Laws of Manu speak about the Four Ages that follow each other, dating the ages back to the last rebirth of Humankind some 12,000 years ago. What a coincidence! Is that not what the Sumerian tablets say as well? When the Great Flood destroyed the world and Noah (Ziusudra) survived in his ark to start repopulating the world again? Another one of those coincidences that historians simply push aside!

  The Kalpa Sutra Of Bhadrabahu - Lives Of The Ginas - Life Of Mahavira deals with the birth of their new prophet. We read some remarkable things about the gods of the time and their influence on the people, and even interaction between gods and the people. The desire for ascending to heaven is very strong and just like Sumerians, these people worshipped the gods in their ‘celestial abodes’. The gods must have convinced the earthlings in this part of the world that they were sinful, just as the Sumerian humans were informed:

  “Obeisance to all Saints in the World!

  This fivefold obeisance, destroying all sins, is of all benedictions the principal benediction.

  In that period, in that age the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira… where he had lived for twenty Sagaropamas till the termination of his allotted length of life, of his (divine nature, and of his existence (among gods)…”

  “O beloved of the gods, what, to be sure, will be the happy result portended by these fourteen illustrious, great dreams?”

  But they wanted real quality education and nurturing for the new prophet to be born:

  “And this boy, after having passed his childhood, and, with just ripened intellect, having reached the state of youth … he will be versed in the philosophy of the sixty categories, and well grounded in arithmetic, in phonetics, ceremonial, grammar, metre, etymology, and astronomy, and in many other brahmanical [and monastic] sciences besides...O beloved of the gods; that matter is really such as you have pronounced it….”

  “In that period, in that age, Sakra, the chief and king of the gods, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the destroyer of towns, the performer of a hundred sacrifices, the thousand-eyed one, Maghavan, the punisher of the Daitya Paka, the lord of the southern half of the Earth, the lord of the thirty-two thousand celestial abodes… who wears spotless clothes and robes… whose cheeks were stroked by fine, bright, and trembling earrings of fresh gold [the most prosperous, the most brilliant, the most mighty, the most glorious, the most powerful, and the most happy one]…in the celestial abode… he who exercises and maintains the supreme command, government, management, guidance, direction, and sovereign power and generalship over the thirty-two thousand gods of the celestial abodes, the eighty-four thousand gods of a rank equal with that of himself, the thirty-two chief gods, the four guardians of the world, the eight principal queens with their trains, the three courts, the seven armies, and the seven commanders of these armies…”

  It strikes me that those were very specific kinds of utterances, with little doubt in the mind of the writer, as to who was in charge and of what; and exactly how the power structures on Earth were organised. While these writings are sacred to millions, some arrogant historians discard them very quickly, and relegate the content to realms of mythology. How could this be possible? It is either a living religion, passed down over thousands of years, or all of the other religions should also be classified as myth.

  The concept of ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence is a fundamental principle of Jainism, because any act of violence against a living thing creates negative karma which will adversely affect one's next life. It was also one of the principles preached by Jesus, when he suddenly emerged in Canaan at the age of 29. Many scholars have however denied that Jesus ever preached the concept of rebirth and any references to it have been removed from the New Testament. The founder of the Jain community was Vardhamana, the last Jina in a series of 24 who lived in East India. He attained enlightenment after 13 years of deprivation and committed the act of ‘salekhana’, fasting to death, in 420 BC. You may remember that Mahatma Gandhi started a fast of this kind to get the warring Muslims and Hindus to stop fighting. Jains follow fruitarianism. This is the practice of only eating that which will not kill the plant or animal from which the food is taken.

  Islam. Origin circa 622 AD.

  Islam was founded around 622 AD by the Prophet Mohammed in the city of Medina. Islam is an Arabic word which means ‘acceptance; surrender; submission; or commitment’. I found these descriptions fascinating, mainly because it echoes the words of the ‘god of Vengeance’ in the Old Testament. We should not be surprised by this because the patriarch of the Muslim faith is also Abraham. Although Islam is the youngest of the world's great religions, Muslims do not view it as a new religion. They believe that it is the same faith taught by the prophets Abraham, David, Moses and even Jesus, but somehow the Jews and Christian
s got it wrong. The exact date of Mohammed's birth is not known, but scholars generally accept that he was born in Mecca circa 570 AD. Islam sees Mohammed as the last prophet whose role it was to formalise and clarify the faith and purify it by removing ideas that were added in error. He married a rich widow 15 years his senior and came under the influence of Jewish and Christian teachings. He developed a reputation for honesty and wisdom. Like all Arabs, Mohammed was a member of a tribe. The tribe he belonged to was called the Quraysh and his tribal upbringing played an important part in his role of uniting Islam behind a brand new philosophy.

  In pre-Islamic Arabia the Bedouins were not notably pious, but they had certain religious practices. There were a number of spirits and demons whom they propitiated (whose favour they had to win on a constant basis). What is important to note is that they were highly influenced by the ‘astral religion’ of the ancient Semitic people who led them to recognise deities associated with heavenly bodies. Most of these were goddesses with names like al-Lat; al-Uzzah; and al-Manat. Mohammed's tribe was no exception, and they also worshipped a number of different deities or gods. One of the gods which the Bedouins worshipped was Allah, but he was by no means their main god and at that point did not feature strongly and his function was rather vague. It becomes evident that during Mohammed's structuring of Islam, he did not introduce a new name or a new ‘god’, it was a god who was already reasonably well established among the Arabs and Bedouins. What astounds me is the way in which humans, and specifically historians, can discriminate between these Arabic gods. While one of the ancient mythological gods by the name of Allah was elevated to the ‘supreme’ god status, the others were summarily demoted and remained in the lesser ranks of mythological deities. How is that possible? Do our historians know something we don't? Or is it just their ignorance shining through again?

  The Quraysh was a powerful tribe which rose to take control of Mecca. They built sacred shrines and erected their own deities in many places throughout the city. But the Arabs also made pilgrimages to other shrines erected around the peninsula. A popular spot was a shrine to god al-Manat at Ukas, not far north of Mecca. But the most important centre of pilgrimage was a rectangular stone building known as the Kaaba, in the valley of Mecca. The principal god of the Kaaba was Hubal, but there were other gods associated with the shrine as well. This pre-Islamic pilgrimage to Kaaba, with its specific performance of rites, makes up most of what is practised by Muslims today. They would visit their shrines during certain months of the lunar calendar which were considered sacred. During this time, all fighting was forbidden and renunciation of hostilities allowed trade to flourish and festivities to take place. Mohammed claimed that he was a Hanif, a group who believed that they were of spiritual descent from Abraham and were highly inspired by monotheism.

  So those were just some of the events which led up to Mohammed's encounter with the angel Gabriel and some of the thinking that went into the philosophy of Islam. Before Mohammed received his calling, Arabian paganism was showing great signs of decay. The Meccans were worshipping not only Allah, but a host of other deities, whom they referred to as “daughters of Allah”. This should not be surprising as the rest of Humankind were doing the same in distant parts of the world. Although Mohammed disagreed with the teachings of the Jews and Christians he was impressed with the concept of ‘one god’ or monotheism. He liked to retire to a certain cave on Mount Hira to meditate and pray. Mohammed disclaimed that he could perform miracles but he did claim to be the messenger of God himself. What is most fascinating about how Islam received its holy scriptures in the form of the Koran, are the circumstances surrounding the event. It is commonly accepted among Muslims that Mohammed was illiterate, which is one of the ‘miracles’ associated with the delivery of a complete book by him. On one of those days in the cave or outside the cave under a tree, the exact place is not certain, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed and instructed him to “Recite”. The following lines are fascinating because they are almost identical to what some of the ancient Sumerian clay tablets tell us about the creation of the ‘Adamu’.

  “Recite in the name of your Lord who created, created man from clots of blood… Who by pen taught man what he did not know.”

  The book of Genesis tells a very similar story about the creation of Adam, but the most graphic description we have of this first creation of man comes from the clay tablets that predate the Bible and the Koran by as much as 4,000 years. It describes how the Anunnaki gods “created the Adamu from the African clay… and Adamu's skin was the same colour as the dark hue of the clay.” But what is extremely disturbing is the way in which the ‘angel’ approached Mohammed. It is recorded that after the first time the angel commanded him to “recite in the name of God”, Mohammed did not respond, probably out of fear or confusion? You can be the judge of that. The angel grabbed him by the throat and shook him violently while repeating the command again. After the second command, Mohammed still did not respond, so the angel proceeded to choke him until Mohammed was compelled to do what he was told. It now makes complete sense why Mohammed was ‘so disturbed by his experience’ and why at first he was filled with doubt, even wondering if he had lost his sanity or whether he may have been possessed by a malignant spirit. The outcome of this experience and an extended period of ‘Koranic’ revelations to Mohammed, was the complete works known to Muslims as the “unquestionable words of God himself” – the Koran. I was always told a different story, one where Mohammed went into the cave for 40 days and during that time he wrote down the words as dictated to him by the ‘angel’. That seems to be the popularised ‘fairytale’ version, not what probably happened. The knowledge that was bestowed on Mohammed in the cave, came to him in the form of revelations over an extended period, it did not all happen at once. It is said that the words of the angel “were inscribed upon his heart” and he could suddenly remember them and recite them in moments of inspiration. During Mohammed's life these verses would come to him from time to time and be inscribed upon palm leaves, stones or any material that came to hand. In his English translation of the Koran, N.J. Dawood describes it as “the earliest and by far the finest work of classical Arabic prose”. The final collection of Mohammed's revelations in the Koran was completed during the caliphate of Umar the second Caliph, but the authorised version was only established during the caliphate of Uthman, his successor between 644 and 656 AD.

  The two sacred texts of Islam are the Koran, which are the words of Allah, “the One True God”, as given to Mohammed; and the Hadith, which is a collection of Mohammed's sayings. Although the Muslims accepted Jesus as a prophet, they accused the Christians of blasphemy for worshipping him as the son of God, when they were strictly commanded to “worship none but Him”. But Mohammed did not have it easy at the beginning of his preaching career. At first the Meccans ignored him; but as his following grew they feared him. Eventually they began to oppose him and Mohammed became somewhat of a hated individual in Mecca. The levels of intolerance grew so high that in 622 AD Mohammed and his followers were forced to leave Mecca. Fortunately, he managed to negotiate a favourable deal with the leaders of a city called Yathrib, in order to be accepted and given protection. Soon after this, Yathrib became known as Medina, the city of the prophet. Since this was a decisive turning point in the life and fortunes of Mohammed and his followers, it was adopted as the starting point of the Islamic calendar and his emigration from Mecca is known as the ‘Hegira’.

  From this point Mohammed proclaimed the one unique God who created the universe, established its order, controlling its fate by his hand. Allah demands sole sovereignty and submission to his ordinance. There was a lot of emphasis placed on the horrors awaiting the disobedient ones who were ungrateful to their lord and refused submission. The Koran speaks vividly of the torments of hell and paints a gruesome picture of what will happen to those who do not obey the explicit word of Allah. Does this sound familiar? I, for one, do not see any real difference between what the g
od of the Old Testament was saying to humans, and what the words of Allah are saying in the Koran. I mentioned before that I find the Old Testament to be a very scary book. But, only when I read the Koran, did I realise that there is a scarier book. Let me not beat about the bush here, for those who have not read the Koran, I urge you to do so, and then ask yourself if you were not scared out of your wits. It surpasses the Bible by a long way. The ‘God of vengeance and retribution’ rises to greater heights in the Koran. It is truly remarkable how similar the rewards, which are promised to the righteous, are to the biblical rewards of heaven and paradise. In the book of The Winds of the Koran it states that “when the day of judgement comes… The righteous will dwell amidst gardens and fountains, for they have done good work.” The day of reckoning in the Bible is perfectly echoed in the book of The Resurrection of the Koran, which tells us that on the day of resurrection, “There shall be no refuge. For to your Lord, on that day, all shall return. Man shall on that day be told of all his deeds, from first to last. Indeed, man shall bear witness against himself, plead as he may with his excuses… On that day there shall be joyous faces looking towards their Lord. On that day there shall be mournful faces, dreading some great affliction.”

  It is clear that the god of the Bible and the god of the Koran must have been related. And so they are, for if Abraham is the patriarch of Islam, as he is of Christians and Jews, their god must surely be one and the same! They certainly seem to preach the same death and destruction to Humankind every step of the way. Every statement and every innuendo is filled with the kind of premeditated control factor that only humans are capable of. The constant threats against Humankind smell of an anxious individual who is desperately trying to impose his authority on the lesser species which he created for his own device. The way in which Abraham interacted with his god in the Bible, is echoed strongly some 2,600 years later in the relationship between Humankind and the ‘god’ of the Koran. While Jesus had turned the ‘god of vengeance’ of the Old Testament into the ‘god of love and forgiveness’, the poor Muslims were dragged all the way back to the mentality of Abraham and their new ‘god’ became even more schizophrenic. The ‘god of mercy; the gracious one; the compassionate’ but also the ‘god of punishment’. Suddenly the issues of equality among all humans, which the prophet Jesus had preached, were overridden by the new ‘word of god’ which told us that women are not quite as equal as men. There are very clear directions on how to deal with a wife who commits some arbitrary oversight, and that a woman's testimony is not quite as valuable as a man's. In the book of The Cow 2.98, it reminds us that “God is the enemy of the unbelievers.” I find it immensely unpleasant and horrifying to constantly get bombarded by ‘threat after threat’on every page of the Koran of how ‘god’ will punish the non-believers, and yet in the same paragraph we are told that “if you fear God, he will grant you salvation and cleanse you of your sins and forgive you.”