Many of my readers would be surprised to see the title of the article one the
one hand and on the other hand my usual preoccupations, the exact sciences and
philosophy. I shall show them however that there is no big reason to be
surprised of.
First
of all, I named the article Matters of Theosophy,
which exactly represents the philosophic part of theology. Theosophy has as main
fields of interest: The Universal Theosophy and Theosophy of Planet Terra.
Let
us briefly analyze the Universal Theosophy, or Pantheosophy. The Universe has
many, many billions of stars and billions of planets. Planets get cold quicker
than the heavenly body they come from. They pass through temperatures favourable
to life (megaera biotica). Thus came to life unicellular organisms and, as time
passed – pluricellular organisms, and quite diverse living creatures.
We
couldn’t tell whether these creatures have an animalomorphic appearance or
what they feed on. We just know that they exist, as the Earth couldn’t be the
only one to be blessed with life. On the contrary, we believe that in the whole
Universe there are thousands of planes populated with living creatures of which
there are some superior to us, technologically and technically speaking.
There
would probably also be creatures preoccupied with spiritual and ethical aspects,
others than the earthlings, but with interests similar to ours.
For
the time being, we know little about what happens elsewhere. That is why, until
possibilities of contacting other hetero-terrestrial beings are real, we have to
be happy with that much.
A
big hindrance on the way of exotic information consists in the impossibility of
augmenting the light speed (in void) over the limit of approximately 3,108
m/s. However, at the century turn and millenium turn, we shall change the
absolute speed’s limit. In laboratories, there already are calculations where
the subcuantic constant is C = c6, where c is the constant of light
in void. “If a ray of light needs 4.3 years to reach the Sirius star, with the
new constant it would reach us in 100 seconds only.”[1]
At
the same time as the megaera notion, there appeared the notion of
“multitude” and then the notion of “number”. The number was given the
capacity of permanence, of judging steadiness or of giving a simple law to
change something. The notion of number, especially of natural number, proves the
existence. Natural numbers remains constant with a species of plants or animals:
with the genetic code, chromosomes, number of stamens, petals, vertebrae, etc.
The number is the basic part of spiritual existence. It is the most
compulsory part but it also admits a few slight digressions that allow a law of
process to manifest itself.
During different eras of our planet, there can also be determined some
periodical movements. For example, the migration of the magnetic pole, plants
who are perennial (in botany field). It is also known the influence of our
natural satellite upon living organisms, the influence of seasons upon plants,
animals and people. Exceptional cases are known, such as sports, song, poetry,
medicine, inventions to be influenced by our natural satellite. All these are
exceptional cases.
It was but late that man started to devote himself to exact sciences or
abstract sciences, philosophy, logic, first notions in theory of multitudes,
geometry, theology and hence theosophy.
Along history of mankind, every continent was crossed by several
religions, which, with few exceptions, were displaying a certain progress, a
certain development. Buddha, Lao-Tze and Confucius did not believe in
supernatural or superhuman beings, neither did they claim to be doctors in
theology. They were just ordinary people, but how wonderful religions they
preached among their fellow people, how 3 million of believers they had and
still have! It is true that after their death they were made gods. Asian people
did not have totems and had no leaders to preach them what was good or bad in
art.
Even
since glacial eras and to our days, many herds of monkeys gather every evening
to peacefully watch the sunset, as though they wished to thank the Sun for
having given them enough food, drink and health.
If in Africa monkeys
“worship” the Sun, here, in Europe, dogs “worship” the Moon every night
with the full Moon. Dogs “speak”, that means they howl in their language,
they thank nature (and people), expressing their gratitude. It is the same thing
that happens to packs of other animals such as wolves, for example.
With humans, rational
beings with articulate speech, the problem of incantation was never put, and
yet, when people are happy, they sing.
With man, a social
being by definition, the causes of natural disasters should be attributed, to
his family starting from a small family to a larger family, namely to a family
agglomeration, to clans and finally to tribes. At the beginning, clans were led
by women, but population realised that raising children or looking after their
homes and households would better fit women; men should have hunting in their
care, should protect their homes from invaders and grant peace and prosperity to
their families.
In 1260 B. C., the
Jewish people, after having well lived in Egypt, was finally put in bondage by
Egyptians. The captive people wanted to leave Egypt and found Moses to lead
them. He put them out of Egyptians’ bondage and took them to Canaan, their
country in the time of Abraham. Moses’ attempt was a complete success. Passing
through the Sinai peninsula, Moses gave the Jewish people The Ten Commands, the
Decalogue, that is the bases of monotheist religion, which lasts even today. The
first three commandments refer to believer’s relationships with God. I shall
quote them below:
“1.
I am your God, who took you out of Egypt, the bondage house.
2. You shall have not other Gods but Myself. You shall not
carve a stone face, or other representation of things that are up in the heavens
or down on the earth, or in waters below the earth.
3. You shall not worship them or serve them, because I, your
God, am a jealous God who punishes the one who commits an impiety to Me or hate
Me up to their third or fourth generation, and reward the one who loves Me and
keeps My commands up to their thousandth generation.
4. You shall not take in vain your God’s name, as He will
not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.”
As the Jewish people
grew larger and more civilized, laws also grew in number. There are 613 laws, of
which 365 are interdictions and 248 are allowances.[2]
Next, we shall see how
a sacerdotal current can be born or generated. According to Zoroaster, there is
a mixture between Heaven and Hell (the Devil). Zoroaster (Zarathustra) lived
between the years 660 –583 (according to Casartelli and Jackson) and was the
first thinker who opened the path to accepting dualism in Philosophy. He was at
the same time a forerunner of philosophic dialectics. With Zoroaster we attend a
revolution of habits and ethics. He combined dualism with monotheism and from
the combination resulted the supreme Creator contrasting with Ahura Mazda the
spirit of goodness and with Angra Manyu the negative or negativistic spirit,
that are truth and lie, but both equi-probable and divine. What is interesting
to know is that good would finally be the winner.
In some circumstances,
the principle of good is also called Ormuzd and the principle of bad is called
Ahriman.
Zoroaster’s theory
foresees the resurrection of the dead. The bodies are separated from the soul
and therefore after death good people’s souls arrive in Heaven and bad
people’s souls arrive in Hell.
We thought as
interesting the following excerpt of Mircea Eliade: “In gathas, Ahura Mazda
comes first. He is good and saint (spenta). He created world with his thought.
(Yama 31:7.11) which is equivalent to a creation ex nihilo.”
In what regards
“transformation and transfiguration of the world”, Zoroaster had the strict
conviction that it will be done during his life. His wish wanted it to be
otherwise. When he was 77 years old, men disguised in wolves killed him in a
temple of the Fire. (Should it have been the revenge of Ahriman!)
Nowadays there still
are nine hundred thousand adepts of the Zoroastrian religion living in Iran and
India.
Between the years 563
and 483 B.C. Buddha lived. He belonged to the clan of Gauthama of the Saky tribe
“Sategremur”, that is the wise people of Saky. He was a prince by birth.
When he was 30 years of age, he gave up all his fortune and became a pauper.
Whilst meditating under
a fig tree, Buddha decides not to stand up before having obtained the Awakening.
In the third night he awakened and started to preach to his disciples the
sublime truths:
1.
Birth is suffering, getting old is suffering, illness is suffering.
2.
The spring of suffering is desire.
3.
When suffering is gone, sex is made without lust.
4.
Delivery of suffering is the way of the eight following branches: the
righteous look; the righteous judgement; the righteous talk; the righteous
behaviour; the righteous deeds; the righteous memory and the righteous
meditation.
“For twenty four centuries, millions of people have followed this way hoping
to obtain deliverance from suffering”. (C. F. Potter)[3]
The Nirvana theory and transcendence of things (namely of the Universe, that is turning to nothing, annihilation) seems interesting to me, though. Not less spectacular are images of Buddha’s house demolished and its roof being broken…meaning the whole Universe being turned to nothing, that is annihilated. (Mircea Eliade)[4]
Buddha is an adept of
transmigration of the soul, the same as his Greek antique contemporary fellows.
Buddha or, to be more accurate – Buddhism had a professional development as
well. Monks organized it by hierarchical sermons, without any priests, that is
the reason why we cannot classify Buddhism as a religion.
Buddhism expanded a lot
in the states of China, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Japan, Mongolia and all the way to
California.
A different
pseudo-religious term has a few similar features. It existed at the same time as
Buddha, its name is Confucianism and its initiator was Confucius or K’ong
Fu-Tse (the master K’ong) (551 – 478). It had initiated any religion or had
no priests either. “If there is
no religion in the current meaning of the term, the Confucianism is no
philosophic system either.”[5]
The basic books of
Confucianism are the following: The Book
of Changes (Yi Jing);
The Book of Odes (Shi Jing);
A Book of the Edict (Shu
Jing); A Memorial of Rites (Li Ji);
The Book of Music (Yueh
Jing) and Spring and Autumn in the Country of Lu (Lu Guo Chun-Qiu), of which it seems that the last one was written by
Confucius himself.
The doctrine Confucius preached was a humanistic and philosophic doctrine. That is why he was called “the first humanist”. He borrowed a few of Moses’ Ten Commands, such as “Respect your father and mother so that you may long live in the country that your Lord gave to you”.
The golden rule that
Confucius left to us all was the following “You shall not do to others what
you would not like them to do to yourself” and which was translated to all
languages that were spoken or are still spoken. In Romanian language, it is
translated as: “Do not do to others what you wold not like others to do to
you”. Another saying that Confucius left to us is “Tyranny is more ferocious
than a tiger”.
Confucius had three
thousand disciples. He taught them Music, History, Literature and Politics. He
avoided to speak to them violently and to talk about supernatural topics.
There was a historical
meeting between Confucius (34 years) and the great poet and philosopher Lao-Tze
(84 years of age). Neither Lao-Tze nor Confucius believed in gods or other
supernatural beings. We have from Lao-Tze a single book called by its
translators “The Book of the Path and of the Virtue” or “The canon
of Wisdom and Virtue”.[6]
We shall now quote a
few lines of Lao-Tze:
“You
shall think of the virtuous one as such and
of
the one who is not virtuous as a virtuous man as well.
This
is the acme of virtue:
To
retort good deeds to injuries.”[6]
Confucius
was not agree with this opinion, as he used to say:
“Retort the right measure of justice to injuries and do good
when good is done to you”[6]
There can be well seen the antagonism between ethics matters.
Educated people from
civilised countries of the time were aware of the printed books written by great
philosophers-ethicists such as Zoroaster, Buddha, Lao-Tze and Confucius. All of
us had in mind philosophies that would finally give birth to a revolution,
exactly in the point of convergence of the three continents. It seems that
everything was prepared for that. But this is the problem! Zoroaster considered
that God created this Universe ex nihilo. In Buddha’s conception, Nirvana is
the turning to nothing (annihilating) of all that exists. Meanwhile, Lao-Tze
offers us an ethics of forgiveness, of charity, of repentance. The first adepts
of the future Christian religion found as unexplored and unused yet the domain
of the famous “great sin”, that is the apple, the forbidden apple standing
for “the origin sin”. “Eritis sicut Deus,
sciente bonum et malum.”[7]
What was that God would
have wanted Adam to do – to eat or not to eat the apple? Definitely to eat it.
If Adam and Eve would have not eaten it, then they would have certainly become
some good and nice cattle and maybe some angel would have come to milk Eve every
day. This would have not been God’s pleasure.
Four centuries have
passed now since The New Testament was
firstly put together and it is still on its way of being perfected. The very
name of Christian and the idea of Christian, generally speaking, came forth only
in Justin’s manuscripts, Athenagora and Teofil’s in the years 145 – 150.[8]
In 1034, at the request
of the emperor Henry the 2nd, fililoque was added to the Credo. It is
the same date that marks the beginning of the schism.[9]
A pontifical definition
of the Purgatory dates from the year 1259.[10]
The following ideas
were not taken from religions:
Transmigration of the
souls, meaning that the soul is bounded even after death and it would not
transmigrate to a different being. The body left by the soul must be buried, not
burnt and the soul is kept until Messiah’s arrival, and that would be the
second Resurrection for a new union with the body, for the eternal life.
The resurrection of the
dead is proven by the following legends:
a)
Ishtar’s legend – taken to the Inferno, she manages to bring back the
living ones on Tammuz.
b)
The legend of Marduk, who dies in Babylon. He arrives in the Inferno
where he rests for three days, and he would finally rise from the dead being
sprinkled with sacred water.
c)
Attis’s legend tells that Attis dies during his own celebration. Many
weep for him, and in the third day a light would appear beside his tomb. A
priest would see the empty tomb. Attis has risen from the dead.
There are lots of such proofs of resurrections: Adonis, Dionysos and of course, Jesus Christ.
Healing of the ones ill of incurable diseases is the attribute of the ones gifted with godly gifts, and most of such cases are told in the Gospels and in the Lives of the Saints.
At the beginning of the
7th century, Arab peoples desperately wished to see the miraculous
apparition because they had “a religious sense, but not a religion”[11].
They wanted a unique religion, well organized, having an axiomatic theology
monotheistic and alone. Three godly figures have been worshiped at Mecca –
Allat, Aluzza and Manat. They were also called Allah’s sisters, of which Allat
was considered to be Allah’s wife as well.
Once upon a time an
Arab called Kutam appeared in Mecca with his family, his wife and their son.
Since immemorial times
there was in Mecca a meteorite called Caaba by the Arabs. This meteorite had
upon Kutam miraculously influenced Kutam. Kutam changed his name into Mohammed,
that is “The Praised One”.
Mohammed started to
meditate and when his meditation was over, the Coran was born – the Arabs’
Bible containing 114 surats (chapters).
The Coran established
the bases of a monotheistic religion. It is also the Coran that imposes the
rules of living, the family rules, hygiene rules and the most important, the
social and the political conduct.
The Islam (the
monotheistic religion of Mohammed the prophet) as well as the Mosaism, are
strictly monotheistic religions, whereas Christianity is not a monotheistic
religion because of the Trinity.
As one could see in the above article, conclusions can be drawn. Thus, as shown,
from prehistoric ages, people and perhaps even certain animals needed
assistance, real or virtual, endowed with supernatural powers, with whom they
could be able to communicate, to deliberate, to whom to address at need or who
be able to help when you needed. A sort of guardian angel to pray to.
With superior animals,
as well as with human beings, fear and anguish (the undetermined fear, always
caused by a threat distinctively imagined by the subject) come out. They search
for a quiet place, preserved from all possible danger, and yet proper for
hunting, undetectable for other hunters or pray animals. The place must be near
a source of water (or a larger still water). In wintertime, it has to be a warm
hut, and in summertime there have to be proper places for the young ones to play
in (kids).
The species “homo”
is a social one by birth. At the beginning, primitive people understood each
other by signs with a somewhat semantic content, and, as years, centuries and
milleniums passed, by speech. At last, speech became more expressive, inflexions
of languages appeared and it became understood by all that belonged to the same
clan or tribe.
They natively suffered
from fear. They feared the Sun, the Moon, the stars, but seeing that they
followed their trajectories almost regularly, people became used to them and
they became gods for them eventually. Primitive religions appeared this way. As
man started to know things, started to travel, he became more civilized,
obtained a degree of culture, religions became more refined, too, and, as it
always happens, controverts, schisms, heresies and disputes between sciences and
religions appeared.
Bright heads of
sciences and religions realized how imminent the danger of a dispute between
religions and sciences could be. It was high time that in conferences or
councils parties be split: the ethic and social problem on the one hand, and
scientific-technic-informatics problem on the other hand.
It is used with almost
all religion founders to talk about the notion of
“soul”. According to materialists or other philosophic currents, this
notion should be erased from vocabularies.
Although my scarce
contacts with some of the latter, I also sometimes read the Bible. In Genesis,
2.7, I am quoting: “And then God took dust out of the earth, made the man and
breathed life upon his face and man became a living creature.”
There is no definition
more precisely uttered with none of religion founders. We think that the soul
fully exists. It exists as concrete, palpable thing that is not depending on
some extranatural or supernatural forces. During mating (coitus), the soul to be
born (if it will) is ejaculated with the sperm. This is the soul that would
exist till death.
The soul as defined above, has no importance upon destiny. We cannot foresee which would be the sex either, which from the thousands of ovules while mating would be finally fecundated.
To stop here, we state that the soul exists, and if all spiritual factors would state that it is their duty to watch over the moral state of our contemporaneous society, I think we should live a better and a more secure life. If spirituality would be not denigrated, but sharing the same aim, peace, quiet and relative prosperity would be good to God Himself, now and forever.