History to year one
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie."
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Introduction.
An algorithm is a set of instructions, or rules of a process. Religion is an algorithm, it is the set of rules that we use to define behavior, it gives forum to our local culture, bonds a community, and is the most important factor to the nature and quality of civilization. We are more affected by what others believe, than by whatever we may choose to believe, therefore we should have a religion that is truthful, pastors that can discern truth, and all be very religious people, who pay close attention to what the Pastor says to our children, and community.
Society behaves according to what its individuals believe, and religion is what we use to teach a belief to the society we live in. In general people are both proud and ignorant, they do not question nor discern what they are told, and will fight to defend their lies. A population can be easily manipulated, a trick that has been well known by those few in power since the word religion was first uttered.
Therefore If a society malfunctions, if we see injustice, it is because the algorithm, or the religion and beliefs of society are faulty. If we want a good life within a society that is not dysfunctional we must modify the religion of the land until it provides the desired effect.
The western Judeo/Christian-Islamic model of religion is a remarkable algorithm which has served to enslave a peasant class for almost 2000 years. Based on superstition, promoting racial superiority, subjugating women, and discriminating against the uninitiated. It is this algorithm, or set of instructions, which made our Western civilization behave as it has throughout history, it has both ruled us, and failed us for many years. While philosophy and science have moved ahead, religion is dogmatic and changes slowly, this has left us with a belief that is better suited for the middle ages, and is no longer appropriate for our current society.
In the 19th century we began to recognise this fact, as was notably pointed out by Friedrich Nietzsche .
"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? — .
Nietzsche speaks to the fact that the "Age of Enlightenment'' began an erosion of our belief, and that society's view of the existence of God had become unreasonable. The old dogma had been proven false, and now found itself unable to stand against modern thought. Nietzsche does not indicate that religion is no longer needed, quite the contrary, religion is what gives society stability. He suggests a new dogma based on our “will to power,” for power is what will fulfill the “will.'' This is a dogma for those superior individuals, who are above the law, for those who rule, and what he calls “Supermen.” To Nietzsche, Christianity is a dogma for the meek, and a belief designed for enslavement, an ideology which is destructive to his “Superman.” Nietzche sees Christianity, and its moral laws, as what is given to that part of our society which serves the Superclassof men who rule. He has simply re-stated the justice of the strong, Machiavellian political theory, a concept of justice for those who know the path forward, and make it their will at any cost, certainly not how the Equal Justice of a Democracy should work.
“I love him who labors and invents, that he may build the house for the Superman, and prepare for him earth, animal, and plant: for thus seeks he his own down-going.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Nietzsche’s suggestion is quite functional, and works well as long as the lower class does not get wise, and revolt. It does have an enormous, obvious, and yet a mostly unmentioned flaw.
What is the purpose of any human “will to power”?
What is the point of having a “Will” only to have power over others? For that matter, what is the ultimate point of any activity that the “will” pushes us to do, and are we not actually deterministic automatons? Since no one has ever given us a fundamental reason for our actions, or purpose for existence itself, it is simple absurdity to go off doing anything without knowing why in the first place.
Without a defined purpose for existence how can the “will” be defined? For that matter, how can God be defined without a concrete basis for existence.
When Maxwell discovered electromagnetism, someone asked what the purpose of his discovery was, he answered, “what is the purpose of a new born baby.” No known religion or philosophy provides a realistic answer to the purpose of existence. If a “Superman” is expected to act, it would be first prudent to know why, and what verifiable purpose Superman may have to exist at all.
We need a Religion that provides a proper explanation for our existence, one which is not absurd. Then from this explanation we could devise a basis for a set of instructions that would permit an agreeable and harmonious life. We need not only rules of conduct, but a premise for existence, along with an honest construct for the unknown metaphysical. With a proper basis for these rules they would then need to stand up to critical scrutiny, not as we have now a dogma accepted by faith.
Nonetheless, even without having any meaning for life, each individual lives in and identifies with his community. He is given and accepts some sort of faith based explanation for good and evil, along with laws or rules of conduct to live by. The individual completely unaware will then participate in deterministic behavior based on belief that is derived from the social norm of the community he belongs to. The process of humanity, the inevitable future evolution of civilization will be unaffected by individual belief since each individual is directed not by himself but by the social construct it lives within, religion is the social construct even if it is an atheistic political ideology. We can not change this deterministic construct, but we can change our beliefs and thereby affect the quality of life.
Our explanation of God may be a bit eroded by science, but the importance of a religion has only become more important. If Re-Legion is the way we tie society into a pre-described social construct, it would be wise to reconstruct a new order, one that is appropriate, truthful, and not absurd.
When I first came across Friedrich Nietzsche, my takeaway was not religion. It was his concept of eternal recurrence, as explained to me in a book called, The Physics of Immortality by Frank Tipler. This is the idea that in an infinite universe, made of finite matter, any state, entity or events will repeat eternally. A human life within such an eternal universe will recur indefinitely, a virtual proof of eternal life. I would then discover that the eternal recurrence was a flawed concept. For me this was prior to understanding that the universe is not eternal, instead, it both expands and draws into black holes. The universe, as we know it, will go away, thus making any moment unique and unrepeatable.
Any theological promise of eternal life is not only absurd, but also malicious. The realization that all current religion was in fact malicious, shifted my interest from physics, to religion.
I grew up Catholic, but not religious. When I was young I enjoyed studying, and wanted to know a reason for life, and a cause for suffering. I had built a website for personal use, as a tool to help me study. The technology permitted me to copy, paste, and catalog information. My primary interest was in the study of entropy. I wanted to know why life was an ordered complexity, that came from a process we understood as chaotic. An evolutionary process that over time provided us the reality we see and live today.
At about the age of 50, I concluded that the physical universe is deterministic. That the chaotic physical nature behind the ordered structure we apprehend, only appears chaotic due to our inability to do the math of complexity. What we perceived as chaos was an inability to comprehend large infinite sets.
Metaphysics will always be with us because there are limits to math and logic. We observe the future, past, and our present reality in a similar manner to how we forecast the weather, we have only a probabilistic view of reality because the equations required are too large for us to solve. There is a limit to our logic, to our thinking, just as we can not ask a dog to understand calculus, we can not go beyond certain limits of understanding. This is why metaphysics, and an accompanying religion to explain the unknown, will always be with us.
My conclusion was that there was a definite order to chaos which we were not designed to comprehend. Reality is not chaotic or random but an ordered evolving super-deterministic system. Chaos only appears chaotic to us because our math is incomplete, and therefore we are unable to see order when measuring the complexity that underlies reality. The physical reality we live in is deterministic, which indicates that the future is as immovable as the past.
The only possibility for “free will” had to be through what we define as God. God became real to me, not by faith, but in fact.
The following two facts supported my belief.
First: Religion, and our belief in God, is the algorithm that shapes our society, and builds our future. Although God can be denied, it can not be denied that people believe in God, and that our belief in God has been responsible for the shape of human cultural evolution. God is the unknown, the incalculable. Reality is an evolving system which increases in complexity with the passage of time. This means the unknown is increasing in scope. Since technically, the unknown will continue to become greater, it can not be denied that there will always be a need for metaphysics to make sense of the unknowable.
The realm of what can not be known must be given words and form, thus we will always need some form of religion and faith to give meaning to the unknowable, call it God, or first cause, or any other term we wish to call that which we do not understand, that which is the underlying cause of human behavior, civilization, and reality.
Second: In a finite deterministic universe, entropy is the motive force for human behavior and its civilization. This is the force that will obligate an evolution far beyond our limited human capacity to participate or understand. We must recognise that we are a limited subset of a much larger reality which is constantly evolving and increasing in complexity. Life is an emergent layer of the physical universe, intelligence is an emergent layer of life, and civilization is an emergent layer of intelligence.
What we call life or reality has evolved for billions of years, and has increased in complexity over time. It is therefore only a matter of time before the increase in complexity will effectively make any imagined ideals real, making each of us an integral subset of a single universal reality with a range we can call Alpha to Omega. We have limited motivations and desires, we create surplus, and we can build any utopian concept we may have imagined or attributed to our prophetic past concepts of God.
Any God we can imagine will become a reality. It is without doubt that there will be a revelation, and all ideals conjured or desired will be fulfilled. Even if we may never know God, the prophecy we choose will become our reality. This future reality we build is of course dependent on our choice of prophecy, and it is this choice which is most crucial to our social reality.
Currently we are still mostly stupid hairless apes, with very poor manners. Therefore the version of Utopia we produce may well be dystopian. This is why it is critical that we be truthful and educated enough, to care for and educate, not only our own kin, but everyone else that lives on our planet, otherwise fools will build hell, and we will live there.
We should note these wise words from the past -
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” Socrates.
A proper education is the solution to our dilemma, therefore, we must provide a proper education for every living soul. Because we live on one planet, and are social animals who suffer due to our surroundings our wellbeing is dependent on the quality of the education our neighbor was provided.
“...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
It is absurd to have a society as we do today with an ignorant servant class providing leisure and wealth to an upper class of pointless ignorant consumers all in an eternal and absurd struggle of sexual competition.
The Western concept of God has evolved over time, a final and more truthful concept of God will emerge as we evolve intellectually. This final concept of God will integrate with our past history and evolution into an emergent future for mankind. Thus making our concept of God seamless with reason, logic, history, reality, and time.
I say a final version of God because we are humans, we may extend our lifespan, but our brain is finite. As animals, our language and experience has a limited number of variables. Although we are complex, the variables that motivate us are finite, our desires or “will” is finite. If we eat too much chocolate we hate it, too much complexity bothers us, there is a finite set of variables in an equation that when solved, will make us happy. Happiness in fact has minimal needs, and is attainable for everyone. It is an equation of minimisation of the desires themselves and the satisfaction of what remains.
Since we live in a deterministic universe, the future and the past have specific relation to each other and are of the same substance. For this reason any concepts of God are rooted and implicit in both the past, present, and future. Our Judeo/Christian God is a historical representation of the past, present, and future, with a utopian view of salvation from suffering at some future point.
We falsely see our universe as non deterministic, we see ourselves with desire or a “will” acting within and somehow separate from our universe. Arthur Schopenhauer in The World as Will and Representation, explains that life has a “will” which motivates our actions, the metaphysical and the physical reality are intellectual representations we develop, this representation is what we call conscious and collective consciousness… God is a representation we develop of the metaphysical that drives physical reality and defines our place with the deity.
A deterministic universe says that Moses, Christ, Buddha, Mohamid, etc… are all part of how we understand God. The chaotic and incomprehensible nature of entropy makes all reality rooted in metaphysics, and what understanding each of us may have of reality is in fact faith based.
Since I came from a Christian background, when prompted by my new understanding of reality, I began to look into Christianity for an explanation of God. After some study, I began to discover contradictions, a dissatisfaction arose which led me to a more truthful representation, and belief in God.
This essay is the deconstruction of western religion as contrasted with history and human nature. Conclusions are then drawn as to the functions of religion in society, and a new direction is suggested for moving forward.
God can be seen in history through the contemplation of the events between the unknown creation and expiration of our universe. If we believe in one, Universal God, then everything that we see, all reality, is from God. Therefore history would be the permanent record of the intentions of God, fulfilled.
It is inappropriate to see God as Dualistic manifested by divine forces as a good God and an evil Satan. We should know there is only one God and it is unknowable.
Evil as described by Socrates is only ignorance and stupidity. Evil is a word we use to describe a value we give to a point of view. Consider a fox eating a rabbit, the rabbit may sense evil, while the fox sees only the satisfaction of dinner. If evil is what torments us, the recognition that evil is only a point of view, that what is evil for me is satisfaction to another, this simple and innate truth should put an end to evil for good. It would then be honest to say the truth will set you free (of evil).
The following historical account starts by comparing the similarities between the creation accounts of the Egyptian religion and Genesis.
Then the Biblical Moses is re-explained in view of the Hurrian or Hyksos exodus, and a conclusion drawn that the Jewish and Egyptian governance was somehow intertwined.
Through the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and then finally the Roman conquest of the Jewish people, the common Hebrew is governed through an aristocracy, who in turn are at the service of the empire of the day. It would be significant to understand that today this aristocratic form of governance has not changed, although we pretend a democracy and equality of citizenry.
I will present a brief historical outline that extends from the edges of prehistory into modern times. A connection will be presented through history that understands many of the events of today in a new light which sees religion as a necessary common tool for manipulating people.
This essay presents a cause and effect scenario of history, and demonstrates the effects religion has had on civilization, and finally I will describe a different belief which may work better for our civilization.
To get a proper sense of the historic period that gave us our religion we should see humanity and its civilization as an entropic machine that is sustained by fresh water. As today we fight religious wars over oil resources, in the times of Moses, water was the contested resource. True power came not from the people that lived in the region, but rather the waters of principal rivers like the Nile and Tigris/ Euphrates that provided for them, for you can not have a civilization without fresh water.
At the geographic center between the Nile and Euphrates are the people of Canaan. This region stands at the frontier of the economic power and wealth of the Nile river, the object of conquest from before the time of Moses to after that of Jesus Christ. All armies attempting to control the Nile would need to cross through Canaan and its inhabitants.
The story of Moses could well be seen as a brilliant plan to protect the Egyptian state, instead of a well intentioned concept for saving his enslaved people. Consider the benefit of moving a population and instilling in them a religious requirement to defend a land, and of all lands, Canaan.
Consider the possibility that this promised land was promised by an Egyptian Pharaoh/God, to put in place a people to defend against invaders from the east, a people destined to be the gatekeepers of Egypt. A land populated by devout believers, charged with protecting a territory given to them by God. This would surely make them the most dedicated defenders of it. We certainly defend property with more vigor when we think it's ours, and more so if we believe God has given it to us.
Recent archeological understanding reveals that the area of Canaan was populated by modest people with a Temple that would be destroyed or built by the dominant invading force of the time. No palaces or homes for an aristocratic class. Canaan was a land inhabited by people with simple yet comfortable lives, as those that would be afforded to military families. Contrast this to all the lavish tombs and temples found throughout its neighbor Egypt.
Given this perspective, we will consider the Jewish war history up to and during the time of Jesus Christ.
By the time of Christ, Rome had put an end to the Pharaohs, destroyed the Jewish temple and made Egypt the personal property of Augustus Caesar. The greatest revolt against Rome is by the Jews, not only of Palestine or Canaan, but throughout the Roman empire. The historical account of these wars, if seen as political, describes a people in a struggle for dominance within a changing world political landscape.
Although presented as a messianic movement, this conflict must have had economic backing and what better source could there have been than the disenfranchised rulers of Egypt and its Greek counterparts. We tend to leave out the larger fact, that it's not only the Jews that have been conquered by Augustus but the entire Hellenistic realm, the Egyptians, Persians and Greeks have now become under Roman rule.
We will look into Rome's attempt to stop and then adopt this Christian/Political movement. From the family of the Julian rulers to the takeover in 69 AD by the Flavians under Vespasian, and then onto Titus. Vespasian will end the reign of the Julian Caesars, and see an opportunity in adapting the Christian message to the further benefit of his authority. Finally the firm establishment of Christianity in 325 AD by the Neo-Flavian, Flavius Valerius Constantinus.
This paper and project looks at Christianity, and Judaism in context of our modern social order, using what evidence can be found to best define a Christianity which has defined western civilization these past 2000 years.
We know that the protestant reformation permitted us to read the Bible in our own language. We discover the New Testament is a revolutionary document which calls for the abolition of the Jewish/Roman government, foments individual personal authority, and calls for a new world order. It is understandable that the authorities and its Church would not want its people looking closely at the details of this message. There is good reason for rulers to keep the Bible, and much of history away from the eyes of the commoners who serve them.
Yet, the calming aspects of Christianity, its nonviolent selfless humility and love of neighbor are aspects that serve the more violent dominant supermen of our upper classes very well. How well would it work to be a dominant superman without the multitudes of meek to till the earth.
“There is no God, but don't tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night.” ― Voltaire.
History is written by the victor and information is power. Ignorance is not bliss, but a prelude to servitude. In the face of these factors a new perspective of our western history is presented here.
Reasonable minds would think that changes in the dogma would have been directed by those in power. A story created as the essential rule set to provide for a well behaved population in service to a Nobility. A carefully designed algorithm for a desired social outcome.
The force that dominates and motivates us all, is what is responsible for the religious algorithm we currently operate from. From what German philosophers call “the will to life”, we developed our relation to God.
This innate set of desires, “our collective will’, is no different than those of any primate. For this reason the biblical story we gave ourselves is no more than the projection of our natural behavior of sexual competition, the same motivation that causes the behavior of all primates. We made a story that reflects the desire of one troop of apes to dominate over the other, and told it in a theological format.
If we contrast the Biblical account against our human nature, then add to this new archeological and historical evidence, we will see a long sad story of enslavement that still persists today. We can then take a sober view of religion and build a new perspective.
The resulting perspective could lead us to a belief that is more realistic and practical, a belief that is based on logic, and reason. A revised Christianity which is truthful, placing the cause of suffering on human shoulders, and eliminating any spiritual aspects of good and evil. Evil or suffering must not be seen as caused by divine or metaphysical forces, but as the result of ignorance, greed, and the multitude of sins that would not be so if we only educated our kin properly.
Since religion has been a creation manipulated by the political necessities of the domestication of a servant or slave class, we should take the statement “the truth will set you free” to heart. We must distinguish the trees from the forest, restructure and construct a religion based on an algorithm that is designed to improve the quality of life, rather than one which serves power and enslaves others.
One of the principal points of this argument is that indeed the Bible has been tweaked over time by the self interest of Egyptian, Persian, Jewish and a later Roman aristocratic class, into the ideal tool for dominion.
The purpose of this essay and website is to place historical events in logical order, and then provide a guide to anyone that is perplexed by the absurdity that is discovered when comparing science, archeology, and history to the judeo-christian story. I hope to encourage the development of a more adequate story we can tell ourselves about who we are, and better define what our purpose for existence may be.
1- When was year one - 2000 YEARS AGO.
Besides the gospels and the account of Josephus, written much later, there are no contemporary accounts of the birth or existence of Jesus Christ. There is no clear date, or record of his birth or death. If the Gospels were written as propaganda to promote the Christian message, it would be the message that would be of importance and not necessarily the validity of the events. Since there is no clear evidence of a date of birth, it would therefore be suspect to believe that Jesus Christ was born in year one, or that he was the person exactly as described.
For anyone living today Jesus Christ was the most important event of those years, as the account has transformed western civilization for these past two millennia. Yet, when compared to the other events that occurred at the time of Christ your perspective may change.
If there is no record of the precise date of the birth of Jesus Christ, how did we come to this date for our calendar? The most clear Biblical account says Christ was 30 years old at the time of his baptism, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Claudius - (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ).
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:1
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, (Luke 3:1-23)
The following is the best reference for why our calendar starts as it does.
The date was created by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 A.D., who lived in Rome and wrote guides on Church administration, and mathematical works. His name denotes the God Dionysius, and he lived 200 years after Constantine's Council of Nicea and only 95 years after Rome had been sacked by the Christian Visigoths (410 A.D.).
In the fifth century Rome is still in a period of conversion into Christianity, which will be the symbolic message given to the conquering Arian Christian Visigoths, through the early Catholic Church.
The Latin term Anno Domini (A.D.) signifies "Anno" year, and “Domini” which was the title given to the deified Roman Emperors. For the Emperor as the Lord of his people, has dominion over them. For the Romans as for most civilizations, religion and its priest class is the political means of popular dominion, and Rome sees its emperors as Gods. Anyone living anywhere in the empire, after year one, Augustus Caesar is the undisputed Lord God, whereas Jesus Christ is mostly unknown.
This dating system was not fully accepted until the 1400's. Spain and Portugal continued to date by the Era of the Caesars or Spanish Era, which began counting from 38 B.C... In 1422, Portugal became the last Catholic country to adopt the Anno Domini system.
What is important to know is that before the first century, it was common to begin time or rather a calendar when a Pharaoh was born, for the Romas it was Augustus Caesar who became Pharaoh of the western world. The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. Called the Julian calendar, it is not dependent on the observation of the new moon but is an algorithm which introduces a leap day every four years. The oldest calendar is the Jewish calendar, which has been in popular use since the 9th century BC. It is based on biblical calculations that place the creation at 3761 BC.
What we all use today is the Gregorian calendar, a refined Julian calendar which was introduced 1582, and is the "de facto" calendar for secular purposes.
Regardless if the Christian epoch starts in 38 B.C or year one as it is today, that period in history has several very important events that are rarely mentioned in Bible study.
1. 47 BC, a child is born between a Roman God and an Egyptian Goddess, who is later said to be missing or killed.
2. 44 BC Julius Caesar is assassinated, and is posthumously granted the title Divus Iulius (the divine/deified Julius) by decree of the Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC.
3. 32 BC The final battles of a World War, are in Israel against the Jews.
4. 30 BC Two divine rulers, Cleopatra commits suicide and her co-ruler son and Pharoh Caesarian is presumed dead.
5. 27 BCE The end of the Roman Republic, it was this year that the senate conferred on Octavian the title of Augustus (The “Revered one”). “Divi filius” a Latin phrase meaning "son of a god" was a title used by Augustus who was the grand-nephew, and adopted son of Julius Caesar.
The Roman God Julius Caesar was assassinated, Cleopatra the Goddess and Queen of Egypt commits suicide, and their 17 year old son, Caesarian, a Pharaoh is presumed killed.
This young boy was the eldest son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, and had been declared by Caesar to be the next emperor of Rome. As a child, he was the personification of the God Horus, he ruled Egypt jointly with his mother Cleopatra, from September 2, 44 BC to August, 30 BC. The royal family of Cleopatra would have married with the Jewish Kings to maintain alliances, therefore this child would also be a descendant of King David. I could imagine that some mystics of those times might consider Cleopatra not only a Macedonian but also Jewish.
This 17 year old Pharaoh was allegedly killed by Octavian, who would become the next Roman Emperor, and change his name to Augustus Caesar.
It could be said that the following historical events were triggered by the birth of Caesarean.
-- The assassination of his own father Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
-- A Roman civil war that would become a World War stretching from Greece, through the old Persian empire, Egypt, and ending in Israel.
-- The suicide of his own mother, goddess of the Egyptians, and a Greek Macedonian Queen.
– The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Jewish dispersal from the promised land.
These very important events would have never occurred, were it not for the birth of this child.
Caesarion is omitted in the religious account we are told, but for the Egyptian cult of Isis and Horus, these events would have been critical… So what happened to this child?
As told by the victors, the Romans who won this world war, this child was killed. Yet, there are accounts that the child was taken to India, as his mother Cleopatra had ordered.
The murder and suicides of these individuals, whom would have been seen as Gods to the people of this era, would certainly have affected things. These events, if included into the Christian message, would have had great significance to the Greek and Egyptian Gnostic people to whom the apostles were evangelizing.
Somewhere from the supposed death of this child in 30 BC to the final battles for Israel in 135 AD, we will see the Jewish Temple destroyed, Israelites sold into slavery, and dispersed throughout the Roman empire. Somewhere in this period of time is the life of Jesus Christ and his Apostles.
For the people of Israel, these times must have been of biblical proportions. All major world religions would have seen this as a great message of some sort. The most secretive cults of the Roman Rulers, the Egyptian Priests, Zoroastrian Magi of Persia, Greek Patonists, Druids, the Cynics, Phythagorans, Stoics and so on… these events would certainly affect all religions of the empire. I would say particularly affected would be the ruling class of Roman Mithridatic cults in Tarsus, from where the Apostle Paul would come from. These Mithridatic cults had many similarities of worship which would later be incorporated into the Catholic Catechism.
The Egyptians had lost their God Pharaoh and would never be re-established... and the Jewish people had lost their Temple and promised land.
Certainly we should mention this history when we discuss Jesus Christ, but strangely we overlook it.
These historical events, when placed in the context of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, present a different perspective on the history and intent of our religion.
To properly tell this story we must start with the creation account of Genesis.
2 - Once upon a time, a re-creation
Egypt was the powerhouse of ancient civilization, and a central player of a biblical account that became the foundation of western religion. When you consider the economic power of Egypt and its proximity to the promised land, what do you think the probability would be that the biblical creation story we tell ourselves was an Egyptian creation that was given to the Israelites.
I would like you to consider the God mentioned in the Bible in light of the Egyptian Pharaoh God, Amun, and Moses as related to the Pharaoh Ahmose who expelled the Hyksos in the 16th century BC, as well as the later Pharaoh Akhenaten known for his development of a kind of early monotheism, who unified the Egyptian pantheon of Gods under one supreme God, Amun-Ra. Then add to this history the fact that Herodotus, Manetho, Josephus and other classical authors identify the Hyksos with the Hebrews.
When we add this background to the history of the Isrealites, the “One God” people of Moses, the Bible, and the Jewish religion has a large potential of being an Egyptian fabrication.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" is one of the Ten Commandments found in the Hebrew Bible at Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 5:6. It is the central tenet of the Abrahamic religions and prohibits the religion's followers from worshiping gods other than the Lord. Wikipedia
In this little creation story of mine... Adam and Eve lived in this perfect land we will call Eden. It was never too cold, plenty of fresh water, with food just waiting to be plucked from the trees. No need for clothes, no need for work, it was a good time until someone eats the wrong fruit.
Egyptian society or any society governed by a tyrant, establishing the authority of its supreme ruler is essential. In the biblical genesis mankind is punished for his disobedience, this creates an archetypical anchor to obedience. The most critical error any servant can make is to disobey. Any religion designed for a master/slave society must require a strong sense of obedience from its subjects, for in Egypt the Pharaoh is God, and must be obeyed.
Adam and Eve will have two sons, Cain and Abel, and Cain will kill Abel. The Cain and Abel account would repeat throughout history. Mankind would continue to kill each other for a variety of reasons, over and over. Nonetheless, the first family grew and multiplied.
Over time many would leave Eden and go east. Those who left would suffer the consequences of leaving Eden. They had to wear clothes to protect themselves from the elements. They made tools to work the land, and would cultivate dominion over the beasts. Life was a bit more difficult for them, but what does not kill you makes you stronger, so they prospered as well.
They worked in communities, and could talk to each other. They stood upright on two legs. They could out run all the other beasts, and could travel to far off places.
They were the cleverest of all the creatures on earth. They built communities of individuals, with a variety of personalities. The curious ones looked at the stars and would learn when to expect the seasons. These would become the wise men, the priests, who would keep their knowledge secret and pass it on from generation to generation.
They discovered that knowing when the seasons would come was valuable. With their knowledge, they could better provide for, and defend the community. They would gain the trust of the people. These early mathematicians and astronomers would create our first religions, and will use religion to govern these early societies.
The difference between slave and master is culturally defined from the intrinsic “will” of a primates biology. The dominant male ape becomes the Pharaoh, and civilization will consist of tyrants that will control a community made of others enslaved who serve them.
Let us not forget that these are primates that lived in Eden, and would remain primates as they populate the world. What I am describing is the creation of our human civilization, which is simply how primates behave when they can talk to each other. No amount of education, or modernization can erase the intrinsic will and nature of the animal we are. Unless we first recognize our true nature which lies in the motivation that produces behavior, both individual and social behavior will be determined by our basic animal motivation, that which is sexual dominance.
Sexual dominance is ingrained in our ape DNA, and this determines the nature of human civilization. More aggressive individuals will always enslave the quiet, polite, or meek. Only when we evolve away from a sex driven society will the absurdity end, and the meek will inherit the earth. Our competitive nature will evolve to one of compassion, we will actually produce equal justice, and feel infinite pity for the less fortunate.
Over time an aristocratic ruling class would grow along with the size of the community. In time the educated aristocracy would become God-like to all the others, and all would look to them for protection.
In the first 100 thousand years of human life, we had learned how to read the stars, and predict the seasons to plant our crops. The aristocracy had learned that they could create a "reality" for the people that served them. Just as animals could be domesticated, they would domesticate people, slavery would become a normal part of life.
You see, even though we know we come from something in the past, we can only remember the past we have personally lived. When each of us is born we start afresh… we have no idea who we are or where we came from. You can tell us any past, or reality you wish and we will believe that reality.
Rulers had discovered that the history or religion they told their subjects would create their reality. A population could be given any story and it would become true. Lies would become the truth, and then defended by the very people you have lied to. Imagine that your parents never told you Santa Claus was not true, and made certain you were always fooled. Just like children we want to keep believing.
"History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon," Napoleon Bonaparte
Religion is a standard history you give to everyone in the realm, a story that unifies the community to its ruler. The Egyptian priest class were experts in eternal life, let's say... If you are a good Egyptian, the Priests can offer you eternal life. For Judaism it was a covenant from God, a chosen people and a promised land. For the Persians it was a struggle between good and evil and the eventual salvation and victory of the good God Ahura Mazda.
For the Roman empire and its newly conquered Greek states the appropriate religion will be Christianity. Christians will have a combination of all the religions of the newly conquered Roman empire. Under the rule of Caesar, the Roman “Son of God,” Pontifex Maximus, Caesar Divi Filius Augustus.
The Christian Logos incorporates its Trinity and Soul from the Greek Platonists, eternal life from the Egyptians, the struggle of good and evil along with Satan and an apocalyptic end times from Zoroastrian Persia, and finally central to the religion will be the Messianic call from the Jewish Torah. Christians will get forgiveness from sin, and salvation as long as they accept Christ, and the Logos as written.
I am getting ahead of myself, I will return to the start of civilization and the purpose of religion … those that knew this trick would be the most powerful of all, they would become the priest class. These priests would hold the truth of the past secret, and would keep it to themselves. They would create a fitting illusion of reality for the others, a reality tailored to make them willing servants. Entire civilizations could be put in their hands. They would keep civilizations in an illusion. Like Plato explains in his allegory of the cave, we become so trusted in our illusion that we would kill anyone that would bring us the truth.
The ruling class would be very cautious as to whom they would share knowledge with. They created elaborate initiations, and stages to go through to test if applicants were trusted to keep secrets, and were worthy of truth and knowledge. That's why, "the truth will set you free".
Ten thousand years ago, the people of the land of Eden were the Egyptians, and their river was the Nile. Further east of Eden would be the Sumerians, and Babylonians of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. To the North, nothing but barbarians. We make the mistake of overlooking the North when we consider early civilization, but those Barbarians must not be left out, for they will become the ultimate rulers, the true chosen people.
A calendar of the cosmos would be deciphered. Gods would be seen as the celestial bodies, becoming the central hallmark of all early civilizations. They studied and interpreted the universe and its God-Stars, which they believed controlled their reality.
The Chinese, the Indians of India, and the Indians of America, no matter where these wise men would go they would take their knowledge, given to them by their forefathers. They would govern their people as slaves and their people would love them as Gods. They would prosper from the ignorance of others. They knew they only had this power because of the ignorance of their subjects, therefore they must enforce ignorance. Secret societies and mystery religions would become the norm.
Most archaeologists say humans came out of Africa. Rivers are the easiest way to travel, especially if you go downstream. The most powerful early civilization was from the river where all humans had come, the Nile, in Egypt, they were the Egyptian Pharaohs. The High Priest-Pharaoh would be created in the image of his particular reality. This reality would then be given to the slaves, they would live and worship the Pharaohs reality. Time would begin with the Pharaohs' reign. Then the slaves would be told of the fantastic mythical and heroic deeds of the Pharaoh. The slaves would love the greatness of the Pharaoh, and call him God. They would till the soil for him, and would fight battles against other rulers from far off lands.
Although these Pharaohs were Gods to the slaves they governed... they knew that they did not create themselves. The Pharaohs had their own private belief. To them order was life, and chaos was what opposed life and they were who dictated the order on earth. They believed the greatest and most heroic of them were the personification of order, and must surely be touched by the Gods. Given the time and place, all this would make perfect sense to these people, great men would of course be seen as Gods. Even today, it's not difficult to feel superior when you are more educated, have more money, or power, you tend to see yourself as a superior breed. Then as today, power tends to make us think that all the other people on earth are here to serve us.
As great civilizations arose, their leaders would see themselves as the central cause of their civilization. Their domination of others, would of course, be the proof of their divinity. They were the closest to God, sons of God, Maybe heroes of virgin birth, or engendered by Gods that would come from above to have their way with beautiful women. Fantastic accounts would reinforce the notion that God had put all the other people on earth to serve them.
This will be the standard by which the world works, until the time of the Greeks and their short lived Democracy.
We don't know why, but around 500 BC, throughout the world there was a radical new change in thinking. In Greece the pre-socratics created philosophy, and the first ideas for a democracy began. Confucius in China teaches kindness and equality to others, and places family above the state, and the Buddha will teach moderation and asceticism to India.
A transition in thought is occurring, yet will never really take hold. Advocates of freedom and justice like Jesus Christ, and Socrates are killed. The old primitive primate code of justice never changes... Justice is to be loyal and defend your allies, your troop, nation, or clan, all while harming all others. This is the code that will produce tyrants and empires... for empire after empire!
This barbaric notion of justice has remained, the divine right of kings is still something we contemplate, and little girls are still taught to want to marry a prince.
The entire methodology behind modern government stems from evolutionary conditions. All language, history and theology is constructed from basic animal desires, motivation, and behavior. The dominant ape was once called the Pharaoh and has evolved into the concept of Pope or President. The names may change but the “will” that makes us behave as we do has remained unchanged.
The truth is something very few people concern themselves with, only a minority care for anything beyond the quality of eating, shelter, and sex. Leaders have no incentive to provide higher education to a slave class, so the unfortunate aspects of slavery still persist although under the illusion of freedom.
The truth will transform our society. If Socrates said, "the unexamined mind is not worth living," then would not the same apply to the unexamined society.
As I hope you know by now, I wrote this history because I believe we are currently positioned to truly step into a new society, and have developed a method for direct democracy. If we use the internet and social media for targeted education, and we manage our economy as an open transparent direct democracy, we will eliminate the need for an alpha male, and tyrants will be no more. We could then actually live within a society that provides equal justice for all, a reality similar to what we have only imagined as utopia.
3-The Israelites, and the Bible
After a period of 100 thousand years of steady cooling down, the temperatures of earth begin to rise.
There is a theory called the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which contends that an extraterrestrial object exploded over North America around 11 thousand years ago, initiating the Younger Dryas cold event, the extinction of many North American megafauna, and the demise of the Clovis archeological culture.
The warmer and wetter climate in the Southern Hemisphere helped human migration into South America. At the same time the populations of the European Northern Hemisphere were forced into southern migrations.
Around the same time, about 10 thousand years ago, there was also rapid warming, populations increased, and a property of evolution we call civilization emerged. Around 6000 to 5000 BC, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations began to develop.
Migration and trade between northern European tribes along eastern trade routes will stimulate interactions with the settled populations of Mesopotamia. As trade increases, northern traders will begin to threaten the wealthy established southern civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Carthage. About 2500 years ago, barbarians from the north began to conquer and absorb these civilizations.
Perhaps these migrations came with different mindsets. Living in a harsh northern climate, with a different diet, may have made these people tougher and more serious adversaries. Cold weather does have a culling effect on the weak. In addition, unlike the cake eaters of the south, the northern Europeans would have had a diet consisting of more meat. Not only would the additional protein make for larger people, but it also helps in brain development.
In my lifetime archaeologists uncovered Göbekli Tepe. This is a Neolithic site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, which existed between 9500 and 8000 BCE. This predates most Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization, and indicates to me that these northern hunter gatherers were not as barbarian as we may think.
I consider Macedonia, Assyria, and Greece as cultures that are strongly influenced by northern tribes. From about 2500 BC till the final conquest of the southern civilizations by Alexander the Great in 320 B.C., we see a steady attack on southern civilizations by northern Europeans.
These northern tribes would confederate and influence Mediterranean civilizations. Possibly as soldiers with the sea peoples which plunder Egypt, as well as the Greek/Macedonians that will ultimately conquer Babylon and Egypt.
Adam and Eve
Before the wars of northern aggression began, the civilizations of Babylon and Egypt had become the great civilizations we know today. Between Babylon and Egypt we see the struggle of Cain and Abel, an ongoing account of one killing the other, with Israel in the middle. In fact all history has been made of one civilization killing the other.
The influence Egyptians had on the Israelites, must have been significant. With the exception of Moses' account of an Exodus, and the Merneptah Stele, history, as well as the Bible tell us that these two people lived in relative peace and next to each other for thousands of years. With no mountains to separate them, no walls, we see no fortifications built between these two peoples.
If you look at this in terms of human dynamics, you will see the resources of the Nile river and its civilization as a prize to be taken. Any band of tough guys would have seen the advantage of taking from Egypt all they could. We also know that the Egyptians were powerful and clever, they were more than capable of conceiving ways to protect themselves.
The story of Adam and Eve is told by Moses to the Israelites. In this historical account of the Jews, we come to a time when the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Moses is planning to have them escape from the richest land in the world, to be relocated to exactly where all enemies of Egypt will need to come through to take the Nile river valley and its resources. But, before this can happen, a back story is given called Genesis.
The creation story of the Israelites is very similar to the Egyptian creation story. In the Egyptian story, God comes from chaos and creates the earth, the sky, the night and the animals.
The Egyptian story has Osiris and Isis instead of Adam and Eve… Osiris is killed by his brother Set. Whereas the biblical creation account has Cain killing his brother Abel. In addition, Cain the bad son heads to the East. This would work nicely if you wanted to have these people distrust anyone coming from the East…for they are the sons of Cain. Especially effective if all your enemies are from the east, like the Babylonians and Assyrians.
The Egyptian belief is that the first population of earth are Gods, but in Genesis they are humans. In the Egyptian story God created the heavens and the earth, but heaven and earth are understood as Gods.
In the biblical account, God created the heavens, the earth, and man and woman in his image. Then on the seventh day it is done. But wait, he actually is not done... he has forgotten something.
As an afterthought a working class is created for he forgot there was no one to do the work.
Genesis 2:5 "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground"
God now creates Adam and Eve to till the earth and work the garden. I would suppose Adam and Eve are made to serve the Man and Woman earlier created in God's image during the first seven days of creation. Obviously if you are made in God's image you don't till the earth, that's what slaves are for.
The parallels between the Egyptian religion and the old testament are quite numerous, to the extent of archeologists finding Biblical verses in Egyptian literature such as the Instruction of Amenemope.
The Floods
The Ice Age would end… after a 100 thousand year cooling period the world would warm up, and if our concept of God is the Alpha and Omega, climate is an act of God.
As ice began to melt, the seas would swell, and great floods would come. It would stand to reason that as most people lived along the rivers and seas, floods would have been an increasing problem for them.
The peoples of the northern lands would have found their lands more plentiful. With shorter winters and longer growing seasons...populations would grow in these northern climates.
The harsh conditions change into the relatively warm and calm forests we now know in Europe. Populations grow on the northern outskirts of the established Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations.
An emergent property of life is civilization and this was just commencing 6000 years before Christ and was shaped by floods and migrations. Current archeological finds may indicate that religion, and civilization began not in Egypt and Macedonia, but in Turkey. Exactly in the region where the northern migrations and trade routes would intersect with the southern middle eastern people.
Hunter gatherers migrate with herds of animals, and migration expands cultural experience. In a sense the sons of Cain who left Eden 100,000 years earlier, would travel the earth and eventually return.
A journey of thousands of years was now in this man’s collective memory. These people are coming out of the woods, their theology is evolving from animal Gods, to conceptual Gods of the human condition.
Some would come to believe that there was something internal that connected us to God, a living God that spoke to us. A single living God responsible for suffering, love, wisdom and all human aspects. One God separate from the Pleroma, not to be understood but to be obeyed, maybe this is the God that speaks to Abraham.
It is remarkable that some people still have an issue with evolution. We evolve, even in how we understand our God.
As we evolve some prophets will declare there is but one God. In Babylon, the Gods of Babylon are rejected by Abraham. In Egypt Akhenaten declares the Sun God Aten to be above all else. This is also seen in the evolving concept behind the Persian/Assyrian Zarathustra, and their God Ahura Mazda.
Mount Ararat is where Noah is said to have landed the Ark, and is located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of modern Turkey. The people that lived near Mount Ararat were the Assyrians and will later be called Persians. They will in time become believers of the one God Ahura Mazda (Ahura - lord, Mazda- wisdom), and their prophet is Zarathustra. The Assyrians are from the same region of the Hyksos, who will later become the Isrealites.
Abraham comes from the city of Ur in Babylon, will father the Hebrew people, travel through the Assyrian people on his way to Egypt, and from Egypt his people will create the nation of Israel.
The Bible will tell us Abraham lived in the tenth generation after the flood. The family of Abraham go through a journey from Babylon through the lands of the Hurrians, Hyskos, and Mitanni and then west to Egypt where this story began. The Hurrians, from Mitanni are the sons of Noah, as Abraham who has a God known as YHWH. The lands of Mitanni from where the tribes of Abraham have come to Egypt from, will name their God Ahura Mazda.
In Egypt the sons of Abraham will meet the illusionists and masters of the Kingdom of Egypt. The line of wise men known as the Pharaohs now come face to face with their past, those that had gone east of Eden have returned. The religion of Abraham, intersects with the religion of the Egyptians. The sons of Abraham who have a covenant with God, one God above all others, will come to eventually teach the great Egyptians.
The character of civilization is built on migrations, where people, concepts, and technologies come from far and wide to change the nature of culture.
Exodus
Archeology tells us that about 3800 years ago Semitic people from the lands of Mitanni settled in the lands of the Nile Delta. They are known as the Hyksos, or “the foreign rulers.” The Hyksos were then defeated and expelled from Egypt by the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Ahmose. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, tells that Ahmose conquered Tjaru before attacking the Hyksos' capital in Egypt, Avaris. The Egyptian Pharaoh removes these people from the delta region, but history can not say where they went.
These peoples had infected the land of the Pharaohs. So infected is Egypt, that one of its Pharaohs, Amenhotep IV, tries to convert the Egyptian religion and all its Priests to the belief in one God, Amun.
There are no other archeological or historical events that parallel the biblical events of the exodus like this one. Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell both believed that the reign of Amenhotep IV, is the most likely time for the Exodus story.
Remember these Egyptian Pharaohs are the greatest of all masters. They have for thousands of years perfected the control of how reality is perceived by their slaves. In this world, reality, religion, and history is invented for the working slave class through propaganda for the benefit of the priests and the Pharaohs.
Keep in mind that in these times, the ruling class believed they were Gods, only a select few could read, and most all people were slaves.
Is the following story a possibility?
The Pharaoh hires a fella called "Moses" to remove the Hyksos from his land and most cleverly places them next to Egypt in Canaan.
To do this he gives them a new and extraordinary reality. These people, these slaves that believe in one God the sons of Abraham, they that have infected the land of the Pharaohs, will be given a makeover of biblical proportions.
Thousands are sent into the desert, led by Moses and his priests. For 40 years they are forced to wander in this desert. They walk in circles and starve. A most remarkable form of brainwashing and mind control will occur, mass Stockholm syndrome for a new nation.
A generation passes, and a new history complete with laws and commandments is given to them to be believed. They are then resettled at the very border of Egypt, to be governed by Kings they believe to be their own and told that they have been given this land by God.
They will protect this land unlike any slave, for they believe they are free, and have been divinely given this land. The truth will be kept from them and they will fight all invaders that come for the rich lands of the Nile, of Egypt .
A short side note: Why didn't anyone ask... “why did the Pharaoh not get his slaves back?” They could have said at some point in the hundreds of years, “We can’t let Moses get away with that! Let's go get the slaves we lost so many years ago!”
There should be some sort of sentiment there, a few wars at least, but nothing, no problems. Plus, there is no sea between Egypt and Israel. You can walk there, in fact it is a walk on the beach, you can go barefoot if you like.
None the less the Israelites do a lot of fighting, just not against the Egyptians. The Old Testament is a war history of these people.
The biggest question is why have the children and people of our Western Civilization been told this story as fact ever since the Emperor and Caesar decided to do so in 325 BC.
4-Babylon and Persia
The Battle of Carchemish was fought about 605 BC between the armies of Egypt allied with the remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire against the armies of Babylonia, allied with the Medes, Persians, and Scythians. The Babylonian alliance under Nebuchadnezzar II, decisively defeated the Egyptians and the remnant of the Assyrians.
The prize is of course Egypt, but it would be difficult to control Egypt with the Israelites having settled in Cannan. The Israelites will of course fearlessly fight for the land that God has given them.
It would be a simple matter to control the slaves of Egypt, for they know they are slaves, and a change of master would go unnoticed, but the Israelites believe they are free and will cause rebellions.
Solution: In 586 BC the Israelite priests and royal families were moved to Babylon where an eye could be kept on them.
539 BC, the Persians, conquer Babylon. Under the rule of Cyrus the Great, the Persians have a more tolerant policy toward the Isrealites, and return the Israelites to Canaan. The Persian religion of Zoroaster is also of the one God, Ahura Mazda. The Persians are from the lands and of the civilization of Mitanni, where the Semitic peoples of the Hyskos had come from. The land that is next to Mount Ararat where Noah's ark landed. Where Abraham’s people came through on their way to Egypt. Cyrus will rebuild the Jewish Temple, restart the Jewish faith, and is canonized as the first Meshia of Israel. The Persians become the beloved allies of the Israelites and the great Persian empire will now stretch from Africa to India.
The kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. (the Assyrians were the forerunners of the Persians). It was at this time that ten tribes of Israel were lost. Would it not be reasonable that these tribes were not lost but assimilated into the Assyrian Empire. Thus making the two remaining tribes loyal to Egypt, and the 10 lost tribes part of the Assyrian empire. Since the Assyrians were incorporated into the Persian empire the 10 lost tribes would also be incorporated into Persia, of course they would help the land of Judah, and rebuild the faith.
It is now 500 years before Christ. The Persians now rule over Babylon to the south, and Egypt to the west... and they permit the Israelites to return to their promised land.
457 BC Ezra returns to Israel from his exile in Babylon, and re-introduces Judaism to the Israelites. Under the Persian rule and patronage of King Artaxerxes, Ezra redefines the Torah with more attention to law, and what appears to be a Zoroastrian bend, Ezra has been called the father of Judaism.
For the Persian King, the particular religion of the Jews is ideal for ruling this territory. The Bible is a war manual, with spiritual similarities to both the Egyptian and Persian belief. Even the name of Israel, Is, Ra, El, sounds like the conjunction of Isis, Ra, and Elohim, (Elohim is plural). This is the perfect religion to have for a people between the cultures of Persia and Egypt.
What was done by the Persian King Artaxerxes in 457 BC with Judaism, is not dissimilar to what Emperor Constantine did in 325 AD with Christianity.
From a military or diplomatic perspective, with Judea as an ally, Persia could now rule Egypt. The Priests and Kings of the Israelites have lived in Babylonian captivity for over 50 years. In a sense the Kings and priests of the Jews have been liberated by the Persians, and would be grateful. The Israelites will call Cyrus the Great, Messiah, God's anointed one. (Isaiah 45:1)
Those who return to control the land of Israel would remain well connected to the peoples back in Persia and the former Babylon. For the Persians to control the new lands of both Egypt and Babylon the Jews are the perfect answer.
The king of Persia Cyrus, is now Israel's first messiah, he sets the stage to rebuild the temple and places the house of David back in control.
(535 to 516 rebuilding of the temple)
Of course the Greeks and Macedonians, who are the arch enemies of the Persians, hate this.
The Israelites that were taken to Babylon were not just any Israelites, they are the ones that knew the truth. They would have been in fact part of the Egyptian upper class. The wise powerful ruling class always weds with each other. They are the ones that rule the lower classes through ignorance, with the power of a "reality" that can be spun.
The Israelites had been in Babylon for 50 years and are well established. About 10% come back to take their kingdom and to once again control the nation of Israel.
Pause for a moment and feel the times these were. It is 500 B.C., Rome has just been founded. Pythagoras is in Egypt learning their mysteries and mathematics. Greece is a people that comes in and out of Persian control. Macedonia, where Alexander the Great would come from, were barbarians, and were the troops on the front lines of the Greco-Persian wars. 150 years after Pythagpras, Socrates would come to Greece from Persia to teach, and the Jews have begun to write the Babylonian Talmud.
The known world of this time is tyrannical, everyone is a subject or a slave, only in Greece will a few men have some rudimentary form of democracy. For the rest of the world - to not be a slave meant you were not part of civilization, and your children would starve from time to time. To be a slave meant you would worship your master, and participate in the benefits of the kingdom. People want to be good slaves, this is why Moses has a hard time keeping the Israelites from going back to Egypt.
Few could read, and even less studied anything. Scholars would study only within secret societies. Reading or writing was rare, even Socrates disapproved of writing because it made for poor memory. Most people simply believed what they were told, and that is how people were governed, through belief enforced by hunger and ignorance.
Secret societies, and priesthoods would be careful who they educated, the truth was a guarded secret, the majority were given carefully constructed stories about reality and its gods. The Druids, the Magi, the Pythagoreans, the cult of Dionysus, Mithraism, and so on, these all were very exclusive secret societies.
With the Pharisees put in place in Israel, the Persians could now rule Egypt through the Israelites, and now have a military force to protect its economic interests . The slaves in Egypt would be ruled by the priesthood and their Pharaoh, and the Israelites would defend the borders, once again all as it should be.
Remember that all this came about because of climate change. Populations are still growing in the north, people are still migrating south.
At this point in our history, continued population increase will fuel migrations from the North, and the building of city states in Italy and Greece. These migrations will fuel the sociological clash between hunters-gatherers, and established river based civilizations.
They would come and live on the fringes… They are barbarians to the Greeks and the sea people to the Egyptians. The people from the colder North that had migrated south are now building states in the north, in places like Macedonia and Villanova. These areas would be the perfect place for them to settle and trade between the northern settlements and the well established Persian Empire. The climate has warmed, their populations culturally stabilized and began to grow and prosper.
Macedonia, the Barbarians
From north of Greece, in Macedonia, would come Alexander the Great. In 325 BC his armies would conquer first Egypt, and then Persia.
In Egypt, Alexander fights in Tyre but is welcomed by the Israelites in Jerusalem. He is told that Daniel's prophecy had told of a mighty Greek king that would subdue and conquer the Persian Empire.
Alexander then enters Egypt and is welcomed. He is called the new "master of the Universe" and son of the deity of Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis.
Now why would that be? Why would he fight against Tyre but then be welcomed by the Israelites, and then made God by the Egyptians?
Because the people of Tyre are Phoenicians, an ally of Carthage, and the Phoenicians were a loose confederation of sea people that traded by sea throughout the mediterranean. These were independent states, and would have been the commercial adversary of Egypt, Greece, and Persia.
At this point in history, the Israelites would have been the police or army that is governing Egypt for the Persians, they would now do the same for the Greeks.
The Persians were the people of the prophet Zarathustra, of the one God Ahura Mazda. The Israelites also believe in one God, but that is not to say that their Kings believe in the same God.
If all this appears strange to you, think of America, we think ourselves a Christian nation, yet we know our better educated rulers belong to secret societies, may already know this story I am telling, and not be very Christian or Jewish.
To the Egyptian and Greek Religion...there would be no greater sin than to ignore the Archons of the Pleroma.
Alexander the Great is polytheistic, he is of the cult of Dionysus. For the Greeks, the God's and religious traditions of the Egyptians are much more akin to them, than those of the Persians and Israelites.
When Alexander enters Egypt he would be seen as a liberator, they would be free of Persian rule. The Egyptian priest class and religion is once again whole, for the Greeks have relatively the same Gods. Of course Alexander is the new hero, and he will be made a God for the occasion.
From this day, all the Egyptian Pharaohs will be Macedonian kings. The ruling class of Egypt will be Greek for the next 300 plus years, up to and including the last Pharaoh Cleopatra.
Since all people in Egypt at this time are slaves and know only what they are told, things go back to normal. The Egyptian priesthood will support the new Greek/Macedonian rulers.
The Kings of Judah will govern their people and profit from them under Greek Macedonian rule. Pharisees continue to reinforce belief to the Israelites. The Priests of the Pharaoh continue to reinforce belief to their slaves in Egypt. The warrior class of the Hebrew once again live in peace with the slave class of the Egyptians, all under the World rule of the Greeks.
The Macedonians, the once barbarians have done well for themselves. Greek culture and language will dominate the known world, up to the time of Christ.
5- Greece and Rome
Western Civilization is thought to come from Greek and Latin origins, yet there may be more Persian in us than we credit. Socrates was Persian, Cyrus the Great rebuilt the Jewish Temple and kick started the Old Testament, the Apocalypse, the battle between Good and Evil were Persian Zoroastrian concepts way before they were Christian. Even the concept of the Germanic people as “The Aryan Race” stems from the supposed linguistic bond to the Persian language.
This said, Europe may not have come from Eden as it is more rooted in the Persian civilization and its traditions.
Macedonia was a land to the north of Greece and Villanova was a land to the north of Italy. Macedonia would evolve into the Greeks of Alexander the Great and Villanova would become the Rome of Julius Caesar.
The real power of Rome would be their Republic, built from democratic or republican concepts inherited from the Greeks. Their soldier citizens could participate in their government, which is unlike the kingdoms they will defeat, whose armies are mostly composed of paid mercenaries, or slaves.
A sense of freedom is the best incentive for a soldier to fight for their nation state. It was a belief in freedom that formed Israel, the Roman republic, and is now integral to the power of the United States.
From the time of Alexander the Great, till about the year 100 B.C. the world was divided between the Greeks in the East, the Romans in the Middle, and the Carthaginians to the West.
The slaves in Egypt, just as all slaves, are controlled through ignorance and propaganda. Each time a new Pharaoh came into power, the slaves would be told of the fantastic miracles performed, and battles with non-existent people. It is the task of the Priests to provide public relations in support of the ruling class. The Persian, Greek, and Egyptian upper classes all would enjoy the fruits of the labor of their slaves.
Knowledge is power, those who know rule over those that do not know. Slaves can not revolt because the concept is inconceivable in their mind. Within a properly operated slave culture, the only problems that can arise are ones where one aristocratic family member decides to take power from another.
After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, the new Egyptian Pharaohs would be Macedonians. Although we call them Greeks, Alexander was a Macedonian, his father had, for the most part, ended democracy, and did not hold any democratic values, in fact everyone of any authority considered democracy absurd.
The generals who were left behind by Alexander the Great would rule a vast Greek Empire. The slaves of Egypt and Persia need to know only what they are told. The Israelites need to know only what the Pharisees will tell them. No one but those who rule would need to know the truth about anything.
In these times news does not travel well, no newspapers, very few could read for that matter, and what you will read are stories, and propaganda. In these times people were deep in that cave that Plato spoke of. Even if someone were to tell people the truth, they would reject it as heresy, and kill them.
This is the period within which the civilization in Villanova will be assimilated by the Romans, and Rome will begin to form.
With regards to the story of the foundation of Rome, it is the legend of two brothers brought up as savages by a wolf, where one kills the other over jealousy, which is somewhat reminiscent of Cain and Abel. Interestingly these roots of nations based on the killing of your brother, establish or foretell a pattern for western civilization.
Philistines, Phoenicians and Carthaginians
To understand the formation of Rome you must understand the "sea peoples" or Phoenicians. The "sea peoples" is a term used by the Egyptians for a people that have come from the sea to raid Egypt.
The Minoan civilization predates this period, and is sometimes considered Europe's first civilization. Some say this civilization is what is described by the legend of Atlantis, and what would later evolve into the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were a loose alliance of maritime cities that traded throughout the Mediterranean. They had made the Mediterranean sea their empire, and were in direct competition with early Rome.
The Phoenician port city of Tyre is located just north of Canaan, and flexed its control of Canaan prior to the Israelite move to the area. The Philistines are sea people; they traded in Canaan, their city-state was Tyre, and central to trading, to and from, the many port cities of the Mediterranean sea. The Carthaginians are west of Egypt and controlled lands in north Africa and Spain. These people traded and ruled the coastal areas from well protected port cities throughout the Mediterranean sea. For any people attempting to dominate the Italian peninsula the Carthaginians would be the principal competition. Rome will eventually destroy Carthage, as well as take the Mediterranean sea for their own.
The Israelites were land warriors and the Egyptians were the same. The Phoenicians on the other hand were sea warriors. The Phoenician port city of Tyre dates back to 2700 BC. It is believed that these are the same people that founded Carthage. They would have also been the Minoans, and as a port city would have possibly also been connected to the legend of the lost kingdom of Atlantis.
In 332 BC Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt had its battles in Palestine, and particularly against Tyre, an extremely fortified port city with 150 foot walls. The Roman conquest and consolidation of the Italian peninsula was made possible by the Greek conquest of Tyre, as it would have been a key trading partner of Carthage.
The Carthagenians had control of the western Mediterranean. Once Tyre is taken by Alexander, the Carthagenians will make all efforts to regain the Eastern trading alliances the Greeks have taken from them. Carthage and the Phoenician alliance in the Mediterranean will find itself in conflict with Greek, and then later Roman interests.
At the time of Alexander the Great, the Romans were forming their Republic, battling for control of the city of Rome and eventually the Italian peninsula. They are an association of farmers and traders taking lands for defense and personal gain. Their Republic was composed of individuals who can rise according to their value. Early in Rome's career it took dominion of the Etruscans to the North, then began to attack their neighbors eventually taking full control of the Italian Peninsula, and by the first century they would have conquered the Greek territories attributed to the Conquest of Alexander.
Rome will begin to gain possessions in Europe, Macedonia, Persia, defeat the Carthaginians, and finally subdue Egypt and Israel. By the end of the first century C. E. Rome will have taken control of most of the territories of the Greek world. Two new Roman religions will come to dominate this new empire, Mithraism and Christianity.
This timeline leads us to the Rome of Julius Caesar and what will be known as the Roman Empire.
212 BC Syracuse or Sicily, once a Carthaginian stronghold, falls to Rome
197 BC Macedonia , the former home of Alexander the Great, became a Roman province.
190 BC The Greek Seleucid rulers of Persia were defeated by the Romans.
The Carthaginians almost ended Rome. Under Hannibal in about 200 BC they invaded Rome by taking troops and elephants from Spain and coming into Rome from the Alps.
Finally in 146 BC the Romans sacked and completely destroyed the city of Carthage.
This unleashes Rome onto the rest of the known world.
By the time Julius Caesar is born, Rome has taken control of more and more of the territories throughout the Mediterranean sea.
The very battle hardened armies of Rome are running out of lands to conquer, eventually they will have only themselves to fight for control of the known world.
Egypt is a land of slaves which can be easy to conquer, but to control Egypt is a separate issue, for its neighbor Israel has a population of free people who believe God gave them their land, they will fight to protect the status quo.
Rome has become more powerful than the Greek empire, and its problems are now internal. To answer the question of, “who will govern Rome?”, a family feud of global proportions will ensue.
As we approach year “one”, two gods Caesar and Cleopatra have either been killed, or committed suicide, Persia, and Egypt, and Judea are in the hands of Rome, and more particularly have become the personal property of Augustus Caesar, the grand nephew of Julius Caesar, who is also known as Octavian.
Julius Caesar
This world we know today, and the way we understand Christianity strangely pivots on the actions of one man, Julius Caesar..
100 years after the Roman defeat of Carthage. Rome has consolidated territories in Spain, England, and Gaul. By the time of Julius Caesar they controlled Egypt, Persia, and Greek Macedonia. They effectively rule most of the civilized world.
Rome, having fought their way from Villanova 500 years prior and now with an army that stretches from Spain to Persia, will begin to fight amongst themselves for power.
In 50 BC Julius Caesar was heading to Rome to fight a civil war. His troops come from the north, and are a popular representative power base that will come to fight his rival Pompey who represents the established aristocracy that wish to stop the expansion of the republic.
The cause of this civil war is the class struggle between the established aristocracy and a growing citizen class. The two factions are called Optimates and Populares.
Optimates, led by Pompey... Were dedicated to keeping power in the hands of noble families and wished to limit the republic.
Populares, Led by Julius Caesar... Are a Roman aristocracy that relies on citizen and popular support for political power, the spread of mild democracy, if you will.
As Caesar crosses the Rubicon and enters Rome, Pompey and his armies sail to Epirus. Epirus is where the oldest Hellenic oracle is, where Alexander the Great’s mother came from. A region that Aristotle considered to have been the most ancient part of Greece and where the Hellenes originated.
Stop and think about this for one moment... These men have gone to the most holy ground they know to fight the last battle of a long civil war. They are fighting in Greece, the land that gave them their Gods.
In 48 BC at Epirus, Caesar defeated Pompey. Caesar is now appointed dictator, with Mark Antony as second in command.
Pompey and his remaining forces go to Egypt where there is an ongoing civil war between Cleopatra VII and her brother Ptolemy XIII. Pompey seeks protection from Ptolemy XIII, but is murdered by him instead.
Caesar comes to Egypt to deal with Pompey's remaining forces, and is disgusted by the murder of his rival Pompey. He sides with Cleopatra in a civil war against her brother Ptolemy XIII. Successful, he then installs Cleopatra as Queen, and has a child with her, born in 47 BC, only one year after his battle with Pompey.
Caesar has just defeated his rivals for control of Rome. He has won battles, but has not taken control of the economies that the wealthy families of his political rivals, the Optimates, control. He must pay his soldiers, and keep the economy going. Cleopatra is the wealthiest person in the world, she is the Nile river and the source of grain for his troops. With Cleopatra, Caesar has built favored alliances with both Egypt, Israel and the Greek states of Persia, and developed a policy to unite in peace the known world. This is possibly the most remarkable moment in all of human history, the first new world order.
With this child and alliances he can pay his troops. With his new family, this child will be the next ruler of not only Rome but Egypt as well. This will cause the Roman senate to fear this dictator, and seed the end of their Republic.
This family of Cleopatra and Caesar is now the law of two religions, the Roman and the Egyptian, and their child will inherit the known world as a God.
February 15, 44 BC Mark Antony placed a crown on Caesar's head, Caesar was then assassinated on March 15, by a group of senators.
Cleopatra - At the time of the assassination of Julius Caesar, had lived for two years in Rome, from the summer of 46 B.C., with their son Caesareon. They would leave immediately after the death of Caesar for Egypt. Back in Rome, Mark Antony, Caesar’s second in command, will try to restore order. Mark Antony will join forces with Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar, to seal the bond he will marry Octavian's sister Octavia.
October of 41 BC Mark Antony meets with Cleopatra in Tarsus, this infamous relation will eventually bear three children. Cleopatra will have four children, one with Julius Caesar and three more with Mark Antony.
Please note Tarsus is where the Apostle Paul is from, this is a central economic region of the Greek power base, a strong ally of Egypt, and of the hellenized Jewish people.
September of 40 BC Mark Antony married Octavian's sister, left her pregnant and returned to Egypt to get support from Cleopatra in his battle with his brother-in-law, Octavian.
This World War is all about something very personal, a sorted family matter in which the richest people in the world (Gods) conspire and kill each other to see who will end up with all the loot.
Capturing Jerusalem in 37 BC, Mark Antony installs Herod as a puppet king of Judea.
In 34 BC, Caesarian, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, then thirteen years of age, was formally made " King of Kings,” by Antony and Cleopatra.
War started over a divided Rome in 31 BC, with Cleopatra backing Mark Antony. Mark Antony and Octavian would confront each other in Actium, on the east coast of Greece. The battle is here because these are the front lines between Rome, and what was once the Greek empire. Cleopatra who was in fact a Greek Macedonian Queen would be there in person along with Mark Antony. As the battle goes poorly for Antony and Cleopatra, they abandon the battle and sail to Egypt.
August 1, 30 BC, Octavian is in Egypt, and takes the city of Alexandria. First Mark Antony takes his life and then Cleopatra commits suicide on August 12, 30 BC.
History will say that she tried to send her son Caesareon to India via the Red Sea. Octavian would say he had killed him and say "there can not be two Caesars"
Years earlier in 63 BC Julius Caesar had been declared "Pontifex Maximus", making him the administrator of Jus Divinum or divine law, for life. It is important to consider that Octavian in 31 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, as the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, assumed the title of Divi Filius (Son of God), and renamed himself to Augustus "first citizen" Caesar. A family that will later be the personification of the divine right of Kings, the Kaisers and Czars of our western culture.
Augustus would mark the end of the Roman Republic, and the beginning of the dominance of Rome which will form the western culture we find in Europe and the United States today.
Augustus is not the only individual that will claim Divi Filius or the "Son of a God," title. Jesus Christ becomes a direct challenger to Augustus, for he is also to be called son of God. This all while the actual son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra - the missing Pharaoh and God, Caesarian, will be forgotten, or assume a new identity.
The Roman Republic will end along with the hopes of the republic. The followers of Julius Caesar who had hoped to establish a union between east and west, have lost their battle. This point is argued in light of the fact that although Julius Caesar became a dictator, his troops, as well as most of the Senate, was loyal to him and expected representation in a new government.
This moment also marks the end of both the Hellenistic(Greek) Age and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.
The Pharaoh Gods and the priests of the Egyptians will end, the new order is now Roman, and its divine leader is Augustus Caesar.
These are the political and religious events that bring us Christianity, and knowing these events will give a greater appreciation of the coming Christ. If we would like to understand Christianity and today's Church, it would be wise to carefully look into these historical events first.
6 These are the times of Christ
“Then, leaving Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt (a little later she had a son by him whom the Alexandrians called Caesarion), he (Julius Caesar) set out for Syria”. - The Parallel Lives by Plutarch published in Vol. VII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919
Before we continue I think a short recap of the history just before the work and life of Jesus Christ would be helpful.
On January 10, 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River leading an army of a popular uprising which would take Rome by force. June 23, 47 BC Caesarion was born, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. February 44 BC, Julius Caesar was appointed dictator in perpetuity, and was promptly assassinated on the 15th of March 44 BC. After the death of Caesar, a battle for control of the empire culminates with Mark Anthony and Cleopatra combining forces. In 34 BC, Caesarian, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, then thirteen years of age, was formally made " King of Kings'' by Antony and Cleopatra. 32 BC, the Roman Senate declared war against Cleopatra. The battle of Actium is lost in 31 BC, Mark Antony takes his life and then Cleopatra commits suicide on August 12, 30 BC.
As head of the victorious Roman army, and as the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, Octavian will claim the title of Divi Filius (Son of a God), and rename himself to Augustus "first citizen" Caesar. Yet, there is left the question, where is the true “Son of God” the legitimate son of Julius Caesar, and Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra, the thirteen year old boy Caesarian.
The Egyptian priests and Pharisees of the Israelites have new masters, and they are Roman. The Pharisees will once again serve who is in power. A new religion will be given to the Egyptian slaves as well as to the common Greek and Roman subjects of the empire. The Pharaoh is dead and will not return, he has become Augustus Caesar, Pontifex Maximus.
Extraordinary times for the birth of a carpenter that will put into place a belief that will persist for more than 2000 years. A work of words, a Logos that will first oppose Rome, and later be adopted by Rome in 325 AD by Constantine as the new religion of conquest.
There are three possibilities for the story of Jesus...
1. It is exactly true as written in the Bible. Three wise men (Magi , Persian Zoroastrian Priests) are told of and visit the birth of Christ. Christ was the virgin birth son of God, and was God. He was the son of a carpenter and was self taught. He became the teacher for a non-violent political movement that ended with its leaders' crucifixion, and the destruction of the Jewish Temple. It's an account that must be accepted by faith.
2. It never happened and was invented by Paul and other co-conspirators. Invented to effect change in these troubled times. Paul was a Roman citizen, a Jew, and from Tarsus. He would have had cause to do this. As a Roman citizen the new political changes would mean that the populations that were once the Hellenistic and Aramaic world of Egypt, Persia, and Greece would now be under the Latin control of Rome. Paul as a Roman would have had good reason to formulate a Jewish centered religion for the new empire, a religion that would incorporate the Greek concept of an unknowable God, the Soul, and the Trinity.
The Jews of his time were in a long war against the Romans, and his land of Tarsus, where Anthony and Cleopatra had come together to fight against Rome. Tarsus had also been conquered by the Romans.
A unique aspect of the words of Jesus, is that they are very similar to those of the religion of Paul's birthplace, Tarsus, Zoroastrianism. This is the same religion of the Persian, Cirus the Great ,who was the first messiah of the Jews. As in Christianity, Zoroastrianism consists of one God Ahura Mazda, an evil Satan figure named Angra Mainyu, a pleroma of angels, an end time battle between good and evil, and Mithra as the mediary. The cult of Mithra will become the dominant mystery religion of first century Roman soldiers and bureaucrats.
3. It is the return of the child of Caesar and Cleopatra. The actual son of God, in fact the son of two Gods... Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, the son of God, and God, if you will. Cleopatra was the personification of Isis and her son was that of Horus, so he would have been Horus to the Egyptians and Christ to the Jews.
He returns to teach others to love their enemies, and rebuilds his kingdom based on love of neighbor. A God incarnate, in the body of a man who has renounced his wealth, and comes to love the oppressed. Comes to teach and rebuild the soul of man... to set mankind free... to tell all the truth. He professes that people must know the truth, for if they do, the world will change and will bring forth a new era.
Power is all about the alliances of families and children. The royal family of Cleopatra would have been married with the Jewish Kings to maintain alliances. This child would also be a descendant of King David. That would make his mother Jewish and he would be Jewish as well.
When Herod Antipas became king of Judea in 4 BC, Caesarian would have been 51 years old, just entering into his wisdom. If he was sent to India as ordered by his mother, he would have found himself at the far end of the old Persian empire. The Persians believed in one God. Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic faith with a single creator God, centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate destruction of evil.
The Biblical Magi or "Three Wise Men" were Zoroastrian priests. These wise men along with all the references to Satan can point to a Zoroastrian influence within the New Testament. Christianity is an independent Jewish Minyan, based on an Old Testament which was not dualistic, and has little concern for an evil demigod. Yet the New Testament is filled with references to Satan which sound very similar to the Zoroastian enemy of Ahura Mazda, Angra Mainyu (meaning 'destructive spirit'). For the Zoroastrians, Angra Mainyu is the originator of death and all that is evil in the world. The Persian, Zoroastrians, were also the people of Cyrus the Great who had rebuilt the Jewish temple, and returned the Jews to Israel from Babylonian captivity in 539 BC.
It would be incomprehensible that the Apostles who wrote in Greek, or in particular Paul who was from the Greek/Persian city of Tarsus, where according to Plutarch, Mithraism had come from, Paul of all people must have known the similarity of the Christian Logos to that of the Zoroastrian end times, seen Satan as Angra Mainyu, and God as Ahura Mazda. He must have also seen the Platonic similarities to the Trinity, Unknowable God, and Soul all of which are not part of his Jewish faith.
In fact it is most likely that Paul was a very good Roman, and was also an initiate of the Mithraic mysteries, and promoted Christianity to make good gentiles better Romans.
From a religious/historical point of view, this story gives possibilities un-seen by many of us. The Jews have no word for religion, yet the latin word “re”-”ligion” is a conjunction that signifies "re- tie" or to "unite." The primary job of a religion is to unify people under a ruler, as was the Kingdom of David and Solomon unified under Judaism. Later the Persians under Ezra would reintroduce Judaism to the land of Israel to unify the faith for the Persian rulers. It would be reasonable to consider the Christ story was created, or later managed and promoted for political reasons, to serve Roman Caesars as was clearly the case for Constantine in the 4th century.
From a political perspective the Christian gospel has striking similarities to many of the pre-existing belief systems of the time. There are common motifs with those of Krishna, the Avatars of Vishnu, the Greek Platonic Trinity, and Persian deity Mithra, the Egyptian God Horus, the list goes on. In order for Christianity to have the religious effect of binding people under a common belief, a common symbolic thread to the preexisting beliefs of the region you hope to rule would be essential.
Mithra and Platonism
One of these religions stands out as the most secret and least known, Mithraism. Since secrecy is the best tool for those who wish to hold power we should look at this one most carefully.
For the Romans the Greek religion is Platonism, the religion of the educated, who gave us the original Trinity, and first concept of the Soul. Platonist see the soul as immortal, connected to an unknowable God in heaven. The stars are where the souls come to the material world to inhabit the earth, and what animates each of us. When we are born the soul enters the body and when we die it returns to heaven, then through reincarnation returns again, in a process of eternal life.
Prior to the first century we know the stars are fixed in the sky within 12 constellations that move with the seasons. They only knew of 7 objects that move separately to the heavens, 5 planets, the moon and the sun. These were Gods to most people on earth, Jupeter, Mars, Venus, etc… The fixed stars on the other hand were Souls, what motivated the material world, inhabited each of us and gave us life. When we died our Soul would return to the heavens.
In Nicaea, the same village that will give us the Council of Nicaea, and the Catholic Church, around 150 BC Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer and mathematician discovers something very unusual about the stars above; they are not fixed, they move in what we call precession of the equinox.
A new secret religion will develop from the observations of Hipparchus.
This new observation makes not only a new religion, but a new calendar which will have some 26,000 years, that will repeat on the anniversary of what? Of course for first century Rome, the deification of Augustus, or is it the birth of Christ.
This new calendar is divided into 12 parts of a zodiac each to be 2,166 years. 26,000 years that marked the complete precession of the stars.
Mithra is the mediator between good and evil, the Zoroastrian God Ahura Mazda and Angra Manyu. Mithra is the deity that controls the precession of the equinox along with the astrological destiny of humanity.
For the Greek Plalonists, the Roman cult of Sol Invictus, and Persian Zoroastrians, the secret cult of Mithra along with this new interpretation of the heavens would be most attractive. The Roman Cult of Mithra, working in secret could easily be the underpinning of Christianity. I believe that Mithtra not only controls the precession of the heavens, the timing of the apocalypse, but will become the foundation of all modern Secret Societies.
By 325 AD, Christianity was divided in many separate beliefs, each influenced by different aspects of Jewish, Gnostic, and Platonic concepts. All with one core belief in Christ, a savior, with a Logos which was expected to transform humanity.
To me, power is best held in secret, and through a religious eschatology. In The Prince, Machiavelli refers to religion as a tool of the ruler, to be used as a method by which he can convince the masses of his goodness.
“They are sustained by the ancient institutions of religion, which are so powerful and of such a quality that they keep their princes in power no matter how they act and live their lives.” ― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
Of all the first century religions, Mithraism is the most Roman, and the exact cult I would expect the Roman Emperor Constantine to have been initiated into. It is too similar to Catholicism, too centered on power, for me not to expect that it is this religion, and the society behind it that gave us the Catholic Church through the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
The first century Romans under Augustus have conquered the Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks. Christianity melds the belief of all religious beliefs, it has Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Gnostic, Jewish and Platonic elements.
Consider the following...
1. Why would the lost years of Jesus Christ match so well with a Caesarion period of exile. In the time of Christ, people who knew, would have taken notice of those lost years. They would wonder if the missing Caesarion had escaped and not been killed by Rome.
2. Why no real name. You may get away with believing in Jesus Christ... but it would be a problem if you were to tell people Caesarion or Caesar was still alive. The name Jesus Christ is not how people were named, Jesus is “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua, and Christ is a title that signifies savior or redeemer, whereas Caesarion is a nickname for a real name Ptolemy Caesar Philopator Philometor.
3. The conflict is between the Pharisees and Jesus. His anger at the temple and his concerns with money and wealth, is an economic message. The Pharisees are the problem because they promote Roman governance in Judea. The message of Jesus can be seen as a political-economic plan to eliminate the power of the Pharisees.
4. Why no historical dates, when to the Romans and Egyptians dates, and their calendar were so important. The Romans controlled early Christian manuscripts, this may be the reason there is no mention of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, or their son in the New Testament.
5. Christ comes to the poor and the disadvantaged. It is the carpenters and fishermen that feed and house the people, this is where the real power of humanity is, in its ability to produce. The rich do not produce, they supply nothing, and disproportionately consume. The meek will one day inherit the earth, and the truth is what will set man free. This is the economic, and social lesson which is in the new Christian religion, a beautiful concept that can never be when your Ekklesia is a tyranny.
6. Paul is able to rally many followers quickly because influential people know the political realities, and understand that religion governs the masses. They may have known Christ as the Pharaoh, son of Caesar. Especially for the Greek populations that Paul was speaking to, the restoration of Greek rule would have been an important cause. For the Greeks that believed great hero's came from the Gods, like Hercules or Agamemnon, born from Gods…this story would be the greatest Greek heroic myth of all. The return of the son of Isis, the human incarnation of Horus from his mother Cleopatra the Greek incarnation of Isis.
In fact this worked very well, the Flavians take over from the Julian family, and become the new Caesars, in 325 AD the Favian Caesar Constantine creates the Catholic Church in Nicea in Turkey, in 330 AD he establishes the city of Constantinople, Rome has effectively move to Greece. Finally in 410 AD the Visigoths, Arian Christians sacked Rome.
7. "but, who do you think I am". Why is this asked by Jesus Christ in the form of a question? It would be crucial for nobody to know who he was, they would be sure never to say who, that would get you killed. Most would never know who he really was, and if Rome knew they would re-kill him. “Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”
8. He knows more than the Pharisees. If he was Caesarian, he would have been very well taught in all the mysteries and religions, especially his own.
9. Caesarion's parents were killed over money and power. Wealth is not the way to salvation, rather it is absurd and opposes salvation, every good Platonist knows this.
The key to saving the world is to teach forgiveness, to build a spiritual movement which would restore the Roman republic through the Ekklesia, and to bring back Greek Democracy. That would be a very dangerous message.
The Republic: The word Church, is the translation of the Greek word Ekklesia, which in actuality is the word for the principal assembly of the Greek democracy. An Ekklesia is where the elect comes to govern the kingdom of God.
These elements fit too well with our strange interpretation of history. It does beg the question, why has history not been told to us this way when this appears to be the most fitting conclusion. In Church we are never told of the geopolitical elements of the period, this is similar to telling a story about Winston Churchill without mentioning Hitler, or a World War.
The words of Christ are similar to those offered by Socrates, with the added fact that it is from God’s incarnation. If the words of Socrates are enough to get him killed, the word of Christ is far more dangerous to those in power, that in fact the truth will set people free.
For the Platonist the Logos and the Word of God are the same, Jesus Christ is the Logos, all are one in the same.
John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God”... 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
This is a unique change in the Genesis story, Jesus Christ, his words, were from the beginning, and are the same with God. It is not the "Word" but it is the "Logos". Originally a Greek word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", or "reason." Aristotle applied the term to refer to "reasoned discourse" or "the argument" in the field of rhetoric. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the Universe.
The Platonist sees the Logos as the second aspect of the Trinity, the Logos is the Intellect, the second emanation of the unknowable God, with the third aspect of the Trinity as the Soul which can accept God and its Son the Logos.
Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE–c. 50 CE), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. He gives us an insight into how important Hellenism and the Philosophy of Platonism was to many Jews at the time of Christ. Philo interprets the Logos, which is the Divine Mind as a Platonic Form of Forms, the Idea of Ideas or the sum total of Forms or Ideas. The Logos is an indestructible Form of wisdom, Sophia.
Concepts such as the Trinity, Logos, and Soul are not in the Torah, they are not Jewish, it is no wonder Jews do not accept Christ. Modern scholarly consensus holds that the Torah makes no reference to an immortal soul independent of the body. The Trinity and its Logos is absolutely a Platonic concept, and why Sophia is such a common name for many Christian institutions.
Another Greek concept which is central to Christianity is the Ekklēsia, the word we translate to Church. It was originally the principal assembly of ancient Athens during its Golden Age, the time of the world's first democracy, and the only polis until the United States became a government resembling a democracy.
I do believe there was a Jesus, but do not believe Jesus ever intended for His church to become a religion, or tool for denomination used to control a population. He wanted His church to be a spiritual and political governing body, a lawful assembly of free people, a force that made the Logos of God a reality on the material, earth. We know this because the Greek word Ekklesia, used for Church by Jesus, was a political term, used in the government of the assemblies of those days.
Christianity is a set of words, Logos, or instructions for this ideal world. An attempt to create a perfect algorithm that was as God would want, from a Logos that became flesh in Christ, but was not handed down to us in its original form, nor interpreted correctly. The correct Logos would have worked, the correct logos will work.
The Church, or Ekklēsia, is the place where Christ, the “Logos,” or “reasoned discourse” would take place.
The governing body of the Jewish-Christian community is not a Church filled with ceremony, or rants and singing, but a reasoned discussion on how to govern, and as such would have built the community spoken of, and hoped for by Christ in the New Testament.
From the perspective of this story, look at the thinking of that time. Rome had taken control of the Jewish royal family. The rulers are the Pharisees, which even if they knew, they would not wish to tell their people that they were the hired guns of the Greek Macedonian rulers, and before that of the Persians, and earlier Egyptians. Even if some had known of this they would have had little choice but to do the Romans bidding.
The facts remain…
1. God gives land to no one, but to all.
2. Unless Israel is supported by a larger outside economy, Egypt will dominate over Israel.
3. Israel is an ideally located military defensive position to protect the wealth generated by the Nile River valley.
Let's return to the child, and consider if Cesarean is the most logical historical person to fill the shoes of Christ.
John says.. "then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Free from what, or what truth? Free from Rome? That would certainly be a problem for Pilate. Jesus Christ is in fact a revolution to liberate the Jews, and the Apostle Paul's words are a revolution to either liberate the entire world from Rome, from oppression by any tyrant, or if the Church is tyrannical, it could even be a clever, occult and strategic way to control a conquered population.
Disregard Caesarian as a contender for Christ, for it is immaterial. What is essential is that the Logos that is offered by the Christian text describes the exact motifs of Egyptian, Greek and Persian religions set within a Jewish context. Christianity is the precise religion required by Rome to consolidate and bind the people of its newly conquered territories all of which were parts of the previous Greek empire. A Logos written in Greek for a Greek population.
There is no historical doubt that a violent revolution against Rome takes place in Israel at this time. The first revolt started in 66 CE and ended in 70 CE with the destruction of the Second Temple and the dispersal of the Jewish people.
The Roman general Titus who managed the attack on Israel will replace the Julian family of Caesar Augustus, The Flavians will become the next family to claim the title of Caesar. The Flavian family will now rule an empire which is now mostly Greek. Titus would certainly have wanted the Christian message to be written in Greek, multi faith, and non violent.
The idea that the Christian message was the creation of Titus, to quiet the Jewish rebellions, has been presented by Joseph Atwill. Although quite possible, it would require great forethought since the Logos is revolutionary. Titus and his advisors would have needed to know that humans would never actually live the lives required by the Christian Logos. I think that it is more plausible that Rome converted the message to one that would be more suitable to Rome, consider for example Romans 13…
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves ...”
The Logos of Jesus Christ appears to describe a way of life by which Rome can not subjugate Christians. A path that will work if you follow it, but one that most people will not apply to their lives.
If you give away your wealth, there is no wealth to tax, you must then fight, work, or beg.
If you fight you will be free if victorious, or have eternal life if killed.
If you beg you take resources from Rome, enough beggars and you have destroyed the economy of the state.
If you keep these practices within a community of like minded people you will have an ideal economy of free people.
Then if you add to this rule, "love your enemy"... how can Rome tax or make war?
To become free, the Jews are told not to confide in the Pharisees who have been governing them on behalf of their Roman client. Do the Jews now know they have always been trapped within an illusion of freedom, with their kings, and their priests always as subjects of the ruling power of the day. That ever since Moses took them from Egypt their priests have been the tool used to dominate them.
The Pharisees and Rome would lose grip if the Jews were told this truth. This failure of the Pharisees and the Temple, is the basis of Stevens' defense to the High Priest.
48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
(Acts 7: 1-51)
According to the Christian Logos, it is clear that wealth, and our attachment to material things of our world is a serious problem ...
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Mark 10:25
Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:25
The last thing an empire wants are people that love their enemies, and who have no wealth. Worse would be that they help and love their neighbor, they would live well in poverty and have nothing to tax! Even worse if they go to Ekklesia, and govern themselves! But, this message would be ignored by those in power, they would still continue to rule over their servants and slaves, nonetheless an excellent message for keeping the slaves happy, giving them a sense of power and eternal life as long as they are good servants.
The Christian message is one of equality, and equality is the enemy of Tyrants.
In a practical sense this Logos would make for an ideal community, maybe even transform the world. It did work well for many monastic communities, but never for society at large. Instead the Catholic Church became the preferred tool for conquest. The Church became the new Pharisees, they would transform the Logos into the power of the Church, they would defend the authority of Kings, and the power they represent over the meak.
We are a poor species that is driven by sexual dominance. Animals that are too proud to admit we are what we are. Until we recognize how determined our behavior is we will not change, we will always kill the Messiah and we will crown the new dominant hairless ape.
Recently we have uncovered many so-called Gnostic documents which reveal to us that the Christian movement had many varieties. There was not one Logos, but many different ideas upon a similar theme. The new testament we have had for almost two thousand years was the product of Constantine, Pontificus and Emperor of Rome in 325 AD.
7. Opinion and Conclusion
Regardless of how you wish to view these historical events, the words of the New Testament are a theological-philosophical thesis for governance which has failed the poor and ignorant for over 2000 years. Christianity was a blueprint for an expected change which has over the years served only the tyrants who have made their living by dominating a slave class. We venerate power, and subjugate the meek and kind hearted, those who were intended to receive salvation from the Christian message have remained the fools we have always farmed in our slave economy.
If we were to understand the absurdity of our lives, if we began to see love as an infinite pity, and when we see human existence as suffering, then we might begin to see the need to care for the least of us. Otherwise we think life is good, we make up lies as our purpose, and love is power over another, we are blinded, and embrace the absurdity of life.
It is no longer inconceivable to honestly build the world described in the Christian message. Although class struggle has been how humans have moved forward and evolved, the norm is to the ideal and we will eventually come to this ideal. Every rational individual knows we are better served when our neighbors are less stupid, we no longer need a leisure class, nor slaves to provide for us. Our economies provide more than enough food and shelter, what we all lack is truth, and a proper education. We are done with progress, there is no more evolution, it is now our task to build a proper society.
A civilization functions on its beliefs, and we shall never escape the need for a religion. Unfortunately civilization has outpaced our dogma, our system of belief is not compatible with current knowledge, view of history, or science.
Pastors can not believe what they preach, and if they do, then we have a situation of the blind leading the blind. If we continue to sustain the status quo, we will end up with a society divided between ignorance and hypocrisy.
Since we can not abolish western religion to adopt some new age concept, any transition must leave the past intact, yet move us into a solution that is the actual fulfillment, or redemption called for in our religious Testaments.
Since civilization has been built upon its beliefs, it could well be that our past and present problems come from our failure to understand the truth about the unknown, what we call God. We can solve that issue by accepting that God is the unknowable, while knowing that what we ask of God has already been fulfilled, is simple to attain, and possible for everyone.
Revelation 22
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
The above verse is how the New Testament ends, it is a warning not to change the word. Similar to a penalty for committing a crime when we know people will always commit crimes. What we overlook is that the message we are told not to change was created out of a variety of possible options. The Testament was selected by fourth century theologians and politicians from a large variety of different takes of a messianic message, with one concern underlying the process of compilation, "In hoc signo vinces," It was designed by the Pontifex Maximus, Constantine, for the dominion of the people of his empire, When we say Dominus, or Lord we speak of Caesar.
What we use as our Testament did have text added, and was altered, it is a specific construct for dominion of the poor rather than its salvation. Yet, this is unimportant because the true message of an expected Messiah and the Logos is a truth which is instinctively known to all reasonable people. In other words, rational minds selected the text to be the Christian spiritual guide, and it went through editing and revisions to become the ideal Logos for tyranny, for Caesar, and today will require rational minds to give it a full revision in order for it to become a message that actually works for all mankind.
If the new and old testament has served us for this many years why could we not evolve our interpretation of the text into a more truthful version of the human reality. Certainly if we do we can then commence with the initiation of the Messianic Age that has been so awaited for.
Each of us as humans have similar motivations, and it has been from these motivations that we built the structure of our religion, society and its laws. What can we honestly ask of God that we can not provide for ourselves.
Romans 2
14 - In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,
A pantheon of Gods was what we once used to explain the mystical forces of nature. The relations of these mystical forces were seen as the motive of human characteristics. Love and wars were the cause of the Gods intent through a relation with mankind, all understood and petitioned by a priest class. Christ brings to us the Platonic concepts of the unknowable God, the Logos, Son, or Intellect, and the Soul which connects us to God, calls for the removal of the priest class, and places the responsibility directly on each of us to discern God through our Soul and apply a law dedicated to the benefit of our neighbor. This is a good start.
Reality is created by us, and our history is built upon the collection of beliefs we have. What we believe becomes our law, and this forms the character of the community we live in. What we choose to believe creates the society we live in.
Competition is effective albeit brutal, throughout the world people compete, we exalt competition, a behavior which is based on taking something called profit from another. The reason we see so few people living under a law that is directed to the benefit of neighbors is because we have chosen to do the opposite, we choose to compete, therefore we live in an absurd society based on greed and competition, we live in misery, and we produce misery only because we choose to do nothing about these facts.
I don’t expect people to stop competing, after all it is our nature. I do believe that there are reasonable educated people that can see that life is better served in service to others, people that see a better world and are not motivated by the shiny objects that we obtain through competition. There are people that find it unpleasant to be motivated by sexual desire and find greater pleasure in the aesthetic values of a better society.
It was Rome and the emperor Constantine that produced a standard Bible 324 years after Christ. Constantine discovered the value of Christianity as a tool for dominion, "In hoc signo vinces," and would build a Church that would dominate the world. A new priest class, and universal belief that was ideal for the empire. Today's Rome is not the city of Rome, but an institution that is the pastor of the local Church to the international cabal of rulers that profit from human toil, all fueled by stupidity. In all these years since Jesus Christ, humanity has evolved and prospered, yet little has changed in the relation between slave, and master.
Today western theology is a dual search for redemption, one of the New Testament for the Gentiles and another for the Jews found in the Old Testament. Between the master and slave, the goy and chosen - a theology was built from our animal ape characteristics of sexual dominance and molded into a religion.
I would like to offer a compromise. The modern economic system offers more than enough potential to fulfill both the Jewish, Islamic and Christian view of redemption, and there is no longer a need for a slave class to till the fields, nor a benefit for a master class to live from the toil of others. The meek can inherit the earth, the chosen people can return to Israel, and the Christians can love their neighbors, and we can make all this happen without further human conflict.
The truth has always been kept away from as many as possible, secret societies, inquisitions, and outlawed books have been the norm. Belief is controlled... but today information is close at hand to anyone, giving us the ability to dramatically improve our consciousness, as well as the practical aspects of living.
Testimony is how truth is found in a courtroom. We are responsible to be honest and careful in how we define the truth, we are the jurors of our reality. With a true understanding of who we are, our lives will be enriched with love and peace. Today, for once in all history, we can actually act to produce utopia.
There is such an excess of material things in the developed world that it's only a matter of time before we reject the material in favor of the aesthetic. Education is what turns our attention to more aesthetic and selfless goals. Education must become our new status marker, what we evangelize must be truth and knowledge, then the working class will produce art, the priest class will educate and govern us, all while the leisure class will become stylistically absurd.
In order for this to take place, for this Utopia, or Messianic age to become real, we simply need to know what to do, and do it. Unfortunately, although simple, we are so far from the mark that this will be a radical change of belief from the current status quo.
We discovered America, we discovered electricity, we discovered computers, all these things were there and were not created by us, but already there when we came to them. Technology is given to us by God, it is a Platonic form, we discover it and evolve from it because we search for truth. Reading and writing is also a technology, by definition the word. There is a set of words which form a Logos that actually works, and it is this Logos that will be transformative to us.
Let us call the Logos an algorithm, and know that there are instructions for a better world, accept that we can find these instructions in the same way we find the Messiah because the knowledge is within us.
Today's technology will educate us, feed us, and provide a collaborative way for Churches, Synagogues, and communities to manage themselves. Transparency will weed out the hypocrites, and bad actors, compelling congregations, and business to compete not for profit, but to do real honest good.
We must abandon the absurdity of the concept of Satan, we must recognize that the effect we call evil is no more than primitive human behavior patterns. We must see that we are not that far removed from a chimp, that evil is left behind when we evolve from the flesh, to the spirit, rather from animal to human.
Mankind has had much difficulty comprehending justice, people mostly believe in justice of the strong, “ do harm to others, be loyal only to your kin and your clan,” a very effective precept, but gave us our history of wars, and societies based on human enslavement. Socrates creates the argument that this justice of the strong is wrong, that we can live in a society of rules and laws equal to all. So we killed him.
Christ adds democracy and a divine nature to the Socratic argument of equal justice. So we certainly kill him as well.
You can see evolution in history, and you know you evolved from childhood. Real human evolution comes through knowledge, education, and reason.
The evolution of religion has permitted the quasi-democratic world we have today. Today we have quarterbacks, and not gladiators for entertainment, we have become slightly less barbaric. This evolution needs to take one more step, the redemption of all mankind.
Many people can easily accept there is no God, but few will say that love of neighbor, or compassion is a bad practice.
Stop asking the God’s to fix our failures, stop blaming God or the devil for our faults. The path to heaven may not be dependent on good works, but here on earth the problems are caused by you, and if you don’t think, if you don’t act, you are the problem.
John 14
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
God has given us all that is required for each of us to have contentment, we are limited only by ignorance, and the fact that in our daily lives we face some of us who will constantly take our efforts as their spoils. The solution for these two issues is education, and an ability to keep a keen eye on corruption.
Let us consider that our entire western belief system is based on the Jewish people as the chosen people, chosen to “Tikkun Olam,'' or to repair this world. That it is the divine duty of the Jewish people to interpret God's intentions, and to produce this coming Messianic age. This way the Messiah is the entire Jewish people, and any opposition to a better world would have no single Messiah to re-crucify. The Christians and Islam with their love of neighbor, and do well unto others precepts, would of course assist in the production.
Finally, just take action. Place the entire mechanism for the process of “Tikkun Olam” onto an open transparent online platform to prevent corruption, where all can work to improve, and verify the quality of the social economic product. Apply aspects of artificial intelligence to automate the individual attention to education and repair every aspect of society.
This would combine the economic, educational, and spiritual aspects of life into one direct open democratic system. The status quo would not be upset, as this would not replace anything, only provide a rational opportunity to repair the absurdity we all currently are forced to live.