In order to properly evaluate and trace
the evolution of religion and its impact on our modern religious
philosophy, we must go far back in time to the earliest
anthropological and archeological indications of the ascendancy of man
from roving bands of scattered families, foraging and hunting for foodstuffs
wherever possible, to nascent establishments of settled tribal communities.
The history of ancient mans emergence
from the nomadic state into settled communities with
organizational structure, agriculture, animal husbandry, and the
partitioning of permanent hereditary duties to families and/or members of
the community, the nascent formations of Military, Royal, Ecclesiastical and
Artisan Class structures with centralized authority and rules of conduct is
Key to pinpointing the embryonic cultural and social traditions that
over the millennia would eventually evolve into the social force popularly
known today as revealed religion , inclusive of its social creeds and
spiritual concepts. In fact all forms of religion practiced in this (our)
era can be traced to this same type source or origin. Our religious
philosophies are an evolutionary reflection of mans historical interaction
with nature , shielded in myth and fable. These myths and fables of the
distant past have evolved into our modern religious concepts. There is no
truth to the concept of Revealed Religion (Revelation From a god
(supernatural spirit) to a messenger (prophet)) – all religious beliefs are
the result of mankind’s social evolution and the Key to interpreting the
myths and symbols embodied therein is found when we accurately separate
actual history from mythical history, and then evaluate the actual history
dispassionately – and this task is not easily accomplished.
I must re-emphasize that the
Key to unlocking the veiled theological mysteries of the distant past
and thereby shedding great and illuminating light upon the religious enigmas
of the present, lay in uncovering and analyzing the early
social structures of the first settled agricultural communities
emerging from pre-history. That is not to say that mankind did not
possess god concepts in his nomadic phases – most certainly he did, if we
accept that the belief in the great-unknown (spirit) creator is
instinctive. Natural history and Time have no beginning, no origin that we
can point to, no year one (or 0) so to speak and herein lays the eternal
unfulfilled quest of the enlightened of mankind – to find this Father
of our beginnings with the hope that such knowledge will unveil our purpose
and destiny.
The evolution of religious thought from
primitive times to the present is explainable but entails a dispassionate
study of history and some common unbiased logic. The first step in this long
process of religious evolution started with the emergence of the Priesthood.
They evolved from a class of Star Gazers and Naturalist whose
appointed hereditary duty, within ancient society, was the recording and
forecasting of seasonal transitions. They (the Stargazers) signaled the
planting of seeds and the harvesting of the crops. They studied and
measured the cycles of time and the seasons by observing and recording the
comings and goings of the celestial entities – and noting the terrestrial
associations (rainfall, flooding, drought, animal migration, etc.) that
accompanied the arrival and departure of these cosmic entities (stars,
planets, asterisms, etc.) to and from specified coordinates. They were the
first astronomers and meteorologists and masters of mathematics, which was a
required skill within their ranks.
These early societies were stratified –
whatever caste or class that an individual was born of determined his
destiny throughout life, that is to say the obligation of the child to his
society and rank or position within the society was inherited from the
parents. This worked fine for the stargazers, in that their pivotal
profession as keepers of the time blossomed intellectually far, far beyond
the scope of the masses. Their abilities became prodigious over time, to the
amazement of the common classes. They not only predicted the coming of the
seasons in their order, but they forecasted the rains, the floods, solar and
lunar eclipses, the phases of the moon and declinations of the sun and the
Impact of their transits upon the land and its inhabitants. They charted the
heavens, grouped the stars and named them. These stargazers garnered this
phenomenal knowledge and ability at a time when the general public was
overwhelmingly illiterate – they became a lordly class unto themselves. They
cherished their supreme position and it was, of course, preserved within the
caste system that prevailed. But the security afforded by Class distinction
was not enough for these elitists who through superior knowledge had de
facto control of the ancient emerging world which over time would evolve
from community farms into city-states and into empires. So they decided to
encode their knowledge into cryptic (symbolical) form – they invented the
language of esoteric mythology, symbolism and allegory –a symbolic language
that could only be correctly interpreted by those who had undergone mystical
initiations within their Secret Societies or Fraternities.
This ancient mystical code that was
incorporated to preserve and enshroud the wisdom and knowledge
of the emerging sacerdotal class of antiquity is the archetypical
mythology that has blinded common society spiritually down to this day. This
mythology at the exoteric level is literal nonsense but within its
esoteric folds resides the supreme wisdom of the ages.
When Primitive man began to settle in
agricultural communities, it became necessary that they regulate their
farming and animal husbandry within the constraints of the seasonal changes.
It therefore was necessary for the tribes to assign some individuals
(stargazers) to devote themselves to the study and tracking of the coming
seasons and of course to financially support these appointees who worked for
the common good. The offices or positions of these appointees (stargazers)
were hereditary and their scientific knowledge increased exponentially and
was kept strictly secret, not shared with the other levels of society. Their
cosmic prognostications took on the aspect of secret wisdom; and of course
it was to their advantage to conceal their methods and knowledge so as to
secure their privileged position in society. So as society evolved
religiously (over thousands of years), these astronomers and
mathematicians (calculators of the seasons) became the primary ministers of
religious thought, thus the sacerdotal class was begun.
In order to clearly understand the
evolution of religion from the science of astronomy, we must recognize that
this process of religious evolution covered many thousands of years. The
actual birth of the process is forever lost in antiquity, and the
motivations of those who engineered and in later times diverted (or
modified) the focus of the process (in terms the mythical-religious
illustration of a physical reality) were varied. Originally, the primitive
stargazers (astronomers) of primordial times were certainly dedicated to the
common good of their tribes. But as the centuries passed and their
intellectual advances so greatly exceeded those of the general population,
they succumbed to the inevitable temptations of avarice and lust for power.
They applied their superior knowledge in a way that enhanced and secured
their privileged status. First of all their positions as Timekeepers were
hereditary, so this served to keep their advanced knowledge of mathematics,
astronomy and meteorology confined within close ranks. But this did not
satisfy them – they also established secret codes and symbols so that their
knowledge was elevated to another language that was incomprehensible to the
uninitiated. They covered the possibilities of dissension within their
families also so as to prevent the unworthy or untrustworthy access to this
esoteric wisdom; they established secret and closed societies for those that
were chosen as candidates to be trained in the mysteries of their esoteric
wisdom. The candidates had to pass certain arduous test, which served to
gauge their loyalty and dedication to the inner circle. They also had to
swear life and death oaths - that they would never reveal the secrets of
their closed society. Even when the candidates were accepted, all the doors
of the esoteric wisdom were not opened to them. The
ancient Priests established a tier system for the gradual advancement of the
potential hierophants – knowledge was unveiled to the candidates in degrees
and each advancement required tasks of qualification.
The ancient Priesthood of primordial
times and early civilization possessed an environmental knowledge that
rivals our understanding of the environment here in the 21st
century. They possessed this knowledge (higher mathematics, astronomy ,
geography, meteorology) at a time (in pre-history) when perhaps 99% of the
population was illiterate. The ignorant masses were superstitious and
uneducated with little or no understanding of the cycles of nature and the
causes of the seasons. And this ignorance suited the tactics of the
Priesthood just fine. The esoteric wisdom was maintained and controlled by
the priesthood and shared somewhat with the Royalty. As religion evolved
from astronomy i.e. the symbolic illustration of the science of astronomy,
the Priesthood used their advanced scientific knowledge to mesmerize and
astonish the masses.
So as the Priesthood (this
sacerdotal society that over hundreds and thousands of years had evolved
from a class of Timekeepers, star gazers, weather forecasters) began to
proselytize the public and formulate the religious tenets of the various
societies, they touted themselves as the vicars of the gods, as gods’
emissaries to the populations of earth. The Priesthood had the Power
(knowledge) in their minds to actuate and perpetuate this chicanery- they
would astound the people, for example, by declaring that at a certain
time and location at their command, the moon shall blot out the light of
the sun, or perhaps they would predict a Lunar Eclipse or the onslaught of
turbulent weather or drought. All this they could predict by means of their
scientific knowledge, but in the minds of the ignorant masses these Priest
, Soothsayers and Witchdoctors were visualized as true emissaries of the
gods. How else could they possess such powers was the thought of the
benighted.
Star and Nature Worship
I would add that the special dates that
were established for harvesting or planting or whatever, may have at first
only been secular notations on the calendar, but over time these special
days became sacred days and eventually deities were attached to these sacred
days as well as religious ceremonies which served to offer sacrifice or
obeisance to the deities so designated. It also follows that the
priesthood became very adept at the science of architecture and that
religious buildings and monuments were therefore designed to help aid in the
effort of tracking time. The orientation of the structures were laid so as
to measure the movements of the sun, moon and stars and thereby give notice
to the initiated of the entrances and exits of the seasons.
Originally, the tasks assigned to the
ancient Time Keepers (Stargazers) of these fledgling agricultural
communities was to track the seasons and notify the public of the
appropriate time to sow their seeds and of the appropriate time to
harvest the crops. This information was vital to the survival of these newly
settled hamlets of antiquity, making their first attempts at transition from
the hand to mouth existence of nomadism. And as these ancient Timekeepers
recorded their observations by the customary methods of oral traditions or
markings on natural landmarks etc. they had in fact entered the embryonic
stages of the science of astronomy, and concurrently (and unknowingly) laid
the foundation upon which the world’s religions would be fashioned in the
millennia that followed.
Of course the system of tracking the
seasons by using stars as signpost to announce their (seasons)
comings and goings worked fine, just as it does to this very day. But
anciently, as the system of using stars to mark the skies and announce the
entrances and exits of the seasons became customary and second nature to the
peoples, the original purposes (or understanding of how and why the system
was initiated) became lost or clouded in the minds of the masses. As the
years rolled by, the custom of searching the heavens for particular
asterisms to signal various agricultural and related activities became
ritualized. After a while, in the public mind, it was not enough
spiritually or psychologically to just run into the fields and sow or
harvest when the appropriate heavenly signpost appeared on the horizon. They
fashioned that a celebration was in order and festivities and the like.
As more years rolled by, just
celebrating the arrival of the starry signpost became spiritually
insufficient and psychologically non-fulfilling – so much depended upon
the arrival of the stars that announced not only the agricultural
activities, but marked the seasons for rain and sprouting fields and forest
and spawning fish, animal migration and so forth. The masses began to look
to the starry signpost not only as markers of the seasons but rather as
Bringers of the seasons. They imagined that their rituals of
celebration that greeted the annual arrivals of various stars or star
groups (constellations ) did not carry enough glory (significance) for these
momentous occasions. Now praise and supplication were in order – the starry
signpost at this point took on aspects of divine deities, in the minds of
the superstitious masses, deities worthy of praise and laudable beyond
limits. The stars were no longer viewed as only heavenly lights but also as
temples of the gods – these stars were imagined to house the spirits of the
divinities and were not only worthy of praise but praise was required. The
stars were the first celestial entities to be ranked as deities, according
to the scholars that have researched these matters, then came Lunar deities,
followed by the Solar deities – they (the stars) were imagined as residents
of heaven and the bringers of fair weather and bounty and rain and blessings
to their human subjects.
The above written expresses the early
stages of human development and also of human religious
development – and all is innately connected with the cosmos, the heavenly
vault of the skies. The link between all is the element of Time, that is the
tracking and measurement of Time, and Time tracking is the basis on which
all scripture is formulated. The scriptures are, in fact, registries of
astronomical phenomena written in a mythological format, plain and simple.
It is logically evident that
Star Worship evolved from the ritualizing of the system of using
stars and asterisms (groups of stars) as markers so as to track time. The
stars were used to signal the comings and goings of the seasons, and to
locate the position of the sun on its annual journey. These stars,
asterisms, common constellations and zodiacal constellations enabled early
man to identify the cardinal points and use other assorted stars and
constellations as signpost for measuring the span in between cardinal points
and tracking the sun as it traveled throughout the year. This was of obvious
importance so that early civilization could successfully plant and
harvest crops as well as for other reasons such as migration, animal
husbandry, food storage and export and so on and so on.
It is very easy to understand that by
making these signal days
of the stars into holidays and festivals their remembrance was assured. And
it follows that as society became more and more religious that these
signal days (that were a matter of life and death in terms of their
importance to agriculture) – that these signal days would over time
evolve into religious or sacred days dedicated to certain deities (stars)
that were now not just signals of the seasons but actually viewed as
the bringers and causers of the seasons. After humanity deified the stars,
it of course followed in natural progression that the deities became
deserving of worship and sacrifices. And in this we have the evolution of
religious rituals based on primitive astronomical observations that were
geared to tracking time in order to assure propitious agricultural and
related enterprises.
The first stellar deities were depicted
as animals, some malevolent and some benevolent. They chose animals names
for the various constellations, animals whose presence or activity was
somehow associated with the season of the stars heliacal appearance on the
eastern horizon, such as the heliacal rising of the Dog-Star Sirius ,
barking its announcement of the dog days of summer. A stars heliacal descent
on the western horizon was also a reference indicator and the stars that
transited the midnight meridian served as another reference coordinate for
tracking time. The characteristics of the animals would in some way be
associated with the concurrent activity or season that the stars arrival on
the horizon was found to indicate. For example, the bull deity was
associated with fertility – hence a Spring constellation indicating new
birth. The lion was in some instances associated with ferocious heat – hence
it was a summer constellation. The Virgin with a stalk of Wheat may have
been associated with harvesting and so forth. The deities were not limited
to just one symbolic indication. As time passed the deities became humanized
in form but maintained animal attributes as part of their guise, perhaps in
the attire of the deity or some ornament. And in many cases human and animal
anatomies were fused so as to create a mythically symbolic portrayal that
was part animal and part human in visual appearance. I’m thinking mainly of
ancient Egyptian symbolism as I write this.
Of course some stars (deities) were
indicators of propitious events (seasons) while other stars (deities) were
witnessed with foreboding. The benevolent stars (deities) were greeted with
great offerings of flowers, foodstuffs, dancing and various tangible
demonstrations of gratitude and welcoming. But the ominous stars (deities)
were served with blood sacrifices, fasting, self-mutilation and various
rituals that were designed to appease and placate the wrathful deities. Our
religious rituals of today have sprung from the sources that I have just
described.
Hence, this is the true and accurate
account of the evolution of religion – it started as astronomy that evolved
into cryptic Myth , for reasons that I have explained above – and out of
this mix has emerged our present day religious creeds. The fables that we
call religious history are completely bogus in terms of actual history.
The evolution of our modern
Religious Concepts began with Astronomy, and evolved through Mythology
and Astrology into modern
religion. Jesus Christ
, Moses
, Abraham
and all of the other so-called prophets
of the Quran ,
Bible and Torah
are cosmic
myths – they never existed in
actual history. They are the personifications of cosmic entities and their
tales, in truth, are no less than a registry
of astronomical
phenomena written in a mythological
format.
The best term that I have ever heard as
a description of religion is Theology Of time –
that’s exactly what religion is and has always been. Religious myth was born
out of a system of Time-Keeping, its originators were primitive stargazers
whose history goes back more thousands of years than I would like to count,
in fact I could say millions of years, but I wont stress the point since
that time-frame covers cycles that we haven’t covered to this point, in my
previous books on this subject. The largest cycle that we have discussed is
the precession cycle that spans 25,920 years, and this is where our focus
should remain for the moment, but the ancients actually measured time in
excess of that cycle.
Within this Book, we shall also bring
greater clarity to the important book of Genesis. Witness this quote from
Book Three: Chapter One
“Genesis One contains a Lot more
Symbolism. The First chapter and more of Genesis is actually Bursting At The
Seams with Stellar Symbolism, but that
is not our Focus, at this Time .
Furthermore the Interpretations are much more involved and tedious, so we
will move on”
In Chapter two I have included much of
the Stellar and Circumpolar symbolism that was omitted from the previous
volumes. The inclusion of the stellar symbolism and its interpretations will
give the reader a much broader comprehension of biblical allegory. I have
found astronomical correlations going back over 8,000 years in the Book Of
Genesis. The interpretations are very vivid and jolting.
We have attacked and explained many of
the most enigmatic portions of the bible within Book Four, and that
includes the Book Of Revelations – that mystery of the Ages. We have
included many interpretations relating to Environmental (Agricultural)
symbolism within this Volume, as it is very pertinent to the New Testament
and to Revelations as well.
We have included an extensive
explanation of the cycles of Time in Chapter One. It is fundamentally
important that the reader delves intensely into that chapter, as it is Key
to many interpretations that follow. And furthermore I have written this
book with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the information
contained in my previous books on this subject, which serves as a sort of
stepping-stone to the more intricate matters that are reviewed within this
Volume.
Malik H. Jabbar