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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 9315
[Religious]
Date Posted:
3/7/2004
10:26:35 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,528
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Comments: 8
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World's Major Religions Like Branches Growing From One Trunk
Author: Tom Harpur Source: The Toronto Star (Canada)
Title: WORLD'S MAJOR RELIGIONS ARE LIKE BRANCHES GROWING FROM ONE TRUNK
The thing that has struck me most in the study of world religions is that the deeper down you go, the farther back, the closer they come together.
They are like branches stemming from one trunk. There is but one universal mythos (story) behind them all. One way of expressing this is what is called the Perennial Philosophy. The English novelist and essayist, Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) sums that up best in his introduction to a translation of The Song Of God, also known as the Bhagavad-Gita.
He notes four common doctrines which denote the basic core or "Highest Common Factor" I'm talking about.
Submitted by and Thanks to: Christina
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Community Thoughts: There are 8 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| What A Load Of... | Mar 7th. at 5:28:19 pm EST |
by Faline (BC, Canada) - wc_xemail
while I agree that most religions have common basic factors I totally disagree with the points he said they all had in common, he needed way more references to back up his point. Also the writer failed to recognise that some of the things he was refering too could have been distant paths of the Jewish and christian religion, especaily considering he was using simalarities in names which in truth have little to no bearing on the actual religion (a rose by any other name anyone?) it really sounded to me like he was just pointing out the mixing affect of religions and nothing more.
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| Here! Here! | Mar 7th. at 4:50:29 pm EST |
by Symmetrynset (Fort Collins) - wc_xemail
I feel like things om this planet would be a lot happier if we started concentrating on thte things we have in common insted of the differences we have!
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| I Want Flowcharts! | Mar 7th. at 12:48:00 pm EST |
by KickAir 8P~ (Texas, USA) - wc_xemail
I want flowcharts! He should've included a link to flowcharts.
~
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| Yes And No | Mar 7th. at 12:15:09 pm EST |
by OceanicGold (Keansburg, NJ, USA) - wc_xemail
It would seem that there is a connection between the DOMINANT world Religions, but certainly not all religions.
It seems ethnic Persians started the ball rolling. They moved into the Indian sub-continent and dominated the indigeounous people, declaring their kind in the highest castes. Religion was the basis for their power, justification for their place as conquerers.
Those Persians who remained in their land and traveled westward became estranged from those ruling the subcontinent. War ensued. Both sided portrayed the gods of the other as embodyment of evil. For instance the Hindu word for a God (Devi) was corrupted by Persians to be "Devils"
As small kingdoms in the Persian Sphere moved to larger empires with powerful rulers in the west... monotheism was most likely a metaphorical outcome of consolidating the power of many kings and kingdoms into one imperial authority. Here we see the origins of Zoaraster. In the more stable subcontinent this wasn't really necessary.
Gautama bhudda himself was from a hindu royal line distantly ethnically Persian.
When Persians "restored" Jews to lands they were alledgedly were removed from in their enslavement in Babylon (under Darius) it became clear that the Jews migrating back had integrated their own local tribal customs and beleifs with Persian and Babylonian beleif, and even with older beleifs in Baal popular in the region before the rise of monotheism. Beelzebub is a corruption of Baal ze Baal "king of kings" a title given to Baal which really means "king". You can see here the basis of Christianity in Baal worship, the son of man, the victory over death... it's all there.
I find it interesting that a small area roughly where Iran is could actually be the place where Hinduism branched off from something probably Akin to Zoaratrianism. One spread east and branched off into Bhuddism. One spread west and became Islam, Chritianity, Judiasm... all from the same ethnic people.
Perhaps California isn't the place to go when you want to start a new religion.
All of these religion in one way or another were connected to power, enforced earthly power of kings and empires. They have little if any resemblence or connections between themselves and the local tribal religions they displaced, extinguished, or integrated into their mythos in some superficial manner.
No connection between these five religions necessarily justifies that their common source, whatever Persians beleived in before they Marched over India and treked west to fight with Greeks, is any closer to true spiritual reality than anything we have now. We might just as easily find that their Gods and Theology in those very ancient days were much like any other tribal Gods in any other tribal religion and that as their power grew their Gods accrued more roles and their theology became more complex and reflected the power of having written language.
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| Well No Surprise... | Mar 7th. at 12:07:24 pm EST |
by Kz (Hell Michigan) - wc_xemail
I have always noticed that every religion seems to have the same roots...pretty much all of them intermingle. The only problem is, how can we make people of different religions intermingle without starting chaos? The religions connect, but people never seem to do that very well.
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| Veda? | Mar 7th. at 11:45:19 am EST |
by Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Ct.) - wc_xemail
The Song of the Opulent One certainly has an influence in religious history, and provides an excellent distinction between the Personalist and Impersonalist Paths, which Jesus combines in his Judeo-Buddhism. Police officers are still wearing blue uniforms, in rememberance of Dyer's Woad, which was worn in remembrance of Krishna's skin.
Of course, in terms of Religious History, The Craft and the BG are very modern movements, culminating about 5, 000 years of Evolution, and Prabhupada boasts that there's been nothing new in India since.
It's from the Egyptian, Minoan and Druidic cultures that alll the new stuff comes, which might point to where all the hindu gods have gone.
Aaron
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| Only One Reference Is Provided | Mar 7th. at 11:22:16 am EST |
by Rede Seeker (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) - wc_xemail
I think the Author's arguement for a single source of religious thought would fall apart if additional references were used. You won't be finding correlations between the Bible and Asatru sources.
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| A Point Well Made. | Mar 7th. at 10:40:48 am EST |
by Ravenwillow (Edmonds, WA, USA) - wc_xemail
There really isn't much more to say on the article, is there. A point well made, backed by evidence, beautifully done.
Cheer if this comes as a surprise to you.
Damn...
Its quiet in here.
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