CHAPTER 1
Mythology: Bronze Age
During the period from 120,000 to 24,000 BCE, Neanderthalslived on the earth. The Neanderthals possessed traits far moresimilar to animals than humans. According to archaeologicalrecords, the Neanderthals disappeared during the Stone Ageand were replaced by modern humans, who first appearedin Ethiopia as archaic Homo sapiens. These early humansnursed the elderly and practiced ritual burials. Beyond theimmediate requirements of procuring food, making coveringsfor the body, and building shelters, the culture included thepractice of specific rites relating to death and burial. Thereis no established record of any major spiritual activities orrevelations during the Stone Age.
The first record of holistic visions received by human beingsrecorded in caves around 4,000 BCE during the early BronzeAge. Within the ancient sacred scriptures, such revelationsindicate there was a form of communication between divinepowers and human beings. The information was transcribed inan abstract form and passed on from one generation to anotheruntil a much later date. There is no doubt that the sacredknowledge received as part of these revelations graduallychanged as it was transferred from one cult to another. Thisinformation was largely used in the form of prayers, oblations,sacrifices (personal, and of other living things), plus the buildingof temples and shrines to honor the Creator and its divinepowers.
Mesopotamian Region
One of the oldest available sacred texts of such holistic visionsis clay tablets. In the tablets, such script was recorded incuneiform around 2,600 BCE when the first highly evolvedhuman beings experienced holistic visions describing theformation of earth. The cuneiform script described the originof life on the planet in detail. These seven tablets, called EnumaElish, describe how human-like beings appeared on earth andultimately became the rulers of this planet. These people weredifferent from common human beings; they were immortaland had divine or mystical powers of creation.
The Sumerians, who prevailed within the Mesopotamianregion during that era, discovered the information. Thisinformation led to the development of the first availablewritten mythology. This mythology is referred to as the "Epicof Gilgamesh of Babylonia." A copy of this historic documentended up in the library at Nineveh in the seventh century BCE.Archeologists uncovered it in the 1800s, and now it resides inthe British Museum.
These seven tablets describe—with some accuracy—apower struggle, a civil war of sorts, among different divinepowers that caused a catastrophic cosmic environment thatbrought into balance the supreme power of causation. This hasbeen discovered by modern-day science through technologicaladvancement—the origin of our universal system, the formationand alignment of planetary systems, the different stages of theearth's stabilization, and the origin of life on earth.
The ancient epic describes two kinds of primeval watersthat prevailed on the planet: fresh flowing waters (rivers) anda body of stagnant water (oceans). The fresh flowing watercoming from the ground was named Apsu, and the stagnantwater or salty water of the oceans on the earth was namedTiamat. The divine power prevailing on the planet, describedas wind, was called Ea. The wind power not only madetremendous noise or babel, but it also caused floods, storms,hurricanes, and tornados, which they named Mummu.
The wind, in combination with its related powers, wasconsidered one of the most powerful divine forces on theplanet. The other major divine power in the sky was anilluminated body like the sun, which they named Marduk. Thesun was even more powerful than all the other powers residingon or above the planet. Marduk came to help and protect allthe lower divine powers from the chaos, created because ofcontinued disputes in the lower powers of Apsu, Tiatma, Ea,and Mummu. The lower powers gave Marduk the power torule over the planet and appointed Marduk the king of theearth.
Marduk created a shield, the sky, to protect the divinelower powers prevailing on the planet from the powerfulcosmic forces of radiation, gravitation, ultraviolet rays, andmeteoritic showers. Further, Marduk, the sun, used its superiorpowers to organize planets and stars into a planetary systemand established seasonality by organizing the orbital systemthat regulates the movement of the moon, providing lightduring the night when the sun is unable to do so. The lowergods or powers gave their allegiances to Marduk to protectthe split that Marduk created between the cosmos and earthto protect the lower powers that prevail on the earth fromdemonic forces that prevailed within the cosmic region. Thissplit also created a region beyond the sky where the eternalsoul of the Creator, named El, provided a protective shield ora transitory home for individual living spirits that humanityidentified as the "heaven in the sky" or swarga. Below theprotective shield resided earth, which they called Ki or Antu.The lower divine powers and embodiments—consisting of theeternal soul in the form of living spirit—were able to coexist inharmony with the living force or lower divine powers. Accordingto Enuma Elish, in Babylon (Mesopotamia) the residence of thedemigods was established.
Based on this mythology, Mesopotamian civilizationsaccepted Babylon as the home of Marduk and thus built thefirst temple to worship the sun god. (Interestingly, even today,the hottest place on the earth is El Azizia in Libya, where thescorching temperature reaches 136 degrees Fahrenheit withthe ambient surface air temperature recorded at 93 degreesFahrenheit.) Sumerians respected the lower divine powersas demigods and believed all the higher powers or deitiesprevailed beyond the shield.
The Sumerians called El the High God of the Canaanites;they worshipped El as the Creator and the supreme power. Elwas responsible for the maintenance of peace and tranquilityamong these powers and was responsible for the causation,existence, protection, prosperity, and ultimate annexation ofall these powers.
It is further described that High God El started the beginningof humanity on earth by creating an embodiment from dust(inert material) and placing divine breath or divine blood (livingspirit) in it to start the first pair of living beings. According toEnuma Elish, each pair of emanations consisted of a divine maleand divine female; at the beginning, there was no gulf betweenhumanity and divinity (except that divinity was regarded asimmortal and humanity as mortal).
With the passage of time, human beings changed, grewweaker, and became more attenuated as they moved furtherfrom the original divine source of creation. I believe thismay represent the beginning of both physical and spiritualevolutionary trends. According to Enuma Elish, all thesecreations and transformations carried out in six divine "days"or six primordial epochs.
Based upon the mystical revelations of Enuma Elish, it ledto the development of mythology to construct temples andperform devotional worship and sacrifices to please the divinepowers and prevent them from performing evil acts. Themythology of Enuma Elish greatly influenced the civilizationsliving within the Mesopotamian region—and ultimately ledto the development of the highly cultured civilization of theCanaanites.
Abraham later organized this group, which was known as theIsraelites. Their reach eventually spread to all the surroundingregions and heavily influenced the development of Egyptian,Greek, and Persian, Byzantine, and Roman mythologies.
Middle East
In the Middle East, within the Old Iranian region, anothermythology developed, which was based upon a divine visionreceived by a holy man named Zoroaster. This holy manintroduced the concept of one God, the true Creator of theuniverse, whom he named Ahura Mazda. The holy manproclaimed that Ahura Mazda was the true source of allgoodness and was worthy of the highest worship.
The holy man further proclaimed that demonic forcescalled devas were created by Angra Mainyu to deceive humansand make them believe that devas were divine powers. Thus,humans were led away from the path of righteousness andsubjected to the hostile spirit, the source of all sin and miseryin the universe.
Ahura Mazda is superior to Angra Mainyu. This ledto splitting the kingdom into two sections. One group, theMazdayasnians (monotheists), followed the ideology of OneGod; the other group, who called themselves Daevayasnians(polytheists), followed different deities. The Daevayasniansbecame less powerful, and they moved away from Prussia,eventually joining the Indo-Aryan group to become part ofBrahmanism.
The Mazdayasnians, however, stayed within their nativesoil of Iran and flourished as successful rulers, including thedynasties of Achaemenidas, the Parthians, and the Sassanids.The Muslim rulers who came from Arabia eventuallyoverpowered these dynasties when they introduced Islam asthe ruling faith. They later moved to India.
China
Further to the east, a Chinese mythology developed, whichdefined that in the beginning there was nothing on earth exceptfor formless chaos. This chaos amalgamated into a cosmic"egg" for about eighteen thousand years and gave birth toduality called yin and yang. When yin and yang are in a state ofperfect balance it produces harmony, which they called Pangu,the balancing power or the Creator of the universe.
A Pangu is a primitive hairy giant with horns on his headand wearing furs. Pangu created the universe by separatingyin from yang with a swing of his giant ax, creating the earth(murky yin) and the sky (clear yang). To keep them separate,Pangu stood between them and pushed up the sky. This tasktook eighteen thousand years; with each day, the sky grewten feet (three meters) higher, the earth ten feet wider, andPangu ten feet taller. In some versions of the story, Pangucreated four prominent beasts, namely the turtle, the qilin, thephoenix, and the dragon.
According to scriptures, after the eighteen thousand yearselapsed, Pangu disappeared. His breath became the wind; hisvoice became the thunder; his left eye became the sun; and hisright eye became the moon. His body became the mountainsand extremes of the world; his blood created rivers; his musclesbecame the fertile lands; his facial hair became the stars andthe Milky Way. His fur became the bushes and forests; hisbones became the valuable minerals; his bone marrow becamesacred diamonds; his sweat fell and became the rain; the fleason his fur were carried by the wind and scattered throughoutthe earth in the form of different forms of fish and animals.
Nuwa, the goddess, then used the mud of the riverbedto form the first humans. The first humans were individuallycrafted and very smart. Nuwa became bored of making eachhuman individually, so she put a rope in the riverbed to soak itand then lifted it above the water, and the drops of mud thatfell from it became new humans. These new humans were notas smart as the original unique humans were.
In Chinese shrines, stereotypical "caveman" regalia withlong hair and leopard-skin tunics depicted as Pangu and asa symbol, such as the baguna, are associated with Pangu inthese shrines.
Central America
In Central America, the Mayan people lived from 2,300 to1,000 BCE. They developed into a complete, self-containedcivilization. The Popol Vuh, the "Book of People," wasestablished as their holy scripture. This scripture encompasseda wide range of subjects, including creation, ancestry, history,and cosmology.
The time of creation was nothing but dark and silence;like a peaceful night, there was no mobility at all. The divinespirits, the ancestors of creation, surrounded the water withlight, but they all hid behind a cover of soft green-and-bluematerials like feathers. They were super human beings. Theywere named Gucumatz and Tepeu, and above the earth in thesky was a "Heart of Heaven," which they called Hurricane, or"God prevailed."
In the darkness of night, Gucumatz and Tepeu receivedindividually a message from the Heart of Heaven or so-calledrevelations. They agreed to unite their words and their thoughts,and they meditated until it became clear to them that whendawn broke, new life would appear on the earth, which wouldbecome trees, animals, and humankind. They witnessed threecreations; the first they named Caculha Huracan, the secondChipi-Caculha, and the third, Raxa-Caculha. They determinedjointly that these three represented the Heart of Heaven onearth. Gucumatz and Tepeu considered these the divine powersof the sun and the moon that were created to provide life andlight and produce food and nutrition for all created beings.
They witnessed the creation of an empty void, and thenwater receded to form the sea, which made the space for theearth to appear as a solid. This was all done with the blessingsof Huracan. Then there was light, which was followed by adawn in the sky. The earth developed, and instantly therewas a mist, and then there was a cloud of dust, and then themountains appeared from the water and grew, and valleysformed. The groves of cypresses and pines put forth shootstogether on the surface of the earth.
Gucumatz was filled with joy as he thanked the three divinepowers—Caculha Huracan, Chipi-Caculha, and Raxa-Caculha—andsaid, "Your coming has been fruitful."
"And," they answered, "our work, our creation, is nowfinished."
There was no glory or grandeur in their creation andformation until the first human beings appeared. From thesehuman beings, "hero twins" were born of Vucub-Caquix. Thetwins were named Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Their children,Zipacna and Cabracan, established the propagation processon earth. By using white and yellow corn, the gods createddualities, such as day and night, and calmness and wind. Thetwin hero wives then created more offspring.
Based on the mythology of Popol Vuh, these creationsultimately led to the development of a civilization calledQuiche. The people of Quiche traveled into the mountains andfound Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent lord, who providedthem with the prominence to dominate and institute elaboraterituals and build temples and shrines. Later, many cities wereestablished, and significant architectural structures emerged;fortifications were added later. Anthropologically, a classicperiod of civilization prevailed within Central America roughlybetween 1,000 and 790 BCE.
Indian Subcontinent
On the Indian subcontinent, according to Hindu mythology,the creation started with the formation of Hiranyagarbha,meaning the golden egg or universal embryo from which allmanifestations originate and ultimately terminate. Purana, anancient holy scripture, describes that after the great dissolutionof the earlier universal system, there was darkness everywhereand nothing was moving. Out of this tranquil darkness, asupreme power, called Svayambhu, arose to create the goldenwomb, Hiranyagarbha, commonly known as Brahma, and thenthe supreme power itself entered into the golden womb asVishnu, an eternal soul. This started the process of creationor manifestation. This process of origination, sustenance, anddissolution established Trimurti, consisting of Brahma, Vishnu,and Shiva. This multi-headed, multi-eyed, multi-footed, multi-armed,multi-limbed being was called Hari, the Lord Supreme—theundifferentiated substratum from which every manifestedand unmanifested, visible and invisible form developed andcontinues to create, sustain, and dissolve.
