The Gospel According to Acharya S
The Origins of Good and Evil
Around the world there are a variety of cultures
with an assortment of religious beliefs and systems. This is a
fact. Within these different cultures and religious systems are
varied perceptions of what is real in the universe. Some of them
have a deity or deities; some have no god. The diversity is great.
Some of the deities are anthropomorphic, others are animalistic;
some are elemental, and others have no form. Many traditions have
the concept of good and evil; others do not. Those traditions that
do not separate out good and evil, such as Taoism, consider all
things in the universe, whether viewed as good or evil, to be
within the cosmic plan or mind that some call "God." In other words, in some views, "God" is simply
a term to describe the entire universe and all its aspects, whether
good or evil.
The question arises, where have the concepts of
good and evil come from, since they have developed so differently
around the planet? Why is it that some cultures view some things as
evil while others see them as good, and vice versa? How can
followers of one so-called religion believe that only those who hold the
identical tenets are good and those who do not are evil? Since no
one "religion" is followed by a majority of earth's inhabitants,
how can such followers view the rest of the world's population as
doing the devil's work? Where did these ideas originate? Are they
based in reality? Is there a good god and an evil devil who take turns influencing the universe
and our world? Who determines which is which? How did this
determination come about?
Narrow Perceptions Represent Bigotry
For those people who study the subject in depth,
and have revelation and expansion of consciousness of their own,
the answer becomes frighteningly and sickeningly clear as to how,
why and what is going on. What becomes obvious is that each group
has brainwashed itself to believe that it holds the only truth, way
and path. Each group, faction or cult believes that those who do not see its
way are doomed to hell by its perceived and chosen deity. Every
religion holds that if its specific guidelines are not followed,
true salvation is not destined to occur. What becomes abundantly
evident to those who seriously involve themselves from as
unprejudiced a perspective as is possible - say, that of an
alien visitor simply observing
this planet - about every one of these so-called religious
systems is that they are in fact not based on any true
revelation from any specific deity who is the absolute authority
and who gives "his word" to "his chosen
people" but are instead based on egotistical and cultural biases
that are destined to bring political and material gain to those
who can force them upon others.
This statement may seem shocking to those who
have not looked into the situation to any extent. Those who are
caught up in any given religious tradition will believe that their
system is the only true one, the most advanced in the universe.
This is the first sign of egotism and
arrogance. This presupposes that no other group of people or
individual has ever had an enlightened or wise thought. This
assumes that only those who carry the "way, the light and the
truth" have any intelligence whatsoever. It also presumes that
whoever received "the Word" in the first place is a very
egotistical "chosen person," or the arrogant "son of God," or some
such.
True Wisdom Can Be Found Anywhere, Not Just in
Some Old Book
The fact is that around the world wisdom has
been able to penetrate the noggins of a multitude of people, to be
revealed in a large array of creative ideas. Contrary to what the
brain-dead "religionists" would have everyone believe, there is
nothing at all wrong with this variety. This variety is the spice
of life, and those who avail themselves of it are greatly enriched
in consciousness and spirit. Those who narrow down their
consciousness to reject the wisdom and perception of all other
cultures in favor of their own egotistical "religious" beliefs are
often mean-spirited. They call themselves devout, but they are
really out of it.
"Religions" are Recycled Myths
As an example of how religious dogma is derived
from political and material gain, let us look at the western
tradition of good and evil as held by the Judeo-Christo-Islamic traditions. Most people
think that these systems come out of the Hebraic interpretation of
God/Devil, which was revealed directly from God. What few people
realize is that the Hebraic interpretation is a direct lift from
older cultures such as the Phoenician, Babylonian, Sumerian,
Zoroastrian, Indian and Egyptian, et al. The majority of people
have not bothered to study the evolution of religion enough to
realize that practically every culture has "borrowed" (stolen) the
spiritual traditions of other cultures, reworked them and made them
to revolve around itself. This is particularly true regarding
cultures that have merged through invasion. Most folks are not
students of history enough to know that throughout the past 6,000
years of known history peoples have migrated and moved all over the
place, so much so that it is impossible here to name the
migrations. During these various migrations, which were often
caused by the need to find better, less exploited, more fertile
territory, invaders absorbed the cultures they invaded. To do this,
they usually had to make the presiding cultural gods into either
sub-deities under their own god or gods, or into demons and devils.
This is precisely what has been done throughout the world, whether
one realizes it or not.
God and the Devil are One
In the case of the Hebraic tradition, the
Semitic group of people that later became known as the Jews
engulfed and incorporated into its pantheon of prophets, patriarchs
and deities the gods of other cultures, such as Brahma, the Indian
creator god, who becomes the patriarch Abraham; or Mises, the
Sumerian/Egyptian superhuman hero-lawgiver, who becomes the prophet
Moses. What few people realize is that the principal God/Devil of
the Old Testament are also derived in this way from older
traditions, specifically the Egyptian, Indian and Zoroastrian. In
fact, the God/Devil construct comes in part from derivation of the
Dual God of Persia, Ahura-Mazda/Ahriman, or the Egyptian Horus/Set.
Set and Horus, for example, were the Dark and Light aspects of the
one God. These were the first elements out of the Void, as even the
Hebraic bible claims. Set, or "Darkness," was the primary god in a
number of very ancient cultures along the Nile River. It is of the
Temples of Set, in fact, that we have possibly the oldest
identified ruins on earth. Set eventually came to be the
God of the South, where his peoples resided. At that time, Horus
was only a vague entity somewhere to the North. As the peoples
migrated towards the North, Set, as symbolized by the South Pole
Star, began to become less and less visible, and it came to be
believed that Set was descending into the underworld to become God
there.
Sooner or later, as the people continued to
migrate north and became more focused on the Lord of the North Pole
Star, Horus, they began to view Set as less important and Horus of
greater significance. No doubt this led to conflicts. Set continued
to be worshipped along the Nile, but it became clear that factions
arose who desired to make Horus supreme. This ploy would be, once
again, for political and material reasons. The movements of the
astral bodies that corresponded with and symbolized these entities,
such as the Pole Stars, and the Moon and Sun, were crucial to life
along the Nile. These heavenly bodies were closely charted and
calendared. Such movements provided a semblance of order in what
would ordinarily seem like a chaotic and unkind world full of
yearly flooding, terrific sandstorms and unbearable heat. By
measuring the movements of such planetary bodies, those who later
became regarded as priests of these bodies could determine when
would be the most auspicious time for planting, reaping and
harvesting. This was intrinsic to life along the Nile, and without
it there was no life.
If, as happens frequently in history, some sort
of natural calamity or disaster were to strike a particular
culture, group or people, the priests would look towards the
displeasure of the god behind any one of the various planetary
bodies or elemental forces such as wind (which was represented by
the Egyptian "Shu"). The priests would then determine that such
deity needed to be propitiated so that order would return to the
world. The priests would sometimes battle as to which god would be
appeased, and during difficult transition times - for example, the
movement north when Horus came to usurp Set in importance - these
conflicts could become ugly and violent. Indeed, the priests would
resort to all sorts of name-calling and propaganda to make sure
their particular interpretation was set in stone, so to speak. In
the case of Horus and Set, Set - who was once considered an equal
of his twin brother Horus - became viewed as something bad or evil.
Set, as "Prince of Darkness" and "Lord of the Underworld," came to
be seen as an enemy of the people. This characterization also came
about because of the fear of the dark and the insecurities felt
throughout the night. But, as can be evidenced by the later story
of the Greek god Hades, the Lord of the Underworld was not always,
and did not continue to be, viewed by all peoples as evil. Hades
was, in fact, simply another god doing his job. It was a certain
bias that eventually led to the establishment of the Prince of
Darkness and Lord of the Underworld as an evil and sinister
character.
"Evil" is Subjective
And speaking of sinister, how many people
realize that the word "sinister" actually means "left" in Romance
languages? Here is a classic example of how cultural bias has
attached a judgment upon something so simple and benign as a
direction, view or aspect. And how did this judgment come about?
Left-handers, for example, were considered dangerous to the social
status quo because their use of the left appendage kept the
creative, right side of the brain open, leading to new and
dangerous ideas - indeed, to creativity and union with the creator
itself. But because these new ideas upset the status quo and could
lead to its reduction in wealth and position, left-handers, or
"leftists," were considered bad and evil. Hence, they became
"sinister."
It is possible that the word "evil" itself is
also derived from something equally innocuous but through cultural
bias has become judged as something bad. Some claim evil has its
roots in "Eve," or the primary female. Things of Eve would be evil.
In this circumstance of etymological development, the aggressive
male ego actively worked to make things of Eve bad or "evil."
In any event, although it was not previously
this way, and in some places he is still worshipped - leading
critics to make claims of devil worship - Set came to be viewed as
something bad and evil. He came to be seen as the cause of all
problems to the peoples along the lower or northerly Nile. That he
was not always viewed by all peoples as evil is exhibited by the
fact that several Egyptian pharaohs over the centuries called
themselves "Seti." The pharaoh was considered the living embodiment
of deity, to rule in the earthly place of the entity, whether it
was Ra, Horus, Osiris or Set. The Nile kingdoms have a long and
colorful history of such traditions.
Horus and Set - Sound Familiar?
So, where is all this leading us and what does
the Egyptian history have to do with the present interpretation of
good and evil as defined by our current "religious" traditions? You
may have guessed by now that Set, or Set-Anup, or Set-An, came to
be called, "Satan." Likewise, Set's previously equal "brother" and
twin aspect of the One God, Horus - also called "Iusa" and "the
Krst," the "Light of the World" and the "Sun of God" that rescues
the world from Darkness (Set) - has come to be viewed as All Good
in the Judaized/ Hellenized/Romanized version now named
"Jesus Christ." As we have seen, the
"good" Iasus, or Horus, was not always considered an adversary
to his "evil" brother Set, and today's story that the "Prince of
Darkness" and "Lord of the Underworld" is an evil demon working
against a good "Prince of Light" and "Lord of Heaven" was not
always so. At one point, these two aspects of the One were
equivalent in divinity. They became judged and deemed to be
either good or evil because of political, environmental and
egotistical motives. Hence, those of the South, the Dark Ones,
became of the evil Set, or Satan, and those of the North, the
Light Ones, became of the good Horus, or Jesus.
As it turns out, the entire notion that Darkness
is evil (therefore South is bad) and Lightness is good (hence North
is good) is revealed to be racist and political, and not at all
based on revelation from any divinity. As has been shown, the
entire good and evil, light and dark, God and Devil scenario has
come about wholly through cultural and political bias, also not
through the revelation from a purely good deity.
The lesson of all of this: Don't be too sure you
know what good and evil are - and don't judge a person by the
contents of The Book.
The Gospel According to
Acharya S
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