I’ve been reading Professor Mark W. Muesse’s book, “Age of
Sages” and it has served as something like grist for the mill in regards to
this essay. Professor Muesse was writing
about the rather important and transformative time in History called the Axial
Age (which ran roughly from 800 to 200 B.C.), in which Religious and Spiritual
Ideas underwent radical change. In Persia there arose an awareness of Morality
and Individual Moral Responsibility that had not existed before, and almost
World-wide there was a shift toward believing in Individual Immortal
Souls. The Aryans from the Euro-Asian
Steppes were the primary drivers behind these new Belief Systems, bringing Morality
to Persia, as well as the doctrines of the Immortal Soul, which later came to
influence Jewish, Greek, and still later, the thinking of Christian
Civilization. In India, however,
thinking on Immortality turned toward Reincarnation. Now, this essay is not for quarrelling which
doctrine is right, and which is wrong.
Indeed, both ideas are wrong. But
I would like to present some opinions regarding why these mistaken notions
arose in the first place and what has kept them going.
Before the very transformative Axial Age, Religions were largely
amoral, that is, people were not judged on whether they were good or bad, but
by other more practical criteria – how successful they were, in such things as
Business, Battle, and in procuring women and livestock – both valuable
commodities at the time. The primary
virtues were in Strength, Valor, Prowess and Cunning, although the Most
Successful People tried their best to convince those beneath them that Loyalty
too was a virtue. Oh, and related to
Loyalty, we also have the Higher Ups preaching the merits of ‘Bravery in
Battle’… yes, and who wouldn’t give vast praise to somebody willing to die
fighting your battles for you. But,
putting cynicism aside, for a moment, whether the Pre-Axial Virtues served for
just furthering personal ambition or for contributing to maintain the
Hierarchical Social Structure, in isolation to these individuals or groups,
these ‘Virtues’ did have their utility.
It is when Individuals or Groups clashed that problems with such ‘virtue’
arose, where we would have the paradox of Virtue being good from some but very
bad for others – those on the receiving end of the other groups ‘virtue’. Just think how many people had to die
throughout History so that some could prove how brave they could be in battle…
and nowadays they are trying to prove it with suicide vests.
The Religions of those Pre-moral times were not yet
Monotheistic, but rather there was envisioned a huge Pantheon of Gods and
Divinities of various Rank and Relation.
These Gods, with certain exceptions, were Immortal. Of course, the Gods of conquered and
collapsed Civilizations somehow had to be killed off, and so the Legends
account for ‘Dead’ Immortal Gods. It
was in this way that the Greek Pantheon had displaced that of the Cretan
Civilization (which was highly
unfortunate, as Crete had been the center of a Very Advanced Civilization
(think Atlantis), while the Greeks were still a patchwork of warring Barbarian
Tribes – a state of affairs that they never were able to much transcend, even
today).
So, the Pre-Axial Gods were immortal, while it was
understood that Human Beings all died and stayed dead, at best sinking down
into the soil to be ghostly earth spirits, no longer with Human Consciousness,
but more or less the way we think of ghouls today. Ancient Man had the good sense to correlate
good conscious and cognitive functioning to healthy bodies and minds, and so it
was simply assumed that the Faculties of Dead People would be rather severely
impaired. But in their Legends the
Ancients did work in Exceptions to this Rule of Death being Final, and they
probably did it only to enhance their Entertainments and Dramas – the Story
Tellers and Poets, after all, had to make a living too. They Created ‘Heroes’. A Hero was some Human Being so exceptional in
the Virtues of that Time – Strength, Valor, Prowess and Cunning – that even the
Pantheon of Gods would be impressed and grant that particular Human Being the
Status and Condition of being Immortal.
Hercules and Theseus had both been ‘Heroes’ that had attained
Immortality. But wasn’t the granting of
such privileges to some bound to stir up envy and ambition among all the other
Mortals? It seems that the Poets may
have taken a bit too much license with the Real Truth of Things.
Well, at first the damage could not get too much out of
hand, because, well, given the Virtues that could Win Immortality at that Time,
remember – Strength, Valor, Prowess and Cunning. Such martial Virtues didn’t give ordinary
people much of an Opportunity to advance toward Immortality. Just think about it – to prove their Worthiness, wouldn’t they
have had to at least subdue their own Tribe and then others, and all without
ever encountering Defeat or Setback? That
would be almost impossible. Most
aspiring Heroes would get killed, by other aspiring Heroes, the moment they
started making their Move.
But when the Idea of Moral Responsibility was introduced to
Religion; when the List of Virtues underwent a radical change, swinging over to
the appreciation of attributes such as
Love, Kindness, Charity, Selflessness, Service and Self Discipline; then suddenly
the imagined door to Heroic Immortality swung wide open, relatively
speaking. Yes, to practice perfect as
Love, Kindness, Charity, Selflessness, Service and Self Discipline, well, that
would seem almost impossible too, but, yet again, there would be none of those
dangerous demands from the Old Barbarian Virtues that involve killing thousands of people who would
probably fight back quite earnestly, and most likely kill you first. No, the New Civilized Virtues, if difficult,
were not ‘that’ impossible, and so people could HOPE for Immortality on the
grounds of Moral Perfection, or, rather the more likely condition of being
Morally ‘Good-Enough’ to please a God with a sunny and forgiving disposition.
Of course, leave it to the Greeks to cheat the System there
also. When the True Christian Church was
annihilated with the Destruction of Jerusalem in 71 A.D. the heterodox and
unauthorized ‘Christian’ Church of Greece, introduced their own cheap Doctrine
for Immortality, claiming that one only had to ‘believe’ in Jesus, go through a
few cheap rituals, and then one would be forgiven for all past and future sins
and get heavenly Immortality as a matter of course, with no real moral effort
or moral practice at all. It was a
Doctrine that, from then on, True
Christians were ever at extremes to guard against and to try to suppress. But Darkness won out, and with Martin Luther,
a defeated and subjugated Catholic Church, and Modern Protestantism, the
Doctrine of Cheap Amoral Immortality won out, and so it is today that Modern
Protestant Globalized Civilization is largely Selfish, and Amoral and on the
verge of ruinous collapse. As Jesus
said, “One knows a Tree by its Fruits”, and it does not take a very discerning
look to see that World Civilization is rotten to its core.
But, where the Greeks weren’t involved, the urge for
Individual Immortality through the Path of Moral Perfection, made some
wonderful strides. Zoroastrianism rose
up in Persia as the first Moral Religion, and its doctrines later spun off to
create the Sufi Orders – extremely pious, virtuous and spiritually talented
individuals.
But what happened in India where the emphasis on Immortality
took the bazaar turn toward Reincarnation?
It was more or less the same Aryan People involved. But in Persia nearly all of the interactions
between Peoples were between other Aryans.
You see, in most cases when there are ‘Invasions’ of Pastoral Nomadic
Peoples, the Invading Forces consist of a confluence of Several Allied Tribes,
and they work their successes by taking on only one Native Tribe at a time,
pushing them out of their territory before moving on to another. Most of the time the confronted Native Tribe
will not care to stand and fight, as they see the Land at their backs as just
as good as the Land they would be giving up.
Their only inconvenience is that must pack up their tents and move, that
is, outside of their usual schedule . You see, Pastoral Nomadic Tribes move about
anyway. As Hunters they must keep moving because if
they stay in a certain area too long
they will either deplete the Game or they will scare it away or the
animals will learn how to avoid them.
And as Pastoralists, they must keep moving because their animals will
eventually overgraze the area or attract an influx of wolves and big cats,
which are just as dangerous to them as their sheep. So it is no inconvenience worth dying for,
for a pastoral nomadic Society to pack up and go down the road, seeking fairer
pastures.
Anyway, as first one then more Native Tribes are displaced,
they themselves, the Displaced Natives, form Alliances so that in their own turn
they can displace Peoples further down the line. So it
is that when China built their great Wall, it started a push of Pastoral
Nomadic Peoples to the West, like dominos, the Victims of One Day being the
Invaders of the Next, and it ended in the Invasion of Europe and contributed much to the decline of
Roman Civilization.
One wonders why the Victims never formed Alliances to attack
those who attacked them first. There did
not seem to be much appeal for Revenge.
Well, apparently it was seldom conceived that it would be practical that
they should turn and fight their Original Enemies, as, since their Enemies were
already in a Strong Alliance, they would be a tougher fight then simply going
to fight those, down the line, who are united and unprepared. So, in regards to our present Essay, the
Aryans largely had Persia to themselves, and all their squabbling was between
each other.
But the Aryan Invaders in India came upon settled Cities –
what was left of the declining Indus Valley Civilization. These Settled Natives did not run away before
them, and they were too many to kill, and besides, since they were already
pacified by the habits of Civilization, it appeared as though they were willing
to submit themselves to the service of the Aryan Predators. Apparently these Natives had been slaves
before, and they didn’t mind so much being slaves again… like working for a
company that has been ‘taken over’… one assumes that the new boss won’t be much
different from the old boss.
So, anyway, to account for the differences between Persia
and India, we can guess that the Urge for Morality on the Persian Steppe was
influenced by the repugnance for the violence being done between Aryan and
Aryan – they saw each other as One People and it probably did not require of Zoroaster,
the Founder of the First Moral Religion, much Moral Imagination to define a Teaching that would see Harming one another as Evil, while
being kind to one another would be seen as Good.
But in India, the Aryans had no concern for those they
conquered, except that the defeated should completely submit, and perhaps they
needed some salve for their own Guilty Consciences. So they taught Themselves and those they
predated upon that some were born to Conquer and others born to Submit, and
that the Aryans who did their duty in suppressing Native Rights would be rewarded
in future life times by being permitted re-birth back into the Aryan Fold, and
that those Underlings who submitted and groveled the best, would be permitted
to be born ‘fully human’ someday, that is, as an Aryan. Oh, yes, the Aryans were supreme racists. Take a look at the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, we have the Aryans, and then
we have their portrayal of the Native People of India, whom we find are
literally described as Monkeys – walking talking Monkeys with their own Cities
and Palaces and diplomatic services, but
they are called Monkeys. Nowadays, when
we see paintings of the scenes from the Ramayana, they don’t paint in the short
and dark People of those ancient times – the Natives to which the Ramayana was obviously
referring – no, we pictures of actual Monkeys… we are to believe that India was
a land ‘peopled’ by little Apes, and, consequently, that all the Non-Aryan
peoples who form the majority of People in India must have come along later,
very quietly and unobtrusively, from somewhere else. Then, one has to wonder why the people of
India never wonder where all the Walking Taking Monkeys went. What a Virtue it must be in India to believe
everything and to question nothing.
Anyway, Reincarnation provided both Justification and Excuse
for Social Injustice. And it largely
worked. Using both the Threats and Promises
of Reincarnation to reinforce Caste Duty – Suppression from Above, and
Submission from Below – there was created a very Stable Society. It persisted like that for over two thousand
years and still has not been thoroughly discredited – we can assume that one of
the most pervasive problems in India today is with Caste Identification –
People who think they were Born to Have their Own Way, and People who can’t
pull themselves out of the Hole for thinking that they were born to grovel, bow
and die to be of utility to those born above themselves. It must all lead to a horrible
misapplication of Human Resources as Unqualified but Self-Entitled ‘Aryans’
still capture many of the most important jobs, while the Native Indians are too
busy maintaining their perpetual cringe and bow to exert their Talents and
claim their Due – ostensively waiting to take their Promotions in some Next
Lifetime. It must be odd to be in a
Religion where one is enjoined to Serve Evil, and then one’s final Reward is to
be allowed to Become Evil. Well, being
Evil has always paid better than being Good, if that is where one’s priorities
are. But it is not really Religion, is
it?
But, even still, back to our Essay. No matter that the Idea of Reincarnation
turned out to be such brilliant Propaganda, we need to wonder how such a
seemingly ridiculous idea was ever able to take hold in the first place. After all, Reincarnation doesn’t explain
anything about the Individual Soul that Biological Reproduction does not
explain so much better, and with so much tangible Proof! If we are Reborn at all, it is that we are
the Reborn Versions of our Mothers and Fathers.
And yes, in the most sanguinary biological terms, virtue is rewarded and
vice is punished, that is, Good Breeding leads to good healthy, strong Blood
Lines, while careless breeding leads to a thin and spotty herd – ‘common’
people as they are called. Look within
ourselves and it is plain to see that both our Strong and Weak Points run in
our Families. We do not have to thank or
blame some Spiritual Past Lives for our Merits or Problems, no, not when we can
see it all plainly coming from our Parents and Grandparents, and shared by our
brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins. It is simple Common Sense that our origins,
Physical and Spiritual, are entirely Biological.
But, to be fair, I need to admit that there are certain
phenomena that can give some imaginary credence for the Idea of
Reincarnation. Dreams, for one
thing. Take for instance when
Grandfather dies and then he is seen in the Dreams of many of those in the
Family, well, that leads one to suspect that Grandfather survived the Grave,
and that his Spirit continues to live in some Spiritual Afterlife. But, as life goes on, and the years and
generations recede, these dreams of Grandfather become fewer and finally cease altogether. Well, what then? Either Grandfather finally ‘died’ – his being
in the Spiritual World slowly running out of whatever Substance keeps an
Individual Spirit coherent and identifiable -- or we can imagine that he must
have been reborn. Those who Hope for Grandfather’s Survival, go
along with the silly explanation of reincarnation, because they find alternative
too stark -- the final annihilation of Grandfather’s Soul… and eventually their
own soul as well. Sometimes to feel good, we suspend our
critical faculties. And, then what
about when a child is born looking just like old Grandfather, well, doesn’t
this support the notion that Grandfather may have been reborn?
And then there are dreams of Other Identity. Have you ever had a dream of looking into a
reflective glass window or a mirror, and not seeing ‘your own self’ but seeing
a different persona altogether? Or one may
dream way outside one’s ordinary life conditions and customary expectations – a farmer dreams of being a Knight in battle,
or a tradesman dreams of being a Sailor on a boat. To us today, these would only be considered
dreams rich in symbolic content, but, several thousand years ago, the Local
Aryan Priest might have been quick to claim it as positive ‘Proof’ of past
lives.
Well, I have not finished Professor Muesse’s book yet, but I
have gotten as far as Buddhism, and have found that the silliness does not stop
there. To be fair to the Buddha himself,
he carefully negated Everything, so it is surprising that any Buddhist in the
World should counter the Buddha by positively affirming Anything at all, let
alone something as intrinsically flighty as the notion of Reincarnation, but
they nearly all do. Buddha specifically
declared that there is no fixed Self, no fixed Identity, not even some constant
and eternal Transcendent God or Higher Self.
Everything to the Buddha was in constant flux, endless change – Reality was
a Process where Everything interacted with Everything else – Brains trying to
keep up with a Reality that would never stay the same from one moment to the
next. So his answer was to just go with
the flow and not expect much. But how
does anybody see Reincarnation in any of that.
Buddha had probably plainly said that if you Know the Truth,
then you will Know that there is no Rebirth, and that Reincarnation was just
one of those Stupid Mental Constructs that any amount of True Awareness should
make short shift of. But Generations of
Ignorant Followers have remembered Buddha entirely differently, pretending that
he had said instead, “if you Know the Truth, you will no longer be Reborn”… you
know there is a big difference there. We
do not have to be ‘Liberated’ from rebirth.
There simply is no rebirth.
You know, Liberation Theology is so strange, with the assumptions
It makes and then with the directions it takes, versus what would seem the
Logical Conclusions that one would assume just from common sense. For instance, we have people who will spend
years in quiet meditation all so they can supposedly drop their desires and
attachments to all the Material Things of Life, so that they will not have to
be Reborn. Well, to prove conclusively
that they are no longer attached to the Things of Life, why do they not simply
just commit suicide? Isn’t it the most
perfect and definitive Statement in that regards? Isn’t Suicide the Supreme Renunciation? So why would anybody who commits suicide ever
be re-born? Oh! From Justice, they would
be called back … that they owe some other soul and can’t get away until the
debt has been paid? Well, if this is
true, then no amount of Meditation could liberate one either, no, not if all
the tets and tats of debts and credits and crimes and punishments are all added
up and one is forced to wait until the Karmic Slate was finally becomes completely
clean. Five minutes or five years of
meditation can’t wipe out a morally justified grudge against you – you can
meditate your own head clean, but not somebody else’s, especially if the grudge
comes from a Past Life. In this sense,
it makes no sense to try to escape from the Wheel of Rebirth at all, especially
by the Do Nothing Path of Meditation.
If the Doctrine of Karmic Rebirth is True at all, then the Logical
Conclusion would be to simply live your Life totally open to Karmic
Retribution, while at the same time to do nothing to contract any new instances
of Bad Karmic debts. Oh, and here I
assume that one can renounce the Fruits of Good Karma, just as Creditors are
always entirely free to forgive their loans, and so one should not be in any danger
of doing too much good.
Oh, there was the ridiculous doctrine that one could do Evil
and not suffer the Karmic Consequences as long as one Surrendered that Karma to
God. It’s in the Bhagavad Gita, a Post-Axial
Age Document, and so goes to show that even in the Modern Age Hinduism is still
largely an amoral Religion. Being Free
of the Moral Consequences of doing Evil, because one lays it all at the Feet of
God. Please!
Has anyone ever believed that?
All that Corporate CEOs and all those Used Car Salesmen and all those sordid
Lawyers would have to do is ‘surrender’ their Evils to God, and they could just
keep going on doing all that awful crap they do, and all without Karmic
Consequence. But then, what about
God.? What good is a God stained by so
much Sin. It would become a stinking
putrid God, and the big problem there would be in differentiating it from the
very Devil himself.
