The Fallacy of the Holy Trinity

Christians worship a different God than Jesus Christ.  Even though they make him part of their God.  Since the third century, and more so since the fourth century, Christians have even been worshipping a completely different God than their antecessors, especially those who came from the original Jesus movement in first century Palestine, the followers of the Way, the adherents of which were individually called Nasoreans in the beginning.

The English phrase “the Way” translates into Hebrew as “ha-Darekh”, as in The Way (ha-Derekh), The Truth (ha-Emet), and The Life (ha-Chayim).  In Chinese, the Way or ha-Derekh becomes Dao.  The Dao is not the same as ha-Derekh, despite the identical nomenclature (in translation), which is but a coincidence.

The God of the Christians is Trinitarian, a triune Godhead of three Persons said to be separate and coequal.  This Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is wholly an invention of Gentile Christians that any first century Israelite would view as anathema.

Israelite here is more appropriate than “Jew”.  Although there were some so-called in the first century CE, the term referred strictly to those native to Judea and their descendants.  For example, look at the way the composer of the Gospel of John, almost certainly a Palestinian Israelite himself, used the word “Jew” in his work, almost as if they were a foreign people (which they certainly considered themselves). 

The Samaritans had a rough parity with Jews in terms of population both within Palestine and in the Diaspora.  Galileans, descendants of undesirables from Judea exiled to the District (Galil) of the Gentiles (Goyim) plus their forcibly-converted Iturean Arab neighbors, were barely tolerated by their Judean cousins, even less so than the also forcibly-converted Idumeans.

The Unity of God, of Yahuweh, was the essential dogma of every variety of Israelite religion in the first century CE, whether Sadducee, Bet Shammai Pharisee, Bet Hillel Pharisee, Essene, Samaritan, Bene Tzedek (precursor to the Karaim), Hellenists, or one of the myriad others.  Devout male Israelites in Palestine, and perhaps some in the Diaspora also, wore the ultimate creedal statement of belief in the Unity on their left hand and foreheads daily.  This statement forms the foundation of the much-expanded modern Shema, which in the beginning was simply: “Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

And yes, you read correctly; Israelite males in first century Palestine wore the name of Yahuweh on their foreheads and left wrists (in what are called “tefillin”), just like the followers of the beast in the Revelation of John the Divine did with the “number of his name”, 666.  In fact, it was that very thing which the author of Revelation intended to call to mind.  Just as the fact that the Four Horsemen (Tyranny, War, Famine, and Plague) were intended to call to mind the Four Craftsmen (Elijah, Righteous Priest, Messiah ben Joseph, and Messiah ben David) of Rabbanite Jewish eschatology based on Zechariah 1:18-21.

Speaking of that awesome number that scares the crap out of so many superstitious fools, it represents wealth.  Period.  The reason it does in Jewish philosophy going back past the turn of the era is that it is the number of “talents” the mythical King Solomon (not the real Prohibition era bootlegger of the same name from Boston) received in tribute and taxes every year.  Having “666” written on their foreheads and hands meant those people in Revelation worshipped wealth, and probably advocated libertarianism, neoliberalism, and trickle-down economics.

While it is true, as I have written elsewhere, that the Alexandrian philosopher Julius Philo Judaeus posited in his early writings what could have been a rudimentary precursor to the Holy Trinity of the Christians, the other two “persons” (the Logos, the Word or Reason, and Sophia, or Wisdom) were for him no more than emanations of the One True God.  That was the beginning of his attempt to harmonize and synchronize Israelite religious philosophy with Platonism.  One of Platonism’s central cosmological themes was that of the Logos as a medium between The One and Creation.  Like Israelite religion in the first century, Platonic philosophy held Wisdom to be a quasi-persona, separate from the Logos. 

But for most Pharisees, Essenes, Sadducees, proto-Karaites, Samaritans, Hellenists, Galileans, Idumeans, and other Israelites in first century Palestine, there was just God.  In his subsequent writings, Philo equated Logos with Sophia (he wrote in Greek).

In first century Israelite mystical and philosophical thought, the Logos (Memra in Hebrew) and Sophia (Hokhma) equate not merely to each other but also to Understanding (Sapientia/Binah) and the Presence (Shekhinah).  All of these were, and still are, considered emanations of God that are aspects of the Holy Spirit (Pneuma Hagion, Ruach ha-Kodesh), the means through which the transcendent Lord God Almighty is immanent in Creation.

Adherents of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, particularly evangelicals, point to two New Testament passages in particular to support the claim that followers of Jesus have always believed in the Trinity.  First is the Great Commission in chapter 28 at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, whose verse 19 reads (in RSV): “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.  Second is the fifth chapter of the First Epistle of John, who seventh verse reads (in KJV): “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

The problem with these two verses is that both are interpolations, or redactions, inserted by scribes committing “pious fraud” in the name of synchronizing Scripture with later doctrine and dogma.  In soaps and scifi series, this is called retcon, or retroactive continuity.  A notable example of this is the duology of the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise to finally explain the differences in the physiology of Klingon foreheads in Star Trek: The Original Series vis-à-vis that after the franchise was rebooted in 1987.

The reason given in the ST:ENT episodes was a genetic alteration to stop a bioweapon targeting Klingon DNA, one which would reverse itself in later generations.  The real reason was that Gene Roddenberry didn’t have the funding for ST:TOS to create Klingons as he envisioned them.

Regarding the first of these proof verses, the majority of scholars believe the entire Great Commission is a redaction, but even if it is not, passages in the writings of Eusebius of Casesarea in the fourth century CE prove that the Trinitarian citation is clearly more recent (perhaps a redaction of an interpolation?), for where that is in later examples, Eusebius cites the disciples being told to baptize people “in the name of Jesus”.

As for the second, more modern and more accurate translations consulting the earliest manuscripts leave out the entire clause and reorder the verses of the chapter.  For instance, its foreign nature is so apparent that the RSV (NT first published in 1942) leaves it out entirely, which the NRSV does also but offers it in a footnote.

Some authorities claim that the final verse of 2 Corinthians, 13:14, is an interpolation, but this is probably not the case.  However, the verse, which reads (RSV), “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” does contain an interpolation since all early manuscripts do not contain the modifier “Holy”.  Which, it must be said, would contrast every other reference to “the Spirit” in Paul’s legitimate writings.

Some claim this verse is an affirmation of the Trinity, others point out, correctly, that the “Lord Jesus Christ” is separate and contrasted to “God”, and comes at the beginning rather than the middle of the list.

So, you may be asking, or at least thinking, “Whence the Trinity?”.  My reply, “Wholly and completely from Gentile religious motifs”.

Throughout the ancient world the Great Queen or Great Mother was often depicted as a Triple Goddess in the forms of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.  The Greek goddess Hecate figure in three of these: Hebe-Hera-Hera-Hecate, Kore-Demeter-Hecate, and Artemis-Selene-Hecate.  The Egyptians had Hathor-Nephthys-Isis.  The Canaanite version was Qadesh (Asherah)-Astarte-Anath.  Mesopotamians had Inanna-Ishtar-Astarte.

The original Mystery Cult involved the Trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.  Its Hellenistic counterpart involved the Trinity of Serapis, Isis, and Harpocrates.  Other Egyptian triads included Amun-Mut-Khonsu, Ptah-Sekmet-Nefertem, and Khnum-Satet-Anuket.

The Greeks had several trinities, including Zeus-Poseidon-Hades, Helios-Apollo-Dionysus, and Persephone-Demeter-Triptolemus.

At the top of the pyramid in ancient Rome was the Capitoline triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, whose temples graced the top of what is now Al-Aqsa Mount from around 135 CE to the fourth century, when their temples (now Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque) became churches, along with the former temples of Venus (Holy Sepulchre) and Mercury (Upper Room).

Hinduism’s supreme god above all others, Brahman, is usually described as a Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.  The female counterpart is the trinity of Parvati, Durga, and Kali.

The ancient Irish had multiple trinities.  One most often cited is the trinity of the war goddesses Morrigan (from Mor Righean, or “Great Queen”), Badb, and Macha.  Other accounts name Anann (the Mor Righean with her personal name) as the chief warrior goddess who is first among equals, the others being Badb, Macha, Nemain, and Fea.  The other most often mentioned triune deity is Brigit.

Other Irish trinities were Brian-Iuchar-Iucharba , Glon-Gaim-Coscar, Creidne-Luchtaine-Giobhniu, Ethur Mac Cuill-Tether Mac Cecht-Cether Mac Greinne, and the sovereignty goddesses Eriu-Banba-Fodhla.

So, this whole “mystery” that the Church has been pushing since Athanasius in the fourth century CE and the Ecumenical Councils that began that same century, the “mystery” of the Holy Trinity which no one can really explain these days was not that much of a mystery to Gentiles in the early Common Era.  Because their pagan religions were its source.

Athanasius promoted his doctrine of the Trinity so strongly because his theory of atonement, that it came about with the incarnation, required that Christ (referring to the mythical figure now) be fully divine and fully human at the same time.

Interestingly, although standard Israelite religion in ancient times centered on the unity of God, which led them early on into a rather sophisticated religious philosophical doctrine called “dialectical monism”, Qabbalah mysticism did eventually create a doctrine of Four Persons taking up positions on four of its eleven sefirot on the Tree of Life.  Hokhmah represents the Father, Binah represents the Mother,  Tif’eret represents the Son, and Malkhut represents the Daughter. 

I guess that would be called a Holy Quadrinity?  The argument could easily be made that traditional Christianity both East and West has its own Holy Quadrinity, adding to the more orthodox and approved trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the Theotokos or Mother of God, the Virgin Mary.

Back to my original point: this is not the God whom the Galilean prophet Isho the Nasorean worshipped when he was actually around.  Christians morphed that God into something unrecognizable, recreating the God of Isho, the God of Jesus, in their own image.

Footnote:  The Gloria Patri, also known as the Lesser Doxology, which begins “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” once began “Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit”, and that did not change until after the Ecumenical Councils (Nicaea, 325, and Constantinopolis, 381) in the fourth century.  The original is not invalid, but the newer is preferred as it is more supportive of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, another example of Christian retcon.

Abby Martin's parting words on Breaking the Set's finale

Truly a great goodbye speech, the words are entirely hers not mine.  Transcribed from the clip on Youtube of Breaking The Set's final episode, 27 February 2015.

Impermanence is an inescapable human condition.  Life is suffering, and our resistance to change is at the root of this suffering.  The river at one moment is not the same as the river in the next, and it never will be.  And that’s okay.  Life is constant change and growth, and we need to embrace that.  Even on a cellular level, if you’re not changing, you’re not growing.  

Humility is key.  Every day we need to take on the world understanding how much we still don’t know.  We need to open our minds and our hearts, to put ourselves in other people’s shoes.  We need to listen to each other, and shout from the rooftops, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”.  Allow ourselves to laugh as how insane the world can be, and cry.  Call your parents and tell them that you love them.  Take the time to smile.  Extend a hand, paint, photograph, and sing at the top of your lungs.  And most importantly, love each other.  

Remember that nations are invented, borders are invisible, prejudice is learned.  We’re all human beings who bleed the same blood and shed the same tears.  Every time a person suffers from Detroit to Gaza, that’s our brother, that’s our sister, that’s our family.  

Yes, the problems of the world are daunting, and yes, suffering is inescapable, but there’s so much breath-taking beauty on the planet that needs to be honored too.  But to truly appreciate the good, we must first free ourselves from the prisons of our own minds, and the dogma society ingrains in us.  Our empathy needs to extend to every corner of the Earth, to every living thing.

We miss you, Abby.  Non illegitimi ite, and keep the faith.

The MacSweens and MacQueens of Scotland and Ireland

Many writers have assumed that MacSween and MacQueen are virtually synonymous, but this is not the case.

The original MacSweens (‘son of Sweyn’, a Norse name) held the Isle of Arran, Knapdale, and parts of Kintyre until 1262, when they lost most of them to Walter Stewart, Earl of Mentieth.

During the Wars for Scottish Independence, the MacSweens allied with the MacDougalls of Argyll and Lorn, who sided with the Comyns in their civil war with the forces of Robert the Bruce because of kinship by marriage.  After a failed invasion of Argyllshire with their longtime allies at the behest of Edward II of England, the MacSweens dispersed from their homeland.

The major contingent of MacSweens made their way to Ireland, where they became known as the MacSweeneys and served as gallowglasses to the O’Donnells of Tir-Connaill (Co. Donegal).  There were eventually three branches in Tir Connaill.

Gallowglasses were professional heavy infantry soldiers mercenaries from Scotland’s Western Islands (Hebrides) and the western coast regions of northern Scotland.  Their craft had been developed under the Norse and Danish kings of the Isles.

The MacSweens, of course, were not the only highlanders and islanders to follow that course.  A branch of the Mackays of Strathnaver, for example, who had migrated to Kintyre and become the MacCoys crossed the Irish Sea to settle what became Co. Armagh as gallowglasses.  Likewise for the MacDonnells of Antrim who came from Islay in the Hebrides Islands.  A branch of the MacLeods known as MacCabes served as gallowglasses to the O’Rourkes and O’Reillys of Breifne. 

Other major gallowglass clans in Ireland included the McDowells, originally MacDougalls of Lorne, the MacRuaris originally from the Isle of Bute, and the MacSheehys from Kintyre.

Another group made their way to Raasay, which they held under the MacDonalds until they were removed by the MacLeods of Lewis in 1518.  Most of these MacSweens migrated to the MacDonald lands of Sleat on the Isle of Skye, where they spelled their surname MacSwain and later many anglicized it as Swan.

Those of the clan who remained stayed in Otter near Loch Fyne, where they became known as the MacEwans.  They lost their lands to the Campbells of Lochow (later of Argyll) in 1493.

The family of MacQueen had an entirely different origin.  From northern Trotternish on the Isle of Skye, they began as a sept of the MacDonalds of Sleat and eventually became their own clan; their anglicized name derives from “Mac Cuithean”, which is a version of the Gaelic name for the MacDonalds of Sleat, Clan Uisdean.

A sept of Clan Chattan known as the MacQueens of Corrybrough, also known as Clan Revan, after their founder of that surname.  Some holding them to be a branch of the MacQueens of northern Trotternish, others to be a branch of the MacSweens, the former being more likely.

(Note: The MacSweeneys of Ireland recommend if its members wear tartan, they wear that of the MacQueens of Corrybrough.)

A better word than "racism"

There is no such thing as “racism”.  How can there be when there is only one human race left on Earth?  The only species of Human left on Earth is Homo sapiens.  Race is a biological term from the 19^th century, rarely used today, meaning subspecies.  Since H. sapiens first appeared, at least four races of that species have come, and three have gone.  The extinct races, or subspecies, are H. sapiens rhodesiensis, H. sapiens neandrathalensis, H. sapiens denisova, and H. sapiens idaltu, with H. sapiens sapiens (us, i.e. modern Humans) being the sole survivor to claim the title Human.

So, there is but one race, the Human Race, period.  (Edward James Olmos)

And if there is only one human race, there is no other human race which the one human race can look down upon, despise, persecute, belittle, abuse, fear, or hate.  In other words, what most people call racism.  Therefore, racism cannot exist.

Race was a misuse of a scientific category that bigots have been using for two centuries to give their prejudice a scientific and intellectual veneer.  In practice, however, when most people, bigoted or not, say “race”, they really mean skin color.  As if skin color makes a difference in a human’s worth.

To give an example of a related practice, the term “anti-Semitism” was coined by a German bigot against Jews to make his anti-Jewishness seem more scientific.  That, and the fact that “Semite” also includes Arabs, Samaritans, Ethiopians, Assyrians, and many ethnic groups long lost to history, is why I used “Judeophobia” instead.  In addition, Zionists have overused the term, and done so inappropriately, to push back against legitimate complaints about the State of Israel’s abuse of Palestinians, other Arabs, Ethiopians, and noncompliant Jewish ethnic groups, its own “anti-Semitism” as it were.

Since racism is impossible with only one human race, from now on I shall be using the term “complexionism” instead.  Complexionism has previously been used referring to discrimination within ethnic groups over degree of skin pigmentation, which is even sillier than discrimination between ethnic groups over skin color.

Complexionism.  Because that is what it’s all about: skin color.  Nothing more.  As silly and pathetic as discriminating against other humans over hair color.  Or eye color.  Or left-handedness.  Or ability to roll one's tongue.

More on the too-smallness of "God"

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought!  The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant'?  Instead they say, /No, no, no, my god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way/." - Carl Sagan, shortly before his death

Given the vastness of the 13.8 billion year old, 213 duovigintillon (69 zeroes) cubic kilometer Universe and the miniscule limits of humanity’s knowledge and awareness of that entirety, no deity conceived on Earth can be anything other than imaginary.  What makes this even more so is the desire of humans to create deity in their own image, which, of course, makes following the deity easier.  As well as serving one’s own prejudices and bigotries and material self-interest.

To believe is to reject faith.  To believe is to define, and therefore to control.  Belief is not an act of submission.  Belief is an act of domination.  Belief makes oneself superior by controlling that in which one believes.  Therefore, belief, in anything, is blasphemy.  To have faith, one must give up belief.  One must surrender the wish to control.

Humans, and very likely members of any other sentient and sapient species in the vastness of the universe, lack the capacity to perceive deity other than what can be produced in their own imaginations.  Certainly not one deserving of the title “God”, one who creates, redeems, and transforms the universe throughout the infinity of space and the eternity of time.  Especially since in order to create, redeem, and transform Being, such an entity would necessarily have to be Beyond Being.

Arrogant hubris beyond belief comes in the form of a single small ethnic group of a 200,000 year old race (subspecies) of a 2 million year old species on a single planet in a ten planet star system in a galaxy of 200 billion stars and 40 billion class-M planets which is merely one of 500 billion galaxies in that universe claiming to be the one “Chosen People” of their particular imaginary entity is like being the mouse that roared, except that the mouse would be relatively smaller than a single viron.  Or to put it into a more earthly perspective, a bit like the youngest child of the poorest family of sitio Gasdam in barangay Dau in the municipality of Mabalacat in the Republic of the Philippines claiming to be the rightful emperor of the world.  Which, of course, merely demonstrates what I said above about belief.

Any deity tiny enough to be under the control of such a cabal is too small for our universe.

Great Commandment Prayer 2.0

May we love the Lord our God who is the One, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.  May we love our neighbors as ourselves.  May we love our enemies who hate us.  And may we love one another, Christ Jesus, just as you loved us.  For there is no greater calling than to love.  Amen.

Your god is too small for my Universe

The title is an anonymous quote often misattributed to late 17th century monk and scientist Giordano Bruno.  Bruno had the temerity to posit that not only was the Earth not the center of the universe, but that the universe was infinite and there were countless planets with innumerable sapient and sentient species.  For which, of course, the Inquisition had him burned at the stake for heresy 17 February 1600.  His death marks the beginning of Western freethought.

What a puny little god humans worship.

By “god”, I refer primarily to the deity worshipped by the “Abrahamic” religions: Judaism, Samaritanism, Karaism, Christianity, and Islam.  However, it goes pretty much the same for any gods worshipped by any humans at any time since religion was invented.  This infinitesimally myopic viewpoint of the cosmos presents major problems in the face of the discoveries of the last and current centuries.  With its foundation crushed into dust, Terran religions need to reimagine their god into a form befitting the vastness of the universe as we know it today.

That this very juvenile planet Earth, a relative subquark in comparison to the vast expanse of the entire universe, is the center of attention for the deity or divine or supernatural force responsible for the whole kit and caboodle is pretty much the definition of exponential arrogance.  All Terran religions are geocentric; the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) go even further by being almost thoroughly anthropocentric.  Being a theist in this context necessarily means being a narcissist.  In our own image have we created God, as it were.

The Supreme Deity of the Israelites (Jews, Samaritans, Karaites), Christians, and Muslims was constructed in a cosmos nothing like the actually universe of which we have but an inkling even today.  This god, as we know him today, was invented by the Israelite ancestors of the modern-day Jews in a Canaanite landscape by a tribe of Arameans who after invading the Southern Levant adopted the dominant local language as their official political and religious tongue (Canaanite and ancient Hebrew are identical) and incorporated their tribal god into the local pantheon of deities. 

When they first appear on the scene, the Israelites were polytheistic, even if their polytheism was of the henotheist variety.  Archaeological and documentary evidence conclusively proves that the they remained so until well into the Persian period in the later fifth century BCE.  They adopted their monotheism from the Zoroastrianism of their Persian overlords but keeping their tribal deity, Yahuweh, as their main and later only god rather than trading him in for Ahura Mazda (Assara Mazas in Aramaic).

Per ancient Israelite cosmology, the universe, “ha-olam”, was divided earth, the sea, the heavens, and the underworld.  Earth, a circular disk, was in the center of everything.  The surface of the Sea surrounded the Earth, and under Earth was Sheol.  Across the Sea at the four corners of the earth were the Foundations of the Firmament, a dome holding back the waters above the sky from deluging the Earth.  Above the Firmament were said waters and the Gateway to Heaven.  Below Sheol were the Foundations of the Earth, and below these were the Great Deep.  That, my friends, was the total extent of the cosmos in which Yahuweh was conceived.

Furthermore, once merged into the cosmology of the surrounding Canaanite peoples, Yahuweh became one of the sons of El, of which there were seventy-two, one for each “nation” known to the Canaanites and their Israelite neighbors.  Some of these “sons of El” and other gods are mentioned in the Old Testament: the “Holy One” was a designation for Asherah, originally the wife of El and later adopted by the Israelites as consort of Yahuweh; El, or Elohim, originally the supreme father of all the “sons of El”; Elyon, usually translated as the “Most High”, was a title of Hadad, rival of Yam or Yaw with whom the Isaelites later identified their god Yahuweh.

Hadad is the deity most often referred to as simply “Baal”, which simply means “Lord”, though it was a title due to which all the “sons of El”.  The sixteenth verse of the second chapter of the Book of Hosea indicates that at one time the Israelites even used that title for their native deity, as in Baal Yahuweh (“And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.” KJV). 

The Elephantine papyri clearly shows that the Israelite military colony there worshipped not only Yahuweh but Anath (consort of Yahuweh), Bethel, and several other deities at their temple, including the Egyptian god Khnum, whose own temple was immediately adjacent.  Interestingly, the papers refer to the inhabitants of the colony as Arameans; history clearly demonstrates them to be the same people as the later Jews and Samaritans.

Shaddai, by the way, means Destroyer rather than simply Almighty, so maybe there was a kind of Shiva thing going on there.

Several archaeological sites in Palestine have clear temples or shrines to both Yahuweh and Asherah, including the pre-Assyrian conquest temple in the city of Samaria.  The later city of Jerusalem did not even exist until the misnamed “Second” Temple period; an urban center that did exist just a few kilometers away had monuments to both Yahuweh and Asherah.  This pairing is universal, occurring at every archaeological site in Palestine (or the Southern Levant, if you prefer) at which a “pre-exilic” Bet-Yahuweh (“House of Yahuweh”) has been identified.

Okay, so the Israelites were long-time polytheists.  The only real significant point here is that the Israelite universe was pretty tiny.  Their entire conception of the universe, what there was of it, was entirely focused on this planet.  Everything beyond Earth was mere background and window-dressing.  You can’t even say their solar system was geocentric because they had no conception of a “solar system”.  Not until well into the Ptolemaic period (rule of the Egypt-based Ptolemy dynasty), when they adopted the Aristotelian geocentric universe of seven planets arranged in concentric circles.

The god which the early Israelites developed fit their tiny universe very well, and it wasn’t very much of a stretch when some of their later descendants adopted the Aristotelian model.  The adjective “Ptolemaic” can also refer to noted scientist Claudius Ptolemy of second century CE Alexandria.  His model improved on that of Aristotle and was the one adopted by the Church.  In it, a spherical Earth was at the center, surrounded by concentric spheres of the planets Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, then the fixed stars, and finally the Primum Mobile). 

Muslim scholars shared this view of the universe with their European counterparts.  Both cosmologies, the ancient Israelite and the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic, are represented in the Talmud. 

So this god, or God, whom the ancient Israelites called Yahuweh and their rabbinic Judaist descendants call Lord or The Name, whom Christians call by a variety of titles, and whom Muslims (along with Arab-speaking Jews and Christians) call Allah, the God of the Tanakh, of the Bible, and of the Quran, held sway over a tiny, tiny area compared to the actual physical universe as we know it today.  The cosmology of all three religions, and indeed the theology, doctrine, dogma, and creeds of those religions, stands upon that foundation.

These three religions, as well as every other religion on Earth, are based on the idea that one group of one 200,000 year old race (subspecies) of one species on one 4.5 billion year old, 1.12 trillion km³ planet in one planetary system out of the possible 40 billion such capable planets in the Milky Way galaxy of 200 billion stars.  And that is just one galaxy among the estimated 500 billion in the Universe which itself is around 213 duovigintillion (69 zeroes) km³ in volume and 13.8 billion years old.

Shortly before his death, Carl Sagan asked, “How is it that hardly any religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘Wow, this is even better than we thought!  The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant’?  Instead they say, ‘No, no, no!  My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way!’.”

Truly, this god of the mythical Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ishmael and of the historical Omri, David, Jesus, and Mohammad, this god defined and limited by the miniscule cosmos in which he was conceived, is too small for our actual universe and if not reimagined and expanded and redefined becomes reduced to little more than a petty local bully and tyrant.  Give me a god I can respect, a god I can believe in without feeling ridiculous, without having to suspend my disbelief and shutter away my rational mind and intellect.  Please.  Because I really do want to believe.

A Universal Creed

I am a Terran, a citizen of Earth.  The whole world is my home, and all its people my brothers, sisters, and cousins of the One Human Race.  

As a child of the Universe and an instrument of peace, I will strive to bring love where there is hatred; pardon where there is injury; union where there is discord; trust where there is doubt; hope where there is despair; light where there is darkness; joy where there is sadness.  

May I seek to console more than to be consoled; to understand more than to be understood; and to love more than to be loved.  

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are forgiven; and it is in dying that we live.  Amen.  So say we all.

(Based on the Peace Prayer often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi but actually written by a French monk in 1912, a quote from ADM William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica, and on my own personal slogan.)

(The recently released design for an International Flag of Planet Earth)

What Must Be Said, by Gunter Grass

In honor of the great writer and poet Gunter Grass, I am publishing his poem here in his memory.

What must be said

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,

on something openly practised in

war games, at the end of which those of us

who survive will at best be footnotes?

It's the alleged right to a first strike

that could destroy an Iranian people

subjugated by a loudmouth

and gathered in organized rallies,

because an atom bomb may be being

developed within his arc of power.

Yet why do I hesitate to name

that other land in which

for years – although kept secret –

a growing nuclear power has existed

beyond supervision or verification,

subject to no inspection of any kind?

This general silence on the facts,

before which my own silence has bowed,

seems to me a troubling, enforced lie,

leading to a likely punishment

the moment it's broken:

the verdict "Anti-semitism" falls easily.

But now that my own country,

brought in time after time

for questioning about its own crimes,

profound and beyond compare,

has delivered yet another submarine to Israel,

(in what is purely a business transaction,

though glibly declared an act of reparation)

whose speciality consists in its ability

to direct nuclear warheads toward

an area in which not a single atom bomb

has yet been proved to exist, its feared

existence proof enough, I'll say what must be said.

But why have I kept silent till now?

Because I thought my own origins,

tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,

meant I could not expect Israel, a land

to which I am, and always will be, attached,

to accept this open declaration of the truth.

Why only now, grown old,

and with what ink remains, do I say:

Israel's atomic power endangers

an already fragile world peace?

Because what must be said

may be too late tomorrow;

and because – burdened enough as Germans –

we may be providing material for a crime

that is foreseeable, so that our complicity

will not be expunged by any

of the usual excuses.

And granted: I've broken my silence

because I'm sick of the West's hypocrisy;

and I hope too that many may be freed

from their silence, may demand

that those responsible for the open danger

we face renounce the use of force,

may insist that the governments of

both Iran and Israel allow an international authority

free and open inspection of

the nuclear potential and capability of both.

No other course offers help

to Israelis and Palestinians alike,

to all those living side by side in enmity

in this region occupied by illusions,

and ultimately, to all of us.

Günter Grass

Translated by Breon Mitchell

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/05/gunter-grass-what-must-be-said

Faith (poem)

More faith have I in you

Than you do in yourself

You have no idea at all

Just how amazing you are

And if you’re wondering

Where my heart is

Just look down

Into the palm of your hand

Aries (poem)

Sometimes

When I look at you

I want you so badly

That it physically hurts

My stomach flip-flops

The hunger so much

That I can’t eat

A pain I embrace

With my whole being

You are beautiful

Cushle mo cridhe

In more ways

Than you know

666: The Mark of the Beast explained

Very few things in 20^th and 21^st century America have fostered as much superstitious nonsense as the overflowing abundance of completely clueless, utterly ignorant ideas about the meaning of the “mark of the beast” mentioned in The Revelation of John the Divine.  Almost all of the misconception and its concommitant idiocy derives from a profoundly zero  knowledge of Judaism at all and less-than-zero of any real information about the religion of “Jews” and the real Palestine of the first century.

I have placed the word “Jews” in parentheses because, as I have explained elsewhere, it meant something entirely different in the first centuries BCE/CE than it does in the twenty-first century.

Tefillin

The King James Version of the Bible calls these “phylacteries”.  Observant Judean (the only meaning of “Jew” in the first century), Idumean, and Galilean males in first century wore tefillin as part of their daily dress, as opposed to the custom today in which Orthodox (and some other varieties of Judaism) tie them on for morning and evening private prayer.  They were worn on the forehead and on the left wrist (now the left upper arm).

The practice came out of the Pharisee camp.  It is based on verses in the Book of Deuteronomy which still form its core passage, Deut. 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: Yahuweh  our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

The sentence in bold provides the reason for the Pharisees’ interpretation of the passage as a mitzvoth, or duty.  While some of their followers almost certainly adhered to the practice, as a whole, the Sadducees, Bene Sedeq (forerunners of today’s Karaites), Essenes, Hellenists, and other sects did not.  Neither, of course, did the Samaritans.  Of those mentioned, the Karaites are all that remain (well, except the 750 Samaritans) and still do not wear tefillin ever, because they interpret the passage to be metaphorical.

The original passage so worn was merely the first verse, “Hear, O Israel: Yahuweh our God is one Lord”.  Not so much to worry about wearing around balled up in a scroll inside a tiny pouch.  Then it expanded to include the whole passage above, then to include three more passages, so that pouch grew into a box, then into a large box, too bulky for daily casual wear.

So, wearing this passage, “Hear, O Israel: Yahuweh our God is one Lord”, was for those afore-mentioned first century residents of Palestine a way of writing the “Name of the Lord” (Yahuweh) on their forehead and their hands, or wrists.  One of these, and probably a 20^th or 21^st century Jew, would understand the passage about the followers of “the beast” writing his/its name on their foreheads and hands immediately.

The Name of “the Beast”: 666

Superstitious fear about this number, 666, became so widespread in the latter half of the 20^th century that it now has its own psychological diagnosis: Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

From whence the number 666 in Revelation?  For it to be used in the allegory that is the work in question, which is not a prophecy but an apocalypse, one of hundreds written at the time, such symbolism would have to be readily understood by its target audience, else it would be like addressing a letter to Americans in general in ancient Hebrew, or in any other language not American English, for that matter.

In the First Book of Kings, the amount of the fictitious Solomon’s annual revenue is given as follows (1 Kings 10:14): “Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold”.  By the first century, the number “666” had to come to symbolize wealth, especially excessive wealth at the expense of others.

Capitalist government and society have written 666 on the foreheads and left hands of every citizen of the country.  We Americans love our 666, or $$$ if you would rather.  The great 666/$$$ is what makes our nation go around, at least at the levels of the top.  Keepers and diviners of the 666/$$$ of the finance bourgeoisie are its prophets.

Not only our President and Congress but even our Courts and often even prelates and clerics hold up the 666/$$$ to be praised and adored, indirectly sometimes but often blatantly. 

“There is no god but 666/$$$, and Wall Street is its prophet”.  We symbolically wear virtual tefillin with the line  “Love 666/$$$ our God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength" as bracelets on our wrists and frontlets on our foreheads every day.  The great war of the tribulation is over; we are all servants of the great 666, whose lawgiver is Ayn Rand, that philosopher so beloved by so many of the white supremacist-Christian chauvinist-misogynist Tea Party, wearing a White Jesus mask.

Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the Temple grounds.  American government and society has not only invited them back in but enthroned them as gods in the Holy of Holies in the form of corporations now deemed “persons” by all four branches (legislative, executive, judicial, and corporate) of the de facto American polity.  If a corporation were actually a person, that person would be a psychopath.  There’s no treatment for psychopathy, therefore capitalism cannot be “reformed”.  It is like an old wineskin that needs to be discarded.

Dust in the Stellar Winds (enlarged version)

Terra, or planet Earth, is 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000 or 1 x 10¹²) km³ in volume.

The Solar system, including the Oort Cloud, is 1.7 duodecillion (1.7 x 10³⁹) km³ in volume.

The Milky Way galaxy is 33 quarttuordecillion (3.3 x 10⁴⁶) km³ in volume.

The entire Universe is 213 duovigintillion (2.13 x 10⁷¹) km³ in volume.

The  Universe may be as big as 21.3 untrigintillion (2.13 x 10⁹⁷) km³ in volume.  That doesn’t even take into account all the other universes in the whole Omniverse (Multiverse) of which we are a part.

A single human is, on average, 664 billionths (0.000000000664 or 6.64 x 10^-11) km³ in volume.

There are around 8.8 billion class-M (Earth-like) planets (out of 100 billion total) in the Milky Way galaxy alone, likely inhabited by sentient and intelligent humanoid species.  Pretending that humans are the median and that our current population is the average, that means there are as many as 61.6 quintillion (6.16 x 10¹⁹) humanoids in our galaxy.

Planet Earth is 4.54 billion years old.

The Solar system is 4.56 billion years old.

The Milky Way galaxy is 13.2 billion years old.

The Universe is 13.8 billion years old since the (most recent) Big Bang.

The average life expectancy of a human at birth worldwide is 67.2 years. 

The entire human race, Homo sapiens sapiens, has been around only 200,000 years of the 13.8 billion years this Universe has existed.

In the face of this, human religions claim that one sub-set of one species on one planet in one star system in one arm of one galaxy in one local group of galaxies in one cluster of groups in one supercluster is the sole focus of attention of the Divine or the Other, and that all others of said species which fall outside that sub-set, even more so other species on other planets in other star systems in other galaxies in other local groups in other clusters in other superclusters throughout the infinity of space and the eternity of time do not count.  Of course, this is even more true of the fundamentalist wings of those religions than the rest.

The future will bring humans face-to-face with sentient and sapient artificial intelligence that while human-created will be every bit as much deserving of “human” rights and liberties as actual biological humans.  We give those rights to corporations which are by their definition psychopaths with no conscience or empathy and no function other than to devour and assimilate and destroy, so why not?

One day, species capable of interstellar travel will arrive on Earth, and for the humans of that day, it will be such a shock that ideologies will not be able to compensate.  The saving grace to that prospect, however, is that we treat our home with such contempt that by the time that happens all life on the planet will be extinct.  Except for rats and cockroaches.

Great Commandment Chaplet

The following form can be used with the classic five-decade Roman Rosary or the much newer four-week Anglican Chaplet.

Opening prayers

Sign of the Cross (Signum Crucis)

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Transformer.  Amen.

Still holding the cross, say:

Preces

V. Lord, open our lips.
R. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

V. O God, make speed to save us.

R. O Lord, make haste to help us.

V. Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit:

R.  As it was, is now, and always shall be, forever and ever.  Amen.  Alleluia. 

In Lent, in place of “Alleluia” say: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.

On the large bead say:

Lord’s Prayer

Father, blessed be your name.  May your dominion come and your will be done.  Let your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us.  Give us what is sufficient day-by-day.  Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those indebted to us.  And save us from succumbing to temptation.  Amen.

Or this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us each day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

On each of the three small beads (if using the classic Rosary) say once, or still on the large bead (if using the Anglican Chaplet) say thrice, meditating on Faith, Hope, and Love:

Trisagion

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us and the whole world.

On the chain say:

Minor Doxology (Gloria Patri)

Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit: As it was, is now, and always shall be, forever and ever.  Amen.

Or this:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

For each decade of beads:

On each large or cruciform bead, say:

Great Commandment Prayer

May we love the Lord our God who is the One, both compassionate and merciful, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.  May we love our neighbors as ourselves.  And may we love one another, Christ Jesus, just as you loved us, for there is no greater calling than to love.  Amen.

On each of the ten or seven small beads, say:

Publican’s Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

On the chain at the end of the decade or week, say:

Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit: As it was, is now, and always shall be, forever and ever.  Amen.

Or this:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

Closing prayers:

After the fifth decade or fourth week, say one of the following, according to the season:

From the First Sunday in Advent thru Shrove Tuesday:

Memorial of the Incarnation (Gaude Maria)

Rejoice, Mary, favored one, for the Lord is with you: Blessed are you among women, Theotokos, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.  Amen.

Or this:

(Ave Maria)

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.  Amen.

From Ash Wednesday thru Holy Saturday, say:

Memorial of the Redemption (Salvator Mundi)

O Savior of the world, who by your cross and precious blood have redeemed us: Save us and help us, we humbly pray.  Amen.

From Easter Sunday thru Pentecost, say:

Memorial of the Resurrection (Pascha Nostrum)

Alleluia.  Christ our Passover has been raised from the dead.  Alleluia.  The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  Amen.  Alleluia.

From Whit Monday thru the Saturday before Advent, say:

Memorial of the Illumination (Verbum Incarnavit)

The Word lived among us, full of grace and truth, a light shining in the darkness: We have beheld the glory of this, the Chosen One, and through him that of God.  Amen.

Conclude with:

Peace Prayer

Remind us, Lord, to be instruments of your peace.  Let us show love where there is hatred; pardon where there is injury; union where there is discord; trust where there is doubt; hope where there is despair; your light where there is darkness; joy where there is sadness.  May we seek rather to console than to be consoled; to understand than to understood; to love than to be loved. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are forgiven; and it is in dying that we live.  Amen.

Sign of the Cross (Signum Crucis)

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Transformer.  Amen.