Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! Setting the Stage – Static Reality vs Dynamic Force

Philo of Alexandria provides an excellent insight into the limits of consciousness. He states “The mind which is in each of us is able to comprehend all other things, but has not the capability of understanding itself. For as the eye sees all other things, but cannot see itself, so also the mind perceives the nature of other things but cannot understand itself.”[i] ~ It stands to reason that human consciousness can only understand and analyze itself via a “frame of reference’ – or mindset – from within human consciousness – and several scholars have observed that the only way to evaluate human consciousness is by using a mirror – in one sense or another. The “materialist view that quantification equates to science and materialism is objective is false. Iain McGilChrist observes that it is the opposite and that the materialist “rigid adherence to arbitrary quantification” “limits and restricts” possible analyses[ii]. Half of human consciousness isn’t quantifiable: art, music, dreams, creato9vioty, imagination, , as well as symbolism which is complex and outside the scope of strict quantification – not to mention “death”. Rene Guenon is a bit more focused in stating that the materialist ideology is the “denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order”[iii] (p.90) Guenon’s assessment appears to be generally correct. E Halas, R. May, as well as Mustafa Emirbayer (to an extent) indicate symbolism was sidelined and marginalized. D Hay, K Gergen, and V. Enriquez emphasize that the western “rational Individualism norm has morphed into a form of extreme individualism. That is because “social consciousness” is a “supra-individual” concept. In Wikipedia, there are only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being to Karl Marx the creator of Marxism and Communism. Karl Mannheim, (1893 – 1947), a founding father of sociology stated that “we must realize once and for all that the meanings which make up our world are simply an historically determined and continuously developing structure in which man develops, and are in no sense absolute” (Mullins). Besides Mannheim, Guenon, and McGilChrist, there are a number of other critics of materialism including Talcott Parson, Rupert Sheldrake, Jeremiah Reyes, and Arran Gare

Guenon states materialism specifically “denies” spirituality because spiritual “authority is “supra-individual in nature, The “materialist model” of spirituality is “All spirituality is unreal” – based on the materialist maxim that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses” as explained by William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen. First, that is a fallacy – the Definist Fallacy to be exact. For instance, take the concept of “Death”. Death, of course is “intangible and beyond the senses, Yet, following the materialist argument Death becomes a figment of your imagination – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of “tangible” types of spirituality such as compassion, grieving, musical spirituality, art and so on. A derivative of the materialist maxim is the concept of the “supernatural” – which by definition is outside the scope of science and thus lacks any real-world context-evidence which is necessary for a valid scientific theory according to Kant, McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif) – which makes the “supernatural” an artificial abstraction which is scientifically and academically worthless. My argument is that in light of the “selective attention” process which is acknowledged as a critical process in the human mind – re-directs and mis-directs attention from functional spirituality to an empty and meaningless artificial abstraction.

Long ago Aristotle described the scientific process as a 4 step process: 1. Gather the facts 2. Categorize the evidence into types 3. Analyze the evidence 4. Draw conclusions. It is a bit mindboggling that the mistake materialists made was so simple and fundamental. Materialists failed to distinguish between “tangible” and “intangible” – labeling all spirituality as “intangible” and “supernatural”. There are a number of very “tangible” types of spirituality! 1. Spirituality of Compassion (Sprecher, S, B Fehr 2005; Saslow, Laura Rose 2011)[iv] 2. Musical Spirituality:[v] 3. Spiritual Healing in Grieving[vi] 4. Children’s Spirituality[vii] 5. Artistic Spirituality[viii] 6. Poets and Prophecy[ix] 7. Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence[x] 8. divinity in nature – earth as a living force 9. Spirituality and Autism[xi] 10. pro-social norms. Another major methodology flaw is that materialists failed to distinguish bet6ween the “divine” and the supernatural. There is a world of difference between “divine” and “supernatural”. For instance, Celtic Spirituality and Celtic Catholicism holds “A deep reverence for nature is a central conviction in Celtic Spirituality. Creation is revelation. God’s presence permeates all of creation. Every single piece of it. Celtic Spirituality holds that the Divine is incarnate in all of creation.” In the context of beliefs, “divinity” would also be a “tangible” type of spirituality.

Social consciousness can be difficult to understand. If ever there was a social-political movement that centered on thoughts and ideas, the Enlightenment would be it. The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, which began in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries were an intellectual and philosophical force created by social-political-religious ideas that dominated the world of ideas in Europe and generated major changes in the culture of Western Civilization. Furthermore, human consciousness has developed and ‘evolved’ through the various stages in human history- from the stone age to the iron age to moder industrial civilization – so. It would appear readily apparent that an influential factor in understanding human consciousness would be “Consciousness as drive and force”! That would be especially relevant in context of cross-cultural understanding such as Filipino values like Bayanihan, Kapwa, loob. In the essay, “Myths as Symbolic Maps of Social-Moral Order”, I stress the historical connection and correlation between spiritual beliefs and social-moral order – which supports Emile Durkheim’s view of religion as the foundation of morality – that religious experiences generate shared values and beliefs that bind society together. There is a major point made by Saslow that there is a difference between spiritual processes and religiosity processes – and that spiritual processes are more closely connected with prosocial values such as compassion. Many scholars who are anti-religious lump spirituality in with religiosity and throw spirituality away – when it appears readily apparent that spirituality is closely correlated with prosocial values such as compassion and community.

Human Consciousness as a Dynamic Force and Evolutionary Drive

Evolutionary Perspective & Genetics of Spiritual-Religious Beliefs

• Terrence Deacon and Tyrone Cashman observe that “The scientific investigation of the human religious predisposition has recently been augmented by considering it from an evolutionary perspective.” [xii]

• Genetic Origins of Spiritual and Religious Beliefs: Tim Spector, in the article, What Twins Reveal About The Science Of Faith (Popular Science, August 8, 2013) states, “They [the researchers] estimated the heritability of spirituality to be around 40 to 50 percent, which is quite high considering how tricky it is to measure. Other U.S. studies using even more detailed questions in larger numbers have found similar or even stronger genetic influences. These studies demonstrate our variable but innate inherited sense of spirituality, which affects how we perceive the world, ourselves and the universe. This is independent of our formal religious beliefs[xiii]

“To me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.” Wolfgang Pauli

It would seem “our reality” isn’t working all that well.

Albert Einstein: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

The Genetics of Spiritual and Religious Beliefs

Tim Spector, in the article, What Twins Reveal About The Science Of Faith (Popular Science, August 8, 2013) states, “They [the researchers] estimated the heritability of spirituality to be around 40 to 50 percent, which is quite high considering how tricky it is to measure. Other U.S. studies using even more detailed questions in larger numbers have found similar or even stronger genetic influences. These studies demonstrate our variable but innate inherited sense of spirituality, which affects how we perceive the world, ourselves and the universe. This is independent of our formal religious beliefs and practices and, strangely, largely independent of family influence.”

Gilbert Todd Vance, in an article, Genetics of Religiosity, states that, “While it may at first appear that religiosity would not be influenced by genes, studies have shown that genetic effects contribute to individual differences in a wide array of traits and behaviors, including social attitudes, personality, vocational interests, IQ, and religiosity.” Furthermore, genetic studies of the hereditability of personality traits, including twin studies, including a large cross-cultural twin study completed in North America, Europe, and Asia by Yamagata S, Suzuki A, Ando J, Ono Y, Kijima N, Yoshimura K, Ostendorf F, Angleitner A, Riemann R, Spinath FM, Livesley WJ, et al. (2006), do strongly suggest that both heritability as well as environmental factors influence personality traits using the five-factor model of personality.

Complementing this is the research of Koenig et al. (2005) who report that the contribution of genes to variation in religiosity (called heritability) increases from 12% to 44% and the contribution of shared (family) effects decreases from 56% to 18% between adolescence and adulthood.”

James Kennedy, in discussing the genetic aspect of spiritual and psychic experiences, notes that, “In fact, it is likely that humans have evolved genetically-based personality characteristics that are highly adaptive to environmental conditions (Plotkin 1998). (p.40)

The anthropologist Brain Hayden, in his book Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints, in framing an understanding of shamanism, states, “All these human characteristics probably evolved together as adaptive ways of dealing with life-threatening crises.” (p.44)

First, I should point out that a large part of writing on myths focuses on heroes, individuals and archetypes. For instance, Joseph Campbell is renowned for his work in mythology, particularly his concept of the monomyth, or hero’s journey, which proposes a universal pattern underlying heroic narratives across cultures. His book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, outlines this pattern, while The Power of Myth, a series of conversations with Bill Moyers, explores the functions and enduring relevance of myths in modern life.

My approach offers a unique cross cultural comparative analysis of myths focused on social moral order emphasizing the connection between spirituality and social-moral order as well as “groups as common symbolization” (Elzbieta Halas). The focus is on unconscious symbols of Justice and order, in particular the symbol of “injustice” Gerringer observes “Joseph Campbell argues there are four primary functions and through the third “Sociological Function” “mythology reinforces the moral order by shaping the person to the demands of a specific geographically and historically conditioned social group. (Thou Art That 5)” (Campbell’s Four Functions of Myth Stephen Gerringer) – The point being myths as symbolic maps as counterpoint to myths and spirituality as superstitious nonsense and completely irrational.

the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order

Rene Guenon & the materialist problem: “Rationalism in all its forms is essentially defined by a belief in the supremacy of reason, proclaimed as a veritable ‘dogma’, and implying the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order, notably of pure intellectual intuition, and this carries with it logically the exclusion of all true metaphysical knowledge….[and] the rejection of all spiritual authority, rationalism and individualism are thus so closely linked together that they are usually confused,” (p.90)

Guenon’s assessment is correct. Kenneth Gergen, David Hay and Virgilio Enriquez agree that Rational Individualism (a political ideal) has morphed (from the Age of Reason to the Materialist Age) into a form of extreme individualism. Wikipedia has only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being Karl Marx. In western academia, the Rational Individualism norm holds sway. As a point of information, the English language has no words for the Filipino words, Bayanihan (helping others in a community context), Kapwa (shared identity), or loob (relational will – equality)

Alfred Rupert Sheldrake, author, and biochemist at Cambridge University concludes: “The atheist ideology found a powerful ally in materialist science, which by the end of the nineteenth century, portrayed a purposeless, unconscious, mechanical universe where humans, like all life, had evolved without purpose or guidance.” (p.155) Kant emphasized that “freedom” will forever be an unknown to humanity – being a complex symbol beyond the scope of strict rational analysis and quantification. The question of motivations is a very important one. Kant believed motivations were largely unconscious – something supported by modern unconscious research.

Myths and Symbolism – sidelined and marginalized

Rollo May, an American existential psychologist and author, observes. “There has been a radical change during the past three decades… Neither term, “symbol” or “myth,” even appears in the index of the standard psychology textbooks.”

Sociologist Elzbieta Halas had parallel observations on how symbolism had been largely marginalized as an epiphenomenon” Elzbieta Halas states: “Too often symbolism is thought of as an epiphenomenon, a phenomenon that is derivative of what are considered to be more important factors, such as business, resources, power, organization, etc. which are allegedly ‘objective’ facts.”

Complexity of symbolism – beyond strict rational analysis and quantification

Balaganapath emphasizes that “The meanings that these symbolic forms transmit are complex. Instead of standing for a single referent, they evoke a variety of meanings, some of which may be ambiguous.”13

Elzbieta Halas confirms that view: “Of primary importance is the concept of generic metaphor, around which the dominant symbolism of some social group is created (Turner, 1978: 246; Mill s, 1950: 86). These are key representations set in a symbolic system, which condense numerous meanings and unify multiple signs, such as an ‘open society’, or a ‘rule of law’. That puts symbols outside the scope of strict rational analysis and materialist quantification.1
Complexity of Symbolism creates an inherent conflict between symbols and materialist

Quantification. Symbols are very complex with encoded information and so, outside the scope of strict rational analysis and materialist quantification. Because symbols are beyond the scope of strict rational analysis and materialist fixation on quantification, it appears readily apparent that symbolism and myths got sidelined and marginalized

What complicates matters is that as both Muzafer Sherif and Viktor Frankl emphasized that the different disciplines of science and different schools of thought are largely separate and disconnected – so the symbolic schools of thought never made it into main-stream psychology

The “extreme adherence to materialism is too restrictive and limiting”

Jeremiah Lasquety-Reyes, author and widely quoted expert on Filipino ethics, said, “Hi Charles, I completely agree with you that this extreme adherence to materialism is too restrictive and limiting, and frankly fails to capture so many richer aspects of human experience and psychology. It leaves the field of psychology all the poorer. I am myself looking for a framework that helps me confront it. Partly, I think an alternative metaphysics is needed, one that respects the reality and meaning of things like love, relationships, and the profound reality of other people as people and not just as a compound of atoms, chemicals, and neurons firing. Glad that we’re on the same page!”

I would add that half of human consciousness is not strictly quantifiable: hope, art,

dreams, music, poetry, true love, awe-wonder, freedom, ideals, justice, – not to mention death – not to mention symbolism. Furthermore, if the materialist “rigid adherence to quantification” were strictly followed, human beings would be left with the intelligence of a rat. A valid question is “How a methodology – described by McGilChrist in terms of a “rigid adherence to

quantification” – which is appropriate to physics or chemistry got applied to human consciousness. Both Kenneth Gergen and C. Maimone highlight the fact that social knowledge is a distinct category.

Point of order: Models and Maps

Iain McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif, Kant state real world context-evidence is vital- and “People” – not abstractions such as the supernatural” are the only source for true real-world context for spiritual-religious beliefs.
K Gergen: “Proper knowledge maps or mirrors the actualities of the real world!!” + “To understand something, whether we are aware of it or not, depends on choosing a model!” Iain McGilChrist.

“The basis of every culture and every identity is determined by its own established common symbolic expression.” • D. Balaganapath

As Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and spiritual leader who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, observed long ago, “Signs and symbols rule the world, not words or laws!” Modern politics and religion have proved Confucius right. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.”

Elzbieta Halas: “groups exist only on the ground of common symbolization of their members.” “The processes of symbolization…create a social order, express meaning and control actions. Symbols are not autonomous. They constitute tools of action, indicating and dramatizing social relations”
D. Balaganapath observes: “The basis of every culture and every identity is determined by its own established common symbolic expression.”
Religion as “a system of symbols” is a primary characteristic of Geertz’s five-part definition of religion
Rapport observes that “Few if any societies break the world into the more or less distinct systems distinguished by Western science. Not all of them, surely, distinguish environmental from social relations. Moreover, these understandings and principles, which in the Maring view, account for the structure and state of the world and invest the world and actions in it with meaning, are not confined to the particular material and social regulations regulated. They include as well metaphysical abstractions of great generality. (p. 116 Ecology, Meaning and Religion, Roy Rappaport, North Atlantic Books, 1979)

Mannheim’s Model – Historical Synergy between economic political reality and Metaphysical Truths: “Mannheim holds that historical and political thought is determined by the socio-historical location of the thinker and the political aspirations and material ambitions of the group or groups to which he belongs. Such thought is inherently value-laden, one-sided, distorted, and therefore false. In short, all systems of historical-social-political thought are ideologies”! (p.143 Truth and Ideology: Reflections on Mannheim’s Paradox by Willard A. Mullins, History and Theory, Vol. 18, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 141-154)
Commentary Reflections:

Abraham Heschel: “As long as man believes in his ability to comprehend the world directly, as long as he is impressed by that which is rather than concerned to express what he thinks, symbolism is one of the techniques of human understanding. When man becomes the measure of good and evil, when the truth is regarded as that which the mind creates, symbolism becomes the sole technique of human understanding.” (Heschel Symbolism p. 127-128)

Hugh Evans: “History shows that all protest movements rely on symbols – boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, flags, songs. Symbolic action on whatever scale – from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to wearing a simple wristband – is designed to disrupt our everyday complacency and force people to think.” – Symbolism in protests is particularly relevant sicne one focus is on protest movements as forms of social consciousness – starting with Lagash in Sumer thousands of years ago.

Symbols and symbolism have been evident in prehistoric art from the dawning of civilization. Karen Armstrong highlights prehistoric cave art as the first evidence for human ideologies can be found in the prehistoric cave paintings of “shamans” in the French and Spanish caves dating as far back as twenty or thirty thousand years. Besides the numerous religious art works of the Renaissance, Chelsea Ann Rulofson observes that: “Some modern art movements coined their own spirituality and reflected it in their art; it is easy to see this in artists such as Paul Klee, Franz Marc, and Wassily Kandinsky. I would add that historically, divine inspiration has often been a hallmark of creativity.

By definition the “supernatural” is “outside the scope of science” and scientifically meaningless and therefore a Meaningless Artificial Abstraction. On top of that the “Supernatural” concept comes with baggage: powers, superstitious nonsense, irrational, intangible and unreal, and mental illness.

In contrast to the supernatural, there is an historical correlation between spirituality and social-moral order” 10 Commandments Moses-Prophet, Hammurabi Code, & Gods of Mesopotamia (Shamash, Marduk, Enki, Nabu, Inanna, Enlil, and Anu), Zeus, Indra

The Code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws covering contracts, family life, trade, slavery, and liability, famously including the principle of “an eye for an eye”. “Hammurabi is best known for having issued the Code of Hammurabi, which he claimed to have received from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. Unlike earlier Sumerian law codes, such as the Code of Ur-Nammu, which had focused on compensating the victim of the crime, the Law of Hammurabi was one of the first law codes to place greater emphasis on the physical punishment of the perpetrator. It prescribed specific penalties for each crime and is among the first codes to establish the presumption of innocence. They were intended to limit what a wronged person was permitted to do in retribution. The Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah contain numerous similarities.” (Wikipedia) I should emphasize that – historically – spiritual-religious beliefs have been a source for morals, social order, and law – as Durkheim emphasized!

Code of Hammurabi “When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BCE): This is the oldest known legal code, detailing monetary compensation for bodily injuries, a notable departure from later codes that often prescribed severe retaliation. Ur-Nammu continued the war with the Gutians and reclaimed major cities, including the great city of Eridu, while also devoting efforts to rebuilding and renovating temples and trade centers damaged in the wars. By taking the kingship, he established the Third Dynasty of Ur in Sumer, the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) and the Sumerian Renaissance.

Ur-Nammu recognized the power of religious beliefs to affect personal behavior and so presented his laws as having been received from the gods. He seems to have made sure people understood the king was only the administrator, not the author, of the code, and when someone broke the law, they were rebelling against the divine will. Kriwaczek comments:

Moses Ascent on Mount Sinai and the Revelation of the Ten commandments

St. Gregory of Nyssa uses the story of Moses’ ascent to Mount Sinai and the receiving of the Ten Commandments in his work The Life of Moses as an allegory for the soul’s spiritual journey towards God. While he explains the biblical account, he focuses on the ascent’s symbolic meaning: Moses’ entry into “the thick darkness” where God dwells and his subsequent mystical vision of God’s glory as representing the human soul’s progress into deeper, incomprehensible divine knowledge. The “origins” of the Ten Commandments, for Gregory, are not just their historical delivery but the ongoing process of faithful adherence to them as a pathway to spiritual growth and resemblance to the divine.

The Ten Commandments And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Shamash: The solar deity and judge of gods and men, Shamash was known as the god of justice and equity. He was a member of the Anunnaki, a special class of Mesopotamian gods.
Marduk: The Babylonian god of justice, compassion, healing, and magic, Marduk was also the patron god of Babylon and was sometimes considered the god of creation.
Enki: The Babylonian god of wisdom and fresh waters, Enki was also the god of magic and the patron of craftsmen, artisans, and exorcists.
Nabu: The god of wisdom and learning, Nabu was the scribe of Marduk and had the ability to make prophecies come true by writing them.
Inanna: Also known as Ishtar or Astarte, Inanna was the goddess of sex, war, and justice. She was also known as the Queen of Heaven and was believed to have the ability to change a person’s gender.
Enlil: A central deity in the Mesopotamian worldview, Enlil was both creator and destroyer, with unalterable authority and control over fate.
Anu: The Mesopotamian god of the sky, Anu was also the King of Gods. He was sometimes attributed with the creation of humans with the assistance of his sons Enlil and/or Enki

Commentary and Reflections

. The Sociologist, Elzbieta Halas states, “groups exist only on the ground of common symbolization of their members.” Halas goes on to say that “The processes of symbolization…. create a social order, express meaning and control actions. Symbols are not autonomous. They constitute tools of action, indicating and dramatizing social relations” It would appear readily evident that the myths of ancient divinity created a “common symbolization” which as I show here did have a significant focus or selective attention on social order.

As Emile Durkheim emphasized, “The forces before which the believer bows are not simple physical energies, such as are presented to the sense and the imagination; they are social forces!” An overview of Mesopotamian gods reveals numerous examples of symbolic maps of social consciousness: Shamash, Marduk, Enki, Nabu, Inanna, Enlil, and Anu

Synopsis of Social Symbolism

1. Symbol creation creates culture and symbols are created by culture

A synopsis of symbolism. Balaganapathi states: “It was the exercise of the symbolic faculty that brought culture into existence and it is the use of symbols that makes the perpetuation of culture possible. Without the symbol there would be no culture and man would be merely an animal, not a human being…. Our contact with the world outside is based on symbols. Our language is nothing but symbols. The scripts are still more so. Our art, our poetry, in fact, every aspect of life is based on symbols: We think in symbols, we act in symbols. We live in symbols; we learn in symbols!” This view is also advanced by Leslie A. White as well as the famous anthropologist, Clifford Geertz.

Balaganapathi goes on to say that “Though man and his life ultimately

are symbolic, there are more evident symbols in man’s creation. These symbols are the substitutes or suggestions of abstract things. They are more concrete in nature. Thus, superimposing an idea on a thing or invoking a deity in an image is symbolization. Symbols are used for both concealment and revelation. They conceal partly the essential content from an ordinary person and partly reveal it by suggesting it.”

“Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason has often been cited as the most significant volume of metaphysics and epistemology in modern philosophy” (Wikipedia) John Glenn stresses that Kant (1724–1804) focused on symbols as “basic concepts (the categories and the ideas of reason) which the human mind employs can only come to be conceived because they are capable of being first presented in concrete symbolic form!”

2. Symbols Energize Emotions: National, Religious, Spiritual Symbolism

a. “National attachment, a feeling of close personal

attachment to one’s nation or state, is a powerful organizing force that has been a facet of all successful human societies.” (David Butz)

The powerful emotions and universality of “patriotism” would appear to be a very self-evident truth. In World War I, 11 million soldiers were killed and every single soldier was a patriot. The Battle of the Somme “was one of the bloodiest in history, with over a million men killed or wounded. The 57,470 casualties suffered by the British {in the first day of the battle], including 19,240 killed, were the worst in the history of the British Army.” This wholesale slaughter of men first emerged during the American Civil War. Toward the end of the civil war in the battle of Cold Harbor, union soldier pinned letters to their loved ones to their backs knowing the order for a frontal attack would result in their deaths. It would take very powerful emotions to keep men committed in those horrific circumstances

b. Symbolism and Identity: D. Balaganapath observes:

“The basis of every culture and every identity is determined by its own established common symbolic expression.”

During the Vatican’s crusade against the heretical sect the Cathars, the ancient city of Minerve in southern France was the site of a ten-week siege by Simon de Montfort in 1210. The citizens of Minerve, after surrendering, were given the option of converting to Catholicism or death. One hundred forty Cathars chose death rather than convert, and were burned at the stake. What is unique is that those 140 Cathars who chose death – died for a metaphor. The dualistic theology of the Cathars held that the physical world was a manifestation of evil by the demiurge Rex Mundi (king of the world) while God was entirely spiritual without any physical manifestation. So, symbolism can invoke powerful emotions and are intricately connected with motivations in some circumstances.

c. The Synthesis-Consensus of Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James,

Emile Durkheim plus Nancy Furlotti and Donald Kalsched – making sense of the world and the role of emotions-energy that can be triggered by spiritual symbols

The synthesis-consensus simply put asserts that spirituality can create meaning and a “sense of reality” as well as the fact that unconscious spiritual symbols can be emotionally energized. William James emphasized that “They [spiritual experiences] determine our vital attitude as decisively as the vital attitude of lovers is determined by the habitual sense.” Furthermore, Nancy Furlotti states, “Affect emerges from archetypes (unconscious symbols), which are the a priori ordering principles of nature, the world, and the psyche. Donald Kalsched observes: ” Archetypal energy is rooted deep in the unconscious and it is ‘archaic’, primitive, and also ‘typical’. Archetypal energies and affects are not easily assimilated by the conscious mind.”

Moses – Prophet and Lawgiver

Now, many westerners and Christians might think that Moses and the ten commandments aren’t myth – it is real. A closer examination of morals might shed some light on this question, While Spinoza, the philosopher, – and others argue that morals are derived from reason, recent neuroscience research indicates that emotions are pivotal. Neuroscientists Funk and Gazzaniga observe, “Morality is a set of complex emotional and cognitive processes that is reflected across many brain domains. Some of the emotions processed are more central to morality than others, but all emotions contribute to moral judgment given specific contextual situations.” (Brain Architecture of human morality, Funk and Gazzanigna Current opinion in Neurobiology 2009 19:678-681)

Alex P. Jassen, in his analysis of prophecy and lawgiving in Judaism, The Presentation of the Ancient Prophets as Lawgivers at Qumran observes, “The Qumran community, like nearly all segments of Second Temple Judaism, viewed itself as based on a revealed religion.” It stands to reason that in one sense or another, all religions view their beliefs as revealed religion or truths. Jassen states that the “Qumran texts routinely represent the ancient prophets as mediators of divinely revealed law, sometimes in cooperation with Moses and sometimes independent of Moses.” Jassen goes on to highlight the spiritual aspect of prophecy-lawgiving: Nehemiah 9.52 The notice that God, through his spirit, sent the prophets to instruct (Vowrft) Israel (line 4) is drawn from Neh 9:20, where God is lauded for bestowing on Israel “your good spirit to instruct them (oVottJr6) “53 The prophets, sent with the aid of a divine spirit, are identified with the task of “instruction” and “illumination.” That would seem to suggest that spirituality is a “substrate” for morals, law, and social-moral order.

Ancient Hebrew – Knowledge as yada, Christ on spirit and McGilChrist on Experience

The ancient Hebrews made an interesting connection between “spirit” and knowledge, with one passage directly referencing spirit as conveying an understanding of good and bad (foreshadowing Christ’s “Spirit is truth!” (John 5:6). Exodus 31:3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with the ability to distinguish between the good and the bad, and with the ability to discern the processes of construction, and with an intimate ability to perform the tasks, and in all manner of workmanship. Or Exodus 31: 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills.

Quotes from the Gospel

Being born of the Holy Spirit makes us a spiritual being (John 3: 6).

“God is a Spirit” (the Holy Spirit) (John 4:24).

He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4: 24).

He is the Spirit of truth (John 15: 26).

He is the Spirit of truth (John 14.17).

Jesus’ words are spirit and life (John 6: 63).

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for knowledge, as expressed in root “yada,” appears nearly 950 times so it is a word that is important to everyday life and functioning. It’s usage in the Bible expressed a generally wider understanding of the word as opposed to the rather narrow definition of knowledge in terms of rational analysis, scientific facts or philosophical truths as current usage would indicate. Yada includes all manner of workmanship and construction as well as perceiving, learning, understanding, willing, performing, and experiencing. To know is not to be intellectually informed about some abstract principle, but to grasp the world and experience truth. Knowledge is not the passive internalization of information and facts, but rather the shared fulfillment of being and the expression of the actualization of knowledge (and God). Yet, as Biblical scholars point out, perhaps the most salient and significant characteristic of the ancient Hebrew understanding and usage of “knowledge” is that it definitely indicates more personal and intimate relationship which is far removed from the contemporary understanding as something impersonal and objective. There is an aspect of subjectivity that the ancient Hebrews embraced.

“Meaning emerges from engagement with the world, not from abstract contemplation of it.” — Iain McGilchrist Briefly, I should highlight that Kant argued that beauty is the origin of morals. Irish theologian and poet John O’Donohue stated that “Beauty is the illumination of the soul!” From that perspective it would stand to reason that “Truth” would also be an illumination of the soul.

Justice, Injustice & Symbolism: Sumeria 2375 BC to Greece 2025

Preamble: Elzbieta Halas statement that “groups exist only on the ground of common symbolization of their members!” makes the argument that communities and groups are formed by symbol creation and so are maps of social consciousness very relevant and meaningful. I apply that concept to symbols and symbolism of justice, which is historically well “proven” by countless protests against injustice in human history. The earliest historically documented protest–revolt took place in the city of Lagash in the ancient Sumerian civilization! The reformer. Urukagina overthrew the corrupt ensi Lugalanda around 2375 BCE. On top of that, even a precursory overview of myths reveals concepts of justice and order embedded in the myths which would be a “common symbolization!”

Historically, protests and revolts against injustice are innumerable. The earliest historical protest – revolt was in the city of Lagash in ancient Sumerian civilization in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates. Urukagina overthrew the ensi Lugalanda around 2375 BCE. Urukagina reforms against corrupt ruler Lugalanda improved the lives of common people by addressing issues like the seizure of their boats, sheep, and fish stores. In recent history there have been a very large numbers of protests against injustice.

A very recent protest which is an excellent illustration of underlying drives and symbolism of justice. Article title January 27, 2025 Protesters in Greece demand answers two years after 57 killed in Tempi rail disaster Euronews Story by Gavin Blackburn The crash happened just before midnight on 28 February, 2023, when a freight train and a passenger train crashed head-on on the line linking Athens with Thessaloniki.

Tens of thousands of people have protested in central Athens to demand justice for the 57 people who were killed in the Tempi rail disaster. It was the largest protest in Greece in more than a decade and rallies also took place in more than 100 other cities across the country. The protests come following the release to local media of a chilling new audio recording suggesting that dozens of the victims may have died in a fire after Greece’s worst rail disaster.

It was previously thought all the victims of the February 2023 collision had been killed in the crash. Demonstrators held banners with the slogan ‘I Have No Oxygen’, which was heard in the newly-released audio. “As it became clear today, all Greeks desire to have a functional, real, rule of law. We have taken to the streets and we are shouting. We hope that they will hear us all the way to Brussels,” Maria Karistianou, the President of the Association of Relatives of Tempi Victims, told Euronews.

Of the huge numbers of protests against injustice protests include the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro Sit-in, the Freedom Rides, the Salt March by Gandhi, the Stonewall Riots, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the Student Protests of the 1960s, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1969 Anti-1969 Vietnam War protest 1969, 1982 Anti-Nuclear March. The People’s Climate March: In 2014, this was one of the largest protests in U.S. history.

These examples demonstrate the enduring struggle for fairness and equality in diverse societies and cultures. The inescapable conclusion would be that there is a built in, hard-wired value for justice and fairness in human consciousness – and the existence of unconscious symbols associated with the concepts of justice and equality.

Point of order: “Invoking a deity in an image” doesn’t mean that the Divine doesn’t exist. What it means is that human beings understand and connect with the Divine through symbols and symbolism. This is consistent with early Christian mystics and leaders such as St Gregory of Nyssa and St Augustine who viewed God as beyond words and beyond comprehension. Kant also stated that “God” is not a suitable subject for scientific investigation or knowledge. Heschel highlights the factor that without man, God wouldn’t be meaningful.

National Symbols and Flags

Heschel observes that “flags” are excellent illustrations for symbols which Balaganapathi and D. Butz agree with. Both highlight the fact that national symbols can evoke powerful emotions. Balaganapathi goes on to say that “National symbols, stated Michael Geisler (2005), serve as a marker for the collective memory of the nation and thus represent the power of the state to define a nation. National symbols of India are deeply rooted in historical antiquity and the Nationalist movement. National Flag: India’s National flag is a horizontal tri-colored one with deep saffron at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportions. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a wheel, in navy blue, which represents the chakra, wheel of dharma. Its design is also that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Saranath lion capital of King Asoka. The wheel has 24 spokes.

Nazis and Symbol Manipulation

Besides flags, parades and rallies, are excellent illustrations of national symbols and the role they play in society and politics. Hitler and the Nazis were masters at manipulating symbols. In the picture below the huge Nazi Flags were symbolization on a monolithic scale.

Nazi party rally Bundesarchiv Bild_Nürnberg, _Reichsparteitag Scherl – Wikimedia

The Materialism Problem: Inherent Dilemma of Symbolism vs Materialist Quantification

Rollo May, an American existential psychologist and author, observed that “There has been a radical change during the past three decades… Neither term, “symbol” or “myth,” even appears in the index of the standard psychology textbooks. He goes on to say that this neglect and oversight was due to the “proclivity” – the materialist fixation – with data “which could ultimately be described in physiological or stimulus-response terms.”[1]

The scholar and psychiatrist McGilChrist observed: “The scope of inquiry and understanding of the Materialist Doctrine with its rigid adherence to the actually arbitrary principle of quantification and over-emphasis on physiological characteristics is severely restricted and limited in the analyses that can be performed.” – which emphasizes that the materialist fixation with quantification creates a serious methodology problem – flaw.

This is an important point – The Galileo Commission came to similar conclusions: “1. The underlying assumptions – or world model – that predominate in the majority [of the modern scientific community] are narrowly naturalistic in metaphysics, materialistic in ontology, and reductionist-empirical in methodology. 2. This results in the belief that consciousness is nothing more than the consequence of a complex arrangement of matter or a phenomenon emerging from brain activity. 3. This belief is neither proven nor justified.”

The underlying cause of this dilemma of symbols vs quantification:

Balaganapath emphasizes “A symbol reduces the enormous complexity of communication by using a concrete sign as a kind of shorthand for a complex of interrelated concepts, ideas, and values systems…. The meanings that these symbolic forms transmit are complex. Instead of standing for a single referent, they evoke a variety of meanings, some of which may be ambiguous.” That, of course, makes symbols unsuitable for strict rational analysis and the “rigid adherence of materialist methodology to quantification.

E Halas confirms that view: “Of primary importance is the concept of generic metaphor, around which the dominant symbolism of some social group is created (Turner, 1978: 246; Mill s, 1950: 86). These are key representations set in a symbolic system, which condense numerous meanings and unify multiple signs, such as an ‘open society’, or a ‘rule of law’. Their main feature is an ideological component, i.e. a reference to moral order, the principles of social organization, norms and values (Turner, 1978: 247).”[2]

The saffron of the national flag stands for courage, sacrifice and renunciation, while white stands for truth and purity: truth in words and actions and purity in thoughts. Green is the symbol of life, abundance and prosperity. Charka is the symbol of progress and of movement and its 24 spokes symbolize division of time, i.e., 24 hours of the day. The cloth used for the flag should be homespun and handwoven khadi representing the nationalist feeling.” There is a consensus that symbols condense and encode information. The Indian flag is very intricate and complex so that is a good example of symbols condensing and encoding information.

V. Myths: Zeus, Indra, Germanic-Norse Myths as Symbolic Maps-Models of Social Consciousness

Myth of Zeus as a Symbolic map-model of social consciousness

Zeus, the Father and Ruler of heavens and earth was replete with bountiful symbols and symbolism. The lightning bolts of Zeus symbolized raw power and control of nature. Zeus, of course had a royal scepter and a throne which symbolized “authority” and social power. The Eagle and bull were the “sacred animals” of Zeus. Zeus abducted Ganymede as an eagle and Europa as a bull. In hunting gatherer societies, the ability to transmute into animals was often assumed. Though usually depicted with a long robe (chiton) and cloak (himation), on occasion he was pictured nude.

“Befitting his role as King of the Gods, Zeus was attended by a large complement of lesser divinities. His throne was guarded by four winged spirits, two male and two females, named Kratos (Strength), Zelos (Rivalry), Nike (Victory) and Bia (Force). Kratos and Bia functioned as muscular enforcers and were tasked with jobs such as the apprehension and imprisonment of the Titan Prometheus. Nike drove Zeus’ chariot and often accompanied him in miniature form as something of a divine familiar. The god Hermes was Zeus’ personal herald who acted as diplomat, envoy and general agent of the god’s will. His messenger was Iris, the winged goddess of the rainbow, who simply relayed messages verbatim and delivered commands to the other gods. Zeus’ high councilor Themis, goddess of law and order, was seated beside his throne. She was attended by their six daughters the Moirai (Fates) and the Horai (Seasons). These goddesses were collectively responsible for the orderly functioning of the cosmos. Themis was also charged with summoning all of the gods to assembly in the courtyard of Zeus.

Zeus Virginia Wikimedia

Metis, goddess of wisdom, was perhaps his most unusual attendant. Zeus swallowed her whole to avoid a prophesy and she took up residence in his belly. The ancient Greeks believed the belly rather than the brain was the seat of thought and emotion, and so by subsuming her he effectively implanted wise counsel in his mind. She continued to exist in some form or other within the god, even to the extent of birthing Athena there and equipping her with armour and weapons before her second birth from Zeus’ head.

The founder of kingly power, of law and of order, whence Dice, Themis and Nemesis are his assistants. For the same reason he protects the assembly of the people (agoraios), the meetings of the council (boulaios), and as he presides over the whole state, so also over every house and family. He also watched over the sanctity of the oath (horkios), the law of hospitality (xenios), and protected suppliants. He avenged those who were wronged, and punished those who had committed a crime, for he watched the doings and sufferings of all men.

He was further the original source of all prophetic power, front whom all prophetic signs and sounds proceeded. Everything good as well as bad comes from Zeus, and according to his own choice he assigns their good or evil lot to mortals and fate itself was subordinate to him.” [3](https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html)

I. VI The Hindu God Indra

The Hindu god Indra was king of the gods, god of war, god of weather, god of rain, thunder, and lightning plus Indra assumed the role as Upholder of Cosmic Order, symbolized wisdom, intelligence, as well as justice, integrity, and compassion – viewed as a benevolent deity.

Though originally a longstanding oral tradition, the Vedas, written roughly from 1500 to 500 BCE are the oldest scriptures of Hinduism and believed to be rooted in Indo-Aryan culture. Very roughly that is parallel to the Mycenaean society which dates from 1750 BCE to 1050 BCE. The Hindu God Indra is a very similar deity to the Greek God Zeus. Indra primordial parents were Dyaus Pita and earth goddess Prithvi. In fact, the Mycenaean linear B name for Zeus was “di-we / di-wo”. The Hindu sky god Dyaus origins are rooted in the Proto-Indo-European deity Dyēus ph₂tḗr, which means “Daylight-sky Father” – and similar to other sky gods including: Greek: Zeus Patēr, Illyrian: Dei-pátrous, Latin: Jupiter. In Mycenean culture Poseidon was the king of gods, but evolved into Zeus being king.

Similarly, as the Celestial Ruler Indra was king of the gods. Indra was the god of war, the god of weather, and the god of rain, thunder, and lightning in the Rigveda. These attributes are remarkably similar to deities in other Indo-European cultures like Jupiter, Perun, Perkūnas, Zalmoxis, Taranis, Zeus, and Thor – whose traditions are rooted in Proto-Indo-European mythology. Indra ruled Svarga (heaven) as well. Indra is depicted as a mighty being-force brandishing a thunderbolt, mounted on Airavata, a white elephant.

Indra – Wikimedia

The Puranas (350 and 750 CE) stories of religious legends, expand on Indra’s role and importance. The puranas consisting of the Mahapuranas and the Upapuranas portrayed Indra as a powerful symbol – benevolent god who guards the world from destruction and evil and maintains cosmic order. As a warrior-god who symbolized strength, courage, strategic aptitude as well as fighting ability and prowess, Indra commanded the gods in battles with demons and evil forces.

Indra’s “most renowned victory is over the dragon Vritra, a leader of the dasas and a malevolent force associated with drought. Vritra is accused of hoarding waters and rains, stealing cows as a dasa, and concealing the Sun as an anti-god. Indra’s potency for these feats is enhanced by imbibing the elixir of immortality, the soma, offered to him by priests during rituals. Among his allies are the Rudras (or Maruts), who ride the clouds and command storms. Indra is sometimes referred to as “the thousand-eyed.”[4] (Indra: King of Devas by Nitten Nair)

As the symbol of Cosmic Order, Indra symbolized wisdom, intelligence, and exemplifies the characteristics of justice, integrity, and compassion, reflecting his role as a benevolent deity. “Indra is responsible for upholding dharma (righteousness) and ensuring the universe functions harmoniously. He is a protector of the world and a guardian of moral law. He embodies justice, integrity, and compassion, safeguarding humanity and preserving the balance of the cosmos.” From my research compassion as a teaching didn’t fully blossom in Hinduism until the Upanishads – a development-evolution parallel to Judaism and Greek Philosophy to a degree.[5] (Indra: The King of Gods – temple yatri)

The story of Indra and Sibi

“Śibi’s fame spread in the three worlds, and an idea was mooted among the Devas that it should be tested how much of the reputation of the King was genuine. Accordingly, Agni in the form of a dove and Indra in that of a kite hunting after the dove, rushed to King Śibi. The dove took refuge in the lap of the King sitting in ‘divya’ posture, and the priest told the King that it was the latter’s duty to protect the dove, which took refuge with him for its life. The dove also told the King thus; “I am really a muni, who has entered the body of the dove. I take refuge in you for my life.”

By that time the kite too had flown up to the King. It asked the King to return the dove, which it had been chasing. The King was surprised to hear the kite talk and told the bird that it was not proper for him to give up the dove who had sought refuge under him, but that he would give the kite any other flesh in lieu of the dove. The kite replied as follows: “You must give me flesh cut from your right thigh equal in weight to that of the dove. If you do so, the dove will be saved and you will be praised by people.”

Accordingly, the King cut a piece of flesh from his right thigh and weighed it in the balance against the dove. But the dove weighed more. The King cut more flesh from his thigh and weighed, but the dove still weighed more. Thus, by instalments the King cut his whole body and weighed the flesh against the dove, yet it weighed more. Then the King himself sat in the balance, seeing which the kite flew away. Then the dove assumed its original form and told the King that it was Agni and the kite, Indra. The Devas were greatly pleased with the firm sense of sacrifice of the King; they blessed him and told him that a son called Kapotaromā will be born to him. [6](Vana Parva, Chapter 197).” (Puranic encyclopedia by Vettam Mani | 1975)

The Upanishads are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that “document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions” and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hinduism. They are the most recent addition to the Vedas — the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and deal with meditation, philosophy, consciousness, and ontological knowledge. Earlier parts of the Vedas dealt with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices (Wikipedia) The origins of the Upanishads predate the “Common era” and were “completed in 15th-century CE (common era) In Judaism compassion is found in Exodus and Deuteronomy

“The Viking social structure was a hierarchical system, fundamentally divided into three main classes: the Jarls, the Karls, and the Thralls, reflecting the society’s values on power, wealth, and freedom. Jarls were the ruling elite with wealth and lands, Karls were free peasants and skilled craftsmen, and Thralls were slaves with no rights, captured in raids or born into servitude. This stratification played a crucial role in Viking society, influencing their raiding, trading, and governance practices, and remains a key aspect of our understanding of Norse culture.”[7] (Study Smarter Viking Social Structure)

Carole Cusack in her essay on Durkheim and ancient Germanic culture observes: “The relationship of the social classes and their particular gods is elaborated in Eddaic poem Rigsthula, which tells how the god Heimdell became the progenitor of the three social classes.7 Disguised as Rig, Heimdell presents himself at a very poor house, and is greeted by Great grandmother and Great grandfather. He sleeps three nights with the and leaves. She later has a son, called Thrall. He is swarthy and performs the menial tasks of life. He marries Drudge, and they have a brood of ugly children, all with pejorative names. Rig journeys on, and stays three nights with grandmother and grandfather, who are delivered of a son Karl, freeholder. His descendants have more flattering titles, including those of artisans and craftsmen”[8].

Viking House – Wikimedia

Finally Rig stays with Father and Mother, who receive him sumptuously in their luxurious house. Mother later has a son, Jarl. Unlike his other children, Jarl is nurtured by Rig, and one of his descendants, Konr ungr, becomes the first king. Each of these descendants of Rig is typical of the class to which he/she belongs. Thrall is black, ugly and denied any participation in the finer aspect of life; thralls in ancient Scandinavia had little or no rights, and no legal existence. Their marriages were not recognized, and they had no authority over their children.8 Karl is described as ruddy and strong, with a love for the land. He is industrious, and a valuable member of society. He is not unlike his patron god, Thor, also a strong and ruddy peasant.9 The yeoman was in fact the staple of society in the Viking period. The warrior class could go raiding and trading, but someone had to remain in the home country, and work the land to ensure adequate food for all members of society. Both thralls and jarlar were in some sense dependent on the yeomanry for their wellbeing.10 Jarl, the representative of the aristocratic class, is described as a warrior: the Rigsthula says of him, Shields he brandished, and bowstrings wound, Bows he shot, and shafts he fashioned, Arrows he loosened, and lances wielded, Horses he rode, and hounds unleashed, Swords he handled, and sounds he swam.11 This is precisely the role played by the Scandinavian aristocracy, which was primarily a warrior class, and acquired their wealth by pillaging neighboring countries. Jarl is associated with the color white, as were several of the Norse gods. It also refers to the fairness of complexion that the Norse possessed.

The difference between Konr ungr and the other descendants of Jarl is quite clearly expressed: Konr ungr becomes king and enjoys dominion over his family because he is a magician, possessing the power of the runes. He is thus described in the Rigsthula: “But Kon the Young learned runes to use Runes everlasting, the runes of life; Soon he could well the warrior’s shield Dull the swordblade, and still the seas. Bird chatter he learned, flames he could lessen, Minds could quiet, and sorrows calm.”12 Odin is the god of the runes, the one who enjoys dominion because of his magical knowledge; as such he is a fitting god for Konr ungr. The aristocratic class of pre- Christian Scandinavia provided both the temporal and the spiritual authority. Both functions were generally combined in the godar (singular godi). He was both temporal lord of a specific area, and the priestly authority of the area.

(Emile Durkheim in Perspective -Put in Context of ancient Germanic Religion Essay by: Carole Cusack LECTURER: Professor Eric J. Sharpe – SUBJECT: Religious Studies III (Honors) “The forces before which the believer bows are not simple physical energies, such as are presented to the sense and the imagination; they are social forces,” Emile Durkheim.)

“The forces before which the believer bows are not simple physical energies, such as are presented to the sense and the imagination; they are social forces,” Emile Durkheim

Ramon Reyes highlights the unifying aspect of spirituality in prehistoric Philippine societies and early human societies: “In sum, social and moral order encompasses the living the dead the deities and the spirits.” That is the spiritual and religious beliefs of early human societies created and maintained a social consciousness – a social-moral order. You can see in the mythology of Zeus that the same principle applies. Zeus epitomized law and order, wisdom, hospitality and oaths – all prosocial values. The same is true of Indra, as well as Germanic mythology. Then there are numerous Mesopotamian Gods that were symbols or law, order, and justice.

Ramon Reyes research supports Durkheim’s argument: “Indeed, the whole Ifugao social order, including practical ways of life, social institutions and rules, morality and everything else, constitutes a unitary system; and it is looked upon as a religious phenomenon of supernatural origin. Describing an example of this prehistoric Filipino world-view, an anthropologist says, . . . “In treating the environment as social, the people are provided with an ordered explanation of ‘natural’ phenomena. In sum, one social and moral order encompasses the living, the dead, the deities and the spirits, and the total environment.”

In The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, first published in 1912, Emile Durkheim, a founding father of sociology, stated that “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.”[9]

Paloutzian and Park (p. 12) contend, “religion and spirituality are more or less coherent, culturally elaborated meaning systems embedded in and acquired through social relationships and institutions situated in complex natural and built environments.”[10]

The “Supernatural” Map: A “Swindle” & “Fallacy”
Kant believed God is not a proper object of knowledge.
“The unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all comprehension.” St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395),
St. Augustine states that “God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed!”
Denys the Areopagite states “Therefore…. God is known by knowledge and by unknowing of him;
“It is not true if the major premise is not true” – Justice Rehnquist – Death is a Figment of your Imagination

Intro: Carole Cusack, 40 years ago, observed, “Emile Durkheim’s theory concerning the nature and origins of the phenomenon of religion, articulated in The Elementary Forms of the Religion Life was essentially arguing that religion had nothing to do with an existing or imagined supernatural world and beings; but was rather a reflection, and amplification, of society and the values and attitudes that it holds dear…”[11]

IX The Definist Fallacy: William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen, state in their article, “Spirituality, religion and health: an emerging field of research” that “A philosophical basis for this perspective is materialism, the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” – which creates the illusion and the fallacy that “spirituality is unreal” which is widespread” [12]

The pivotal part of that argument is the “Definist fallacy” because the term that spirituality is “intangible” is a “loaded” term, which prevents dialogue and understanding by constructing an artificial obstacle – which is a meaningless abstraction

However, if you consider the concept of “death” – which, of course, is “intangible” – then, following the materialist line of argument that makes “Death a figment of your imagination” – which is absurd of course. But, then again, the argument that “All spirituality is unreal” is equally absurd – on several levels. Besides the materialist argument being a fiction – a complete fallacy, there are several types of spirituality which are actually very tangible and measurable such as

Tangible, Measurable Types of spirituality

1. the spirituality of compassion (Sprecher & Fehr, Saslow demonstrate spirituality is correlated with compassion) [13]

2. the spirituality of grieving (Easterling (et al): “individuals do seem to cope better if they can “actualize” their spiritual” & Julie Parker)[14]

3. musical spirituality a. C Hall observes that spiritual music is still alive in Harry Potter fandom bands – which are energized by the spiritual symbolism in the Harry Potter movies[15].

b. Schulkin & Raglan observe, “Music is a fundamental part of our evolution – and functional because it facilitates “human contact” and out “social self!” [16]& I Cross states, ‘musicality’ is a property of communities rather than of individuals”[17]

c. Historically music is associated with spiritually is well documented from well-known origins in early Hindu music as a form of divine inspiration to the creation myth of the T’boli in which a musical instrument is vital.

B. Peer Reviewed Critique of Materialist Fallacy-Delusion Endorsed by Four Very Prominent Psychologists and Medical Researchers – with zero criticisms

The 2018 critique has had well over 10,000 views and zero criticisms (between academia.edu, LinkedIn and FB science groups) is peer reviewed – and then some

1. Dr. Paul Wong, keynote speaker at an international logotherapy convention, Professor Emeritus of Trent University and editor of two large volumes of the anthologies “The Human Quest for Meaning”

2. Dr. Harold Koenig, a world-famous medical doctor-psychiatrist, who is a well published and very well-known author and researcher stated about this article: “Charlie – makes perfect sense to me,

3. Dr. Stephen Farra: Columbia International University Emeritus “Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all

4. Stefan Schindler, an award-winning author, and retired psychology-philosophy professor

C. The Supernatural Fallacy-Delusion Map-Model

The fallacy-delusion that “All spirituality is intangible” and therefore “unreal” – which gave birth to the concept of the “supernatural”. By definition the supernatural is “(of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. “a supernatural being.” By definition then the “supernatural” – being beyond science is a “loaded term and automatically a form of the “Definist fallacy.” Unfortunately, “supernatural” also conveys the maladaptive stereotypes such as “powers”, “magic”, crystal ball predictions, perfection and so on – which are quire widespread/

The supernatural fallacy – model is very prevalent – especially among academics. In Dictionary “myth” is defined as “a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.”

D. Prophecy: Supernatural vs Social Activism + Social Justice

Supernatural: “In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a prophet) by a supernatural entity.” Wikipedia. Again, the Supernatural-unreal maladaptive stereotype is pervasive among many academics in today’s world. Another definition by Study.com of “prophecy is a prediction of future events. Especially in religious terms, people called prophets make these predictions, and this ability is generally deemed as a gift. Many see prophecies as being divinely inspired and communicated to the prophet from a supernatural or divine being.” Study.com

Christian Theology Definition: “The term “prophecy” in the Bible encapsulates the divine communication of God’s will, often foretelling future events or conveying messages of moral and spiritual significance. Prophets, as designated messengers of God” (https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-is-prophecy-meaning-of-prophesy.html)

Prophecy as Social Justice: “Social Justice and the Prophets” W J. Houston

When the Prophets proclaimed the injustices that were occurring it was clear that they had a reference point for defining injustice and the same is true of their calls for biblical social justice. It was the “Word of the LORD that came to them” (cf. Ezek 7:1; 12:1, 21) it was not their own ideas and feelings. In fact, Ezekiel and Jeremiah go to great lengths to show the people that their feelings and personal ideas do not equate to God’s Word or God’s perspective on matters of right and wrong and what life should look like (Jer 2:13; 12:5–17; Ezek 13).

Similarly, Heschel stated that “Life is partnership of God and man; God is not detached from or indifferent to our joys and griefs. Authentic vital needs of man’s body and soul are a divine concern. That is why human life is holy”[18] – Abraham Joshua Heschel, theologian (Between God and man, edited by Fritz A Rothschild Free Press Paper backs published by Simon and Shuster p.140)

The prophets dealt with man, not as an atom, but as a part of a social organism, a living member of a living body. [19]The Old Testament Prophets As Social Reformers, Rev. Geo. Stibitz

E. The “Supernatural Swindle”:

The word “supernatural” is a materialist term which has no definition being beyond the scope of science – and conveys a meaning entirely different from the gospels – such as magic, powers, crystal ball prediction, etc. Jesus Christ in the gospels never once used the word “supernatural” and emphasized worshipping God in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24), “spirit is truth” (John 5:6) and the Holy Spirit as the “spirit of truth”

Point of Order: The Holy Spirit in the Gospels: Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

The synoptic Gospels, generally have less to say about the Holy Spirit than the gospel of John. The Gospel of Mark has the least to say and mentions the Holy spirit only six times. Like all the Gospels, Mark highlights baptism by the spirit as the hallmark of Jesus. In fact, that is the highlight of Mark’s writing about the Holy spirit – that the work of Christ is superior and better precisely because he baptizes in the Holy Spirit, not just water. Luke mirrors what Mark says in Chapter 24 verse 49: The “promise of the Father” is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” 1 John 2:27 says “the anointing which you have received of him abides in you” (1 John 2:27). The metaphor for “baptism with the Holy Spirit” became in “Christianity” a pivotal aspect of “Christ.” The metaphor takes the idea of purification of the human body through baptism with water and extends it to purification of the human spirit by baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Point of Order: Excerpts from the Gospel of John

1. Being born of the Holy Spirit makes us a spiritual being (John 3: 6).

2. “God is a Spirit” (the Holy Spirit) (John 4:24).

3. He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4: 24).

4. He is the Spirit of truth (John 15: 26).

5. He is the Spirit of truth (John 14.17).

6. Jesus’ words are spirit and life (John 6: 63).

7. The Holy Spirit is sent to teach us all things (John 14: 26).

8. He [the Holy spirit] lives with us (John 14: 17) T

9. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John16: 13)

10. He [the Holy Spirit] lives in us (John 14: 17).

“It is not true if the major premise is not true” – Justice Rehnquist

Reflections: I asked my Filipina partner – who is Catholic – if God is “supernatural” – and she replied “Yes”. I pointed out that Jesus Christ never used the word “supernatural” in the Gospels and briefly described how Jesus Christ described his Model of the Holy Spirit as I did in the section above and compared that to the “supernatural” model. After discussing the issue, she agreed God did not “unequivocally equate” to the supernatural. That is why I call it the “Supernatural Swindle” Materialists come along and say that God is “supernatural” which really means in their philosophy that God = the Supernatural – and that is far from true and very deceptive in that the “supernatural” has connotations or associations in academia as unreal, superstitious nonsense, powers, crystal ball perceptions, etc.

The Supernatural is defined as “beyond science” so first of all it is a “loaded term” and so it is a fallacy – or delusion. Secondly the concept of “supernatural” is disconnected completely from people. Kant, Muzafer Sherif and Iain McGilChrist all completely agree that for any theory to be valid and scientific one Must have real-world context-evidence – and the supernatural is an undefined and disconnected concept and thus invalid and unscientific.

Spiritual Poison, the Supernatural Swindle and the Academic Maladaptive Stereotype that “All spirituality is unreal”!

Dr Stephen Farra, wrote: “Charles, I strongly agree that the Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all! Frankl writes about how a closed Naturalism leads to a suffocating Reductionism, which leads to a mental and emotional Nihilism and the kind of Moral Corruption he experienced in Auschwitz and Dachau……”

Similar to Dr Stephen Farra’s of the Fallacy-maladaptive stereotype is spiritual poison Sheldrake concludes “The atheist [materialist] ideology found a powerful ally in materialist science, which by the end of the nineteenth century, portrayed a purposeless, unconscious, mechanical universe where humans, like all life, had evolved without purpose or guidance. In this godless world, humanity would take charge of its own evolution, bringing economic development, brotherhood, health, and prosperity to all mankind through progress.”[20] (p.157) Sheldrake goes on to say, “God was removed from the workings of nature, now seen as inanimate, unconscious, and mechanical, functioning automatically.”[21] (p.155)

Spiritual Poison: Religious Drivel and Giant Cosmic Parrots

Here are some of the comments I heard on FB “science” groups: “mental illness,” “Santa Claus”, “fairies,” and so on. In one instance I checked and questioned a member of a FB psychology group who referred to spirituality in terms of “Santa Claus”

The most obnoxious comment was by a neuroscientist “please keep the religious drivel to religious channels, this is science and science by its very nature only deals with the material – what can be observed and measured. It serves no practical use of time to hypothesize whether giant cosmic parrots travelling from higher dimensions are responsible for anything because unless one flies into our view there’s no way to prove it.” That is blatant evidence of a researcher bias.

What is frightening is that these academics – in spite of tens of thousands of spiritual and religious beliefs dismiss that as fantasy and “Giant Cosmic Parrots.” One college graduate stated – “We are better off since we have destroyed religion,” I replied – “I guess you forgot to notify the Taliban you had destroyed them.

Any objective review of the social sciences and deficiencies and un-information when it comes to spirituality, social consciousness, and religion reveals a readily apparent researcher bias.

A Precursory New Categorization of Spirituality:

A proper map-model requires a proper categorization – as noted by Aristotle nearly two thousand years ago

Spirituality of Compassion

Musical Spirituality

Spiritual Healing in Grieving

Filipino Kapwa-loob pro-social spirituality

Children’s Spirituality

Artistic Spirituality

Poetry and Prophecy

Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence

Spiritual beliefs in animal spirits

Spirituality and Autism

IV. What Myths reveal about Processes in the Human Mind: & Jane Goodall’s Apes Directing Challenge Displays of a Vivid Violent Thunder Storm!

Einstein observed, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration of this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious”[22]

Thunder Gods: Hammering, loud peals of thunder had startled me into consciousness. As a young child of six, the storm had roused me from the comfortable oblivion of my deep sleep. The booming rolls of thunder had woken my father as well. His head peered from behind the door. Finding me awake, we went onto the porch of our summer cottage, which was perched high on a sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan. There, we had a panoramic view of the angry storm. Lightning split the black void of night. The brief, searing flashes of brilliant white light lit the boiling waters of the lake. Dark clouds crouched menacingly above the enraged water. Waves, lashed by the fierce wind, roared onto the sands of the beach below, and could be heard above the din of the storm. The wind moaned and wailed in the fragile screens of the small porch. We watched in reverent silence as the storm clawed its way across the whipping waves. When the storm reached our cottage, earsplitting and bone jarring cracks of thunder amplified the nearly simultaneous jagged strikes of lightning. As a young child I was awe-struck by the naked power of the thunderstorm. At the age of six, if my father had told me that ‘gods’ were hurling thunder bolts from the sky I would have readily believed that.

There is something raw and primal in the violent displays of thunderstorms. Jane Goodall, the ethologist and primatologist had the opportunity to watch a group of chimpanzees react to a violent thunderstorm. She watched the chimpanzees feeding on a slope across a ravine from where she was situated. About noon the rain began to fall. The chimpanzees climbed the hill to a ravine. Then, with a vengeance, the storm hit. Goodall relates, “The rain was torrential, and the sudden clap of thunder, right overhead, made me jump. As if this were a signal, one of the big males stood upright and as he swayed and swaggered rhythmically from foot to foot, I could just hear the rising crescendo of his pant-hoots above the beating of the rain. Then he charged off, flat down the slope…”[23] (p.52 In The Shadow of Man) The other males followed the big male, tearing branches from trees, then climbed trees at the bottom of the slope. The big male went back up the hill and again the other males followed him. Then they repeated the performance, charging down the hill again. “As the males charged down and plodded back up, so the rain fell harder, jagged forks or brilliant flares of lightning lit the leaden sky, and the crashing of thunder seemed to shake the very mountains.”[24] (p.53)

The challenge displays lasted for about twenty minutes.

The chimpanzees had reacted as if the storm, with its thunderous bellows and sizzling strikes of lightning were a living, breathing entity that they could intimidate with challenge displays – charging down the hill and breaking off branches as if to strike the storm. The chimpanzee displays were directed at the forces which had threatened them and they treated the storm as if it were a living, breathing animate force or being. Jane Goodall concludes, “With a display of strength and vigor such as this, primitive man himself might have challenged the elements.” Commenting on how ancient peoples might perceive the thunderbolt, Burkert observes that, “in the face of such a manifestation of divine energy, man stands powerless, terrified and yet marveling.”[25] (p.126)

“the confession of human impotence in certain matters…

As the anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, observes, religion is “the confession of human impotence in certain matters…”[26] (p. 19) Ancient humanity took the most salient features of the world and developed a worldview – an ideology – from the formidable natural phenomena like storms and lightening. Once created man could entreaty these force gods to intercede on his behalf. Thus, the gods and goddesses were a pathway to a power of sorts. There were sun gods, sky and storm gods, seasonal gods, gods of the underworld and afterlife, harvest gods, rain gods, as well as sacred groves, springs and caves.

Robert Blust, a linguist, makes a similar point about the widespread Polynesian concept – archetype of “mana.” “According to linguist Robert Blust, “mana” means “thunder, storm, or wind” in some languages. Blust hypothesized that the term originally meant “powerful forces of nature such as thunder and storm winds that were conceived as the expression of an unseen supernatural agency. As Oceanic-speaking peoples spread eastward, the notion of an unseen supernatural agency became detached from the physical forces of nature that had inspired it and assumed a life of its own.” (Wikipedia) As neuroscience studies consistently show, the different processes in the brain are very interconnected. The mind’s “musical” processes are intimately connected with speech, singing, dancing and spirituality (as well as a number of other brain processes) for instance.

Myths and mythologies of ancient and prehistoric civilizations are replete with storm gods.

There are almost fifty storm gods in different cultures. Often, the thunder god, like Zeus, is the chief among the other gods. The fierce, hammer wielding Thor, was the god of storms, thunder, lightning as well as fertility and strength in Norse mythology. Thor fights a series of battles with the sea serpent Jormung and, as well as accomplishing many feats of strength. In Hinduism, Indra, the god of rain and thunderstorms, rides a white elephant and wields a thunderbolt named vajra. Indra is the king of gods and leader of the Devas. He is the god of war, representing strength and courage. Indra, the slayer of the dragon-serpent vrtra, wages unending war against the Asuras demons. Like the Greek god Zeus, whose home was Mount Olympus, Indra’s home is on a mountaintop, Mount Meru in heaven. Zeus, after overthrowing the god Cronus, became the ruler of the gods. Greek art frequently depicted Zeus holding a thunderbolt.

Origins of the Greeks and mythology

The origins of the Greeks are shrouded in mystery. Scholars believe that Indo Europeans migrated from the Pontic Steppe (roughly Ukraine), where the horse was domesticated, into Greece about the end of the third millennium BC to the beginning of the second millennium BC. Gaia (Mother Earth) was the genesis of Greek mythology. Gaia gave birth to Uranus (Father Sky). The union of Gaia and Uranus first produced six sons and six daughters called the Titans. Gaia then gave birth to the three Hekatonkheires and three Cyclopes. These were primordial giants, the Hekatonkheires being one hundred handed giants and the Cyclopes having one eye. Uranus considered the Hekatonkheires and Cyclopes utterly hideous so he imprisoned them in Tartarus, an abyss deep in the bowels of earth. In Homer’s Iliad, Zeus states that Tartarus is “as far beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth.” Gaia was angry that Uranus had imprisoned her youngest children so she asked her Titan sons to overthrow Uranus.

The youngest Titan, Cronus, took a flint bladed sickle provided by Gaia and castrated Uranus. Cronus threw the genitals into the sea which gave birth to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. After Cronus re-imprisoned the Hekatonkeires and Cyclopes, Uranus and Gaia prophesied that Cronus would be overthrown by his children. Crus took his Titan sister, Rhea as his queen. Their reign is considered to be the Golden Age when immorality didn’t exist and people always did the right thing. The Athenians held a festival each year for Cronus who was seen as a god of the harvest.

The theme of the castration of a god is a bit odd. In the real world, the bull is tamed by castration. Perhaps, by analogy, the old god, Cronus, was tamed by castration. In Anatolia, Hittite and Hurrian mythology also contains the theme of castration. The Hittites were Indo Europeans that migrated into Anatolia (roughly where modern-day Turkey is) about the same time as the Indo-European migration into Greece – sometime around 2000 BC. Sometime around 1400 BC to 1200 BC, The Hittites recorded the Hurrian Kumarbi myth in The Song of Kumarbi or The Kingdom of Heaven. Alalu (Semitic etymology), the original god was overthrown by Anu (god of heavens, Sumerian etymology). Kumarbi then fought Anu, and bit off Anu’s genitals when he tried to escape. Kumarbi gave birth to Teshub, the storm god. Teshub, together with Anu then overthrew Kumarbi. Teshub, like Indra, Zeus, and Thor, battles a dragon serpent, Illuyankas.

Because of the prophecy that his children would overthrow him, Cronus swallowed whole his children right after they were born. With Gaia’s help Rhea secretly gave birth to Zeus on Crete. Rhea gave Cronus a stone swaddled in cloth after the birth. Believing it was a baby, Cronus swallowed the stone. After he was grown, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the children he had swallowed. Zeus then killed the monster Campe, a dragon with a scorpion tail and the head of a beautiful woman, who guarded Tartarus, setting the Hecatonkheires and Cyclopes free. The Cyclopes forged the thunderbolt and gave it to Zeus out of gratitude. The War of the Titans, or Titanomachy, ensued. Zeus, together with his sisters and brothers, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, along with the Hecatonkheires and Cyclopes fought the Titans. It is said that the hundred handed Hecatonkheires threw rocks as big as mountains. After the defeat of Cronus and the Titans, Zeus and his brothers, Hades and Poseidon, drew lots for who would rule what. Zeus drew the sky. Poseidon drew the waters. And Hades drew the underworld. Later, Zeus had to fight Typhon, the most fearsome Greek monster who had one hundred snake heads, and then later his mate Echidna, half woman and half snake.

Zeus, father of gods and men, is the chieftain of the gods and goddesses. Zeus ruled as a father rules over his family. All the gods and goddesses called him father, even his brothers and sisters. Zeus maintained his position as the ruler of the gods in large part because he is the strongest of the gods. When his sister and wife, Hera, attempted to drown his son Heracles (born from Alcmene, a mortal woman) in a storm, an enraged Zeus hung Hera upside down in the sky. Yet, Zeus had many different characteristics. Zeus always seemed to have a plan though he rarely divulged it. The Greek word, nous was used frequently in descriptions of Zeus. Nous indicates “good sense” or intellect. Zeus is not a despot. Most frequently, Zeus plays family politics: comforting, cajoling, or threatening as the situation demands. And like any human family, Hera (Zeus’ sister and wife), as well as Zeus’ children and siblings’ squabble and scheme.

In the ancient Greek classic about the Trojan War, the Iliad, Homer describes the ‘heroic’ struggle between the Mycenaean Greeks, led by king Agamemnon and Menelaus, and the ancient Trojans, led by king Priam and prince Hector. In the Iliad the gods and goddesses all take sides with either the Greeks or the Trojans – frequently intervening in attempts to influence the outcome of the war. It is important in understanding how ancient Greeks viewed their gods and goddesses to realize that the gods and goddesses employed indirect means to intercede in the affairs of men: “a god sends or throws courage and despair, shrewdness and delusion into the person.”[27] (p.122) In general Zeus looked dimly on the meddling of the gods and goddesses. At one point in the Iliad, Zeus threatens his wife Hera and his daughter Athena, with thunderbolts to keep them from intervening on behalf of the Greeks in an ongoing battle.

Zeus had many different epithets, sometimes designating a specific locality and sometimes indicating one of his many aspects. Zeus Horkios was the god of oaths. It should be pointed out that if there was one thing that ancient Greek religion was not, it was not a religion of statutes or laws, though “the men who administer justice receive their ordinances from Zeus.”[28] (p. 130) Yet, in truth there were only three golden principles embodied in Greek religion: the sanctity of oaths and hospitality, and the principle of excellence as embodied by Achilles. Oaths were very important in Greek culture. So, Zeus Horkios was the keeper of oaths. Those who didn’t keep their oaths were forced to dedicate votive statues to Zeus at Olympia.

Similarly, Zeus Agoraeus was the patron of the marketplace (agora) and was appealed to avoid dishonest traders and people who swore false oaths. Zeus Hospites was the god of hospitality and guests, protecting people from strangers. In ancient times hospitality was a code of behavior almost like a code of honor. There were many more epithets. Zeus Olympios was Zeus ruling the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus and patron of the ‘Olympics’ which were the Panhellenic Games held every four years at Mount Olympus starting in the eighth century BC. Zeus Georgos was worshipped in Athens as the god of crops and the harvest. Another was Zeus Plousios, the wealth-bringing god. There is even a chthonic version of Zeus who was ‘easy’. Especially in Athens, an alter for Zeus Herkeios (from herkos, fence) stood in the courtyard. Libations and sacrifices were made to protect the house, household, and courtyard. Zeus Ktesios (the acquirer) protected household possessions.

Zeus was promiscuous in the extreme. Mythographers count one hundred and eighteen women with whom Zeus had liaisons. To trick the women, Zeus would sometimes appear in the form of an animal. Zeus metamorphosed into a bull, a cow, or a bear in order to mate with women. Zeus appeared to the Spartan queen Leda in the guise of a swan. From that union came two eggs from which Helen of Troy (Spartan king Menelaus’ wife in the Iliad), Clytemnestra (Agamemnon’s wife in the Iliad), and Castor and Pollux. Ancient Greek religion is the only ancient religion in which the ruler of the gods had so many extramarital affairs. Perhaps this is because of the localized nature of Greek mythology in which many localities each had their own legend and story of (divine) origin. Some of Zeus’ offspring were powerful gods or goddesses: Apollo; Hermes; Artemis; Dionysos; Athena; Ares; Persephone. Other of Zeus’ children were heroines, such as Helen of Troy; or heroes, such as Heracles.

Zeus is defined to a large extent in contraposition to his sister and wife Hera. Hera is the goddess of the wedding, marriage, and women. Burkert points out that, “In the Iliad, Hera is the quarrelsome, jealous wife who, much to her husband’s annoyance, sees through his little secrets so that he can only maintain his authority by resorting to threats of violence.”[29] (p. 134). This may be due to Homer’s artistic portrayal of Hera. At Mount Olympus, the first temple was dedicated to the seated figure of Hera. Hera is portrayed as a majestic and formal figure crowned with the polos (ceremonial crown). A warrior statue of Zeus was only added later. The cult of Hera thrived on Samos where a later temple was built which remained one of the largest temples in the Greek world. Hera was without question a woman who was very jealous of her husband’s numerous liaisons. The nymph Echo was assigned by Zeus the task of distracting Hera while Zeus had his extramarital affairs. Echo diverted Hera’s attention with constant flattery. When Hera discovered this, she condemned Echo to the repetition of what others said. But the trials Hera put on Heracles were vindictive and cruel.

Heracles was born of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, who was a descendent of Perseus. Hera sent two large serpents to kill Heracles as a child. Heracles grabbed the snakes, one in each hand and strangled them. On reaching manhood, Heracles married the Theban king’s daughter, Megara. Hera sent madness onto Heracles, driving him to kill his children. After being cured, Heracles went to the Oracle of Delphi to inquire how he could make atonement. At the direction of Hera, the Oracle of Delphi instructed Heracles to perform ten labors for his archenemy, king Eurystheus, who had replaced Heracles. Eurystheus later cheated him and added two more labors.

Hera did all she could to hinder, harass Heracles and prevent him from accomplishing his labors. Heracles’ tenth task was to steal the magnificent red cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon in the land of Erytheia in the western Mediterranean. In traveling across the Libyan desert, the heat infuriated Heracles so he shot an arrow at Helios (sun god). Helios admired Heracles for his pluck so he leant Heracles his chariot. On reaching Erytheia, the two-headed dog, Orthrus, attacked him who he dispatched with one blow of his olive wood club. Heracles confronted Geryon who had three shields, three spears and three helmets. Heracles killed him with arrow poisoned with the blood of the Leraean Hydra. In herding the cattle on his return, Heracles found his cattle beset by a gadfly sent by Hera to irritate and scatter the cattle. It took Heracles a year to gather them up again. Then Hera sent a flood to a river so Heracles’s cattle could not traverse the river. Heracles took stones and filled the river so the cattle could cross. When Heracles returned, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

In order to really grasp the full meaning of ancient Greek religion, one needs to understand the historic and cultural context, so I will do a (very) short synopsis of ancient Greek culture-history. The Indo-European Greeks were warrior elites who arrived with horses and chariots. The wanax (king), with the Eqeta (“companions” or “followers”) ruled the city states that were throughout central Greece, the Argolid, Thessaly, and the Peloponnese. “All political power was concentrated in the hands of the king. He was convener and leader of the Council and of the Assembly…”[30] The Councilors, too, had their rights. They enjoyed the title of ‘elders’ or of ‘council-giving kings’…their opinions were respected and they joined the king in receiving embassies and in addressing the Assembly.”[31] The people (demos) had no rights. In the Iliad, king Nestor of the Mycenaean city state Pylos calls for the men to be called into assembly by phratry and tribe.

In later times Athens was organized into four tribes, each tribe consisting of three phratries, with each phratry divided into thirty family groups (genes). The city-state also had a civil administration and was divided into districts with governors, deputies, and community leaders. From the number of craft shops and storerooms in the palaces as well as from the Linear B tablets, we know that the production of crafts and commodities was to a large extent centralized. Textiles, metallurgy, oil and to some extent ceramics were all part of a palace economy. There was also a separate leadership of religious functions. The center of the palace was the megaron, a rectangular hall with a circular hearth and columned open front porch, dominated the palace complex. An oculus in the roof supported by four columns vented the hearth. In the hall the walls were painted with frescoes whose themes frequently included chariots in battle or horses, and of course women.

The Shaft Graves

Heinrich Schliemann (1822 – 1890), the German archaeologist who discovered Troy, also unearthed shaft graves (1600 BC to 1450 BC) at Mycenae. The lavish furnishings of the graves told a story of a rich and powerful elite dependent on a thriving sea trade. The men were laid out in battle armor with swords (some had ivory or gold handles) and boar tusk helmets, frequently with gold death masks. Ornate daggers depicted scenes of hunting or fighting. Women frequently had gold crowns and clothes inlaid with gold ornaments. Ornate staffs, gold rings and bracelets were left in the shaft graves, as well as gold and silver cups. Among the cups were the beautiful Silver Siege Rhyton and Nestor’s Cup, which are works of exquisite craftsmanship. Bulls’ heads and double axes in the graves signified the powerful Minoan influence. It is believed that most of the frescoes in the megarons were painted by imported Minoan artisans. Compared to Egyptian and Minoan graves the use of gold was so extravagant and lavish that some scholars believe that the Mycenaeans had a source of gold in the Balkans for which Greece would then have served as a trade route.

The influence of Minoan civilization was so pervasive that some scholars talk in terms of the Minoan-Mycenaean civilization. The Minoan civilization emerged much earlier than the Mycenaean civilization. The Minoan civilization first flourished beginning between 2000 BC to 1750 BC when palaces, production of bronze, Egyptian inspired pottery, and roads appeared, as well as peak and cave shrines. The Minoans advanced from hieroglyphic writing to a still un-deciphered Linear A script.

Greek gods and goddesses are recorded on the clay tablets preserved from the ancient Greek Mycenaean Bronze Age civilization, which appears about 1600 BC and lasted until 1100 BC. The tablets were uncovered at Pylos, Thebes, Mycenae, and other Mycenaean cities. The Mycenae tablets, written in a proto-Greek called Linear B, record the first written testimony of the Greek gods and goddesses. Zeus, son of Cronus, is derived from a Greek form of the Indo-European word deiwos, and is documented in the tablets as di-we and di-wo. Though there was a religious cult room or shrine in the palaces, there were few sanctuaries and no temples in the Mycenaean world. Walter Burkert, a German scholar and author of Homo necans and Greek Religion among others, believes that the Indo-European Greeks “discovered and took over fully developed cults.”[32] (p. 2 Greek Religion).

Origins of the Greeks

N. G. L. Hammond, a British scholar of ancient Greece, observes that the immigrant Greeks “though dominant, were very much in the minority and that the population into which they came was already very mixed.”[33] (p. 41) The etymology of Helios (sun god) and Eos-Aurora (goddess of dawn) are clearly Indo European and there are Indo European roots in the names of the goddess Hera (sister and wife of Zeus), Poseidon (god of the waters), and Ares (god of war). In the Linear B tablets, familiar names like Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, as well as others are readily understood. However, ‘Drimios the son of Zeus’ and ‘Manasa’ are unknown. When the Greeks finally emerged from the Dark Ages in 800 BC, half of the Mycenaean gods and goddesses would have disappeared.

One aspect of ancient Greek religion that differentiates it from all others is the bards and poets – versus priests – that broadcast and expounded and elaborated myths and narratives of the gods and goddesses into an intricate and complex ideology of the cosmos and human behavior. Of the ancient mythologies, Greek mythology, would seem to be one of the most creative. The gods are ingenious characterizations of every possible human attribute often combined with natural phenomena. The Greek gods are mischievous, bellicose, strong-minded, heroic, audacious, playful, frisky, loyal, steadfast, treacherous, scheming, and all too human. Every Greek god has his or her own, usually complex and often convoluted, history and genealogy. And every local grove, valley, meadows, river, sea, mountain, spring, and forest has a divine spirit or nymph with its unique history and personality.

For instance, Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dove into the spring at Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then named after her. Water from this spring was sacred; it was used to clean the Delphian temples and inspire the priestesses. The last oracle of Delphi mournfully notes that the “water which could speak”, has been lost forever. The Castalian Spring, in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi, is where all visitors to Delphi — the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially suppliants who came to consult the Delphic Oracle — stopped to wash their hair; and where Roman poets came to receive poetic inspiration. This is also where Apollo killed the monster, Python, and that is why it was considered to be sacred.

The Greek Mythology is replete with very creative and imaginative narratives, myths, as well as deities and spirits: Acheloids (from the river Achelous), Alseids (groves), Dryads (forests), Hamadryads (trees), Hydriads (water) Leimoniads (meadows), Meliads (ash trees), Naiads (springs and rivers), Napaea (valleys), Nereid (the Mediterranean), Oceanids (the sea), Oreads (mountains)

Different from goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are believed to dwell in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, and also in trees and in valleys and cool grottoes. Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs: as Walter Burkert (Burkert 1985: III.3.3) remarks, “The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality.”

One of the identifying characteristics of Greek religion/mythology is that in early Greek religious beliefs there was no dogma. In fact, the ancient Greek priests and priestesses of the temples worked part time. Also, in Greek theology-mythology there were a myriad of various and diverse versions. In Greek mythology, there are seven or eight different variations of who and how Zeus was raised. When Zeus attained manhood, he devised a plan and forced Cronus to disgorge, first the stone, then his siblings who emerged fully armored and ready to fight. According to myth the stone, the Omphalos, was set at the foot of Mount Parnassus at Delphi. Zeus then traveled to Tartarus and freed Cronus’ brothers, the Cyclopes, the Gigantes, and Hecatonchires. Out of gratitude, the Cyclopes gave Zeus thunderbolts which had been hidden by Gaia. These gods, which perhaps represent the primordial forces of earth, together with Zeus and his siblings fought Cronus and his Titans. Zeus, with his siblings and allies, defeated Cronus and the Titans. Zeus,’ who drives the clouds’, condemned Cronus and then Titans to the gloomy underworld of Tartarus. Atlas was given the eternal sentence of having to hold the earth up. Zeus and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, drew lots over who would rule what part of the universe. Zeus drew the sky. Poseidon drew the oceans, and Hades drew the underworld of the dead.

Truth as a Territorial Imperative

The idea of spiritual-religious beliefs as a way for people to mark their territory is not that wild an idea. to begin with Ancient religions were very territorial. Gods were generally viewed as being restricted to regions or specific territories. Furthermore, in Greek mythology nymphs – for example had specific locations or regions. I looked nymphs up and there is a very long list of specific nymphs connected with specific territories. My argument is that these spiritual symbols were a way for people to mark – and grasp their world – to make the world – “their” world On a list of nymphs connected to specific territories in Greek mythology – there were almost 80 specific nymphs connected with specific regions or landmarks just in the category of names beginning with the letter “A”. Marking – or claiming territory – is wide-spread in the animal world, wolves, cats, monkeys, lemurs, etc., etc. For the sake of argument, I would add that one “possibly” could compare this territorial imperative to a “nesting” instinct ion a lar4ge scale.

In a way this aspect could be seen as an effort by humanity to conquer the world and universe. This si in line with the theory that an underlying drive for spirituality and religious beliefs is anxiety and the need for certainty. I believe it was Malinowski who observed that an island tribe of the Polynesians had rituals and ceremonies for “deep” sea fishing expeditions – while there were none for lagoon (safer) fishing. The ended for certainty is a reality and plays into political and social situations as well. And a lot of different needs play into spiritual beliefs – 1. The need to belong (which would include compassion as well as familial relationships) 2. The need for meaning – which would involve a plethora of different brain regions, 3. the need for ideology, and 4. motivation or drive.

Addendum I: Excerpt from Mannheim & Materialism as Ideology vs Social Consciousness

For nearly one hundred years, materialists have argued that 1) “There is no psychology of groups”[34] (Allport’s Taboo – 1927) or 2) human consciousness is restricted to the firing of neurons in the brain and so there cannot be any social consciousness. It does not follow from the fact that neurons fire in the brain that there is no social consciousness!

Resources

Stone Worship: Stonehenge,12 pillars of Moses, Newgrange, Warren Fields, Gobekli Tepe – w/ Durkheim, Human Agency & Consciousness as Dynamic Drive

Myths as Social-Moral Order via Social Symbolism w/ Durkheim & E Halas: “groups [as] common symbolization” creates social order: Moses, Hammurabi Code, Ur-Nammu, 8 Mesopotamian Gods, Zeus, Indra

Grieving w/ Spirituality as Adaptive: L W Easterling, J Parker, K Adams, B Hyde, w/ Neimeyer + Synthesis-Consensus: W. James, V. Frankl, C. Jung, Edgar Cayce

[1] May, Rollo. “The significance of symbols.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics (1960): 301-338

[2] Hałas, Elżbieta. “Symbolism and social phenomena: Toward the integration of past and current theoretical approaches.” European Journal of Social Theory 5, no. 3 (2002): 351-366.

[3] “ZEUS – Greek God of the Sky, King of the Gods.” n.d. Theoi Greek Mythology.

[4] Nair, Nitten. 2024. “Indra : King of Devas.” Mythlok. August 7, 2024.

[5] Templeyatri.In. 2024. “Indra: The King of Gods.” Temple Yatri. August 5, 2024.

[6] “Puranic Encyclopaedia : A Comprehensive Dictionary With Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature : Mani, Vettam, 1921- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.” 1975. Internet Archive. 1975.

[7] “Viking Social Structure: Hierarchy, Roles | Study Smarter.” n.d. Study Smarter UK.

[8] Zia, Afiya Shehrbano. “Why I am not a post secular feminist: Pakistan, polio and the post secular.” Post secular Feminisms: Religion and Gender in Transnational Context (2018): 155.

[9] Durkheim, Emile. “The elementary forms of religious life.” In Social theory re-wired, pp. 52-67. Routledge, 2016.

[10] Paloutzian, Raymond F., and Crystal L. Park, eds. Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. Guilford Publications, 2014.p.12

[11] Durkheim, Emile. “The elementary forms of religious life.” In Social theory re-wired, pp. 52-67. Routledge, 2016.

[12] Miller, William R., and Carl E. Thoresen. “Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field.” American psychologist 58, no. 1 (2003): 24.

[13] Sprecher, Susan, and Beverley Fehr. “Compassionate love for close others and humanity.” Journal of social and personal relationships 22, no. 5 (2005): 629-651

[14] Easterling, L. W., Sewell, K. W., Gamino, L. A., & Stirman, L. S. (2000). Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement. Journal of Pastoral Care, 54(3), 263-275.

[15] Hall, Catherine. “‘Reading and [w] rocking’: Morality and musical creativity in the Harry Potter fandom.” Journal of Fandom Studies 4, no. 2 (2016): 193-208.

[16] Hall, Catherine. “‘Reading and [w] rocking’: Morality and musical creativity in the Harry Potter fandom.” Journal of Fandom Studies 4, no. 2 (2016): 193-208.

[17] Cross, Ian. “Music and evolution: Consequences and causes.” Contemporary music review 22, no. 3 (2003): 79-89.

[18] Heschel, Abraham. Between God and man. Simon and Schuster, 1997.p.140

[19] Stibitz, George. “The Old Testament Prophets as social reformers.” The Biblical World 12, no. 1 (1898): 20-28.

[20] Sheldrake, Rupert. “Setting science free from materialism.” Explore 9, no. 4 (2013): 211-218. p.157

[21] Sheldrake, Rupert. “Setting science free from materialism.” Explore 9, no. 4 (2013): 211-218. p.155

[22] Einstein, Albert. “Science and religion.” Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion Their Relation to The Democratic Way of Life, 1940.

[23] Goodall, Jane. In the shadow of man. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000.p.52

[24] Goodall, Jane. In the shadow of man. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000.p.53

[25] Burkert, Walter. Savage energies: lessons of myth and ritual in ancient Greece. University of Chicago Press, 2001.p.126

[26] Malinowski, Bronislaw. Magic, science and religion and other essays. Read Books Ltd, 2014.p.19

[27] Homer, Richmond Lattimore, and Anthony Quayle. The Iliad. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.p.122

[28] Burkert, Walter. “Greek Religion.” Harvard UP (1985). p.130

[29] Burkert, Walter. “Greek Religion.” Harvard UP (1985). p.134

[30] Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière. “A History of Greece to 322 BC.” (1968).p.67

[31] Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière. “A History of Greece to 322 BC.” (1968).p.68

[32] Burkert, Walter. “Greek Religion.” Harvard UP (1985). p.2

[33] Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière. “A History of Greece to 322 BC.” (1968).p.41

[34] Allport, Floyd H. “The group fallacy in relation to social science.” American Journal of Sociology 29, no. 6 (1924): 688-706.

archetypes Culture Myths New Age Spirituality Philosophy Psychology sociology spirit Spirituality unconscious

Written By

Charles Peck Jr.

Independent Scholar: academia.edu - I lead 3 discussions: Critique of Materialism; Stine Worship - Consciousness Factor; Spiritual Actualities w/ Essay Views 544,842 [ton of spam-AI]; 2,130 followers; - link = https://independentscholar.academia.edu/CharlesPeckJr Reside in Koronadal, Philippines

Myths as Symbolic Social-Moral Order w/ Durkheim & E Halas: “groups [as] common symbolization” creates social order: Moses, Hammurabi Code, Ur-Nammu, 8 Mesopotamian Gods, Zeus, Indra

Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! Setting the Stage – Static Reality vs Dynamic Force

Human Consciousness as a Dynamic Force and Evolutionary Drive

“To me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.” Wolfgang Pauli

It would seem “our reality” isn’t working all that well.

Albert Einstein: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

The Genetics of Spiritual and Religious Beliefs

the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order

Myths and Symbolism – sidelined and marginalized

Complexity of symbolism – beyond strict rational analysis and quantification

What complicates matters is that as both Muzafer Sherif and Viktor Frankl emphasized that the different disciplines of science and different schools of thought are largely separate and disconnected – so the symbolic schools of thought never made it into main-stream psychology

The “extreme adherence to materialism is too restrictive and limiting”

Point of order: Models and Maps

“The basis of every culture and every identity is determined by its own established common symbolic expression.” • D. Balaganapath

Moses Ascent on Mount Sinai and the Revelation of the Ten commandments

Justice, Injustice & Symbolism: Sumeria 2375 BC to Greece 2025

I. VI The Hindu God Indra

Resources

Written By

Charles Peck Jr.

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Myths as Symbolic Social-Moral Order w/ Durkheim & E Halas: “groups [as] common symbolization” creates social order: Moses, Hammurabi Code, Ur-Nammu, 8 Mesopotamian Gods, Zeus, Indra

Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! Setting the Stage – Static Reality vs Dynamic Force

Human Consciousness as a Dynamic Force and Evolutionary Drive

“To me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.” Wolfgang Pauli

It would seem “our reality” isn’t working all that well.

Albert Einstein: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

Durkheim and Myths as Symbolic maps social-moral order

The Genetics of Spiritual and Religious Beliefs

Hero Myths vs Myths of Social-Moral Order

the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order

Myths and Symbolism – sidelined and marginalized

Complexity of symbolism – beyond strict rational analysis and quantification

What complicates matters is that as both Muzafer Sherif and Viktor Frankl emphasized that the different disciplines of science and different schools of thought are largely separate and disconnected – so the symbolic schools of thought never made it into main-stream psychology

The “extreme adherence to materialism is too restrictive and limiting”

Symbolic Maps of Social Consciousness & Social-Moral Order – “dynamic social behaviours embedded within the context of daily life”

Point of order: Models and Maps

Revealed Religion – the spiritual-divine roots of social-moral order:

3) Ramon Reyes has a similar observation: “In sum, one social and moral order encompasses the living, the dead, the deities and the spirits, and the total environment.”

4) Emile Durkheim: “The forces before which the believer bows are not simple physical energies, such as are presented to the sense and the imagination; they are social forces,”

5) Historical correlation between spirituality and social-moral order” 10 Commandments Moses-Prophet, Hammurabi Code, & Gods of Mesopotamia (Shamash, Marduk, Enki, Nabu, Inanna, Enlil, and Anu), Zeus, Indra

“The basis of every culture and every identity is determined by its own established common symbolic expression.” • D. Balaganapath

Point of order: The Spiritual Symbolism Creating Social-Moral Order vs. the Meaningless Artificial Abstraction – the “Supernatural” Fiction

Myths as Symbolic Maps of Social-Moral Order

Code of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BCE): Social Order-Structure

Moses Ascent on Mount Sinai and the Revelation of the Ten commandments

Mesopotamian Gods as Maps/Models of Social-Moral Order

Justice, Injustice & Symbolism: Sumeria 2375 BC to Greece 2025

I. VI The Hindu God Indra

VII. Norse Mythology a Different type of Social Consciousness

VIII. Historical Social Consciousness, Social Forces and Social-Moral Order: Social perception-consciousness is social order

Resources

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Written By

Charles Peck Jr.

The Demons of Freud: “Freud demonized the unconscious as a “netherworld of dark, twisted urges” w/ Comparison of psychoanalysis vs spiritual research

Dream Weaving of T’boli-Blaan T’nalak vs Native American Dream – Reality Creation: Symbol Creation as Reality Creation

Spirit as Life Force, Symbol, Archetype: “Spirituality concerns connectedness with self, others, and the world!”

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