(Originally written June 9, 2008 in the Journal)
Lord I feel deflated, defeated and dejected. The hope in my heart is failing. My strength has left me. Lord see my heart, my soul and my mind, they lie prostrate before you. Will you show me pity? Will you extend your grace?
How long oh Lord must I suffer, whether justly or unjustly? How long will you afflict me? The pain is temporal, but real. The Christian does not allow himself to be driven to the depths of despair by the ills of this world, nor does he cherish the goods of this world because he looks to the eternal and has an endless supply of joy. The Lord is joy. Halleluiah! May all men be so fortunate as I am to see the Lord and know that He is good.
But Lord, my vision is weak. I am near sighted and hampered by this world. This world is the world you have made; it is blessed by your very hand. Though we have polluted it with strife and sin, it still points to your amazing craftsmanship. Lord lift up my eyes to you. May you remove my near sightedness so that I can see your glory.
Show me the path you wish me to walk. Make it plain and clear so that even I, the lowest of minds, may see it.
"So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:7-8).
Lord everyday I try to have sought you. Some days I feel close to you. Other days I feel you are aloof and hide your face from me. Do not turn from me. Your love is all that sustains me. Without that I will surely die! Lord look to your servant here and grant him mercy. Grant me clemency and pardon me of my many iniquities.
See, I walk the narrow path. I walk straight and upright, trying to swerve neither to the left nor the right. I seek righteousness, not for my own sake, but so that your glory may be magnified.
Who am I that the Holy Father, creator and Master of all, should notice me? I am nobody. I am less than that. Even still you speak to me as a son? Do not hide your voice from me, but speak to my heart and I will listen. Remove the stiffness of my neck. I humble myself before you. I ask not for riches or wealth, but only simply to hear your voice and understand your words. You are my treasure. You are my hope, my joy. I give you all that I am, a small gift I know. But, all I have is yours. Counsel me with your words and soothe my anger, fear and despair with your voice.
Notes on Ezra
Chapter 1 - King Cyrus of Persia released the Judahites after years of captivity. He sent them back to rebuild the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed.
Chapter 2 - 42,360 men returned to Judah from exile. When they returned to Jerusalem they gave a free-will offering to the house of the Lord.
Chapter 3 -
They restored the altar of the Lord and began to offer holocausts on it as prescribed in the Law of Moses. Then they laid the foundation for the new temple. Some cried for the old Temple. Others rejoiced for the new.
Chapter 4 -
Men of Israel came down to Judah and demanded they be let to help rebuild the temple. When they were refused they acted to stop the rebuilding process.
Artaxerxes stopped the rebuilding of Jerusalem because the men of Israel tricked him into thinking that Jerusalem would stop paying tribute once the city was rebuilt.
Chapter 5 -
Haggai and Zechariah urged the people to keep rebuilding in the name of God. When the enemies of Jerusalem learned this they sent another letter to the king of Babylon to halt the rebuilding.
Chapter 6 -
King Darius of Babylon issued a decree stating that the Temple should be rebuilt and that any men who interfered with it should have his house reduced to rubble and be impaled on a beam from his own house. The Temple was completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius. The people then celebrated Passover.
Chapter 7 -
Ezra, a descendant of Aaron came to Jerusalem from Babylon. The hand of God was upon Ezra, who was a scribe. Ezra was put in charge of the Judahites by King Artaxerxes of Babylon.
Chapter 8 -
Ezra gathered many Israelites with him, but no Levites were found so he sent for some. Ezra and his followers arrived in Jerusalem safely and presented the gold and silver from Artaxerxes to the Temple.
Chapter 9 -
Ezra denounced the intermarriage between the Israelites and the surrounding peoples.
Chapter 10 -
The men who had taken foreign wives sent them away, along with all the children born to them.
Showing posts with label Cyrus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyrus. Show all posts
Monday, June 9, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Brief Notes on II Chronicles 1-36
(Originally Written June 7, 2008 in the Journal)
Oh Lord God Almighty, look upon me with pity! See how your servant wallows in agony! My wife has left me and now the door is closing on remaining physically close to her. I see that there is a divine will for me to leave this place. I clung to her too greatly and now I have been stripped of hope in early reconciliation.
Where do you want me Lord? I think about Taylor in my head. If this is your doing make it clear, but if this is just my association with the familiar make that known too. I will go where you lead.
Today I will call my father and seek his advice on this matter. Give him your words so that I may follow you. Lord do not abandon me or forsake me. I need you to be my strength for I have none of my own. Lord grant me the wisdom to make the righteous choice and the discernment to hear your voice and know it is you.
Notes on II Chronicles
Chapter 1 - Solomon is granted wisdom and discernment as well as riches and power by God.
Chapter 2 - Solomon makes preparation for building the Temple.
Chapter 3 - They build the Temple
Chapter 4 - The Temple is ornamented
Chapter 5 - The Temple is dedicated
Chapter 6 - Solomon prays to God before Israel
Chapter 7 - God answers Solomon's prayer
Chapter 8 - Solomon rebuilt and fortified cities
Chapter 9 -
The queen of Sheba visited Solomon to test his wisdom. Many kings sought an audience with Solomon and paid him tribute. Solomon reigned 40 years and died.
Chapter 10 - Israel rebelled against Solomon's son Rehoboam and nation split.
Chapter 11 - Rehoboam fortified Judah. He had 28 sons.
Chapter 12 - Rehoboam turned from the Lord. The Lord punished Judah by raising up Egypt against them.
Chapter 13 -
Abijah succeeded his father Rehoboam as king of Judah. Abijah defeated Jeroboam, king of Israel, because the Judahites called upon the Lord.
Asa, son of Abijah succeeded him as king of Judah.
Chapter 14 -
Asa followed the Lord.
Judah defeated Zerah the Ethiopian king and his force of a million strong.
Chapter 15 - Asa removed idols from Judah
Chapter 16 - Asa sinned by trusting the king of Aram when Israel attacked Judah.
Chapter 17
Jehoshaphat succeeded Asa as king of Judah. Jehoshaphat pleased the Lord. He fortified the cities of Judah and the surrounding nations feared the Lord on his account.
Chapter 18
Jehoshaphat and Ahab, king of Israel, went to battle against Aram. They were defeated and Ahab died.
Chapter 19 - Jehoshaphat set up judges to bring order and peace to Judah.
Chapter 20 - Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord for a vast army had been assembled against Judah. The Lord caused the army to fight amongst itself and the Judahites took the plunder.
Chapter 21 -
Jehoram succeeded his father Jehoshaphat as king of Judah. Jehoram was evil and practiced idolatry. The Lord raised Edom and Libnah against Judah for Jehoram's wickedness. Jehoram died and was buried in the city of David, but not as a king.
Chapter 22 -
Ahaziah became king of Judah. He was the youngest son of Jehoram. Ahaziah did evil in the sight of the Lord. Ahaziah was cut down by Jehu, who the Lord had appointed to overthrow the house of Ahab in Israel.
Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah took over Judah by killing the royal family. Only Jehosheba, the youngest son of Ahaziah was spared and that was because he was hidden.
Chapter 23 - After eight years of the reign of Athaliah, Jehosheba was named king. He was crowned king and Athaliah was killed.
Chapter 24 -
Joash and the priest Jehoida restored the Temple of the Lord and reinforced it. Jehoida lived to 130 years old and died. He was buried with the kings for his service to the Lord.
Joash turned from God after the death of Jehoida and even had Jehoida's son Zechariah stoned to death after he prophesied against him.
Joash was killed by conspirators. He was not buried as a king.
Chapter 25
Amaziah replaced his father Joash as king of Judah. He pleased the Lord but did not serve God wholeheartedly. He conquered Seir but brough back their gods to worship. For this he was punished.
Amaziah, filled with pride went to war with King Joash of Israel. He was soundly defeated. Amaziah fled to Lachish but was cut down there.
Chapter 26
Uzziah became king after his father Amaziah was killed. Uzziah fortified Jerusalem and gathered a large army to him. He was feared among the nations. When Uzziah became strong he became too proud and burnt incense to the Lord. As a result he received leprosy and was a leper until the day he died.
Chapter 27
Jotham succeeded his father Uzziah as king of Judah. Jotham pleased the Lord, but the people were sinful.
Chapter 28
Ahaz succeeded his father Jotham as king. Ahaz did not please the Lord and worshipped Baal. As a result Judah fell to Aram and then to Israel in war. Ahaz set up more high places to the gods of Aram and further angered the Lord.
Chapter 29
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz became king of Judah. Hezekiah summoned the Levites to restore the Temple of the Lord. Hezekiah had a sin offering for all of Israel prepared.
Chapter 30
Hezekiah called for all of Judah and Israel to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.
"Be not obstinate, as your fathers were; extend your hands to the Lord and come to his sanctuary that he has consecrated forever and serve the Lord your God, that he may turn away his burning anger from you" (II Chronicles 30:8, New American Bible).
Chapter 31 - Hezekiah reestablished the prescribed order in the priesthood.
Chapter 32
Sennacherib, king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem and mocked the Lord. Isaiah the prophet and King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. The Lord sent an angel who defeated the Assyrian invaders. Sennacherib returned home and was killed in the temple of his god by his own family.
Hezekiah died and was buried as a king.
Chapter 33
Manasseh became king at age twelve and reigned, wickedly, for fifty five years.
Manasseh provoked the Lord to great anger with idolatry, immolations, divination and spirit worship.
Manasseh repented after being taken captive by the Babylonians.
Amon succeeded him as king of Judah. Amon was even more wicked than his father Manasseh. He did not repent and was killed by his subjects.
Josiah, the son of Amon became king of Judah.
Chapter 34
Josiah served the Lord. He destroyed the high places and destroyed the temple of Baal.
Josiah restored the Temple of the Lord. While restoring the Temple, the book of the Law of Moses was found.
Josiah renewed the covenant with the Lord.
Chapter 35
Josiah held Passover that had not been seen since the time of Samuel (as was prescribed in the book of the Law).
Josiah was killed in battle against Neco, the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Chapter 36
Jehoahaz replaced his father as king of Judah. Jehoahaz reigned only three months before being kidnapped by Neco.
Jehoiakim, his brother became king. Jehoiakim was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim became king. Jehoiachin was evil and was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.
Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiachin became king. Zedekiah was evil and did not humble himself in front of the Lord's prophet Jeremiah.
Babylon came down and destroyed the Temple and slaughtered many. The survivors were carried off to Babylon.
Years later, the Persian king, Cyrus, who defeated the Babylonians, released the Judahites to go home to Jerusalem.
Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the glory and the power forever and ever, Amen.
Thank you Lord for this day. May you continue to comfort me through the night.
Oh Lord God Almighty, look upon me with pity! See how your servant wallows in agony! My wife has left me and now the door is closing on remaining physically close to her. I see that there is a divine will for me to leave this place. I clung to her too greatly and now I have been stripped of hope in early reconciliation.
Where do you want me Lord? I think about Taylor in my head. If this is your doing make it clear, but if this is just my association with the familiar make that known too. I will go where you lead.
Today I will call my father and seek his advice on this matter. Give him your words so that I may follow you. Lord do not abandon me or forsake me. I need you to be my strength for I have none of my own. Lord grant me the wisdom to make the righteous choice and the discernment to hear your voice and know it is you.
Notes on II Chronicles
Chapter 1 - Solomon is granted wisdom and discernment as well as riches and power by God.
Chapter 2 - Solomon makes preparation for building the Temple.
Chapter 3 - They build the Temple
Chapter 4 - The Temple is ornamented
Chapter 5 - The Temple is dedicated
Chapter 6 - Solomon prays to God before Israel
Chapter 7 - God answers Solomon's prayer
Chapter 8 - Solomon rebuilt and fortified cities
Chapter 9 -
The queen of Sheba visited Solomon to test his wisdom. Many kings sought an audience with Solomon and paid him tribute. Solomon reigned 40 years and died.
Chapter 10 - Israel rebelled against Solomon's son Rehoboam and nation split.
Chapter 11 - Rehoboam fortified Judah. He had 28 sons.
Chapter 12 - Rehoboam turned from the Lord. The Lord punished Judah by raising up Egypt against them.
Chapter 13 -
Abijah succeeded his father Rehoboam as king of Judah. Abijah defeated Jeroboam, king of Israel, because the Judahites called upon the Lord.
Asa, son of Abijah succeeded him as king of Judah.
Chapter 14 -
Asa followed the Lord.
Judah defeated Zerah the Ethiopian king and his force of a million strong.
Chapter 15 - Asa removed idols from Judah
Chapter 16 - Asa sinned by trusting the king of Aram when Israel attacked Judah.
Chapter 17
Jehoshaphat succeeded Asa as king of Judah. Jehoshaphat pleased the Lord. He fortified the cities of Judah and the surrounding nations feared the Lord on his account.
Chapter 18
Jehoshaphat and Ahab, king of Israel, went to battle against Aram. They were defeated and Ahab died.
Chapter 19 - Jehoshaphat set up judges to bring order and peace to Judah.
Chapter 20 - Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord for a vast army had been assembled against Judah. The Lord caused the army to fight amongst itself and the Judahites took the plunder.
Chapter 21 -
Jehoram succeeded his father Jehoshaphat as king of Judah. Jehoram was evil and practiced idolatry. The Lord raised Edom and Libnah against Judah for Jehoram's wickedness. Jehoram died and was buried in the city of David, but not as a king.
Chapter 22 -
Ahaziah became king of Judah. He was the youngest son of Jehoram. Ahaziah did evil in the sight of the Lord. Ahaziah was cut down by Jehu, who the Lord had appointed to overthrow the house of Ahab in Israel.
Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah took over Judah by killing the royal family. Only Jehosheba, the youngest son of Ahaziah was spared and that was because he was hidden.
Chapter 23 - After eight years of the reign of Athaliah, Jehosheba was named king. He was crowned king and Athaliah was killed.
Chapter 24 -
Joash and the priest Jehoida restored the Temple of the Lord and reinforced it. Jehoida lived to 130 years old and died. He was buried with the kings for his service to the Lord.
Joash turned from God after the death of Jehoida and even had Jehoida's son Zechariah stoned to death after he prophesied against him.
Joash was killed by conspirators. He was not buried as a king.
Chapter 25
Amaziah replaced his father Joash as king of Judah. He pleased the Lord but did not serve God wholeheartedly. He conquered Seir but brough back their gods to worship. For this he was punished.
Amaziah, filled with pride went to war with King Joash of Israel. He was soundly defeated. Amaziah fled to Lachish but was cut down there.
Chapter 26
Uzziah became king after his father Amaziah was killed. Uzziah fortified Jerusalem and gathered a large army to him. He was feared among the nations. When Uzziah became strong he became too proud and burnt incense to the Lord. As a result he received leprosy and was a leper until the day he died.
Chapter 27
Jotham succeeded his father Uzziah as king of Judah. Jotham pleased the Lord, but the people were sinful.
Chapter 28
Ahaz succeeded his father Jotham as king. Ahaz did not please the Lord and worshipped Baal. As a result Judah fell to Aram and then to Israel in war. Ahaz set up more high places to the gods of Aram and further angered the Lord.
Chapter 29
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz became king of Judah. Hezekiah summoned the Levites to restore the Temple of the Lord. Hezekiah had a sin offering for all of Israel prepared.
Chapter 30
Hezekiah called for all of Judah and Israel to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.
"Be not obstinate, as your fathers were; extend your hands to the Lord and come to his sanctuary that he has consecrated forever and serve the Lord your God, that he may turn away his burning anger from you" (II Chronicles 30:8, New American Bible).
Chapter 31 - Hezekiah reestablished the prescribed order in the priesthood.
Chapter 32
Sennacherib, king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem and mocked the Lord. Isaiah the prophet and King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. The Lord sent an angel who defeated the Assyrian invaders. Sennacherib returned home and was killed in the temple of his god by his own family.
Hezekiah died and was buried as a king.
Chapter 33
Manasseh became king at age twelve and reigned, wickedly, for fifty five years.
Manasseh provoked the Lord to great anger with idolatry, immolations, divination and spirit worship.
Manasseh repented after being taken captive by the Babylonians.
Amon succeeded him as king of Judah. Amon was even more wicked than his father Manasseh. He did not repent and was killed by his subjects.
Josiah, the son of Amon became king of Judah.
Chapter 34
Josiah served the Lord. He destroyed the high places and destroyed the temple of Baal.
Josiah restored the Temple of the Lord. While restoring the Temple, the book of the Law of Moses was found.
Josiah renewed the covenant with the Lord.
Chapter 35
Josiah held Passover that had not been seen since the time of Samuel (as was prescribed in the book of the Law).
Josiah was killed in battle against Neco, the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Chapter 36
Jehoahaz replaced his father as king of Judah. Jehoahaz reigned only three months before being kidnapped by Neco.
Jehoiakim, his brother became king. Jehoiakim was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim became king. Jehoiachin was evil and was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.
Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiachin became king. Zedekiah was evil and did not humble himself in front of the Lord's prophet Jeremiah.
Babylon came down and destroyed the Temple and slaughtered many. The survivors were carried off to Babylon.
Years later, the Persian king, Cyrus, who defeated the Babylonians, released the Judahites to go home to Jerusalem.
Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the glory and the power forever and ever, Amen.
Thank you Lord for this day. May you continue to comfort me through the night.
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Bacchus & Orphics
(Originally Written July 1, 2006 in Book 2)
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1974
Commerce initially arose as piracy.
Writing came to the Greeks via piracy and commerce. It came from the Phoenicians (whose alphabet was derivative of Egypt). Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician alphabet. Writing quickened the rise of Ancient Greece.
Homer was the first product of Greece of real merit. He became a staple of Greek learning in Athens and later, all of Greece.
Homer's writings showed the best of Greek religion (the gods of Olympus), but more savage religious cults lay in wait throughout Ancient Greece, coming out in times of weakness and terror.
Primitive religion was tribal, not personal.
Homer's gods were very human, his religion, not very religious. These gods were as or less moral than men.
Fate, necessity and destiny were the objects of utmost power in Homeric religion. Even Zeus was subject to them.
The Olympian gods were never said to create the world, only to subdue and conquer it.
Homer's heroes (men) were as unbehaving as the swashbuckling gods who ruled with indifference to humanity.
When the Homeric epics took their present form, in the late 6th century BC, science, philosophy and mathematics were being born in Greece. Confucius, Buddha and Zoroaster lived in this century (allegedly). Cyrus established Persia in the 6th century as well.
The Philosophers endured to escape Persian domination, spreading the enlightened Greek civilization to the Hellenic world.
While Greece eventually fought off the Persians only a few cities advanced all the independent Greek city-states:
1. Sparta - military
2. Corinth - commerce & wealth
3. Arcadia - agriculture
Arcadia was supposedly an idyllic paradise, but it was truly ghastly in their barbaric ways.
1. The bull was too expensive in fertility cults, so the goat replaced it.
2. A clan of self-proclaimed werewolves terrorized with human sacrifice and cannibalism
3. Even Zeus was portrayed as a werewolf: Zeus Lykaios.
Superstition reigned in Arcadia and flourished throughout ancient times.
Religion, as we now perceive it, was not connected to the Olympic gods but to Dionysus or Bacchus. Bacchus was the god of wine and drunkenness. Bacchus originated as a fertility god of Thrace. When the Thracians invented beer they perceived intoxication as divine and attributed it to Bacchus. When wine was invented later, the Thracians loved Bacchus even more.
The cult of Bacchus was not received well by the orthodox of Greece, but was nonetheless established.
Bacchus worship involved ecstasy, brought about by intoxication; partly due to alcohol, but mainly due to mystic frenzy. It was both beautiful and savage.
Greece gravitated to the primitive and instinctive nature of Bacchus that freed them from strict Greek morality.
"The civilized man is distinguished from the savage mainly by prudence, or, to use a slightly wider term, forethought" (Russell, 15).
Foresight is working for benefits later and not being controlled by impulses. Impulses are checked by civilization via foresight (self-check), religion, law and custom.
Private property brought about the subjection of women and the creation of a slave class.
Prudence involves sacrificing the present to the future without extremeness. Prudence can easily destroy some of the best things in life.
Bacchus worship is a complete rejection of prudence. Intoxication (physical or spiritual) recovers intensity destroyed by prudence. The world is beautiful and full of delight and the imagination is free from the prison of prudence.
Bacchic rituals produced enthusiasm, which etymologically means "having the god enter into the worshipper, who believed that he became one with the god" (Russell, 16).
Most achievements of men include some form of Bacchic practice of passions overrunning prudence. Bacchus worship is dangerous to life, yet it makes life interesting.
Sober civilization is akin to science. Science itself is dull and not satisfying. Man needs art, passion and religion. Science sets limit on knowledge, not on imagination.
Greek philosophy produced both scientific philosophers and religious philosophers. Plato and Christianity (via Neo-Platonism) fall into the latter category.
The ancient religion of Bacchus was barbaric and repulsive. The form that influenced philosophy was ascetic as it replaced physical intoxication with a mental form. It was spiritualized by Orpheus.
Orpheus is believed to have come from Crete. Egypt influenced Crete, Crete then Greece. Egyptian influence in Greece came indirectly via Crete. Orpheus was a priest/philosopher.
Orpheus is not well-known or certain to have existed, but the religion bearing his name certainly did: the Orphics.
The Orphics believed in:
1) The Transmigration of souls
2) that the soul may receive eternal bliss, temporary punishment or eternal punishment based on one's earthly life
3) purification rituals
4) man was partly of earth, partly of heaven
5) Through purification a man can become one with Bacchus
Orphic tablets gave instructions for the after-life to the dead.
Orphics were ascetic
They sought intoxication solely through enthusiasm.
The Cult of Bacchus was reformed by Orpheous, the Orphic religion by Pythagoras, Pythagoras by Plato and most religious philosophy has incorporated Plato.
Bacchic elements are everywhere in Greek culture:
1) Pythagoras & Plato - feminism
2) Greek Tragedies - pure emotional instictiveness
3) Euripides
4) Athens - The Eleusinian Mysteries
To the Orphic, life is pain and weariness. Their true life was in the stars, but they were bound to the earth. This cycle was ceaseless. The only hope of escape was through purification via asceticism.
A large portion of the Greeks were "passionate, unhappy, at war with themselves, driven along one road by the intellect and along another by the passions, with the imagination to conceive heaven and the willful self-assertion that creates hell" (Russell, 23).
Religious Greeks embraced Orphic religion; rational Greeks despised it.
Russell then goes on to condemn not only Ancient Greek religion, but religion itself: "It looked as if Greek religion were about to enter on the same stage as that already reached by the religions of the East; and, but for the rise of science, it is hard to see what could have checked this tendency. It is usual to say that the Greeks were saved from a religion of the Oriental type by their having no priesthood; but this is to mistake the effect for the cause. Priesthoods do not make dogmas, though they preserve them once they are made; an in the earlier stages of their development, the Oriental peoples had no priesthoods either in the sense intended. It was not so much the absence of a priesthood as the existence of the scientific schools that saved Greece" (Russell, 23).
The Orphics founded 'churches'. The Olympic cults did not. It was the founding of 'churches' that influenced the conception of philosophy as a way of life.
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1974
Commerce initially arose as piracy.
Writing came to the Greeks via piracy and commerce. It came from the Phoenicians (whose alphabet was derivative of Egypt). Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician alphabet. Writing quickened the rise of Ancient Greece.
Homer was the first product of Greece of real merit. He became a staple of Greek learning in Athens and later, all of Greece.
Homer's writings showed the best of Greek religion (the gods of Olympus), but more savage religious cults lay in wait throughout Ancient Greece, coming out in times of weakness and terror.
Primitive religion was tribal, not personal.
Homer's gods were very human, his religion, not very religious. These gods were as or less moral than men.
Fate, necessity and destiny were the objects of utmost power in Homeric religion. Even Zeus was subject to them.
The Olympian gods were never said to create the world, only to subdue and conquer it.
Homer's heroes (men) were as unbehaving as the swashbuckling gods who ruled with indifference to humanity.
When the Homeric epics took their present form, in the late 6th century BC, science, philosophy and mathematics were being born in Greece. Confucius, Buddha and Zoroaster lived in this century (allegedly). Cyrus established Persia in the 6th century as well.
The Philosophers endured to escape Persian domination, spreading the enlightened Greek civilization to the Hellenic world.
While Greece eventually fought off the Persians only a few cities advanced all the independent Greek city-states:
1. Sparta - military
2. Corinth - commerce & wealth
3. Arcadia - agriculture
Arcadia was supposedly an idyllic paradise, but it was truly ghastly in their barbaric ways.
1. The bull was too expensive in fertility cults, so the goat replaced it.
2. A clan of self-proclaimed werewolves terrorized with human sacrifice and cannibalism
3. Even Zeus was portrayed as a werewolf: Zeus Lykaios.
Superstition reigned in Arcadia and flourished throughout ancient times.
Religion, as we now perceive it, was not connected to the Olympic gods but to Dionysus or Bacchus. Bacchus was the god of wine and drunkenness. Bacchus originated as a fertility god of Thrace. When the Thracians invented beer they perceived intoxication as divine and attributed it to Bacchus. When wine was invented later, the Thracians loved Bacchus even more.
The cult of Bacchus was not received well by the orthodox of Greece, but was nonetheless established.
Bacchus worship involved ecstasy, brought about by intoxication; partly due to alcohol, but mainly due to mystic frenzy. It was both beautiful and savage.
Greece gravitated to the primitive and instinctive nature of Bacchus that freed them from strict Greek morality.
"The civilized man is distinguished from the savage mainly by prudence, or, to use a slightly wider term, forethought" (Russell, 15).
Foresight is working for benefits later and not being controlled by impulses. Impulses are checked by civilization via foresight (self-check), religion, law and custom.
Private property brought about the subjection of women and the creation of a slave class.
Prudence involves sacrificing the present to the future without extremeness. Prudence can easily destroy some of the best things in life.
Bacchus worship is a complete rejection of prudence. Intoxication (physical or spiritual) recovers intensity destroyed by prudence. The world is beautiful and full of delight and the imagination is free from the prison of prudence.
Bacchic rituals produced enthusiasm, which etymologically means "having the god enter into the worshipper, who believed that he became one with the god" (Russell, 16).
Most achievements of men include some form of Bacchic practice of passions overrunning prudence. Bacchus worship is dangerous to life, yet it makes life interesting.
Sober civilization is akin to science. Science itself is dull and not satisfying. Man needs art, passion and religion. Science sets limit on knowledge, not on imagination.
Greek philosophy produced both scientific philosophers and religious philosophers. Plato and Christianity (via Neo-Platonism) fall into the latter category.
The ancient religion of Bacchus was barbaric and repulsive. The form that influenced philosophy was ascetic as it replaced physical intoxication with a mental form. It was spiritualized by Orpheus.
Orpheus is believed to have come from Crete. Egypt influenced Crete, Crete then Greece. Egyptian influence in Greece came indirectly via Crete. Orpheus was a priest/philosopher.
Orpheus is not well-known or certain to have existed, but the religion bearing his name certainly did: the Orphics.
The Orphics believed in:
1) The Transmigration of souls
2) that the soul may receive eternal bliss, temporary punishment or eternal punishment based on one's earthly life
3) purification rituals
4) man was partly of earth, partly of heaven
5) Through purification a man can become one with Bacchus
Orphic tablets gave instructions for the after-life to the dead.
Orphics were ascetic
They sought intoxication solely through enthusiasm.
The Cult of Bacchus was reformed by Orpheous, the Orphic religion by Pythagoras, Pythagoras by Plato and most religious philosophy has incorporated Plato.
Bacchic elements are everywhere in Greek culture:
1) Pythagoras & Plato - feminism
2) Greek Tragedies - pure emotional instictiveness
3) Euripides
4) Athens - The Eleusinian Mysteries
To the Orphic, life is pain and weariness. Their true life was in the stars, but they were bound to the earth. This cycle was ceaseless. The only hope of escape was through purification via asceticism.
A large portion of the Greeks were "passionate, unhappy, at war with themselves, driven along one road by the intellect and along another by the passions, with the imagination to conceive heaven and the willful self-assertion that creates hell" (Russell, 23).
Religious Greeks embraced Orphic religion; rational Greeks despised it.
Russell then goes on to condemn not only Ancient Greek religion, but religion itself: "It looked as if Greek religion were about to enter on the same stage as that already reached by the religions of the East; and, but for the rise of science, it is hard to see what could have checked this tendency. It is usual to say that the Greeks were saved from a religion of the Oriental type by their having no priesthood; but this is to mistake the effect for the cause. Priesthoods do not make dogmas, though they preserve them once they are made; an in the earlier stages of their development, the Oriental peoples had no priesthoods either in the sense intended. It was not so much the absence of a priesthood as the existence of the scientific schools that saved Greece" (Russell, 23).
The Orphics founded 'churches'. The Olympic cults did not. It was the founding of 'churches' that influenced the conception of philosophy as a way of life.
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