Doom, Gloom & Hope: The Mindset Of An Archaic Age

Science, Or The Supernatural?

The human reaction to pandemics, natural disasters and man made events has really not changed that much in history. We seem to react today very much as we did long ago in ancient times, even though we have come a long way using science, learning to replace superstition and perceived suppositions by replacing doom and gloom with a positive 'we can conquer anything' mentality. Viruses are known today to be biological in origin, while in the past such epidemics were thought to be a punishment from the supernatural world. Still, even though we know the cause and effect of microbes, their impact on human society does stir in our hearts an archetypal memory of a time when such fears were rooted in the mindset, beliefs and narratives of the ancient world. 


Of Rats, Bats, Mice & Men
The advent of the Corona Virus in 2020, also known as Covid-19, has sparked reactions among nearly all the world's communities in many forms. The outbreak of this pandemic has raised concerns not only about health and hygiene, food consumption and trade, but also political questions both domestic and international. It seems that nobody was really ready for the pandemic, nor did anyone know how to deal with it. This virus claimed the lives of thousands, and sends fear into the hearts of everyone, who are seeking answers form governments and advice in defending against the spread of the virus, said to emanate from bats in the Wuhan province of China. Washing, hand sanitizing and social distancing have become common, strongly advised practices for everyone as scientists seek desperately to create an antidote. 

While the Corona Virus has shown itself to be not exactly the worst or the most deadly in human history, the uncertainty of what it is, where it might go and strike and who might catch it and perhaps die, has people on edge. The Bubonic Plague, known as the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed millions and was blamed on rats, who actually were transmitting the disease from the human excrement carelessly thrown into the unsanitary streets of the cities of the time. People thought the Black Death was a punishment from God for the sins of mankind, or that the final days ie: the end of the world according to many ancient religious scriptures and texts, had finally come about. In truth, the Plague eventually passed on after claiming the lives of millions of people. The survivors survived, survival of the fittest or perhaps the luckiest, as did civilization, but the terrible experiences and memories of the Plague influenced people's thinking. Out of this experience new ways of seeing the world began to take root. The Italian Renaissance, the Reformation in Germany and the seeking of and rise of secular government based on a new understanding of democracy- all social movements that began to put the power of faith, state and art in the hands of the commoner, became apparent. Thus, society and the course of history have been altered by such phenomena as the onset of sudden disease or drastic changes in the weather. Mankind, who believes he can successfully control all that is around him, is spellbound as his worldly achievements are suddenly rendered virtually miniscule by the unseen forces of nature.

In time humanity through the use of science and learning comes to understand the source of the pandemic and does something about it, as well as preparing for pandemics which will obviously reveal themselves in the future. There have been a great many such pandemics all throughout history, but humans have survived by adapting, learning and altering their lifestyles. This is part of our common history and story. Yet, we also seem to not help but seek a reason in our inner souls and being to try and understand the 'why' of the pandemic, and what the pandemic may symbolize on an inner, spiritual and otherworldly level.

Who We Were, Who We Are
Our own current high tech Western civilization and society which dominates the world at this point in time in one way or another was modeled on or inspired by a number of ancient civilizations and cultures and their gifts of science, law and politics- Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome. Their mythological and spiritual contributions to the religious, mystical and cultural realms were part of the gift box as well, the torch that was passed along. These pre modern societies did have a view of the end times as a violent shaking and a breakdown
of all we have built up for the past many millennia. These beliefs stayed with us and remain with us. The modern businessman and scholar who proudly boasts "that's just a myth, I don't believe in that!"...nonetheless sends his kids to church, temple or mosque to hear magical stories of how their God dealt with populations in the past and how the world will end in cataclysmic fire and brimstone in the future. In this, the heirs of the monotheistic message believe themselves to hold some superiority in all things, including spiritual things. Yet, what modern monotheistic man hears in sermons and reads in his scriptures about the end days is no different from what is also written in such ancient texts as the Mayan Popol Vuh or the Indian Rig Veda. Sitting at his desk looking at his computer or laptop, or fingering his or her Iphone while commuting to work, the technology has grown, changed and improved, but the human remains the same. The Abrahamic/Monotheistic religious view; the Judeo/Christian view as well as the Islamic narratives of the 'end times'...tell of violent wars preceded by natural upheavals and earthquakes further preceded by sickness and disease as well as social chaos and unrest. These views are likely Zoroastrian in origin, a religion from ancient Persia that explains existence in the battle between light and dark, good and evil. The concept of the end days and the ultimate battle between good and evil, like the concept of heaven and hell and the various levels or stations of these two final resting places, is a Persian/Zoroastrian concept that was adopted by the ancient Hebrews while in the Babylonian Captivity. They were liberated by Cyrus the Great, king of all Persia, and from that time Persian dualist elements entered into Judaism, and went on to influence both Christianity and Islam later on. The various angels who do God's bidding found in the Bible, for example, are Persian in origin. So is the notion of an anti Christ figure who will be the Devil's agent on Earth. The influence of Zoroastrianism on the Abrahamic faiths is enormous and there too many elements of it to describe here. But we can suffice to say that Jewish mysticism was influenced and inspired by the Persians and their religion. In the BC years before the advent of Jesus and for a few centuries AD after him this mysticism became popular and common in the Middle East, particularly in the area known as the ancient Fertile Crescent. This semi circular arc of land as seen on a map is the birthplace of civilization as we know it, starting with the kingdom of Sumer and on to Ur of the Chaldees, the Assyrian empire and Babylon. There were already many religious and spiritual beliefs as well as stories established in these cultures, and many of those beliefs and stories were passed down to become part of Judaism, some of which are indeed dark and negative but might also offer a glimmer of hope for a depressed humanity- Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, Jonah and the Whale. The Tower of Babel is one such story, built so men might reach the place of heaven, where the gods or in the case of Judaism, God, destroyed that Tower and cursed mankind for the audacity to seek the throne of heaven, forcing men to speak different languages so they cannot understand one another, thus causing chaos and misunderstanding in the world which could certainly lead to war. Surely it is a rather dark, negative view indeed.

New Views, New Approaches, Old Ideas  

At the time of Jesus, the province of Judea was under the rule of the Roman empire. The inhabitants of that land, the proud bearers of the message of Abraham and Moses, were an unruly lot who resented domination by pagans and polytheists. They would recall the time when Israel was known as the land of Jacob, when David and Solomon sat on their respective thrones and administered the word and law of the God. Now, the people of Judea were the conquered subjects of a powerful and mighty Rome, and forced to pay their taxes and tithes to pagan emperors who might at times consider themselves as gods. The mighty Lord preserved Israel and took them out of Egypt with Moses, and again saved them from the Babylonian Captivity. But this time, the Lord seemed to be silent, and the reason why they were suffering under Roman tyranny was because they unforgivable committed sins. For some, in fact for many, the only way to attain greatness once again was to openly resist the Romans by fighting. After all, it was the guerrilla warfare of the Maccabees that defeated the Selucid Syrian/Greeks under the king Antiochus IV, allowing the rededication of the temples and the smashing of Hellenic idolatry, an event that inspired the Jewish holiday of Hanukah. Perhaps the Romans would get sick and tired of constant Jewish military harassment and unruliness and would decide that ruling Judea was a waste of time. According to Christian tradition there is a dubiously factual story of one such bandit/warrior named Barrabas who was spared by Pontius Pilate, chosen by the people of Jerusalem instead of the peaceful Jesus of Nazareth. Whether or not the story is true, the choice of one or the other demonstrates the social and political emotions at the supposed time of Jesus' crucifixion, with warriors versus mystics as emblematic of the Jewish nation. In fact at the time there were a great many teachers and would be Messiahs roaming the desert and the hills of Judea, preaching about deliverance and new heavenly and earthly kingdoms to come. For many people living there, it was obvious that their situation was untenable and desperate, and a new understanding of faith was needed. These preachers and teachers offered a new vision as a means to attain forgiveness of their past sins. John the Baptist is but one such teacher mentioned in the Gospels, but in fact there were many more of these mystics announcing the coming of the day of salvation all along the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. All of this was further helped along by the terrible fact of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, in which the Jews were scattered and the city destroyed in one of the ancient world's most awful massacres and sackings.With their swords broken, Israel turned once again the their ancient God, though now with new ideas and approaches. The old laws failed as did the rabbis, they thought, and now many Jews sought to try and understand their Lord rather than merely worship him. After all, Abraham was the intimate friend of God, and became so by coming to know him intimately. God can be understood by what the scriptures say, but what is even more difficult for man is to come to understand himself. Thus, many new means of achieving this ultimate goal came into being. Jesus and John the Baptist were but two of those who sought to heal the inner pain and confusion of he souls of so many thousands, and particularly Jesus, the Man from Galilee would inspire a new and major world religion. The Essenes and the Elchasites, who some label as Jewish-Christians, as well as a number of groups who fostered what became known as Gnosticism began to flourish in the region. Their visions and predictions varied greatly but almost all foretold the end of the world which would best be described as apocalyptic. Much of the visions and inspiration came out of the old Persian Zoroastrian texts, with the mountains becoming flat, the seas on fire and the skies melting above our heads. The angels of God would do battle with the hordes of the Devil and the battle would be bloody and terrible, but in the end God's army would prevail and a new world would come into being. Clearly we see in these visions and prophecies the frustration of a conquered people, and now these people were turning inward rather than outward for guidance and the hope for a real miracle to come one day in the distant future. Some of these mystics sought refuge in lands that were less inclined to strict Roman rule, such as in what is now Iraq. Mesopotamia, or the Land Between The Rivers in Greek, was not in the direct control of Rome and indeed was at times under the more tolerant Persian suzerainty. John the Baptist inspired a religious group known as the Mandeans where they flourished unto modern times, baptizing their congregants in the Tigris river which they symbolically called the Jordan. They repeated John's fiery predictions of God's coming vengeance and awaited for the signs of the day of resurrection. In the 3rd century in Iraq, one such young follower named Mani, himself frustrated by the strict, organized state of his religious order, preached a new religion. Manchaeism was based on Zoroastrian Persian narratives and Aramaic Gnosticism, but while it taught that God was light and evil darkness; as in Zoroastrianism, both of whom were involved in an ongoing cosmic battle which manifested in the body and souls of human beings...Mani also preached that a God of goodness and light could not create or utilize evil to hurt any creatures, and that the body and such thoughts that God could produce evil were in fact creations of the devil himself. he also taught that there was elements of universal truth, thus elements of light, in every religious tradition, marking Manichaeism as the world's first truly universal faith. Mani's religion grew and in time extended from China to France, only to face persecution by first the Zoroastrian priests known as the Magi at a time when the Persian state religion was becoming more political than spiritual and instituted persecution for unbelievers, then by compiled and organizational Roman Nicean Christianity, then later by Islam. Manichaeism clearly was seen as competition to these state religions and thus had to be wiped out. it is said that Saint Augustine was one such Manichaean but converted to Christianity, and was an open critic of the faith of Mani. He did however introduce the element of light/good versus dark/evil into Christianity, and Jesus began to be called 'The Light' just as Mani had proclaimed about Jesus in his sermons, describing Jesus as 'The Light of the Father' and 'Jesus the Splendor'. Centuries later, Mani's narratives would be altered slightly and become accepted in the medieval Balkans, where the religion of the Bogomils (God's own beloved) took root alongside native pagan practices. This ideology spread even further to France where a Crusade was preached to destroy this heresy, known there as the Albigensian Heresy, the crusaders wiping out an entire town suspected of following the heresy in France, in Montsegur in 1244 AD. Even today, historian critics point to the very negative connotations and associations of Manichaeism and other related, Gnostic faiths as being too dark for most people. While the explanations of the future in these texts are indeed dark and dank- try reading one of the Books of Enoch for a dark and desperate feel....one read of the Book of Revelations in the New Testament demonstrates the mode and feel of these prophetic books and the images they wish to convey, telling us of people who lived in very uncertain times and in extremely difficult circumstances. This mindset influenced everyone and every aspect of society well into the Middle Ages. Historian William Manchester wrote a study of life in the Medieval period, the appropriate title of his book 'A World Lit Only By Fire'. That for which there was no light meant the darkness controlled the mind of Man, and in the dark the absence of mind, and the lack of positive thought, was evident. 

Back To The Future                          

Are we really that far removed from the mindset of these ancient people in our own time? They were uncertain in their day, and we seem to remain uncertain as well. There are people in the USA and all over the world who are maintaining their God and their faith is stronger than any Corona Virus. That may be a helpful belief to some but the facts counter this claim. A pastor in Virginia announced he would indeed perform his service regardless of any virus and would continue to preach unless "I am in jail or the hospital" before he finally succumbed fatally to the power of Covid-19. Members of the Hassidic Jewish community in their hundreds in New York city attending weddings and funerals had to be forcibly refrained by the police who issued summonses to people. Going to mosque on Friday is seen by many Muslims as a 'must do' religious duty and in a number of Muslim countries mosques continued to be full. People continued to play ball in a park or meet up close to shop or have a party, dance and gossip, go to the beaches in the warmer, southern climes such as in Florida now that Spring is upon us, when they should be practicing social distancing. They might be told to line up and remain six feet apart while waiting to do their food shopping, yet will come into close proximity with one another once they gain entrance into the store, chatting and gossiping at dangerously close distances. Not everybody, but far too many in these dangerous times have been nonchalant in their approach to this pandemic.  Basketball, a sport popular in the inner cities requires close bodily proximity and contact, and basketball courts were full at the outbreak of the pandemic even after warnings were issued. They all are willing to risk catching the sickness by coming together with their fellow worshippers or shoppers at their congregations or favorite shops in the hope that their bodily resistance is strong enough, or perhaps their God, their wallets or their sport-drive will protect them. And as in the past, God, like money and physical stamina, does not always protect people from pandemics. The point here is that when a desperate situation develops in a society there will always be people who look beyond the realm of the here and now to seek answers and excuses. Perhaps we have been spoiled by the success of science and the cures we have developed over the years in response to disease, but Covid_19 is new and when it reared its ugly head in 2020 we humans really didn't know how to deal with it. There will be some who claim the virus is a hoax and others think some government agency or a political party is using or actually secretly causing the virus to spread. In the case of Covid-19, while the cause has been traced to possible Chinese wet markets where exotic animals are raised without proper hygiene and cleanliness, some have gone so far as to claim that this is a form of germ warfare, created in Chinese government labs, and we will definitely see more of this in the future as some have claimed years ago that germ warfare is the weapon of the future. Possible? Why not? It has been clear from the outbreak of this virus that nations and leaders all over the world were not ready for it. How this virus or others will change our thinking, how people will react and, for the purpose of this article, what narratives and beliefs will develop over time to deal with it will be an interesting topic of discussion indeed. But we can always count on those spiritual narratives of the past with their predictions of doom and gloom to stimulate out thoughts and move people to bring on change, for better or for worse. The prophecies of Nostradamus, the French seer  of the 16th century have been quoted and noted ad nauseum, as are the Biblical passages of the coming of the end times; earthquakes, famine, the breakdown of society and that ever popular Biblical quote 'there will be war and rumors of war'. Clearly, aside from the illumination which science and technology have granted us, or that which have granted ourselves, the dark and gloomy outlook fascinates us all. People thought the world would end in the year 1,000 AD, and not long ago we should remember that it was supposed to all fall apart when 1999 turned into the year 2000. People stocked up on water, food and medical supplies. They bought rifles and other weapons for protection, batteries, lights, radios, and stocked up on ten gallon barrels of gas. They purchased so much in the way of food items that many people are still partaking of those supplies today, a full two decades later. Nostradamus and his prophecies may be correct or his predictions may be simply allegories and guesswork, based on what we read in religious scriptures and texts. We simply don't know, but we do need to live and survive. That's what humans do best, and the ancient religious scriptures, political records and our ancient mythologies tell us so by describing the innermost feelings and experiences of people who lived long ago and utilized their very human faculty of imagination. They also advise us about what we did in the past, and what we will likely do now and in the future. 

Pindar's Garlands Of Victory
If humans have a common trait that binds us besides birth, hunger, suffering and death it is the use of the imagination, and in this human beings are certainly the greatest or at least the most expressive of all creatures. We tell stories and relate experiences, and have turned this into art forms depicting aspects of beauty and things grotesque. When we are in crisis we always seem to start with gloom and doom. We rant and rave, complain, lash out and cry, and blame either everybody else or ourselves, then we begin to hope for a better future. What else can we do, considering our predicament in this earthly life? If it cannot get any worse, certainly we can at least hope it will get better. Humans adapt and alter, even after we screw up our planet or the hand of fate itself denies us the fruits of our collective labors. The ancient Greek poet Pindar was aware of this when he described the dedication of those young athletes who prepared for years to compete in the Olympic games. While the athletes should be praised for their hard work, says Pindar, the hand of fate grants the garlands of victory to what seem to be a chosen few. Some will celebrate their victory, others will cry and feel remorse but life will go on, and must go on. Once we are born there is no turning back but through the portals of death. Humans are interesting, if not truly amazing creatures indeed. 

~Ismail Butera, April 2020