Chasing Gods Sandra Ngo-Trong

Most people think of justice as something external; a situation is either just or unjust, fair or unfair. But justice is also about the way you judge. How you judge the outside world is a reflection of how just you are as a person.

 

To judge with justice is believed to be one of the top virtues, by philosophers, writers and artists of the ancient world. From Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece and Rome, Justice has been personified by a goddess who not only belongs to the highest ranks of gods but whose symbolism is even sought by them. You could imagine what justice must have meant to men. This goddess I’m talking about is Lady Justice.

You have probably seen her but may not have paid too much attention; she could be a statue, an emblem or figurine to represent justice in the legal system worldwide. She holds a scale, a sword and at times she wears a blindfold. She has several other symbols, each of which bears powerful lessons. We’ll go through each of Lady Justices’ symbols to understand what it takes to judge with justice. We’ll also see how the evolution of her symbols reflect how we have developed our understanding of justice over time. But first, let’s go through…

 

The History of Lady Justice

 

Ancient Egypt – Ma’at

As of today, the oldest representation of judgement and justice is the balance scale found in ancient Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian mythological art.

In the Ancient Egyptian Book of Death, which dates back to ~2400 BCE, the scale depicts the judgment of men’s soul after death. Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul is eternal and that after death, it receives a fate based on the integrity of its recently lived life.

The image shows the heart of the dead being weighed on a scale against an ostrich’s feather. This feather belongs to the goddess Ma’at.

 

Weighing of the heart from the Papyrus of Ani

 

Ma’at is the goddess of cosmic order and social order. But that’s roughly speaking. What she truly represents is untranslatable (kind of like the Yin Yang); still, it would include truth, balance, order, harmony, law, justice, and morality –  in the world of humans, of deities and the universe.

That’s pretty astronomical – so much that all other deities wanted their names associated with hers, including Pharaohs and Kings.

 

Ancient Greece – Themis & Dike

Fast Forward  ~ 1500 years, Ancient Greece had a goddess named Themis whose representation is also untranslatable but overall covers divine order, law and justice.

Themis is a Titaness; Titans are the generation of gods that existed prior to the Olympian gods, which most people are familiar with today. Themis ensured that Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, was well nursed. She also became one of his wives, and his counsellor,  and assisted him in creating the world. Zeus carries out the action, but not before Themis’ advice (there is a larger thing at play behind the scenes).

Themis, having been one of the Delphic oracles, is also a prophetic goddess. In later renditions, Themis caries a balance scale, a sword and at times she wears a crown.

With Zeus, Themis had a daughter named Dike,

Is consciousness produced by the brain? If not, where does it come from?

Socrates and Plato, the ancient Greek philosophers from which western ideas have flourished, believed that the soul was eternal. They also believed in the reincarnation of the soul.

Here, we’ll review the 5 arguments Socrates makes on his deathbed to support this view. Then, we’ll explore the debate he had with one of his interlocutors; a debate which still persists today, 2000 years later:

Does the brain produce the soul (consciousness), or does soul (consciousness) come from somewhere else?

Where Does Consciousness Come From?

Ancient Greek Beliefs

Let’s go back to around 500 BCE, Ancient Greece. The city-state of Athens has adopted a polytheistic religion, which means that people feared, worshiped and made offerings to many different gods; Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc.

The Ancient Greeks also believed that upon death, the soul would leave the body and travel to the underworld, remaining there forever, as mere shadows guarded by Hades, the god of the underworld.

But there were also obscure groups of people who believed differently in regards to the soul. They believed in ‘metempsychosis‘ or the ‘transmigration of the soul’. In this view, the soul will depart the body at death and re-enter another body, in a perpetual cycle. These small pockets of people were the Pythagoreans (those who followed the teachings of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras) and the Orphics (the adherents of a religion based on the mythical poet, Orpheus). These groups and beliefs existed in the minority.

 

Hindu Origins?

How these groups obtained their views is not exactly known, but I can’t help but think of India, which is geographically not so far away.

See the philosophical concept of transmigration, also known as reincarnation, already existed in India 500 years earlier. India is where Hinduism was born, and from it, Buddhism and Jainism, which also view the soul as something that transfers from body to body (reincarnation).

The general belief in these Indian religions, which are still predominant all over Asia (I say “general” because details in them will vary), is that we are all bound to an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. What you do in this life, will dictate your next. By doing good, you gain good Karma (think of is as points) and you will be reborn in better conditions, be it in the form of a body or in a heavenly realm. If your actions and intentions are bad, you gain bad karma, which will lead to worse conditions in the next life. Again, in the bodily or spiritual form.

And this goes on …. forever.

But there is a way to liberate oneself from this never-ending cycle, which is also referred to as Nirvana or Moksha, and it usually consists of deep self-realization as well as living an ascetic life, letting go of all attachments.

Now, Socrates never spoke about exiting the cycle, but he did believe that living an ascetic life of un-attachment, which he calls “being a TRUE philosopher”, will get you the best outcome after death.

 

Bronze figure of Kashmiri in Meditation by Malvina Hoffman. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

 



 

 

2020 – The flood of the new Coronavirus has caused a global pandemic and worldwide catastrophe. Hospitals are overwhelmed with the sick, governments are enforcing self-isolation and the economy is heading towards a recession.

Times of panic, instability and chaos elicit strong emotions and wild speculations; some think the pandemic is China’s fault since the virus first appeared there, and some take matters into their own hands.

Others believe the virus is a biological warfare or perhaps a gigantic secret plot arranged by world elites. The actions of the people and governments are watched in scrutiny and fingers are pointing in all directions.

While people blame each other, I find it wise to revisit the past. Pandemics of infectious diseases have been periodically wiping out significant portions of the population since the beginning of recorded history.

 

 

Timeline from https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/

 

Marseille during the outbreak of a pandemic in 1720 by Michel Serre

 

There were many more pandemics, and many are found in all sorts of literature.

Before the common era, pandemics also known as plagues were often recorded in epic poems such as Homer’s Iliad, where Apollo, the god of Protection and Affliction, sends a deadly plague upon the Greeks.

Or in religious works, such as the bible, where God instructs Moses to toss sooth in the air which will cause a plague;

 

“Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

Exodus 9:8–9

 

Whether or not these specific events occurred is unclear, however, the knowledge of plagues was clearly present.

Examining history, it is clear that there is a pattern of recurring pandemics stretching back to ancient times, and despite advances in science and technology, there seems to be no abating.

There are also mythologies on natural disasters from around the world which seem to suggest that cycles of absolute disorder, such as those experienced during a pandemic are part of the human experience, and that they may not be something we could ever escape from… but perhaps are something that is needed and even merited.

 

Men vs. Nature

Ancient Native Americans believed that there is a cycle of action and reaction, between men and nature.

A Cherokee myth tells how men were once upon a time living harmoniously with animals. But one day, the humans got too numerous and powerful and treated them very poorly. The animals had a meeting and decided that the way to bring balance back is to infest men with diseases.

Most of the pandemics are scientifically known to have originated in animals.

 

Pandora’s Jar

But our doom is not our end.

A well-known mythology told by the Greek poet Hesiod tells how a href="...

The All Seeing Eye symbol is on the great seal of America and features on its dollar bill, surrounded by a Latin inscription with a part that easily reads “New Order”. The symbol is also associated with secret societies such as the Illuminati, a prime subject for conspiracy theories of world control.

America. Money. Latin inscription.  Secret society.

All these are a perfect recipe for making the eye symbol a feared one. And it doesn’t help that there’s a trend of celebrity photoshoots with the one-eye symbol.

To many, the All-Seeing Eye is a symbol of power, surveillance and control over the people. However, the reason for using the all-seeing- eye on the dollar bill was to invoke the protection of God over the nation. This practice has existed for thousands of years, in many parts of the world.

So why the fear?

Well, maybe because for thousands of years, the eye has also meant ‘evil’, ‘destruction’ and ‘control’.

In this [essay], we’ll look at the history of the eye symbolism (all-seeing eye, evil eye, third eye) across the world; its meaning of good and evil but also of its root, consciousness. We’ll look at the psychology and philosophy of the eye. What is it about the function of the eye that makes it the advocator of the self. Why is the eye the cosmos that observes itself? Answering these questions will explain why the eye holds so much power over us and why we seek comfort in the eye but fear it at the same time.

Ok let’s start with the

 

History of the Eye symbol

 



 

Ancient Mesopotamia

In ancient Mesopotamia, modern-day Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Kuwait, people worshipped many different gods. There was the god of the sky, of the underworld, the goddess of war and love, to name a few…and these deities were portrayed by clay tablet texts, figurines or cylinder seals.

There were also Eye idols – figurines depicting large round eyes. The eyes varied in style, at times perforated, at times with spectacles, and others in threes or more. Historians found an abundance of these idols when excavating in the Near East, particularly in Tell Brak, an ancient city in Syria, in a religious complex, later labelled as the Eye Temple.

The body of these figurines didn’t seem to be of particular importance as if to bring attention to the eyes only. Scholars say that the people of ancient Mesopotamia believed to be under the constant watch of the gods. That meant that the gods’ eyes were all-seeing and protecting them, but there were also gods with the “evil eye” who would punish them.

The evil eye could belong to any deity, but it has often been associated with Tiamat, the goddess of seawater and primordial creation. Tiamat has also been represented as a gigantic monstrous snake.

Mesopotamians believed that sickness, death or natural disasters were inflicted due to the wrath of the gods. These events arose unexpectedly and this caused them to be in a lot of fear. Their well-being was in the hands of the gods.

It’s understandable why one would often pray, asking the gods for protection. Ancient Mesopotamians would offer sacrificial gifts as they made vows, wishes and bargains with the gods. Offerings were also given as a “thank you” when a favour seemed to have been realized.

Along with the Eye idols, archeologists also found many figurines of what seemed to be worshippers, praying with wide-open eyes. These may have been the votive offerings to the gods; a symbol of being under the care of the god, while expressing  “I am aware of your existence. I worship you. You are my god”.

The Eye idols, on the other hand, seemed to symbolize the constant all-seeing divine quality of the god or goddess whose statue would be present in the temple.

The watchful eyes also came in the form of an amulet, to be used as a sort of lucky charm,

The easiest way to understand the Ouroboros? Think of this:

God created mankind in his own image

– Genesis 1:27

The famous line in the bible…

Whether you’re religious or not, whether God is a metaphor for nature or an actual entity, imagine this:

Now, men are creating machines in their image, and if the machines start to know themselves, in other words, gain consciousness, that would make men, the Gods (or God) of the machines. That cycle is the Ouroboros

That was just one representation of the Ouroboros. A pretty deep one I should say. We’ll be discussing more on that and how the ouroboros model governs the cosmos (existence), from microscopic to macroscopic entities, but first, let’s discuss the origins, usage and meanings of this rather inconspicuous symbol.

The Ouroboros symbol is not as mainstream as the Yin Yang or the Cross. People who are familiar with it ‘usually’ have an interest in the occult, mythological symbolism, or archetypal psychology. Nevertheless, the symbol can still be found today, on tombstones and cemeteries, buildings, churches, coat of arms, or insignias.

 



 

Main Concepts of the Ouroboros Symbol

The Ouroboros can vary in shape and style but generally, it’s characterized as a serpent (or dragon) eating its own tail, creating a circular shape. It has been given various meanings throughout history but 3 most recurring concepts are :



* Eternal cycle / Eternal Return

* Self- sufficient

* Unity of all things





The earliest record of the Ouroboros iconography was found in the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating back to around 1600 BC

And according to the Academic Dana Micheal Reemes, to the ancient Egyptians, the Ouroboros image was never a unique symbol with an idea attached to it, but rather a part of their language; a variant amongst related images, that conveyed different things depending on the context. In some cases, it could denote the recurring solar year. In others, it was used as a protective enclosure of the God or individual, a deceased, the sun, or the cosmos.

Also, the Egyptian snake didn’t necessarily eat its tail. At times, the tail was near the mouth, and at others, it was overlapping the head. Its shape also varied depending on what it was englobing.

 

 

One of the Egyptian creation myths tells how the world was conceived from a divine point, or an Atum, appearing in a formless abyss. Its expansion characterized by a great burst, would create the cosmos, a progressive differentiation of the divine substance. Very similar to the Yin Yang creation theory and today’s popular big bang theory.

The outward expansion from the point was symbolized by a great spiralling serpent, called Mehen (which means ‘coiled one’).

The encapsulating snake acts as the membrane of the cosmos symbolizing the furthest limit of the ordered world within the vast abyss of formlessness.

Norse Mythology Uses Snake to Convey Order in the World

A Norse mythology also used the snake to convey an ordered world…

It was monstrous and encircled the entire globe with its tail in his mouth. And once he lets go of it, the world would collapse and everything would be wiped out, to renew once again by the repopulation from a couple of survivors. (kind of like the Arch of Noah).

The Norse called this snake Yörmungandr. The ancient Egyptians called theirs sd-m-r3 (tail in mouth)

The name Ouroboros was given by the Greeks and roughly means TAIL-DEVOURING

When the Greeks discovered the Egyptian tail-eating-snake iconography, they incorporated it into their magical and alchemical text. Its meanings would slightly diverge.

In the Chrysopheia alchemical text,

How did the cross enter the world of Christianity?

It may seem obvious that its symbol is a cross because Jesus was crucified on it. But Jesus also “turned water into wine” and healed hundreds of sick people. Why not a symbol of grapes or a sick person?

Also, it should be noted that Jesus was most likely crucified on a straight or T-shape beam.

 

 

 

Etymology of the Word “Cross”

A lot of information can be found in studying words (etymology)

See, the English word “cross” comes from the Latin word “Crux” to denote the torture device used for capital punishment during the Roman Era. Criminals were put in various inhumane ways on these wooden objects, which were most commonly shaped like a pole or a T, and they were to suffer an excruciating slow death (it’s actually where the word exCRUCiating comes from).

Remember that the new testament, which recounts the life and death of Jesus, was originally written in Koine Greek, an ancient Greek dialect, and later, translated to Latin. So, Crux was actually translated from STAUROS σταυρός, which has the same connotation.

In the original Greek New testament,  Stauros, was often written in an abbreviated form… Like this.

 



The greek letter Tau and letter Rho were superimposed to form a single character. This monogram, called the Tau Rho, (or stavrogram) would later become one of the Christian symbols, but until then, it was just a way of abbreviating the device on which Jesus died on.

 

Original Christian Symbols

In the first 4 centuries of its prominence, Christianity faced a lot of persecution by the Roman Empire. Christians had secret symbols in order to recognize each other. There was the :



* The Ichthys ΙΧΘΥΣ fish

* The letters Alpha and Omega

* The dove

* The anchor



There were more, but the cross was not one of them. Until came Constantine 1st, the first Roman emperor to have converted to Christianity.

 

Constantine and His Dream

Before converting, Constantine was a pagan like the majority of the Roman people and their ancestors, worshipping different gods including the all mighty and All-Seeing Sun God, which is symbolized by a…. cross.

So now you see what I’m getting at, but let’s keep going….

Rome was going through a civil war in the early 300s, and Constantine, then just a ruler of western Rome was about to become the sole Roman emperor. It was said that on his way to battle against the Roman emperor, Maxentius, Constantine and his Gallic troop saw something miraculous in the sky, a huge cross. There was even an inscription saying “By this Conquer”.

The following night, Constantine dreamed of Christ telling him to make what he had seen in the sky, the symbol of God and, to conquer by it.

Affected by this dream, Constantine ordered for all arms and flags to be marked with a Chi cross (X), the first letter of Christ (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ). Other accounts say that the mark was the Chi-Rho, a superimposed monogram of the first two letters of the Christ. Chi and Rho. (Χ and Ρ).

 



Early biblical authors had a thing with making sacred words into codes by using their first two letters and adding a line on top. The new testament is full of these Nomina Sacras.

In 312, Constantine and his soldiers eventually overthrew Maxentius and his men, and to them, this was done with the divine intervention of God, the Christian god, marked by the cross.

From here on,