nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/in … 812AAwk0gA
This person writes:
Christianity - Israel
Judaism - Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq)
Islam - Saudi Arabia
Hinduism - Iran (NOT India. Persian men who invaded the Indus valley in 1000 BC brought the roots of hinduism to India)
Buddhism - India (but buddhism was started by a hindu prince, Siddhartha Buddha, so can be considered a branch of hinduism)
The continents of Europe, Asia, North & South America, Africa and even Australia have been inhabited by humans for at least 50,000 years yet all the major religions of the world today come from central-Asia (i.e. the middle east).
The best answer was:
There’s one small problem with this theory: Hinduism and Buddhism aren’t violent?? Lol. And never have been…
Also, Islam is mostly peaceful and conquers to this day not as much through violence but genuine attractiveness to their converts.
The only part of what they said that makes sense is that other religions and people of the world (pagans) have been taken and transformed into Christians just as they’ve been westernized and ‘civilized’ (this dominance is also due to civilization itself) due to the ‘holier than thou’ attitude people have taken on, and the idea that all others are condemned if they do not follow God’s orders, or that tribal ‘heathens’ are doomed to a life of laziness and waste if they do not comply with westernization/civilization.
So even though the Bible was composed of enlightening truths, it also came with a deadly need to separate and devour…this ownership and control of all others to consume them into the belly of their solution because there was only one correct way to look at things…which is not true, especially considering the similarities of all major religions and beliefs coming from one common denominator. Especially considering the Bible being brought into one belief system from many others.
What we have here is not a bunch of misunderstandings or falsehoods at the hand of religion, what we have is the manipulation of something that is meant to be peaceful, and harmonious used to aid in the egotism and justification for the ascension of man to other man, which in turn lead man to attempt to ascend himself from the earth…into the heavens to take God’s throne. When in all actuality, ascension is spiritual and something between man and God. When man feels that he is God, and this God is all-powerful, then so shall he be! And if this God is always right, so shall he be too! And if this God is creator, then he shall create! And these, God says, are the dangers of following in Satan’s footsteps.
This would explain why we appear to always be searching for the truth outside of ourselves, and not through meditation or connection with the earth, through fighting, destroying, and reductionism through and through. And reductionism is ultimately nihilism, negativity, and total denial of both our past and oneness to our environment.
So I suppose this could be what Alan Watts meant, in a way.
The solution is not to hate religion. It’s the very opposite, in fact. We are in a big mess because people’s value systems are dependent on being selfish, and competitive, and ultimately destructive. And this is still praised in our society because our value system has yet to change! And quite honestly, I don’t think it will without spiritual awakening. Because people feel that they are alone, and must fix everything, and that there is no hope except in ourselves, and that’s not admirable to me…again, this is a very selfish and closed off way to look at things. Because we are NOT alone, and we are connected to the earth and trees and water and birds and bees etc, and more than anything else we are connected to something deeper that we cannot deny. That distinct humanness that reaches out for higher meaning and purpose. Our art, our interpretations- everything, all of it is beautiful. Is it any wonder that arts and religions have died in this mechanical automatic universe we’ve created?? We are inwardly barren. The thing within itself, its essence remains a mystery, as we are unconnected. And so in this search we destroy everything in our path…and ‘salvation’ or peace really is inside. This doesn’t mean that all the pains and horrors of the world are washed away in ‘delusion’ or escape from suffering, but neither do all these technological developments or medical ‘advancements’ solve anything! The duality! We are going to die one day, our world decays…there are forces beyond our control and always will be. Everything we do has an added consequence- this should be complete common sense by now…
The only way to fix this hunger for completeness is inward. Not in material things. Not in money. Not in technology. Not in any of that. This is the great secret we have forgotten, and not only have we forgotten it, but it’s been purposely kept from us so that we want the things that don’t matter, so that ultimately, we lose our very identity. In this society the biggest crisis we face is loss of identity, overpopulation, loss of brotherhood and closeness- all of it. And we think technology gives us more! So we love our abuser, because it’s all we’ve ever known.
This is a very scary aspect of the new ‘Venus Project’ along with the Zeitgeist movement going on. They use some of these truths to, again just like the abuse of truth in religion, gain trust and coerce the masses in favor of this ‘new world order’ of technology controlling everything. They say money being concentrated at the top is the root of all evil, just like communism promotes, and give the mommy and daddy government treatment. It’s very atheistic, and claims that all religion is made to brainwash us (again, the main factor of communism) and technology is going to save us. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back with communism for me. The idea that factories were not attacked, only the people who operated them, and this totally ignores what is making us into slaves and is the true source of the bourgeois’s influence.
Just watching the guy who supposedly started this movement makes me sick. He’s obviously getting paid bigtime for the propaganda he’s pushing.
Loss of identity is PROFIT, and more control for the parasites. So remember who you are, and you will never look for your identity in the charming vices of a leader, or in symbols, or flashy technology and material items, or safety net dreams into other worlds within this one, because this world can never reach perfection, for we are not eternal here in this realm …