Secret History #13: Mandate of Heaven

Today we discuss the idea of

civilization

and um first I want to present to you

the general understanding of how we get

civilization

and then I will present to you an

alternative. Okay. So the traditional

understanding is the Marxist

understanding. This is idea proposed by

Carl Marx and it's the dominant idea. So

in the beginning we were hunter

gatherers and it sucked to be hunter

gatherer because you could not find food

and then we discovered agriculture

farming that allowed for

surplus

food.

Surplus just means that you have more

food than you can eat. And so now you

have people who don't have to work.

Okay? An elite.

And as such, they can engage in

activities that improve the well-being

of everyone and which create the basis

for civilization. These things include

religion, okay, which is just myths and

stories,

but also arts,

dance music song songs

um, paintings, and then of course you

have science and technology.

And with these three things in place,

now you can grow as a society. Okay? You

can now build cities. Why? Because now

you can have irrigation

and farming.

Okay? You can now direct the river the

river flow. So you can use more

farmland.

Okay? you can now have a heredit her

hereditary elite

and so that these people can focus their

entire time on innovation on science on

progress.

Okay?

And then you have writing

because only a herited elite has the

time and the resources to learn how to

write because remember back then writing

is a very difficult activity. You have

to spend your entire life learning it

and practicing it. And then you have the

idea of money and property.

Okay. And together these four things are

what we refer to as

civilization.

Okay. Now there are good things that

come from civilization, religion, arts

and science. But there are also bad

things as well which include war,

slavery

and debt.

Okay. And

that is a story civilization that you

are taught in school and that most

mainstream academics understand.

Today I wanted to propose an alternative

and I think this is a much more

compelling alternative than this one.

And the idea is this

very from the very beginning we were

religious, artistic and capable of

science. Okay?

We do not need

an elite to do this for us. We are all

capable of doing this by ourselves. And

the examples of course are the cave

paintings that we discussed as well as

these religious settlements. Go play

temple koak.

Okay. And as we discussed before people

come together to practice their religion

building temples, building monuments.

And then slowly around these temples you

have development of farming in order to

sustain these temples in order to

practice the religion. But over time

what happens is that the temple people

become corrupt rather than be being

elected by the people rather than serve

the people they become hereditary. Okay?

They be they engage in rent seeking and

so what people do is they just leave

and build a temple somewhere else. Okay.

And throughout this time all these

temples are being built. But in certain

locations

the temples can also engage in trade.

Why? Because they're the meeting place

of many many other communities. And as

such, their real estate is the most

valuable in the world. And so it's hard

for people to leave. And the place just

grows and grows and grows.

And as this civilization grows, the

people in charge create something called

a temple economy.

Okay? And this is just a primal form of

of taxation. Basically what happens is

that everyone brings food to the temple

and the priest then redistribute

the food amongst everyone else. Okay.

That allows for public works projects

like irrigation mainly irrigation but

also more temples. Okay. And because of

this economy now you need writing.

You need to record how much food you

have. You have to record who gets what

food, the rations. You also need to

record trade, right? How much

um grain you're getting from here, how

much cows you're going giving to over

there. Okay, they have a running system.

Then you have money

and but as this civilization develops a

strict hierarchy emerges

and the hierarchy goes against the

natural order. Also remember that people

at any time can just choose to leave. So

how do you make people stay where they

are and just follow the natural order?

Well now you have to create mythology.

Okay?

Which then you encode or write down. So

that seems as though it's coming from

the gods themselves.

Okay? Does that make sense? In other

words,

civilization did not give us religion,

arts, and science. We already had these

things. We could at any time in our

history do all these things.

Civilization is a device meant to

gaslight or fool people into believing

that a hierarchy is legitimate when it

is not legitimate. It is meant to fool

people into thinking of a that this

hierarchal system is divinely ordained.

Okay. So that's the argument I will make

to you today. Before I continue, are you

clear about this framework? This is this

is traditional framework. This is this

is what you've been taught in school.

The problem with this framework is that

it assumes that we're all stupid.

And if we're all stupid, it's hard to

explain how we did the cave paintings,

how we built kabe,

okay? How we did ko. It assumes all

these things. This this new

understanding is that we're all capable

of creativity

but eventually because of

um social development we have these

large cities and now the people in

charge need to create civilization in

order to justify the hierarchy.

Okay. All right. So having said that,

let's look at the four earliest major

civilizations

in our history and they are of course

Egypt,

Mesopotamia which is modern day Iraq,

the Indis Valley civilization.

This is al also referred to as the

Harapen. Okay, Harapen civilization

because their capital is Harapa. And

then the last one of course is China.

Right?

Now the question then is why is that

these four

are the early civilizations and they

have three unique characteristics. Okay.

The first is their latitude. They're

actually in the same latitude. They're

not too hot and they're not too cold

which makes them perfect for

agriculture. Okay. That's the first

characteristic. Second characteristic is

that they are by major rivers. Right. So

Egypt is of course by the Nile. Uh

Mesopenia has been called the Tigris and

the Euphrates.

Um Indis Valley of course has the Indis

River and China has of course the Yellow

River. Okay,

that's the second major characteristic.

This allows for you to build a fairly

large city. Okay, because now you can

solve the water and transportation

problem. Okay, and also agriculture. And

the last characteristic which is the

most important is they're by the sea or

they're by the ocean which allows for

them to engage in trade. Okay,

transportation bringing in new goods,

new people and new ideas. So uh Egypt

has the Mediterranean

as well as the Red Sea. Mesopotamia

goes into Arabian Sea which goes into

the Indian Ocean. And so the India is

the same situation. Okay? Goes in the

urban sea and then the Indian Ocean.

China of course goes into the Pacific.

All right? So what will happen over time

is that because of the trade location

they're able to build a very large city

okay over time. So um but then what will

happen is that as larger city becomes

larger and larger they will develop

colonies

upstream and downstream of the river.

Okay.

Um

so they will build more colonies and

this is how you get civilization. Okay,

you you always have a major city and as

it becomes too big, you have other

places in order to

um expand your trade reach. Okay, so the

the priority is trade and as you can see

what's happening is that these now these

areas are able to connect the entire

world, right? So Egypt is able to

connect Europe and the Leavant and

Africa. Okay. Uh Mr. is able to connect

Anatolia

um Asia, Central Asia and then Inis

Valley is able to do the same thing.

Okay, China is a special case because of

the Himalayas.

So there is trade actually between China

and these other parts but not as much

and so China is a special case and we

don't so that's why we don't we don't

discuss China in this class. Okay. So

this is these three places are what we

collectively call western civilization.

So you may have thought that western

civilization is just Europe and America.

That's not true. Okay. If you just look

at the history

um these places have always been in

contact with each other and collectively

they built a foundation for western

civilization. Let me ask you this

question.

Looking at this map

where is the most strategically located

place? You guys know

>> it's here, right? Does that make sense

you guys? This is right in the center of

global trade. And guess what? This place

is where human civilization began. This

place is what we call Samaria. Samar,

okay?

And this is where writing was invented.

Okay? And this is where a lot of trade

happened because if you just look at

this map, Samaria is what connects

everyone to everyone else. Right? If

you're in the in civilization and you

want to get through Egypt, you have to

first transport your goods to Samaria,

which then overland takes it to Egypt.

Same thing with Egypt. Okay? Same thing

if you want to reach everywhere else.

Does that make sense? That's why Samaria

was um the first major civilization.

Okay? and they invented writing as well

as irrigation as well as a lot of

technology. And there's been a lot of

debate about Samaria because one thing

that puzzles scholars and historians is

the language that Samarans speak is not

the same as the surrounding areas. Okay?

So that's why a lot of historians

believe that the people in Samaria came

from somewhere else and that may be

true. Why? because

this is the major trade route, right?

And it's possible that what happened was

that different people came together in

this area to trade and they form their

own language. That is possible. Okay. Um

also scholars have been surprised or

amazed at the rapid development of

Samaria and that's why okay I don't know

why why but there are some people on the

internet who believe that aliens came to

Samaria and created humans okay these

aliens called are called the anunnaki

and it's a really stupid idea and what

you learn in this class is that if you

put humans together and they need to do

something they will do it very Okay,

does that make sense?

>> Okay, necessity is the mother of

creativity. It's because they have to

come together to trade during an act

that they create their own writing

system.

Okay. So, if I were to take different

people from from the world and just dump

them on an island, you guys would really

quickly be able to develop your own

language, your own writing system, your

own civilization because again,

necessity is the mother of invention.

All right. All right. So that's the

general framework we're working with.

Any more qu any questions before I cons

continue? Okay, good. All right. So

let's do the PPT.

All right.

So in this class I want to talk about

how because of civilization development

they start to uh promote writing and

promote mythology. Okay. And what I will

show you is that by studying mythology

properly, you can actually uh decode or

uncover or reveal the history of the

civilization even though it may be lost

to us. Okay. All right. Let's continue.

All right. So, um, one principle that I

want you to learn about human history is

that it's a constant process of

inversion. Okay. And what I mean by that

is that as humans progress or as humans

as human society grows and grows they

need to constantly re innovate in their

system and they do it through inversion.

So um during the caping era it was an

egalitarian society uh which was fluid

which was dynamic and they were

animistic which which meant that they

believed that um everything had god in

it. Okay, they were all part of God. And

then agriculture, you had the mother god

of civilization because you needed

fertility, right? The mother goddess um

is able to give you more children as

well as help you grow crops. But over

time as

as societies became larger and larger,

they start to go war with each other.

Okay? And now the male overtakes the

female. Rather than worship the mother

goddess, they now worship the sky god.

And before during the mother goddess, it

was assumed that the mother goddess

serves us because she's kind, she's

compassionate. But now the sky god, we

have to serve the gods. Okay. Um and

then as society becomes more hereditary,

what happens often are civil wars where

the prince kills the king. Okay. The son

kills the father in an aversion. Okay.

The last process is that um over time as

society becomes more populated you need

a bureaucracy. What happen will happen

is that the bureaucrats will collude

together to steal power from the king.

Okay. The servant rules the king. Okay.

So this is a major pattern of historical

development that that I want you guys to

remember. Remember that history is a

constant process of inversion. Okay.

where the old order is being dethroned

by the new order. Okay. So that's one

idea I want you guys to remember. Okay.

All right. So basic uh framework we're

working with is that before we saw that

the mother goddess where women were in

control and they focus on balance and

harmony, okay, and fertility. And their

understanding of the mother goddess is

that she's kind and she's she's

compassionate. Okay. So you don't really

have to work that much. You just have to

uh respect her and she will provide you

with a lot of babies and a lot of good

food. Okay. Now we go to the sky god and

different societies have different sky

gods but they're basically the same

concept. So in Egypt they have Rah. In

Babylon they have they have Marduk. In

Greece they have Zeus. In Rome they have

Jupiter. Right? And the sky god demands

struggle and toil. Okay. to rape,

exploit, control the earth, to take the

mother goddess and to control her. Okay?

And you do that by building canals, by

building farms. So it's a constant

process of exploitation. Okay? Not only

exploiting nature, the mother goddess,

but you're also exploiting each other.

You go to war, you conquer other people,

you enslave them. Okay? It's a constant

process of sacrifice and discipline.

Okay? So this is the major transition.

All right?

So the four major civilizations we

talked about, as you can see from this

map, they're the same latitude, right?

China's over here. Again, because of the

Himalayas, they're blocked from the rest

of the world. Okay? But these three

areas, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Inis

Valley, you can see how close they are

to each other and how they can easily

access each other through the sea,

right? And once they are able to access

each other, they can then access other

parts of the world as well. So right

from the beginning guys this is really

important. Western society was

integrated through trade through

communication and so the ideas the

people were always in exchange with each

other. Okay. So you cannot understand

development of Egypt in isolation from

Mesopotamia and the Indis Valley. Okay.

They were all um influence each other.

Unfortunately, because of Western

prejudice, you're often taught that

these things are separate from each

other. Okay? But they existed in

dialogue with each other.

All right? Um so the critical

civilization is the Middle East. Why?

Because of the fertile crescent. Okay.

So um Samaria Sumer is where we where we

can sort the cradle of civilization

because as I mentioned to you it is the

center of all global trade. It's where

all civilizations meet as but as you can

also see it's also extremely fertile.

Okay. So this this is this has

historically been the wealthiest part of

the world. Strategically is the most

important part of the world and it's

still true even today. Okay. That's why

you have all these wars in the middle

Middle East. That's why America is so

supportive of Israel.

Okay. So as I mentioned to you um what

will happen is that because of trade

Uric will become a large city and then

as the city becomes larger and larger it

will establish colonies elsewhere as

well and these will become the major

city states of Mesopotamia and for

thousands of years they will fight each

other until um Sarum Akad unifies this

uh region. Okay.

Sumer is impressive. Um, they're known

for their canals. They're known for

their irrigation. And again, scholars

are sort of mesmerized by how they're

able to do this. But one thing that you

learn this class is that when humans

come together for religious purposes,

they're capable of doing amazing stuff.

These are zagurits. They're temples.

Okay? And these zagurites were the

center of their civilization. Remember

that also they start off with a temple

that then builds out outwards. Okay? And

these zagrates are important because

they are literally considered the home

of their gods. And these places are

sacred. So only priests are allowed to

go inside it. People can deliver gifts

to the gods through the priest. But the

people themselves are not allowed to

interact with the priest. That's how the

priests are able to keep control over

the cities. Okay?

And the priests themselves are

considered servants of the gods. This is

kuneao form, right? This is kuneao form

which is the first writing system ever

invented. Um what's interesting about

this is how they did this. So what they

did was this. They just took clay from

the river beds. Okay? And then before it

hardens, you just take a read and you

write down some marks in the clay. And

then what you do is this. You just put

out in the sun and then it hardens,

right? And it's it's there forever.

That's why we still have them today

because rock does not decay. Okay? And

that's why we know more about Samaria

than we know about other places.

Um for most of agricultural history we

celebrate the mother gods. Okay. But

then as I mentioned over time as society

um becomes larger and larger the men

start to take control and so they in

they inverted the mythology of the

mother goddess. Now the sky god who is

monarch here kills the mother goddess to

create the world. Okay. A process of

inversion.

Um so to understand this process we will

read the most famous

epic from Mesopotamia called the enuma

allesh and alesh means from up high. So

it's a bible basically it's like what

god told us and this is a story of the

creation of the world. Okay. So what's

really important to understand is that

all the stories are written down in

stone. Okay?

And again guys, they didn't have to do

this because everyone was able to

memorize the story line for line and

that's what we did historically. So why

did they um write this in stone? For

propaganda purposes, right? It's the

same as in today's world, you go see a

film. When you see a film, you're

mesmerized. You're hypnotized by the

beauty of it. And you must think that

this film must be the gods speaking

themselves.

Okay? You don't think about, okay, how

do they put this together? Your mind

doesn't think like that. Your mind's

like, oh my god, this is an image before

me. Therefore, it must be true. Okay?

And that's why they wrote stuff down for

propaganda purposes. Now, what's

interesting is that there's different

writing systems around the world. So, in

Mesopotenia, they had the these K

tablets, right? But in Egypt as you may

know they have papyrus. Okay, papyrus

are just are these these plants they

take out they take out the plants and

then uh put them together in the sun.

Okay, and then they become like these

scrolls that you can write on in China

of course have the paper. So what's

interesting is that when the need arises

for writing we always find find of like

creative ways to express ourselves in

writing. Okay, papyrus scrolls don't

really last that long. That's why we

know less about Egypt than we know about

Mesopotamia.

All right. So the Emirash was written on

K tablets. So let's go over um the story

the Enimash.

So um in the beginning there are two

major gods. Absu and Tiiamat.

Absu means fresh water. Tiiamat means

salt water. Okay. Fresh water of course

is the river. Um salt water is the

ocean. Okay. When they come together,

they create all possible life, including

their children, the new gods. Tiiamat

and Absu create these new gods, but

they're children. So, they're really

loud. And Absu is like, "You know what?

These children are really annoying. I

want to kill them." Tiamat overhears

this and Tiamat tells her children who

rebel and kill Absu. But then Tmat's

like, "You know what? They killed my

husband." So now she's pissed. Okay. So

she decides she's going to go kill her

children too. She has a general and

there is this huge army and they start

start to attack the their children.

These children are

um thrown back by Tiiamat. So they elect

a new champion called Murdoch, the

thunder god, the sky god to lead them

into battle against Tiiamat. And in the

final battle um um Murdoch who's al also

called BL he kills Tiamat. Okay. Now

what happens afterwards is really

interesting because after he kills

Tiamat the mother goddess he takes her

body and then from her body he builds an

entire world. He builds both the sky and

the planet earth. Okay so let's read

some lines. be out rested serving the

corpse in order to divide the lump by a

clever scheme. He split her into two

like a dried fish. Okay, so he literally

cut her like a fish. One half of her he

set up and stretched out as the heavens.

He built the sky from her body. He

stretched the skin and appointed a watch

while the with the instruction not to

let her waters escape. He crossed over

the heavens, surveyed the celestial

parts and adjusted them to match the

absu nominates abode. So Absu was the

husband who was killed. Be measured the

shape of the Absu and set up Ezra a

leprecha of Escala and Escala Ezra which

he had built in the heavens. He settled

in the shrines anu ll and l. Okay. So

what's important to understand is this.

He's doing this to the mother goddess.

Okay. So not only is monarch proclaiming

a new order but he's also proclaiming

new values. New values of struggle,

exploitation,

toil. Right? Before the mother gods was

a religion of balance and harmony. Don't

destroy things. Worship the animals as

they're your friends. If you kill them,

make sacrifices to them. And now this

new religion is no, destroy the world

and make it yours. Okay? So, this is a

civilization that practice irrigation,

right? Because irrigation really is

about controlling the earth.

All right. Let's continue.

All right. So what happens now is that

after Marduk

um creates the world he has to establish

a bureaucratic order okay an order a

hierarchal order so he says he fashioned

heaven stations for the great gods and

set constellations the patterns of the

stars he appointed the year marked up

divisions and set up three stars each

for the 12 months okay so he's bally

building a calendar the idea here is

that all these were bureaucratic

inventions in Samaria in order to better

govern the people

What this myth is doing, the eminish is

doing is proclaiming that the

bureaucratic world is divinely ordained.

Okay, this didn't come from the priest.

It came from the gods. The priests are

just the messengers.

All right, let's continue.

All right, so

now that Mark has built this world, he's

like, you know what? I'm tired and I

want a place to rest. So what I'm going

to do now is I'm going to build a house

which is my temple and then I'm going to

make slaves in order to serve me. And

these slaves are called humans. Okay?

>> That's why we're invented to to serve

the gods before we understood that the

gods served us helped us or loved us.

And now we must become slaves to the

gods.

Beneath the celestial parts whose floor

I made firm, I will build a house to to

be my luxurious abode. Within within I

will establish a shrine. I will found my

chamber and establish my kingship. Okay.

All right. So now he's going to turn

humans into slaves. He conceived the

desire to accomplish clever things. He

opened his mouth addressing eel. He

counsels that which he had ponder in his

heart. I will bring together blood to

form bone. I will bring into being Lula

whose name shall be man. Okay.

All right. The gods, by the way, are

called the Anunnaki. Okay. That that

that's why there are conspiracy

theorists on the internet who say that

we're invented by the Anunnaki.

All right. So, what Marduk does is that

he takes his enemy uh Tingu and then he

kills him and then from his blood uh he

will create mankind. Okay. They bound

him holding him before ale. They

inflicted the penalty on him and severed

his blood vessels. From his blood he

created mankind on whom he imposed the

service of the gods and set the gods

free. Okay. Now it's really interesting

for us to remember is that throughout

this poem the monarch has different

names be eel. Okay. And the reason why

is that what happens in these epics is

they take different traditions and they

combine together into one composite

story. Okay.

All right.

After the wise eel had created mankind

and had imposed the service of the gods

upon them, that task is beyond

comprehension. For Nima performed the

creation with the skill of Mardok. King

Mard divided the gods of the Anunnaki.

Okay, the gods into upper and lower

groups. He assigned 300 in the heavens

to guard the decrees of Enu and

appointed them as a god. Okay. So now

he's going to create this hierarchy. So

yes, all humans are slaves but there are

some humans who are better slaves than

other humans. Okay, that's what explains

the hierarchy. So as you can see the

lash it was written in order to justify

the existing power structure and

honestly this is a concept that's still

true today. Right? Why do we have

schools? Why do we have media? Why do we

have entertainment? It's to justify the

existing power structure and social

order. Okay.

All right.

Now we get towards the end and this is

to establish that Babylon is the divine

city. If it's divine, it means you can't

leave it. You all want to be here. Even

though being in Babylon means your

enslavement. Okay. Let us make a shrine

of great renown. Your chamber will be

our resting place wherein we may repose.

Let us erect a shrine to house a

pedestal wherein we may repose when we

finish the work. When Mark heard this,

he beame as brightly as the light of

day. Build Babylon the t you have

sought. Let bricks for it be molded and

raised a shrine. The Anunnaki wield the

pig for one year. They made the needed

bricks. Okay, so Babylon, the capital is

a city made by the gods for the gods and

then humans are there to serve the gods.

Okay. So this is the divine order. This

is the mandate of heaven.

Okay. And as you will as you will see

this is not just true for Mesopotamia

for Babylon but also true for all major

civilizations including Egypt. Okay. So

this is a tapestry from Egypt. You can

as you can see the gods are in control.

The gods are the public masters and the

kings are just being controlled by the

gods and then humans just do what the

gods demand of them. Okay. This is just

the natural order. This is the minute of

heaven. This is the way that it should

be. Okay, now let's talk about the epic

of Gilgamesh. So there are two major

literary achievements of Mesopotania.

The first is the emir lash. The second

is something called the epic of

Gilamash. As you can see, Gilgamash,

he is a giant human. He's a king. He's

considered the first king of Eric. Okay?

And he's so big that he that a lion is

his pet.

Okay?

Um what happens is that Gilgamesh is a

king but he's a tyrant. So he takes the

men to war and he sleeps with all the

women. So the people cry to the gods for

relief from Gilgamesh. So the gods

create Inkadoo from uh clay. Okay. And

this is very similar to the story of

Adam in the Bible. And Incadoo is like

an animal. But then Giggle Mash sends a

prostitute to seduce him and then become

civilized. Okay? And now Enkodu and

Gamash fight. And when they fight, they

realize that they can't beat each other.

So they decide to become best friends.

They're best friends now. And they

embark on all these adventures together.

They go kill um these divine beings. Um

they go kill the protector of the

forest. Um they kill a divine bull. The

gods are now kind of pissed at them

because they're disrupting the natural

order. Okay. So, the gods have a

meeting. They decide that one of them

must die. So, they kill Ankodu. When

Ankodu dies, Gamash is heartbroken. And

he's scared because he's afraid that he

will die as well. So, he sets on a quest

for immortality. Okay, he goes and tries

to figure out how to live forever. He

ultimately fails. Okay. And it ends with

Gil actually returning home and he sees

happiness in the walled cities and his

people being happy. Okay. So the moral

of the story is that immortality is not

about living forever. Immortality is

about doing great things for your people

so that you'll be remembered forever.

Celebrate forever. So the irony is that

even though Gilgash failed in his quest,

he ultimately succeeded in his mission

because because we have his epic and so

we're able to celebrate him even today.

Okay, so it's a story that um is being

told. The question now is why is a story

being told and one theory is that this

is a concept of kingship. Being a king

means not doing whatever you want. Being

a king means to serve the people so that

people will celebrate you and remember

you forever and immortalize you in

writing. Okay, that's a theory.

All right, but ultimately Gilgamesh is a

bureaucratic creation and I'm going to

explain to you how this creation works.

Through this creation process, we can

understand how human society develops

over time. So in the beginning what

happens is that each region has local

legends okay and these local heroes are

celebrated through stories. So stories

of demagogues like Hercules right and

the epic heroism

um they have these stories because each

region has a local king and this local

king says well I'm a descendant of

Hercules and therefore I should rule

over you. Okay. And what will happen is

that these stories become a test for the

king. If Hercules can fight a lion, then

you are his ances uh descendant, right?

You are his descendant. Therefore, you

shall fight a lion. Okay? And that's how

you justify your kingship through these

acts of heroism that's relayed to you in

stories. Okay? That's the first step.

Second step is what happens is that as

these different areas become

consolidated into a much larger area,

these stories themselves become

consolidated.

So, Google Mash was basically different

heroes. um one come one king comes to

dominate a region then then what happens

afterwards is that as the region becomes

larger and larger you need a

bureaucracy. So bureaucratic priests

come into power. They add in morality

and messaging control the people and the

king. Okay. The major message is the

king must serve the people and then the

priests control the king. Um but what

will happen is that these different

bureaucrac bureaucratic factions will

fight each other and they will have

different versions of the story. Okay.

So bureaucratic priests take power the

morality and messaging changes. Okay. As

different bureaucratic priests take

power. Okay. The must the king must

learn humility. So this is a hard thing

to understand but it's really important

for us to understand otherwise you can't

understand the Bible and um other

literary equations. So what I'm going to

do is I'm going to give you an example

to help you better understand this

process of storytelling. All right. So

let's imagine three universities Ohio

State University, Connecticut and

Mberry. And they all have their own

local legends. Okay. So in these places

something happened that capture the

imagination of all the students. know

maybe Ohio State University, Michael

James gets drunk the night before

examination and he still matches passive

and the students are like that's a great

story. Okay, but what happens over time

is that because it's such a great story

as story as a story is told more and

more becomes exaggerated.

Why? Because it becomes exaggerated.

It's much more interesting. It's become

much more memorable. Okay? And over time

people add color to it to make it even

more memorable. If you don't do that,

the story becomes forgotten. Okay? So

only way to keep a story alive is by

constantly exaggerating it and bringing

color to it. So let's see what happens

over time the story becomes Michael

James gets drunk before every

examination and he scores 100. Okay,

that's an exaggeration. And then over

time naturally through the oral

tradition the story becomes even more

exaggerated. Michael James bet his

professor that he could get 100 on the

exam while drunk. After James finished

the exam he bombed on the professor.

Okay, flew up on the professor. The

professor could not do anything because

James had got 100 on the exam. Okay. All

right. So, human beings just do this

naturally. Something happens. They think

it's they think it's interesting. Then

it becomes a legend, becomes a story.

Okay. And this happens everywhere. So,

Connecticut College, a football player

scores a winning touchdown. Okay? And

then it becomes exaggerated. The guy

scores touchdown every game. And then

even more exaggerated, the guy hits a

home run to help his team win a

championship. And then later that that

day, he scores a touchdown to win

another. Okay, so it becomes more

exaggerated. And then let let's look at

the last one. At Middle Berry College,

Pat Jack drives can take a piss. Okay,

he just does that for no reason. Becomes

more exaggerated. He goes to a new city

every day to take a piss. Okay, and then

it becomes even more exaggerated. And

now you add color detail to it. Pat Jack

drove to Canada and accidentally pissed

on a sleeping beer. Okay. He ran up a

tree without his pants and forest

rangers had to come rescue him.

>> Okay. All right. So, this is what

happens naturally. The story becomes

funnier. The story becomes more

colorful, more detailed, more

exaggerated so that we're able to

remember it. Okay.

And then over time, what happens is that

these stories become consolidated,

combined together to form a new story.

Okay?

Harvard's most legendary student was

Pitbull James. He once rolled an exam

that no professor could pass. He once

hit a home run with one arm. He once

pissed on sleeping bear just so he could

knock down the bear with one punch.

Okay, so it becomes even more

exaggerated becomes consolidated

just as the epic of Giggamash. Okay, but

then what happens is the bureaucrats

take over. Okay, the people in charge

take over and they have to change the

story in order to better control people.

And there are different versions of this

process. So, so let's look at three. All

right, you're at this one line and you

change the story, right? In the first

version, when he became a billionaire,

he gave it all to Harvard. Okay, so

obviously Harvard wrote this story to

say, you know what? I don't we don't

care what you do as long as you give us

money. Okay, that's the first version.

Second version is when he wrote he found

his true love, he settled down in the

woods, right fulltime. Okay, so this is

signaling the primacy of writers over

athletes. Okay, the the smart over the

brave. The third is the bear ate him.

Okay, so you punch the bear and the bear

decides to eat him, which is like don't

be a stupid athlete. Okay, and and so

when you add these actually lines, you

make the story less interesting, less

colorful, but you do so in order to

better control how people think. And

this is a process that we see throughout

human history. So think of these

classics of these Chinese classics,

right? Sangu Romance of Three Kingdoms.

>> Yeah.

>> Uh CG, right?

>> Journey to the west,

right? Banners of the water margin. If

you read them, they're not that

interesting. But before you can imagine

that they were interesting but the

bureaucrats took them and changed them

into boring stories that they can now

teach school children to brainwash them.

Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. So

that's a process of civilization.

All right. So another example is he

assolds theogyny and he's talking about

Greek mythology. Okay. Greek religion.

So the process goes like this.

At first, Gaya, who is like the mother

goddess, and Chaos, they give birth to

the gods. Ga marries one of these gods,

Uranus. Okay? And they give birth

together to 12 titans.

But

um Uranus doesn't really like children,

so he beats up his children. So these

children with help from the mother

decides to rebel against Uranus. The

youngest son, Cronis, kills Uranus.

Okay, then Uranus marries Ria and now

Cronis is king, but he's afraid that his

children will eventually rebel against

him just like he he rebelled against his

father. Therefore, he eats all his

children. Ria, the mother is upset about

this. So, she decides, I'm going to give

birth to Zeus in secret. So, she runs

off to an island um and she gives birth

to him in secret and he leaves Zeus

there to grow up. Okay. Eventually he

grows up and then he goes back to

Cronis. He becomes cupbearer to Cronis

and then poisons him. Okay. And that's

how Zeus becomes the ultimate king.

What's really interesting for our

purposes is that this myth influences

the origin story of major historical

figures. Okay. So if you look at these

major historical figures, you will find

that it's a very similar story. So sir

of Akid uh who found the Aadian Empire,

Ramis and Reheis who founded Rome, King

David founded Israel and Genghask Khan

of the Mongols. Okay, they all share the

similar origin story. So where do we get

this origin story from?

Okay, so going back, we're seeing three

layers, right? So the first layer is the

original layer, which the animistic

layer. Okay, so different gods come

together and they create humans. The

second layer is when Cronis rebelss

against Uranus and establish the

kingship. Okay?

Right. The third layer is this. The

third is the most interesting. Usually

when you're king, you need a general.

And what often happens is that the king

likes to hire a foreign mercenary to be

a general. Why? Because first of all,

he's of low birth, right? Therefore, no

legitimacy. Second, he's a foreigner and

therefore he doesn't have any global

factions behind him. But often what

happens is that this foreign mercenary

is so talented that he's able to build a

little faction to overthrow the king and

become king himself because he's really

talented. This is true for Gangask Khan.

This is true for King David of Israel.

This is true for Sar of Akit. Okay? So

there are lots of historical figures

like that. Even in Chinese history, you

have quite a few historical figures like

this as well. So the founder of the Song

dynasty was this sort of person. The

problem though is that once you keep him

as king, he has a legitimacy problem.

He's of low birth. He's a foreigner,

right? So what do you do? You create a

myth of Zeus, right? That Zeus himself

was of low birth and a foreigner, but

not really because he's a secret son of

the king. Okay? And that's why you have

these stories to legitimize

the

uh the king.

All right. So again um this follows the

dynastic cycle. Okay. So in the

beginning the high priestess who

represents the mother goddess she has a

consort and so they establish a

hereditary elite but this hereditary

elite makes people unhappy with the

system. So then one um prince or one of

the sons decides you know what I'm going

to form my own political faction. I'm

I'm become a warlord. I'm going to

overthrow the queen and the king. Okay.

And so he slays the consort and marries

the high priestess. Okay, which is

following the pattern of the mythology,

right? Then what happens is that after

warlord dies, his son relies on a

mercenary as general. The mercenary is

often a foreigner and of low birth.

mercenary slays the warlord and makes

himself king. Okay. Okay. Does that make

sense? This is a pattern that we see

over and over in history. This explains

why the myths are constructed the way

they are.

Okay. So another way a metaphor that we

can use is think of myths

and stories as like house renovation.

Okay. So when you renovate a house,

you're adding different layers to it.

Okay? That that's literally what's

happening.

Okay. Um, so we we will look at one last

story to show you how this writing

process works. Remember they met writing

in order to basically gaslight the

people. So even though um Samaria

Mesopotain is developing really quickly

as you can see from this map, it's still

a very diverse place. Okay, they have

different forms of industry and economy.

So maybe in the green you have

agriculture but in the red it's

pastorial meaning it's you're raising

animals sheeps goats you're going over

the place okay so there are two

different types of agriculture the first

form is you are sanitary you just stay

one place and you grow your food you

grow your crops you grow your plants the

second is pastoral where you're going

around and you are um uh feeding your

sheep and your goats okay if you're a

king or if you're a priest if you're

bureaucrat Do you prefer agricultural

people or pastoral people?

>> Agriculture.

>> Obviously agriculture. Why? Because it's

better. It's easier to control them.

Okay. So, what they do now is um they're

going to create these mythologies to

convince people be to give up the free

happy lifestyle of a pastoralist and

become an enslaved farmer. Okay. All

right. And the question is how? Well,

this is how this is called the debate

between the sheep and the grain. Okay?

So, the sheep and the grain have this

debate and they appear before the gods

for judgment. The sheep says I am I'm

the better one. The grain says no, I'm

the better one. Okay, so this debate the

sheep says this

and king of the gods make me descend

from the holy place, my most precious

place. All the yarns about O2, the

splendor of kingship belong to me.

Second, king of the mountain embosses

the king's emblems and puts his emblem

in order. He twists a giant rope against

the great peaks of the rebel land. He

the sling, the quiver, and the long

boughs. The watch over the elite troops

is mine. Sustance of the workers in the

field is mine. The water skin of cool

water and the skinnos are mine. Sweet

oil, the fragrance of the gods, mix oil,

press oil, aromatic oil, cedar oil for

offerings are mine. Okay, so I'm the

sheep. Look how great I am. Okay. I

provide clothing for people. I provide

sandals. I have oil which makes people

more fragrant. I also provide food for

your soldiers. So, I'm great.

In the gown, my clothes are white wool.

The king rejoices on his throne. My

clothing

um is worn by the king himself. Isn't

that proof that I'm the greatest? My

body glistens on the flesh of the great

gods. After purification, priests, the

incarnation priests and the babe priests

have dressed themselves in me for my

holy lustration. I walk with them to my

holy meal. Okay. So the priests when

they make sacrifices, they sacrifice the

sheep. Not the sheep. The priests are

not going to sacrifice grain. They

sacrifice sheep. Okay.

But your hero plow shield binding and

sharps are tools that can be utterly

destroyed. What can you put against me?

Answer me what you can reply. Okay. So

that's the argument from the sheep. The

grain says, "When the beer dough has

been carefully prepared in the oven and

the mash ended tended in the oven,

Nikicoa mixes them for me while your big

bully goats and rams are dispatched for

my banquet. On the thick legs they are

made to stand separate from my produce,

your shepherd on the high plain eyes my

produce endlessly. When I am standing in

the furrow in the field, my farmer

chases away your herdsmen with his

cudel. Even when they look out for you

from the open country to the hidden

places, your fears are not removed from

you. Fang, snakes and bandits, the

creatures of the desert want your life

on the high plane. Every night your

count is made and your tally stick put

into ground so your herdsman can tell

people how many eels there are and how

many young lambs and how many goats and

how many young kids. When gentle winds

blow through the city and strong winds

scatter, they build a milking pen for

you. But when general winds blow through

the city and strong winds scatter, I set

up as a equal to iskar. I am grain. I am

born for the warrior. I do not give up

the churn the vat on legs. The

endorsements of shephering make up your

properties. What can you put against me?

Answer me what you can reply. Okay.

Well, what Green says is first of all,

you don't need to protect me. I can

protect myself. There are no animals

that want to eat me. Okay? And I'm

bountiful. Okay? So, I'm independent.

you do less work, you get more of me.

Okay, that's the argument. And of

course, the gods say that grain is

better. Even though people who raise

sheep and goats, they're stronger,

they're more free, they're more

independent, but kings don't want that.

So they they create these stories, these

mythologies in order to brainwash people

out of their freedom, of their

independence.

Okay? And that's why we have writing.

That's why they invented writing.

Okay. Does that make sense to you guys?

>> Yes.

>> All right. Any questions?

>> Um, so my first question is like earlier

you mentioned that there are three

ancient civilizations that are very

close to each other like Egyptian and uh

>> That's right. So they Yeah, that's

right. Yeah.

>> Yeah. And so my question is like are

there any connections between the the

the distance and how they made all of

this myth and their their methodologies

of creating the gods? Okay, that's a

really good question. Um so um it's

almost impossible us for to answer how

much they influence each other. Okay. um

because even if they were not in contact

with each other, they would still come

up with the myths that they had come up

with in order to justify their

hierarchy. It doesn't make sense. So

mythmaking is just a natural part of the

human process.

So do they share these stories together?

Probably. Okay. But what's important to

understand is that these elites are also

interested in differentiation.

So if I'm in Egypt, I need to prove to

my people that I'm superior to the

people in Mesopotamia in this valley

civilization. And that's why I create

the pyramids, right? Okay. If if I'm at

Mesopotamia, I need to prove that I'm

superior. That's why I create the zero

gods and the epic of Gilamash,

right? So the actual process it's it's

hard to say. Okay. So another way of

thinking this is how much are you

influenced by American popular culture?

probably a lot but how much? Okay, also

you whatever whatever influence that you

have you still also refract it for your

own personal needs as well. Okay, so

that's a great question and you know

scholars spend a long time decades

trying to figure out what the actual

influence of each culture is on the on

the other culture and from my

perspective it's not important. We just

have to assume that there is influence

that these c cultures aren't caught out

of each other. But ultimately at the end

of the day, what do they come up with

has to be unique to their own culture.

They want to prove that their culture is

superior and they want to um and they

have to address local needs as well.

Okay. Does that make sense?

>> Yes. Okay. And I have another question

is that uh I don't know how familiar you

are with the Chinese culture but in our

uh Chinese

uh culture there is a god who created

the earth like is his name is pangu

>> like there there is this mythology of of

how pangu creates the earth and so my

question is like you can notice that in

the Chinese culture pangu is a male and

he is the one who sacrificed himself to

in order to create the earth and in

other myths like uh in in Egyptians that

the creator is this female character. So

so in your opinion like do you think

there is like what what is the

why is this different between

>> Okay. Yeah. So it's hard for us to say

what the original myth was. Okay. The

process is this. In the very beginning

all m all gods should be asexual.

>> Okay. So they are almost they're either

nonsexual like it's not male or female

or they are uh both male and female.

Okay. Because in all traditions

um the god has to be a balance of forces

right? So the male force and the female

force. That's why we have ying and yang.

But over time what will happen is that

they will change certain characteristics

to reflect better the hierarchy. So

maybe in the beginning when females were

in charge um Pangu was a female

character but over time they'll change

it to a male character. All right. It's

almost impossible for us to go back and

um rebuild or reimagine what it was like

originally.

>> Okay.

>> Okay.

>> Thank you.

>> All right.

Okay. Any more questions, guys?

Okay. Great. So um I hope this makes

sense and uh next class what what we're

going to do is we will talk about the

steps people okay the people in the

steps this is civilization so people who

do agriculture but remember that

throughout most of um human history the

major conquerors were people from the

steps okay so gangask con came from the

steps so we'll be discussing them next

class okay all right thank