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THE CASE FOR THE ELVES: By May of 2001, this reviewer, 'THE SKEPTICAL INVESTIGATOR' will begin a series of hard-hitting book reviews about what so-called "NORMAL" people do not even begin to consider in their "REALITY"; PERHAPS, after a balanced analysis of the 'DATA', some of these very same people may wish TO REEVALUATE what they have heretofore considered TOTAL REALITY....The first BOOK review will be of a hard-hitting look at our DETERIORATING ENVIRONMENT [cf. published poem~"SYNCHRONISM IN THE OZONE"~sadly, based on true reality!]!!!namely, "THE ELVES OF LILY HILL FARM by Penny Kelly....STAY TUNED!!!!! MEANWHILE, LET US LOOK AT AN EXTRAORDINARY MOVIE ~ BASED ON A TRUE STORY ABOUT HEROISM IN THE FACE OF ULTIMATE EVIL!!!
"THE WHITE ROSE" [1983 MOVIE ~ AVAILABLE VIA LOCAL LIBRARY VIDEO COLLECTION]:
This movie stars Lena Stoize as SOPHIE (one of five students who with their professor) formed a secret society dedicated to protesting the Nazi regime....known collectively as the "White Rose" ~ this Munich-based group distributed anti-Hitler literature in a resistance effort that cost them their lives....
Initially, the German Government refused to allow the film to be shown abroad due to an epilogue which pointedly observed that the legal judgment condemning the White Rose society had never been rescinded....ULTIMATELY ~ the political controversy surrounding Michael Verhoeven's film directly caused the German Government to officially INVALIDATE the Nazis "People's Court" system that sentenced the group to death!!!
[WHAT REVIEWERS SAID OF THE FILM]: JANET MASLIN(NEW YORK TIMES) "[It] has honesty, urgency, and emotional power."
THE VILLAGE VOICE: "The White Rose" is a great story and an important one."
And finally ~ NEWHOUSE NEWSPAPERS: IT'S THE FINEST GERMAN MOVIE SINCE "DAS BOOT."
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THE EARTH: The Facts of Life ~ by byron lebeau, [ESQ.-]
{{Review of Penny Kelly's 1997 book, "THE ELVES OF LILY HILL FARM",~Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minnesota}}
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This is a true story about the ignorance of MAN as he blunders his way to the top of the food chain....This is a true story about the ignorance of MAN as he considers himself the most intelligent 'CARETAKER' of our very fragile planet.... This is a true story about how ELVES give Penny Kelly the "facts of life" ~ and by the end of the book, she is OH SO GLAD THEY DID!!!
IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE possibility OF ELVES ~ THEN YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME READING THIS REVIEW ~ so be off with you and God Bless!!! FOR THOSE STILL REMAINING, ONWARD WE TROD!!!
MEET THE ELVES: They stand about two feet tall ['THE WEE PEOPLE'] ~ baggy clothes ~ mismatched shoes ~ very large ears ~ aged & ageless....{William Blake attended a 'FAERY FUNERAL' which is very very rare since they are reputed to live about 1000 years!} The names of these ELVES are Alvey ~ Mairlinna & Kermots....When Penny Kelly was walking her 13 ACRES OF VINEYARD, THEY CONFRONTED HER ~ SLOWLY AT FIRST ~ and wanted her to be their conduit to explain THE WISDOM OF CARING FOR THE EARTH (theirs & ours!!!)
The concept took the form of "A DEAL" since Penny rightfully told Alvey that people would think her "batty" if she started shooting her mouth off about talking to the "wee people!" SO ~ Alvey & the other ELVES devised a plan that would cause the people to pay attention [not too dissimilar than the plot in the movie:THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL ~~ KINDA AN ATTENTION GETTER ~~ also like -DARE I SAY - Robert Shaw in the movie JAWS with the fingernails against the blackboard!!!]
[THE PLAN]: If you (Penny) work your 13 acres of land as WE suggest ~ UNCONDITIONALLY ~ your land will yield a 100 tons of grapes!!! Unfortunately for Penny, it took her a long long time for her to learn what the ELVES meant by the term ~ UNCONDITIONALLY!?! >>AS ALVEY WOULD SAY: WE WANT YOUR HEART & SOUL!<< BUT ~ Penny did not take the ELVES seriously enough, especially when they strictly cautioned against the use of chemical fertilizers & pesticides.
Penny would find ~ "short cuts" ~ that suggested stronly to Alvey (the spokesperson for the ELVES) that Penny was being disingenuous i.e. "not giving us your heart & soul." When she finally frankly admitted that humans have a very poor understanding of the complex interaction of the soil root system AND MEANT IT [!] THE LONG LOST PROMISE STARTED TO TAKE SHAPE! By the end of the book ~ and after many a heartfelt personal & business approach by the ELVES to Penny, her land finally landed the YIELD OF 100 TONS ~ much to the amazement of her neighbors...plus SHE GOT THE "proof" SHE NEEDED TO INFORM THE WORLD of what the ELVES had said about "proper" soil guardianship....
[THIS RESULT ~ COUPLED WITH THE BELOW COMPLEX & COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE SOIL PRODUCES GOOD YIELD ~ LED DIRECTLY TO THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK from what I can tell!]
So what's so bad about chemical fertilizers & pesticides, you may ask? THE ELVES PROVIDED A STARK LESSON about "THE FACTS OF SOIL LIFE!" They mentioned a "SACREDNESS OF NATURE" that Penny had eventually learned when she FINALLY gave "her heart & soul" ~ TO HER LAND!!! ~ WHERE ~ "...her inner self ripens like the sweet grape clusters dangling in the vineyards of LILY HILL FARM."p.202] ~ {{DARE I SAY ~ LIKE a bud growing into a BLOSSOM?!?}}
>>THE STRAIGHT DOPE IN POISONING THE SOIL AS PER THE ELVES<<
SPRAYING POISONOUS CHEMICALS ON FIELDS & GARDENS:
(a) kill the micro-organisms & bacteria that PROVIDE THE GLUE that holds the soil together in its 'crumb' formation.{ The good soil = the crumbs = sand+dirt+clay+minerals+decaying matter as well as the bodies (both living & dead) of millions of micro-organisms. [p.201]
(b) As the chemicals seep down into the soil ~ the soil turns into a HARDNESS that resembles CEMENT! [This is called, "HARDPAN"]
(c) THEREFORE ~ the roots cannot make their way through the "HARDPAN!"
(d) As the night follows the day ~ now the RAINWATER rolls off instead of "sinking deeply into the myriad passages & tunnels formed by the 'crumbs'." [p.202]
(e) THE INEVITABLE: When the micro-organisms & bacteria are killed - their work - which is to excrete humic acids that would break down mineral elements into nutrient forms that plants could use ~ NOW DOES NOT TAKE PLACE!!! [This is really SAD....]
THE "FACTS OF LIFE" of PLANTS: They need nitrogen & phosphorus & potassium ~ IN ANY GOOD FERTILIZER ~ BUT ~ they also need over 50 other mineral nutrients....
>>>IF THE SOIL "CRUMB SYSTEM" IS KILLED BY PESTICIDES ~~ THE PLANTS WILL NOT GET WHAT THEY NEED TO THRIVE!!!<<< [To me, as an outside observer & careful reader of this book, it would be the same as denying a human being VITAMINS A+B+C and expect to survive the onsluaght of the myriad viruses & bacteria lurking all around us!!!~~~ and we call ourselves-INTELLIGENT?!?]
These people who disregard the wisdom of ORGANIC FERTILIZERS are as IGNORANT as those who care not for the administration of the upper layers of our ionosphere as THE H.A.A.R.P PROGRAM GIVES TESTIMONY TO [cf. "ANGELS DON'T PLAY THIS HAARP."] Also, take a moment out & reread my published poem ~ "SYNCHRONISM IN THE OZONE" ~ WHICH ~ UNFORTUNATELY IS BASED ON A true story!!!
There is SO SO much to learn about the "wee people." An interesting article on ELVES can be found in the March 2000 issue of FATE MAGAZINE that explores the so-called 'NATURE SPIRITS' making up the ELVES & the FAIRIES & the DEVAS....Bruce Rux has also written a very intriguing book that deals with the "root" (no pun intended) of the "wee" ones, and you would be very surprised just how far back the story goes....["ARCHITECTS OF THE UNDERWORLD"]...If you are fascinated by every little detail of ELVES & FAIRIES THEN YOU MAY WISH TO PICK UP Edain McCoy's "A WITCH'S GUIDE TO FAERY FOLK" where you can learn all about the some 230 different types of little ones>>like who to avoid & who to placate so they don't eat you up for dinner or steal you away to one of their 'FAERY MOUNDS.' [A WORD TO THE WISE...]
I'll end this review with one observation by Alvey which I quote from the FATE MAGAZINE mentioned above ~ but sums up his wisdom as reflected in Penny Kelly's book:
{{{The foundation of yer reality is nature. Mine, too! We all come from the world of nature. Lose that direct connection & ye will lose the whole reality.}}}
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Penny Kelly is presently an "educational consultant." In addition to her B.A,, she has earned her degree in naturopathic medicine, and is working toward a Ph.D. in nutrition. She previously was a tool & process engineer for the CHRYSLER CORPORATION.
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"CELTIC MYSTERIES IN NEW ENGLAND" by Phil Imbrogno & Marianne Horrigan:[THIS BOOK HAS BEEN ANALYZED ELSEWHERE (cf. Harold Egeln's S.P.A.C.E. WEBSITE from "FAVORITE LINKS" PAGE]....It is my intention simply to highlight certain aspects of this borderline book....
'WAS THIS THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD?' Phil Imbrogno is a science teacher...so when he wanted to find out more about the mystery behind the "stone chambers" of New York & New England ~ HE WAS MET WITH A "STONE WALL" from the so-called scientific community. [pgs. 12-13] >>I WILL BE AS BLUNT & CANDID AS I CAN HERE!!! WE SPEND MILLIONS - IF NOT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN...IF SCIENCE (AND BY THAT I MEAN "CONSENSUS REALITY" DOES NOT EVEN WANT TO BOTHER TO INVESTIGATE THE REAL HISTORY OF OUR PLANET - WHY OH WHY SHOULD WE GIVE 'LIP-SERVICE' TO THIS "FOSSILIZED" APPROACH OF A MIXTURE OF ARROGANCE WITH IGNORANCE!!! I DO NOT THINK I AM OVERSTATING THE CASE AS A 'CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCHER'....I TAUGHT ENGLISH, MYSELF, AND I KNOW FIRST HAND HOW HARD IT WAS TO TEACH ANYTHING THAT MAY SMACK OF CONTROVERSY (WHICH MEANS IT MAY BE TRUE) WITHOUT GOING THROUGH HULA-HOOPS!?! OUR BEST & BRIGHTEST TEACHERS GIVE UP IN DESPAIR; IN MANY INSTANCES, "FALSE REALITY" IS BEING PUSHED UPON OUR KIDS~~~~THIS HAS GOT TO STOP FORTHWITH!!! IF ANY EDUCATOR READING THISES LINES, HAS NOT READ "FORBIDDEN ARCHEOLOGY" by M. Cremo & R. Thompson (now called THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE...) and considerS himself/herself a 'science' teacher, that person had better do some reappraisals FORTHWITH ASAP!!!!
SO WHY ARE THEY 'STONEWALLING, PRAY TELL???Maybe it's because Imbrogno & Horrigan ~ through copious conversation with the "locals" including the "so-called" stories of the North American Indians (AFTER ALL, WE DISENFANCHISED THEM SO THEY SHOULD KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ALONG TIME AGO---TRUE???) found out some really interesting things about the "stone chambers" & our past history [i.e-part of "total reality"]
Allow one fascinating example suffice: In a subchapter title called, "EXPLORERS FROM ATLANTIS" ~ Imbrogno 'explores' the ideas of Yale University & retired geologist ~ one, Carl Barton. [pgs. 14-15] Mr. Barton found scratches on the "STONES" that reflected a writing known as 'ancient Ogam'...but the stones also contained ~ostensibly ~ high energy that he photographed, and Imbrogno, analyzing them via photographic focus, could not rule out that this energy came from a mysterious source. Carl then told Phil & Marianne his theory as to who built the chambers:
Barton suggests that after the Atlantians left their 'sinking continent' ~ they went to North America and "marked" BUT DID NOT BUILD the 'energy areas' of the stone chambers....Later, the Celts FOUND these same areas and remarked them by building temples (chambers) over the same high energy areas....
>>NOTE<< "THESE STANDING STONES HARNESSED THE ENERGY FROM THE EARTH AND FOCUSED IT." [p.15]
THE INDIAN CONNECTION: Many peoples have been "accused" of visiting North & South America ~ long long before Columbus, like THE PHOENICIANS ~ AND THE CELTS ~ looking perhaps for metals like copper & iron since they may have needed new sources that have "dried up" in their native lands. They were both [very secretive voyagers where knowledge was both power & wealth! NEVER FORGET THIS NUGGET OF 'TRUE HISTORY!']
INDIANS AS "CUSTODIANS" OF KNOWLEDGE: Probably the heart of this book is on page 76: Certain tribes like the Wappinger of Mohigan as well as the Delaware, Algonkian and the Huron people described the connection they had to the "Stone Chambers"....[THE INDIANS DO NOT CONSIDER THIS ~ MYTH!] They would sit around the stone chambers and light great fires...SPIRITS WOULD APPEAR AND TAKE FORM...THERE WAS AN 'EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE'...???...IS THIS WHY NO ONE WANTS TO DEAL WITH THE QUESTION OF THE "STONE CHAMBERS?!?" I WONDER OUT LOUD....
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THE AKASHIC RECORDS OF JESUS
[SOURCE: "EDGAR CAYCE'S STORY OF JESUS" by Jeffrey Furst]
Jesus once said: BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM....If this is an indication of a measure of MEN ~ then, perhaps, we must take a very close look at what Edgar Cayce "tapped into" when it comes to the details of Jesus the `Christ's many lives in becoming the CHRISTED ONE!!!
For those unfamiliar with Mr. Cayce, who died in 1945, (and whose ideas are scattered throughout this website), let me simply say ~ that throughout the first half of the 20th Century, he gave us approximately 15,000 'READINGS' that dealt with both the 'ancient' history of the planet as well as valuable information about how to stay healthy ~ OR ~ in many cases, regain one's health (especially when so-called traditional medicine had given up on a terminal patient!)
{{I personally had investigated other scholarly sources THAT ONLY CONFIRMED wht Cayce ~ via THE AKASHIC RECORDS ~ HAD INDICATED ABOUT THE DETAILS OF LONG-LOST LANDS SUCH AS 'LEMURIA' (MU) AND 'ATLANTIS'....}}
It is in this spirit that the author ~ JEFFREY FURST ~ examines over 2000 'READINGS' that "colored in" both the nature & relationship of Jesus the Christ toward his fellow-man. It's a beautiful & very detailed story that goes far far beyond THE NEW TESTAMENT....
According to the author quoting Cayce, one man had asked Cayce if this would be the man's ONLY lifetime needed. Edgar scoffed at the man & suggested strongly that if it took THE MASTER (JESUS) 30 lifetimes to reach perfection ~ how could this man think that he could achieve it in just one lifetime??!??
This is only the tip of the iceberg about the revelations of Jesus vai THE AKASHIC RECORDS ~ which is a recording of all thoughts & actions of MEN through the skein of what we call ~ TIME!!!!
The 'READINGS' suggest that the most prominent REINCARNATIONS of Jesus included ADAM (who through his own sin ~ was responsible for rectifying the situation); then came ENOCH & MELCHIZEDEK; later the biblical figures: JOSEPH~JOSHUA~JESHUA (the scribe) & finally JESUS who was to become the CHRISTED ONE!!! (In one of his 30 lifetimes, he was even known as ZEND ~ the father of ZOROASTER.)
REINCARNATION, obviously, is an important ingredient in any soul's development ~ even Jesus ~ the man! [[Other sources such as THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY as well as THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL OF JESUS THE CHRIST ...show how the perfected man (JESUS) was CHRISTED at the Jordan River, so he could complete his 'mission': TO SHOW OTHER MEN/WOMEN HOW THEY COULD RECONCILE THEMSELVES ~ BECOMING ONE WITH THE FATHER:
"...even as thou, Father, in me & I in thee; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one." [JOHN, 17:21-22] ((Another great background book that would punctuate this beautiful concept would be ~ Marilyn McDermit's, "REINCARNATION: A BIBLICAL DOCTRINE.))
{{COMMENT: So both FUNDAMENTALISTS & NEW AGERS alike may need to reevaluate the truth as to the process of becoming holy & divine >ONE WITH THE FATHER<....Even in THE ROBE OF GLORY the journey is long & hard, with many obstacles (within self) but if we follow the footsteps of the CARPENTER FROM GALILEE ~all things are possible with God....As I reflected on this book review, I began to wonder about the potential harm of 'PAST RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE': In the history of homo sapiens-sapiens, an appalling amount of ignorance surrounded the deaths of countless millions of innocent people at the hands of the CRUSADES &/OR INQUISITION....Jesus had said that HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD SHALL DIE THEREBY....shouldn't the so-called hierarchies of churches everywhere reflect sorely on this one point alone??? Please read Uta Ranke-Heinmann's, "EUNUCHS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN" to punctuate the absolute tragedy of this sore point.}}
So who was this man ~ JESUS??? As per the Cayce READINGS, he was a PERFECT SPECIMAN OF HUMANITY with reddish hair that curled somewhat (but not effeminately)...with eyes that although blue, were more a lively steel-gray; his arms were beautifully cast & his hands were large & spreading....Although he always presented himself in a serious manner, and could be terrible to those to whom he wished to reproach, nevertheless ~ he also had a very gentle nature that he showed to all else who came in contact with him.
His mother MARY as well as ELIZABETH, her cousin, were part of the ESSENE tradition. Jesus' teacher, in fact, was an ESSENE by the name of JUDY....But to say that Jesus was "just an essene" would miss the universal knowledge he gleaned through, not only many lifetimes, but also through his travels throughout lands of Egypt, Persia & India, in preparing to become THE CHRISTED ONE!!! If one only read James Charleworth's, "JESUS & THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS" one could see how Jesus took the Essenes to task for their narrow views on their relationship with their FELLOW-MAN!!!
What comes across loud & clear in this book was the notion that Edgar Cayce (from a FUNDAMENTALIST background) came to believe that the information that came through his very mouth (after being healed himself of a throat ailment ~ cf. Thomas Sugrue's, "THERE IS A RIVER") about his own intimate relationship with THE MASTER over many lifetimes ~ WAS TRUE!!!
Edgar Cayce also predicted things that came true also ~ like the end of World War II as well as his own death (both happened in 1945 as predicted around 1939!) So to say that this 'BORDERLINE' book is intriguing would be an understatement ~ indeed! Try to find the 1968 soft-cover BERKLEY MEDALLION BOOKS version....YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN!
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"THE MYSTERIES OF THE SACRED UNIVERSE" ~{The Importance of the Vedic Equation}
Richard Thompson, author of both THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE (with Michael Cremo) as well as ALIEN IDENTITIES, now tackles a monumental subject: To show how the ancient vedic astronomy may be in line with modern concepts of astronomy once one understands the PERSPECTIVE of that same ancient & sacred mind.
This is NOT a book report; it is my purpose to FOCUS on just ONE portion of this fascinating book, in order to give the "flavor" OF THE VEDIC MIND from the author's PERSPECTIVE. Thompson is, in fact, despite his many other talents, considered a scholar when it come to the VEDIC LITERATURE....
The focus will be on the author's analysis of "THE EARTH & LOCAL GEOGRAPHY" (Chapter five).
To appreciate what the author wishes to relay about the PERSPECTIVE of Vedic astronomy,we must first understand what the ancients meant by certain terms:
(A) BHARATA-VARSA: the greater India which included land such as Pakistan & Afghanistan.
(B) JAMBUDVIPA: the larger area of South Central Asia including India in the south~to Siberia in the north~western China in the east~to the Caspian Sea in the west. The center is the PAMIR MOUNTAINS = MOUNT MERU (THE SACRED MOUNTAIN).
(C) MT. MERU ~ therefore ~ would be situated NORTH of INDIA ~ beginning with THE HIMALAYAS....
(D) MT. MERU clearly defines the axis around which the stars & other celestial luminaries revolve....From the perspective of the ancient Indians ~ IT IS THEIR NORTH POLE!!!
FIRST ANOMOLY in the BHAGAVATAN: Bhagavata-varsa (their India) has a diameter from north to south of 72,000 miles OR 3 times the circumference of the EARTH!?!
{{ENTER THE PLANISPHERE}}
On another occasion, I had indicated that when you are met with a 'seeming' contradiction ~ go to ANOTHER LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING ~ for the answer as Michio Kaku ADVISES IN HIS PRECIOUS BOOK: HYPERSPACE while grappling with the intricacies of THE UNIFIED FIELD THEORY. Thompson, to his credit, attempts the same approach to explain this intriguing anomaly....
THE PLANISPHERE is the concept that will unveil the Vedic mystery (somewhat!) In this depiction (whose function was to explain day, night & the seasons in relation to the motion of the sun)JAMBUDVIPA (B) is the NORTHERN HEMISPHERE with Mt. Meru as its NORTH POLE!!!
Now that we have laid the groundwork for "VEDIC SPHERICAL GEOGRAPHY" ~ in a manner of speech ~ we must now address ANOMOLY #1 (THE 72,000 MILE MYSTER)....
According to Thompson, JAMBUDVIPA also represents a map of the heavenly regions of the demi-gods, and THIS accounts for its large dimensions. In support of this, the author points to other scholars who indicated that the ANCIENT INDIANS had an accurate knowledge of the shape & size of their country. (cf. p.126 in the soft-cover GOVARDHAN HILL PUBLICATION, edited in 2000.)
The land of the demi-gods now brings us to the cosmology of the ANCIENT INDIANS that, in many respects, DOVETAILS with modern beliefs. [[YOU MUST READ THE BOOK IN ITS ENTIRETY TO APPRECIATE THIS!]] Mt. Mero, then, from a cosmological structure, represents the 'axis of universal rotation' that Thompson refers to in the BHAGAVATA PURANA where JAMBUDVIPA is the middle of the "lotus whorl of the Bhuloka planetary system....in whose center stands the golden SUMERU MOUNTAIN, which is shaped like a pillar ~ WIDER at the top than at the bottom...[where] the city of Lord Brahma & the 8 cities of the planetary lords occupy the TOP of this pillar. The celestial GANGES (RIVER) strikes Brahma's city and cascades from SUMERU in the form of four rivers flowing in the four cardinal directions." (p.132)
((I personally felt, after reading this, that once you understand this concept, many other ideas of the ANCIENTS fall nicely into place ~ INCLUDING HIGHER (NOT THE HIGHEST) SPIRITUAL CONCEPTS....THIS IS AN INTUITIVE FEELING ON MY PART.}}
Now the author allows us to see the 'landscape' more as "sphere-scape": Mount Sumeru is surrounded by four great mountains SURMOUNTED themselves by four great trees. One of the trees is the ~ you guessed it ~ JAMBU ~ reflective of JAMBUDVIPA; between the four mountains are four huge lakes that according to the Vedic literature, confer MYSTERIOUS POWERS on the celestial beings who bathe in them. (Did we ever wonder where the concept of "the Fountain of Youth " originated?)
{{Let us not forget at this point, that Richard Thompson, who is, in fact, a mathematician, also wrote a no-non-sense book called, "ALIEN IDENTITIES" ~ about the distinct possibility of our planet having intimate contact with "BEING FROM ELSEWHERE"; therefore, being open-minded & fair, we should not lose sight of his possible interpretation as well as the implications of his findings as he speaks to the wisdom of THE ANCIENT VEDIC LITERATURE ~ INCLUDING its cosmology!!!}}
From the four trees (or their fruits) flow rivers of honey which confer "...freedom from fatigue, disease & old age on the inhabitants of this region." (p.132) {{This information is quoted by Thompson from the BHAGAVATA PURANA or THE BHAGAVATAM.}}
Thompson then states that since the peoples of many cultures had similar ideas (p.133) - then perhaps the BHAGAVATA cosmology MAY BE HIGHLY RELEVANT TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ancient HISTORY. He hints that this knowledge may tell us something about patterns of communication linking ANCIENT societies.
THE HEART OF INDIAN COSMOLOGY: Similar Cosmologies all over the World....
(A) There are three worlds: upper ~ middle ~ & lower
(B) Earth is in the middle world with a central continent, four directional rivers, the cosmic mountain surmounted by the abode of the gods & the ring ocean.
(C) A "WORLD-GIRDLING SERPENT OF THE UNDERWORLD" depicts the lower worlds. (p.134)
In this COSMIC GEOGRAPHY ~ the south = the land of the dead (YAMARAJA); the north = the path of the gods (VISNU); the inhabited or middle world = the ecliptic running through the zodiac; THEREFORE, the cosmic elements such as the polar axis are identified with the local earthly features....As Thompson relates: this identification of heaven with earth is a general cultural phenomenon. (p.135)
This cosmology is connected by the "WORLD TREE" that extends from the earth to the heavens (nearly immortal) which is the source of the SACRED RIVERS (that bring health & longevity).
[It is not hard to imagine how this concept could be analogously seen as THE TREE OF LIFE as symbolized by the christianized western world.] The author notes the similarity between the Vedic Tree (whose roots are in the primeval waters below the mountain but which support the roof of heaven as the world pillar,) to the Scandinavian Tree of Life.(p.136) Even THE NAVAJOS speak of four rivers flowing in the four directions from the world center...again, a similar depiction as that of the Vedic world picture.(p.139)
THE DOGON TRIBE OF NIGERIA (who somehow knew the elliptical orbit of the binary star ~ Sirius B ~ around its companion star ~ Sirius A ~ well before western science did) itself had a cosmology whose cosmic pillar "...is the axis of rotation for fourteen worlds, including a disc-shaped earth. (p.141)
The world mountain concept is identified symbolically with some local mountain ~ such as MT. OLYMPUS of the Greeks; MT. ALBORZ of the Iranians; & MT. KHUN-LUN of the Chinese. In the Near Eastern tradition, the world mountain is the small hill in Jersusalem known as MT. ZION. [Isn't that interesting?!?]
Thompson also makes the interesting link of the Babylonian tradition of making circular maps centered on Babylon, where the seven-tiered ZIGGURAT of Marduk represented the world mountain ~ LINKING THE EARTH WITH HEAVEN!!! [Isn't that interesting?!?]
As alluded to before, the Bible refers to (1) a mountain in the far north where the gods meet; (2) a mountain of God that is the location of EDEN; & (3) four rivers that flow out of EDEN. (p.148) The first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, identified one of the four rivers flowing out of EDEN as the GANGES, the others being THE NILE ~ THE TIGRIS ~ & THE EUPHRATES.
Even in the apocryphal BOOK OF THE SECRETS OF ENOCH, Enoch saw the colorful TREE OF LIFE that is situated near a spring "...producing honey, milk, oil, & wine, which formed four rivers flowing down into the paradise of EDEN. This paradise was described as a place prepared for pious people who had served the Lord & performed acts of goodness." (p.148)
Thompson notes the similarity between this and the JAMBU tree which is said to have branches of pleasing colors and to be always bedecked with fruits & flowers. (p.149)
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THE BHAGAVATA COSMOLOGY was spread around the world thousands of years ago. Modifications have separately accumulated in various parts of the world since that time....The author suggests that ever cultural diffusion requires some ORIGINAL cultural center. WHERE? THE MAHABHARATA & PURANAS such as the BHAGAVATAM describe an ancient & highly influential civilization ~ centered in greater India ~ which, may in fact, just have been that ORIGINAL culture!
Richard Thompson ~ even in this one chapter ~ may have planted the seeds that could be food for thought. At the very end of the chapter he states:
"It was once believed that humans can gain direct access to the 'mythological' regions & beings described in their cosmological systems...[so]...it may be that there is some truth to the old beliefs of nearly all human societies. The possibility of direct access to higher realms should therefore also be considered in efforts to understand our origins & fundamental nature."
[[AS I FINISHED CHAPTER FIVE OF THESE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE ~ I PONDERED THE THOUGHT: MAYBE WE ARE ALL CONNECTED MORE CLOSELY TO BEINGS BETWEEN US & "THE ETERNAL UNBEGOTTEN" THAN WE HAD EVER IMAGINED HERETOFORE WHERE OUR RELIGIONS ARE MERELY 'STEPPING STONES' TOWARD ZIGGURATS OF HIGHER SPIRITUAL TRUTHS!?!]] |
