History’s Victors

It is said that the victors write the history books.  Thus it is that Europeans first “discovered” the “New World”, sailed around the tip of Africa and pioneered the Silk Routes to China.  Thus it is that our number system is termed Arabic Numerals instead of Indian Numerals. Have you ever thought if this applies to the religious history of the judeo-christian-muslim heritage?

Those religious texts are written from the point of view that the vain and power-hungry Lucifer (Shaitan) rebelled against the just rule of the Almighty.  But the Almighty won the War for Heaven and so banished the evil angels into the depths of Hell.  What if creation was really the result of a collaboration between a group of superbeings whom we now just call Angels.  What if God, Allaha, Yahweh, Allah… whatever you want to call ‘him’ is merely the one of those beings who grabbed power.  He formed an alliance of his peers and won the War for Heaven, then installed himself as Dictator Supreme.

Through Islam, Christianity and Judaism, this superbeing reinforces his version of history all the while denegrating his conquered and exiled foes, Lucifer and his minions.  Thus, Lucifer is left to stew in the bowels of Hades, a misinterpreted and reviled character in the race to win the hearts and minds of Humanity.  Maybe Lucifer isn’t trying to torture and enslave humanity; maybe this version of history is the result of the “Almighty’s” propaganda machine.  Or maybe he has, maybe Lucifer is so desperate to win some edge, any edge in his bid to overthrow the dictator that so haughtily calls himself “God”.

Think about it – even the concept of the Almighty – can we really believe such a thing?  In and of itself, how vain is that.  An omnipotent presence who single-handedly formed all creation… as if?!  Beyond the triumvirate of Abrahamic religions, there exists a whole universe of theologies to check their advance:  The vedic precursor religions of Persia and Arabia that spoke of a pantheon of Gods who came together as one – Allaha or Allah.  Hinduism, with its epic cast of characters, the wars of the Mahabharata and the Upanishads, the attainment of Nirvana thru the merging of the Brahman (Man) and the Atman (God).  The lost theologies of Roman, Greek and Mesoamerican memory; wars between the Gods; the tales of Zeus, mightiest of the Gods but also fallible, who had an affair with a human woman and gave birth to Hercules.  What of the tribal religions of Africa and Australia and Polynesia; Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhim, Taoism, Shintoism – all the products of South Asian and East Asian thought.  Are we really following the right path?

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