From Deities to Demons
We live in a world today where corruption is rampant and civilized life is eagerly being tossed aside in favor of barbaric conduct. Meanwhile, most of us who live these barbaric lives still think that we know what the Divine World should look like. Humans did not always live like this. I offer only one explanation. The whole idea of what we consider today to be Divine, has been corrupted from what our ancestors considered the Divine to be.
Throughout our human history, we have always held in our mind a picture of the Divine World. It is a world that has inspired our striving towards civilization and away from barbarism. The Divine World has always been the model for us to build our society and evidence that the Divine was present in the groom ourselves into beings as good as we can groom them. It is the Divine that gives us our idea of what the good even is.
Consider this: 3000 years ago, in cultures that modeled themselves after the Divine, no one had to search far for clean water; none lived in fear of their own neighbors and few died from preventable diseases. The Divine World is seen as the perfect model. For those who adhere to it, living is seen as a struggle to copy this model in their own culture. Indeed, since the Divine World is seen as perfect, the goal of these people is, then, perfection.
The Mother culture of cultures copying the Divine world is Kemetic culture. This is all humanity's original culture, the original civilization, the first on record to start to imitate the Divine World. It follows that this culture is the authority, the guiding light for humanity in it's goal and methods of copying the perfect model. However, there were some who misinterpreted the agenda of Kemetic culture. They assumed that the Pharaohship and Priesthoods of Kemet had fabricated the Divine World, with the goal of subjugating humanity. They resented Kemet and yearned to be, themselves, rulers of humanity.
Since they refused to follow Kemet's lead in copying the Divine World, naturally, these people were barbaric, living life on a subsistence level, eating what they could, when they could, even when it was each other. They did not bathe, or adhere to any concept of purity. In the alternative world they improvised, it was dog eat dog. The one who ruled was the one who inspired the most fear amongst his peers. It is easy to see why these people assumed that the idea of the Divine World had to be an ingenious plot by the people of Kemet (Kem) to inspire that type of fear across the globe. Whole cultures, even across the ocean, pledged allegiance to the Pharaohs of Kemet.
This allegiance did not come as a result of a power struggle. It is a well known fact that deities will manifest themselves within people, and temples erected for countless deities can be found the World over-- day to day lives of people. Naturally, humanity's first culture would be the one to hold the longest running level of knowledge regarding the Divine world, which is the inspiration for culture itself.
There were some who, like ungrateful children, felt it was unfair that one culture held the position of authority in spiritual, cultural and technological issues around the world just because they were the most qualified. They envisioned a world where anyone could rule, regardless of their background and history, regardless of their knowledge and merit, as long as they could convince the world that they were qualified.
The word for a "Deity" that is invented by man is demon. These barbarians created their demons and went across the whole World killing people to prove how strong their demons were. They were determined to force the World to submit to them, by any means necessary. They killed people who practiced their own culture and worshiped their own Deities. They struck such fear into the hearts of their victims that they were even afraid to teach their children their culture. These children were raised with no idea of who their true Gods are. They only had the demons of their oppressor to look to for inspiration.
Of course, their oppressors are the authority on demons. They wrote the "holy" texts and tell their subjects how they are to be interpreted. These texts teach that there is no deity besides their demons; that their demons are jealous and punish those who do not follow their words. Fantastic tales are woven about their demons causing plagues and killing armies. Tales of chosen people, tales of "Gods" killed by men, tales of "Gods" killing their own parents, tales of "Gods" whose powers, which supposedly prove their divinity, don't even compare with those of
Under this barbaric rule, no longer do these children strive to duplicate the Divine World in their every deed and thought. All that remains for them is a belief system. The ideology of faith in their chosen "holy" texts and their chosen demon and obedience to their ministers, etc. will lead them to the world they've been promised. Meanwhile, since spiritual activity is considered blasphemous and barbarism is condoned and perpetrated by their religious factions, these children are left little choice but to become barbarians.
I see this in myself. Though I never embraced any religion, my idea of God was only what I had been exposed to by my Christian upbringing, whether I called it God, Jesus, Allah, The Creator or Jah Rastafari. Even worse, my behavior reflected the barbarism that is rampant in this society. Hurting people in my anger and sometimes for fun, arrogantly considering myself better than others, seeking freedom from responsibility, valuing material possessions and physical pleasures more than people, I grew to respect the corruption in myself and others, not realizing that it was responsible for the ongoing destruction of our World.
Whom did I have to teach me that there is no excuse for killing, even in "self defense", that there is no excuse for acting in anger, speaking scornfully, lying, cheating, or hurting others, regardless of the behavior of others? How was I to know that this reactive state of mind is what perpetuates the cycles of destruction/self destruction? Only through The Earth Center was I to learn that the only way to break these cycles is to be obsessed with upholding the quality of behavior that will bring me closer to the Divine World, in the face of barbarism.
I recognized the barbaric corruption of the world long ago, but I had no alternative but to sink into the same corruption I had been raised in. No matter how many books I read, no matter how many dogmas and spiritual concepts I was exposed to, I had no way to climb out of the corruption I was in. This is because I was alone in my studies. There is enough information in this American society to ensure that no two people come to the same conclusion about how life should be lived. I realized that even the language I was raised speaking is so corrupt that often people couldn't agree on concepts because they simply could not agree on definitions of the words they were using to use in discussing any particular concept. Therefore I had no standard for measuring, no person I trusted to tell me whether I was really improving or just distracting myself. I could find an excuse for every corruption because I was the only one who could say some men. anything about it.
Only by embracing a complete culture have I been able to escape from this confusion. It is the culture in which one lives that sets limits to what one does or doesn't do. In this American society with no culture, we seem to be surprised that people have no limits to the disgraceful acts they will commit: from blatant disrespect, (even to loved ones) to perverted behavior, to school shootings. Few people in America will admit that we suffer from mental illness on a massive scale because of our lack of culture and reliance on twisted values.
It was not until I was able to humble myself that 1 was able to concede that a culture that has lasted over 100,000 years must contain more wisdom than I have. After that concession, it was easy for me to choose this culture to be the guiding force in my life. How arrogant of me to have resisted this change for as long as I did!
It is interesting that every traditional culture comes with its Deities and spiritual life. Under colonial rule, the spiritual aspect is the first thing that we are taught to fear and hate. This may be why most of us return to our familiar demons, even when we know that the ones who introduced these demons to us are the same ones who are oppressing us.
We have seen, in the last 100 years, numerous attempts by oppressed people across the world to unite against their oppressors. Most of these movements fail to bring about any substantial benefits because they don't seek to unite under their traditional culture. Without their traditional culture to set the values and goals of the group, they will have only the culture of their oppressors to guide them. In that case, how will they ever become independent?
It has been proven to me, time and time again, that a culture cannot come from no culture, that demons cannot inspire the level of purity as the Divine. We shall not get out of this corruption until we collectively embrace a healthier culture. Otherwise, it will take us thousands of years to produce anything to rival the quality of what we have right in front of us. A book is no substitute for a teacher. Faith cannot take the place of a culture. Corruption can only be defeated by walking the long path out of it towards purity.