The purpose of this post is to offer a global knowledge of all the beliefs and religions that exist in the world, in order that the reader has an open view, not dangerously closed to a single idea, belief or religion.
I believe that the different religions and beliefs should be known and studied minimally; they should expose themselves, comment, share their evidence and discuss their reasons without stirring up their dogmatisms.
We have the dual duty of transmitting and teaching all our fellow citizens the existence of all the beliefs and religions that have developed in our civilization. Only that knowledge will make us more sensitive and respectful to others. Since a unique and absolute belief, without a vision of other beliefs makes us be arrogant and disparaging towards other ideas.
This is the Fifth of a post series where I will compile in a brief and simple way the different beliefs and religions that exist in the world.
Alchemy
The search for the philosopher's stone or the spiritual transformation of the alchemist becomes a belief deeply rooted in alchemy. Alchemy is not only the art of transforming vile metals into gold but also a spiritual art for the spiritual transformation of the individual.
On the one hand, there is the laboratory alchemy, in which the alchemist transforms the elements of the mineral or vegetable world, it is a way of approaching the natural world. But one can also speak of spiritual alchemy that becomes a school of self-perfection of the alchemist, where his transformation is a goal that he must achieve.
But the true goal of every alchemist is internal transformation, a transformation that ensures immortality after the death of the physical body. It is what the alchemists call the search for the elixir of eternal youth, a path that, in some cases, is pursued with magical sexual techniques.
These techniques were already known in antiquity by the Chinese and also of Chinese and Tibetan tantrism. Chinese alchemy was developed at the beginning of our era, basing its importance on the transformation "hud" of the alchemist, who aimed at individual immortality. But there are also references in the tenth and eleventh centuries, in works that were included in the Taoist canon.
Fundamentally the main belief of alchemy rests on the philosopher's stone (the fifth essence and guarantor of immortality). The philosopher's stone is a stone but it is not, it is a symbol but it is real. Its symbology embraces several concepts since it becomes at the same time an encounter of the sexes, the complement of fire and water, reconciliation with God, the Eucharist, or finding oneself.
Jung saw in alchemy psychology of nature and believed that analytic psychology coincided strangely with alchemy. That is, he perceived only the unconscious forces of alchemy, the spiritual, religious and symbolic world common to his psychology.
It should be noted that alchemy was practiced by Christian religious, especially Franciscans and Dominicans, such as Roger Bacon, Amau de Villanova, Ramon Llul, Thomas Aquinas, etc.
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne live in the geographic center of the United States. They share common features of the Algonquian religion, as well as the Dance of the Sun and the construction of their houses as a model of the universe.
The Cheyenne have local divinities and the Black Hills are land of spirits. It is a town that was influenced by the Dance of the Spirit in the 19th century and, recently, by the veneration of plants like the "peyote".
Christmas
One of the most important Christian holidays, since it commemorates the birth of Jesus on December 25. This festival is practiced since the fourth century, replacing a pagan festival that commemorated the birth of the sun.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is a matter of deep controversy since there are difficulties in locating the exact time.
To all this, we must add that Dionysius the meager, eleventh century, was the monk who proposed that the Roman calendar begins from the date of the birth of Christ. But he became a mess with the calculations and ended up deciding that he was born in 754 of the foundation of Rome.
Dionysius was wrong in four years. Hence, the most probable date of Jesus' birth is the year four before the Christian era. But investigations concerning the appearance of the star of Bethlehem, can vary that date and place it in the year 5 b. C.
Donald Spoto places the date of birth of Jesus between 5 or 6 b. C. Mateo and Lucas agrees that he was born during the reign of Herod the Great in the year 37 b. C. But it has been stressed that Dionysius the meager was wrong in 4 6 years at the time of fixing the death of Herod and consequently also the birth of Jesus. If we take the date from 6 to 4 b.C. the two thousand anniversary would have been in 1994 and not in 2000.
The place of birth is traditionally Bethlehem, however, John Paul II himself in a hearing stressed that there is no certainty that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Matthew and Luke point out Bethlehem, although this does not seem a historical fact, since Bethlehem is no longer cited in the Gospels, nor in the Acts of the Apostles as a place of birth.
The reality is that Jesus does not seem native of Bethlehem, but of Galilee, exactly of Nazareth, hence the name of Nazarene. This is the thesis maintained by John P. Meler, professor of the New Testament of the Catholic University of America, in Washington, and author of "A Marginal Jew".
It was necessary to follow the biblical tradition since the Messiah, according to Micah himself, was to be born in Bethlehem in Judah, the homeland of King David. For this reason, it seems that the evangelists Matthew and Luke mention Bethlehem.
See you in the next post. Thank you for reading.
All images come from pixabay.com
