What can we learn from someone living four or five thousand years ago that is applicable today?
We started by acknowledging the difference between man and other animals as evidenced by the cave drawing and the grave. From that, flows the greatest of questions, “Who am I and, why am I here?” These things tell us that humans are unique, and know that they are unique, among all other animals. What did the people living thousands of years ago think was the crowning achievement of creation?
I have always been fascinated by the way the ancients viewed the world around them. How did the most brilliant people of their day view the world in the absence of modern science? While this discussion involves religion, I hope that you will not see it as exclusively so. Whether one believes in God (or Yahweh, or The Great Spirt, or the Raven, or..) one of the disasters of modern education has been the removal of religion from discussions of history. To study the history of man is, by definition, to study the history of religion, because throughout history man has sought to understand his place in the world. It is his nature.
In the New Testament Christ is trying to reveal Truths to people using language and images that they would understand. To describe the effect of His word He uses the image of seed on the ground that either grows well or does not. To describe forgiveness, He uses a father eagerly awaiting the return of his son. When He asks the people to work with Him, He promises an “easy yoke”. As a craftsman He probably made a few of them, and a skilled carpenter would fit them individually to an animal so that they would distribute the weight well and be “easy” to pull. Finally, when describing heaven, He says that it’s like a wedding feast. We’ve all been to one, everyone is full (by no means a sure thing back then), dancing, happy, and united as one family. People are brought together that may have never met, or have not seen each other in years. It is a beautiful image and one that is easy to picture in your mind. That is precisely the intent of the person telling the story.
But even before that, we have the story of His first miracle. This is another of those occasions where the book is far better than the movie but I will try to summarize the story here. There’s a wedding feast (there is that image again), but the family has run out of wine. Clearly the people there are having a wonderful time. In a very funny scene, His mother asks for His help, and He replies that it’s not His time yet. And this Jewish mom does not even bother responding to Him, but rather she just turns and says to the servants, “do whatever He tells you to do.” You can almost see the eye roll. No young man tells his mom “no”. Of course, He does her bidding.
But even before that, there’s an often-ignored book in the Old Testament called the “Song of Solomon”. It is basically a poetic love letter from a man to his beloved. A man uses beautiful language in order to describe the object of his love and the great joy he gets from simply seeing her. In this extended poem there is a phrase written thousands of years ago that cuts to the very essence of the beauty in a relationship, “The mystery of a man and a woman”. Have you ever looked at a couple and wondered, “what does she see in him?” Well, that is precisely the point. How could you possibly explain my lovely wife’s interest in me other than “the mystery of a man and a woman”? Remember that the ancients here were attempting to describe the most important things that they saw all around them in language that was accessible to the shepherds, laborer, and farmers of the day.
But even before that, there is the creation story where God created the heavens and the earth. While I am well aware that there is plenty of science to describe how continents drift, oceans form, stars are born, you name it, my most very humble opinion is that none of that obviates anything in the creation myth. Remember that the ancients did not have science, they were telling a story to reveal deeper Truths. God creates everything, the earth, the heavens, the oceans, the land, and then goes about creating all the animals. When that is all done, He decides to create one more thing. Man. This last creation He does “in His image” with dominion over all of the animals and earth. It is His crowning achievement and He is done.
Only He’s not.
After showing all the other animals to the man God decides that, despite his wonderful companion creations like horses and dogs, (if you know me you know my love for them both) that the man needs something better, more suited to be his partner. This very last creation is Woman. In this final creation is perfection, and the wisdom that the ancients saw in the creating of man and women, to love each other yes, but also to continue the creation the world. After all, is that not what we do when we have and raise children?
I understand, at a very basic level, what the big bang theory is, how a star produces energy, and why we have earthquakes, but do they reveal anything to us that helps us to understand “who am I, and why am I here”? I understand what pheromones and hormones are and how they function in the body. But which gives us a greater understanding of the world around us, knowledge of those chemical reactions or “the mystery of a man and a woman”? The ancients may not have had the benefits of the Hubble telescope or the electron microscope and particle accelerators, but neither were they stupid. They looked, they observed, they watched, and they contemplated.
Why does any of this matter? For all of recorded history women have had a special place of honor. The notions of chivalry and honor are part of man’s nature. They are immutable. From the epics of Homer to the writings of the middle ages, to American westerns, women have always had a place of honor. The ancients saw these truths and wrote about them as a way to preserve what they knew to be absolutely critical to the survival of civilization.
And they were right.
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Nice work John.