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The Theogony of Hesiod: Order (Cronos) from Chaos

One of the nice things that you found as you studied more advanced civilizations, as you got further into the first millennium BCE, you had better material and source texts to work with.  You no longer had to rely on texts and tablets that…
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Pythagoras and Plato: From the One to Many

Philosophy to the Greeks not only helped them understand the cosmos, creation and destruction of the universe and the essence of the natural world, but also the harmony within which we as individuals should lead our lives, and in turn – as…
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The Fisherman and the Net: Geometric Symbolism in the Gospel of John (II of II)

  What we're left with if we are to believe this geometric formulation of the miraculous tale of Jesus and the fishes with his seven disciples in the Sea of Galilee in the Gospel of John is a geometric figure – if transposed from…
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The Fisherman and the Net: Geometric Symbolism in the Gospel of John (I of II)

At this juncture a word must be said about some astronomical events and progressions that were at work around the time of Christ which played some role in the formulation of the interpretation of the life and teachings of Jesus and in particular…
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Reason and Logic: The Precursors to Science

It's clear in studying early religion and philosophy that mythology and cosmology in antiquity was not only theological in nature, but also had a political motive as well.  But at some point in antiquity there was a break from which reason and knowledge was…
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The Reductionist West and Ancient Wisdom

Modern science tells us that what we can truly say about empirical reality only has relative (Relativity) or statistical significance (Quantum Mechanics), Quantum Theory in particular calling into question the role of the observer[1] but each…
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Chinese Monotheism: Worship of Heaven (Shangdi)

Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (Daoism), all rich and prolific theo-philosophical traditions of the East which thrived in ancient times and still flourish today, were and are much more accepting of the worship of many different…
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Confucian Philosophy in Antiquity

Confucius (c. 551 – 479 BCE) stands alongside Laozi as one of the great independent Chinese philosophers in antiquity, supposedly having consulted Laozi on some aspects of funeral rights and being impressed with his insight, or so the tradition…
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Divination in the I Ching

Divination, omens, portents etc. was a common practice throughout all of the ancient world in fact.  As already mentioned we see the practice, and its relationship with the priestly class not only in ancient Greece but most certainly ancient…
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The Book of Changes: The Wisdom of the Far East

One of the most unique, lasting and influential texts that has come down to us from the Far East that in antiquity is the Yijing (I Ching), also known as the Book of Changes.  The work has a long history, its roots dating back at least to Bronze…