The Roman Spectacle: Gladiators, Death and the Colosseum. How did the Gladiatorial games evolve? Why were the ancient Romans obsessed with death and the spectacle? What was the intended purpose of the Colosseum?

The Roman Spectacle: Gladiators, Death and the Colosseum.

How did the Gladiatorial games evolve? Why were the ancient Romans obsessed with death and the spectacle? What was the intended purpose of the Colosseum? 
By: David Yanez  5-20-15



Jean-Léon Gérôme “Pollice Verso” 1872 Oil on canvas 38.0” × 58.7“

Location Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, United States 

Introduction

This article will explore the ancient Roman fascination with the death spectacle as a cultural norm. I will attempt to understand the early evolution of the gladiatorial games in context to earlier ancient combat sports. Were the Roman death games unique in antiquity? Where they a natural evolution from ancient combat sports? Or, Where they strictly a Roman cultural manifestation? I will be looking for the social and political importance of the Colosseum and the spectacles held within. I will be researching over 30 sources of books papers, and articles, including ancient Greek and Roman literature, as well as current forensic examinations of archeological gladiatorial remains. Some books to be studied include Michael B. Poliakoff's, "Combat sports in the ancient world: Competition, violence, and culture." Donald G. Kyle's, "Spectacles of death in ancient Rome." and Katherine E. Welch's, "The Roman Amphitheatre: from its origins to the Colosseum." 

Though the Roman spectacles and the amphitheaters that housed them were vast in numbers and spread across the empire, my focus will not be on the history or evolution of the architectural form of these buildings. I will limit my research to the evolution of the death spectacle from ancient influences, with a focus on the Gladiatorial games; in addition the ancient Roman concept of death and their fascination with death and the spectacle; and finally the Colosseum, and its intended function in Roman society.  

The Gladiatorial Games 

When we think of the Roman spectacle, the first thing that comes to mind are the gladiatorial games, often associated with the Roman Colosseum and Christians being fed to the lions. Our popular visual notion of the gladiators comes from Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting called "Pollice Verso," meaning "with a turned thumb." Gerome placed careful consideration to historical accuracy when it came to his historical paintings. Ridley Scott the director of the movie 'Gladiator' was inspired by Gerome's painting for a scene in which the emperor gives a thumbs down, calling for the death of the gladiator.  But the accuracy of what we assume about the gladiatorial games and the Roman spectacle, like the thumbs down gesture meaning death, and Christians being fed to the lions, are simply not true. It is said that approximately 90% of the gladiatorial contests did not end in death, and that they did not fight to kill. The gladiators were often paid well, became famous and even won their freedom.  In his book, "A Companion to the Roman Empire" David S. Potter says: Clay models of gladiators look very much as if they were sold as "action figures," so that children could play gladiator at home. 



A ROMAN TERRACOTTA FIGURE OF A HOPLOMACHUS GLADIATOR
1ST CENTURY A.D. Christie’s auction house

In his book "Combat sports in the ancient world: Competition, violence, and culture." Poliakoff' defines sports and athletics as activity in which a person physically competes against another in a contest with established regulations and procedures. With the objective of succeeding in that contest under criteria for determining victory that are different from those that mark success in everyday life. (e.g. warfare) Sports as opposed to play and recreation cannot exist without an opponent and a system for measuring the success or failure of the competitor's performance. His definition of sports excludes the Roman gladiatorial games and instead classifies them as a form of warfare in which the gladiator fights to kill or disable his opponent and save himself in any manner possible. But, new research conducted by Fabian Kanz from the Austrian Archaeological Institute and Karl Grosschmidt from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, contradicts Poliakoff's assessment of the gladiatorial fights. 

Using microscope analysis and CT scans of 67 gladiators remains, Kanz and Grosschmidt were able to determine that only one of the 67 gladiators studied had a wound associated with his death during combat. In addition, injuries to the back of the head were rare. These findings back up ancient Roman accounts that the gladiatorial games had established rules of combat, with no sneaky blows from behind. Sixteen of the bones examined showed signs of non fatal injuries that had time to heal, suggesting that the gladiators had excellent medical care. Ten of the gladiators had square like holes in the sides of their skulls giving credence to the theory that very badly wounded gladiators were killed by a hammer-wielding executioner. They argue that the blows to the side of the head match literary and other sources, and suggest an avoidance of eye contact at the time of their death. These mercy killings were most likely decided by the crowd or the emperor, but were not done by the gladiators themselves. Their research confirms that the gladiators most often did not fight to kill. Ancient fight records indicate that approximately 90 percent of trained gladiators survived their fights. The absence of many perimortal bone injuries, seem to confirm that the gladiatorial fighters, like modern sports celebrities, were valuable commodities that needed to be well taken care of with strict combat rules.



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Typical perimortem (P) defects found on the gladiator crania; /o, view on the outer table; /i, view on inner table; /in, imprinted bone; white scale bar = 10 mm. P03 massive blunt force traumawith concentric fracture line. P08 and P09 singular punctured sharp force trauma on the parietal bone,most probably caused a hammerhead as seen in left lower corner. P10a + b double punctured sharp force traumaon the right parietal and frontal bone, most probably caused by a trident as it could be seen in the right lower corner. Note that the distance between the two trauma is identical as between the two prongs of the trident. The raged appearance of P10a indicates That the middle spike of the used trident was barbed.

When I started my research I wondered whether the gladiatorial games evolved from ancient combat sports. There is a long history of ancient combat sports. In ancient Egypt stick fighting and wrestling were popular. In ancient Greece, wrestling, boxing and pankration were considered the heavy events and the most popular, but unlike the gadiatorial games, wrestling, boxing and pankration weren't a fight to the death, or were they? Like the gladiatorial games the ancient Greeks had rules of conduct associated with these games, for instance, in wrestling there was no finger breaking, or eye gauging, in boxing there was no grasping or clinching. In pankration there were only two tactics explicitly prohibited, biting and gouging. Despite the rules, many of the fights that were won, paid no mind to the eye gauging, finger breaking or biting, and in some cases ended in death. In the case of Greek boxing, a first century B.C.E. inscription says: "A boxer's victory is gained in blood."  

The story of Arrhichion is a story of a famous Greek pankration fighter, who was being suffocated to near death by his opponents leg hold, when his opponent relaxed his hold slightly on Arrhicion, giving Arrhicion the opportunity to dislocate his opponents leg joint or toe, causing him such pain that he lifted his hand up to admit defeat. But as he admitted defeat he had also strangled Arrhichion to death. Arrhichion was thus crowned the victor.  

Ancient Greek heavy events were associated with military training and the Spartans are said to have mastered all of these. Training in each of these heavy sports was as essential for a boys training as was academics. Unlike the Romans, Greek citizens fought in the armies of their city states and physical fitness was essential for military preparedness. The Greek heavy events eventually were practiced in Rome, but they never became as popular as the gladiatorial games. Perhaps because the Romans had an aversion to the naked fighting of the Greek games.

“The Wrestlers,” Artist unknown, late 3rd century B.C.E. Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy

My research into ancient combat sports have shown no direct evolution from anyone of the ancient sports to the Roman Gladiatorial games. But, it is believed that all these games do have a common origin in ancient Funerals. Ritual funeral games were common in ancient civilizations, like Sumeria and Mycenean Greek society. The Olympic games are said to have originated from these ancient funeral games. Similar games known as Aonachs were held in Ireland, and believed by some to date as far back as 1829 B.C., predating the Olympic games. Funeral games were held in honor of the recently deceased. Ancient Greek and Roman games were usually associated with religious festivals.  The Roman "Ludi" were annual great games organized by the state and associated with religious festivals, but the gladiatorial games were not associated with religious festivals. They have their origins in "Munera," which were originally part of the ceremonies associated with funerals. They were funeral games, which lost their original ritual significance later on in the Empire. 

The Greeks and the Etruscans share a similar mythological story of Perseus or Phersu. In the Etruscan Tomb of the Augurs at Tarquinia, ritual scenes are depicted of Phersu wearing a pointed hat while his face is covered behind a mask with a long black beard. He holds a dog on a leash that is biting the leg of a man holding a club with his head covered. It is debated whether this scene supports Etruscan gladiatorial games, but it is evidence of Etruscan funerary games. The Etruscans were also lovers of the spectacle, which included chariot racing and wrestling. The Roman gladiatorial games are said to originate from these funerary games, which were ceremonies intended to honor the memory of the dead. The first recorded gladiatorial show took place in 264 BC: it was presented by two nobles in honor of their dead father. Campania Italy may have been the origins of the gladiatorial games. Frescos painted in 370- 340 B.C. depict various scenes at funeral games. Chariot races, fist fights, and a duel between two warriors armed with helmets, shields, and spears with what looks like a referee standing beside them. Campania is also the site were the first stone amphitheatres were built and home to the most important gladiatorial schools.




Tomb of the Augurs, Tarquinia, ca. 520 BCE. The Phersu Game. After Steingräber 1986, pl. 20 (T. Okamura).

 The practice of sacrificing slaves in order that they may serve you in the after life was practiced by the Egyptians, the Incas and the ancient Mycenean Greeks. I couldn't find evidence of Etruscan funeral sacrifices, but it is believed to have existed. There is though, evidence for Etruscan human sacrifice. The idea of shedding human blood at funerals is very old, and occurs in many ancient Mediterranean cultures. Shedding blood was a way of reconciling the dead with the living. The idea was that the death of a slave was owed to the deceased or to the Gods. It seems likely that the gladiatorial fights are a continuation of ancient funerary ritual sacrifices, which were practiced in funeral rites all over the ancient world. The practice of sacrificing prisoners of war was common in many ancient civilizations.

It is argued by Carlin A. Barton in the essay, "The Emotional Economy of Sacrifice and Execution in Ancient Rome," that a clear distinction between sacrifice and execution cannot be made in the case of Roman executions of prisoners of war. Rituals of condemnation, execution and sacrifice already existed in Rome prior to the gladiatorial games. Both sacrifice and punishment sought security for the community. The Christian author Tertullian writing in 200 A.D. condemns the Roman gladiatorial munera as so: (De Spectaculis, 12)  

"For of old, in the belief that the souls of the dead are propitiated with human blood, they used at funerals to sacrifice captives or slaves of poor value whom they bought. Afterwards, it seemed good to obscure their impiety by making it a pleasure. So they found comfort for death in murder."

Grace Brown, in her "Tertullian and the Roman Spectacula," suggests that Tertullian refers to the God Mars as being connected to the gladiatorial games, as well as Diana with the hunt. Tertullian also writes, (Apol. 9.5, Loeb) that at Rome there 'is a certain Jupiter, whom they drench with human blood at his own games. Minucius Felix (Oct.30.4, Leob, cf. 23.6) Claimed that "even today a human victim is offered to Jupiter Latiaris, and, as becomes the son of Saturn, he battens on the blood of a criminal offender." In his book "The game of death in ancient Rome" Paul Plass says that "Until about the time of Constantine, blood taken from the dead gladiators was still ritually poured by a high official onto a statue of Jupiter Latiaris, perhaps into its throat." Similar religious rituals can also be found in Mayan sacrifice's, where idol's mouths were smeared with the blood drained from the chests of sacrificial victims.(Brundage164) The association of the gladiatorial games with the spirits or deities of the underworld is clearly established. In Keith Hopkins 'Murderous Games' he says: "The religious component in gladiatorial ceremonies continued to be important. For example, attendants in the arena were dressed up as gods. Slaves who tested whether fallen gladiators were really dead or just pretending, by applying a red-hot cauterizing iron, were dressed as the god Mercury. 'Those who dragged away the dead bodies were dressed as Pluto, the god of the underworld. These remnant religious symbols attest to an origin of the gladiatorial games as having evolved from more religiously oriented funerary rituals, that were perhaps more closely associated with the gods, spirits or life in the underworld. 

"Blood spilt in early funeral rites was a conduit of purification that carried the soul from one world to the next, and the memory of the deceased would join the Di Manes (ancestors). Tertullian also writes that the fresh blood of dead gladiators was considered a cure for epilepsy. Several early medical authors reported on the consumption of gladiator's blood or liver to cure epileptics as well. The origins of such superstitions likely lie in Etruscan funeral rites. Although the original ritualistic influence of these rites, faded during the Roman Republic,  gladiators' blood continued to be sold and sought after for centuries. After the prohibition of gladiatorial games, the blood of executed criminals was sought after to take the place of the gladiators. The spontaneous recovery of some forms of epilepsy may have been responsible for the belief in this cure, but Blood of the dead was seen as a cleansing mechanism for the dead and possibly for the living.  

Ancient funerary games influenced the Roman the Ludi, which were religious festivals dedicated to the gods. But ancient funerary sacrificial rituals were more of an influence upon the Roman gladiatorial games, which eventually evolved into something purely Roman. 


Detail from an early 2nd-century Roman sarcophagus depicting the death of Meleager

Death in Ancient Rome 

Death in ancient Rome was no stranger to the average Roman. Rome was almost constantly at war in its early history and this atmosphere of war was certainly carried into its overseas Imperial expansion, which most certainly brought back to Rome another form of death known as disease acquired from conquered civilizations. For the average Roman child within its first five years, death would take nearly half of its young playmates along with its young siblings, and grandparents, even the death of a parent or a beloved caretaker. Widows and orphans were a common feature of roman society and many legal institutions were intended to provide for them. In ancient Rome people perished at a rate no longer seen in modern western democracies. The estimated death rate in ancient Rome was 40 to 45 per 1000 persons, as compared to 8.15 per 1000 persons in the United States. The Roman Empire constituted roughly 45- 60 million people, nearly one-fifth of all persons living on the planet then. But even with this high mortality rate, over population may have been a factor due to the equally high reproductive rate of the Empire.

 Ancient sources refer to widespread plaques under Domitian and Hadrian, but the early Empire was apparently spared a true pandemic until A.D. 165, when  a roman army brought back with it a disease which started the Antonine Plague. Some speculate that this disease was smallpox. The plague raged for a quarter of a century and in 189 at the height of its second outbreak in the city of Rome, an eyewitness accounts that it caused 2,000 deaths per day. The plague devastated most of the empire with an estimated death toll of 10% of the population or higher.

 At a time of such extraordinary hardship in this pre-industrial society, where life expectancy at birth was somewhere around 25 years or less. The Roman Empire at the time, was full of death, disease, hunger, over population, and a constant atmosphere of war. Those that survived, faced the challenges of survival and found solace in ritual practice. Belief in supernatural beings as being responsible for any inexplicable phenomenon was common. Rituals provided a model for order in a world full of disorder, death and the unforeseen forces. Rituals provided a means for humans to interact and relate to these unforeseen forces and higher powers, in an attempt to bring order and control. Monumental Roman architectural works were one means to control nature, and rituals such as the Ludi and the gladiatorial games were a means to bring order to a society in need of order. Blood spilt in the pursuit of such order was justified in the many ritual spectacles held throughout the Empire, but more so in the Colosseum.  


Colosseum, model in the Museo della Civilta Romana

The Colosseum and the Spectacle 

In Katherine Welch's, "The Roman Amphitheatre: from its origins to the Colosseum," she gives a good introductory survey of authors that have written about and contributed to the study of Roman amphitheatres, the Colosseum, and the Roman spectacle. She argues that it is the deep rooted nature and pervasiveness of the bloody spectacles throughout the Empire, that holds the key to understanding the importance of the genesis of amphitheatres in Roman culture. 

In his essay "Murderous Games," Keith Hopkins argues that the arena spectacles helped to maintain the traditional warlike spirit of the Romans, and served as a substitute for war, as well as helped to maintain an atmosphere of violence, even in peace. The amphitheatres and the spectacles held within were venues for political dialogue between emperor and the people, as well as magistrates and dynasts who competed for power. To quote Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard in their book the Colosseum:

"It stood at the very heart of the delicate balance between Roman autocracy and popular power, an object lesson in Roman imperial state-craft. This is clear from the very moment of its foundations: its origins are embedded in an exemplary tale of dynastic change, imperial transgression, and competition for control of the city of Rome itself." 

Although the Greek influence on Roman architecture is obvious in many of its spectacle buildings, the Colosseum and subsequent amphitheatres afterwards were distinctively of Roman architectural form as were the activities that were held within them. The spectacle and games originally associated with religious festivals and with funerary rites soon came to symbolize Roman identity.  



Domus Aurea, (Image from National Geographic, article “Rethinking Nero”

The Flavian amphitheatre or the Colosseum, was built by Vespasian and Titus on the grounds of the Domus Aurea. The Domus Aurea was the extravagant palace complex of the former Emperor Nero, which was built appropriating Roman land after two thirds of the city burned in AD 64. The Colosseum was built on the site of Nero's man made lake. The building of the Colosseum was a political act in itself. It sent the message by Vespasian that he had returned the land that Nero took, back to the Roman people. Monumental architecture was usually an instrument of memory, but the Flavian amphitheatre's size and presence was intended to wipe away the memory of Nero and preserve the memory of Vespasian. But in the long run, Vespasian failed, when the Flavian amphitheatre started to be called The Colosseum in the middle ages. Most likely the name was a reference to the giant statue of Nero, that stood near the Flavian amphitheatre until the fourth century, called the Colossus. It seems that wiping away the memory of an emperor was harder than it seems. Vespasian's worst nightmare was realized when Rome's greatest amphitheatre would be known as the monument which stands on the site of Nero's lake next to the Colossus.



The Colossus Neronis: Art: Jaime Jones.
Source: Marianne Bergmann,
 Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.

Regardless of how Medieval people remembered the Flavian amphitheatre, the contemporary world remembers it as the largest and bloodiest Roman arena in history, and the myth of persecution is still preached by Christians. In her book "The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom," Candida Moss argues that the Christian narrative of martyrdom and persecution is a 4th century fabrication. Although some Christians were indeed victims of execution by the State, she argues that they were not singled out or targeted by the State specifically. Only during Emperor Diocletian’s reign, laws were enacted forbidding Christian worship, calling for the destruction of churches and Scriptures, and denying Christians certain legal rights. But in the first 300 years of the Christian church this specific targeting only amounted to roughly ten years. There are no eyewitness accounts of Christians being thrown to the lions. While many Christians were thrown to the dogs and other animals and killed in cruel and inhuman ways. They were among the many state executions carried out against all offenders to the state. Christians for the most part, were not singled out as a group.

On the Coliseum's official opening day, it is said that the extravaganza of bloodshed, fighting, and beast hunts, lasted a hundred days. On one day 3,000 men fought. 'On one single day' 5,000 animals were killed, according to Titus the biographer. Modern scholars have re-interpreted that to mean 'on every singe day' of the performances, raising the animal death toll to 500,000. It is argued by Donald G, Kyle in "Spectacles of death in ancient Rome," that the animal remains were routinely handed out to the Roman citizens as a good source of protein, which was lacking in most Romans diet. The Roman citizens of the time would have been grateful for the spectacles for filling their bellies, and exciting their spirits. The vast numbers of wild animals killed during the hundreds of years of animal spectacles in the Roman empire are estimated to be in the millions, which must have been responsible for the extinction of many species.

Christians Flung To The Wild Beasts

Source: D. Rose, Edited by H. W. Dulcken: “A Popular History of Rome” (1886)

Conclusion

The Colosseum and similar arenas, and the games held within, were a social mechanism for holding a society and Empire together in the face of overwhelming difficulties. Death was part of the norm, and the ethical morality of the time was in its human infancy. We of course see ourselves today as morally superior, as compared to the ancient Romans, but we still execute criminals, we still ritually kill animals in the arenas of Spain and Latin America. We slaughter millions of animals per year and subject them to horrible conditions. We face our own economic difficulties in addition to disease hunger and over population. We've seen executions associated with religious beliefs, as in the case of 911 and more recently by Isis. The ancient Romans empathetic capacity for love, compassion and forgiveness, was no different than our own today. Society is evolving and so is its ethics and morality. In two thousand years our descendents may look back at our contemporary Western Empire and say: How horrible, how cruel was their society, but thank our society nonetheless, as we thank the ancient Roman society for its progress in the form of technology, culture and ideas. 

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"The Mismeasure Of Greatness In Art." What artistic success is, and what does nature have to do with it?

Were Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso truly great artists?
We hear 'great' used all the time when describing the work, talents and contributions of artists of all disciplines. Greatness is also used to describe scientific and sports achievements. From politicians to spiritual leaders the word great is tossed around as if it actually exists or can be attained. History records the achievements of artists, thinkers and people of all walks of life. Cultural preferences, standards and progress, recognize the importance of the contributions made by these people to their society and the world. But were these people and artists truly great? 

We know what the definition of great is, but the word is loaded with personal preferences, emotional states and cultural bias. The word great belongs along side words such as 'beauty'. We have a sense of what it is to us, but does beauty really exist? Exceptional, outstanding, extraordinary, amazing, superb, and great are words that describe degrees of appreciation. He was a great leader, she was a great humanitarian, they were great artists. All describe people that were highly appreciated for their contributions. While the merits of ones contributions can be appreciated, they can also be disputed by others in the same society, which is often the case. 

In nature you don't find the equivalent of the human word great, but appreciation and aesthetic preference does exist. In fact aesthetic preference and appreciation in humans evolved from our animal ancestors. Bees and humming birds have evolved an aesthetic preference for certain types of flowers. Does the bee appreciate a flower? Perhaps, but when a female bird of paradise watches attentively to the performances and costumes the male birds are adorned with, she is using her aesthetic judgment, her senses and perhaps her feelings to choose the male that she likes the most. Sexual selection alone can not explain her aesthetic choice. The pecking order is not in play here. The strongest toughest male bird doesn't get to mate with all the females, as is the case in animals such as lions, gorillas, wolves etc… She has to choose from males with slightly different songs, and slightly different dance steps, and slightly different arrangements and colors of plumage. She is the art critic walking into a gallery and looking at visual art, hearing music and judging performance. She chooses one male bird based on her personal aesthetic preference and her choice is what she appreciates. Was this male bird great? Perhaps in her eyes. The same goes for the other females who have chosen the other males. In nature greatness does not apply. The use of artistic visuals, creative behavior, and the merits ascribed to them are absorbed by each species and nature as a whole. Billions of years later, aesthetic preference and appreciation in animals has evolved into a highly personal emotional response in humans, ultimately leading to the use of words like greatness to describe this highly personal appreciation. 

The western artistic culture known and described by many as the artworld, a name coined by American art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto, recognizes it's own artistic superstars. Western art history and culture have recorded and embraced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Pablo Picasso as great artists. Famous artists in the present western art culture, like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, and Ai Weiwei, have certainly made their impact and contributions, but time has yet to label their contributions  as great. Western artistic culture measures the success of artists in much the same way its aesthetic preferences are formed. The aesthetic preference and appreciation of a culture is largely formed by the impact artists have had on that society and the exposure artists have managed to inflict on that society. Popularity, fame and wealth for these artist has nothing to do with personal artistic success. It has to do with the amount of exposure inflicted on the masses or the economic stimulus involved in attaining that exposure. Achieving true artistic success is subject to the intentions of each artist. Artistic success for an artist can only be measured by the desire and personal definition of what success means to each artist. Every generation and time period in history has had successful artists that did well and made art within their own parameters of success, as well as in the broader cultural parameter. Not all became famous or were labeled great, but nevertheless they managed to make their contribution to their society and to the world, regardless of how small or insignificant.  

The problem with labeling artworks or artists great, is that you trivialize the contributions of all the other artists that exist and have existed in the real world. Aesthetic preference and appreciation is highly personal and no one can truly confirm greatness even if the majority agrees. Everybody is a critic, like the female bird of paradise we all have individual aesthetic preferences. If a society defines artistic success and greatness, then it dictates its preference upon young aspiring artists, and severely limits their potential for creative growth. Greatness is only a word used to describe appreciation for artists and their art, it cannot measure the real impact artists and their art have on the world. Each artist makes their own contribution, and influences their own people. Times that by millions of artists throughout the world, and the impact upon the world is truly what is to be appreciated.  

The artworld does not exist. Art in the world exists as various artistic cultures, markets and industries, all co-existing. Each making their own contributions to humanity. What is great for some, is decadence for others, what is beautiful for some, is inappropriate for others. I may consider Picasso great, and Guernica a great painting, but this is based on the impact they have made upon myself and the western society in which I was raised. What is aesthetically great for one society or culture doesn't automatically make it great outside of the context. Consider a remote African village. Their aesthetic preference's have been formed based on the history and impact their art has had on their society. A young aspiring artist in that village may not consider the Mona Lisa a great artwork, or view the Sistine chapel with the same awe that a young aspiring western artist would. What we learn from the female bird of paradise is that the art of survival is at play. Aesthetic appreciation evolves as life unfolds and has a direct influences on the survival of all species. Humans are no different. We all appreciate artists and art, but greatness is in the mind of the beholder. What art and people contribute to a society merits the appreciation they will receive. 

 

By David Yanez

9-15-12 

Digital Image:

Copyright David Yanez 9-15-12

Before The Age Of Delusion

By: David Yanez 4-17-12

In a time long before the current age of delusion and faith, long before Zeus, Apollo, Jupiter, Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Mosses, Krishna and the Buddha, the Goddess reigned supreme. Prehistoric societies were partnership societies between men and women, with matriarchal lineages, where women were respected and honored as living goddess's. It was the Goddess, not God or the Gods that they worshipped, but the creator of the universe and of all life, the Mother Earth Goddess. Why? Because women as understood by prehistoric cultures, where the givers of life and the maintainers of life, who possessed the magical powers of life, healing, compassion and wisdom.

We call the human Paleolithic age of hunter gathering, primitive, but in reality it was far from primitive. For all intensive purposes we were anatomically modern humans, Homo sapien sapiens. Our brains were actually slightly larger than they are today. If you took a Cro-Magnon human and educated them today, they could very well be the next Einstein. So why do we call their beliefs in the Goddess primitive? Only their technology was primitive, not their ability to reason, think creatively, or create. Far from being the mindless cavemen we have long imagined, they were our founding fathers and mothers.

Being the ones that gathered food while the men were hunting, women possessed the knowledge of edible and healing plants. Women of this time were basically the ones that fed and clothed the tribe when the men did not catch any game. They fashioned nets and hooks to hunt small prey and fish, and developed the technology to cloth us from the extreme weather. Women were invaluable and seen as goddess's and magicians. They were our shaman healers and painters of the cave walls as well. They were symbolized by the prehistoric Goddess figurines all over the world and portrayed as protectors and seen as one with all animals and life.

Many scholars agree that it was women who first domesticated plants via their knowledge of the plants they picked, and took us into the Neolithic agricultural age. The fig tree is most likely the first domesticated plant in the world. Women being the first to discover the suns power of life over the plants, were most likely seen as givers of life like the sun, when the plants they sowed came to bear fruit. In my opinion this is why ancient women where associated with the sun, and portrayed as sun goddess's. Women discovered the secret of life, and the knowledge of the Gods, and as a consequence reaffirmed their role as Goddess's. The fig tree also became a sacred tree throughout the world and is most likely the origin of the tree of life symbol, being that it sustained the lives of many humans, and has branches that spread up to the heavens and roots that reach deep down the earth or underworld. This also marked the time when humans left the garden of Eden and where forced to sow their own food. The age of agriculture arrived and the Goddess prevailed in pre-historic agricultural societies throughout the world.

The bull or bison have long been depicted with the goddess or women, from the Chauvet Caves, to the city of Çatalhöyük, and in later classical mythologies. One theory according to Marija Gimbutas, in The Language of the Goddess suggests that the likeness of the female uterus and fallopian tubes to the head and horns of a bison/bull, associates the bison with the Goddess and is a symbol of ‘becoming’. Taurus the constellation, is an astrological sign associated with the Vernal equinox, Spring, a time of life and regeneration. One theory suggests that the cave of Lascaux in particular a painting of a Bison is the representation of the constellation Taurus and was used as an astronomical observatory. The Bison also has a similar gestation time as women, approximately 9 1/2 lunar months. Taurus is also supposedly governed by Venus and is also associated with the moon.

The cave engraving of the Venus of Laussel depicts a women holding a Bison horn with 13 carved notches, possibly symbolizing the number of moons or the number of menstrual cycles in one year. The Venus was also painted with red ochre, which symbolized, birth, death and re-birth. She also has her hand on her abdomen (or womb), with large breasts and vulva. Throughout history humans have linked women's menstrual cycle to the cycle of the moon, although current scientific understanding sees no link. Suffice it to say ancient humans probably saw a connection.

The panther, or the panthera species of large cats, which include the leopard, jaguar, lion, and tiger have long been associated with the ancient goddess. The oldest zoomorphic sculpture in the world is of a lion headed figure that some believe to be the body of a woman. The word "panther", in Greek, could be interpreted as "every wild beast", supporting the idea of the Goddess connected to every creature. The Goddess is depicted with the panther in Çatalhöyük, and with the Minoen Snake Goddess. She is the Egyptian lion Goddess Bastet. The panther was a symbol of the earth Goddess. The Native Americans regard the panther as the protector of the universe. She was the Mayan Ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine, the goddess of making children.

In the hills of Botswana Africa archeologists have found what appears to be the oldest evidence for ritual religion dating back to 70,000 years ago. In a cave is hidden a six-meter-long rock that bears a striking resemblance to a snake, including a mouth like gash at the end. With carved notches along its length that simulate the appearance of moving scales. The snake may be the first animal humans worshipped, and as a result have taken the symbol of the sacred snake throughout the worlds and later associated it with the Goddess. The serpent is one of the oldest and wide spread mythological symbols. It represent fertility or a creative life force. When snakes shed their skin, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life. Serpents were the guardians of the Goddess Athena's temple. They were seen as life givers. Chaldeans had only one word for life and snake. The snake was also associated with the tree of life, perhaps because the fig tree has serpent like trunks and branches. It was a serpent that engulfed the Buddha under a Bodhi tree (Fig tree) and protected him for seven days. They were symbols of wisdom in ancient times and flourished with the goddess.

Not until men domesticated animals do we see the formation of patriarchal societies. These were male dominated societies who saw men as supreme over all animals including women. In order to domesticate an animal you have to dominate it, and men saw this as an opportunity to dominate women as well. When these patriarchal societies easily conquered Goddess societies due to the power and efficiency of the horse. They had to convert these societies that they conquered into patriarchal societies. They did this by outlawing the worship of the Goddess and changing their Mythologies in a way that made women look like the evil temptress, and everything associated with the goddess evil. In the mythology of the Medusa who was a guardian and protectress, women and snakes are transformed into an evil monster, that was beheaded by Prometheus.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil of the bible has long been thought of as an apple tree when in fact it was the fig tree; remember that Adam and eve covered their genitals with fig leaves. In antiquity it was the tree of knowledge, but in the bible it was transformed into the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the snake transformed into an evil snake and Eve into an evil temptress who wanted the knowledge of good and evil. Because of Eve, (whose name means 'to breath', and consequentially, 'to live' or 'to have life), according to the Bible humans were forced out of the garden of eden and forced to fend for themselves. Instead of seeing women and the knowledge of life and agriculture as a good thing, patriarchal societies made women into scapegoats and possessions, just like livestock.

Because it was long associated with the Goddess, the bull was transformed into an evil obstacle that had to be defeated or slain in Patriarchal mythologies. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, he kills the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh. In Roman Mithraism, Mythra is depicted as slaying the Sacred Bull. In Greek Mythology the Minotaur is killed by Theseus. In the Old testament Moses punishes the Israelites for worshipping a Golden Calf. It has even been suggested that Spanish bull fighting is a left over practice of killing the Bull of the Goddess.

In Greece the image of the Lion Goddess was transformed into the Sphinx. The body of a lion, the wings of a bird, and the face of a woman, the sphinx was treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddles are killed and eaten by the monster. The mythical Greek king Oedipus, defeated the ravenous sphinx by answering her questions correctly thereby forcing the female monster to kill herself, thereby freeing Thebes from her harsh rule. Even in contemporary portrayals of women by men, they are likened to vicious cats. Cat fight is generally used to refer to two women fighting. Cat woman from the Batman cartoon is an evil temptress.

The spiral is the most pre-historic ancient symbol in the entire world, and is in every indigenous culture across the globe. It is also the most sacred and holy of symbols across ancient cultures. The symbol of the spiral has been associated with the solar calendar, the rhythm of the seasons, and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Similarly, the spiral symbolized the sun, ancient people most likely thought the sun was born each morning, died each night, and was reborn the next morning. The spiral is also the universal pattern of growth and evolution. The spiral represents the goddess, the womb, fertility and the life force. It means all universe and eternity. Islamic people used the symbol for holy things that can not be written. In the orient the spiral meant the beginning of all life, where the Gods come from. Native American believed it to be all energy all consciousness, the scared ones, all living things.

The spiral is the most recurring shape in Nature. From tornados to hurricanes, to water whirlpools and snail shells, the spiraling of leaves in the wind, from Galaxies to flowers, the spiral is everywhere. It is the shape of the building blocks of life, DNA, and the shape of a fetus in the womb. Our ancestors could not have missed the most common shape in the universe. It is the shape that gravity exerts on galaxies and forming stars, which in turn give birth to all life in the universe.

Before the age of delusion, there was the goddess. Today we have our mothers, and our sisters. They carry us in their wombs for nine months and care for us the rest of our lives. How can men treat women as possessions? They owe their existence to them. Male dominated religions spread bigotry towards women and encourage bigotry against other religions. It's time we took a second look at what women represent and there sacred role in our lives.

Copyright 2012 David Yanez. All Rights Reserved.

Why Can't Humans Take The Pain? The Evolution Of Agony.

Have you ever seen an animal so badly injured that it is sure to die? Why aren’t these hurt animals trying to get run over by elephants or trying to get eaten by lions, or jumping into rivers to end their pain? They don’t. They bear the pain. That is the difference between animals and humans. Humans cannot tolerate pain as animals can. This wasn’t always the way it was for humans. At some point in our pre-history something happened that made pain intolerable for us to stand and intolerable for our clan members to watch. Have you ever heard an animal crying out to be killed because their injuries where just so painful? When you observe an animal caught by a lion you can most certainly see fear in its eyes and bodily gesture, and at the moment they’re caught they do let out a painful cry, but then, they succumb. Its as though they had a built in mechanism to turn off the pain, not intentionally but perhaps biologically their brains have evolved to release a numbing chemical at these moments of death.

Animals instinctively know when they are close to death. Sickly animals have been observed to go off on their own and die quietly away from their group. This is an instinct that animals have evolved perhaps to prevent danger to their group after their death. Predators and scavengers will surely find their bodies and bring danger to the rest of the group. Dying away from the group is an evolved trait and a natural failsafe to protect the healthy animals. To this degree animals have a basic concept of death, but it is unlikely that they understand why they are going off to die, it is more an instinctual behavior. There is no question that animals feel pain and do cry from the pain, but they won’t throw themselves off a cliff in order to end their pain, they will endure it until the moment of death comes, and their relief begins. There must have been a time when the same was true for humans. A time when humans like animals had no high concept of what life and death were. In order for an animal to want to die because of their pain, they need to have a concept of life and what is a good life, as well as understand the relief that death will give.

Why can’t humans take the pain? Well, thousands of years ago we could. Neanderthals studies have confirmed that these humans were built for pain. They even possessed a variant of the red haired gene MC1R. Studies have shown that modern red headed humans have more tolerance for pain than do humans with other colored hair. Neanderthal bones have been found that suggest these humans were living with severe injuries due to their up and close hunting techniques. It was with Neanderthals that the first ceremonial burials occurred giving credence to their developing spiritual state of mind. They also took care of their sick as we do today. Did Neanderthals wish death from their pain? It is possible, being that their understanding of life and death had become much more advanced than previous humans and animals, but their harsh lifestyle suggests that like our animal ancestors they took the pain until the end. But unlike the gazelle caught in the lions jaws, Neanderthals most likely wished for the pain to end, and death must have been a welcome relief.

Cro-Magnon man was also better built for pain. They are our immediate ancestors and are credited for creating art and culture, but their bodies were more robust and stronger than modern day humans although not as strong as Neanderthals. Cro-Magnons are considered fully modern and even had a slightly larger brain size than modern humans. Like Neanderthals their larger brain size could be due to their larger physiques. Cro-Magnons with the influx of Neanderthal genes had a modern concept of life and death as well as a sophisticated spiritual mind. They are most likely the first humans and the first animal to ever commit suicide. Although their bodies were built to take the pain their minds were fragile due to the prevalent influx of mental disorders in our gene pool, caused by compassion and spears. Prevalent psychological problems in humans may be a by-product of our close empathetic social group structure.

With modern humans empathy and compassion, lead to the taking care of the mentally ill, and or personalities on the borderline of mental illness, that would normally have not survived if left to fend for them selves in the wild. This enabled them to survive long enough to breed and spread their genes. Mentally ill primitive hominids as well as apes did not live long enough in the wild to breed and pass on their genes. With no one taking care of them, nature and its creatures would consume them. This is why mental illness in the wild is not as prevalent as in humans, and how increased mental disorders to our gene pool contributed to our ability to feel mental and emotional pain to the degree of wanting to die because of it.

Modern humans provided us with the modern survival tool kit. Which enabled us to leave Africa and multiply. They equipped us with the latest in survival technology; spears so accurate and deadly that no lion would dare enter our newly fortified mammoth bone huts, caves, or similar fortified dwellings, resulting in increased populations. In fact, lions and bears became the hunted. Sewing and weaving technologies lead to clothing, enabling us to flourish in the north. Fishing and knowledge of the plants we gathered lead to increased numbers as well. Never before did the human population reach such numbers, and because of that, the genes for mental disorders were passed to every human being in the world.

Larger group sizes resulting from this new survival tool kit, coupled with our innate empathetic nature, resulted in an increase in the mentally ill, and people that may be predisposed to mental illness. More important it redesigned our brains, and as a result, our ability to cope with pain. Mental illness has also been linked to creative individuals throughout history and recently science has confirmed the link between the creative mind and mental disorders. The artistic or creative individual is more likely to suffer from mental illness or be predisposed to it genetically without actually succumbing to it. If you compare the amount of mental illness in humans to the animal kingdom you will notice that in humans it is rampant while in nature it is rare.

The artistic mind, and emotional pain, as well as suicide are the results of the new hard wiring of the brain, due to an increase of genes for mental illness, which has spiraled out of control in humans as a result of compassionate behavior, deadlier spears and the latest survival technologies. Sixty to thirty thousand years ago all these conditions came to bear resulting in a giant leap of humanity. Even spiritual experience has been linked to mental illness. When you increase the number of the mentally ill, or people predisposed to mental illness, you increase the number of creative minds and painful hearts. When you combine artistic, spiritual, music, dance and the art of story telling, you end up with the dawn of modern humans and the evolution of agony.


David Yanez

2-11-12








Copyright 2012 David Yanez. All Rights Reserved.

The Evolution of the Artist: Mental Illness, Compassion, and Spears

The Making Of An Atheist

By David Yanez, 12-14-2003

I’m writing this in response to several allegations over the years that since I am an Atheist that I’m incapable of grasping how a spiritual person sees life, or the bigger picture. They say that because I am an Atheist, I’m incapable of grasping the idea that there exists something higher than myself, or Humankind. By ‘grasping’ I mean ‘understanding’. Yes, I understand how they feel, and believe. I was a Catholic for Seventeen years. I can grasp the idea or understand why they believe without necessarily being a theist, or spiritual in the traditional sense. I’m not an Atheist just for the sake of being different. Being an Atheist doesn’t mean one has abandoned their moral conscious, or that they’ve lost the ability to feel compassion or wonder, and amazement for life. Atheists are not unfeeling and single minded. The only difference between us is that you believe in a God and the Supernatural, and I don’t, plain and simple. I don’t have ‘faith’ in unseen, or unknown forces that may have an influence on my life if I only believe in or worship them. Rather I have ‘hope” that someday if I try as hard as possible that maybe my life will be enjoyable enough to make all the suffering worth it. Atheists have faith in many other ways not related to religion, or spirituality. We have faith that the people we love will come to our assistance in our times of need. We have faith in our children to do the right thing, we trust their instincts based on what we taught them; therefore we have faith in their abilities to become good human beings. We don’t worship or have faith in the unknown; rather we try our best to understand the unknown. We don’t fear death; rather we embrace life, because we believe it’s the only one we will ever have.

This is my attempt to shed some light on what makes an Atheist, or should I say one Atheist/Agnostic tick and to give people a better understanding of whom we are. It is also meant to give hope to people who are without hope, and who are contemplating suicide, and to people who are having doubts about there spiritual beliefs, and don’t know where to turn to.

What do you do after being raised to believe in something wholeheartedly from the time of your birth, only to have that belief ripped from your heart and your mind by your own self, because to continue to believe in it would be living a lie? How do you replace such a big void left by uninstalling a particular program in your mind, which to that day was an essential component to your development as a human being? I was raised like most people to believe that our lives were looked over and cared for if we believed without question and loved unconditionally a Supreme Being, which most cultures refer to as God. I was led to believe that this God had the power to grant us happiness if we led a good, just and compassionate life. I was led to believe that this God was the ultimate power that existed and should be feared as well as loved and adored, otherwise you’d be condemned to eternal misery by the same Just, Compassionate and all loving God. This belief was installed into my mind without any say on my part because I was just a baby without a choice. I was only a child, innocent, impressionable, and oblivious about life and the world around me. How could I know what was good for me or not. These beliefs are forced upon us all before we are old enough to determine on our own whether they are credible or not. I was not born a Christian; I was born the son of Christians. This belief was as natural to me as walking and breathing, but unlike walking, and breathing, belief in a God was taught and instilled in me.

If you saw me as a child no one would ever question my belief in the Almighty or my spirituality. I was raised to be a respectful, just, compassionate, loving, forgiving and open minded person who would never harm another person or animal out of hate or self gain. These beliefs defined me as a human being, at least that’s what I thought or was lead to believe. How could billions of people be wrong? My beliefs were as much a part of me as an arm or a leg. How can one rip off their arm or leg? Some people would say, “Well, when your old enough to make your own decisions, you can believe what you want ” By then it’s too late for most people. Their minds have been made up for them. They’ve already been brain washed. Why should they change their beliefs? Their lives revolve around these beliefs. Are these beliefs in divinity and the supernatural inherent to mankind or are they popular ideas passed down through each new generation. Morality and ethical systems have evolved for thousands of years, granted religious beliefs have contributed to our ethical culture but do we now need to be religious or spiritual in order to be good, wise and moral people? Most people depend on these beliefs for comfort and morality even though deep down they have their doubts. They would rather live a lie than to rip out their religious beliefs. It takes a lot more than just lack of evidence and plenty of credible philosophical and scientific theories to abandon a belief system drilled into us for thousands of years. Some people are strong and secure enough to accept their doubts and make the transformation with out any trauma to their psyche. But for others it would take a traumatic experience to make them abandon this security blanket belief, as in my case.

As a child I needed to understand. I needed to understand the universe, but the fear of death kept me a loyal subject to God. I’d say my prayers every night, asking for protection, for my family and for myself. Occasionally I’d ask the questions, Why? Why God? What’s it all about? But like always there was never any answer. But I was loyal, because I loved my family and would say my prayers for God to protect them. I was loyal because that’s what my religion and parents taught me: To love God no matter what. No matter if I couldn’t see him. No matter how bad things were in the world. No matter if he didn’t answer my prayers. I loved him because I feared him. I loved him because I feared death. But most of all I loved him because I loved my family more and he had the power to protect them. I refer to God as a he only for convenience and because that’s what I was led to believe at the time. I grew up depending on God to watch over me. In a sense my religion conditioned me not to depend on myself but to depend on God. God will provide. If you had a problem all you had to do was pray for his help. Religion taught me to be weak and dependant on a being that gets off on having people worship him.

I was already shy and insecure. I have no doubt that my religious beliefs contributed to this. So many people depend and structure their lives around this belief that has never been proven to exist. Like so many people I was hooked, addicted, conditioned and dependant, on something called God to guide and direct my life. Like so many I had lost the ability to due for myself: To take charge of my own life: To make my own future. But when I was seventeen I hadn’t yet come to this realization and then Marguerite came along. She was everything I ever dreamed of. I was hooked. I was in love. I had found someone to love more than my family, more than myself, more than my God.

She was an artist like myself and incredibly intelligent, beautiful and full of life. She taught me to savor each new day because tomorrow may never come. She said an accident or catastrophe could strike us down at any moment. She was contemporary, open-minded, sensitive and compassionate. When I looked into her eyes I could see so much more than just her big brown eyes. I could see her mind her consciousness that which made her unique in this world and I was in love. I had put her up on a pedestal and didn’t know how to tell her how much I loved her. My shyness and insecurity kept me at a distance. As much as I loved her, I feared the thought of being rejected by her even more. My shyness is most likely genetic but my insecurity is environmental and cultural in the making. My insecurity was a product of the way my life unfolded. I had no power to control the way my life would unfold. As people we can only direct our lives in a certain direction but we can’t control the outcome of our attempts. Until then through no fault of my own, my life had unfolded in a way that had left me shy and insecure. As much as I wanted to change I didn’t know how.

I used to ask God repeatedly to give me the strength to tell Marguerite how I felt about her. We had developed a good friendship and I was afraid of losing it by telling her how I felt. As high school graduation came closer and closer I practiced in my mind how I would tell her: How I would ask her out. It was so easy in my mind or in front of a mirror, but in person I froze. I would come so close to asking her out or telling her how beautiful she was, but that was as close as I would get. And I grew to hate myself for it. Why couldn’t I be more of a man I told myself? What am I afraid of? Please God, I would beg, Please God give me the strength to tell her, I’ll never ask anything of you ever again, please don’t let me lose her I would ask. The thought or option of our remaining good friends after graduation never even crossed my mind. I was blinded by love. I wish I had seen the option of a continued friendship, but that’s not the way my life would unfold.

Looking back and carefully examining why I was so insecure was probably a result of having been discriminated against throughout my childhood. I guess I was just too sensitive. So many years of defending myself, and my family from bigots had made me strong, but it had also taken its toll on me in the form of this insecurity. Perhaps subconsciously I didn’t want her to find out who I really was, or who my low self-esteemed mind thought I was at the time. Perhaps subconsciously I didn’t want her to see my true self, complete with a closet full of bad memories, pain, loneliness, embarrassment and insecurity. As High School graduation approached my mind became more and more fragile, hoping for an intervention from God. Please God, please, would ripple through my mind, please help me tell her that I love her, please. Graduation came and went and Marguerite had become my biggest regret. It would have been so easy to just say; “Marguerite, can we keep in touch after high school?” But my blinded love and new hate for myself let her go with out even trying. She’s better off without me I convinced myself. She was so beautiful and smart and perfect in my eyes, how could she ever love me back, and then she was gone.

In the years that followed I did make attempts to befriend her again but that overwhelming sense of insecurity had so much control over my mind that I failed miserably in my attempts. She had become my biggest regret but in the long run had become that which set me free. Free to think for myself and place my destiny in my own hands. I thank everyday that our lives had crossed because I don’t know if I would have had the courage to free myself if not for her coming into my life.

After High School graduation the pain that followed would be unmatched to this day. The pain that followed would change my life forever. How could you do this to me God? I’d say to myself. I loved you all my life God. Why are you punishing me so? Why God? Why? What did I do? I loved her! I loved her with all my heart! These thoughts and pain raced through my heart and mind until I couldn’t stand it any longer. All I wanted was for the pain to end, even if it was with my own hands. How else could I make the pain stop I asked myself? Death was the only answer, ‘Suicide’. I didn’t want to live any more. I hated my life. But most of all I hated God. And with a desperate attempt to gain control of my life again, I reached into my heart and mind, and ripped out every trace of my God. I cursed him without fear. I cursed him for my loss. I cursed him for my life. But most of all, I cursed him through my ignorance.

As time went on my hatred subsided. How could I hate something that doesn’t exist? If I continued to blame God, then I would be acknowledging that he does exist, so I stopped the blame, and stopped believing in this fictional being which had so much control over my life. Now I was a person without religion. I certainly wasn’t going to continue to call myself a Catholic. Although I stopped believing in God, for a while I still held on to the notion that we had souls and that they survived after our deaths. It was hard to let go of that last bit of fear. That’s what it had to be, the fear of death and the need to survive it. Science, Philosophy and the quest for knowledge, helped fill the void left from my lack of religion. Bertrand Russell finally put an end to my belief in a soul that survives our death. Soon scientific knowledge would console my need for everlasting existence, when I discovered that our atoms don’t really die when we die. They are just transformed. We don’t really know what will happen to us when the Universe or we die. I soon replaced the soul with the mind and later with the heart mind. I continued to be shy and insecure but at least I survived one of the causes. I survived Religion, but would I survive Nature and its unpredictability? Could I survive the damage Nature has already inflicted upon me? Or the Damage I have inflicted upon myself. Could I be content with just living for the sake of living? Could I just watch as Nature unfolded the Human saga? How could I be content when so many were not? So much suffering, not enough justice, Why? What’s it all about? I needed to know. I needed to know the big picture. Was there a big picture? I needed to understand, Why? How? and For what purpose?

We as human beings have been asking questions from the beginning. We are bewildered at the site of something we cannot explain and when we cannot explain something we have the habit of placing it in a category outside the Natural World. Our primitive ancestors could only imagine the real workings of Nature and were amazed and frightened at the same time. Our ancestors were at a threshold in our development as a species. For the first time we came together as a species and tried to explain the inexplicable and in the process had created something unique to our species, the need to be Enlightened and Culture, it was unlike anything we’ve seen in the Natural world before.

At some point in time, ancient man made the transition from mere existence to intellectual curiosity about his origins. At some point in our development as human beings we developed a primitive sense of good and evil, right from wrong, concepts that we’re still developing. We inherited our emotions, from our animal ancestors. It has been observed in the animal kingdom that higher animals mourn and show grief after a close relative or mate passes away. I believe emotions played a vital role in the development of our intellectual curiosity about our own origins. They laid the foundations for our primitive religious beliefs. I believe emotions, intuition and or traumatic emotional experiences have been catalysts for some of the most intellectual leaps in mankind. Even a chimpanzee has a primitive sense of right from wrong, empathy, and good from bad. I don’t know when animals made the transition from instinctual behavior to having emotions. I don’t know whether an insect avoids a praying mantis out of instinct or fear, probably instinct. But a dog definitely runs from a vicious larger dog out of fear. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to notice that. Emotions especially fear, have helped us survive by keeping us away from life threatening situations. Isn’t it possible that grief and or a depressed state of mind or loss of a loved one could have triggered an ancient mans mind to ponder about his existence or role in this Universe?

Ancient man also took the notion of destruction, which occurs naturally in Nature and associated it with man. Man had become a destructive force. We had the capability to be destructive to the enemy, which was a good thing for ones tribe, but when we killed one of our own for no good reason then destruction took on a new meaning, we called it Murder, and the act Evil. We define evil with many words usually it’s something which is deliberate at times violent and immoral, bad, hostile or unfavorable to human life and not in favor with the majority. In Nature, immoral or deliberate do not apply outside the animal world. Destruction is a natural occurrence, which is woven into the very fabric of the Universe. Murder as we describe it has been observed in the animal kingdom as well. Chimpanzees have been observed to murder other chimpanzees for no good reason other than they were from a different clan. We call this behavior evil because we as intelligent beings need to put a face on deliberate destruction but its actually just another name for destruction, which has been around from the beginning of time. We’ve used the term “Nature is cruel and relentless” to describe it but in actuality it’s not cruel or relentless, they are only human words that describe its destructive aspects. There is no evil in Nature or the Universe; there is only naturally occurring destruction. Evil only exists in the minds and acts of mankind or other intelligent beings.

In the beginning, religious or spiritual thoughts were just questions in need of answers. Ancient man philosophized about Nature and our role within it. We were passionate about our interpretations of it, which became our beliefs about Nature and its inner workings and our place within it. We were for a while in harmony with Nature or should I say considered ourselves part of the Nature World. We held respect for the animals that we hunted and held respect for the mighty forces of Nature as well. But eventually as our cultures evolved so did our emotional minds. Our levels of emotional capacities had reached our present day capabilities. Our intelligence was at its peak and we understood what we were feeling. Of all the emotions we are capable of, Love and Fear are the principle emotions that jumpstarted our search for the Spiritual. Love and Fear had caused us to shift our beliefs away from the Natural World and into a Spiritual one. Nature could no longer give us the answers we hoped were true. It could not console our grief’s nor could it dispel our fears, but only add too them the more we were confronted by it. We had grown to cherish our loved ones and couldn’t stand the thought of losing them forever. We could not accept death as our final conclusion. Love was too strong a bond to let go of our loved ones and Fear too strong to let death be the end of us. We were intelligent, conscious, loving and compassionate beings, how could the Natural world be all that is? We asked ourselves. We must have thought that since man was superior to all the other animals then he must be governed by and would suffer the fate of a Superior Nature, The Super Natural. Mankind had placed themselves above Nature. The Natural world could no longer decide their fate. Our quest for the spiritual is an admirable one, but let us not forget why we search for it. Let us not forget that Love and or fear were the roots of our spiritual beliefs.

Love is a feeling an emotion, which is so much a part of who we are, that without it we would be lost and vulnerable as a species. It’s as much a part of us as our arms or legs. We love instinctually and desire it wholeheartedly. Love can maintain, transform, or end ones life. Love is by far the most powerful human and animal emotion that has ever evolved. It has been and continues to be the key to our survival. Love is just one of many natural emotions that we inherited from our animal ancestors which has helped us survive and evolve as human beings. Without it, compassion would not have evolved. Mates that love one another are more likely to survive than those who don’t, because they look out for, care for, protect one another, and in some cases give their lives for one another. Children whose parents feel genuine love for them are more likely to survive than those who are not loved by their parents. A form of love also exists in the animal world although some might argue in its more primitive state. According to Jane Goodall, an adolescent chimpanzee was so despondent by the death of his mother that he fell into a deep depression and died a month later lethargic and weak. A mother bear will risk her life to defend her cubs from a strange and aggressive male bear. A mother Elephant risked being drowned by mighty floodwaters in a desperate attempt to save her calf caught in a torrential current of floodwaters. Most mothers in the animal kingdom will risk their lives in order to save their offspring. Scientist will say that’s a purely instinctual behavior that animals evolved. They will say that animals protect their offspring because it’s an instinct that has helped them survive. It’s obvious that these behaviors are the roots of the emotion we call love.

What about compassion or empathy? What advantage is it for a mother rat to adopt newly born kittens and bird chicks? Or for pigs to adopt newly born puppies? What advantage is it to spare the lives of your enemy? And or turn the other cheek when struck? Emotions like love, hate, fear, sadness, compassion, desire, jealousy, etc… have evolved for millions of years, as have biology and culture. They are the reasons we are still alive today and are the key to our future survival. You cannot ignore that animals feel emotions. To what extent depends on the animal. We’ve inherited our physical traits as well as our mental and emotional traits from our animal ancestors. We’re not that far above the animal kingdom, we’re only a few genes apart. We’re only two genes apart from a chimpanzee. Just because we’re capable of love and compassion doesn’t mean that we couldn’t have inherited these emotions from our animal ancestors or that they don’t possess these emotions themselves. We are not above Nature. We are part of Nature. Nature is within us. Scientists and people of faith who can’t see this are prejudiced by their own belief that humans are superior or above Nature. Until we accept our humble origins and put our selves back in the Natural World, Intellectual, Social, Cultural and individual progress will be slow coming. Love is not what makes us Human. Love is what makes us Humane.

Our search for the spiritual began with curiosity, which is common in higher animals but with man curiosity lead to a search for knowledge and understanding of the Natural World, and ourselves. This knowledge helped us survive in a world full of dangerous and sometimes uninhabitable environments. With our newfound knowledge also came emotional and cultural awareness, which laid the foundations for our spiritual search. The cultural systems and spiritual beliefs, and practices that followed, brought man together as a species and has helped us survive and evolve into beings capable of living in huge cities. With all these people living together, cooperating and sharing with one another, the individual gave way to the whole, to the survival of mankind. Although most of us tend to live as individuals and guide our lives for our own purposes and for the ones we love, we are not aware that we are contributing to a larger being. Each new generation adds unwittingly to the larger organism called the Human Race. Our Culture has evolved into a survival mechanism. It’s glue, which holds individuals and communities together. It’s many cultures contributing, adapting, transforming, and sometimes damaging the bigger Culture of the Human Race. In turn our culture may someday contribute to the Culture of Intelligent beings throughout the Universe.

Environmental conditions, genetic variety, big brain size, Intelligence, knowledge, emotional awareness, spiritual quest, the Human Race, have all contributed and will continue to contribute to the larger picture. Not to Heaven or Hell, nor a supernatural existence but the one true existence which we are all a part of, ‘Nature’. Nature is not a religion or a spiritual belief; Nature is all that exists, that which does not exist, and that which we do not understand. Nature is the Universe or Universes, and everything within it. Physical laws, gravity, parallel universes, multiple dimensions, dark matter, empty space, dark energy, unexplainable phenomenon’s are all part of this existence which is the Natural World. I believe everything evolved from one initial chaotic vibration of harmonious Non-existence or Nothing, otherwise called Emergence. Even if this Universe is part of a chain of evolving universes or if it’s one of billions of other universes, they all evolved from the one initial chaotic vibration. How?

Chaos theory comes to mind. The concept of Nothingness or Nonexistence has been around for thousands of years. It’s a concept which most people find hard to imagine and almost impossible to explain. It’s the opposite of existence. The question whether true Nothingness has or can ever exist will most likely never be answered but with a little imagination one can imagine it. Can you remember what you were in the time before you were born? Nothing. You’ll be the same when you die, ‘Nothing’. Your atoms existed before you were born and will continue to exist after your death, but that which makes you a conscious living being will be gone. Your mind will cease to exist and will become part of everything else. Close your eyes and imagine a solitude so vast, black and eternal, without light sound or cold, without anything that we know in existence, without energy or matter. Take away all, which exists, and that which existed in the past. Take away the cosmos. Take away your mind and the consciousness of the world. Take away the concept of solitude, which cannot exist in the infinite void of nothingness, ‘Nothing’, absolutely nothing, no Gods no Demons no Supernatural. Imagine a time before time without time. There are no equations that can describe it. No words no pictures. We can only assign it certain characteristics in order for our minds to imagine it. Let’s assign Nothingness the characteristics of a System. It’s the most basic, simple, homogenous and deterministic of all systems. Chaos theory says that any system can undergo an instance of random chaos, or behave unpredictable. Anything that is deterministic can behave chaotically. Nothing is deterministic in that, it is and will always be nothing. An infinite void of nothingness with no size, shape, mass, time or dimensions, a perfectly smooth consistently empty expanse, infinitely small and infinitely large, unable to resist loses control to Chaos. Why? Why not? There is no answer to Why? It just is.

Mine is not a spiritual belief but an educated guess, a gut feeling, an intuition. There is no single unified equation that explains it all, it’s rather chaotic and uncertain and unpredictable. You cannot predict Chaos, you can only make calculated predictions as to how it might or might not unfold in the future. This initial vibration was chaotic and inhomogeneous and interacted with itself. No longer was their nonexistence, but that which exists, that which vibrates. It was now the vibrating void. An instant of Chaos was the catalyst for existence. When ‘Nothing’ shook, it took on form and dimension, even multiple dimensions. Vibrating space-time had come into existence. From the interaction of these vibrations in this primitive space-time came a variety of vibrations and frequencies interacting violently with one another coming together with the help of a primitive or early form of gravity. Collapsing in on its self, vibrations colliding, merging and creating energy. After a while it was no longer able to resist gravity, and collapsed into a singularity and exploded into the Big Bang.

Individual particles were formed from tightly packed energy made of vibrations coming together. Particles that were close to one another distorted Space and let gravity bring them closer, joining them, creating the atom. Atoms, molecules, simple life forms came together to form complex life forms, complex life forms came together to form herds and societies and culture. Dust, rocks, gas, and ice came together via gravity to form planets, planets and stars came together to form solar systems, solar systems came together to form galaxies, galaxies came together to form super galaxy clusters. Nature or evolution favors that which comes together. Why? Because by coming together they have a better chance of surviving unfavorable conditions or the destructive forces of Nature. To live or exist is an adaptive struggle against that which will destroy or hinder its stable existence. Unfavorable evolutionary conditions drive human behavior as well. Coming together is the most basic survival strategy existence has. By existence I mean not just life forms, but all existence from energy to atoms to galaxies. If things did not come together there would be no Universe. The Big Bang would have just faded away into the void without ever forming anything.

For the first time Nature could experience its own existence. Owing its continued existence to the coming together of its parts from one beginning, from one seed, evolving into everything there is. We are one and interconnected with everything that exists. We all have the same ancestors and the same beginnings. We come from the same seed. We are intelligent individual beings that are part of a much bigger existence. We owe it to our selves and to Nature to work together like the atoms and cells in our bodies do for us. We as intelligent beings need to come together and work towards the benefit of the whole in order for the individual to be possible. As individuals we need to remain true to our individuality while belonging to a community, in doing so the community will synthesize our contributions. Nature encourages the coming together of its parts as it does variety and individuality, which are catalysts for change and adaptability in order to ensure its survival. It’s not intelligent but rather an existence, which has evolved from the some of its parts working together. Other failed Universes in which its parts didn’t come together due to slight differences in size or energy or temperatures were unable to produce stars and atoms and life and just faded away into the vast expanse of empty space.

In Nature no amount of science, religion, philosophy or equations can predict exactly in which direction the individual branches of a tree will grow, nor whether the tree as a whole will grow in a usual healthy manner. Neither can we predict exactly the way our Universe and our lives will unfold. We can trace our existence back to a single seed like the tree but we can’t predict exactly how that seed will unfold or whether it will survive. With Unification theory, Scientists think that they will be able to predict all that is if they find the one unifying equation. While I think it is an admirable attempt, and much new knowledge will come from it in the future, it likens itself to the quest for the spiritual. It’s a quest for answers, which we want and hope to be true rather than answers that are true, which is what science and philosophy are about. Ultimately we may not understand everything, but we can sure give it a try. Our destiny is not made up for us. We can only direct our lives in a certain direction but we cannot control the outcomes of our attempts. Neither unified physical theory nor ultimate spiritual belief can change the fact that we exist now in the present. The knowledge from these pursuits can only benefit us, and serve as a guide as to how to conduct our lives now, and in the future. According to Joseph Campbell, Spirituality is a search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will eventually return. This elemental force is ultimately “unknowable”. This is the search of Science, Philosophy, and Religion.

Do we now need to be religious or spiritual in order to be good, wise and moral people?

In the past religions were useful along with mythology for teaching morality and codes of conduct to humanity. Since then educational systems have evolved in order to teach our children how to survive in the natural world, and how to be productive in and tolerated by our society. Laws have evolved in order to enforce codes of conduct, moral and ethical, accepted by the majority, and will continue to evolve in order to protect the rights of the individual, and the society as a whole. Parents and Family should provide education, moral values, love and compassion that promote a healthy mind to develop into a good wise and moral person. Taoism had the right idea in that it showed us that there is a way. The way of Life is an unfolding journey through Nature or Existence with obstacles in our paths and that, which will destroy us. We must now choose the right path the right way in order to ensure Natures survival.

For What purpose?

The purpose is to exist and multiply, so that future generations of living creatures, intelligent or not, also have the opportunity of enjoying and experiencing what it is to be alive and ultimately conscious. We must treat life as though it were the ultimate experience, not a supernatural life but this life, one full of the potential to be free and happy. The key word is potential. We are not born happy; we are born with the potential to be happy. We have to strive for it. For many, life is too hard or too painful to endure existence, they cannot enjoy life due to many circumstances natural or man made preventing them from doing so. We have a moral obligation to help all enjoy life and to be happy. Our lives have the potential to be Heaven or they have the potential to be Hell. To be alive and conscious is the closest we’ll ever get to Heaven, but it can also be a living Hell. Knowing this, I still choose to live.

Yes, I am what the word Atheist means, in that I lack the belief in a God or the Supernatural. I can’t prove there is no God and I don’t think I should have to disprove what there is no good evidence for, this makes me an Agnostic. If believing in a Divine Creator or the Supernatural can make your life happy and fulfilled, then by all means continue to call yourselves spiritual, but don’t judge others for not believing the same, and don’t force your beliefs on anyone else. There are no words that can describe how I feel about this wondrous existence; all I can hope is that these words come close. I’m not spiritual as the word is defined, but I am spiritual according to Joseph Campbell, and I do feel a connection to and have a deep respect for everything in the Natural World. My Ethical standards are high. I’m not a saint, nor am I wise or all knowing. I don’t seek to be different for the sake of being different. I have as many flaws as the rest of us, possibly more. I’ve loved and I’ve lost, I’ve desired and attained and lost again. I have given away and been given to. I’ve hurt and have been hurt. I’ve been idle and self-loathing, drunken and content, lonely and miserable, good and bad. I’ve been sorry and have been forgiven. I’ve been wronged and have forgiven. I’ve been on the edge of insanity and have come close to losing that which I am. But of all the things I’ve been, I’ve never been completely without hope because my will to exist is stronger than all the pain I have ever experienced.

When I was seventeen and abandoned my belief in God the only thing that kept me alive was ‘Hope’ and my ‘Will to exist’. As much as I loved Marguerite my life would go in a different direction and I had to adapt in order to survive. Since then I have fallen in love again. I loved my ex-wife more than I could imagine, much more than Marguerite and would also suffer the pain of losing her. Pain is a reminder to us all that our lives are headed in the wrong path or have experienced an obstacle in the road. Pain gives us hope that someday the pain will be gone and that we are still alive to feel it. Hope is what gives us strength. Hope is not Faith, but an expectation or desire that things might get better if you try really hard to improve your situation, and that those you love and your fellow man will be there to help you in your time of need. Hope gives us purpose and direction, to do in life what we could never do in death. To be open minded, compassionate, unselfish, forgiving, curious and loving. To exist, to live, to let live, to enjoy life and to care for those who can’t enjoy life, to learn, to create and to contribute, to oppose oppression and fight injustices, to love and to be loved. Don’t worry about were we go after our deaths but rather how we live this life and live it as though there were no other.

Until it’s path is over run with obstacles too great for it to overcome,
A flame will burn everything in its path if only to exist a while longer:
As does the Universe burn the boundaries of nonexistence,
Until nonexistence finds its way in and slowly consumes the fire,
The expanding fire, from within and from without.

We live in the mist of an ancient battle between existence and non-existence. We are one of the results of this battle. Without Nonexistence, there would be no Existence and without Existence, Nonexistence has no purpose. It’s this battle between these opposites, in which one destroys the other, which is the creator of us all. Destruction and Creation are intertwined with one another. It’s sad, but I believe it to be true. We must accept our personal inevitability and do everything in our power to prolong and enjoy our time and ensure that Life and Existence does not lose the battle.





Copyright 2009 David Yanez. All Rights Reserved.