CHAPTER TWO: We Know What's Best
continued from 5/26/05
While Crug's position in the community had increased dramatically and was noticeable to everyone, something else was occurring, which was not so obvious, intentional or readily apparent, but would nevertheless have a profound impact on the development of Truth, not only in the community but throughout the Fertile Crescent. Merka was acquiring an almost mystical influence in her village as well as in the smaller nearby community because of her plant knowledge. Merka had reached a point in her life, now that her children no longer needed her attention, where she could devote all her time to the "study" of her green neighbors.
Animism, a belief that spirits inhabit all things, be they animate or inanimate objects, dominated the lives of our ancient ancestors. We had rituals, incantations, and amulets to make sure we stayed on the good side of the omnipresent supernatural powers. Animism still exists in parts of the world today.
There are an estimated 45,000 Indians who live in the remote Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria region of Colombia. Sadly, their world is now being invaded by the various factions fighting one another in the continuous Colombian civil war. The "modern" world has little regard for the culture and way of life of these Indians.
The Indians that live in this region believe their mountain to be the "central" part of the world and they are the true guardians of the planet. The outsiders or Younger Brothers, as the Indians refer to these invaders, are believed to be, because of their ignorance, a threat to Earth.
One of the responses is to summon the various Indian priests throughout the region for a spiritual session. The priests will hold natural materials such as cotton fibers and bark for hours at a time and "direct" thoughts and prayers into them. When they believe the objects are filled with assorted thoughts, the priests will then present them as offerings to the mountain.
In the early 1980's, as a personnel director for a manufacturing plant in Miami, Florida, I had an experience which brought home to me that the spirit world could inhabit a modern city like Miami as much as a village in the jungles of Brazil. The majority of the employees who worked on the factory floor were immigrants from Central America and Haiti. One morning I learned that several employees refused to go near their machines because some dead chickens were found under two machines. It turns out that we had a Santeria priest working in our plant, who had been offended by some of his colleagues. He placed a curse on them. Santeria is well known in Cuba and is a mixture of Catholicism and African religions, possessing numerous rituals and incantations to deal with the multitude of spirits that dwell everywhere.
Even eight thousand years ago, however, it's unlikely that every belief was based solely on a "feeling" or purported revelation. Fruit falling from a tree was not automatically attributed to a supernatural entity; even then not everything was merely unexplained magic. People were capable of observing and making sense of things around them. Nineteenth century imperialism may have found comfort in attributing ignorance and superstition to everyone else, but ignorance, superstition, as well as objectivity can be found among all peoples.
Merka began giving names to her plants and was able to describe exactly what happened to them in their stages of growth. This was real power because she was, without realizing it, creating a plant "language." To many of her neighbors Merka "obviously" had mystical powers over plants because she knew their names. What might this mean?
The remaining building and the one most recently completed, on the other side of the storage shed, had been Crug's brainchild and perhaps his most cherished goal. He had convinced the Council nearly one full season before that it would be the most important structure in the community. The workmen were now putting the final touches on the monument out in front of the building. The first ziggurat in the Fertile Crescent would be completed in a matter of hours, in time for the ceremony scheduled on the next full moon in five days, on a warm June night somewhere in southern Iraq.
This would not be the grand monument that would dot the Mesopotamian landscape several thousand years later, but only a small, plain structure, made out of wood and stones, about six feet high. Nevertheless, its significance can not be underestimated. This monument would be perhaps the first visible reminder of the connection between the community and the all-encompassing spirit world. Crug told the villages that the phantoms he'd seen in the cave had commanded him to build the ziggurat.
The building behind the monument was the community temple, where villages could now come together to make offerings to the gods. Crug was the unanimous choice of the community to maintain the temple. On the night of the full moon, in a torchlight procession, he was appointed to the newly created position of "temple guardian." He would have three assistants. In addition, the Council agreed to provide two soldiers as permanent temple guards. But there was one thing Crug had not planned on.
Over the next two months an increasing number of villagers declared publicly that Merka should be made the temple priestess. After all, the villagers said, Merka had influence over those living things that were essential to the community's survival. She brought life. Crug couldn't fail but notice that his position might not be as secure as he once thought.
Merka was well aware there was a clamor for her to become a "priestess," but she was now fully engaged in her plant studies. She wanted to know why some plants prospered and others didn't. Why did certain insects and birds appear to be attracted to one plant and not another? What was the best time to harvest different cereal crops? And perhaps as important as anything else, Merka was not as ready as most to rip up or ignore those plants that did not seem to have an obvious use in the community. She was willing to observe and to study them.
What ultimately occurred in this community we'll never know. But we can speculate. Dissension increased in the village as the different factions jockeyed for influence, the various sides declaring they knew what was best. Crug's faction decided that more food should be set aside in the storage shed while the farmers, led by Thorat, declared "enough was enough." There was no good reason Thorat stated, especially when the food now in the shed was being passed out and given away for apparently no reason that was based on need. And in spite of Merka's declaration that she did not want to be the temple priestess, her supporters, more vociferous than ever, demanded that Crug and his followers make room for the one person who truly possessed magical gifts.
A short time after Thorat told the Council the farmers would not provide additional food for the storage shed, he was ambushed one morning while working alone in the fields. Crug and his supporters said marauding bandits had killed Thorat, but no proof of this was ever discovered. And then disaster struck the community.
After several full seasons of abundant harvests, locusts attacked the crops. Within three days the crops were destroyed as well as most of the food in the storage shed, which the locust had no trouble getting into. Crug blamed Merka. After all, if she was so powerful, how could she have let this happen? If they had listened to Crug this disaster would not have occurred, he told the villagers. Merka's eldest daughter remained in the community, but Merka, after being invited to live in the neighboring village, decided it would be best if she left.
Our imaginary community in Iraq may or may not have survived. What did survive, however, was Merka's knowledge, perhaps passed on to her children or other villages. And along with the beginnings of plant science and organized religion came the many versions of Truth. And while religion encouraged the belief that God and Truth were synonymous, Merka's interest in plants encouraged the idea that careful observation and patience were necessary if we were to understand that which gave us nourishment.
The weed made its first appearance some 10,000 years ago, give or take a millennium. As soon as agricultural communities developed and humankind began domesticating plants, it was just a matter of time before we were introduced to weeds. We can only guess about what plant might have achieved the distinction of becoming the "first" weed.
One of my favorites for the first weed team would certainly be the dandelion, that bright yellow flower whose seeds are spread by the wind. Ten thousand years later we're still chasing this flower across lawns, trying to eliminate it by tearing it out by the roots or overwhelming it with tons of weed killer.
Another plant that would likely make anyone's first team would be the cockle, a rose pink flower with black markings. The cockle enjoyed making an appearance in wheat and barley fields. The seeds of the cockle are poisonous if ground with flour. But the Romans eventually discovered a use for this plant.
The term "weed" has been a convenient name throughout history for any plant that someone didn't like, couldn't find a use for, or was unable to explain. There are nearly as many definitions of weeds as there are humans who claim they've uncovered one lurking in their field, garden or lawn. This is what makes the search so interesting and the journey well worth pursuing.
Probably now is as good a time as any to jump ahead some 7,000 years, in order to find out what some of the ancestors of Thorat and Merka might be up to. How far have we progressed? What has happened to our weed neighbors? We shall of course return to our murky past once again. There is still too much left unsaid.
to be continued....
While Crug's position in the community had increased dramatically and was noticeable to everyone, something else was occurring, which was not so obvious, intentional or readily apparent, but would nevertheless have a profound impact on the development of Truth, not only in the community but throughout the Fertile Crescent. Merka was acquiring an almost mystical influence in her village as well as in the smaller nearby community because of her plant knowledge. Merka had reached a point in her life, now that her children no longer needed her attention, where she could devote all her time to the "study" of her green neighbors.
Animism, a belief that spirits inhabit all things, be they animate or inanimate objects, dominated the lives of our ancient ancestors. We had rituals, incantations, and amulets to make sure we stayed on the good side of the omnipresent supernatural powers. Animism still exists in parts of the world today.
There are an estimated 45,000 Indians who live in the remote Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria region of Colombia. Sadly, their world is now being invaded by the various factions fighting one another in the continuous Colombian civil war. The "modern" world has little regard for the culture and way of life of these Indians.
The Indians that live in this region believe their mountain to be the "central" part of the world and they are the true guardians of the planet. The outsiders or Younger Brothers, as the Indians refer to these invaders, are believed to be, because of their ignorance, a threat to Earth.
One of the responses is to summon the various Indian priests throughout the region for a spiritual session. The priests will hold natural materials such as cotton fibers and bark for hours at a time and "direct" thoughts and prayers into them. When they believe the objects are filled with assorted thoughts, the priests will then present them as offerings to the mountain.
In the early 1980's, as a personnel director for a manufacturing plant in Miami, Florida, I had an experience which brought home to me that the spirit world could inhabit a modern city like Miami as much as a village in the jungles of Brazil. The majority of the employees who worked on the factory floor were immigrants from Central America and Haiti. One morning I learned that several employees refused to go near their machines because some dead chickens were found under two machines. It turns out that we had a Santeria priest working in our plant, who had been offended by some of his colleagues. He placed a curse on them. Santeria is well known in Cuba and is a mixture of Catholicism and African religions, possessing numerous rituals and incantations to deal with the multitude of spirits that dwell everywhere.
Even eight thousand years ago, however, it's unlikely that every belief was based solely on a "feeling" or purported revelation. Fruit falling from a tree was not automatically attributed to a supernatural entity; even then not everything was merely unexplained magic. People were capable of observing and making sense of things around them. Nineteenth century imperialism may have found comfort in attributing ignorance and superstition to everyone else, but ignorance, superstition, as well as objectivity can be found among all peoples.
Merka began giving names to her plants and was able to describe exactly what happened to them in their stages of growth. This was real power because she was, without realizing it, creating a plant "language." To many of her neighbors Merka "obviously" had mystical powers over plants because she knew their names. What might this mean?
The remaining building and the one most recently completed, on the other side of the storage shed, had been Crug's brainchild and perhaps his most cherished goal. He had convinced the Council nearly one full season before that it would be the most important structure in the community. The workmen were now putting the final touches on the monument out in front of the building. The first ziggurat in the Fertile Crescent would be completed in a matter of hours, in time for the ceremony scheduled on the next full moon in five days, on a warm June night somewhere in southern Iraq.
This would not be the grand monument that would dot the Mesopotamian landscape several thousand years later, but only a small, plain structure, made out of wood and stones, about six feet high. Nevertheless, its significance can not be underestimated. This monument would be perhaps the first visible reminder of the connection between the community and the all-encompassing spirit world. Crug told the villages that the phantoms he'd seen in the cave had commanded him to build the ziggurat.
The building behind the monument was the community temple, where villages could now come together to make offerings to the gods. Crug was the unanimous choice of the community to maintain the temple. On the night of the full moon, in a torchlight procession, he was appointed to the newly created position of "temple guardian." He would have three assistants. In addition, the Council agreed to provide two soldiers as permanent temple guards. But there was one thing Crug had not planned on.
Over the next two months an increasing number of villagers declared publicly that Merka should be made the temple priestess. After all, the villagers said, Merka had influence over those living things that were essential to the community's survival. She brought life. Crug couldn't fail but notice that his position might not be as secure as he once thought.
Merka was well aware there was a clamor for her to become a "priestess," but she was now fully engaged in her plant studies. She wanted to know why some plants prospered and others didn't. Why did certain insects and birds appear to be attracted to one plant and not another? What was the best time to harvest different cereal crops? And perhaps as important as anything else, Merka was not as ready as most to rip up or ignore those plants that did not seem to have an obvious use in the community. She was willing to observe and to study them.
What ultimately occurred in this community we'll never know. But we can speculate. Dissension increased in the village as the different factions jockeyed for influence, the various sides declaring they knew what was best. Crug's faction decided that more food should be set aside in the storage shed while the farmers, led by Thorat, declared "enough was enough." There was no good reason Thorat stated, especially when the food now in the shed was being passed out and given away for apparently no reason that was based on need. And in spite of Merka's declaration that she did not want to be the temple priestess, her supporters, more vociferous than ever, demanded that Crug and his followers make room for the one person who truly possessed magical gifts.
A short time after Thorat told the Council the farmers would not provide additional food for the storage shed, he was ambushed one morning while working alone in the fields. Crug and his supporters said marauding bandits had killed Thorat, but no proof of this was ever discovered. And then disaster struck the community.
After several full seasons of abundant harvests, locusts attacked the crops. Within three days the crops were destroyed as well as most of the food in the storage shed, which the locust had no trouble getting into. Crug blamed Merka. After all, if she was so powerful, how could she have let this happen? If they had listened to Crug this disaster would not have occurred, he told the villagers. Merka's eldest daughter remained in the community, but Merka, after being invited to live in the neighboring village, decided it would be best if she left.
Our imaginary community in Iraq may or may not have survived. What did survive, however, was Merka's knowledge, perhaps passed on to her children or other villages. And along with the beginnings of plant science and organized religion came the many versions of Truth. And while religion encouraged the belief that God and Truth were synonymous, Merka's interest in plants encouraged the idea that careful observation and patience were necessary if we were to understand that which gave us nourishment.
The weed made its first appearance some 10,000 years ago, give or take a millennium. As soon as agricultural communities developed and humankind began domesticating plants, it was just a matter of time before we were introduced to weeds. We can only guess about what plant might have achieved the distinction of becoming the "first" weed.
One of my favorites for the first weed team would certainly be the dandelion, that bright yellow flower whose seeds are spread by the wind. Ten thousand years later we're still chasing this flower across lawns, trying to eliminate it by tearing it out by the roots or overwhelming it with tons of weed killer.
Another plant that would likely make anyone's first team would be the cockle, a rose pink flower with black markings. The cockle enjoyed making an appearance in wheat and barley fields. The seeds of the cockle are poisonous if ground with flour. But the Romans eventually discovered a use for this plant.
The term "weed" has been a convenient name throughout history for any plant that someone didn't like, couldn't find a use for, or was unable to explain. There are nearly as many definitions of weeds as there are humans who claim they've uncovered one lurking in their field, garden or lawn. This is what makes the search so interesting and the journey well worth pursuing.
Probably now is as good a time as any to jump ahead some 7,000 years, in order to find out what some of the ancestors of Thorat and Merka might be up to. How far have we progressed? What has happened to our weed neighbors? We shall of course return to our murky past once again. There is still too much left unsaid.
to be continued....
posted by mumpsimus | 1:50 PM
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