Skáldskapr: Monotheism as population control

This episode looks at the historical research, combined with the cultural diversity at the time when the earliest forms of monotheism began to surface in the Middle East. Written from the third perspective using existing psychological studies, it discusses the perceived need to have some form of population control and the methods at which it addressed conflicts. Let us seek the guidance and wisdom of Ódinn as we attempt to change our course in this lifetime.

{Ódinn incantation chant}

Today we talking about the use of the “practice” of monotheism as a form of societal control. Now, if you have no experience with psychological control of others, we can look at it from two different perspectives. Firstly we look at the events of the time period, then we look at methods of elite training where the psychological conditioning of the brain can happen.

So, we’ll start our evaluation during the formation of Judaism, and then we can review many of the same tactics were used on a larger scale. For those of you not aware, Judaism is a religion of the Jewish people which began its proliferation in the Middle East. Think about the time period for a minute. The population had grown substantially, and the peoples of the Jewish descent were predominantly slaves of the Egyptian empire. The Egyptian peoples enjoyed a collection of gods under their polytheistic practices. From these early beginnings the founders of Judaism convinced their people that the “word of god” was the absolute truth. These “masterminds” are the ones who should get all the credit for the creation of the “brain washing” techniques used to subdue an entire society.  By highlighting the differences between the Jewish peoples, and their evil captors, there was very little convincing necessary. However, the institution of Judaism was limited to those who were of Jewish descent only. This scenario was purely to separate the “valued” people from their evil captors.

The ability of these early salesmen to capture and exploit the general population’s inability to understand the “mysterious powers”, was very mush like those peoples who migrated further East tens of thousands of years earlier, which led to Shamanism of the East. We witnessed very similar belief systems spread throughout the East stemming from the “out of Africa” beginnings of human kind. Without the general population ability or willingness to get in touch with the mysterious forces here on Midgard, they were open to exploitation.

Now, thousands of years down the road, as the Egyptian empire crumbled, these new practitioners of this new “religion” had migrated away, and determined that this type of control could be placed upon the whole of the population of the time. This is where we see the split to Christianity. In much the same way that Judaism had highlighted the difference between the Jewish peoples and their Egyptian captors, Christianity highlighted the differences between the Jewish peoples and everybody else, referred to as the “gentiles”. Most importantly the founders exploited the general population’s inability to understand the mysterious forces of Midgard. Whether they were trying to understand the natural world, or just the assignment of fate, the founders ensured that the proper controls were instilled in the new believers. Number one rule of this new practice? Thou shall have no other gods before me. Duh. Make sure the new practitioners knew that other practices wouldn’t be tolerated. With this rule came the lessons of there only being one god. This was to ensure that the practice wouldn’t become twisted, and risk the loss of control.

Although the early church preached the idea of disallowing idol worship, they quickly adopted the idol of the crucifix, and the church has always worshipped money. While they speak negatively of the money changers being chastised by the individual called Jesus, the necessity for tithing (donating) to the church has been a cornerstone to its existence since the very beginning. However this is not nearly the greatest contradiction that the church has maintained throughout its life time.

Throughout the evolution of the anatomical modern human, and yes we evolved, we were not just dropped here on Midgard in our current biological state. When considering our psychological instincts, we know that the human brain evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. Ingesting the necessary proteins that allowed for our brains, and thought processes, to grow exponentially. This growth allowed for our minds to reach out and understand greater ideas and concepts than our ancestors. It fostered in the need to understand every piece of the world around us, including our own path. This understanding led to us seeking a higher form of understanding, which for some meant searching the abyss of understanding with our spirit instead of our eyes. We found that those instincts of our ancestors, must have connected to our intuition, which brought about a range of emotions which in turn drove a deeper understanding of those mystical forces.

If there is one factor above all others that convinced me that these newer practices were designed as population control. This is the basic tenement that if one believes differently, you are wrong, or evil. This single factor of the 2nd generation monotheistic “religions” has caused more deaths and division than anything else. It has started more wars, and caused more death than any disease. By causing more division among people, the foundation was laid for sexism, and racism. It essentially laid the bed stone for superiority, condemning anyone different to death.

So, whether you believe in these practices or not, think of how you would control a population. To do this, the founders needed to keep it simple, as this is then easier to enforce.

I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange Gods before me. This is how we would ensure we kept the people trapped in the system.

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. This is a simple control to ensure that the idea was elevated as more important.

Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. This was to force obedience to the general population, and fill the coffers of the church.

Honour thy father and thy mother. This forced the younger generations to become obedient as well. Also, given this period of time, the father would have been the head of household, thereby ensuring that the young was trained in this new practice.

Thou shalt not kill. While I see this written, I know for a fact this was negotiable, as evil needed to be purged. This was also a method at which the founders would save their own neck.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. This was another one that was written for the masses to be obedient to, however, the practice by the membership was arbitrary at best.

Thou shalt not steal. Another written in hopes of ensuring that the congregation didn’t take things from the church. I don’t get the feeling they ever really cared about population stealing from each other, as long as they tithed on Sunday.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. We can see how well this one held up by a simple review of the Salem Witch Trials. Ultimately the church was trying to enforce honor in a population, whom didn’t live it.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife. Goes to the adulatory one, not really upheld in real life, as we find this being a major issue throughout the lifespan of the church.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods. This one speaks to the stealing rule, and tried to dictate thoughts of the practitioners. Not really something that could be enforced, but more of a method for total mental control.

Although the first use of the term “brain-washing” appeared in or around 1950, the principles were being used throughout the known world since the change from hunter/gatherers, around 10000 years ago. However, in much the same way that brain-washing has been completed in antiquity, so too are elite athletes trained.

So, with the idea of elite athlete training from a psychological perspective let’s quickly discuss some critical, key similarities:

1. Repetitive motions. This is where we physically perform a skill, then we perform  the skill over and over until we achieve “muscle memory”.
2. Establishment of a “right way”. This is the area where we eliminate bad practices by proving the right way works.
3. Kudos upon completion. By rewarding the proper completion of the skill. By adding praise to the completion of the right way, we foster the repetition.

Training elite athletes requires countless hours of repetitive training, ensuring that each detail is covered. This is the same methodology that these early agents deployed to enforce this new practice.

Throughout the ages, the enforcement of the “right way” by the founders of these religions, coupled with the “top down” enforcement, created an environment where it became dangerous to stray from those main concepts. It would also become “safer” to adopt these new practices, leading many to live their entire lives to dual life’s.

The repeated enforcement of the “conform or die” tactics used to ensure adoption by the masses has created a separation by its very nature. The practice has created more division than any other single force in the history of humankind. So, when considering the impact that monotheism has had in the world, we need to consider that it has laid the foundation for a fracturing of societies by its inherent quality of right and wrong. Those who would not conform were ostracized or killed off. These newer religions would wage a war that would last 100 years for access to a idealistic birthplace. These are the same peoples who would go on to destroy countless cultures and societies throughout the world.

Controlling a population with psychological controls has been a substantial force for societies throughout the world. It was these underlying controls that dictated the laws and communal rules that create harmony among its members. However, this same expected agreement is what caused a separation amongst the peoples.