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Hermits, Monasteries and Nunneries.
Individuals within the human population have chosen in accord with their social abilities, their rebelliousness towards a structured mass society and their inclination towards a spiritual lifestyle to set themselves apart from the general society. Almost unheard of in band-structured societies, they are recorded increasingly in presence with the rising predominance of agriculturally-based states and capital-dependent societies.

Twentieth century social equivalents would include fraternities, crime brotherhoods, cults, "hippie" communes, explorers, professional scientists (not technicians), "acid" heads, semi-secret political societies, jihadist and other extremist (aggressive, intolerant, militant, fundamentalist) religious groups, and, the more traditional early institutions. Set apart or drawn together by a desire for a sense of meaning, security and contentment in their lives, most would have their origins in child abandonment, dysfunctional co-dependent families, abuse-related histories, guilt obsession, and, passive lack of self-direction.

Their attitudes involving intolerant and proud religious authoritarianism, self-hatred, despair, toxic shame, idealistic and naive perfectionism, shyness, insecurity and personal sloth would frequently find association, and sometimes less injurious sanctioned abuse within the order. A few, attracted by the projected and idealized image often expressed as the foundation for the order, would become members with a motivation to attain a measure of spiritual grace seldom publicly demonstrated in their society. Still others would be sent by their parents for the purpose of safeguarding their virginity and increasing their intellectual education, or, as tokens of spiritual sacrifice for the family. Much of the reality of monasteries and nunneries would be set aside and downplayed in favour of the intentions expressed by the founders.

Monasteries and nunneries would form into as many varieties as can be imagined.
Those which received the sanction of powerful institutions would themselves become the more powerful, influential, and longest of duration. A few would maintain their duration by a combination of strict secrecy and membership conspiracies to control and dominate economic and political events. From the time of the death of Jesus Messiah (Christ), so-called Western versions of monasteries would appear.

Similar associations had existed with less prevalence in the Egyptian and Hebrew regions, and, were better known in India, China and SE Asia. Monasteries and nunneries were important social organizations for the provision of a sanctioned separation of anti-social individuals from the general society. Monasteries were, and have become known, as havens for homosexuals, the homeless, elderly, and those suffering the effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). This is one way in which mass society safeguards its orderliness, authority, and homogeneity by providing refuges, other than prison or execution, to those who cannot, or who have chosen not, to be fully committed members in support of the status quo with its ingerent privileges and abuses. It is not by skepticism that the phrase would become popular that for some persons, their life choice appeared to be one of "the monastery or crime."

Inherent with increasing human population density and numbers is a historical consequence of a reliance on political autonomy and homogeneity structured on a base of human authorities. Co-dependent material-based social, political and economic forms of society become increasingly risk susceptible as the homogeneity and co-dependency of the culture increases. That is, governing authorities must be, or are expected to be, provided with a portion of the productive efforts of the dependent individual.

The individual employed at tasks which, without the safeguards of prevention, peace, and insurance - can ultimately result in impoverishment and slavery. A choice by which some individuals avoid the risk of indebtedness (capital enslavement) after they have become impoverished, or, even before having to cope with the possibility of becoming impoverished - is to join a social organization which reacts against the materialism and possessiveness of the status quo culture: monasteries or nunneries.

Many individualistic societies have begun from a basis of social inequity within the surrounding culture and a desire to withdraw from such an aggressive and competitive society without becoming rebels. In essence, a rebel is a criminal. A rebel seeks to restore the material equity which is assumed capable of providing an equal sense of dignity to each individual within the society - which, in reality, is clearly not present. Outside of war, most murders have always been committed by individuals acting out their rage against a spouse, relative or close acquaintance. These are not included here as "criminals": they represent the inevitable outcome of authoritarian modeling and training within a human society - they are the "costs" and social diseases of an non-egalitarian social structure.

Criminals in the current context, refers to that group of individuals who in rebellion against the betrayal and abandonment of the society which has promised to care for them in return for their obedience, efforts and servitude ... have become materially poor and desperate for their survival. This group of "rebels" intend to re-participate in the material-based society by "evening" the scales of possession. Ranging from desperate and foolish to contrived and sophisticated, they steal, thieve, rob, defraud and assault others in an effort to gain immediate "income" for the satisfaction of their desires to appreciate the material benefits demonstrated by the status quo wealthy. This is not the intent nor the choice of the reactionary.

A reactionary is a true revolutionary in that the status quo (in this case, of materialism) is rejected outright.
The degree to which this reactionism is "pure" is the degree to which all of the values and assumptions of the original culture are denied or replaced. A pure reactionism to so-called human authority based "civilization" would be a band-organized society. While most monasteries, nunneries and their descendent forms favour this direction, few can, or choose to deny many of the other basic aspects of the human authority based society.

In particular, all come from an authoritarian style of society in which they have been taught to deny egalitarian choices and have been imprinted by the modeling of those around them with passive-aggressive forms of relating. Like an addiction, it is the only reality which they are aware of or can acknowledge. It is their inner identity. With few exceptions, monasteries and nunneries would provide no alternative to this pattern. Choosing to change the more blatant, obvious physical and materialistic factors of the irreverent and iniquitous society would be much easier to demonstrate and to be rewarded for.

Individuals who already have been oriented against the egalitarianism of healthy constructive human infancy and band-organized cultures, and, who are inadequately or dysfunctionally socialized so as to participate in the status quo culture - provide difficulties in maintaining group unity and peacefulness. A more dramatic and challenging re-structuring for the novice is that of modifying the individual's level of awareness and experience such that the constructive results of a non-aggressive, egalitarian, assertive form of relating evolves. This often requires considerable spiritual strength and guidance together with patience, empathy, and resources on the part of the founder and the brotherhood. Historically, this has seldom occurred.

The usual pattern of development is both a withdrawal from interpersonal communication and interaction (such that fewer social and spiritual skills are required) and, the imposition of an increased form of human dominance. Spiritual freedom sought often becomes human abuse received, and sometimes, transferred on towards others considered to be inferior, or, perceived to be weaker, less desperate, or, less willing to use violence. Ultimately, spiritual strength is earned only by the individual developing the "communicating" skills required for communication with the Holy Spirit - God's medium of communication. There are no short-cuts, cop-outs, or privileges.

100 A.D.
The Celts, by this time, had developed rational modes of tribal thought and were responding to challenging stresses with the use of paranoia-induced superstition. Noting that the bogs appeared to take the lives of a certain number of their community for each 5 year period, they proactively decided to sacrifice persons to the bog in order to counter this evil.

Every spring and fall season, religious sacrifices were made equalling in number one-tenth of the reckoned 5-year quota. The volunteer was charged with being a "priest" for a period of 10 months before the execution. Many benefits were conveyed to the individual, male or female, during this period. On the appointed day, the individual was ceremoniously strangled and rolled into the bog in an area of sinking sand.

Like similar practices developed independently by humans in diverse climates and continents, belief that some form of "quota" had been filled encouraged the remaining members of the neighbourhood to be careless and reckless rather than reverent and respectful of the bog. Consequently, the total numbers of persons lost to the bog tended to increase over the longer-term. The "field" knowledge of a hunting and gathering band, or, of a primitive tribe - was replaced by the rationalized and destructive rituals of the more challenged, anxious, protective, and structured tribe.

105 A.D.
Ts'ai Lun of China becomes the earliest recorded person to make paper from raw materials similar to those used in modern times. An early garbage recycler, Lun shreds woven cloth, old rope and the bark of trees and finds that when the mixture becomes wet and then allowed to dry - it forms a paper. He also finds that drawings and symbols can be more easily recorded on this new composite material than on any formerly used articles.

Most of China is agricultural and any trade that is carried out is largely of a local barter means.
Merchants are like itinerant gypsy barterers who travel widely, and, like diplomats and news reporters moving between clan leaders and regional kings. When such political leaders request protection money (later understood as "taxes" or "duty"), it is seldom assessed according to any perspective of bookkeeping. The enforcement warriors of the ruler simply stop by the farmer and requisition (either you give it to us or we will take it) a portion of the produce in evidence, or, if the farmer appears to be doing poorly, he could be taken away for a time to work as a slave for the ruler. Such "negotiations" were direct, immediate, authoritarian, without discussion, and, seldom if ever involved the need for records - credit or debt.

Paper would grow in use by the administration sections of the nobility; however, the awareness that such records contributed to the exposure of bribes to and misuse of collected goods by the tax collectors led to a discouragement of its use. Incorrect records, arguments about the accuracy of the records made, forgeries and other tamperings - did little to establish the use of paper or recordkeeping as a popular trend.

117-138 A.D.
Hadrian became the Roman emperor after Trajan.
He had been the governor of Syria. The empire was now receiving increasing resistance from the furthest extensions from Rome, largely due to poor administration. Local peoples were being treated in an authoritarian manner by immature, proud Roman officials. Enemies were being made because of the injustices, brutalization, lack of mutual respect and tolerance, and, the very nature of suppression of individual freedoms.

Hadrian attempted to counter this evasion of taxes, non observance of Roman laws, and rebellion against the authority of the officials by journeying extensively and trying to resolve the conflicts with personal judgement. Some territories were given back their freedom from Roman rule (Parthians - Armenia, Cappadocia and Syria), while others were excluded by virtue of fortifications (Hadrian's 73 - mile Wall between Scotland and England and similar fortifications along the Rhine, Danube and Euphrates.

In regard to the treatment of Christians, Hadrian instructed his courts to assign a penalty to anyone found falsely accusing a Christian in accord with the malice done. Otherwise, Hadrian was a philosopher and tolerant individual. He ceased to expand the empire and tried to re-establish some sense of religious basis or spiritual leadership for the Romans by building many non-Christian temples.

120-180 A.D.
Claudius Ptolemy authors the "Tetrabiblos", the most extensive astrological textbook up to that time which is still in existence.

132-135 A.D.
Simon Bar Kochba, "The Star of the East" led the Jews in a furious revolt against their Roman conquerors. This ended the conquest of Jerusalem by the Emperor Hadrian. Kochba represented the military style of Messiah (anointed one, of God - saviour) long expected by the Jews. The Rabbinical scholar Akiba acknowledged him as the "Messiah".

132 A.D.
None of the Christian Gospels were written until after this date.
Until this point the memory of the events and statements of the time of Christ were conveyed between persons verbally. Very few persons of the time could read or write and they were usually scribe/priests in the Jewish religion or Roman bureaucrats in the Roman empire. There were no printing presses for yet hundreds of years, no photocopiers for hundreds more years, and no personal computers for still more decades. Supplies of paper were minimal as well. Histories were almost totally transferred between people and generations verbally from memory.

Being an aural communications culture, and with no radio, television or tape recorders, nor electric lighting to distract one, stories and histories provided a valued addition to everyday life as entertainment. For the average person in Europe and the Middle East, neither salt nor spices were amply available; thus, food was eaten more from necessity than for any noted degree of enjoyment. Workdays were frequently 12 hours long and there were few holidays. Agriculture was the major occupation and agriculture can be a 7-day workweek, especially when the weather is good. Altogether, storey and history telling replaced what most North Americans now contribute to mass media entertainment, although in smaller exposure times.

In North America in the 1990s, psychology research studies continue to show that the verbal transfer of one's own experiences and particularly of information given to one by another can frequently deteriorate by as much as 50% in accuracy in just one telling. On average, after an incident has been verbally transferred, from one to another, through a series of 10 persons, the original experience can no longer be identified. As entertainment, the storeyteller often receives greater acceptance, encouragement, and reward .. for adding dramatic superlatives and imaginative scenarios which stimulate the fears and reverence of the listeners and excite their anxieties and lengthen the duration of their memories. And these modifications of content and meaning can all take place within a period of hours or days. So how accurate would the history be after 100 years?

Accuracy-in-data-transfer is largely a factor of cultural focus, opportunity and skill development.
In modern North American human culture, the verbal transfer of information of any importance has a very low priority. Largely, technology-oriented methods have replaced the oral tradition. In 132, this was not the practice. It was just the opposite. Persons related both current and historical information regularly between each other and those who did it well were highly prized in any community. The average person could probably transfer all the information which had been received on to another person and after 10 transfers, the descriptions would at least be similar.

If the story had historical or religious merit, it was conveyed with greater care and memorization.
Skill levels were substantially higher, and, because social appreciation encouraged a demonstration of such skill, the opportunity to keep the truth of history current was quite good.

135 A.D.
The emperor Hadrian brought his legions against the Jewish army of Simon Bar Kochba, on the 9th day of Av (the Jewish month of August), and the anniversary of the burning of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. Dio Cassius, the Roman historian, wrote that more than 580,000 men were killed by the sword alone, not counting those which died afterwards by fire and famine which followed. It was a desperate battle southwest of Jerusalem. Dio Cassius, wrote that the horses of the Romans were wading in blood up to their girth in the mud and mire of the valley battleground. This was the last great army of an independent Israel; it was slaughtered without mercy. More than 3,000,000 Jews died throughout the Middle East, leading to a dispersion of the Jews which would last almost 18 centuries.

Any "saviour" who preaches victory by means of military coercion or a military style resistance represents a destructive non-spiritual direction. In human history, the tendency of such rage, hatred, and pride inspired leaders is the outright destruction of many lives of both innocent persons and those who have surrendered their spirit to direction by a human authority. There are many more constructive and more spiritually guided ways of diffusing, redirecting, negotiating and denying oppression and abuse.

162-165 A.D.
Marcus Aurelius and his brother L. Verus became joint Roman rulers (161-180)
During this period (162-165) they waged a war, again, against the Parthians.
The Romans won with their victory at Dura Europos (163) and the occupation of Mesopotamia.
Recurring wars and the attendant slaughter, of humans and cattle, in the eastern parts of the empire led to beneficial conditions for the introduction of smallpox. As the plague spread throughout the empire, peace was made between the Romans and those who rebelled against them.

165-180 A.D.
Smallpox was introduced into Mediterranean Europe, particularly Italy, by the Roman legions returning from their conquering missions. A mutation of a cattle and horse disease, smallpox became one of humanity's most communicable diseases. The virus changes little and survival of an attack generally confers immunity. Its mortality on humans is considerable. The physician Galen estimated that between 25% and 35% of Italy's population died during the 15 years after it appeared. Children were the major group of fatalities.

176 A.D.
Commodus became co-ruler with Marcus Aurelius over the Roman Empire.
The adoptive principle of appointment of emperor was abandoned in favour of dynastic inheritance.
Aurelius died in 180 and Commodus continued with an attitude of pride and self-obsession in the belief that he was the reincarnation of Hercules and Mithras. He was successful in avoiding a conspiracy (182) but not a palace rebellion (192).

178 A.D.
The Church, about this time, as a specific and special building in which to worship began to become accepted as a pattern of activity (tradition) by practicing Christians. The Jewish tradition was to have a small temple in which the holiest of their religious symbols were kept and into which few priests entered. Surrounding the small holy room was an outer temple in which the priests frequented. Much of the actual religious ceremonies involving the adherent were conducted outside. This was acceptable in the dry hot weather indicative of the Middle East, but neither healthy nor comfortable in more temperate (cooler and wetter) regions.

Until 178 A.D., practicing Christians never used a special building set aside for worship.
Wherever several met to share prayer, discussion, or worship about their beliefs, was considered to be a unity of brethren. In addition, if a person represented the temple of God, then it was due the respect, reverence and care that one would provide for something of importance to God. In such a Way, the individual was encouraged to respect their limitations and strengths, to care for themselves, and to keep oneself as clean from iniquities as possible.

The Christians saw all around them the temples dedicated to the Roman and Greek Parthenon within the shelter of which the citizens worshipped the gods of many of the peoples in the empire. In the Greek administered jurisdictions, the term "ekklesia" meant a group of citizens "called out" to assemble for political purposes. In the New Testament, "Ekklesia" signifies a group of believers in Jesus Messiah (Christ) who are called together, and is translated (modified meaning) as "church." Roman leaders respected the fact that religion united groups of people; hence, it was both a unifying and politicizing human tradition.

The Romans wished to govern a large and peaceful empire.
They rationalized that by acknowledging and accepting the gods of those whom they wanted to include in the empire, there would be less resistance and more harmony. This generally proved true. Thus, the right to free assembly carried a variety of political responses, usually dependent upon what the nature of the assembly was. Spiritual and secular ekklesia were usually acceptable; reactionary political gatherings were often considered dangerous to civil order.

Over the long-term, the number of gods worshipped in the Roman Empire grew in number, and, like superstitions, the people came to worship the (physical) identity (image) of the god (the idol) rather than learn and practice any principle of behaviour and life (the Way) which the identity symbolized. It is a significant neurological development (awareness, practice, education) which enables individual humans to grow beyond direct PHYSICAL meaning associations, to include redirected SYMBOLIC projected meaning associations. As the SYMBOLIC meaning of any image may differ from person to person, its meaningfulness can oly be preserved within (cultural) groups who receive a uniform "education". This difficulty of humans in maintaining a level of culture which readily understands the ABSTRACT (Symbolic) has encouraged the expression of human iniquities (envy, hatred, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, vice, self-centredness, ...) to the perpetual disbelief of visiting spaceperson cultures ... who ALL have UNIFORM means of communication between individuals.

Christians were persecuted by the Roman authorities for their refusal to take part in official cultural activities: worship of the gods in the Parthenon temples. The Romans believed that they were being more than fair and tolerant to invite the natives of colonies, and of other races, to participate in the rituals which signified, and revered, the power of the Roman Empire. To reject such an invitation was an outright embarrassment to the ruler, suggested civil disorder, and, was highly contentious. Persecutions for such perceived rejection/rebellion included imprisonment for inciting disorder in the empire as well as execution for lack of allegiance to the pontiface, the political leader of the Roman religion. The deaths of such martyrs resulted in large gatherings for the wake with the recognition that with sufficient numbers present for such a solemn ceremony, the likelihood of Roman intervention was reduced.

With the success of larger gatherings, the change in climatic circumstance and a requirement for larger more formal gatherings, Christians began meeting in larger groups in buildings and shelters which became known as "churches".

193 A.D., during March,
Marcus Didius Julianus, a Praetorian Guard (Roman military officer) bought the whole Roman empire which Septimius Severus, a senator, auctioned off for 1988 US$100 million. The successor to the emperor Commodus, who had been murdered by the Praetorian Guards on December 192, and who was considered insane at the time - was Publius Helvius Pertinax. Likewise, Pertinax was murdered during March, 193.

On April 13, Severus was proclaimed emperor by his troops.
Declaring himself the avenger of Pertinax, he marched on Rome.
One or more spies were sent ahead and murdered Julianus in Rome on June 1.
Severus entered the city without resistance several days later.
He replaced the Praetorian Guard with a new 15,000-man guard from his own native Danubian legions.

Severus now intended to consolidate his power and eliminate rivals which would fragment the power of the empire. He named his British rival, Decimus Clodius Albinus, a Caesar (junior emperor). He defeated the governor of Syria, Gaius Pescennius Niger. He then headed back west and defeated Albinus; returned home to Rome, and, executed about 30 of Albinus' supporters in the Senate. Late in 197, Severus marched east again and repulsed an invasion of the Parthians into Mesopotamia (Iraq); in 199, he annexed Mesopotamia.

In the interim, Severus, recognizing the old clannish hereditary traditions of the Romans, declared himself the adoptive son of previous emperor Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180) and professed to be a direct descendent of emperor Nerva (ruled 96-98). His son, Caracalla, by his Syrian wife, Julia Domna, he named as co-emperor, and thus his successor.

Severus' power rested on military might and not on constitutional acceptance.
The importance, and challenge of Julianus to the state was conveniently hidden behind the intrigues of Severus - who at first appeared to support Julianus, and then assumed a righteous position, mounted an opposition, and had Julianus murdered. Why not seize power first if that is what he desired?

Didius Marcus Julianus had discovered an Egyptian alchemic method of transmuting mercury, tin, or lead into gold. The Roman standard of exchange was now gold. With great enthusiasm, Julianus had "manufactured" at least the equivalent value of $100 million by the time of the auction. Severus, an outsider born in Libya, knew that he would only ever gain and keep power by military means. In reality, constitutional appointments were restricted by the status quo to "original" Romans born in Rome.

Armies required large amounts of capital of finance them.
Troops which were well equipped, well-trained, well fed, and happy were usually obedient and loyal. Julianus had the capital and the empire was growing broke from its previous decades of conquest. Severus first prompted Julianus to have Pertinax murdered with the offer that with the empire short on capital and with no emperor, the senate could be persuaded to sell the empire to the best equipped person to rule an imperial corporation: the richest man. Obviously, this sounded quite straightforward to Julianus, who fell into the trap of deception. With Pertinax murdered, Severus was "morally" justified, in the perception of the Roman elite, in pursuing the perpetrator. With Julianus out of the picture, and his gold in the state coffers, Severus could finance the military defeat of his opposition and the military support of his leadership.

Septimius Severus ensured the support of the soldiers by increasing their pay and permitting them to marry. He made the administration easier and more communally unified by reducing the number of legions under each general's command; this also precluded the development of a military rival. Severus then ignored the Senate, which consistently declined in power thereafter. He advance many provincials and peasants who were very thankful for such an opportunity after decades of discrimination in favour of those born in Rome. The Italian aristocracy began to lose much of its former influence.

Severus set out to reform the justice system and did provide substantial changes which made the rights of peasants and provincials similar to those of the Roman elite and aristocracy. Finally, Severus provided donations to the urban poor, undertook extensive building campaigns, and, maintained a full treasury. He had not only acquired the fruits of Julianus' alchemic manufacturing of gold, he eventually found the method and used it to finance the state. Severus died of disease while on a campaign to Britain in 208. His descendants remained in power until 235.

200 A.D.
The European climate became cooler and wetter from near this date until 350/400 than it had been in the years immediately preceding. In Germany a number of deciduous species of tree disappeared until the next warming period. Glaciers in the Alps and northern France extended further during the same period. This change contributed to the incidence of plague outbreaks and infections.

200 A.D.
Rome had a population of 500,000.
Wealth from across the empire was shipped to this capital, largely by ships which carried up to 1000 tons of cargo. It was easier, more efficient and cheaper to use ships than to transport overland by cart. The ships were offloaded at the port of Ostia where many warehouses, merchant offices, and apartments for specialists were built.

100-200 A.D.
The "Peshito", that is, "literal", translation of the New and Old Testaments of Judaism and Christianity are made for the Syrian churches, during this second century.

204-270 A.D.
Plotinus, founder of Neoplatonism, accepts the validity of astrology, but insists on free will.

217 A.D.
Clixtus I (Callistus I, Calixtus) (217-22) proclaims the Roman Bishop to be the head of the Roman Catholic (Universal) Christian religion, after the Church fathers Irenaeus and Tertullian endorse Rome as the apostolic city. The concept of the Papacy (Supreme Bishop) is begun. The church leaders reference the Christian Gospel of St. Matthew 16:18 to justify their conclusion:

"And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church ...."

The Roman Pope (who had been the State public works (religious) leader and human designate representing all of the gods in the Parthenon) now sought to represent the new religion as the spiritual leader of Rome, the city which the church leaders had chosen as a focal point in honour of Peter who had died there. The Roman Bishop realized that it was a good strategy to unify the empire with a belief in one "God". This would eliminate, eventually, the dissention and partiality towards one or other of the many gods previously worshipped. There was some opposition to this by church leaders who believed that ALL bishops should possess legal equality.

It is a particularly Roman concept that the "location" of the officer-in-charge should be the superior religious authority of the state and not the genetic next-of-kin of Peter. While the latter would have been a tribal method of transfer of authority, the former was a political bureaucratic method of transfer. A method of transfer according to merit was not considered at this time.

In youth, "Clixtus I" was the slave of a Christian freedman, Carpophorus, who employed him in a bank. When the business failed, he panicked and fled, with serious losses to the Christian depositors. His master brought him back and set him to work on a treadmill. His creditors, in hopes of recovering their money, arranged his release. Subsequently, he was charged with brawling in a synagogue on the Sabbath and sentenced by the city prefect to hard labour in the mines of Sardinia.

When Marcia, mistress of Emperor Commodus (180-92), asked Victor I for the names of the Christian convicts in the mines (political prisoners) and obtained their release, Clixtus prevailed on the governor to free him also, though Victor had deliberately withheld his name. Victor's successor, Zephyrinus, recognizing his persuasiveness with Christians, recalled him, made him his principal deacon and advisor, gave him control of the lower clergy, and appointed him curator of the church's cemetery on the Appian Way (later to be known as the catacombs). Ambitious and entrepreneurial, Clixtus recognized the potential for power within the bureaucracy and using his administrative skills he gradually enabled the pope to become totally dependent upon him.

On the death of Zephyrinus, who had become the successor of Victor, Clixtus was elected pope. His bureaucratic skills of negotiation, flattery, and, bribe, had won him the position from his control of the church's finances and records. The presbyter, Hippolytus refused to accept this staged election and campaigned for and won himself the elected position of bishop of an opposing group. Bickering followed with Clixtus being accused of laxity in discipline and of promoting the theology that the Christian Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represented successive modes of self-revelations of the Godhead rather than distinctions in the Godhead. Clixtus excommunicated Sabellius, the intellectual leader of modalism, that is, belief in successive modes of revelation - thus defusing the accusations a little. Hippolytus continued his opposition, declaring that Clixtus had simply reacted out of fear of implication.

Hippolytus's teaching was that the "Word" stood as an identity such as that of a person.
Some would interpret this as idolatry and reverence for a human which opposed the spiritual context of reverence for a supreme God, present not in form but in ABSTRACT reality signifying the power, wisdom, and grace of the universe. Hippolytus's egotistical fanaticism clashed with Clixtus's bureaucratic pragmatism. Clixtus was accused of keeping a bishop in office who had been found guilty of serious offenses; of preparing to ordain men as priests who had been married 2 or 3 times; of his refusing to condemn clergy who did marry; of recognizing marriages between upper class women and lower class men (a status quo taboo); of readmitting converts from heretical sects to the church without the requirement of penance.

By modern standards, Clixtus was an aggressive promoter of membership in the church, more interested in membership than in ethics, perhaps. In a popular riot, as noted above, Clixtus was murdered - martyred, according to his followers.

221 A.D.
Aelian (Aelianus Claudius), a Roman author who wrote "The Nature of Animals", in Greek, noted the following about ocean seals:

"... the male ram has around his forehead a white band.
One would say it resembles the diadem of Lysimachus or Antigonus or some other Macedonian king.
The inhabitants of the shores of the (Atlantic) ocean tell that in former times the kings of Atlantis, descendants of Poseidon, wore on their heads, as a mark of power, the headband of the male rams, and that their wives, the queens, wore, as a sign of their power, headbands of the female rams."

222 A.D.
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, ruled as Roman emperor until 235.
In 218, the Roman legions in Syria proclaimed Alexander's 14-year-old cousin Elagabalus, the emperor.
He was persuaded to adopt Alexander as his heir. In March, 222, the Praetorian Guard, prompted by Alexander's mother, Julia Mamaea, murdered Elagabalus. Alexander became emperor. His mother and grandmother held much of the power until the latter died in 226.

With spiritual weakness and incompetence, the administrators (the Praetorian Guard) lost confidence in his rule and general lawlessness pervaded Rome. Alexander's leadership resulted in high casualties in a campaign in Mesopotamia, and, when he bought peace with the Germans, on the advice of his mother, his indignant soldiers murdered him. The deceptions, manipulations and intrigues which had developed within the Roman leadership together with an increasing dependency upon a "dog" bureaucracy of administrators and military troops would now result in 50 years of internal strife.

Military power is built on pride.
Without pride and respect, it becomes increasingly difficult for humans to kill one another with a pious aggressiveness.

249 A.D.
Under the direction of Decius, the first Roman persecution of the Christians takes place over several years of time. The size of the Roman Empire and the many nationalities and cultural groupings within it threaten to lead to political unrest. In an effort to encourage assimilation of foreigners into the Empire, the Roman emperors had acknowledged the importance of religion as a force of unification within human groupings and had continually added the gods and customs of other peoples to the cosmopolitan evolving Roman culture to serve that need. They expected the Jews and Christians to conform as well and offered to include their Gods in the Roman temples, beside the many other gods.

The Christians, who were more closely intermingled within Rome and surrounding areas, refused to worship any god other than their own and this was seen as the foundation for social disharmony. As any authoritarian leader knows, once others refuse to revere you and follow your orders, you have little authority left. Harsh punishments were broadcast to instill fear into the Christian followers, and, for many, it did. Many left the faith.

250-706 A.D.
Teohuacan, Mexico, became a centre for organized society.
Ancient myths tell of how a white-skinned, blond haired being descended from the sky and taught them how to grow crops by irrigation. Most of what was tried to be communicated by these "spacepersons" appears to have been well beyond the intellectual capabilities and ABSTRACT understanding of the natives.

The spaceperson, because of its obvious "miracle" of flight and its uncomprehended but obviously much more sophisticated knowledge, was received with awe. This admiration quickly was converted by the anxiety of confusion regarding an understanding of the spaceperson's reality into fear and reverence: the spaceperson was remembered thereafter as a god. This "god" had mentioned that it would return in the future before going back up into the sky.

What was (mis)communicated by the "Visitor" was that it was pleased with the "hearts" of humans ... possibly meaning the emotional variety and good intentions of the people. Whatever was experienced and conveyed at the time was passed on to others in the group and succeeding generations almost entirely by word-of-mouth. This "story-telling" led to the ABSTRACT and Symbolic meanings being dropped in favor of LITERAL Physical meanings, supported by word pictures.

These images grew in exaggeration and directness such that the "flying man" became a god with feathers who could fly. Many emotionally immature human parents use their imagination to describe events to their children which are larger than life, in a literal sense. Immaturity is projected as Pride in self-POWER, which ellicits awe and fear from the child ... resulting in acceptance of the authority of, and giving obedience to, the parent. Once the example has been acted out and experienced, the child grows to become an imprinted adult who, knowing that the procedure is a lie, nevertheless repeats it on the assumption that is what parents do.

The parent, in the child's eyes has seen a whale where, in reality, the fish was 2 feet in length.
The fish was ferocious and deadly and almost sank the boat; in reality, it required the fisherman to reel it in over a ten minute period of time. Increasingly, the fear of the gods, capitalized on by the social authorities, enabled an exchange of the abstraction of admiration for human emotional variety to a desire for the physical human heart. Local religious/political authorities, possibly under the pressure of social anxiety following a severe storm, earthquake or drought, rationalized from their second-hand gossip and fantasy, that if the gods were happy such shocks would not occur. This not being the case, it was only logical to give the gods something to make them content once again.

The next step was to select an individual, sometimes more than one, convince them that they were saving their society by giving up their life, and, in acknowledgement of this supreme sacrifice, have the culture treat them as royalty during the year preceding the execution. On that day, the willing participant would be taken to an alter on which he would lay, and before the gathered congregation, a priest would use a ceremonial obsidian knife to cut out the heart of the young man or woman. The priest would then, proudly, hold up the heart in its still-beating wonder to the god, presumed to be in the sky overhead.

In the typical superstitious reasoning of humans, if the natural disasters subsided during the next year then the sacrifice was both adequate and justified: it had served its purpose. Conversely, if natural disasters continued or were repeated, the sacrifice was obviously inadequate, though justified - and more numerous sacrifices would be planned for the next ritual. Of course, the priests could not explain why the gods did not physically return nor physically accept the sacrifice, so reverently made for them.

At its largest, 125,000 people, ... 30,000 to 40,000 people were freed to work as artisans and occupy bureaucratic positions of religious/judicial/medical and political administration by the increased productivity gained from adopting irrigation into the agricultural practices. Commerce was founded on the manufacturing of obsidian knives, used for both domestic, ritual sacrifice and military uses.

The volcanic rock, obsidian, was mined from a location 30 miles to the north.
From there, the "cores" were transported to the city where artisans split the knife base from the core and finished it. The knives were then exported widely throughout Central America. Unfortunately, but apparently inevitable, the local human populations increased. In the process, territory disputes, feuds and grudges and greed led to violence and wars. Toward the time of the break up of the culture it is likely that civil unrest from increasing wars and sacrifices led to a rebellion against the authority of the leadership. Then, many people may have simply slipped away to live a more independent agricultural lifestyle.

In the earlier days, marionette figurines were fashioned by women.
Later, men took over the manufacturing of them and utilized molds to mass produce intricate items.
The facility of the mold was that it justified the time spent in making the more sophisticated than usual master which could then be implemented to produce multiple copies quickly.

251 A.D.
The Antonine Plague, probably measles, was introduced to Europe, by means similar to Smallpox.
Both of these diseases are similar such that they would not be distinguished from each other by physicians in Europe until the 1500s. The Plague lasted until 260 as a major limiter of population growth. At its height, it allegedly killed 5000 people a day in Rome. It is believed to have been caused by a virus transmitted by the respiratory system. Survival does confer immunity from future outbreaks. Measles was still of endemic proportions amongst North Americans as late as 1950 and remained deadly to South American and other previously unexposed societies throughout human history.

Measles depleted the population further and hastened the desertion of many rural areas, particularly in Sicily and North Africa, cutting the revenue of the Roman empire. Trade was reduced and the Empire was further weakened. Described by St. Cyprian, bishop of the North African town of Carthage:

"Now that the bowels loosened into a flux exhaust the strength of the body, that a fever contracted in the very marrow of the bones breaks into ulcers of the throat, that the intestines are shaken by the continual vomiting, that the blood-shot eyes burn, that the feet of some or certain parts of their members are cut away by the infection of diseased putrefaction that, by a weakness developing through the losses and injuries of the body, either the gait is enfeebled, or the hearing impaired, or the sight blinded."

257 A.D.
Valerian of Rome becomes enthusiastic about making the persecution of the Christians more effective.

260 A.D.
Gallienus of Rome, declares the "Edict of Toleration" and the persecution against the Christians by the Romans stop.

300 A.D.
Zosimus, an alchemist, records that the temple of Ptah at Memphis in Egypt, had furnaces, and that the god Ptah was the revered patron of alchemists. The words "chemistry" and "alchemy" are derived from the name of Egypt - "Khemt".

300 A.D.
In the "Writings of Methodius", the following reference to the "Feast of the Tabernacles" is provided:

"For since in 6 days God made the heaven and the Earth, and finished the whole world ... and blessed the 7th day and sanctified it, so by a figure in the 7th month, when the fruits of the Earth have been gathered in, we are commanded to keep the feast [of the Tabernacles] to the Lord, which signifies that when the world shall be terminated at the 7000 years, when God shall have completed the world, He shall rejoice in us ... Then, when the appointed times shall have been accomplished, and God shall have ceased to form this creation, in the 7th month, the great resurrection-day, it is commanded that the Feast of the Tabernacles shall be celebrated to the Lord."

300 A.D.
Lactantius writes in the seventh "Book of Divine Institutions":

"Because all the works of God were finished in 6 days, it is necessary that the world should remain in this state six ages, that is 6,000 years. Because having finished the works, He rested on the 7th day and blessed it; it is necessary that at the end of the 6000th year all wickedness should be abolished out of the Earth and justice should reign for a thousand years."

303 A.D.
Diocletian of Rome repeals the "Edict of Toleration" and reinstitutes persecution of the Christians.
All secret and open places of Christian worship as well as Christian books were to be destroyed. He issued an edict in Egypt demanding that all books on "the art of making gold and silver" be burned. As the economic standard of capitalism, Gold, represented aggregated power.

Any capital standard is intended to replace the result of one's labour or skill with a recognized medium of value. The level of value accorded to that medium (i.e. gold) enables a capital-based economy to function by facilitating the trading of goods and services and the profits therefrom, between many persons with dissimilar needs and abilities.

305 A.D.
Flavius Valerius Severus
On May 1, after serving as an army officer in Pannonia (Hungary and northern Yugoslavia), was appointed Caesar (junior emperor) to the emperor and given control of Italy and Africa in addition to Pannonia. Emperor Constantius I Chlorus died on July 25, 306, and Severus was made augustus of the West by emperor Galerius, who controlled the east.

Severus imposed higher taxes on the people of Rome and Italy and on October 28, 306, a revolt by the people in Rome resulted. The following Spring, Severus marched on Rome from Mediolanum, but his troops deserted him and he was forced to take refuge in Ravenna. He surrendered to Maximian, son of a former emperor and leader of the revolt, on condition that his life be spared. Shortly afterward he was executed. There is a limit to which taxes can be raised without destroying the harmony of a human political state. As human politicians tend to make simplistic and self-serving promises, they also tend to refute them.

305 A.D.
Anthony the Great is credited with beginning the first Christian monastery during this year.
In the deserts of Upper Egypt, he collected a number of hermits who came together to conduct their devotions in common. One of his disciples would be Pachomius.

311 A.D.
Galerius and Licinius of Rome reinstated "Edicts of Toleration" in favour of the Christians.
Miltiades (or Melchiades), an African, would become the first pope (2 July 311 - 10 Jan. 314) to enjoy the favour of the Roman government. To settle rising unrest, the properties of the church, land and buildings, confiscated earlier, were returned. Shortly thereafter, Constantine the Great, having triumphed in battle over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, presented the new pope with the Empress Fausta's palace (the Lateran) which would become the papal residence.

During a confrontation between the bishops (territorial church leaders), a government commission of inquiry into the conduct of a bishop was requested. This indicates the still present civil service nature of the pontifical office. Unlike many other major feudal cities, Rome was not defended as much by defensive wall barricades as by seven bridges. The pontifical office was originally responsible for the maintenance and security of these structures which ensured both the safety and commerce on which permanence rested. Such a position would only have been second in importance to that of the city mayor and regional political ruler.

A modern day equivalent might be a police chief - in charge of civil order.
On this occasion, Miltiades, perceiving the religious nature of the problem, added 15 Italian bishops to those calling for the inquiry and held the first Roman Catholic clergical council or synod. The basis for the formation of two separate political structures had been laid.

313 A.D.
Constantine had become ruler of the western part of the Roman Empire.
He and Maxentius had contested their individual "provinces" within the empire with ambition, until Constantine defeated Maxentius in 312. Now, Constantine declared Christianity as the State religion and transferred the pontifical (municipal, civil) authority structure to the Roman Catholic ("universal") Christian Church. That is, a civil service officer is charged with overseeing it.

313-381 A.D.
The Milan Edict of Toleration provided complete religious freedom to the Christians, returned church property previously confiscated by the state, and led to an elimination of the pantheistic cults of the state.

Great amounts of human intellectualizing and debating and authoritarianism grew out of this freedom to present the following as variations of key doctrine:

      a) Christ represented by the Word (Logos), a Greek concept;
      b) Christ as an human;
      c) Christ as a mode of God;
      d) Christ as created - hence not eternal - different from the Father;
      e) Christ the Son is equal to the Father.

316 A.D.
In the tomb of Chinese General Chow Chu (A.D. 265 - 316) a metal girdle was found and analyzed for its composition. It was found to have been made of 10% copper, 5% manganese, and 85% aluminum. Yet common human history does not record aluminum being purified and utilized until the 1800's. While aluminum can be produced by chemical means, high energy electrolytic means are usually employed. The metal combination was similar to that employed for some supersonic jet aircraft and aerospace items in the 1900's.

325 A.D.
The "Council of Nicea" places 4 patriarchates on a level of "spiritual equality": Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. These are not the pontifical state officials set up by Constantine to make sure that Christians did not become subversive within the Empire. Rather, the clergy, nominated these 4 leaders to coordinate their congregations and missionary activities. The Council also modified the calendar by decreeing that the Sun should pass through the vernal equinox on March 21st of the presently used Julian calendar.

Called by Constantine the Great, the Council of 318 bishops sought to unify and institutionalize the religious foundations of Christian teaching. Many sects had arisen which interpreted the allegorical words of the founder in a literal fashion, incorporated pagan rites and beliefs, and quarreled over a linear authority concerning the three facets of God's identity and expression as set out by Jesus Messiah (Christ).

It had been rationalized that since the Son was created by the "Father", the Christ was not eternal - and different from the Father, could not be equal in power and authority. The connection of Greek thought (and its concept of wisdom as contained within writing: Logos) intellectually with the Christ- promoted concept of the "Word" served to encourage a reverence among some for language and phrases such as humanity has commonly used language in the arts of sorcery and magic. That is, a focus on the ritualization of phrases extracted from the religious records were given the idolatrous power of forcing forgiveness or acceptance or collusion by God of, or with, the participant to the ritual.

Such hypnotic repetition of human authority selected phrasings (not so dependency-oriented by God, the Christ, or the Holy Spirit) detracted from the more ABSTRACT (Synbolic) religious concepts which had been expressed by the founders, and, patterned Christian followers to invite and adopt simplistic forms of awareness. Considerably less emphasis was placed on the doctrine of the "Way" which defined a reverent lifestyle - Way of Life. If the Father was supreme over the Son, then, like in all imperialistic societies, the authoritarian attitudes and behaviour of the Father are expected to "rule" the idealism, lack of self-discipline and self assertiveness of the Son.

As an extension of the (Tribal) political status quo of the times, the "Father" principle was an easy substitute for the principles of the "Son". Hundreds of thousands of persons who opposed, or were presumed to oppose, the authority of the Roman emperors, the various European and Middle East administrations and the church leaders - had been killed in a most brutal fashion over the previous centuries: such human suffering had to stop. Acceptance of the supreme authority of the Church "Father" and of the Imperial Regent could, rationally, bring that intellectual concept to fruition. Fear of the harsh hand of human-based authority and the materially benevolent hand of human-based authority (toward the dependent) was an obvious necessity.

Thus, a simplistic, legalistic, and idolatrous form of ritual enslavement came to subvert the more ABSTRACT (Spiritual-Symbolic) teachings of Jesus Messiah (Christ) which challenged the follower to judge each decision and perception based on the merits of faith, hope, and charity. Since the principle of faith described by the Christ was one based on personal experience (participation), the testing of the concepts so as to determine the most appropriate of a variety of responses to the integrity of principle (awareness), and the humility to ask for divine guidance form God (to be provided by the Holy Spirit), the Logos superstition arose in direct opposition to such teachings.

As any administrator can testify, the use of authority to establish rules and regulations establishes a dependency of the participants which eliminates discussion, conjection, and choice - while imposing uniformity, stability, and ritual: the simplicity of peace coerced and the flattery, or dissociation, of authority imposed. A legalistic-bound administration conveys an image of order while purveying injustices which benefit the human authorities who make the laws. If the Christian "Way" was to be institutionalized, it had to be ritualized. And with political authorities constantly at odds with the instability of order provided by free choice and "spiritual" authority available from the Holy Spirit, church leaders could best protect their own positions of authority and the lives of their parishioners - by agreeing to "order" the lives of those followers to the benefit of the ruling political leaders.

In a tribute-based political system in which the participants advance a portion of their labour or produce to sustain a leader and the military administration involved, the order of uniformity and the peace of dependency are like gems in a crown - they portray an assumption of happiness and sufficiency to the masses which, in reality, is usually shared only by an elite.

HOPE to Jesus Messiah (Christ) had been based on the expectation of an everlasting life of spiritual contentment after death in return for the individual choosing to spiritually cope with the challenges of the material reality on the Earth. If one could maintain, develop and promote such attitudes, expectations, and behaviours as reverence, respect for all life, the sharing of wealth with the less advantaged, patience, self-esteem, self-sufficiency, self-assertiveness, empathy, forgiveness ... then a bit of the contentment of the reality present in the spiritual afterlife could be experienced on the Earthly physical plane. And from the benefits of that experience, such a "Way" would be adopted by more individuals and the Earthly plane would become more "heaven"-like.

Hope to the human-based authorities resided in security, dependability, predictability, obedience, dependency, idolatry. For them, hope was the vision of a politically orderly society which afforded them with the material and power benefits of leadership and elitism. Of course, it would be addictively rationalized that all of the restrictions on individual liberties was for the benefit of such individuals. It was the "cross" of such authorities to bear these responsibilities so that the constant, and frequently abusive, changes of the political environment - necessitated by the elite, could be reduced, and, the life of the subjects could be made simpler. Even as the spiritual principle of faith had been exchanged for the material law of obedience, so also the spiritual principle of hope had been debated into the material law of subservience. The former is taken from the individual by coercion; the latter is given by the individual in fear.

CHARITY, to Jesus Messiah (Christ), was an ABSTRACT concept which demanded that the individual respect other persons and their needs and wants. It was another way of expressing the spiritual principles noted above. Charity was helping others who both needed help, asked for help, and for whom you had the skills or resources to deliver help. So, as Christ aided the assaulted Samaritan who asked for help, believers in the mentoring authority of the Christ were expected to follow the example. And, if they possessed spiritually-based faith and spiritually-based hope, they would gladly make the material and ego sacrifices which such charity demanded. By knowing that they would be spiritually rewarded for helping another person experience a more spiritual environment than they were or had, the faith and hope of the follower grew in strength.

Respectful Charity defused the expressions of emotional intensity acted out by human authorities and the status quo within an imperialistic and authoritarian society. Spiritually-based charity meant offering forgiveness to lawbreakers who had been unjustly treated, who had served a penance, or, who were sincerely remorseful for their acts. It meant the practice of empathy, positive expectation, respect, reverence, and, sometimes the subversion of state or other human-based authority rules and regulations which were unjustful. This "re-interpretation" of secular principles, this rebellion against prejudice, intolerance, inequity, ruthlessness, greed, hatred, gluttony and revenge - were clearly not supportive of the lifestyle of the rich and famous who usually occupied social and political positions of authority.

Again, for the sake of political acceptance, the political system of human-based authority had to be contented. To do so, political aspects of the spiritual principle were denied in favour of the personal material opportunities. Charity became "acceptable" as long as it was material in nature, and, as long as the state or the church leaders decided how it was to be used. Political leaders justified the gathering of portions of produce and labour by the promise of redistribution to the poor. In like fashion, Church leaders would justify the gathering of tithes (10% of one's produce, labour, or income) with the promise of divine guided re-allotment.

Christ had taught that all individuals had direct access to God through prayer and that one's requests for Guidance would be PERSONALLY attended to by the Holy Spirit. Now, the Church continued to replace this PERSONAL authority with the concept of EXCLUSIVE spiritual authority as granted to the Pope, that is, leader, of the Church. History would show that in both institutions, at least 90% of such "charity" would be expensed for the material aggrandizement of the buildings and properties owned by such institutions and the vices of its leaders.

Homoiousianism was adopted by the Council wherein the Son was accepted as equal in power and authority to the Father. In a typically unspiritual perspective, both the Father and the Son ABSTRACT concepts of characterizations of aspects of a Supreme Force were materialized into PHYSICAL images by the religious teachers. This unspiritual approach to Christianity was rejected from time to time over the centuries ahead by groups of worshippers who believed that Jesus Messiah (Christ) was trying to mentor a spiritual "Way" of life and that references to the "Father" were intended to suggested the creating, ordering, guiding, and sustaining principles of the universe.

These small groups rejected the human-authority based institutions which would continue to grow in size and power, and, in turn, they were ruthlessly dealt with. The Christian concepts of sincerity, humility, and assertiveness do not support the continuance of any human-authority institution nor the dependency and abuse which always attends same. Nevertheless, the decisions made by the Council contributed to the foundation of an institutionalized Christian religion - one which would support the rise of state politics and capital-based economies.

The Council also agreed to the belief that upon the return of the Christ, He would rule the Earth for 1000 years; this would later be changed, by the Church.

340 A.D.
Pachomius, a scholar and disciple of St. Anthony in Egypt, founded a monk's cloister on Tabenna, an island of the Nile River. Subsequently, he built a number of houses not far from one another, each occupied by 3 monks in "cells", who were all under the superintendence of a prior. These priors formed together a monastery, which was placed under the authority of an abbot, hegumenos or mandrite, and were obligated to submit to uniform rules of lifestyle and conduct.

There was little rejection of the surrounding status quo of materialism, political authority and power. The object was more an intent of finding a BALANCE rather than assuming a reactionary lifestyle. Association was primarily for the benefit of the companionship of others who held a desire for spiritual skill-building and awareness through shared and uniform styles of meditation. As an extension of the teachings of Jesus Messiah (Christ), as recorded by his disciples and apostles, it was easier and more beneficial for many people to live in a community of persons who shared the same values and could provide encouragement to one another than as a minority in a neighbourhood which encouraged, sanctioned and rewarded non-Christian behaviour.

Thus, a balance was likely to be interpreted as:

    a) the encouragement of experiential faith, rather than
       superstitious blind faith;

    b) a belief in the grace of God through the experience of
       reverence rather than an expectation of disaster and fate
       through an assumption of low self-esteem;

    c) an openness to learn through a process of humility,
       rather than an assumption of authority through an expression
       of pride;

    d) a willingness to be benevolent and compassionate out of
       empathy, rather than an intolerance towards those less
       favoured than oneself;

    e) a willingness to provide forgiveness in exchange for
       remorse, rather than to seek revenge for any slight;

    f) an acknowledgement of self-responsibility and the strength
       of patience, rather than an assumption of dependency and a
       ready frustration & anger when confronted with a challenge;

    g) an understanding of the contentment and honesty present in a
       close friendship, rather than a desire for emotional intensity
       expressed as lust & often resulting in possessiveness & rage;

    h) a seeking of relevance in truth, rather than an expectation
       of legalistic finiteness and simplicity;

    i) an awareness of the self-sacrifice of meditation and prayer
       required for spiritual revelation, rather than the
       humiliation, envy, and insecurity experienced by the example
       of better decisionmaking by others.

Balance was a question of Quality of Life during what was believed to be the final days of humanity, rather than a question of quantity in terms of the satisfaction of one's desire for security and freedom through the acquisition of material and political symbols of power.

Pachomius is also credited with the founding of the first Christian nunnery.
By his death in 349, 7000 adherents had joined the monastic colony at Tabenna - an indication of the local numbers of hermits, dispossessed, itinerants, and those seeking a unity with other like believers (a "church").

350-800 A.D.
A decidedly cooler European climate between 350/400 and 750/800 contributed to the incidence rate of plagues by providing colder winters and wetter summers than at earlier or later periods.

350 A.D.
The Maya culture appears and expands throughout Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.
It develops a pictographic form of writing and advanced forms of mathematics and astronomy.
Expanding population and an economy demanding surpluses so as to sustain the development and expression of full-time politicians, artists, and scientists. City states ruled by local dynasties formed.

Surplus economies, required for political and authoritarian structures in human societies, led to the destruction of the forests to provide more agricultural land. Such manipulation of the environment would prove a disaster. As the loss of trees led to erosion, farming productivity decreased. Not wishing to lower their standard of living nor control their population, the Maya had no other choice but to take possession of other lands occupied by other people. Such invasions required armies, which placed greater negative stresses on both the environment and the culture.

378 A.D.
Pope Damascus I (1 Oct. 366 - 11 Dec. 384) promotes the concept that the authority of the Roman bishop is superior to that of all others on the basis of the legacy of Peter, hence the change from Roman Bishop to Pope, the Guardian of the Faith and Supreme Authority. Increasingly, the Roman bishop had assumed the pontifical civil servant position.

Already an important political officer (similar to a modern "Minister of Transportation and Communications") and a major Catholic institutional leader, Pope Damascus was encouraged by the pride of his Roman heritage and an ambition for power to rationalize such a centralization of authority as a benefit to maintaining orderliness and consistency within the religion and its somewhat individualized churches. A political authority was manipulating a religion to insert a human "god," the Pope, for reasons of power.

Born in Rome, the son of a priest, he became a deacon under the leadership of Liberius.
In 355, he accompanied Liberius into exile but returned in defiance of the oath of the Roman Catholic clergy not to recognize anyone else as pope while the current pope was alive. Damascus I supported the antipope Felix II now. Liberius was allowed to return in 358, and on his death in 366, violent confrontations took place concerning who should be the next pope.

Damascus, a realist thinker, hired mercenaries to carry out a 3-day massacre against the opposing followers of the late Liberius who had elected Ursinus, a deacon, to be pope. On October 1, 366, the mercenaries seized the Lateran basilica, and consecrated Damascus, the rebel, as pope. He promptly sought the military support of the civilian authority, Viventius, the prefect of Rome, against the Ursinians, his adversaries. The Ursinians were run out of town.

Mob violence continued until October 26 when Damascus's mercenaries attacked the Liberian basilica, where the Ursinians, after being allowed to return by a succeeding prefect, Vettius Agorius Praetextus, had sought refuge. Damascus bribed the court, instigated new disorders implicating the Ursinians, and, 137 dead later, Damascus was secure as pope with Ursinus exiled to Gaul France). Opposition continued throughout the rule of Damascus I and in 371 he was accused of adultery or rape only to receive an acquittal with the help of the emperor.

At the same time, Damascus catered to the wealthy aristocracy, particularly the women.
These activities further encouraged the upper class, which had previously scorned "peasant" Christianity to reconsider it. Also, Damascus continued repression of al heresies to his style of Christianity, sometimes quite brutally. The Antioch and Constantinople eastern churches were declining in respect for Rome and Damascus did little to repair the rift. Instead, Damascus was proudly defiant in promoting the primacy of Rome.

379 A.D.
St. Basil, an early Greek Catholic church leader, is appointed bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he will die in 379. He will be largely remembered for his founding of the monastic order known as the Basilians whose vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty would become central in the formation of all future Roman Catholic religious orders. While St. Basil would be regarded as the patriarch of the (Greek Orthodox) monasteries of the east; St. Benedict would become regarded as the patriarch of the (Roman Catholic) monasteries of the west.

380 A.D.
Theodosius I, emperor, on February 27, declared Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
This was based solely upon the presumption that Damascus I was the direct successor of St. Peter and so the rightful heir of the promises made to Peter by the Christ.

This gave Damascus I virtual dictatorial state religious authority and he used a part of that authority, as a statesman, to further construct a material institution: the building of churches; the promotion of duty through the aggrandizement of martyrs; the restoration of the catacombs as "Christian" artifacts; the organization, culling and housing of the papal archives; the retranslation of the gospels from the original Greek; the idolization of verse in stone and marble.

Theodosius agreed with Damascus' concept that social order would be more easily promoted at the political level if the population were instructed by a moral authority, with god-like authority, to support the good intentions of their political leader. A strong empire would be one in which there was an acceptance of the norms and institutions of the governing elite by the larger populace. The norms of the populace were always an extension of the morals of their religion(s). Harmonizing the religion (institutionalization) and unifying (in deceptive conspiracy rather than in open union) the state and the religious controls over a population should result in absolute order and absolute power. Seemed to make logical sense rationally.

382 A.D.
Pope Damascus commissions the translation of the Judeo-Christian Bible into then modern Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. The current Old Latin translation was piecemeal, inelegant, and sometimes considered unreliable in its accuracy.

384 A.D.
"The Vulgate", Jerome's revision of the Old Latin New Testament, is completed; the gospel text was the most revised. Within the earlier 100 years and over the next several hundred, translations were made Hebrew, Greek and Old Latin texts to languages including Coptic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, and Slavonic. Many of the early sources are no longer known. Latin was the elite language of the Roman Empire of the era; thus, anything in a different language was "provincial" and did not carry a social image of authority.

The Vulgate became the standard version for the "Western" church, based eventually in Rome.
While the translation of these scriptures to languages could also be followed, those translations to English will occupy the remainder of the report. Their progression is illustrative of the challenges which some of the others experienced. Human attachment to ritual and avoidance of change would prevent Jerome's more accurate translation from being widely accepted for many years. The translation of the Old Testament would take somewhat longer than the New - 20 years.

Targums are interpretive renderings of the books of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, the official language of the Persian administration, adopted in the Near East. By now, many are received as "official" while others continue to evolve. Talmudic tradition traces the institution of Targum to the occasion described in Nehemiah 8.8 when the law of Moses was read "with interpretation" so that the assembled congregation might understand. Written Targums were not to be read in the synagogue lest they be mistakenly reverenced as the original work. Essentially, doctrines and interpretations are intellectually imposed on the scriptural texts. While precautions are taken, such as the frequent introduction of the "Word" of God, the Targums are persuasive documents in that they are written in moralistic and pedagogical style as would be suitable for a synagogical or school use.

This attempt to convert abstract and/or spiritually gifted description to that of rational simplicity has been the human downfall in the use of such literature. Frequently, in an endeavour to provide a quick fix for a lack of spiritual development and experience, the "heart" of the text is discarded to leave a flat semi-legalistic dogma - far from the original intent. The source of this error lies not with the spiritual source which gave the guidance but with the pride of the human who chose to convey the information as an authority rather than as a humble medium. In many similar circumstances, the medium who receives the message is challenged by sense of urgency in getting others to acknowledge and accept the Word. Choosing to identify one's own importance in this endeavour with that of the Word itself, the medium may then take the responsibility for understanding upon him- or herself and out of the control of the student.

Training in debating enhances the skills of the Jew for such activities as those conducted by a negotiator, lawyer, professor, and salesperson - they highly disqualify the individual from tasks which demand the subtlety of empathy as those of customer service, nursing, parenting, social work, and day care worker. This reliance on style, pattern and tradition and the simplistic tendency to be stimulated by words with particular "debating" power produced a reliance on a number of stock words in the Targums. That is, words including the following were used with inordinate frequency: strong, strength, destroy, plunder, the rich in possessions. These words, and ones of a similar nature, would not lose their emphasis in the diction of the fields noted above.

397 A.D.
Pope Siricius (Dec. 384 - 26 Nov. 399) composed papal letters, using the imperial decree format, which testified to the identity of the Pope and Peter as connected. He was the first pope to issue these directives styled like imperial edicts, and, carrying the force of the law in the Roman Catholic Church. Some of the edicts bore the suggestion that the apostle Peter, present in the present figure of the pope, was the authority responsible for the statements made.

Siricius increased the institutional bureaucratic structure of the church by mandating a standardization of such procedures as baptismal seasons, age and qualifications for ordination, clerical celibacy, penitence for discipline, and, readmission and sentencing of heretics. His liberal influence was one of refusing communion to bishops responsible for authorizing the murder of heretics. In reality, papal authority and succession grew from deception added to manipulation so as to suggest legitimacy: that is, a fraud.

      a) No successor after Peter was biologically related;
      b) None of the early Popes had a "spiritual" link to Peter;
      c) Jesus Christ had never stated that Peter should be succeeded;
      d) Christians in Rome formed a merchant, banking and slave class;
      e) No capital-based empire can survive without the support of d);
      f) Recognition of Christianity facilitated market development;
      g) Political power is based on order and control of the populace;
      h) Exclusivity provided flattery; lineage provided idolatry;
      i) Pride + idolatry > subservience & reverence > authority > power.

In a modified Roman tradition, clan elitism had been exchanged for class elitism with the benefits of orderliness, improved economy, larger tax and fee revenues, more widespread patriotism, increasing materialism, a larger military budget, expanding bureaucracy, and, cross-cultural and inter-racial tolerance all capable of contributing to a new world empire. Humans have never been good at perceiving abstract realities, as per their history. Materialism is always more attractive, easier to understand, and capable of enabling a restructuring of political power - since humans became proud enough and insecure enough to record their material victories. A "spiritual" follower would never have fought so ruthlessly and wickedly to build legalistic materialistic power structures as did most of the early popes of the Roman Catholic Church.

Not until now did references to the Apostle Peter gain such authority in the religion nor such acceptance in the empire. Executed with the Apostle Paul for creating disorder in the empire, all of the Apostles were teachers of the "Way" which Jesus Messiah (Christ) had promoted as more spiritual and more reverent of God than had previously been practiced. Within such a teaching fraternity, Peter was the group coordinator, moderator, and organizer - NOT a god, nor a substitute for God. His purpose, as defined by the Christ was to teach the "Word" as revealed by the Christ.

Now, it had become important to re-write history for the benefit of the politicians and the religious leaders. Now Peter, the Greek rebel, would be made a Roman hero. The teacher-organizer would be made the first bishop of Rome, well over 150 years after his death. And all those who had held the civil service pontifical post in the interim would simply be advanced a "generation" in a convenient "spiritual" lineage defined by humans, not by God.

400 A.D.
Fahien, a Buddhist scholar, returned from India to China and his journeys were recorded.
He had sailed from Ceylon directly to Java and then to northern China across the China Sea.
The ship had carried more than 200 passengers and crew, and was larger than the vessels of Vasco de Gama crossing the Indian Ocean over 1,000 years later.

400 A.D.
The town of Copan in western Honduras, Central America, becomes a major Mayan centre.
It becomes a centre for elites and artisans supported by a farming community.
The people sacrificed jaguars and selected other animals on an alter in respect for their founders.
In 800 it would be destroyed by an earthquake. The superstitions of the people would see it abandoned and the residents disperse throughout the local area.

400 A.D.
The Vulgate, about this time, "the commoner's", translation of both the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian New Testament is made into Latin. It would become the standard Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

402 A.D.
The Great Library of Alexandria, about this time, is dispersed with the eventual loss of much knowledge.

415 A.D.
The Kutb Minar Iron Pillar, in Delhi, India, stands 7.5 meters high and weighs 6 tons.
It has withstood tropical sunshine and heavy monsoon downpours to modern times yet shows no rust formation.
It is unknown how such a large pillar was made before modern times nor how it was made to be rustproof.

430 A.D.
St. Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus), before his death, who had accepted astrology when young (b. 354) later turned against it vigorously, in public, while continuing to use his own special astrologers. The reasons he put forward against acceptance of astrology would be promoted by the Roman Catholic Church for over 1500 years.

More widely acknowledged was Augustine's authoritarian influence on Catholic Christianity.
Born in Africa of a Christian mother and a Romanized father, he was sent to Carthage to complete his education. His proficiency was substandard to his parent's expectations as he allowed himself to be attracted into participation in various iniquitous behaviours. These probably included gambling, swearing, sloth, gluttony, and, most certainly sexual lust. As an undisciplined academic with co-dependent tendencies, Augustine became increasingly attracted to intellectualization for self-justification and academic elitism. This led him to a study of philosophy which eventually proved inadequate to his insecure, questioning, rationalizing and doubting mind. Dissatisfied with academia, he became a disciple of the Manicheans for 9 years.

The Manicheans were one of several groups of "gnostics" who worshipped the human ability of rationalization, that is, they revered one's ability to debate, theorize, conjure up, excuse and justify a variety of interpretations of sacred writings, including Jewish, Christian and Roman. Popularization of the philosophical style began about 155 A.D. and was the "in" of academic sophistication during Augustine's time. It became widely popular amongst the educated throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia as far as China. Common amongst Gnostic beliefs were the following principles.

1. A 2-valued judgement of the universe.
Everything was either very good or very bad.
Typically, the material and form aspects of life were evil and the unseen spiritual aspects were godlike. The human soul yearned to escape the pleasures, challenges, frustrations and pain of the body and soar into salvation. This is a little like the reality of the intellectual hating the prospect of actually having to do physical work in order to survive.

Physical self-sacrifice, denial, and dissociation were rationalized as spiritually beneficial. If one minimized the value of the physical, it was reasoned, then the associated needs and the potential for humiliation, shame, anger, anxiety, envy, pride, possessiveness, frustration, greed, gluttony and insecurity were also supposed to fade away. Since coercion of the will (not a spiritual method) was the tool, such an intellectualized approach to salvation was seldom successful. Acting the part didn't necessarily make it reality. Spiritually, one must volunteer a commitment to God with reverence and with the humility to constantly request direction from the Holy Spirit, and then use Faith to provide the strength to act.

For the moment, and for Augustine, the rationalizations appeared to make sense. Passionate, he was driven by sexual lust, and, as often happens, this ego and materialistic obsession created for him all of the negative experiences noted above. It was a neat and organized package. Condemn the act, not the person. Dissociate oneself from the act, even as men with such an upbringing of expectation speak of their penis as if it had a life and will and name of its own - as if it were a demon or a personal pet. It was the adoption of Augustine's writings by the church which would define the church's future negativity towards sex - previously not mentioned in Christianity.

2. There was a distinction between the unknown transcendent true God and the Hebrew God, the creator. In Christianity, this commonly took the form of the Father, and the Son - with the concept of the Son as more relevant and important to humanity than the Creator. That is, it was Jesus, the Son, who could be one's salvation from one's sins - if you worshipped Him. This dualism of God further demonstrated its materialistically based rationalism by denying any consideration of the Holy Spirit - the non-material and non-rational aspect of God.

In a spurious bit of rationalization, the follower was asked to worship the image of the Messiah (the physical) rather than honour the Way of Life advocated by Him. The Church would later adopted much of this concept within its institutionalization. It is much easier to judge and coerce someone to perform a ritualistic behaviour of offering subservience to an idol than to have to deny one's presumed authority and leave the judgement, or shame, to God, or oneself, as to whether one's actions have been alike unto those of God.

3. The human was perceived to be a unique lifeform which was an image of God.
That is, a part of God was in every person; thus, humans could strive to be more like God by denial of the physical self. This also dramatically changed the interpretation of Christianity from spiritual to material. Judaism and Christianity had never denied that all life was a reflection of the Creator. All life had spiritual content, was worthy of respect, and universal peace between all lifeforms was preferred. With the Catholic Church's adoption of Augustine's intellectualism, all other lifeforms came to be perceived with varying degrees of derision - ungodly.

Full-scale war could now be declared against the environment, the animal and plant world, against others who did not adopt the religion (and must therefore have chosen not to be as godly), and against any humanoid which was not a white European human. This perception would greatly facilitate the empire-building aspirations that would prevail in succeeding popes. Political power necessitates the coercive imposition of authority and the denial of respect until future imprinting has conditioned the individual to expect that he or she must accept direction from a popular and/or powerful authority.

In the late 1980s, this process would have been implicit to the training of military marines for the previous 100 years and to the indoctrination of Catholic and many Protestant followers for the previous 1500 years. The devastation wrought from such a perception would have been inconceivable at this point. For Augustine, and many priests and monks to follow, the divine nature of man could only be released by the philosophical formula that grace could be advanced to someone who was privileged to have the choice of self-sacrifice. Empires cannot be built and wars cannot be fought until some humans come to believe that they are better than others, and, more deserving.

4. A cause was rationalized as to why humanity was now in such a position of conflict, strife, discomfort, fear, impoverishment. Certainly no one would ever consider population crowding to be an influence. Rationalizations existed that if God did not intend humans to bear as many children, he would not have given them the ability to do so. Thanks largely to Augustine and his guilt of sexual irresponsibility, the "tree of knowledge" in the Garden of Eden would become the "tree of sexuality". In ancient times, the female was revered as more important than the man in all cultures. As we have seen above, in a 2-valued universe, only one can be superior. So now women were inferior to males, represented by male gods.

Since man had been tempted, Augustine reasoned that such temptation could not have been more challenging than his own sexual lust. So here, Augustine, and the Church fail to be aware of the intellectual addiction which has already overtaken them and preys on their insecurity by enabling them to act as if they were God. Only once the cautions against reliance on human rationalization had been dispensed with could human-centred authority systems, planning for the future, expectations of profits, and self-coercion be legitimized. By concentrating on blaming, one could mandate perpetual guilt for which forgiveness could be granted - by a priest and the church institution. In a schizoid manner, sex was natural and created by God; sex was hateful - an indication of one's fall from the grace of God. Times were difficult because humans had sexual thoughts, and women were even more bad because they used sex to tempt men.

5. Salvation was required to bring one out of this Earthly turmoil and discontentment (Hell) which had been brought on by Augustine's rationalized presumed original sin of sex. For this purpose, Augustine would eventually adopt the sacrament of baptism. Without baptism, an individual was condemned to Hell, from birth. Since the individual was largely in a state of innocence, or ignorance, at such a young age, death before baptism for the young warranted the rational creation of different level of Hell; some were more condemned than others.

Baptism previous to this was a symbolic congregational ceremony largely practiced to demonstrate to others that an initiate was now to be treated as a new member: adopted, forgiven, assisted, tolerated, respected, sanctioned. With Augustine, baptism was a great deal more important. It was the magic by which God's grace against the original sin and all past sins was to be granted. It conveyed greater authority and power to the church officials who carried it out on behalf of God. Now, the initiate was not just going through a ritualistic demonstration of reverence for God and a public and humiliating display indicating a sincere desire for membership.

With the inclusion of St. Augustine's work in the Church, persons could no longer independently ask God for forgiveness; now, they had to ask the officials of the church to work their magic.

The conversion of Augustine provided a model for the "intellectual" conversion of others.
It provided factors which would contribute to the imprinting of a co-dependent society which perceived allegiance to the Church as equal to spiritual salvation. But like most rationalizations, the concepts were all half-truths conjured up to placate the restlessness of those who lacked faith and who sought for humble spiritual direction. Times were tough. Humility and patience could not be afforded.

431 A.D.
The Second Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, results in the denial of the teachings of Nestorius.
He emphasizes the human nature of Christ. Instead, the teachings of Cyril of Alexandria, who stresses the divine nature of Christ, are recognized.

440 A.D.
Pope Leo I, becomes the first "authentic" pope and the founder of the Roman Primacy over other church officials. Each of the first 18 popes had been a victim of violence, either crucified, strangled, poisoned, beheaded, or smothered to death.

Leo, as a deacon functioned well as a bureaucrat.
He ensured that his predecessors received information about real and suspected conspiracies and heresies likely to fragment the power of the papacy. Closely allied with the state bureaucracy, he was in Gaul (France) on a diplomatic mission which the imperial court had entrusted him with when he was elected pope. On his return, he was consecrated as pontiff on September 29th, a date which he proudly referred to thereafter as his "nativity."

Assuming the dictatorial authority indoctrinated into the position by former popes, Leo constantly impressed the Catholic followers in all of his sermons of the supreme and universal authority, bestowed originally on Peter by Jesus Christ, had been transmitted to each subsequent bishop of Rome as the Apostle's heir. As such, he assumed full authority and privilege of Peter's presumed functions in the growing congregation with its increasingly complex problems. Leo reasoned that the Lord had given more power to Peter than to the other apostles, and, likewise, the pope was superior over all the bishops.

Taking his role paternalistically, Leo responded with complete authoritarianism:

A.  He was severe in his treatment of perceived heretics;
B.  He insisted on complete uniformity of practices by all bishops;
C.  He divided groups or confined individuals who opposed his rule;
D.  He rejected the democratic practices of the church councils.

While not new, several of the rational interpretations of Christianity evident at this time included the following.
The monophysite doctrine taught that the Christ incarnate had only one nature - the human nature having been absorbed by the divine nature. As many of these doctrine were somewhat physically oriented, such a doctrine accused Christ of having changed from human to spirit. A rational critic could counter that the teachings of Christ were irrelevant for ordinary humans unless they also strove for and managed a conversion to a solely spiritual identity. Other rationalizations would interpret the basic motivations of Christ as having been changed from the physical to the spiritual and in such a conversion, no physical needs or obsessions would remain. Leo and his bishop, Flavian of Constantinople, opposed this stance entirely.

Leo decreed that "Eutyches", the originating monk behind the monophysite doctrine be condemned for his heresy and in June 449 dispatched a letter to all of the bishops setting out the doctrine of the two natures of Christ in his one person. To reinforce this stand, Leo arranged for a council to review and accept his letter in August 449, at Ephesus. The council spurned the document and condemned Flavian, and, supported Eutyches. Leo refused to accept the outcome and called for a fourth council to be held at Chalcedon, on the Bosphorus in October 451. This council acknowledged Leo's authority as "the voice of Peter."

The Council went further.
It passed a number of resolutions or canons including canon 28, which granted Constantinople the same patriarchal status as both on the rationalization that both were imperial cities. Leo found this threat to his autonomy such that he postponed his acknowledgement of the Council until March 453, at which time he still rejected canon 28. Leo continued to codify and institutionalize as much of the religion as possible in as rational (linear, materialistic) a style as possible.

Leo also took seriously his authority to protect the empire from invaders and in 452 he met and persuaded Attila the Hun to withdraw out of northern Italy. In 455 he met Vandal Gaiseric outside the walls of Rome and, traded surrender and seizure and looting of the city in exchange for it not being burned and the citizens tortured and massacred as was more the fashion of the Vandals.

450 A.D.
The game of Chess, about this time, originates in India or China.
It is a game to be played by 2 players, who represent the political leaders of 2 empires or nations.
Each begins the game with an equal complement of 16 pieces and have the option of a choice of strategies on how they position them. The pieces, representing humans employed by or controlled, or manipulated, by political leaders, include the following for each side: 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, a queen and a king. The 8 pawns form the front line of a 2 line start position opposing the 2 line structure of the opponent.

The pieces are moved across a board consisting of lines of squares alternating between light and dark colours. Each pieces must move according to movement restrictions accorded to its type and if it lands on a square occupied by an opponent's piece, that member of the opponent's team is "captured" and removed from the game. The object of the game is not to massacre the troops of the opposition, although attrition usually occurs quite heavily with equally skilled players. The intent of the players is, by strategy, to place the opponent's king, representing the player, in a position of inescapable capture, which is termed "checkmate".

The Strategy of the game involves a number of factors, indicative of human political interactions:

 The game assumes a competitive-only interaction;
 The fighting power of the "pieces" is rated;
 Cunning, speed, manipulation and imagination can succeed over piece power;
 The player, or king, has only one motivation: self-survival;
 The cost in loss of any of one's "supporters" is of no emotional concern;

"Good" players are often counselled to assume an attitude that the world is against them - that their survival is between themselves and ALL of the pieces on the board.

Ruthlessness and emotional distance are key characteristics of "playing to win".
Future political leaders and military leaders would often be well versed in the elements of the game, even if they themselves did not have the time and patience to develop their personal skill on the board. Emotional attachment, to the pieces or their loss, would quickly result in a loss to the player so involved. Such attachment, usually of a possessive nature in humans, often leads to actions based on reaction, anger, frustration, desperation, panic, despair. Conversely, the game develops these skills in the player: emotional detachment (intellectualization), patience, persistence, hope, planning, organization, manipulation, delegation, imagination, ruthlessness. ALL of these skills are in opposition to the development of spiritual strength when they are developed under the motivation of paranoiac self-survival stimulated by the unreality of the human imagination linked to low self-esteem.

450 A.D.
Gaius Julius Solinus, near this time, writes a long interpretation of the horoscope of Rome.

451 A.D.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, results in the dual human/divine nature of Christ, in accord with the interpretation of Augustine, and formulated by Pope Leo I, becoming accepted. Singular form interpretations become regarded as heresy.

452 A.D.
The Nazca Lines, are drawn in a barren coastal desert 250 miles south of Lima, the capital of modern Peru. Located between the Ica and Nazca valleys, the lines would only convey a sense of meaning when viewed from a high altitude. Extremely fragile, the lines would survive for at least 1500 years in a climate which receives no rainfall yet is blanketed in sea mist for 6 months of the year.

From an altitude, the lines and figures appear to be a light coloured cleared line, outlined by two darker borders of dark rocks and pebbles. The lines and figures predate the arrival of the Ica who seem to have been unaware of them. Some of the figures include a 600-foot long bird-like image with a wavy snake-like neck, a spider, whales, a 1/2 mile long spider monkey, a hummingbird, straight lines, triangles, rectangles, parallelograms, landing strip style images, and others. The Sun touches the horizon at the projected end of one of the lines during June 22, the winter solstice in this southern hemispheric region - representing the shortest day of the year.

The eastern flank of the long desert is cut by some 40 valleys, each separated from the others by a patch of desert; each capable of irrigated agriculture at one time. The Mochica were a tribe in the northern part of the desert. The Paracas were a tribe in the middle part of the desert. The Ica-Nazcas were settled to the south of the Paracas.

455 A.D.
Rome is sacked by the Vandals on their return from pillaging France, Spain, North Africa and Phoenicia. The Huns had ruthlessly pushed them out of central Europe between 400 and 410. They had sacked Rome and its countryside in 410 following which the bureaucratic and rationalistic agrarian Romans had offered them land to hold and live on and an opportunity for integration. Most of these efforts were in vain. The Goths and Vandals had now adopted the ruthless ways of the Huns and carried with them a cherished nomadic lifestyle. Humans which are carrying a grudge are seldom open to changes of any form.

Forgiveness was not possible by the Goths and Vandals for the Huns never acknowledged their wrongs not suggested any desire to change their warring ways or provide any material conciliation for the brutality they had spread. The Goths and Vandals had been driven from grazing lands which they knew, and a relatively peaceful good existence into a desperation for survival by fleeing the Huns, and, adopting the ways of the Huns in order to extract their material wants from the countryside they now travelled through which other peoples guarded as their possessions. To integrate would be to give up all of their customs and history. Once entered into, violence as a way of life cannot easily be set aside.

Violence, if successful, fulfills the desire for material benefit with none of the anxieties and frustrations attached to planning, coordinating, manufacturing, storing or distributing. Here, those who survived were successful - so once the pattern was cast, there was little chance of turning back. Why go through all that frustration when you could just go and take. If you had killed and murdered in the past to survive, the spiritual harm had been done: a denial of the beauty, right and dignity of another's life. For most humans, after the first murder or the third, what impact did the 22nd or 100th murder make. And after all that killing, raping and stealing - could you really trust that anyone would truly forgive you, or, would they simply deceive you long enough to capture and execute you?

458 A.D.
A Buddhist monk and his crew landed on the California coast near Cape Mendicino.
Returning to China, he described to his emperor a land of mighty rivers and mountains and requested 1,000 noblemen, rich gifts, beautiful maidens, skilled craftsmen to start a new colony in the Americas and with which to trade for an immortality elixir. The ships were built and set sail, never to be heard from again.

Between 304 and 535, no less than 17 dynasties vied with each other for power in China.
When the Han house had lost authority in A.D. 220 to a powerful general, Ts'ao Ts'ao.
Proclaiming himself the new emperor, two rival generals proclaimed themselves emperors also.
The 3 kingdoms of Shu (western China), Wu (central eastern and south eastern China) and Wei (northern China) emerged. Emperor Wu, like Huang 'Ti before him, sent maritime expeditions into the Pacific Ocean in the belief that spiritual beings dwelt on some of the Pacific Islands. Han priests or monks had made further recorded observations in alchemy, magnetism, the use of medicinal herbs, magic and science. Wei gained control of the Three Kingdoms in 265. With the decline of Confucianism, Buddhism advanced.

476 A.D.
Odoacer the Hun deposes the last Roman emperor and ends the western Roman Empire.

488 A.D.
Clovis, leader of the Germanic tribe, the Salian Franks, near this time, took control over almost all of Gaul (France) and a considerable amount of territory to the east of the Rhine. Originally, the Celts had occupied the region known in modern times as France (after the Franks). The Romans had conquered the region is 58 to 51 B.C. With the weakening and fall of the Roman Empire, the German tribes had begun to make settlements in the warmer climate of Gaul to their south. The Meovingian Dynasty would be formed, named after the grandfather of Clovis, Merovaeus.

499 A.D.
Hoei-shin, a Chinese Buddhist priest, related his travels to a land far across the Pacific Ocean.
The new discovery is thought to have been Central America.

500 A.D.
The Pacific Ocean isolated island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is first inhabited by some Marquesians from Polynesia. The island is located 3200 kilometres (1988 miles) west of Chile. On their arrival it is fully forested. A fruit palm had flourished there for thousands of years. Almost uninhabited in the 1990s, it would be home to almost 1,000 statues, each up to 18 tons of volcanic tufa, standing 3 to 15 feet tall.

500 A.D.
The term Pope (Father), after this year, is gradually reserved for the Bishop of Rome.
Previously it had been applied to all bishops of the Western Roman Catholic Christian Church. The person was also known as the Supreme Pontiff (bridge builder), a title borrowed from the chief priest of ancient Rome, who had charge of the city bridges. The bridges in Rome were what controlled commerce, the military and enabled the surrounding inhabitants to have free access to one another and thus form a community.

500-1,000 A.D.
Tiahuanaco II, becomes an imperial city and administration centre during this duration.
Located at the SE end of Lake Titicaca, its political influence would spread wide before it fell to anarchy. History was kept on knotted ropes, later destroyed by the Spanish explorers, the Roman Catholic priests and the degradation of the natural environment. Potatoes were the staple food and llamas were herded for their milk, hides and meat.

511 A.D.
The Merovingian Dynasty, (all of France and a considerable territory to the east of the Rhine River) of Clovis the chief of the Salian Franks of Germany, becomes divided between his four sons at his death. Two of the divisions, Neustria in the west and Austrasia in the east, would become the most important. After many military conflicts between the two, Pepin d'Heristal, mayor (administrator-manager) of the palace of the Austrasian king, conquered Neustria and made his control supreme throughout the kingdom of the Franks. Although kings belonging to the family would reign in title until 752, the real governing power rested in the hands of the mayors of the palace.

In other words, a military coup had taken place.
Such a subversion of power is most effective when it goes unnoticed by the majority of the public.
Whenever a political leader places the power of the state, federation or empire under the control of a mercenary (hired bureaucrat or military leader), a risk is taken that such a leader-in-reality may assume the power of the leader-in-image.

525 A.D.
Irish monks, burn 10,000 birch bark runic manuscripts containing all the traditions and annals of the Celts. This forced the Celts to resort to the remembrance of their history through the telling and singing of legends. In that format, the truth is sometimes lost to imagination through the drama of entertainment. As a means of communication and reasoning, superstitions and intellectualizations are added to retain and establish authority in the bearer of the knowledge: persons are tempted to elaborate on the stories in return for adoration.

Examples of intellectualization include the interpretation of normal geological subsidences accompanied by the uplift of islands as the work of a mythical character who gouged out the areas valleys with their hand and threw the soil in the water to make the islands. Certain items in the legends are more likely real due to the consistency of the subject over long periods, from early times and their mention in different places and attached to specific locations. By 660, the Old Briton Church existed in Wales; the Iro-Scotch in Ireland and Scotland (a monastic church with severe asceticism); the Anglo-Saxon (which had close contact with Rome).

The Celts may have began entry into Great Britain from France as early as 700 B.C.
Before 120 B.C., the Romans invaded Britain and Hadrian built a wall to secure the frontier here (between England and Scotland) even as he had done along the Rhine, Danube and Euphrates. By A.D. 383, the Roman armies had left for greater glory and the Saxons invaded, at first welcomed by the Celts as mercenaries. As mercenaries sometimes do, the Saxons betrayed and murdered a group of friendly Celts and thereafter King Arthur led the British against the Saxons.

Markedly different from most histories carried on for the benefit of the military backed political administrations which follow them, some CELTIC legends refer to persons which are partly conceived by gods, develop extraordinary capabilities, possess radical technology, put responsibility before feelings, perform miracles, and are capable of changing into other forms. This selection of factors tends only to converge in those cultures which suggest in their writings that contact with "beings from the heavens" has influenced them. Several examples follow:

Near 240 A.D., Finn Mac Cool was the leader of the army of Cormac Mac Airt, High King of Ireland during the third century. Finn was born after his father had been killed in a fight, and he was brought up secretly in the forest. Amongst his skills, he had the gift of second sight and owned a magic hood, by wearing which he could turn himself into a dog or a deer.

Cu Chulainn was the greatest of the warriors of Conchobar of Ulster, who is said to have ruled at the beginning of the Christian era. His father was the god Lug. He did battle with human enemies, supernatural beings and monsters armed with his special weapon, the gae bolga, a barbed spear. When the rage of combat was on him, his whole body became terrifyingly distorted, 'the hero's light' shone from his forehead and a column of dark blood rose up from his head. When the enemy sent against him his dear friend and foster-brother, Fer Daid, Cu put duty to Conchobar above his affections, and killed Fer Daid.

St. Brendan (486-575) and his companions, on a voyage to the west in search of the "land promised to the saints", encountered numerous marvels, monsters and wonderful islands, including an island of sheep an island of birds, a towering column of crystal rising from the sea, an island shrouded in fire and fumes. When they reached the paradisal promised land they were told that God would one day reveal it to all Christians. St. Brendan's Isle was shown on medieval maps in various positions in the Atlantic and the story influenced Christopher Columbus to later make his own voyage.

King Arthur is portrayed as a hunter of fierce beasts, dragons, a huge cat, and "dog-heads".
He journeys to another world to win a magic cauldron. Consistent features of his legend include his sword, Caledfwlch; his ship, Prydwen; his wife, Gwenhwyfar (later Guinevere); and his closest associates - Cei (Kay), Bedwyr (bedevere) and Gwalchmei (Gawain). Arthur dies in a civil war in 537.

492 A.D. near this time,
Saint Kentigern, was born of a virgin who survived being thrown off a hill and set adrift in an oarless coracle.

Note: see also 2600 B.C. and 400-140 B.C., 1115-1200 A.D., 1550-1750.

525 A.D.
Dionysius Exiguus, a scholarly monk, calculated a new dating system for the Roman Catholic empire.
He carefully collected the records of various Roman rulers and added the periods of time historically noted, beginning with the birth of Jesus Crist. His calendar began with year 1, rather than year 0. It was not noticed until many centuries later that Dionysius had missed a period of 4 years in his calculations. For a period, the Roman emperor Augustus ruled under his own name Octavian. This was not the only deficiency in the table.

It was also many centuries until anthropologists and historians would factor that even with the Dionysius calendar, the birth of Jesus Crist was more likely 1 B.C. The mathematical appreciation and use of the numeral zero was not yet widely in practice amongst the few scholars of Exiguus' time. Also, he was more interested in creating a calendar which recorded the number of years since the birth rather than the age of Crist. The concept of beginning a calendar with year zero was absurd at the time. Both of these factors, the error and the perception of what a calendar was, resulted in the derived calendar not accounting for the first year after the birth of Jesus Crist.

The actual more accurate dating of the modern calendar, not allowing for minor changes accumulating to seconds, hours and a few days - is incorrect by (4+1) 5 years, plus hours and/or days of astronautical adjustment. The year 2000 on the regular modern calendar is actually closer, in reality, to being the year 2005. The significance of this reality is only apparent in respect to religious prophesies and the expectations of the masses which attend superstition.

526 A.D.
A major earthquake in Antioch, Syria results in the loss of 250,000 human lives.

527 A.D., during this year
Tun Mo, a Buddhist adherent, travelled from India to China in search of enlightenment.
For 9 years he exercised solitary meditation. To eliminate fatigue, he took up daily exercise rituals which would gradually build into a set of "learned skills" known as Kung Fu. His methods became a part of the training at the Shaolin Monastery which had been built in 495 in what would later be called Yunnan Province.

The Buddhist path of compassion taught that while striving for peaceful balance in life, peace would only remain possible if evil were rooted out. Increasingly over the next 100 years China would become a place of anarchy as regional warlords and bandits grew to disrespect the authority of the Emperor and the rights of the common people. The Shaolin priests, during the same period, would become highly spiritually principled persons capable of remarkable defense against violent opposition.

Once the priest had completed a span of training at the monastery, he was charged with setting out to wander the country to meet people and enjoy the experience of a spiritual awareness of living. With him he took only a razor, wooden bowl, and a robe. In bringing Buddhism to others, he was a teacher. In chasing away the "dragons and evil spirits" which plagued the people, he brought them justice and peace.

The Shaolin monks believed in reincarnation and this assisted them in the courageousness of their deeds for they had little fear of death. While their training fit them with a hundred ways to kill a human enemy, no delight was to be felt in the winning of a battle or the killing of an enemy. Such emotional satisfaction was suitable only for the weak in spirit. Neither were fame or fortune to be sought after. Not anyone could enter the monastery. First it was necessary that the new adherent volunteer for the training. Next, the potential new adherent would have to be chosen as worthy by virtue of their character. The major aim of the Shaolin training was to promote health and strength in ones lifeform (Body, mind, spirit) through hours of repetitive movement and deep breathing exercises.

In order to prepare for the purging of evil through the just use of violence, endless hours were spent in sparring using defensive blocks and receiving blows. Ultimately, should the necessity arise, the Shaolin priest would defend himself and others by using flowing motions to "slither and writhe" to confuse the enemy, "hissing" to control his breathing, and then striking with sharp jabs at the weakest most sensitive areas of the human body. As both armed bandits and renegade soldiers presented a growing threat to the common people, Shaolin priests also became experts in the use of spears, staffs, axes, hammers, swords and other tools of conflict such that they could pick up and use what the enemy brought to use against him.

529 A.D.
St. Benedict founds the Benedictines at Monte Cassino, about halfway between Rome and Naples.
No other order in the Roman Catholic church would become as famous, widely-spread, wealthy nor intellectualized as the Benedictines.

Benedict (480 - 543) had renounced the world in his early youth and spent some time in solitude as a hermit. During that period he had become renown for his sanctity and the Roman Catholic church had chosen him to become the authority over a monastery. His strictness proved to be too coercive for the monks and he was forced to leave.

Thereafter, he drew up a "Regula Monachorum" in which he focused on repressing the itinerant habits of most monks of the era. That is, they were essentially ascetic hermits who presented an image of themselves as spiritual seekers. This great variety of idiosyncratic interpretations of and search for spirituality, continually subverted the efforts of the Roman Catholic church to establish its authority and to promote a UNIFORM interpretation of the Christian writings. To this point, monks might conduct themselves in such a manner that in some neighbourhoods, they would appear to be beggars and petty criminals while in others they might be seen as travelling educators and storytellers; yet others would find them to be manipulative and deceitful while still others would view them to be models of reverent, compassionate, empathetic, helpful herbalists and teachers. Some remained sexually abstinent; some were promiscuous; others were selective and monogamous.

Under the direction of St. Benedict, monks were to do the work of God (prayer and the reading of religious writings), were to be employed at manual labour, were to instruct the young, and, were to copy manuscripts to preserve the antiquities. Most Europeans could neither read nor write and much of the instruction was orally given from memory. This new and outward orientation of monastic orders would have dramatic consequences.

The earlier focus of monastic founders had been on the integration of hermits and outcasts into communities and then to the redemption and preparation of individuals within specialized congregations for their guidance and judgement by God. This was a way to save souls one-by-one but it made little influence on the society in general which tended to grow in number much in excess of those cloistered in monasteries and nunneries. With the introduction of the Benedictine rules, the monks were expected to interact with the communities around them: pray with them, read to them, and, indoctrinate the young. This required the production of a material surplus; not just self-sufficiency.

If the time of the follower could not be totally expended in meditation, personal prayer and the provision of self-sufficient supplies of food, clothing, habitation and fuel - the individual production of a surplus would be required in order to "pay for" tasks undertaken for the benefit of the non-monastic community. Even the act of copying required supplies of paper, ink, glue, binding, copy rooms, and skilled copywriters - plus a great amount of time not employed cultivating, sowing, weeding, threshing, cleaning, storing, and preparing the produce of the land. This demand for an economy of time and agricultural production was focused on by groups of individuals who were devoid of the time and material requirements of marriage and family life. To this end, a considerable amount of contemplative energy became focused more upon how to multiply one's (that is, the monastery's) material wealth rather than on the earlier focus on the development of spiritual skills.

Within the Europe of this era, farming was still rudimentary and not widespread.
Much of the population was organized by clan and tribe rather than by nation and empires were little more than the acknowledgement of these smaller political groups of the military power of an itinerant foreign tribe which exacted protection money (taxes) in exchange for not being murdered, looted, assaulted, robbed, raped, or driven from one's home. At first, monks and nuns would devote their solitary and compulsive work routines to meticulous agricultural activities: clearing forests, draining swamps, irrigating deserts, and intensive cultivation. Their material success soon attracted the attention and respect of the peasants and nobles who surrounded them and they became promoters of agricultural techniques as much as they were accepted as religious authorities. Leading a more stable, materially prosperous and secure lifestyle was a benefit which most Europeans desired against the uncertainties of fatal epidemics, changes in climate, and repetitive periods of anarchy.

The Benedictines would become known as the Black Monks because of the uniformly black colour of their habit, which consisted of a loose gown with large wide sleeves, and a cowl on the head ending in a point.

536 A.D.
A Pevailing Darkness and Cooler Temperatures were experienced globally from the Spring or 536 for as long as 14 months with the sky returning to normal brightness after a further 3 months. This was reported in European and Chinese records with a degree of detail, concern, and even panic. Crops failed and resulted in Famines. People migrated to other regions in the hope that it was a regional phenomenon. This event remained largely absent from most later historical summaries and studies, partly because the task of writing in 530s AD was rare amongst the largely rural population.

In the 2020s increasing interest was generated about this event partially due to the then concerns with Global Warming and climate changes.
No originating cause or influences were defined. The eruption of an icelandic super-volcano was one consideration. Several mega events happening over the period with overlaping atmospheric clouding by dust are possibilities.

541 A.D.
Yersinia pestis, a complex series of bacterial strains, entered Europe from Mongolia (the Gobi Desert) by way of Egypt. The increasing dependence of culture on the trade of livestock to provide currency to supplement inadequate crop production, or, to simply aggregate wealth, provided a basis for its expansion. This was also referred to as Justinian's Plague.

The plague was at its most virulent from the autumn of 541 until spring 542, although it lingered until 544. During a 4-month period, 200,000 people died in Constantinople (perhaps 40% of the population), the centre of the Byzantine Empire. When the plague spent itself, almost 25% of the population of Europe south of the Alps had died. Thereafter, the plague reappeared in 10-to-24 year cycles for the next 200 years, linked to the sunspot maximums (solar activity).

While the toxicity of Yersinia Pestis varies, it is always highly lethal.
Under normal circumstances, it lives in the digestive tract of fleas, particularly the rat fleas "Xenopsylla cheopis" and "Cortophylus fasciatus", but it can also live in the human flea, "Pulex irritans". Periodically, the bacilli multiply in the flea's stomach in numbers large enough to cause a blockage, inducing starvation in the flea. So affected, the flea, while feeding, regurgitates from the overfull stomach into its victims large numbers of the bacilli. Furthermore, Yersinia pestis can only pass through a break in the skin and not through healthy skin. It should be noted that those humans with domestic cats were more frequently affected for such animals tend to scratch and puncture the skin of their owners during play.

Dozens of rodents carry plague including tarbagons, marmots, and susliks in Asia, prairie dogs and ground squirrels in North America, gerbils and mice in Africa. Generally living in networks of tunnels just beneath the Earth's surface, these rodents can be very numerous. Black rats are quite sedentary and rarely move more than 200 meters from their nest; non-band organized humans with permanent dwellings and grain and livestock reserves are primary hosts. Rats share these fleas with most farm livestock excluding horses. Unlike some other types of bacteria, Yersinia pestis is able to survive in the dark, moist environment of rodent burrows even after the rodents have been killed.

The fleas carrying the bacilli do not often turn to a human population until their primary hosts, rodents and farm animals, have been killed. A modest proportion of Yersinia pestis can be tolerated in the bloodstream, but when they multiply and invade the lungs or nervous system, the farm animal or human dies. An epidemic follows, with the human spreading the plague bacteria to other humans - by coughing, biting, scratching, etc. Broken skin is not uncommon amongst humans with few constructive coping skills and high negative stress loads: the poor; overworked labourers; victims of physical or sexual abuse; alcoholics; victims of mercenaries or criminals.

550 A.D.
The multiplicity and presence of infectious diseases, from this time, increased considerably in Eurasia, partly by the interactions of trade, mostly by the military interactions of invading tribes and nomadic peasants. Smallpox, dysentery, measles, influenza and the common cold were almost endemic. Animal populations and the civilizations of China, Central Asia, India, the Upper Nile, Europe, and North Africa had combined a disease pool of the more climactically resistant diseases. Still, prevalence was limited and scattered for there were few sizeable towns, fewer cities and relatively few of the main population travelled farther than they could easily walk in a day.

558 A.D.
The Yersinia Plague returns to Europe from Egypt and decimates the population until 561.
It would return again between 580-582 and from 588-591.

560 A.D., near this time
The term Ninjitsu, was given to a form of Japanese martial art specialty.
During a war between Prince Shotoku and Moriya over the land of the Omi, a warrior named "Otomo-no-Saajin" contributed to the victory of Prince Shotoku by secretly gathering valuable intelligence about the enemy forces. For this service of spying, the warrior was awarded the title of "Shinobi", meaning "stealer-in." From this ideogram the character for Ninjitsu was derived.

Ninjitsu was now formalized, having become politically appreciated, and it developed into an "Art of Invisibility" in which the agent or Ninja had the purpose of gaining information by covert means, sabotaging the enemies operations, and assassinating individuals identified by name or rank and designated by one's political leader. Agents were classified as a) indigenous, meaning natives who gathered intelligence; b) inside, meaning an agent within the enemy establishment; c) sleeper, being one who is in position waiting to act; d) doubled, a former agent of the enemy who now spied for both sides; e) expendable, who were used for suicide or singular missions. There were both male and female agents and each carried out all of the functions expected. Female agents were called Kunoichi.

Ninjitsu incorporated methods, philosophies and exercises similar to those of the Chinese Shaolin priests EXCEPT that the efforts of the Ninja and Kunoichi were used exclusively for political and military ends and held no spiritually positive focus of justice. Its techniques were also largely influenced by the Chinese classic "The Art of War" which had been in print in China from 370 B.C. Specific forms of yoga meditation, hiding, movement, concealment and escaping were complemented with climbing devices, covert entry techniques, methods of murder and the use of swords, nunchaku "double-close club", and other offensive tools. The function adopted by most human political systems has been one of protecting and improving the physical lifestyles of the authorities of the culture and, perhaps, the wellbeing of the citizens.

In a finite world of opportunity and resources, an expanding population mandates competition.
If a strong spiritual sense and norm of justice is not shared by all of the participants, human actions have tended to twist towards thievery (political conquest), intolerance (annihilation), deception (manipulation of the truth), and denial (intellectualization). Ninjitsu would become simply a more intense and fatal practice of scouting and spying which had been used for centuries. The weak, in seeking to protect themselves against the abuses of the past and with the intent of benefiting from the abuses of the present, would make the methods and philosophies of the past more calculating (rational) and less trusting (emotive). The spiritual weaknesses of the past would become greater in the future.

581-618 A.D.
The Sui Dynasty in China, resulted in the imperial unity being restored over the country.
It's capital, Ch'ang-an, was relocated to the political north while its granary remained in the fertile and productive south.

The Sui Canal was built to connect the two sites.
It was built from corvee labour mandated from the regions local to each section of it.
3.6 million labourers were assembled from all able-bodied men between the age of 15 and 20.
In more sparsely populated areas, all of the commoners between the age of 15 and 55 were forced to work.
Those who would not or could not fulfil the demands placed on them were punished by flogging and neck-weights.

A child, old man, or woman from the same region was drafted to bear food for each labourer.
Including 50,000 police and section chiefs, the total numbered 5.5 million. Earth-moving equipment was limited to hoes, baskets, and shirt bibs. Losses from death and flight were high. 2 million men were said to have been "lost". The social and financial cost of such projects and added military campaigns into Korea and Central Asia contributed to the weakening of the empire. Li Yuan, an official, and his second son, Li Shih-Min, took authority and proclaimed the Thang dynasty in 618.

Once again, humans demonstrated that if organized and led by an autocratic leader, humans could physically abuse many others who were peaceful small community persons beforehand. Authority and power were almost always destructive in the control of a leader. Religious myths, taught by the authority system of the culture, reinforced the power of such political leaders by redirecting the reverence and respect of the commoner from the spiritual to the physical.

599 A.D.
The Yersinia Plague returns to Europe, for a sixth time, probably with smallpox included: 15% of the population of Italy and France die, plus countless others elsewhere. Population loss in Europe and North Africa between 541 to 700 from this plague probably resulted in a loss of 50% to 60%. The Christian Church gained influence during the period by suggesting that the cause was divine judgement against non-believers and evil people. Other dates of affliction included these: 608, 618, 628, 640, 654, 684-86, 694-700, 718, and 740-750.

600 A.D.
The Suhtai, in central North America, are visited by a Pleiadian spaceperson (extraterrestrial) who instructs a representative on how to have his tribe perform a ceremony which will answer some of their survival needs. The ceremony would later be shared with the Cheyenne who would call it "The New Life Lodge" ceremony. Its central theme would be world renewal.

The Suhtai and the Cheyenne (who spoke different dialects of the Algonquian language) had at first fought each other when the Cheyenne had crossed the Missouri River in their westward migration. Eventually, the Suhtai shared the ceremony with the Cheyenne, such that both could benefit from it and live peaceably. The Cheyenne adopted the ceremony and continued to use it, in the Suhtai dialect, with their own cultural heroes replacing those of the Suhtai in the explanation.

Building on the ceremonial tradition of the "Arrow Renewal" ceremony, the Cheyenne produced the myth that, characteristic of their culture, a young male, Erect Horns (also known as "Standing on the Ground" and "Rustling Corn") selected the beautiful wife of the tribal chief to accompany him secretly to the Sacred Mountain. Until later tribal structures evolved under duress and size, the presence of women as equal but different - having their own skills and powers to offer, was accepted by the Cheyenne. Together they went to the Sacred Mountain to ask Maiyun, the Medicine-Spirit for help because of the dire need of the people.

At the time, the Cheyenne were experiencing famine:

"Vegetation withered, the animals starved, the land became barren and dry, and the ancient Cheyenne were on the verge of starvation, for they had no food but dried vegetation and their dogs of burden."

Inside the mountain, the pair were taught the "New Life Lodge" (Sun) dance and "Erect Horns" was given a sacred horned buffalo-skin hat, whence he got his name. The Medicine-Spirit's final words were:

"Follow my instructions accurately, and then, when you go forth from this mountain, all of the heavenly bodies will move. The Roaring Thunder will awaken them, the sun, moon, stars, and the rain will bring forth fruits of all kinds, all the animals will come forth behind you from this mountain, and they will follow you home. Take this horned cap to wear when you perform the ceremony that I have given you, and you will control the buffalo and all the other animals. Put the cap on as you go from here and the earth will bless you."

It was as they had been promised.
When they came forth from the mountain, the entire earth (in the immediate area) turned fresh and new.
The buffalo came forth to follow them to their homeland.

The role of the Great Spirit is played by a chosen person who serves as the high priest of the rite and is known as "The One Who Shows How" during that period. He is helped by an assistant who plays the role of Thunder, the second teacher of Erect Horns. The object of the ceremony is to make the whole world over again, and from the time the Lodge-maker says his vow everything begins to take on new life, for Maiyun, having heard the prayer, begins at once to answer it.

While it is one man, "the Pledger", who makes the vow, he does so for all the people.
The earth is perceived as growing from nothing, larger and larger. A fire is built symbolizing the heat of the sun. As such the ceremony represents a recreation of the Earth. At the end of the ceremony, the people rejoice, blowing bone whistles to emulate the happiness of birds, a demonstration of all forms of happiness.

Characteristic of human societies, and against the instruction of the spaceperson mentor, future generations would succumb to fear and anxiety about their plight and through intellectualization superstitiously add many other parts to the ceremony: the suggestion being that if a little of something is good, more will be better. While originally the intent was to portray a renewal of the Earth, plants, animals and other things would be added.

Individual voluntary self-torture was later added also, for reasons of fear of the unknown and by means of superstition. Near the end of the ceremony, the Pledger and his wife would share love with sexual intercourse in the center of the ceremonial lodge, and wrapped in a buffalo robe - a representation of the start of new life. The ceremony in some traditions became modified and concluded with all of the tribe couples having intercourse freely.

The spiritual aspects of the ceremony include total forgiveness of past wrongs and a total release from feelings of guilt or shame associated with a time of increased hardship through drought and decreased hunting opportunities. The process of starting over provides the humans involved with every opportunity to resolve interpersonal conflicts, regardless of nature of origin, and, having accepted a matured self-responsibility, resolve to live a better life from now on. Murderers are banished for having committed the worst of crimes and are not absolved by the ceremony. All land and ceremonial activities are considered owned by, beneficial to and the responsibility of every member of the community.

Finally, humanity is not powerless to the elements of nature, if, it humbles itself to the guidance of the spaceperson mentors (spirits from the sky) who possess superior knowledge of the universe and are benevolently inclined to humans. The downside which would evolve in the practice would include a doubt and pride which accompanied the self-immolation, the doubt and intellectualization which would lead to the extension and increased complexity of the ceremony, pride or shame contributed to the mythmaking of the history in an attempt to discredit the Suhtai origins of the ceremony.

600 A.D.
The process of papermaking, reaches Corea (Korea).

607 A.D.
Benedictine monks are introduced into England by St. Augustine of Canterbury.
A great many abbeys would be set up in the future.

The influence of Pepin d'Heristal, mayor of the palace of the Frankish kingdom, and his successors would greatly alter the influence and nature of the Benedictine monasteries. While encouraged to adopt a style of enterprise and professionalism in their promotion of agricultural techniques to their surrounding communities, they came under the authority of lay abbots and superiors appointed by the political administrators (bureaucrats, technicians, civil servants, secular authorities). These officials were only interested in continuing to increase the revenues of the monasteries and cared little about the vows of discipline and intent of spiritual development or education of the public.

As a consequence, most of the Benedictine monasteries became increasingly to represent modern state research and development farms who treated the monks like hired labourers and technicians and promoted their rationalized assistance of the peasants more as farm advisors and government overseers than as lifestyle co-ordinators. The intent of this administrative commercialization of agriculture was to produce greater surpluses which could be taxed to support the material requirements of a growing class of government administrators and political servants (permanent military, city and capital residing palace and nobility servants, and, material luxuries).

The result of this was to change the lifestyle of the common peasant from one of relaxed self-sufficiency to one of industrious indebtedness. The psychological change, occurring over decades, would be to extract time and opportunity from the commoner that would allow for a balance of rest and work, and pleasure and hardship - which allowed for some personal sense of self-directedness, hope, and self-esteem. With the balance twisted to encourage feelings of dependency, humiliation, anxiety, frustration, insecurity, and inequity - the imposition of a human based authority system (mass politics) gradually produced mass feelings of despair, possessiveness, addiction, greed, lust and vice. The relaxed long-term pleasures associated with freedom and egalitarianism would now be replaced within the monastery and the countryside, more than at any previous period in Europe, by the intense short-term pleasures associated with the enslavement indicative of the co-dependent relationships of authoritarian culture.

610 A.D.
Muhammad, born in Mecca, receives a vision from God in which an angel, Gabriel, designates him to be a messenger of God. At frequent intervals, from now (at age 40) until his death, Muhammad continues to receive revelations - verbal messages, which are eventually collected and placed into book form, the Koran. He began to share this information with immediate family members and acquaintances, but soon found opposition from the establishment of this most prosperous center of the Arab world.

Within 10 years, Muhammad and 75 followers find such opposition in their local town of Mecca that they must plan, escape and go to Medina. Their starting date is September 24, 622, the date of the "Hegira" (emigration); the starting point of the Islamic calendar.

Muhammad was orphaned by his father who died before Muhammad was born, and by his grandfather who died when Mohammed reached 8 years of age. With this experience, he could be particularly empathetic with the plight of orphaned children and widows in a male-oriented society. Mecca had both a large Jewish population and a strong Christian presence. Moslems were tolerant of both Jew and Christian; they were only asked to pay a head tax by later Islamic states. Persons of other religious beliefs were given a different choice: conversion or death.

From the beginning, the jihad (holy war) made the Islamic faith a warrior faith with clear cut boundaries, moral sternness and a close fraternal community. The latter would result in military victories over less cohesive societies. Islam did not differentiate between social, religious or political relationships as did Judaism and Christianity. Hence, Islamic law and states grew together with the spread of the religion.

Islam stressed the Oneness of God and protested the materialistic interpretations which Christians and Jews alike derived from their teachings. Muhammad considered the Christian interpretation of Christ as a "physical" son to be nothing short of idolatry. And in the physical mood of the times with its emphasis on money, trade, and power - there was little room for abstract spiritual ideals. There was no call to a Holy Spirit for Guidance from God, yet a guardian watched over every soul.

The Koran spoke of the righteous man as giving alms to the poor and respect to mothers; of being steadfast in prayer; of being rewarded at death with a place in heaven replete with sensuous rewards. Man was to restrain his carnal desires to his wife and slave-girls. The hypocrisy of calling to God for mercy when beset by challenges only to forget God when in safety and commit evil, was called to notice. The Golden Rule was repeated: "Be good to others as Allah has been good to you, and do not strive for evil in the Earth, for Allah does not love the evil-doers." To prosper was to avoid greed. Adherents were to strive to be attentive, obedient and charitable. Haughty, vainglorious and stingy persons were not loved by God.

Usury is regarded as sinful.
Neither pride nor riches enable salvation. Harsh penalties are prescribed for adulterers and those who gossiped and spread lies to defame others, especially if it influenced the good reputation of a woman. Patience is noted as preferable to the exacting of punishment from those who have wrong you. Prescribed rules were set forth for dealing with one's own slaves. Other rules apply to marriage, divorce, sexual relations.

The wearing of veils by women is advised as a precaution to reduce the likelihood of sexual assault.
Selection of foods, similar to that followed by the Jews is advised. The Jews are decried for having disagreed amongst themselves as to the meaning of the Scriptures given them by God. Jesus is affirmed as an apostle. All of nature, including the bodily workings and lifeforce of humans is attributed to the creation of God. Much of the Koran reads like a paraphrasing of the Jewish Torah.

The Koran exhorted that it was the duty of Mohammed to warn others of the coming "Event which will overwhelm humanity" rather than to see oneself as their keeper. Each follower was to make the choice for salvation under penalty of chastisement from Allah (God). The heedless were destined for Hell: "They have hearts, yet they cannot understand; eyes, yet they do not see; ears, yet they do not hear. They are like beasts - indeed, they are less enlightened."

The greatest hypocrisy in the Koran is the demand that any Moslem seek peace between any other Moslems which were in disagreement, while advocating the slaughter of those who refused to accept Islam as their own religion. The Koran exhorts adherents to be "ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." Like the Egyptian, the Moslem used this life to prepare for the afterlife. Doing good works in this life led to sensuous luxuries in the next: "Every soul shall be paid back according to its deeds, ..."; "Allah has prepared a rich reward for those of you who do good work." Like the Buddhist, the Moslem is cautioned that: "Whatever good befalls you, man, it is from Allah: and whatever ill, from yourself." Finally, the Koran assures the faithful adherent that "Allah does not charge a soul with more than it can bear."

The writings of Muhammad were not guided by spaceperson mentors.
They are, rather, the reactive and synthesis thinking style of an honest, devout man whose motivations were to improve the lot of mankind by delaying the human preoccupation with material and sensual excess until after death. He dispensed with the common rationalizations expressed by many individuals within his time regarding the source or cause of the existence of various aspects of reality (the common representation of a multiplicity of gods, of the use of magic; of the use of superstition) and replaced those with a simple dictum: God did it ALL.

His sense of urgency came from the abuses which he saw around him and the belief that the less spiritual the direction of the society, the earlier the arrival of Judgement Day would be. These beliefs, conscious or subconscious presented an urgency of converting the damned such that they could live in paradise in their afterlife. The end result, like so many well-meaning human endeavours, was to provide a reaction to a wrong. Reactive responses are almost always wrong themselves. A wrong does not correct a wrong: it simply clouds the truth. In the end, humanity had three intolerant opposing faiths which were more focused on power and authority than on spiritual principles.

Muhammad's vision was not a contact from a space culture.
Rather it consisted of a psychological "conversion" process in which the devout (highly focused) human who is in a state of distress (high anxiety) about the reality around him seeks honest Guidance from a spiritual God in the hope of reaching enlightenment.

When true spiritual "enlightenment" is attained, it is often through a special sensory communication with a voluntarily present spiritually advanced spacebeing, the influence of a spiritually advanced Walk-in, or, true spiritual advancement of the human through a momentary "connection" with the God of the universe. In the latter case, the momentary experience modifies the perceptual base of the individual and influences the meaning which the individual applies to both past, present and future experiences. The visions of Muhammad do not fit this "spiritually advanced" style; thus, they are human-centred.

The characteristics attached to the Koran include these:
 - All nations are assumed to have received prophets from God;
 - All nations are presumed to have had the opportunity to receive writings;
 - Some prophets do not get the message correct which they are to deliver;
 - Humanity is generally individualistic in concerns and uncaring about others;
 - A life of work and caring and suffering now, will bring bliss after death;
 - There is an urgency to prepare for a Day of Judgement when all will die;
 - The bliss of a Good Judgement is an erotic afterlife of physical ecstasy;
 - The urgency of the human situation demands an authoritarian approach;
 - All humans should be given the opportunity to accept God's "truth";
 - God's truth is stated, repeated and summarized in the Koran;
 - Those who deny the "truth" when it is shown should be forced to accept it;
 - If the force required for conversion of the infidel results in death - 
 ... such represents the devotion of the follower in "saving" the souls of others.

Many of the above characteristics are features of human history and NOT indicators of a Spiritual emphasis. These include the promotion of low self-esteem; the sacrifice-victimization syndrome; the emphasis on physical sensual bliss; the use of force to "save" others; the acceptance of murder and torture as means to bringing "infidels" into the tent.

As one of the first religious writings to be extensive AND written in Arabic, originating at a time when institutionalized education and writing and reading were expanding in presence in the Arabic culture, it was to be expected that the Koran would be ethnocentrically idolized by a segment of humanity and used as a rationalization for acting out against the political and social problems of the time, as well as later.

615 A.D.
The process of papermaking reaches Japan.

638-640 A.D.
Severinus, was pope in Rome during this period.
Through nearly his whole reign, he went unconsecrated for declining to endorse the statement of faith by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, which expressed the single will of Christ doctrine, Monothelitism.

On October 15, 638, Severinus was chosen to succeed Pope Honorius I, and legates were sent to Constantinople for the emperor's confirmation of the election. Severinus did not accept the heretical views of the emperor, Heraclius, and the emperor withheld his acknowledgement. These included the monothelite belief that Christ had only one will. Severinus steadfastly upheld the belief that the Christ had 2 natures, 2 wills and 2 energies.

During the interim, the troops in and around Rome were persuaded by the military registrar, Maurice, that their arrears of pay were being held in papal treasure accumulated by Honorius I, the previous pope. The troops promptly besieged Severinus and other leading clergy for 3 days ending in their placing seals on the treasure. Exarch Isaac of Ravenna arrived ostensibly to negotiate an outcome, but instead, he occupied the Vatican, expelled the clergy, plundered the vaults, confiscated the treasures, and divided the booty between the soldiers and his officials. Soldiers have often been little more than mercenaries and mercenaries are only motivated by material gain. Withhold their payment and it is expected that they may turn against you.

Eventually, after almost 20 months, the confirmation by Emperor Heraclius was secured.
Consecrated on May 28, 640, Severinus promptly declared the two natures (physical and spiritual) and two wills (human and Godly) of Christ. On August 2, 640, Severinus died by covert assassination. His immediate successors would follow his declaration and conflict between Rome and Constantinople would continue for several decades.

640 A.D.
Buddhism, arrived in Japan in the 6th century.
The new religion was sceptical of sex as part of the "transitory" and illusory world of the senses, and though rich in religious imagery, it dealt but rarely with erotic subject matter. Japanese Buddhism imported a whole pantheon of originally male deities from China and Korea which were promptly transformed into idealized feminine ones. Folk phallic worship continued and sexual deities, often in intimate embrace, were patterned after Tibetan and Indian statues and were treated as "secret Buddhas".

By the year 701, the "shunga"-illustrated sex manuals and the official "Taiho Code" were in existence.
All of the oldest shunga scrolls were destroyed by the influence of wars, earthquakes and fires.
Veneration of the male organ is evident in that it is usually depicted much larger than normal.
Close up depiction and exaggeration of female organs is also present in the shunga art.
Sexual knowledge and sexual desire were considered in union: to know was to feel.
Some erotic art was intentionally contrived to assist the lonely spouse in the absence of her spouse who was away on business or at war. Later treatments involved the depiction of humorous sexual depictions of numerous aspects of life and culture. As time progressed, shunga scrolls were changed from the portrayal of sexually explicit stories to "calendars" of 12 plates illustrating a variety of sexual positions and techniques.

The Japanese always regarded sexual happiness as a basic human right and prerequisite for mental hygiene, yet, as time proceeded, a greater stress on the recreational aspects and sensual refinements of it became of greater focus. This modification has lessened the human attitude that sex is for procreation. Erotic literature became so prevalent that by 1722 government censorship laws would be enacted. Various waves of enforced and relaxed censorship continued to the present along with greater commercialization, indicative of most nations utilizing technology.

642 A.D.
Caliph Omar, "the ruler of the faithful" was the second caliph or "successor" to be elected after the death of Mohammed. Between 634-44, he transformed the Arabian state into a theocratic world empire and established a military administration. The commander of the Arab troops became the civil governor representing the caliph, religious leader and secular judge. People of the most varied origins and religions were united in a state in which Islam and Arabic dominated everywhere.

Translation of the Koran was prohibited.
All people were obliged to pay taxes except the warriors.
Later demands for equality resulted in the warriors also paying taxes.
Those who neither knew Arabic nor professed adherence to Islam were excluded from participation in the economic, professional, social and intellectual pursuits of those who did. Maintenance of a separate religion and language resulted in alienation, abuse, prejudice, economic hardship and sometimes death.

When Caliph Omar (or Amru) conquered Alexandria, Egypt, he burned the Library, established by Ptolemy Soter in the early 300s B.C.. The rule of the Ptolemies was established by Alexander's historian in 304. It contained at least 700,000 papyrus scrolls of collected wisdom, of the more than 2 million in Julius Caesar's time: most of what remained in Africa, Europe, and East Asia at that time. From about 500-450 B.C., Greece had been at its ancient cultures best. Thereafter, military influences diminished its strength and spirituality. Alexandria had become a Roman province in 30 A.D. When the Caliph's military leaders asked him what was to be done with the books, he is said to have replied,

"If what they say is in the Koran, they are useless and you may burn them.
If what they say is not in the Koran, they are pernicious and must be destroyed."

This is one of many examples of human iniquity (pride) resulting in regressions in civilization through the destruction of science and knowledge which, if used with spiritual guidance, would have resulted in less adverse living conditions for much of the succeeding humanity.

740 A.D.
The Yersinia pestis plague influenced Europe and North Africa from now to 750 with localized epidemics striking specific locations at more specific times: Sicily and Calabria, 746; Naples, 762.

747 A.D.
The Abbasid Dynasty of Khalifs, defeat the Omayyads and move the capital of Islam to Baghdad from Damascus.

750 A.D.
A Warming of the European climate continued in a noticeable way beginning during the period 750/800 and continuing to 1150/1200. Milder winters and drier summers with an overall mean temperature rise of 1 degree C. contributed to lower incidence rates of plague.

751 A.D.
The process of papermaking reaches Samarkand, in south central Asia.

769 A.D.
Jabir (Geber), an Arab, systematizes alchemical knowledge from an Egyptian source.
Many references afterwards would regard him as the father of this science. A practicing alchemist, he described laboratory equipment required for transmutations and also referred to the mental and moral prerequisites of an apprentice: "The artificer of this work ought to be well skilled and perfected in the sciences of natural philosophy ... (and should not be extravagant) lest he happen not to find the art, and be left in misery." He spoke of patient efforts which would not pay dividends for years to come yet assured his students that "copper may be changed to gold" and "by our artifice we easily make silver."

791 A.D.
The process of papermaking reaches Baghdad, Persia.

800 A.D.
The empire at Copan, by this year, in the Honduras-Belize-Nicaragua region of Central America has experienced a sudden drop in their population, from 3,000,000 to about 25,000: a drop of 99%. A meteorite, of perhaps 800 pounds, had struck near the city and its impact had released a force comparable to a 20 megaton nuclear blast. All of the surrounding area was devastated. Two million or more persons were killed by the blast or the fires which followed. Most of the remaining population died of injuries or starvation. Most of the population had become totally co-dependent within the urban population: they had very specialized skills and could no longer be self-sufficient.

Like caged "domesticated" animals, most no longer knew how to built houses, grow food, make garments, select herbs for sickness remedies, .... These co-dependent persons died because of their ignorance. All of those who died, did so because few of those left in the culture had developed meditative and spiritual skills which had been suggested to them by wandering priests from other regions. Those who did warn of the catastrophe were largely ignored as insane, and ostracised. Those who did survive had paid heed to the warnings and temporarily left the region and learned the skills of self-sufficiency.

800 A.D.
Pope Leo III, on December 23/4, crowns Charlemagne Emperor (Roman Imperial Leader).

830 A.D.
Crist", a Greek rendering of the Hebrew word "Messiah", meaning "the anointed", has become an acceptable reference to the founder and mentor of the Christian religion, by this date. The term was first introduced by Irish missionaries in England during the 600s and 700s.

840 A.D.
Guilds were becoming noticeably popular by this time, and politically evident throughout the urban areas of Europe. Guilds were societies or associations for the conduct of trade and the performance of the professions. That is, any activity which required a high degree of learned expertise in order to produce a high quality product or service was regarded as an art. Individuals who worked in these arts frequently did so by an extension of the work of their father, mother, or other relatives. It was from them that the initiate received not only instruction in the skill but also the knowledge of where and how to come by the raw materials, who to buy from and sell to, how to bargain and establish trade "pricing", and, a reputation for quality and honesty.

Such "trades" included weaving, leather tanning, saddlers, harness making, boat-builders, metalworking (blacksmithing, bronze working, goldsmithing, silversmithing, and coppersmithing), ship's captains-navigators, marine freight transfer, warehousing, alchemistry, astrology, cart-making, stone cutting, jewelry making, architecture, horse-training (chevalry), and others. Over the next millennium, other trades formed into guilds would include fishing, glassmaking, clerkship and bookkeeping, insurance, armaments, military management (officer corps), painting, chemistry, medicine, cooking, and brewing. Guilds were a form of both establishing a market and of monopolizing such a market. They were the urban equivalent of the lay-directed agrarian monasteries.

In order to carry out such a "trade" specialized skills and knowledge was necessary, and, frequently, specialized tools. To those uneducated in the profession, the products of such labour were magical and mysterious. They brought potential benefits which could mean the difference between life and death, or, between hardship and contentment. Those who learned their trade well and produced a high quality product or service were often rewarded with a constant market and a secure lifestyle - either by a network of repetitive customers and referrals, or, by continuous employment by a king, queen, emperor, pope, duke, prince, count, knight, mayor, or other tax-supported individual or family. Persons who were squeezed out of their farming and hunting heritage by family growth (and farm-splitting or bequeathal), abandonment, epidemic-induced loss of relatives, tribal conflicts, abuse, rebelliousness, and indebtedness frequently came to view such tradespeople with envy.

Many might attempt to take up such a trade from the observance of the activities of others and almost as many made goods which were not good. That is, those who were not from a family in the trade, and were not "adopted" by such a family - lacked the knowledge and the opportunity to develop the skills and tools necessary to produce quality products. A profusion of poor quality tradespersons and products decreased the confidence of the market in the trade and could lead to either a reduction of the market size (less work and opportunity), an increase in competition (and a reduction of market share), a regional abolishment of the trade (loss of market and share), or, considerable market confusion and irregularity. Those practicing the trade and having a heritage within the trade became secretive about their knowledge and affiliated in defending their markets.

Trades families grew with births just as most other human families did.
If the family could not continue to increase its size of market, the majority of their sons or daughters would be forced into the dreaded unsophistication and drabness which they viewed as the agrarian life, or, into poverty, monasteries, or crime. Thus, market expansion was a serious concern together with market retention. Trade associates could empathize with one another and initially they found that often each would develop some new style, form, process, or method of performing their trade which provided a more attractive or more desirable product or service. Particularly in cases where the offspring of two families of tradespersons married, it became apparent that the sharing of such "inventions" could lead to greater prosperity and an expanded level of family employment.

Such modifications originally became family "secrets" and it was as these families expanded through marriage and births that a trade-based clan relationship formed into a guild. These were further expanded when trades became associated in the formation of a new and more sophisticated enterprise such as armaments making (iron-copper-silver-bronze smithing) - also called "mechanics", mercenary (horse training and military management), and insurance (financing, boat-building, shipping, warehousing, bookkeeping). To freely extend this knowledge to others, even for payment - was often considered a form of professional or familial suicide, unless epidemics had so diminished one's family and guild that new personnel were required in order to continue.

The basis on which all of this expansion of trade depended was the development of co-dependent authority-based political relationships. In these, the general masses of the human population paid to a minority a share of their productive labours in exchange for protection from the abuses of the military or the rogue criminal. In turn, each of these aggressive forces were encouraged by the competition for land and resources necessitated by an expanding population within finite territories. To the extent that hunting and herding tribes were displaced by agricultural tribes, and, low efficiency agrarian tribes displaced by other low efficiency agrarian tribes - conflict continued. Given that no one was attempting to stabilize the population numbers, the only hope for peace was the success of the monasteries in continually developing successful methods of intensive farming.

The affiliation of tradespersons and secretiveness of their skills was a double-edged sword of opportunity to those who held positions of human authority. First, they provided the means by which such nobility could both retain their power and appreciate its material benefits. Secondly, the more successful a trades family were, the more material wealth they could accumulate, and, the more political influence and power they could demonstrate. Tradespersons were essentially mercenaries: they sold to their wares and skills to the highest bidder. Indeed, the more successful families often balanced this greed of enterprise with the security of loyalty. Changing sides too often could result in one being charged as a traitor and executed. At the same time, continuing to work for a loser might result in their blaming their administrative inadequacies or health weaknesses on the quality of your work and lead to your execution (astrology, armament maker, cook, ship's captains, generals, ...).

853 A.D.
Pope John VIII (Joan), becomes head of the Roman Catholic Christian Church, travelling from her birthplace in England. Dressed as a man, she would remain undetected until she gave birth during a procession. Both she and her baby were stoned on the spot. The Church thereafter would institute a genital exam prior to bringing any future elects into office. An authoritarian and pious priest would later remove all mention of her from most references in the church history so as to "clean up" this aberration at the time of the Reformation in the 1500s. It is believed that during the time that she headed the church, she illustrated compassion and a sincere image of the Christian faith as expressed by Jesus.

In the "Chronicle of Metz", (1203) details of her life are recorded as follows:

"... because she was a woman who pretended to be a man.
By his excellent abilities having been appointed notary at the papal court (s)he became Cardinal and eventually Pope. On a certain day, when (s)he was riding, (s)he gave birth to a child, and straightaway in accordance with Roman justice his (her) feet were tied together and he was dragged for half a league at a horse's tail while the people stoned him (her). At the place where he (she) expired, (s)he was buried, and an inscription was set up: PETRE PATER PATRUM PAPISSE PODITO PARTUM. [This Peter, the father of fathers, gave birth to a child.] Under him (her) was instituted the fast of the Ember Days, and it is called the popess's fast."

About the year 1253, the Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum (Chronicle of Popes and Emperors), by Martinus Polonus (who is also known as Martin of Troppau) the description is as follows:

"After the aforesaid Leo (Pope Leo I), John (Pope John VIII), an Englishman by descent, who came from Mainz, held the see two years, five months and 4 days, and the pontificate was vacant one month. He died at Rome. He, it is asserted, was a woman. And having been taken by her lover to Athens' in man's clothes, she made such progress in various sciences that there was nobody to equal her. So that afterwards lecturing on the Trivium [a group of studies consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and logic] at Rome she had great masters for her disciples and hearers. And foresomuch as she was in great esteem in the city, both for her life and her learning, she was unanimously elected pope.

But while pope she became pregnant by the person with whom she was intimate.
But not knowing the time of her delivery, while going from St. Peter's to the Lateran, being taken in labour, she brought forth a child between the Coliseum and St. Clement's church. And afterwards dying she was, it is said, buried in that place. And because Lord Pope always turns aside from that way, there are some who are fully persuaded that it is done in detestation of the fact. Nor is she put in the Catalogue of the Holy Popes, as well on account of her female sex as on account of the shameful nature of the episode."

Author Robert Ware lists 45 sources from the year 937 to the year 1500 with 6 being before the year 1250, which acknowledge and describe Pope "Joan". Throughout the period 900 to 1525, public recognition of the popess was widespread. Thereafter, Catholic criticism, covert deletion, disinformation, and a treatise by a French Protestant, David Blondel (1590-1655) all served to eradicate all formal evidence and references to Joan and relegate her existence to that of a Roman "fable".

The attitude of the era and of succeeding centuries would demonstrate the hypocrisy of the institutionalized faith of Christianity. Unlike the admonitions of its founder, Christian leaders would promote male pride of authority over the male - female equality which Jesus demonstrated in his actions and concerns as a Son of God. The Catholic, and many other Christian church institutions placed great emphasis upon material wealth, secular power, authoritarian devotion, self-denial, repression and servitude of the masses, prudery, forgiveness by insincerity, bribery and rote, and, obsessive behaviour.

This increasingly patterned humans to avoid the graces advocated by Jesus Christ: material sharing, reverence for God above all other authority, love and understanding for oneself and others, self-assertiveness and self-directedness, empathy, forgiveness from God in response to responsible and sincere regret based on a commitment to do better, and, behaviours which expressed the spirit of right and good rather than the letter of human imperfect judgement and legal definition.

By the 1980's frequent practices of sexual, spiritual and physical abuse enacted by the clergy at all levels on the children entrusted to their care and guidance would increasingly be revealed in North America, originating decades earlier.

864 A.D.
A Swarm of Bees, was found guilty of stinging a man to death in Germany and was sentenced to death by suffocation. Wild animals and insects were most often tried by religious courts with officials of the Roman Catholic church quoting passages from the Bible. If found guilty, the offenders were usually banned from the region and exorcised. Such trials served to satisfy the anger and grief of the community, served to express the authority of local officers, and lessened the possibility of enraged humans randomly acting out their anger and frustration against any and all representatives of the same species, and, possibly resulting in a repetition of the original incident, or, in the annoyance of other persons.

870 A.D.
An unidentifiable epidemic spread across western Europe leading to the death of 10% of the English and French populations. Most endemic, infectious diseases of the time were associated with famine, malnutrition or plant diseases. Measles, smallpox and Yersinia pestis were common.

877 A.D.
The Maya culture, after little more than 500 years, begins to disburse and expand.
It has developed a pictographic form of writing and advanced forms of mathematics and astronomy.
Expanding population and an economy demanding surpluses so as to sustain the development and expression of full-time politicians, artists, and scientists have led to increasing destruction of the natural forest cover. Anarchy begins to develop as food supplies begin to diminish relative to the expanding population. As the loss of trees led to erosion, farming productivity decreased.

Not wishing to lower their standard of living nor control their population, the Maya had no other choice but to take possession of other lands occupied by other people. Such invasions required armies, which placed greater negative stresses on both the environment and the culture. Some emigrated to the Yucatan. Political power diminished as the city states became poorer and the population became less stable and more itinerant. A major earthquake about 800 A.D. contributed to the downfall of the culture by threatening the authority of the elite through the superstitious perceptions of the farming support population.

896 A.D.
Pope Formosus (891-6), was disinterred 9 months after burial, his rotting corpse robed in pontifical vestments and placed on a chair to face trial before a religious court presided over by successor, Stephen VI. A deacon stood by answering the charges on his behalf. He was found guilty of perjury, of having coveted the papal throne, of having violated the canons forbidding the translation of the bishops. His acts and ordinations were pronounced null and void, and his body (the 3 fingers of his right hand which had been used to swear and bless having been hacked off) was placed in a common grave, and later flung into the Tiber River. A hermit subsequently retrieved and reburied the body.

Formosus had been considered highly educated and a brilliant missionary in Bulgaria and was also active in England, and north Germany. Various state rulers had encouraged his promotion within the Church hierarchy. Difficult political problems continued to arise throughout the times and Formosus on several occasions was involved in political negotiations between kings or rival bishops.

As head of the Roman state religion, Formosus found himself forced to crown Duke Guido III of Spoletto as emperor, then recrown Guido at Ravenna with his son Lambert as co-emperor. Within a few years the Spoletto tyranny proved too great and Formosus requested military help from Arnulf, king of the East Franks. This would clearly be seen as an act of treason later. The campaign was planned but never activated as Arnulf became paralysed and Formosus died shortly later.

900 A.D.
The process of papermaking reaches Egypt.

910 A.D.
Leprosy, or Hansen's Disease, from about this time until 1200, became the most infectious disease in Europe. Again, the Christian Church ostracized the sick under the superstition of divine judgement suggesting that the prevention was intolerant piousness, obedience to the doctrines of the Church, and persecution of non believers. Lepers were treated as if dead and were isolated from the rest of society. Confusing the situation further was that some forms of leprosy were contagious by touch while others were not.

Leprosy was a chronic disfiguring disease which developed slowly over a number of years, and, by itself, rarely killed its victims. It produced decades of suffering and pain and produced a vulnerability to respiratory and enteric ailments. Extremities and facial features slowly rotted away and a foul odour exuded from the gangrenous parts. The incidence of the disease increased from the 700s through to the 1300s and then almost disappeared by 1400. The disease itself left multiple breaks in the skin of the infected and these would have been open to further infection easily by the plague bacteria. Other plagues took their toll also. Better diagnosis lessened the number of misdiagnoses. Improved hygiene and diet probably had a beneficial influence. Increased suicide rates undoubtedly contributed after decades of persecution, victimization and alienation.

Lepers were barred from all churches, markets, shops, and other public places.
They could not wash or drink from any civic water source, and had to wear distinctive clothing.
The leper was made to touch everything with a rod and could not enter inns or taverns.
Sexual intercourse, even with spouses, was strictly forbidden by church and civic authorities.
No public building could be touched without gloves, and shoes had to be worn at all times.
Lepers were even required tostand downwind of anyone who chose to talk to them.
Poor medical analysis of the time could see almost anyone with a skin eruption being categorized as a leper. Property ownership and legal identification became problems.

910 A.D.
The Cluniacs are founded at Clugny in Burgundy, France, as a major branch of the Benedictine monks.

925 A.D.
The GRAYS Extraterrestrials begin preparing bases on Mars.
They had attempted to do so at a much earlier time but had given up and gone to another constellation in hope of a better location. In the interim, the conditions on Mars had positively changed and warranted reconsideration by the GRAYS, which had themselves, improved considerably in their technology.

930 A.D.
Ingrafting, by this time, was being used in China and other Asian countries to counter smallpox.
Ingrafting was a crude form of vaccination by which pus was taken from a person who had experienced a mild form of smallpox and was transferred to a scratch on the arm of a healthy person. The healthy person usually developed mild symptoms of smallpox, but quickly recovered, and, never got smallpox again. The person who had experienced a mild form of smallpox had already developed antibodies from an earlier exposure, or perhaps from a parent who had been exposed or who carried antibodies. People who survived smallpox often did not get it again when re-exposed at a later time. Notice of this practice would not move beyond China and Asia for many more centuries.

933 A.D.
Henry I of Germany, grants cities their first municipal charters.
This enables them to form their own governments and take responsibility for the common concerns of their inhabitants. This markedly decreases the privileges of the feudal nobles who had previously exercised authority over villages which had originally been gatherings of peasant farmers to whom they rented land and from whom they required labour or produce payment. It had also been necessary, or easily rationalized, that the nobles provide protection for the peasants against itinerant bands of thieves and looting raids by other tribes.

Conversely, standing military also provided the force, if necessary, to maintain allegiance from and servitude by the peasants to the lord of the manor. Such farmers ranged from semi-independence to indebted slavery in their relationship to the local chief, prince, or lord. These lords were capable of joining in opposition to a regional king and a reduction of their taxation power and ability to maintain large military forces increased their reliance on the statesmanship of the king for regional peace and reduced their potential for threat to his reign.

939 A.D.
Guild-Privileges, from this time, would be sold in France by the state.
This manner of "licensing" would continue until the French Revolution in 1789.
It enabled the French monarchs and emperors to "flat-tax" the trades according to specialty.
It also resulted in the provision of sales territories and monopolies and encouraged the bribing of state officials for special consideration in such applications. This practice effectively eliminated freedom to choose and operate a trades enterprise by a commoner and restricted such applications to those guild families which had been historically successful and profitable and those who were wealthy by other means.

950 A.D.
Population estimates for Europe indicate 25 million.
By 1250 the population would have risen to 75 million.
A density increase of 300% would mean that the population load on available resources would increase accordingly. A normal consequence of such a development would be increased tribal conflict, increased lawlessness, increased poverty, and an increase in centralized and authoritarian rule.

960 A.D.
Chao Khuang-Yin comes to power in China following a military coup and establishes the Sung dynasty.
He wined and dined those generals who had been instrumental in bringing him to power, and then offered them each a large country estate and the means to run it if they would resign their military posts. All resigned the next day. It was the best tactic ever utilized in the prevention of possible future military coups. As the territory governed by Khuang-Yin was the southern "rice basket" of China, the Tarter (Mongol and northern Chinese - Manchuria) regimes continued.

Envious of their southern neighbour's agricultural and trading wealth, the Tartars could be expectedly, in virtue of population and relative need, to become possible invaders. To reduce this likelihood, Khuang-Yin sent annual consignments of silks and gold as "protection" payments. This was not, in the longer-term, constructive. It allowed the northern culture to remain strong; it encouraged the Tartars to be envious of the riches they could imagine present in the Sung dynasty; it would irritate the pride of the Tartars to feel dependent upon the Sung. Rather than allowing, insisting or assisting the Tartars in attaining their own right to self-sufficiency, this strategy simply made an invasion inevitable.

During the Sung Dynasty, water conservation projects expanded by the number of 496; lyric poetry gave way to learned prose; religion to philosophical speculation; lock gates and new surveying instruments were introduced; ship-building advanced; navigation with the magnetic compass began; the first scientific book in any human civilization was printed; algebra was developed to the highest level on Earth at the time; a compilation of writings on Chinese architecture was completed; a geographical encyclopedia; the first complete history of China from then available sources; an Imperial Medical Encyclopedia was compiled by 12 of the most eminent physicians of the day; old systems in pharmaceuticals and acupuncture were improved and codified; discoveries like variolation (a precursor of vaccination) were made known; warfare technology advanced. Gunpowder was now used in the form of grenades and bombs, projected by missiles and swing levers; multiple arrows were launched together from carriage-mounted crossbow strings.

962 A.D.
The Holy Roman Empire becomes a title conferred onto the German Empire when Otto I becomes crowned at Rome by Pope John XII. It would last for almost 1000 years and come to an end in 1804 when Francis II would become hereditary emperor of Austria.

984 A.D.
Pope John XIV's corpse, (983-4) was skinned and hauled through the streets of Rome.
Emperor Otto II had nominated his former arch-chancellor for Italy, Peter Canepanova to succeed the former and deceased pope, Benedict VII, who had complied with almost any wish of the emperor. The new pope was apparently consecrated without consulting the Roman people or the clergy. This left him without allies and totally dependent upon the Emperor for protection. Unfortunately for Peter (now John XIV), Otto died shortly thereafter from malaria. The Empress, Theophano was obliged to return to Germany to defend the interests of her 3-year-old son, Otto III.

The leading acceptable candidate for the position was Boniface VII, who had been raised by the powerful Crescentii family, and excommunicated. Boniface returned now to Rome from Constantinople, seized and assaulted John, threw him into the gaol in Castel Sant'Angelo - where he died 4 months later either of starvation or poisoning. In a usual demonstration of the political nature of popularly recorded human history, the details of any charges against or trial of Pope John do not exist.

990 A.D.
Superstitious Christians, from this point until after 1000 A.D., decided not to undertake anything but the most temporary enterprises. Hundreds of thousands believed that the predictions of the Christian gospel Revelations pointed to the end of the world; many expressed remorsefulness for their sins and hope of imminent salvation. Jews dated their calendar from a much earlier written reference so for them it was simply the non-descript year of 4761 which was about to arrive. For the Muslims, which dated their calendar from 622 A.D., the Earth was that much younger.

After the year 1000, Christian were overcome with a burst of enthusiasm and optimism which continued for 300 years. Alternately, human history in Europe would fluctuate from material wealth to battle-torn poverty; from the aggressiveness of pride to the shame of ignorance. A new class of merchants and traders would emerge as humans became accustomed to family life with absent fathers who were away making money so as to provide for a materially comfortable future. Those who lived to return from crusades were travel seasoned and both desperate to regain personal material wealth in order to avoid slavery as well as to take advantage of the opportunities of trade, the risk of which seemed low compared to what they had already endured.

1000 A.D.
With a great number of Predictions of Armageddon, many farmers did not plant crops this year.
The result was that many died of starvation during 1001.

A high degree of distrust in social authorities and so-called seers, prophets, astrologers and religious leaders developed. As has tended to be the experience in human society from as early as 4466 B.C., 80% of the individuals who place themselves in these positions of authority, and, particularly those whose authority is often accepted as a reflection of leadership through intensity of expression - are fake. Since only by constructive prayer and meditation practices can an individual determine whether such a soothsayer is projecting or prophesying, the likely successful use of prophesy by humans is remote.

Throughout human history, that is recorded experience, there are few instances in which a community has sought to teach truly spiritual principles and skills to the individual and then permit the individual to act in accord to whatever (constructive) spiritual guidance they may receive. The political necessity for large numbers of humans to conform in order to preserve a sense of order and continue to produce surplus produce to sustain an elite leadership encourages the development of political and social status levels with rewards or penalties for NOT developing spiritual skills NOR following spiritual guidance which may oppose the aims of the political leadership. Thus, preventable catastrophes and human hardship are structured into the human reality by human choice.

1008-28 A.D.
Major civil war of the Arabs, leads to a dissolution of the Omayyad Caliphate with the European monarchs forming Orders of Knights to expand their commercial empires by conquest and alliance. Roman Catholic Popes Gregory VII and Innocent III supported the crusades by propaganda and funds in expectation that such an alliance would expand their area of influence against that of the Moslems. Pride of purpose served accumulation of power, territory and wealth through murder, aggression, hate, deception, thievery, rape: war.

1015 A.D.
Chan Chan, during the next 400 years, the capital of the Chimu Empire in South America, flourished.
Pipes for hot and cold water were found in tiled bathrooms. This technological achievement was nonexistent in Europe until the 1700's.

1037 A.D.
Avicenna (Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Sina), died during this year following a life of hard work and sensuous living during which he became known as a physician and a philosopher.

His discussion of sexual health, aphrodisiacs and techniques of coitus became associated most closely with him. His attitude towards sexual behaviour was reverential such that he justified the full use of one's sexual organs for the "High God" had created them. He was aware that the sperm were produced in the testicles, and, he believed that they received the "overflow" of digested foods by way of veins. He excused frequent coitus for those who had "a natural vigour of the body and a sanguine healthy complexion," were youthful, and, as long as it was not followed by feelings of weakness. Since feelings of weakness usually follow an intense orgasm after lengthy and vigorous coitus, Avicenna appears to encourage lovemaking which is less compulsive and aggressive as more healthful.

Among his recipes, intended to strengthen the human body and increase its sensual sensitivity, Avicenna drew attention to hot peppers, honey, ginger and oils - applied sparingly in combination with saliva to the penis. These and other combinations were often capable of resulting in considerable irritation to both of the coital participants to the extent of discomfort and loss of sexual interest. Other suggested "remedies", if used by enthusiastic individuals, could easily be over applied and result in injury.

Avicenna realized that such an abuse of spice-taking, application and eating of many aphrodisiac combinations was dangerous. He declared that inflammations and diseases of the skin, digestive disturbances, and other health difficulties could arise from the abuse of excitants used to forcefully stimulate a loss of sexual interest. Undue consumption of distilled or fermented (alcoholic) beverages he also credited with similar negative influences on one's health.

Avicenna also realized the benefit of hypnotic suggestion in his healings.
Employing a ritual to which was added verbalized expectations together with the religious authority conferred by reading several chapters from the Koran, post-hypnotic suggestions were planted in the patient. By completing some simple designated practice either before the readings or thereafter, the patient was to find his abilities returned to normal. Such hypnotic-like procedures had been long employed by more ancient priests who assumed the role of physician, spiritual leader, and, sometimes, administrative leader. The ability to exert such individualized benefit, and control over the subjects of political rulers would be seen as a challenge to the authority assumed by emperors, national leaders and officials of the Roman Catholic church.

1044 A.D.
Henry III, Emperor of Germany, continues to reassert his power with the compelling of the king of Hungary to accept his continued reign of lands as a benevolence provided by Henry. This meant that the king of Hungary was obligated to provide both allegiance and payment for this privilege of governance to Henry. The duke of Bohemia had been so approached in 1042, and, wishing to remain a landowner rather than a prisoner, exile or corpse, he had accepted his continued ability to administer his territory with the recognition that he was being allowed to do so as a dependent of Henry. Homage was also retained from Normans and others in Italy.

Henry would not tolerate political insurrection against his empire and authority from the religious establishment of the Roman Catholic church. In 1046, he would depose the rival popes, Benedict X, Sylvester III, and Gregory IV. In their place, Suitger, bishop of Bamberg would be elected as Clement II.

1059 A.D.
In the city of Ahmadabad, Hujerat, there are 2 minarets in front of which stands an arch with the inscription, "Swinging towers. Secret unknown." The height of the minarets is 23 meters and the distance between them is 8 meters. When a group of visitors reaches the top of one tower, the guide climbs to the balcony of the other, grips the railing, and begins to swing his minaret. Immediately, the other tower begins to sway also. Science has not explained the phenomenon yet.

1063 A.D.
Pope Alexander II, (1061-1073), leader of the Roman Catholic church, grants indulgences to Norman warriors and French knights fighting against the Muslims in Sicily and Spain respectively. The papacy had now assumed the idolatrous power of a human god. The pope granted formal written statements of forgiveness for moral wrongs as a reward for the murder, pillaging and rape of non-Catholics. This fact is a witness to how successful previous popes had been in constructing the myth of the papal kinship and succession from the Apostle Peter, who had not even been acknowledged until more than 150 years after his death. The papacy had not been accepted as anything more than a cult until the early 300s. Now, Christianity had become accepted as the status quo moral belief across much of Europe. Promoted by various states as the state religion, politicians had come to appreciate the benefit of a singular moral norm as a stabilizing basis to order within their borders.

Now the servant would become the master.
Alexander II would be one of many popes to use their authority to influence the political image and future of kings, queens, and would be autocrats. Those who acknowledged his superiority and obeyed his wishes would be appointed, confirmed, or supported as leaders of states; those who the pope disliked, who threatened the pope, or did not concur with the pope's decisions could easily find themselves excommunicated from the Church. The tie which bound the commoners could now be used to support or weaken a king or queen.

Alexander II, who had long been an associate of Emperor Henry III, was forcefully installed by Norman troops into the papacy against the nomination of another candidate, Honorius II. The Roman nobility, recognizing the potential political influence growing in the papacy, had attempted to gain more control over the position by encouraging the king of the German state, King Henry IV, to name a new pope - which they expected to control. Honorius II was named and for years conflict between the two named successors would divide conservative supporters, who wished to work in league with political leaders, against the liberal supporters in the church, who sought to initiate their own political empire over all peoples and states.

Alexander further intensified the authoritarian nature of the church by disallowing married priests from officiating at masses, recommending the common (and passive, humiliating and self-obsessed) life to the clergy, and offering salvation to the poor and ruthless through imperialistic service.

1069 A.D.
Wang An-Shih, a minister in the Sung dynasty, became the second great political reformer in Chinese history. He initiated reforms abolishing the system of transporting grain to the capital. He established government warehouses in all large cities from which the grain could be sold directly. The taxes which he proposed were based on new land surveys and could be transmitted to the capital in cash. Paper money was to be substituted for gold bullion to strengthen the Treasury and make transactions easier.

Government advances were instituted for farmers on the security of growing crops and at cheaper than market interest rates, while money payments were allowed in lieu of forced labour. Production of luxury goods were restricted and any hoarding of commodities was heavily taxed. In addition to these measures, every ten families was grouped into one unit, and all members of that unit were responsible for the misdeeds of any one member. These units were also the basis for army conscription, although large landowners had to furnish horses instead of men.

These reforms and those of the Treasury reduced the embezzlement that had gone on and the rationalizing the administration had done to justify its wastefulness such that An-Shih was able to save 40% of the national budget. Opposition to the new ways became great with the farmers opposed to conscription and the concept of group responsibility. The gentry objected to the abolishment of peasant labour (feudal system). The state officials objected to their loss of a substantial income supplement from bribes, special fees, "commissions", and gifts for "appreciation and good service" which had become the norm. Neither the officials or the gentry trusted the new use of paper money; the peasants never had cause to use or receive monies except to and from the state. In 1086, Ah-Shih died in retirement; his policies quickly lapsed and the old norms returned.

The majority of humans, largely due to the social and environmental challenges under which they live by virtue of their size and density of population, and, because of the norms taught them by their cultural leaders, demonstrate a devastating inability to plan, to plan for the longer-term, to plan for the longer-term for humanity as a whole, to plan for the longer-term for humanity and the Earth as reality. The only constructive short-term responses to longer-term situations are weak, minor ones. If power is added to the equation, political or technological, short-term responses by humans can only be proportionately greater in destructiveness to longer-term survival.

1077 A.D.
Europeans believed that Cold Virus Symptoms, of a runny nose and sneezing indicated that bits of the soul were being lost from one's head. The practice of covering the mouth and nose with a hand or handkerchief during a sneeze was believed to help in restricting the loss of pieces of the soul. If the soul were allowed to leak out in such a manner, it was believed that demons would rush in to fill the holes. Conversely, in reality, since the cold virus is spread mostly by water droplets sneezed from the infected person, the superstitious practice did help in restricting the spread of colds. By the late 1900s, 300 different cold viruses would be identified; none would be understood. Each would require a different antibody to limit its influence.

Usually only small children ever get a fever with a cold and it never goes into the lungs or restricts the breathing. If those symptoms develop, the person may have an influenza viral infection - especially if accompanied by aching all over.

1095 A.D.
Pope Urban II, calls for a Christian army to defeat the Turks and recapture the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem from the Muslims. The previous and current pope had retained mercenaries from time to time to fight battles against imperial and other armies. They were paid, of course, from the donations collected to spread the word of God. Burgeoning European commerce had led to trading expeditions as well as pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other holy places in the Middle East. At the same time the Byzantine Empire was under attack by the Turks. Pope Urban II saw the opportunity to strike at a challenged empire with dedicated and fresh armies, rid the area of Turks and Moslems, and, share the material wealth of a much expanded empire with the Italian king.

The material prosperity of the time had been taken advantage of by the Pope manipulating the human trait of rationalism which tries to put a cause behind every event. The "excuse" for such material favouritism, as put forward by the Church to the eager and anxious Christians, was that the Pope was their representative of God and that by the grace of God and the Pope's leadership, good times had arrived. It was only right that such material benefits be repaid with reverence and loyalty to the Pope. Whatever the Pope commanded, it was the honour and duty of the Christian follower to carry out - even if it went diametrically opposite to the teachings laid out in the Christian scriptures, which most followers had no opportunity to read OR understand.

The army called for was quickly assembled with religious zeal to include the majority of then great military leaders throughout Europe. On July 15, 1099, Jerusalem fell to the motley army of volunteer and mercenary crusaders, who exhibited their Christian piety, intolerance and lust by slaughtering the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, including the women and children. During the next few decades, crusaders gained control of a narrow strip of land along the Palestinian coast, of which the Pope and his political followers back in Europe made much rejoicing. It is easy for humans, distanced from the misery, injustice, and murder of the front lines to absorb the enthusiasm of self-centred indulgence in pride.

1098 A.D.
The Cistercians are founded as a branch of the Benedictine monks.
Named after its original convent, Citeaux (Cistercium), not far from Dijon, in eastern France, it was founded by Robert, Abbot of Molesme, under the strictest observance of the rule of St. Benedict. The Cistercians led a severely ascetic and contemplative lifestyle, and wore white robes with black scapulars. Having freed themselves from the Roman Catholic church supervision, they became a cult, heresy, or reactionary spiritual group directed by a high council of 25 members, with the Abbot of Citeaux as president.

Next in size and influence to Citeaux, the 4 major Cistercian monasteries were La Ferte, Pontigny, Clairvaux (founded by St. Bernard in 1115) and Morimond. In France they called themselves Bernedines in honour of St. Bernard. Among the fraternities arising from them , one was the Feuillants, or Barefooted Monks; another was the nuns of Port Royal, in France; also, the Recollets, or reformed Cistercians; and the monks of La Trappe. They would become popular in England, rising in number to 100 monasteries. Most would be closed in England by Henry VIII and in France by the political results of the French Revolution.

The Cistercians would be reformed by St. Bernard in 1116.

1099 A.D.
The First Crusade captures Jerusalem for the Europeans - Christians.

1100 A.D.
The process of papermaking reaches Fez, Morocco.

1115-1200 A.D.
The Celts, at this point have largely been pushed out of England into Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
Roman Catholic priests and monks with the military support of the more recent Anglo-Saxon Britons have destroyed all Celtic records in their desire to conform the Celts to Roman-Saxon image.

Markedly different from most histories carried on for the benefit of the military backed political administrations, about which they are written, some CELTIC legends refer to persons which are partly conceived by gods, develop extraordinary capabilities, possess radical technology, put responsibility before feelings, perform miracles, and are capable of changing into other forms. This selection of factors tends only to converge in those cultures which suggest in their writings that contact with "beings from the heavens" has influenced them. An example follows:

Madog, Prince of Gwynedd, a sailor, takes his ship, Gwennan Gorn, and sails to the west. History suggests that they may have landed in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in 1170, for the first southern European explorers to reach America encountered "white" Indians, called the Mandans whose language was similar to Welsh.

Note: see also 2600 B.C. and 400-140 B.C., 525 A.D., 1550-1750.

1120 A.D.
The Inca, by now, have organized a state under the direction of Manco Capac; they call their empire Tahuantinsuyu.

1125 A.D.
The Templars, Hospitallers, and other military orders are a resounding success with the multiplication of the number of houses both in the Holy Land and in Europe. The military orders offered a way of life which combined the romantic ideal of the cavalier with the ascetic ideal of the monk: chivalry, cortesia, bravery, and Christian moral and spiritual ideals. They stood in sharp contrast to the mercenary or thieving and plundering hordes which often took the name of crusader. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was enthusiastically in favour of the crusades and described the Templars in a sermon thus:

"They live in a community, soberly and in joy, without wife and children.
And to reach evangelical perfection, they live in the same house, in the same manner, without calling anything their own, solicitous to preserve the unity of spirit in the bonds of peace ... They despise mimes, jugglers, story tellers, dirty songs, performances of buffoons - all these they regard as vanities and inane follies."

As is typical of human self-denial, the Knights Templars have been largely revered in later times in romantic stories of their exploits, more based on intent than on reality. In one of the most savage episodes of the time, they were suppressed with violence, all their goods were confiscated, their leaders burned for heresy. The Pope would not tolerate any rebuke of his authority. Living a lifestyle ordained by an ideal, interpreted from the scriptures or taken from personal spiritual experience was not living one's life as dictated by the pope.

1125 A.D.
The University of Bologna establishes a chair of astrology, making astrology a primary study offered to the educated elite. Most of the public neither read nor wrote.

1138 A.D.
Roman Catholic Pope Malachi, receives ecstatic visions while on a journey.
His vision reveals that there will be 112 popes before the end of the Church occurs in the year 2012.
This would mean that the end of the Roman Catholic Church would arrive at the end of the reign of the second pope after the one in office in 1996. The date would be approximate because the calendar length and numbering would change after this date.

1139 A.D.
Vesuvius erupts, Italy, and disperses more atmospheric dust and ash.

1144 A.D., from this date
The Saracens (Christian crusaders), became active again, beginning with the recapture of the crusader castles.
The Second (1148), Third (1189), and Fourth (1198) crusades all ended in humiliating failure resulting in the loss of all of the Christian outposts, together with the lives and fortunes of tens of thousands of Christian men, many of them of the highest nobility. Materially gifted by their heritage and the most "educated" of their regions, they had chosen to follow the urgings of Pope Urban II, their accepted religious leader. Like most human religious leaders, the Pope was more interested in power and material wealth than in the spiritual salvation of humanity.

1150 A.D.
The process of papermaking, reaches Jativa, Valencia, Spain.

1165 A.D.
Henry II, king of England, near this time, first of the Plantagenet line, born in Normandy, required guilds to have a charter from the crown. These "licenses" enabled the king to place an easily administered tax on the guilds which otherwise would have been impossible by the standards applied to farmers. At the same time, the process gave sanction to the guild system and increased its potential for monopolization of market activities.

1176 A.D.
In a temple in Halebid, Mysore, India, a number of rough-finish soapstone columns stand.
On one, there are polished strips. When a person looks into the mirrorlike surface, the viewer sees 2 reflections at the same time - himself in both an upright and an upside-down position. A high level of optics engineering would be necessary to achieve such a result.

1178 A.D.
A Flash on the surface of the Moon, on June 25, was observed and recorded by Canterbury, England monk. They observed that "the upper horn of the New Moon seemed to split in two and a flame shot from it." It was later believed to be a comet impacting the Moon.

1184 A.D.
The Charter of the Inquisition (Ad abolendum), on November 4, was formulated by Pope Lucius III and Emperor Frederick. Designed as a strategy for the suppression of heretics, it judged those accused and not repentant to be excommunicated by the church and then given over to the state for punishment.

Ubaldo Allucingoli (Lucius III) had worked his way up to the position of Pope by acting as an executive assistant to previous popes (Innocent II, Hadrian IV, Alexander III) and as a political negotiator for emperors (Frederick I Barbarossa). Imperial inter-state and state-church unrest was aggravated by bribery and greed in all such negotiations and both Lucius and Frederick wanted peace. By acting with graciousness towards each other they resolved finally to work together to eliminate civil unrest thereby obtaining a more predictably governed and obedient population.

It was expected that the international benefits of such orderliness - less military cost, greater economic expansion and profit, an image of utopia, greater respect, voluntary transferal of authority: more POWER. This recognition of combined political and religious "enforcement" for mass subservience would be a major contributor to social change from regional city state politics to empire aspiring nation state autonomy. Lucius pressured Frederick to begin a new crusade against rebellious Romans and in favour of Jerusalem. Frederick delayed. On a wide range of matters requested by Frederick, Lucius rationalised delays and the two became increasingly annoyed with one another. Lucius, already elderly, died a short time later.

1187 A.D.
Jerusalem falls, to the Kurdish leader Salad-Din (saladin) who defeated Hittin, the king of Jerusalem. The Legend of Prester John springs out of the European paranoia concerning a Mongol return to Europe. Rumours that Prester John was a new Mongolian Khan persisted for years. A mysterious foe intermittently destroyed Moslem armies and cities.

1198 A.D. -
Innocent III, one of the most powerful Roman Catholic popes, was in office until 1216.
The Franciscan and Dominican orders enjoyed great prestige. Magnificent Gothic cathedrals were built. Government authority was more widespread than ever, and social status and personal relationships were becoming centred more on personal wealth than birthright.

Europe's improving agricultural production, largely due to the warmer period between 750/800 and 1150/1200 enabled a food surplus. This encouraged a market economy in which the surplus could be sold for a profit and this was well developed by 1180. These surpluses meant that fewer people had to work in agriculture in order to supply the society, and, with the increasing population, a rising number moved into new urban areas. Trade expanded, tax revenues were increased, and task specialization all contributed to an expansion of institutionalized learning and the facility for a professional military.

Between 1198 and 1492, the reigning popes would cumulatively appoint 540 cardinals to a maximum at any one time, according to the Alexandrian interpretation of the Bible.