Mind is the Satan

Book of Genesis – Chapter 3, Verse 4, 5:

But the Serpent said to Eve “You will not surely die. For God knows when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

I always wondered if snakes spoke in the earlier times. If not then why does the bible speak about a talking serpent? I read quite a bit on world mythology and that’s when I was introduced to the metaphorical way of tales in the ancient times. So it was clear to me that the talking serpent is some form of a metaphor used to refer about something deeper, something that isn’t elaborated much and may be rarely pondered upon.

Chapter 3: Verse 1 says – Now the Serpent was more crafty than any other beast that the Lord God had made.

This also clarifies that mind is created by god and he made it crafty.

The eastern mythology talks extensively about Mind. It talks about controlling your mind, the wavering thoughts. Meditation. That’s when it struck me that Mind could be the talking Serpent referred to in the Bible. Because when that is out of the limits/control it leads one to analyze things and categorize them. If mind is in control – that is if Satan is kept at bay, you live a simple, clear and pious life.

I am no scholar on any religious subjects but this inference crossed my mind this morning. It may be because I am reading ‘Brains and Realities’ by Jay Alfred and also ‘Autobiography of Jerusalem’ by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Both are absolutely amazing books. The former is a scientific evaluation of mind and how science keeps proving eastern philosophy of mind; for Example – the emergence of quantum physics. It is believed now that we live in a world that is multidimensional (time being one) but our brain is capable of only processing the information it receives in 3 dimensions - Hence what we see the world as is really not how it actually exists – or in other words, everything is Maya.

The book by Simon is a historical account of emergence – destruction – emergence of Jerusalem and the war and love that this most important city of all the 3 Semitic religions has experienced. The Jews consider this as the holy city given to them by God. Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Greek, Roman all have captured Jerusalem and drove away or killed Jews and then miraculously time after time Jews got back and held Jerusalem. Then came the Christians, Muslims, Crusaders, Bedouins, Arabs – all fought and killed and destroyed the previous legacies. The wars were ugly and fought politically to rule more and more of the nations in earth. Religion was used by the rulers to bind their subjects in a common thread. Language and culture used to be this common thread when the rule was restricted within a limited geography but as emperors eyed other regions and countries, language and culture didn't hold on as a strong connect and hence religion.

My subject of the blog is not Jerusalem but some rituals that the Jews followed to please God. They used to walk to the temple of god as a way of showing devotion (similar to the east). They used to give their hair as offering to God (again similar), animal sacrifices etc. This indicates that there is some lost connection between the east and the mythology of Middle East or the more recent west.

I will leave it at that and move on to read and understand more – not to critic anyone but increase my awareness and not be constricted in my views.